GDixon

The auto windshield wiper thing is annoying. The sensitivity is set all the way "minus" and it still suddenly goes off just driving down the freeway on a sunny day. A bug splat must hit the sensor or something. Then there is the risk of a scratched windshield and the inevitable line of dust that the wiper leaves. The shock and distraction is enough to cause a heart attack or accident (in pants). It has not rained in CA since the car was purchased in May so the wipers are left off. Sometimes when the interior is cleaned the lever is accidentally moved. It sounds like people are not generally pleased with the auto wipers. I'll try them out in November or December if it even rains by then. The 5K service is coming up so a complaint will be lodged at the dealership. Their response will be reported here.

I don't think the average mpg can be reset without removing/disconnecting the battery. There is nothing in the manual that suggests a way to do it that I can find. That is why the question was originally asked. Pushing/holding the INFO button or filling up the gas tank doesn't reset the average mpg on my 08 RX350. Anyone else out there have a suggestion? It is not something that can't be lived with but now that the car has been broken in the average mpg might have changed. It is like getting a "F" in school in that it takes forever to get the gpa back up and it never really fully recovers.

Does anyone know how to reset the average gas mileage (mpg) on the dash display? Specifically, the data display that shows the mpg since the car was new, not the current mpg that can vary from moment to moment. I don't have the GPS screen and tried holding down the INFO button for 1 second, then several seconds, and no change. That is the only technique that I can find in the manual. If it resets when the battery is disconnected at least that is one method. Of course, that causes several other things to have to be reset as well. Thanks to anyone with a hint.

I, too, saw the ball mount listed in the parts but it must mean something else since it was not in the kit. Buy one locally for under $20. Measure the distance to the ground from the receiver and the distance to the ground that you want the ball depending on the construction and weight of the trailer. Save the sales receipt for the mount since after hooking everything up there may be a bit too much rear sag for the desired trailer tongue height. Ball mounts come in various "drops" and "raises". Lexus probably didn't include the mount since there is no way to know the right mount measurement and even the ball size for every situation. The receiver is indeed the standard 2 inch square.

Excellent! Now you know how to make the picture manual so we will all wait until you do the oil change manual for the RX350. :D

Is the clicking new or has it always done it? My Porsche 944 had the same issue. It sounded like valve tap but it turns out that it was the normal sound that the fuel injectors make when functioning properly. It is just an idea worth exploring.

Look at the *.pdf file in the above post for details, drawings, and answers to your questions. Yes, it is a Toyota/Lexus part - the box had a big TOYOTA logo on it. The part number is in the first post in this topic. Figure 6-1 in the *.pdf file shows how it fits around and under the tailpipe. Also below are attached are a couple of pictures of the installed hitch.

Alright!! Here is a copy of the actual hitch installation instructions in *.pdf form. Lexu*BLEEP*ch.pdf

Yes, there is a removable/replaceable insert but when you go to buy the filter, that is what is in the box. The other procedures are the same and figuring out that the new filter goes inside the old cannister is not rocket science. :P

Simply, don't do it. If money is a factor then golf is out of the question. It will take 10 years of weekly practice to be even a passable player and that is after several thousand dollars of investment in clubs. You will want several sets since getting a newer more expensive set of clubs will surely improve your game. <_< After you realize that it is not a self-taught game, expensive lessons will come next. Then more trips to the range and course to practice what the teaching pro told you. You will want to play more rounds to establish your handicap so green fees will be a factor in the budget. The physical stress on your back will eventually break it down with a herniated disk. Just look at the back problems of the pros. I have played this game for 50 years, must have had 10 sets of clubs, a couple of dozen pair of shoes, innumerable balls, and spent a fortune at the course on green fees and buckets of balls. The best I could get was a 5 handicap. The thing about golf is that you can always get better - maybe tomorrow will be the day the epiphany will come. Meanwhile, every shot counts against your score. This is a game where more is worse. If you hit one good shot a round, it is that shot that sticks in your memory and you are sure that with more practice then all of your shots will be just as good as that one. The pros say, "You are only as good as your worst shot." Think about that as you struggle trying to establish a game. Take up tennis instead.

Try this link. It is in Lexus Maintenance > Tutorials http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=21979 The RX350 is the same procedure.

If your RX was not prepped with the tow package you have to buy an electrical converter to use the electric circuitry. Apparently the Lexus lights are LED rather than standard American style. Look for my post "RX350 Trailer Hitch Facts" in the 07-RX350 forum. The hitch fits a RX330 perfectly and includes the wiring harness for a towing package equipped RX. The part number for the electrical converter is there also. The weight limit for a towing equipped RX is 3500 pounds but is 2000 pounds if not so equipped.

OK, the hitch is installed. The hitch itself took an hour, accessing the electrical plug-in took two hours. How Lexus can charge $400+ for just the install labor is beyond me. This was the first time for me and it took extra time to assemble the correct tools and scratch my head a few times. It could probably be done in 2/3 of the time for someone experienced. Tools necessary for installing the hitch to the frame: 14 mm socket 15 mm socket 6" socket extension air impact wrench makes it easier, a regular 1/2 socket wrench would do and is definitely necessary for 4 bolts. torque wrench to handle 37 ft-lbs or torque could be guessed Tools for the rear floor removal: a panel removal tool or something that will remove black plastic body clips (plugs), a small stiff putty knife works fine. 12 mm deep and shallow socket (a magnetic insert is HIGHLY recommended) 6" socket extension 3/8" in socket wrench (a 3/8" air socket wrench speeds things up) The hitch/frame install is straight forward. After removing the tow hooks, there is a brace to install on the driver's side and one for the passenger's side - 4 bolts total. The mounting holes on the car are plugged with rubber grommets. Removing them exposes the welded and threaded backing nuts. The holes line up perfectly and just wrench the remaining 9 bolts through the hitch and into the frame or brace. There is also a 15mm nut. I jacked up the rear to gain better access and used a jack stand to steady one end of the hitch while the other was secured by one barely started bolt to hold it in place. Then the other end got a bolt and the rest was easy. Then the wiring harness can be untaped and clipped on to little mounting brackets on the hitch. Pull the obvious large rubber body grommet and the grommet on the wiring harness goes in its place. The grommet is flexible and is easily installed. The easy part is done. The interior rear floor removal is necessary. There are no shortcuts. All of this needs to be done just to remove the little tray on the driver's side to gain access to the electrical plug in. "Front" is front of the car, "rear" is rear of the car. The tray with the jack in it comes out with the removal of two black plastic body clips on the rear part of the tray. The tray lifts up and to the rear and that is it for that one. The jack door is left on and the contents of the jack tray can be left as they are. The hinges for the rearmost two tray access doors are held on by four nuts that are exposed when the jack tray is removed. A 12 mm deep socket is needed for those front four nuts. Then the rear of the hinges are held on by six 12 mm bolts that are hard to access and the rear tray has to be flexed a bit to get to them. Don't worry at this point if one is dropped - it will be found when the tray is removed. There are some more black clips on both sides of the tray and then it can be lifted out. A couple of more clips allow the very rear panel that has the tray opening buttons in it to be pulled up. It is secured with several non-accessible white clips that can't be seen but comes out easily. Finally the small tray on the driver's side that is really why all the rest of the floor has to be taken out can be removed. It is held in place by a couple of black clips and a strange threaded plastic nut in a depression on the bottom of the tray. Don't forget to un-Velcro the interior gas door release. There is only one place to plug in the wiring harness and the length of the wire from the grommet makes it obvious. Taping the hitch wire to the body harness is advised so you don't have to do this twice in case it comes loose somehow. Of course, test the trailer plug-in now to make sure it works. Lights, LT, RT, brake, and emergency lights. Some of this testing is redundant but it pays to do it anyway. Re-installation is the reverse of removal. EXCEPT: Don't forget to get the gas door release out from behind the little final tray when it is put back in. AND: The six 12 mm bolts for the rear tray's doors are a real pain. Access is limited, they are hard to start in their holes, and dropping one can cause it to roll under the rear tray and then the tray has to be removed again to get the bolt. Luckily, I had a magnetic socket insert than held the bolt so it could be started by hand. Some wide masking tape can be used to close the three gaps where the bolts might fall through. Another trick might be to put the bolts through the hinge first and then lower the door/hinge to just above the holes and use the 12 mm socket w/extension to get them started. Just start all six bolts first in case one is dropped under the tray. Then they can all be tightened after they are all started. Hope this helps someone. Pictures were considered but they would not have been any more help than the drawings that came with the hitch installation instructions.

The Lexus trailer hitch from Toyota arrived for my 08 RX350. The description on the box is "Lexus RX330 RC Hitch '04 3500". It also fits the RX400h but the two plastic skirts on the sides of the rear bumper have to be removed. Part # is: PT228-48045. It was about $280 with shipping from Lexus of Roseville where the car was purchased (they have a store on eBay). It does not work with "active cruise control" for some reason. If you don't have a towing package then an electrical converter is necessary - P/N 82670-48050. The attachment is with 13 bolts and one nut. The rear towing hooks on both sides have to be removed first. The wiring harness is permanently attached to the hitch and is integral to its operation. It apparently cannot be purchased separately for use with a hitch from an independent company. In order to access the car's existing towing package wiring hook-up, the entire back floor of the luggage compartment has to be removed. That is the tray with the jack in it and the storage tray that opens with the two push buttons at the far rear of the interior. Then a grommet is popped out to the back of the driver's side rear wheel and replaced with a new included grommet that the hitch wiring goes through. The attachment is very near the grommet. This is all from reading the directions. I'll post again after the install if anyone is interested and any shortcuts are found.

Here are a couple of pics of the Colgan bra/jock/front end cover for the RX350 - mirror covers as well. It has to be ordered specifically to get the "T" type hood cover. The Colgan label had RX330 on it but it fit perfectly and tightly on my 08 RX350 so anyone who wants one can just order the RX330 item. Cost was $200 and it took four weeks to get it.

GDixon - I believe you are right, but for the wrong reason. A piston goes through the same stroke, regardless of RPM. (eg: it doesn't "go beyond" when given more throttle.) :) OK, final rebuttal. <_< The pistons under normal temperatures do indeed go through the same stroke unless the rod bearings are loose or worn. The pistons do not touch the cylinder wall but the rings do instead. My point, as was originally stated, involved the piston rings which have a built-in tolerance so that they will move in the lands regardless of the piston temperature. Metal does expand when heated as you probably know. That results in a bit of wobble which is even a bit more evident when the engine is cold since the design is for them to expand when warm. (The rings get larger and the land gets smaller since the walls of the piston heats up first along with the top.) It is also a fact that the connecting rods slightly lengthen when the engine runs hotter causing the stroke to be longer by enough to cause the rings to hit a pre-existing worn lip at the top of the stroke. That could cause ring damage in extreme cases. Apologies accepted in advance. BTW, if there is a better explanation, rather than sniping, let 'er rip. :)

First, ask the service manager at your dealership. I was amazed that there is no break in period and no oil change after 500 miles like had been the case with other cars that have been bought new in the past. The service manager said that the moving engine parts were of such tolerance that no "break in" was needed. Just take it easy for the first few hundred miles. Keep it under 100 mph for a while. There is no oil change until 5000 miles. I thought it was a misprint in the manual. The first oil change will be done at 3000 miles on my car just to avoid the worry and because I'm too old to learn new tricks. The reason for the variable speed is so that the piston rings will not wear a pattern in the cylinder walls and then break when higher revs require them to go beyond, and impact, the lip in the cylinder wall that has been created. This would probably happen if you drove 1000 miles on cruise control so it is not likely in your case. The phenomenon was probably noticed on a factory test dyno that had the engine running at the same speed for months. 100 miles will not make a difference - just don't use the cruise control if you are worried. The minor variations when passing and when in traffic will be enough of a speed change. New brakes are probably a bigger worry than the engine break in. They don't work as well until perfectly flat and aligned with the rotors. Several stops, especially from highway speeds will hurry the process.

I tried the procedure on an 08 RX350 and it worked great. A difference is that the driver's beep now goes four times and then stops instead of infinitely. There must be some kind of law that requires a minimum warning. The passenger side beeping has not been tried yet. Also, turning the key to START starts the car whether the foot is on the brake or not. Another trick is to use a small plastic hand clamp to extend the seatbelt all the way and clip it by the retractor. That makes the seatbelt step easier.

The problem with the hitch installation is with the electrical connection. Apparently you can't just tap into the wires for the running lights, brake lights, and turn signals. There is a converter available that is mounted in mid-connection that is necessary from my understanding. I also have a towing package on my RX350 and went under it to look for a plug or place to tap the electric. No luck. It may be because the tail lights are LED instead of the standard Ford/Chevy type circuitry. I simply gave up. At $100 per hour, the Lexus dealer install would be a bit over 4 hours. There must be something major besides the dozen or so bolts that hold on the hitch. My web research has not come up with a wiring harness for the hitch. If anyone else out there in Lexus-land can give GoTTi some help there are likely several of us that would be appreciative.

My dealer said that if you drive in to any Lexus dealer in the country you get a free car wash. I haven't tried it since my car gets a washing once a week and the nearest dealer is 50 miles away. Others on this forum in the Detailing and Car Care area state that some dealers use a mechanical wash which eventually will ruin the paint. It might pay you to ask your dealer. If you want to know if you got a special deal with the washing, the answer is no.

It is worth it if you think it is worth it. It is a personal preference/taste issue rather than a practical matter. The only people who will notice is Lexus salespeople and those that own the exact model - maybe not even then. Notice that the ad states "a more aggressive stance" but does not have any indication of performance. My guess is that you will have to regularly drive 150+ mph to make any real performance difference. But you won't be driving very long if that is your plan. B) Maybe spinner rims would make a difference. They would certainly be noticed. Afterwards hydraulics in the front could add a "hop" if you were still not noticed to the extent necessary.

Check to see what the tires came with. Mine had 36 pounds all around but I have heard of even more on this forum website. It was dropped to 32 pounds, is checked monthly, and the ride etc. is just fine. The tire killer is underinflation so a couple of pounds extra is a wise safety margin even if the pressure is often monitored. Gas mileage, ride, and tire life are not going to be significantly affected by a few pounds over. Under is another story. You might want to do a search and see what other posts have been made here on the subject.

Since air is already approximately 80% nitrogen just use free floating air. This enthusiasm for "nitrogen only" in the tires will soon wane and then some other fad will come about to make your car "special" and everyone will have to have it. Maybe spinner hub caps and hydraulic shock absorbers for some hop will make a comeback. It is all more ego than science. Perception is paramount for humans so those that state that nitrogen is the only way to go, gives better mileage, a smoother ride, the tires last longer, or any other claim really believe it. So do the Ford vs. Chevy crowd, Gemini vs. Sagittarius, and whatever else causes loyalty based on emotion rather than facts. Show me the scientific evidence from an independent lab that proves even one claim about nitrogen in the tires. Enough ranting.

A clay bar is supposed to clean all debris off of a finish - even water spots. When I tried it for the first time it was an incredible improvement. The surface turned out as smooth as a baby's butt. Try a Zaino clay bar. Based on input from several forums, they are the best. http://www.zainostore.com/Merchant2/mercha...oduct_Code=Z-18

Pictures as requested.