sherlocke

Yes, Novus #2.

:D My "condensation" problem wasn't condensation...just the appearance of condensation. This morning I cleaned the exterior of the headlight covers with with a fine abrasive cleaner made for plastics and the covers look as good as new. That's not bad after 4 years of neglect. The best part is that the entire process only took 5 minutes a cover.

No, they are not saying that the external deposits cause internal condensation. They said that the external deposits appear to be internal condensation in many of the cases. In my case, that was true. If the headlight seal fails, then there could certainly be internal condensation.

Spoke with the dealer and was told that 90% of the fogging problems were due to deposits on the outside of the lens, i.e., hardwater stains. I tried a plastic cleaner called Novus #1. It did indeed clean most of the fogging except for some areas that had light etching, similar to what a dishwasher does to glass, but not as severe. Will try Novus #2, a mild abrasive made to polish off the etching. Once I have polished off the hazing, I will regularly use Novus #1 or another plastic cleaner preservative called Plexus. Apparently, these products are regularly used by motorcyclists on their windshields.

I too have a 2000 RX300 with headlight lens fogging and I live in the desert where humidity is not an issue. Since I have an extended warranty I phoned Lexus corporate to inquire about whether this is a covered item. Was told that if the seals failed, then it is covered. If the seals did not fail, it is not covered. Asked how the fogging could occur without the seals failing and was told that it could happen, but the representative could not explain further. Common sense suggests that the seals have to fail for fogging to occur.

Recently purchased a platinum extended warranty for my 2000 Rx300, even though it has not required any repairs. It is of course a gamble, but I am betting that something will go wrong in the next 4 years and that the repairs would have cost me more than the $1800 I paid for the warranty.

Just experienced smoking at startup of my 1996 es300. My private mechanic diagnosed it as leaking valve stem seals. Since I have an extended Lexus warranty brought it to the Lexus dealer. They confirmed the diagnosis and also found "gelling" in the engine. This was a maintained vehicle with service every 3000 miles. Lexus rebuilt the engine under warranty. Would suggest that you contact Lexus since they appear to have eased up the initial oil gelling repair requirements.