Harrier

...RX 350... back up lights are so dim I can barely see anything as I back up. ...

Has anyone found a plug-in solution to increase the brightness of the RX3xx white backup lights, or a way supplement/replace the white backup lights? It is almost 2010 and still no progress?

Okay then...looks like i'll be the guinea pig!

Yes. I have it on my IS250, but I don't have navigation. Works fine. What do you want to know?

In what models and years does it work, can it be self-installed, what did it cost, and what is the part number? Thanks.

Does anyone/has anyone know where to purchase the Japanese bypass for the 08 GX. I talked to the guys at vais tech and they said it was better then coastal tech. The guy said that coastal tech wasn't very good quality and they had problems when they tested it. He said that they test all sorts of stuff for lexus and toyota.

Thanks

Can you supply more details of the "Japanese bypass" ? Is that the heart surgery performed with samurai swords? :)

2005 RX 330--Groaning, Thumping In Tight Turns

Has anyone had a problem with RX 330 2005 air suspension autos emitting a groaning noise from the front when the car goes into a tight left or right turn? The noise is a combination of rythmical thump and groan, it sounds like a gear or other round, rotating part is going over a bump, or is causing friction against something. It is not a grinding sound or a sound as if something is seriously wrong. It happens typically when one has to drive up a tight spiral parking rampway, or make a tight turn all the way to the left or right of the wheel.

The dealer looked at it twice. The first time, it was raining, and the car could not reproduce the sound. The second time, there was a sound, which the dealer claimed was due to rubber parts rubbing together. The dealer sprayed the parts with a lubricant and the sound went away for about 4 minutes. The dealer claimed the rubber would gradually become harder and the sound would go away, but I think they just wanted to be rid of a hard-to-find problem for which they could not charge extra.

Any ideas? Thanks.

2005 RX 330, original owner, Japan-made car, owned since 2005, 31,000 miles, serviced only at dealer

Do anyone knows how to change Miles to Kilometers and F to C?thanx 4 your answers... ;]

This is how I would change miles to kilometers on my RX 330 2005 model navigation unit:

Menu

Setup

Distance: change from miles to kilometers

Touch OK

Maybe this will work for your car...sorry I have no idea how force the reading to change from F to C.

Broken Antenna Mast Part, RX 330, 2005

Did the Sewell part fix the problem? There is no image of the Sewell part "Lexus OEM Pillar Antenna Pole Sub-Assembly $39.72 86309-48040" so I can't tell what I would be buying.

I also have a broken antenna mast on the 2005 RX 330. The screw-in antenna is untouched, and the bracket bolted on to the roof and wired to the sound system is untouched, but the plastic swivel that moves the antenna back to front (manual power, no motor) is cracked. The radio works fine, there is no functional damage. The swivel should be a cheap part, but the dealer wants to redo all the wiring and do $500 of unnecessary work to replace the swivel, so I am looking for a DIY solution.

Thanks.

ORIGINAL POST

I found the antenna mast, part # 86309-48040, for $39.72 at:

http://www.lexus-parts.com/

And no, I haven't removed it yet, mainly because of your concerns. I am supposing those caps can be removed, but I think I will get the part first and see if they have instructions and/or replacements. The sales blurb says: Designed to be user friendly for installation.

A fellow at Sewell lexusparts.com has helped me with this. The amplifier unit needs replacement, plus the mast, and that means removing the headliner, which seems like a lot of work. Once the headliner is off, the amplifier base unit looks to be easy to remove and replace.

The sound is not a whistle and it is not constant, it is a cyclical bump and groan when the steering wheel is turned all the way to the left or the right in a tight turn. I have driven plenty of other cars that don't make this sound, and it doesn't sound like a motor or a pump. More like a muffled friction sound. Thanks for the suggestions, anyway.

Does anyone have a link to the details of the recall?

NHTSA has a recall posted for the RX400h, but it refers to carpet retaining clips coming loose and interfering with the gas pedal.

The PDF attachment has the recall details.

NHTSA_RX400h_carpet_clip_recall.pdf

FYI! An article in our July 13 newspaper stated that the 2004-2005 RX330 and early 2006 RX400h are going to be recalled to replace a dashbord clip that may fail and cause a piece of the console to come loose and interfere with the gas pedal. They stated that owners would be notified in the near future.

Has anyone had a problem with RX 330 2005 air suspension autos emitting a groaning noise from the front when the car goes into a tight left or right turn? The noise is a combination of rythmical thump and groan, it sounds like a gear or other round, rotating part is going over a bump, or is causing friction against something. It is not a grinding sound or a sound as if something is seriously wrong. It happens typically when one has to drive up a tight spiral parking rampway, or make a tight turn all the way to the left or right of the wheel.

The dealer looked at it twice. The first time, it was raining, and the car could not reproduce the sound. The second time, there was a sound, which the dealer claimed was due to rubber parts rubbing together. The dealer sprayed the parts with a lubricant and the sound went away for about 4 minutes. The dealer claimed the rubber would gradually become harder and the sound would go away, but I think they just wanted to be rid of a hard-to-find problem for which they could not charge extra.

Any ideas? Thanks.

MP3 on RX330 CD Changer

As arens has mentioned, you should be able to use your existing CD changer, without modification or add-on, if you convert your MP3 files to a format that the average CD player can read.

I have had excellent results converting MP3 files to WAVE using "MP3 to Wave" from Acoustica Software below; however, there are probably a number of free applications that do the same thing, and a converter may be built into the latest version of your audio playback software like Windows, Real Player or Quicktime.

The process is to move your MP3 files to your computer, convert them to WAVE, burn them on a CD, and play them. Since MP3 is a compressed format, the WAVE files will take much more space and you will not be able to get as many tunes on each CD as you currently have on your MP3 CDs.

CD changers that play MP3 files direct from a CD do exist, but I was unable to find one that worked with the RX 330.

I hope this helps.

Acoustica

My RX330 does not have the Nav system. I have a lot of good mp3 music on CDs and in my Ipod and I want to play them over the sound system. Either changing the CD player to one that plays MP3s, or adding a connector for an iPod would work.

I called the Service Department at Santa Monica Lexus and the guy I talked to said he couldn't do it. I've seen some expensive 3rd party systems on this board for iPod connectors, and ads for some cheezy cheap systems that involve FM transmission or cassette replacements. Is that it? I've seen nothing that discusses changing the CD player, Is that not possible?

Any advice would be appreciated?

Thanks,

eckhart

by 2005 they have several systems that have to be worked on to be able to program while driving. this was not lexus idea to prevent programming while driving .it is the lexus legal dept advice to engineering to prevent this from being done. in usa its big corporations fault if an accident happens while prograsmming not the drivers fault. even if you can get the vss turned off in 20 seconds it will turn back on by itself. so at this point there is no good way to do this on a 2005. even the new 2005 pioneer aftermarket avic -n2 has a screen turnoff in the gyro so if the cars moving the screen shuts off from any functions so even pioneer cant be programmed while driving. in japan there are no such legal impediments and they have both tv tuners , dvd movies and also can change destination while driving. i havent heard that they all have died in traffic accideants.

I have driven Lexus cars in Japan (actually, all the US Lexus cars have been sold as Toyotas in Japan. The Lexus brand was just introduced into Japan on August 30, 2005). The "Lexus" navigation systems in Japan do not allow playing commercial DVDs in the front seats, do not allow TV watching unless the car is stopped and limit programming choices unless the car is stopped and the parking brake is applied. Third-party navigation systems available in Japan generally do not have these restrictions. There are fewer lawyers in the whole of Japan than in most US states. The problem seems primarily to be that Toyota is so big and successful that it doesn't really respond to consumer issues (for example, Nissan and Honda, to say nothing of BMW, Audi and Volvo have MP3 jacks OEM, Toyota has nothing). Secondarily it is probably a desire to avoid blame if someone injuries himself while fumbling with the navigation system. It is not a fear of losing a lawsuit: it is unheard of for an individual litigant to recover more than $1 million in a personal injury action in Japan, petty cash for a company Toyota's size.

Be that as it may, I am also interested in learning how to hack the 2005 navigation system so I don't have to stop cold in a slow-moving traffic jam in order to find an alternate route.

I'm about to buy the mp3 adapter from Vais Tech.  Has anyone done this with the Levinson sound system?  How hard was it to get to the back of the system? 

http://vaistech.com/slu.html

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Please let us know how you make out and whether the VAIS lives up to your expectations!

There was a thread reporting success with the VAIS posted by Preiner 09-30-05 but it did not specify whether it was with the Levinson system.

You might also find the following links to installation pictures useful;

http://www.carstereohelp.com/stereoremovalLexusRX3 (RX 330)

http://www.emba42.com/lexus/ (GX470)

http://www.priusonline.com/viewtopic.php?t=5768 (Prius, but some similar issues)

Good luck!

Harrier

A sound installer has offered to add a stereo jack (the red and white female stereo jacks on a TV or VCR) that connects into the Mark Levinson stereo system on my RX 330.

I am interested in connecting my iPod mini's jack to the red and white jacks so that I can play iPod selections into the car's stereo directly.

Will this work, or do I need extra equipment in the line or with the iPod?

I understand that I will not be able to control the iPod from the steering wheel and that the titles will not appear on the touch screen, I just want something better than an FM transmitter from the iPod to the stereo.

Thanks.

I got my AIC-100i from VAIS Technology (http://www.vaistech.com) last Thursday and I got the unit installed and working over the weekend.  I've been waiting for months for this to become available and now that I have the unit installed it is just what I wanted. 

I took some pictures during the install process and created a web site with the pictures and description of how I installed the unit.  If you're mechanically inclined at all it isn't that hard to do the install yourself.  If you have two left thumbs, better get someone else to do the install.  The pictures and description are at:

    http://www.emba42.com/lexus/

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Very helpful! Your page has been viewed more than 1000 times! Wish the moderators would "pin" your photos to make them easier to find. Wish Vais would link to them!

PIONEERSUBY, any idea where we can find the how-2?

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do a member advanced search on vw-t in the other club. . hmm i dont know how to spell his user name exaclty.its one of those interconncted capital letter names. . or do an advanced seach with key words "navigation 2006 and he should come up.

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Could we trouble you for the full URL for information on how to rig 2005-2006 Lexus navigation systems so that they can play DVDs while moving? The only information that comes up on a search of "navigation 2006" is this inconclusive thread. Thanks.