lucca

I looked under the car during my first (5000 mile) oil change and noticed that the muffler on the right just before the exhaust pipe was almost completely rusted. I have been in Florida with it and have not been any snow. I thought these mufflers were made of stainless and should not rust. Anyone else have this condition? Is this normal ar do i have a defective muffler?

My ignition lock also went bad. I had it flat-bedded to the dealer and the tech fixed it by spraying a lube into the lock. The next day my radio, air conditioning, NAV system would not work. None of the buttons would respond. Apparently the lube spray shorted something in the electrical system. I have only 2050 miles and have been into the dealer twice now. I currently have a loaner while my hybrid is being fixed. This is poor reliability!!!

Today I filled my tank for the second time. This time I had no problems. It must have been the pump. :D

Currently all my door remain locked when I put the shifter into park. On page 45 of the owners manual, it says that I can program all the doors to open when I place the shifter into "Park". I have tried this procedure many times, but the doors will not re-program. Has anyone sucessfully re-programmed there locks by the method on page 45? I know that I can go to the dealer and have him program it with his computer interface, but that is a hassle. I want to do it myself. Is the manual wrong?

I will try a different pump next fillup. Thanks.

I filled my RX400h with gas for the first time today. At the pump, the full trip lever kept tripping no matter what I tried. I backed the spout out but it kept tripping. I rotated the nozzle but it kept tripping. It must have tripped 40 or more times before I actually got the tank full. This process took a long time. I love my new car but this problem is ridiculous. Has anyone else experienced this problem? Any suggestions as to a cure?

I ordered my 400h on 7/23/05 and picked it up on 8/11/05. So far I love it. :D Only some dealers are trying to load on extras. Our dealer didn't assume we would add anything and they didn't install any extras. We were given the pitch on the leather preservation/paint presentation when we picked up or car, but it was up to us whether we wanted to add it or not. Same for lojack and extended warranty. I'm pretty sure that is their standard process for all the cars they sell. Neither of the local dealers was doing a formal list with deposit in the early days and they were undecided on how they would distribute the cars when the time came. Therefore, we put a deposit down with a dealer in the LA area in early '04. We were 7th on the list. When March 05 rolled around, one of the local dealers decided to use the informal list (without deposit - just anyone who had walked in and asked to be kept informed) in order and we were pretty far down on that one. The other set a day when they would take deposits and purchase information (color, RES or no RES) and worked from that in order. We dropped off our form and were number 2 on that list. When their tester arrived, they called me and we went for a test drive of about an hour. Our salesman was great about encouraging me to spend as much time putting the car through its paces as I needed to be certain. Meanwhile, the dealership where we had put down our early deposit was seeming a little flakey. They were talking about it maybe being a month even though they are a large dealership who would be getting a good allocation. Some of their first shipment wasn't going to the list. (They are one where I've since heard that they were loading extras on so perhaps they were taking some of the cars and doing that rather than selling them to the list people at MSRP as promised.) They did call at the last minute and say they had a car available on April 16 because someone higher on the list had passed, but by that time we had a VIN number with our dealer up here so we weren't feeling like dropping everything to run down to get a car - especially with some doubts about their credibility and the salesman up here had put in a lot of time with us. Our car from the local dealer was ready for pickup April 22. No funny business. They gave us back our deposit check which they hadn't cashed. The other dealership gave us back our deposit though they were a little cranky about it and I had to remind them at least once before it got sent. ←

Where does one find these TSIBs??? ← TSIB is 'Technical Service Information Bulletin' and one must subscribe to it. I got a copy from my local Lexus technician. The procedure must be done by a qualified tech.

There is a TSIB (EG010-05) concerning the ISC Learning procedure to re-initialize the idle speed control if the 12v battery dies. If this is not performed the following may happen: 1. The engine runs too long or more frequently than normal. 2. Reduced fuel economy. 3. Transmission gear "clatter" noise at idle is more pronounced. I wonder if some of the complaints of poor fuel economy is related to this learning procedure not being performed after a battery dies.

I ordered my 400h on 7/23/05 in Cleveland, Ohio and the dealer said that it would be in by 8/15/05. Stay tuned