nick49

Are you guys with the Alenzas going stock or slightly larger size? I thought I read posts here where several recommended a larger size??

I haven't posted or even been here in months, but just happened across this post and had to check the steering on my wife's 400h first hand. I looked under the dash and found the steering column where it enters the firewall, then crawled underneath and found where it enters the gearbox on the rack housing. I observed movement at this point while my wife turned the steering wheel R & L. This system is purely mechanical from the steering wheel to the rack housing. Turn right and the rack moves to the left pulling the steering knuckle behind the pivot to the left and the front of the tire to the right. What the original poster claimed with the vehicle moving opposite to the direction the steering wheel was turned is not possible with a mechanical system like the Lexus. If the steering was electrically controlled thru servos and was poorly designed it may be possible for this to happen, but certainly the engineers would have forseen this possibly and engineered it such that it couldn't happen.

BTW, where is the oil filter? I checked the owners manual and it doesn't mention any thing as far as location. TIA, Nick

You probably wouldn't let some unskilled $10/hr worker in your home to start working on your furniture, in your bedroom closet, your gourmet kitchen, so why let them potentially damage your car in a way that you may not notice for some time if at all. I had a very high end body shop do some work on my Porsche Carrera last year and what appeared to be a good job on the surface was absolutely horrible when I found several areas where they had actually broken things because they were unfamiliar with the proper disassembly/assembly technique. Plastic rivets and fasteners were broken and omitted, weather stirpping snap pins were broken off, and it goes on and on. I change the oil on my daily driver Jeep too and rotate the tires on all my vehicles. This reminds me too that the body shop way over torqued the lug nuts on a wheel on the Porsche, lucky my brake rotor didn't warp which they often will. I also insist on torqueing my own lug bolts at the tire store whenever I have tires installed or rebalanced. You would be shocked what you would find if you rechecked all the work that people have done on your vehicles. I'm in the business and have been for 30+ years, I see it daily and it won't change any time soon.

Got the car back late this afternoon, spent the better part of three days in the shop. The first problem was an open circuit in the skid control ECU. The skid control computer was replaced and codes cleared. The second problem was an open circuit in the ABS Brake Actuator Assebmly which was also replaced. Seems odd to me that both of these units would fail at the same time. Will keep an eye on things and see if any other problems arise. I will be doing an oil and filter change and rotation of the tires this weekend. I'm probably the only one that changes their own oil here.

Out of curosity, I started the Lexus and drove it around my hilly neighborhood about a mile and a half. The brakes and steering feel heavy and unassisted, it feels like the gasoline engine is not assisting in power but it is running and doesn't respond at all when stopped and in neutral. The warning lights are still on but no CEL. There is a noise like a breaker or relay cycling coming from the rear of the car. I would be afraid to drive it in traffic as it takes about 150 feet to stop at 35 mph. Battery is about 30% charged, and show it charges while coasting and braking. I didn't check it out further. Re theft: On a stormy, very windy and rainy night I got home after driving the Lexus to the store. Pulled in the garage and locked the door with the remote and entered the house. Next morning went into the garage and noticed both doors wide open and Lexus is gone, I couldn't believe it. Next I looked on the key holder in the kitchen and it was gone too. The theif had entered our home and stole the key and my wifes car while we were home. Some tools were stolen out of our garage and the contents emptied out of the console of my wifes Boxster, and her cell phone charger was taken. The car was recovered in a tavern parking lot a few miles from home and had been there for about 2 weeks. The car was quite dirty and had mud on the carpets and the drivers seat was way forward and the back significantly reclined. All her CDs were untouched but the owners manuals were gone along with the first aid kit, tool kit, lug lock socket. They kept the remote key but detached the Lexus key ring and left it on the floor. The car had been driven less than a hundred miles. The car is Lojack equipped which is an anti theft device that has a transmitter placed on the car that can be tracked anywhere in the world within minutes to locate it. Problem is the local Sheriff and Police do not subscribe to this service so it didn't help. Everyone that has heard this bizarre tale keeps thinking that it is an inside job or was done by family or friend. I can't say that I blame them, but when the details become known it's apparent that it's not the case. I'm unsure what they did in the car but the battery cover under the hood was loosened and askew, the rear hatch had been opened and the storage tray removed and the general area disturbed like they were searching for contraband. Thankfully the car was not vandalized.

Hello all, I've been a lurker here and actually registered Feb of last year but this is my first post. I couldn't log in so I reregistered today. My wife has an '06 400h that we bought new and it now has 11k miles on it. It has had an interesting life in only a year and a half. We bought it in Houston and drove it half way across the country as our local dealer had a waiting list and was padding the prices. After having the car only a few months, it was stolen out of our locked garage, while we we home and recovered two weeks later, a little dirty but unharmed. Anyway yesterday my wife was leaving the grocery store and just as she started off there was a loud high pitched whistle alarm coming from the car, and the P/S, Brake, ABS, warning lights were on along with the "!" light and alternating "Check AWD System" and "Check Hybrid System" lights. She said the steering was real sluggish and the brakes hardly worked. She drove the 4.5 miles to get home and parked the car in the garage. She said it had a strange smell of something that had burned. I called the Lexus dealer and talked to a service Rep and heard exactly what I expected to hear. They knew absoltely nothing about anything that I was talking about and said it was a first as far as he was concerned. We will have the car flatbedded to the dealer on Monday. Funny thing, my wife also has a Porsche Boxster and always compares it to the Lexus. The Lexus is quieter, the Lexus is smoother, the Lexus has a better sound system, the Lexus won't break down like German cars do.... so she took her Boxster out of town yesterday for an overnight trip to meet our daughter and she just might have gained some confidence in it. She has had it nearly 5 years and outer than needing a jump once due to a low battery it's been trouble free. I'll reply when I find out what broke on the Lexus.