ukfan4sure!

They quoted me a price of $1250.00 parts and labor. Gulp! Woah, that's a lot of dough. Excellent write-up. This should be stickied as "Knock Sensors".

Thanks for the "clue" on the Lexuz forum. More importantly, thanks for the answer. I would have hoped you could sense from my tone that I had just paid close to $250 for them to give me conflicting information about which sensor they replaced, after TELLING "the nice young gal" I had already replaced bank 2's cam sensor due to a P1350 code. The reason I stated "nice young gal" is that when I questioned her about which bank, she immediately went into defensive mode as if I was picking on her intelligence/knowledge because she was a woman. I could care less if she was a Vulcan from StarTrek as long as she fixes my car. I've had problems with this car since I first purchased it. Nothing but frustations with this situation; period. I know this is not typical of Lexus products, but I can only speak to MY experiences. When your wife would rather drive the Jeep Wrangler than your plush Lexus, you know you have a right to call it a POS. We can't trust this car and it looks like the dealership is only going to swap parts (if they actually know bank 1 from bank 2) until their 401K's allow retirement or I sell it, whichever comes first. So the paperwork says P1350, bank 2 and SHE tells me it's the REAR closest to the firewall. She also is "99% sure" this will fix my problem. Well, bank 2 is the FRONT, so now I'm feeling crapped on as I suspected would happen all along by going to a dealer where the technician reads some obscure stored code data from who knows what caused by who knows what. The engine sensing a screw up in the cam timing could be caused by a miriad of things it seems to me. Maybe a loss in fuel pressure causing the engine to stumble? Anyhow, looks like I have yet another Lexus fight on my hands, but this time with the dealership. Sorry if in my anger and 2 years worth of insecurity with this car I offended anyone here. But personally, I'll NEVER own another Lexus..... UK- believe me, I understand your frustration. And from me to you, it is valid. Just that when we type something like this in the heat of the frustration, it often becomes counterproductive. Artbuc & Lenore (as well as UK fan), you understand when I started working in the dealership on Sat. and summer vacation when I was in my teens, I decided right then, if I couldn't do better than what people payed good money to have done professionally, I would give up driving and walk. I have known some really outstanding mechanics over the years, but all too many of the rest made me embarrassed to be in the automotive field. It is one of the major reasons I have done my own work ALL my life and try and help anyone who needs the help and doesn't know where to go to get it done right, because I don't know most of the time where to tell them either. I truly feel for the people who have no idea or are unable to do the work themselves. It's one of the reasons I reach out to them. Yeah, thanks. I haven't had a car to a dealership in YEARS. Like I said, I know more than most of them and if I have to go to a dealership, you can bet it is an amazingly daunting problem. As you've already dug up, this problem had been going on FOREVER! Only to have them screw up in this basic, elemental way only confirms my thoughts on most of the tech's and service reps competence. I paid, in MY view, $250 bucks for nothing. I might have well lit a cigar with two Franklins and a Grant. The real topper? I paid for a "Deluxe" warranty to cover things like this at a cost of over $2000 (I THINK) when I bought the car. Guess what? ....."uh, we don't cover cam sensors"..... Pure icing on the cake.

Already pulled the cover. Clean as a whistle. The engine has been VERY well taken care of with Mobil 1 changes at 7K miles each. Ditto on the better mechanic. I own 3 BMW's and a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon in addtion to this RX. I KNOW how to wrench. But this problem is beyond the scope of my technical equipment ( probably need a code SCANNER or better) and my knowledge. The next closest dealer is in Lexington, 90 miles away.

Thanks for the "clue" on the Lexuz forum. More importantly, thanks for the answer. I would have hoped you could sense from my tone that I had just paid close to $250 for them to give me conflicting information about which sensor they replaced, after TELLING "the nice young gal" I had already replaced bank 2's cam sensor due to a P1350 code. The reason I stated "nice young gal" is that when I questioned her about which bank, she immediately went into defensive mode as if I was picking on her intelligence/knowledge because she was a woman. I could care less if she was a Vulcan from StarTrek as long as she fixes my car. I've had problems with this car since I first purchased it. Nothing but frustations with this situation; period. I know this is not typical of Lexus products, but I can only speak to MY experiences. When your wife would rather drive the Jeep Wrangler than your plush Lexus, you know you have a right to call it a POS. We can't trust this car and it looks like the dealership is only going to swap parts (if they actually know bank 1 from bank 2) until their 401K's allow retirement or I sell it, whichever comes first. So the paperwork says P1350, bank 2 and SHE tells me it's the REAR closest to the firewall. She also is "99% sure" this will fix my problem. Well, bank 2 is the FRONT, so now I'm feeling crapped on as I suspected would happen all along by going to a dealer where the technician reads some obscure stored code data from who knows what caused by who knows what. The engine sensing a screw up in the cam timing could be caused by a miriad of things it seems to me. Maybe a loss in fuel pressure causing the engine to stumble? Anyhow, looks like I have yet another Lexus fight on my hands, but this time with the dealership. Sorry if in my anger and 2 years worth of insecurity with this car I offended anyone here. But personally, I'll NEVER own another Lexus.....

So I've been having problems for 2 fricking years with this POS RX300 stumbling, faltering, and dying just whenever it feels like it. I might run 2 months or more with no problems and then BAM! --- it'll die for no reason. Start it again and it'll die again. Let it sit for 10 minutes and it'll do fine till the next time it wants to do it again. Maybe a week or maybe 6 months. It was throwing codes, P1350 being one of them. So I replaced what I thought was the bank 2 cam sensor, the front one (the easy one). Well later it did it again and I've been putting up with it for a LOOOOONG time. Dealer time, right? Well, I explain to the nice little gal that I've already spent the money on a sensor for the front bank (bank 2 right?) with zero success. The receipt reads as follows: ...."Could not duplicate concern. But did find a code P1350 VVT sensor Circuit Malfuntion. No problems found in Live Data but did see problem in freeze frame data saved with code. Diagonosis at this tiem is to replace cam position sensor bank 2." They replaced according, to the nice little gal, the sensor closest to the firewall. I sure hope so or they wasted my money putting in a part I already replaced. Who doesn't know what they are talkiing about? Me or them? Thanks!!

I just performed the AICV cleaning on my 2001 RX300 based upon this writeup. EXCELLENT!! I told my wife I just saved her $685 on her car and told her she was going to have to give me something in trade......I enjoyed that. :P Thanks for this. It saved me "big time"! For those of you struggling with the screws, an impact screw driver works miracles. I tapped mine with a hammer a few times and they all broke loose no problem..... Also, the wire cables can be simply pryed from their respective mounts without cutting.

Yeah. The bank 2 cam sensor was flakey. It would act up at random times, but I finally came to the conclusion it was heat related. $70 later, I am back on the road! Thanks to all for your help!! It's back again! *&^%$!!!! I'm really getting ticked! P0350 and p1350 again!

Yeah. The bank 2 cam sensor was flakey. It would act up at random times, but I finally came to the conclusion it was heat related. $70 later, I am back on the road! Thanks to all for your help!!

Thanks. I will try this, if I can locate the unit. Knowing my luck, you will have to remove the engine to get to it.! Ha@

OK, I dug it out of the trash beside the computer desk (I forgot I had put them there), but I am worried that the codes are simply a secondary response to the real problem. I could be wrong. P1350 VVT Sensor Circuit Malfunction Bank 2 -- Camshaft position sensor. P0340 The PCM has determined that a malfunction exists in the electrical circuit for camshaft position sensor "A" (Bank 1 or single sensor).

Go stock. No need for other. Rotors drilled improperly will show cracks over time and could lead to catastrophic failure if not checked. BTW, drilled rotors do NOTHING for outgassing. Thinks about it. Where is it going to go sandwiched between two brake pads? Slotted DO outgass, though but will significantly affect pad wear. Stated simply.....you just don't need it.

STILL UNResolved! See posting below! First of all; thanks for letting me in the forums. I am a regular on Bimmerforums (3100 posts), but the Lexus scene is pretty new for me. First, I purchased this RX for my wife about a year ago. It had relatively high mileage (92K) but the price was great, so I bit. It's been a perfect car until about 4 weeks ago when it took a spell of an apparent mis-fire with the tach jumping erratically (no change in engine speed, though), the car stumbling several times, and eventually dying. It threw a code (but it said something about the Bank 1 sensor) and the VSC light. For two straight weeks, it ran like a Singer sewing machine; no problems, so I threw the PO codes away and I don't remember the exactly what they were. I tossed it up to bad gas. But several days ago, it acted in the same way again. I took it over to the local parts store to get the codes again, but before I could get there, the lights cleared (would they still be stored in memory?). Anyhow, now I began getting worried about this PITA intermittent situation with the wifey driving it. Well, yesterday it did it again and this time it stranded her. Jumping, stumbling, erratic, wildly swinging tach with no engine speed change (like it's electrical in nature). It seems that the problem subsides if the car sits for a while as the last two times it has done it, the next day it runs fine. Geez! Anyhow, my question is this: Is the extra lead off of the battery (covered in the looser plastic sleeve) for all of the electronics? Does it have a link fuse under all of that? I felt down the length of it and I think there must be something inside as it doesn't just feel like solid cable. Could that be where an intermittent/corrosion problem exists? Is there a cable harness I can remove and reconnect somewhere? Before someone mentions it, the terminals are tight and clean on the battery. I did several keyword searches here, but to no real avail except for the mention of an "oil sensor" possibility. Does that sound pausible for these events I am seeing? Anyhow, thanks a lot. I hope this will be "paybacks" through another forum for all of the people I help from time to time on the "Bimmer" side of the automotive world. Lexus is a strange, new world to me! Ha!!

This makes me laugh! I once interviewed a guy for a job in our maintenance department and on our written exam it asked about his experience with HVAC components. He said he had never really worked on High Voltage Alternating Current before, only digital stuff. .......we didn't hire him.