wwest

There is a single heigth sensor mounted between the rear axle and the body that can be adjusted. Please don't get so liberal with it so as to blind oncoming drivers.

Here on the eastside of Seattle it is a rather RARE occassion that I have to deal with snow or ice on the roadbed, so winter tires of any ilk would be a waste. And I suspect you have to spend a winter or two in MT, even in the Bitterroot valley ( the banana belt of MT) to understand the tire chain issue. Strange...Hasn't Lexus been using 17", or even larger, wheels for quite a few years now...?? "Squimy in the snow..." Let's see, wider wheels, more, wider tread on the road, less sidewall to flex... "physics and everyone else..." I can't speak for "everyone else" by as for physics, NOT in any of the classes I attended...!! And finally..... "..drive into a blizzard and punch it and report back..." No need for a blizzard, my snow covered parking lot experience should suffice... When I "punch it" the brakes "rattle", the engine get dethrottled, and the RX moves slowly forward at the speed, acceleration rate, that can be supported by the available surface traction. But "punching it" otherwise is against my base nature and lifetime driving experience. Here is a good place to start: http://www.tirerack.com/a.jsp?a=AK1&ur...&techid=126 I know, I know, they are a retailer. They must be trying to sell you the cheaper -1 tires because there is more mark up. You show me one thing that even hints that fat low profile tires are better in the snow than narrow high profile tires and you can win Gore's Nobel prize. The next time I see Al I'll ask for my prize. "Fat", wider, tires spread the car's weight over a larger area and therefore tend to ride higher on the snowpack. Whereas narrow (tread) high profile (deep sidewall) will sink farther down into the snowpack. If you made your argument against/about hydroplaning your statement would be correct. The "fat"/wide tire has a stronger tendancy to ride on top, hydroplane. But really, that's all beside the point. As long as it's only snow I have to deal with my summer tires work just fine. But once that snow gets packed down with an icy surface, an icy HARD surface, is when nothing other than studs or chains will be of any help.

So, which do you use, studs or chains to get about early in the morning of an overnight spring freeze after a yesterday thaw...?? I have never known snow in AK to be any hindrance to driving around, it was always that icy surface underneath the (DRY) snow covering or on top that gave me the most problem. And in Anchorage and Fairbanks in the wintertime of the 70's the rental cars (RWD ALL) often had chains installed when you drove off the lot.

Yep, been here for 12 years and have various size chains in my garage that have never been opened. You brought up a good point that I don't understand. Car mfg's. go to larger rims for larger disc clearance. And for one more reason, looks and appearance. Are the brakes on the RX that large that 17" rims are necessary and why go 1" larger for an option? No, I didn't want to be restricted to the use of tire chains only on the front so the spacers were added to provide enough clearance between the tire and the suspension. Once commited to the spacers I had to decide on a wheel with the "correct" offset such that the tire remained inside the wheelwell. That turned out to be, by pure happenstance (seached the BBS catalog thoroughly), RH brand 17X8 wheels. Everyone here agrees that a taller side wall results in a better ride. And in that I don't disagree with "everyone", but coming from a '92 Jeep Cherokee Limited the RX seemed a bit too "soft" for my taste. Narrow side wall improve handling on a sports car, but will the average RX driver ever push it to it's limits? You don't need to go to the "limits" to appreciate a tab better handling. But yes, accident avoidance might very well require pushing the suspension to it's limits.

Sounds as if your wife is driving with her left foot resting lightly on the brake pedal, hard enough to trigger the brake/circuit but not hard enough to actually apply braking. And now you have an ABS sensor failing intermittently. When the sensor goes into its "fail" mode and the system "thinks" the brakes are applied you will get a SERIOUS level of THROBBING via the ABS. It would be stretching a point IMMHO to suggest that the brake pedal switch is maladjusted AND the ABS wheel sensor is failing. But may be....

Here on the eastside of Seattle it is a rather RARE occassion that I have to deal with snow or ice on the roadbed, so winter tires of any ilk would be a waste. And I suspect you have to spend a winter or two in MT, even in the Bitterroot valley ( the banana belt of MT) to understand the tire chain issue. Strange...Hasn't Lexus been using 17", or even larger, wheels for quite a few years now...?? "Squimy in the snow..." Let's see, wider wheels, more, wider tread on the road, less sidewall to flex... "physics and everyone else..." I can't speak for "everyone else" by as for physics, NOT in any of the classes I attended...!! And finally..... "..drive into a blizzard and punch it and report back..." No need for a blizzard, my snow covered parking lot experience should suffice... When I "punch it" the brakes "rattle", the engine get dethrottled, and the RX moves slowly forward at the speed, acceleration rate, that can be supported by the available surface traction. But "punching it" otherwise is against my base nature and lifetime driving experience.

The ECT/Snow switch DERATES the engine so you will not be as likely to get wheelspin/slip on startup. Some even disable 1st gear so you always start out in 2nd.

Just wait til the snow flies, if it hasn't already, and you discover that tire chains cannot be fitted to the rear wheels..... And if you bought AWD just wait til you discover it isn't. And there are a few things you need to know about the climate control system before... I sometimes travel to MT in the winter, (Lewistown) but if I lived there still I would not own ANY FWD or F/AWD vehicle. The FWD or F/AWD RX330 series is an absolutely EXCELLENT vehicle...if you live in Tucson.

Also, to compete in the current market Lexus will need, desparately NEED, a R/AWD vehicle in this market segment. The public is slowly wising up to the extremely HARZARDOUS nature of FWD and F/AWD.

Yes, actually there is.... So as to not discomfort you with a RUSH of still cold airflow most systems will not activate the blower motor until the coolant temperature rises to ~130F.... UNLESS you use the defrost/defog/demist mode. But at the same time most systems will allow you to over-ride the "delay" but turning the blower speed up manually.... Additionally many systems will activate immediately if you set the temperatrue to MAXIMUM. But then this latter procedure will REALLY be discomforting as you will get the HIGHEST blower speed and COLD airflow ASAP. One does wonder why, along with the adoption of the electric compressor, another $10 wasn't spent to put in a refrigerant flow reversing valve and have a HEAT PUMP. I know I am just a girl, but the extra ten buck would not change the laws of physics would it? The ac draws heat from the cabin and vents it outside via the expansion of a liquid into a gas (refrigerant). So you are saying that if we reverse it and pull heat out of the ambient air and put it into the cabin we would get warmer? Aren't they both the same temperature when you start you car in the morning? Tell me how this would work. I'm interested. On a HOT summer day the inside of your car might be as HOT, or even HOTTER, than the 98F outside atmosphere. DO you then hesitate, question, whether or not the A/C will provide COOL airflow..?? NOT...!!! While the efficiency would not be all that great, even with the outside air as low as ~22F the A/C can function to remove heat from the outside atmosphere and HEAT your car's interior. The warmer the outside temperature is the more efficiency the system will have, until at about 40F it becomes 3:1, 1000 watts into the A/C system gives you 3000 watts of HEAT. Even better would be to start using the HEAT of the engine coolant for the A/C "source" as soon as it rises above OAT. BTW my 99 corvette 'vert has a HUD and it is great for keeping an eye on your speed while being followed by cops. I can't imagine why they follow me. LOL! My lex is to keep the miles down on the 'vette. They get pretty worthless when the reach 50,000 miles. Trying to keep her mint!

Xenon's, HID headlamps, have much greater light output than ordinary halogens. Absent the SHARP low beam cutoff which limits their upward and therefore distance coverage they would be BLINDING to oncoming drivers.

Toyota and Lexus owners manuals indicate that there is no scheduled maintanance required, no ATF drain and refill, for their automatic transaxle for the service life of the vehicle. But because of some fairly serious design flaws beginning late in the last century, Toyota and Lexus, unlike other manufacturers, have not yet been able to eliminate the transaxle dipstick.

I would be surprised if you need front struts at only 55,000 miles, 125,000 maybe, but not... The dealer, and such, are undoubtedly trying to take advantage of your non-subjective "a little bouncy lately"... $600 for parts...?? I haven't bought struts recently but I'm still sure two can be had for less that $200.

Your dealer is undoubtedly using an accelerated, severe service, schedule based on your use of the vehicle as a Taxi. Ask the service writer to write up up the 60,000 mile service only, strickly, as defined by the owners manual and don't sign your approval until you see it written that way. Personally I would DIY, engine oil and filter change, engine air filter, and pollen filter and be done with it, easily under $100.

If this were of concern to me I would install a (commonplace) water jacket electric heater with an inline timer so it starts heating the coolant about an hour before... And/or direct wire a 12 volt battery charger (on the same timer??) into the seat heating circuit.

When, if, all else fails there is always the shotgun method.......

According to Toyota a well designed, properly designed transaxle should NEVER need the ATF drained/flushed/refilled....!!!!

Mine is now at ~65,000 miles and at that rate I expect it will be at least 2 years before mine goes TU. FWD and F/AWD (front torque biased AWD) can be dangerous at times, especially in adverse roadbed conditions. My intention is to convert it to R/AWD, rear biased AWD by removing the mechanical connection to the front wheels and relying only on the VC to "pickup" the front drive effort if the rear does not have enough traction. IPT gets ~$500 for a DIY overhaul kit, ~$3000 to overhaul, typical dealer cost is ~$4,000.

It sounds as if your evaporator is icing up/over and completely, or mostly, blocking the system airflow. The earlier LS400's were prone to do this but mostly at high altitudes, mountain passes, etc. If the later series, yours, still has an EPR valve, Evaporator Pressure Regulator, that would be where to look first. But it will take someone really sharp on A/C systems (not likely to be found at any dealer) to understand how that works and how to adjust it.

I have the same thing going with the o/d off light on my 90 LS400. Please let me know if you find out anything. The control system has "discovered" that the O/D lockup clutch is slipping...failed?? Certainly no reason for panic, simply turn the O/D off and drive... Lower FE but you can fix the clutch at your convience.

Since the HL has now been ENLARGED, and there is such a great "commonality of parts" between the two I fully suspect that the RX series will soon follow. That clearly leaves a gap, opening, in Lexus' product line which could most easily be filled via a Lexus version of the RAV4... And maybe an RAV4h/AX225h soon to follow...?? 1.6L I4 using the Miller Cycle..?? Supercharging via a positive displacement SC driven by yet another(***) variable frequency AC inverter/motor. NO throttle valve, SC could simply idle along only supplying throttling of the airflow, virtaully no boost, unless the driver asks for.....POWER. *** Virtual duplicate of the A/C compressor motor/inverter.

Hi, I have just had my 2002 RX300 towed to the dealership...appears to be the transmission....waiting to hear from them. Just signed up on this site and haven't fully explored it so I was just wondering if you are still creating a list/file for this problem? I will be back on here after I find out what the problem is. Thanks Pam Miles....??

Via the process of tracking the various symptoms, attempted fixes and their symptoms for the RX product series, '99/'01-'03/'04--, my guess would be that your '99's gear type ATF pump does not have enough capacity with the engine at idle or nearly so. Without enough pressure to fully and firmly seat any "shifting" clutches QUICKLY the wear rate will be accelerated. The problem could be something as simple as a pressure bypass relief spring being too weak, or even a flaw in the control pressure system. But these are so simple to address inexpensively it makes no sense for Toyota not to have provided a fix. So my guess would be that unless your rebuild somehow addresses the ATF pump capacity you'll be facing the same problem in another 70-80,000. But by then you will have 140,000+ miles so maybe not care..?? For myself I plan DIY overhaul with OEM components when and if. But if anything my '01's ATF pump is over-capacity (or maybe a stronger pressure bypass relief spring??) which is why my ATF is being overheated and burned. Did you also read..? http://www.importperformancetrans.com/foru...topic.php?t=502

Why would you want to Supercharge a FWD vehicle..?? Counter-intuitive, that..!!

Was your Lexus recently "involved" in a wedding party..?? Or someone POed at you has dumped a "pile" just under the wipers..??