katzjamr

coasting at any speed would be the most efficient i would think.

i am not trying to be critical, however the parts and labor for the timing belt change at even the most reasonable garage should have been more than $300, just changing the brake fluid on this vehicle is not as straighfoward as most, so i am a little bit skeptical of what this mechanic actually did. do you have an ongoing relationship with this shop or is this your first visit to them?

cduluk, our group is a much better place because of your posts.

I know it is a pain but can you take one bulb out and test it at an auto supply store? Also is it possible you have had critters that have chewed a wire. This was the reason i had no rear bumper tailight marker on one side and in tracing the wires my technician found where one had been eaten, fortunately he could splice it together.

is that the water pump for the engine or is there a separate coolant pump for the hybrid system?

for me, failing wheel bearings did not pop into my mind as the first issue when you are hearing what sounds like tire noise. i had just bought new tires and i went back to costco first, and since they had not balanced the tires correctly on day one, i thot rebalancing would fix it, however the noise was still there on the way home. It wasnt until a Les Schwab technician drove it and said, 'sir, no tire makes THAT noise' that i was able to let go of any tire issues and move on to wheel bearing. In hindsight it makes sense because the noise was not there on day one with the new tires. Also the noise seemed to come from the left, and it turned out the be the right front bearing that was bad. I imagine it would be even harder to figure out a noise comming from the rear. now that i read your description of the sound you hear, it sounds like a wheel bearing to me.

can you describe the noise, what it sounds like, does it change with braking, speed etc.

$405.00 for the bearing hub and labor at the dealer, and i drove a rx 350 loaner for a day

my bad wheel bearing noise started at about 30mph and was very audible from 40 to 60 mph. i would have bet money it was the left but the dealer had to put it on a lift and listen with a stethiscope and determined it was the right. I had Les Schwab drive it before i drove to the dealer and they verified it was a bearing. When the tech drove it he tried to steer quickly left to right to try to isolate the noise. It took the dealer mechanic to fiqure out which one. I am told it can sometimes be both but they have to be replaced one at a time to make sure the other is bad too. Les Schwab quoted me 220.00 but needed a week before they could fix it. The dealer did it for $405, it was covered under my extended warranty.

have you asked the dealer that question. i love my 06 400h and it does well in the limited snow and ice in seattle, however i seem to remember the 2012 model rx350 might have some 4wd improvments the previous models didnt have, i dont know if they carry over onto the hybrid. do you use winter tires and studs?

i thought the trans fluid was replaced at 100k during that service per the maintenance manuel. still wish had a dipstick to be able to visually inspect myself

got it back today, its fixed was the right bearing, left one ok, they also added a different camber adjustment screw so the alignment could be more perfect, and did a better alignment than last time. hopefully no more issues for a while

now that i know what to listen for, a sound that begins at 30mph and gets progressivly louder to 60, with some minor vibration at least in my case was a wheel bearing, i was just more mentally focused on tires. both techs tryed to swerve left and right to see if the sound changed to determine which side, i guess sometimes its both, and one side or the other is not obvious. extended warranty has paid for itself.

thanks for all your help. i went to les schwab today to have a tech drive it before i went to the dealer. he said no tires make that noise, it has to be a bearing, we all thought it was the left. lexus tech drove it and thought so too, but on the lift with a scope he found it the right side, or both but doing right first. $450, per side, covered under extended warranty. and they will align again at no extra charge since i had that two weeks ago at the dealer. drove off in loaner rx, the part was in stock at the dealer.

i thought i had a tire problem by my harmonic hum and vibration starting at 35mph and increasing up to 60mph was diagnosed today as a front right wheel bearing. the tech from the lexus dealer could not pinpoint which side when driving, he knew it was a bearing. they then put it on the lift, and while in gear listened to each one with a stethoscope. While driving we all thought it was the left, it turned out to be the right side, or both but they are doing one at a time. covered under extended warranty, 450.00 per side. since i had an alignment two weeks ago, they are realigning for no extra cost. Les schwab quoted me 250.00 per side, when i took it to the tire store to check on the noise. It is being fixed at the dealer where the warranty service was purchased. I was with the tech when he had it on the lift and he thot he heard an odd transmission noise too!! but he said it might be because the car was not designed to rotate the wheels while up in the air. he will check on that when the bearing is done. trying to get it all done before the warranties run out ;))

first tires the goodyears did go 25K but with rotating the spare also. the wear was not even showing some misalignment i went to the dealer and they for some reason were not using their own machine it was at a neighboring dealership and not working. this was at 20K. then during the front suspension recall, they also realigned everything at about 40K and found the rear tires were quite out of alignment most likely from the factory. i had my first set of replacement michelins by then. I had the car aligned two months ago at the dealer and they found everything pretty close, this was the same week the new tires were on, and the new ones were on the car when they aligned. because of the aluminum wheels i am careful about curbs and have hit no potholes, i am the only person driving this vehicle. the more i talk about this the more i think it is tires too, it is the only thing that makes sense.

i will go back to costco. i knew i didnt want the goodyear eagles. so at costco they only will sell you what was oem for the car unless im wrong about that, and the michelins were the next choice. they are better in the snow than the goodyears, and have double the wear rating.

back to the vibration/hum you think the tires are deteriorating and that is why the hum is here now? not when i purchased them? thanks for your fast reply, dave

for the last week i have had a minor vibration in the steering, and less so in the brake pedal but definately a hum from the tires that starts at 30mph and continues to 60mph and probably farther but the road noise takes over. braking does not affect this, the car does not pull to one side. Two months ago about 1000 miles ago i purchased four michelin tires that were the same as the oem, this is the third set of tires i have 80K on the car now, the first goodyear eagles didnt last that long. There was no unusual noise when the tires were put on the car two months ago everything seemed normal.

Yesterday i went back to costco, told them i had this issue, they took all four tires off and rebalanced them, they do not do road force balancing. They put the tires back on the exact same wheels. The tire manager gave me my keys and said he was sorry but the tires were not balanced correctly when they sold them to me, all four were out of balance, and now corrected. I told them thanks for being honest but i had just spent two hours down there waiting for them to do balancing that should have been correctly done the first time. They gave me my money back for the balancing.

On the way back to work, nothing had changed same hum and vibration! So here are my questions. Did improper balancing and 1000 miles of use damage the susupension? Do i have bad tires? Why did it take two months and 1000K for this noise to start, and is it unrelated to tires.

Is my next step to go to the dealer for an inspection? should i go to a suspension shop and have them look at it first? also i had an alignment done at the dealer right after purchasing the tires, the worksheet showed minor corrections but nothing badly out of alignment.

Should i go back to Costco. Usually i have a clear idea what to do, this one i am not sure, any help would be appreciated. I am losing faith in costco as a tire source.

my personal feeling is you are not hurting your 400h, your mpg yes perhaps but this vehicle starts and stops during normal driving an incredible amount of times during the average trip. i think the 400h is more suited to this kind of driving than any other vehicle. would be interested to see what others think

Hey guys,

As many of you know, I'm a college student and every day I have class I get to school about 45 minutes early to sit and poach for cars to leave so I can park for the day. On a typical day, I'll sit in the car parked with the ignition "ON" for about 45 minutes until class starts. During this time, the engine will go ON and OFF as needed like the Rx400h usually does, maintaining about 50% on the engine temp meter. I usually leave the heat/AC on low fan setting, and listen to the radio and such while I wait.

Do you think this pattern is hurting the Rx400h at all? Are there any specific components that are likely to go out prematurely because of it?

I have the oil changed with full synthetic twice a year, usually spring and fall. I put about 12k miles a year, about 90% city and 10% highway. It's approx 7 miles to school each day, all city.

Thanks for your input!

can you provide more information, its under warranty i hope, did you have a complete failure, or was leaking discovered during maintenance?

dont feel bad, i did the same thing years ago, my two scratches were a little shorter just below the slight fold in the lower part of the hatch. years later, when this 'lady' hit my rear bumper parking, i had the body shop fix the bumper and blend the scratches, it looks great and they threw it in with the bumper repair.

When i was in for service last week i asked about the january recall, the service manager said no parts yet and he expected to see them after january, he was not entirely sure lexus had decided how much to include in the recall as far as replacement, or to be more clear he had not yet been advised by Lexus the exact specifics of what they wanted to replace. He also said they would be taking a close look at each inverter even if they just to replace circuit boards. I know our vehicles are all toyotas, however it is my sense there is more protection of the brand Lexus and that they will to what it takes to solve the problem.

ICE ICE baby

I called the dealer in tacoma and spoke to my service manager, and he said he had heard of some dealers denying loaners, however it is their policy that if you bring your lexus to them regardless of where it was purchased, for a scheduled repair like the inverter deal whatever they end up replacing on that, and even the dealers dont know right now how much lexus is replacing, if it is over two hours repair time they will provide you a loaner. his guess right now is that the jan recall u mention will take enough time that loaners will be provided.

the short answer is yes they will give you a loaner for whatever you do there over two hours time.