Jump to content


lexus01

Regular Member
  • Posts

    12
  • Joined

  • Last visited

lexus01's Achievements

Contributor

Contributor (5/14)

  • Conversation Starter
  • First Post
  • Collaborator Rare
  • Week One Done
  • One Month Later

Recent Badges

0

Reputation

  1. Remove the two obvious screws and try to loosen the plastic lens from the car body; often the lens gasket may be stuck to the body. If the lens will still not come loose, take a flat tipped screwdriver (that is rapped in masking tape to avoid scratching the paint) and place the tip between the lens and the body and lightly pry around the perimeter of the lens. This should free it from the body. Turn over the lens and you will see two bulb receptacles with wires sticking into to them. Twist the receptacle to the left to expose the bulb. Pull the bulb from the receptacle and replace. Be sure to fully seat the new bulb in the receptacle
  2. Running your car at 4000 rpms in third gear is not going to hurt your engine; but it is going to hurt your gas mileage. The dealer is going to read your car's on board diagnostic codes (OBDII) to troubleshoot the problem. Ask him what the code(s) value is and let us know here. I had a similar problem with my car not shifting into fourth and it turned out to be a failed Mass Air Flow (MAF) sensor. The OBDII system recorded a P0171 (System Too Lean) error code. The problem turned out to be a defective MAF. The MAF was letting in too much air causing the lean condition. The lean condition was causing engine knock that I could hear. The knock sensor also failed triggering code P0330; the knock sensor must have been working overtime counteracting engine knock caused by the lean condition. As you can see, one sensor failing can generate additional failures as in a chain reaction. By the way, the Lexus transmission only shifts into first (D) mechanically. All other gears are shifted electronically or via the computer. Can you hear any engine knock?
  3. Bank 2 is the side of the engine (or set of cylinders) closest to the radiator; Bank 1 would be the side of the engine (or set of cylinders) closest to the firewall. Checkout Carson Toyota in California for discount Toyota-Lexus part (888) 747-4777. Ask for Collin.
  4. Punjani, You’re going to have to escalate and contact Lexus (national) Customer Care or Lexus Customer Satisfaction; there is a 1-800 number. Your strategy then is to tell them (national) that you are not satisfied with what your are being told by the dealer concerning your car's engine sludge problem and that you want them (national customer service) to declare the engine a sludge engine. You also want them to issue a voucher or letter that will allow you to have the engine replaced at any dealer of your choosing; avoid your current dealer for the engine replacement. Apparently, the dealer you are working with does not like the profit margin of an engine replacement via Toyota Corp. (under the engine sludge program) vs. the profit they would make off of you if you paid for the engine repair out of your own pocket. The key to this fight (I hope you are a fighter) is to continue to not be satisfied until you are truely satisfied; make it costly (time consuming) for them to continue the fight by staying in the fight.
  5. To reach the rear set of spark plugs, remove the strut brace, windshield wiper blades, and the windshield wiper trough (rain gutter). You many not need to disconnect the wiring harness from the trough; just rotate the trough out of position to get to the spark plugs.
  6. Your engine probably faced an oil sludge problem and has burned up. Ask the dealer to inspect the engine under the engine sludge program. They will replace the engine free of charge. See below for more information or do an internet search under: toyota engine sludge, toyota oil sludge "Faced with a consumer revolt over low mileage engine failures caused by oil sludge buildup, Toyota has begun to notify 3.3 million owners of 1997-2002 Toyota and Lexus vehicles with 3.0-liter IMZ V-6 engines and all 1997-2001 Toyota vehicles with 5SFE 2.2-liter 4-cylinder engines that it will cover the cost of sludge-related repairs for eight years from date of initial sale. Whether this will satisfy the thousands of Toyota and Lexus owners who have already suffered engine failure remains to be seen because Toyota's Special Policy falls short of an express warranty. Toyota modified V-6 engines made after July 2001 but has not recalled the earlier engines. The 2.2L 4-cylinder has been dropped. CAS urges Toyota and Lexus owners with engine problems to file a complaint. CAS believes Toyota should provide an express warranty of at least 10 years/120,000 miles, whichever comes later, on the engines in the affected models. "
  7. JPI I checked both A/F sensor for resistance and they are OK. I swapped out a Mass airflow sensor from a friend's RX and that did not solve the problem. Someone at www.clublexus.com listed a similar problem. The solution turned out to be a fuel injector that was not firing properly. This was tricking a sensor probably the one that tells the computer that it is warm-hot enough for up shift to overdrive. This makes sense to me. There are times when I am stuck in third (@3500-4000 rpm) and can get up shift to overdrive by deleting the error codes from the computer using my OBD reader. A lean condition could be caused by a restriction of gas to the engine (clogged malfunctioning injector or another fuel related problem). The knock is caused by the too lean condition; there is too much air for the amount of fuel or there is too little fuel for the amount of air in the combustion chambers. I am going to troubleshoot the fuel system, which means I will have to remove the intake manifold. I might as well change the spark plugs once the manifold is off.
  8. I removed the transmission pan and the filter and was expecting to see chunks of metal but instead the three magnets on the pan held very very fine iron particles. The filter is a sealed type that I would have to break open to check for larger particles trapped on the input side of the filter. I do not see anything unusual about the transmission fluid or the particles in the pan. The fluid was dirty but slippery.
  9. JB, I am going to drop the pan and look for metal the second time around. The fluid that came out of the drain hole was gray colored but the fluid was still slippery. I am using Type T IV fluid.
  10. Follow my thread "Check Engine (p0171, P0330)" to see how it turns out. As I started to research my particular problem, I learned that the Toyota-Lexus V6 engine has had sludge problems. The sludge problem is an engine design problem and has nothing to do with how well you maintain the engine; the heart (and most important part) of any automobile is the engine. That leaves the transmission, the second most important part of an automobile. There are some reports (mine included) that suggest the RX300 transmissions may be unreliable. To see if it would be worth purchasing a used RX 300, calculate the percent cost of replacing and engine or transmission to the used car price of the RX300. Traditionally, how well you maintain or take care of a Toyota-Lexus automobile has determined the length of trouble free service life of the vehicle. However, if the automobile has a poorly designed part or system your maintenance care may not make a difference in the failure of the part. My current
  11. KS Thanks for the response. It is a 2000 model. How do you fix the KS 2 circuit malfunction? Does that have anything to do with the ECU? As for the transmission, it got stuck in fourth gear and I was in stop and go traffic. I tried shifting manually into first and second and that did not work; it stayed stuck in fourth. Fortunately, the V6 engine was strong enough to move me from a standstill in fourth. Later I stopped and checked reverse and it worked. When I went back to first it worked also. What do you think? If it is a transmission problem, is Lexus going to replace it under the warranty even if I am past the warranty period by 7000 miles? I have owned this vehicle since mile 4.
  12. What could be causing the check engine light? Here is what I have done troubleshooting the RX 300 (77,000 miles). I purchased an OBDII reader and read codes P0171 and P0330. The car has difficulty up shifting from third to overdrive (sometimes it stays stuck in third) and other up shifts are somewhat rough (poorly timed). I drained and replaced the transmission fluid; the problem still remained. I checked the timing and found that is was well forward of the 8 - 10 degrees BTDC. Since this car has direct ignition timing the computer adjust the timing I was unable to ajdust the timing. I added Chevron's injector cleaner to the gas and I noticed that the shifting problem disappeared. I checked the timing and it was close to 10 degrees BTDC. However, the knocking returned (with the P0330 code) and the shifting problems appeared again. I think the poorly timed engine is causing the knock and the poor shifting of the transmission. Could I possibly have an engine sludge problem? Where should I look?
×
×
  • Create New...

Forums


News


Membership