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From the RX400h owners manual. Page 418 left column, top... "Driving conditions where the steering wheel must be turned frequently may cause an overload to the electric power steering system. The system will reduce assistance for some time to prevent the power steering from overheating. In this case, you may feel some resistance when turning the steering wheel though it is not a malfunction." And some of you didn't believe the RX330 AWD system timed out after 45 seconds to prevent the ABS pumpmotor from overheating.

On the 2nd gen Prius there is a c-best option wherein the climate control reheat/remix mode is disabled. If the RX400h doesn't have this option then you can accomplish the same thing by putting the system in max cooling and recirculate and then using the blower speed to regulate the cabin temperature to your comfort level. DO NOT USE RECIRCULATE DURING COLD CLIMATE CONDITIONS. The only downside is that the system airflow will be so cool it will be a bit discomforting until the cabin has cooled to your comfort level and the blower speed can then be significantly reduced. The upside(s) are that the A/C system will be a LOT more efficient resulting in the A/C compressor not running nearly as often. The second advantage is that in order for the remix/reheat cycle to be used the ICE must be run fairly often to keep the engine coolant temperature up to a satisfactory reheat level. With no system airflow being reheated the coolant will stay hot longer and then the only reason for the ICE to run inordinately (other than for motive force) will be to keep the catalyst HOT. Yet a third thing you can do is install a manual shut-off valve in the engine coolant heater line within the engine compartment. Closing the valve during the summer months will result in a much higher level of A/C efficiency overall. Also, you can then run the system in fully automatic mode with no concern of the level of reheat commanded by the system. This will also prevent the system airflow from even being heated from radiant effects within the A/C plenum.

The complete shop/repair manual set for the RX330 was $600.00.

Did I miss it or did you suggest running the engine for a few minutes before draining the oil so much of the sump "debris" is held in suspension within the oil for draining away?

Premature rotor wear.... I contend that there is NO such animal! My life depends on the very BEST braking ability and that means aggressive pads that EAT rotors for lunch.

NAPA ceramic formulation ~$50 for both front wheels.

The two HB bulbs are run in series plus a resister resulting in ~5 volts across the filaments. You can increase the brightness slightly by shorting out the resister and no I don't know here its located.

I seem to remember that for the 04 and later Prius there is a C-best option to avoid the reheat/remix cycle of the "standard" automatic climate control. In the "standard" Lexus climate control system ALL of the system airflow is CHILLED via the A/C evaporator operation at ~35F and then a portion, or all, of the airflow is reheated via a pass through the heater and then remixed to avoid passenger discomfort. That cycle would require that the engine coolant pump motor be operating anytime the A/C is enabled resulting in additional drain on the batteries. That might even require that the ICE run more often to keep the engine coolant HOT.

I have only had two catalytic converters fail, and they both displayed the symptom you describe. In both cases the honeycomb structure containing the catalyst had failed and chunks of it were downstream blocking the exhaust flow. Both these occurred at 100k+ miles and I was told that was about the normal life expectancy. 1992 LS400...., my bother's 92 has 123k, a friend 140k. You may have only slightly accelerated an impending failure.

It makes not a hill of beans, REALLY!

Since I thought I addressed "2" quite adequately I saw no sense in publishing it.............

"Question: What is "bleeding the brakes" and why is that sometimes necessary? Answer: Bleeding the brakes is flushing the old brake fluid out of the master cylinder, brake lines, calipers and wheel cylinders and replacing it with fresh fluid. Bleeding is necessary for two reasons: 1. To remove air bubbles that may have entered the system while repairs were being made, because of a leak or because the fluid level got too low. The air must be removed because it is compressible and can prevent a full, firm pedal." There's your answer in a nutshell... Repairs, leaks, or the fluid level getting so low air is SUCKED into the system by the mater cylinder. 2. To remove moisture contamination. Now I ask you, if the only way air can get into the system is via repairs, leaks or extremely low fluid levels, how does water get in. Certainly not via the humidity of our atmosphere, AIR that is! "Though the owner's manuals for most domestic vehicles have no specific time or mileage recommendations for replacing brake fluid,...." Says a LOT if the new car dealers haven't been successful in getting the manufacturers to even "suggest" flushing and draining brake fluid on a scheduled basis. ".....recommending a change every two years for preventative maintenance is a good way to minimize the danger of fluid boil and internal corrosion in the brake system. At the very least, the fluid should always be replaced when the brakes are relined. " NOT! Again, the danger you expose you and yours to by relying on the dealer's routine maintainance GOFER, McD graduate, to mess around with your brakes on a regular basis far outweights any possibility of your brakes failing due to contaminated brake fluid.

"does that mean my clutch is good?" No, it means that your friends "test" was inconclusive.

"Friend turned the fan..." If that was shortly, within seconds, after the engine was shut down after it had been fully up to temperature for ~10 minutes with hood closed (HOT radiator airflow over the clutch cooling fins) then your friend's test was valid. Otherwise a "loose" fan clutch is exactly as expected. The viscous fluid is formulated such that there is virtually NO coupling from the engine unless the coolant is VERY close to the point of overheating. Otherwise having the engine driving the fan continuously would result in a waste of HP/fuel.

"There are parts of the braking system that is not built to endure high pressure. " Very true, I have no doubt that the plastic cap will fail long before the atmospheric pressure reaches even 100 PSI. "its lid can be opened easily by design." Why would you open the plastic cap of a perfectly functioning brake system? "so water does get into the system." Oh, I see, that's a good reason to remove the cap. Stoptech's web site. And you want us to swallow some salesman's marketing speil? "As the braking system is not quite airtight, (Where, and in what way?) a significant amount of water can be ( "may be" would be much more appropriate wording) absorbed from the atmosphere in the course of a year. A 3% water (notice how SIGNIFICANT suddenly JUMPED to 3%..??) content in brake fluid drops the boiling point as much as 170 degrees F. Brake fluid should be completely replaced annually. DOT 5 fluids are silicon based and are non-hygroscopic, which is good. They are also subject to frothing (frothing is a form of cavatation, formation of air bubbles in a liquid via separation of the molecular structure) from high frequency vibration (HIGH FREQUENCY VIBRATION, did somebody turn the woofer up really LOUD??) (hmmm, maybe from the brake squeal if the pads weren't chamferred properly...), which gives a soft pedal. Soft brake pedals may be OK in non-high performance cars (in fact, most drivers accept mushy brake pedals as normal) but they are not acceptable in any situation where the driver intends to modulate (you only need to "modulate" if you don't have ABS, as a matter of fact getting drivers to NOT modulate in ABS equipped vehicle has become a real problem!) braking at high force values. MYTH # 4 - BOILED BRAKE FLUID WILL BE SERVICABLE AFTER IT COOLS. Once the brake fluid inside the caliper has boiled, it has lost a significant percentage of its original boiling point and should be replaced. It is not necessary to remove all of the fluid in the system, just bleed until clear fluid appears. And this statemet, above, is nothing but PURE BS. "just bleed until clear fluid appears...." Would all those who do not believe "dark" fluid would quickly recombine with "clear" fluid please just go ahead and leave the room? And those who do not believe the gaseous molecules would recombine with the fluid formulation molecules can also leave. Look, put a quart of water in a large sealed container and then heat the conatiner until nothing is left within but extremely high humidity air. Now let it cool, COMPLETELY, and what have you got left. That original quart of water! When we "boil" a fluid we break down the molecular structure, separating the gaseous molecules fomr the solids. Where do the gaseous molecules GO? The system is SEALED! But more to the point, how does one KNOW when the brake fluid has boiled? Was that brake fade coming down off the mountain pass due to frictional overheating of the pads or boiling brake fluid? MYTH # 3 - A SOFT BRAKE PEDAL IS THE RESULT OF PAD FADE The all too familiar mushy brake pedal is caused by overheated brake fluid, not overheated pads. Repeated heavy use of the brakes may lead to "brake fade". There are two distinct varieties of brake fade A, When the temperature at the interface between the pad and the rotor exceeds the thermal capacity of the pad, the pad loses friction capability due largely to out gassing of the binding agents in the pad compound. The brake pedal remains firm and solid but the car will not stop. The first indication is a distinctive and unpleasant smell which should serve as a warning to back off. B, When the fluid boils in the calipers air bubbles are formed. Since air is compressible, the brake pedal becomes soft and "mushy" and pedal travel increases. You can probably still stop the car by pumping the pedal but efficient modulation is gone. This is a gradual process with lots of warning. ← It is extremely, and I mean EXTREMELY, hard to bring your brake fluid in any modern day car to the boiling point, it simply doesn't happen. After just three laps on the track at Pacific raceways I have seen the rotors on my 2001 C4 glowing cherry red and yet I am fully confident that the fluid do not reach its boiling point. Now to be fair if I though the brake fluid needed to be changed out in any of my vehicles on a regular basis, or as the result of some severe or heavy duty, I would go out and buy the equipement and do the job myself. I quite firmly believe that you will, in unduly flushing brake fluids, put yourself and yours in much greater danger via trusting some car dealers lowly paid gofer, McD graduate, to work on your brakes. But, now, a little reality. How many of us can remember transiting from non-boosted brakes to boosted brakes. MAN, did that pedal ever feel MUSHY! Anyone tried driving a non-boosted vehicle lately? So now here we are again transiting to BA....

Your fan clutch use a viscous fluid which when heated "stiffens" and "engages" the clutch. As the airflow through the radiator gets warm, then hot, and in your case even hotter, the clutch more tighly couples the fan to the engine.

Why does anyone believe that Lexus doesn't purchase their oxygen sensors from the very same source you happen to buy from aftermarket. Besides which the EPA would not allow a substandard "degraded" oxygen sensor to be marketed within the US. And why would a "failed" oxygen sensor be more likely to result in a richer mixture rather than a lean one? Just speaking as someone selling processors that run much of the ATE, automatic test equipment, used to test automotive sensor and control components involved in emissions control.

Here's the way to tell if your brakes are up to par... At ~35MPH on a solid surface dry roadbed, after checking traffic behind, apply the brakes quickly and firmly, VERY firmly. With the advent of most modern vehicles being equipped with BA, Brake Assist, it is not unusual for the brake pedal to feel "soft" by design. BA detects, monitors, the RATE at which you apply the brakes and actually BOOSTS the brake pressure beyond normal brake application independent, somewhat, of pedal pressure. If the brakes are effective enough the ABS should activate to prevent lockup. Also the vehicle should stop in a straight ahead fashion, if any stearing input is required during severe braking then something is wrong. And think about this. The brake system is designed to sustain brake fluid pressures beyond 3000PSI, if the brake fluid cannot get out with pressures at this level, how is it that humid air at atmospheric pressure, 14.7PSI, can get in. IT CAN'T!! I'm quite sure my 1992 LS400 still has the factory brake fluid after 14 years and 100k miles. My 78 Porsche, 98k miles, would also had I not upgraded to Boxster front calipers a few years ago. And one more thing... When I buy brake pads I ask for the most aggressive pad they have. I do not want long life brake pads, I want to live a long life. I don't care if the pads or so aggressive that they EAT rotors for lunch, pads and rotors are expendable/renewable, my life isn't.

NO. VERY complex procedure, rear axle level sensor, auto-leveling ECU, integrating into onboard LAN, etc.

One step at a time................ Replace the drier first, I have been told that this is standard procedure when converting to r-134. It seems highly unlikely that both would fail simultaneously. My 1992 LS400's A/C is still working just fine at over 100k, no work EVER on the A/C. So you went into the "conversion" already with a leak. Which the conversion shop should have found.

Normal maintenance my.............!! If the Ph and the freeze level of your coolant is okay then I very much doubt that your problem is in that area. My 1992 LS400 went almost 100,000 miles on the factory coolant before I changed it out just about a year of so ago.

Yes, that's the result of the A/C compressor cycling on and off. A good sign.

Don't know about the newer ones but my 92 has two fans which are sometimes run in series for low speed. Your fan(s) may be running but at low speed??

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6057605.html Apparently the industry is struggling to figure out how to keep the catalyst above or near its 750F optimum operating temperature in hybrid systems. According to the patent the ICE even needs to be operating under a significant load level in order for the exhaust gasses to retain enough energy to maintain the catalyst at the optimum operating temperature level. So: No atkinson cycle. And the engine must be run fairly OFTEN and UNDER LOAD in order for the exhaust gasses to be HOT enough to keep the catalyst LIT-OFF. Absent using the energy recovered via regenerative braking to keep the catalyst lit-off, as proposed in the above referenced patent.

Take the spacers off the back...........??