rx350guy

Guess what... Just recently returned from a relatively short road trip to Palm Springs, and that dreaded sound is back again. Already made an appointment with my dealership for tomorrow morning.

Lexus needs to step up to the plate and declare this issue an official 'Campaign Notice'!

David, Thanks for sharing. Your experience is not encouraging to say the least. So far, no recurrence of the issue in my car <knock on wood> but it's now right at that 18 month later mark that you describe since my original issue.

Hoping this does not turn into a full blown 'campaign notice' for the 200t, but if it keeps happening at around 12-15K mile intervals it just might. And if Lexus' fix is to simply replace the part, this doesn't appear to be the long term solution. They may need a redesign of the defective part.

I'll post here if my car starts exhibiting the same issue again.

As a quick update, it took 2 weeks for the backordered part to come in. I took the car back in today, and it took them about 3 hours to install the new part.

No more noise!

So about a month ago at around 12,000 miles on my 2016 IS200t, I noticed an unusual noise coming from the left side of the engine. As OCD as I am, I immediately took it in to my local dealership for a quick diagnosis. Answer: 'that's a normal sound from these new turbo engines, so don't worry about it'. Okay, sounds reasonable, and after all they're the experts, right?. So I didn't think any more about it (at least for a few weeks) until it continued to bug me, and I thought, if it's a 'normal' sound, then why am I just now hearing it after 12,000+ miles on the odometer and a year's worth of driving? 

I started doing some research on the web, and quickly discovered that this was being reported by a few other 2016 IS200t owners at around the same mileage. One owner reported that his dealer told him it was a 'turbo regulator vacuum valve that was stuck open'. Hmmmmmm, now that doesn't sound 'normal' to me; so armed with this newly discovered information, I revisited my dealership again and received a completely different response this time. 'Oh yes, I know exactly what that is. We had another IS200t owner in here just 2 weeks ago with the exact same problem, and it's the turbo regulator vacuum valve. Let's go take a listen. Sure enough, as soon as the service adviser heard the noise, she said 'yep, that's what it is, but let's get our senior technician to officially validate the diagnosis'. 

After the official diagnosis, it was in fact determined to be that 'the vacuum valve for turbo regulator was stuck open'... bingo, finally nailed it down! Service adviser said that the part needed to be ordered (and it was currently backordered), so it may be as much as two weeks before the part will come in, then maybe 2-3 hours to install (all under warranty of course). 

The technician said that the car was okay to continue to drive in the meantime while waiting for the part to come in, I just hope it doesn't take too long for the dang part to come in. My service adviser did say that the previous owner's part still had not come in yet, and it's been more than two weeks now.

And the adviser also said that 'this will likely turn into a campaign notice, as 'it is appearing to be an ongoing issue with the new IS200t engines'. Just a heads up to all you other IS200t owners that may be out there.

Fuel injection, or as it's sometimes called, induction service is a pure money grab and a rip-off. Stick to the factory recommended service in your owner's manual, nothing else and your car should run fine for a long, long time. As was mentioned, the service writer's job is to 'up-sell' service and repairs that are not necessarily needed because thay receive commissions on what they sell.

That's why we almost always get that dreaded call back from the service advisor when our car is in the shop telling us that our car 'needs' X amount of additional work done for a lot more money than you planned to spend after taking it in for a routine LOF service.

_{You'll probably get a variety of opinions on this, but I'm on my second set of tires now. My first set were the factory delivered Goodyear Eagles and they were fine, but now I'm running Michelin Energy and I think I like them better than the Goodyears for a few reasons, including quietness, smoother ride and longer treadwear.}

If you haven't already gotten your floor mats, here's a site that I've used with very good results..

http://www.lexpartsworld.com/scripts/default.asp

Oh boy, you're probably going to get a lot of different opinions on this, and here's mine. Consumer Reports rated Zymol #1 overall for all car waxes/polishes a few years ago and I've been using it ever since on my cars. It is an all natural, carnuba/bees wax formula; goes on and comes off easily, protects exceptionally well and produces a brilliant shine. What more could you ask for?! :)

try here:

http://lexus.sewellp...-2008/2422.html

Thanks I will :)

Any luck finding the part?

There are lots of threads here about recommended tires, and opinions vary widely, but I just put a new set of Michelin MXVs on mine and love them..

one of the more annoying characteristics I've foudn with my car is its non-linear response to the pressing of the throttle pedal.

In fact, non just non-linear, but non-predictable.

Sometimes nothing happens with the initial half travel of the pedal, which can get dangerous when overtaking or crossing intersections. Not much response until you floor the pedal, which is not how it was on the Highlander AWD.

The Highlander responded well to light pressing of the accelerator.

"..sometimes nothing happens..."

That's because the DBW system is "protecting the drive train".

You are undoubtedly experiencing the 1-2 second re-acceleration downshift delay, SOP.

May be SOP, but I agree with Satz; none-the-less, still quite annoying..

I would stick with the 18 inch wheels, but don't get the Goodyears again. I replaced my original Goodyears with Michelins a few months ago, and am loving the quiet, comfortable and smooth ride..

I have an RX 350, 2008 model nearing lease expiry. The dealer told me about warranty expiry. The car's odmeter reading is only 20,700. Would it be worth the money to extend the warranty for another 4 years? Other than peace of mind, does it achieve any real benefit by buying the extended warrany, especially when the car has such a low mileage?

I added the extended warranty at time of purchase, and thankfully have not had to use it yet; but the peace of mind is worth it to me. Nearing 60k miles on my 08 RX and have not had any problems at all so far..

I'd take it back to the dealer and let them deal with it. Should be under warranty still right?

Hi, reading through posts and notice that there are discussions about 5w20 and 5w30, there was a TSB in 2006 to switch to 5w20 for some cars, but then the 2009 were produced later and the manual still saids to use 5w30. I have read other posts claiming certain dealers are putting either 5w30, 5w20, or even 10w30. Now I was wondering which is right and has Lexus actually came out and told us exaclty if the new oil should be 5w20 or 5w30, also how much does this really effect gas mileage, engine, etc? Any official word as I would like to change the oil myself and am now confused as to which I shoudl be using.

Hmmmm.. My owner's manual recommends:

Agree that $400 for a new dash is a great deal, I'd jump on it..

Agree that the 'auto' cabin climate control is worthless. I had it on for a few days after I bought the car because that's what the dealer recommended, but it never seemed to monitor and control the interior temperature very well, so I have been using the manual functions ever since..

Yes, if you have nav, this information is displayed in the trip info screen..

Have never had a bad experience at a Lexus dealership..

I would not go against the manufacturer's recommendation, it's there for a reason - as someone posted, it may be fine in the short-term to use regular 87, but over time I believe it will degrade performance. I guess it depends on how long you plan to own the car. Considering I keep mine 8 years or longer on average, I sure don't plan to risk it. And as other posters have also said, the price differential amounts to a couple hundred dollars a year more, max...

Agree 100%..

My CPO 2008 came with nav and camera...works like a charm!

My 08 came with the Nav/cam as well, but I think it is an option package and not all RX's have it. I use mine every time I back up..

Yes, of course Toyota is an alternative....Same car as a highlander....basically...just dont expect free water and donuts in the waiting room..(however cheaper)

I get free water, donuts AND coffee, hot chocolate; shuttle service and car wash after every service at my local Toyota dealership!

We have an '08 RX350 with about 56,000 miles on it. Recently the tire pressure warning light came on. I searched the Forum and found a lot of good suggestions on how to reset and have tried everything. It's probably a bad sensor-after talking to the closest dealer, about 45 miles away, it's will cost $250 and up, depending on how many sensors are bad . I maintain my vehicles myself, and this light is driving my wife nuts! Is there any way to disable it? No, this is not a sting and I'm not employed by any government agency . Any help would be greatly appreciated! Feel free to email any suggestions. Thanks in advance! btw I'm also a member of Corvette Forum and these sites are a tremendous help to non-experts!!

If you've done the research, and already talked to the dealer I'm sure you've already tried the easier and most common fixes like checking tire pressures, and don't forget about the spare. Low spare tire pressure is the most common cause of TPMS issues.

Goos luck! :)

Consumer reports reviewing vehicles is like Car and Driver reviewing appliances, except Car and Driver has the sense to not review appliances.

Your comment pretty much sums it up. I could not have put it any better myself.

I'm sure you're gonna love it!

It's the only way they could get advertised HP and Torque values.

I see, so if I am not all that concerned with a slight drop in performance, then there really is no reason not to use regular? Using regular will not cause any damage to the engine?