monarch

Sludge could have developed during the years the original owner(s) had the car. Putting clean oil into a sludged engine won't clean it up.

Different owners have different concepts of "peace of mind". My idea of "peace of mind" is performing most scheduled maintenance about twice as frequently as the minimum frequency intervals suggested in the Scheduled Maintenance Guide. That way, mechanical component wear is minimized which in turn greatly reduces the chance the owner would ever need to use the extended warranty. 5 years / 100,000 miles is merely the break in period for most mechanical components of a Toyota / Lexus that receives frequent preventive maintenance. Most owners take the opposite strategy; i.e. they buy the $2,000 extended warranty for "peace of mind", but then stretch preventive maintenance intervals out to the limit. The bad part about this strategy is that after the extended warranty expires, their vehicle has considerable mechanical wear and tear due to infrequent preventive maintenance intervals and therefore the owner may end up having to face major repair expenses as components fail, leak, etc. This is the strategy car makers like the public to choose because then the car makers win in two ways: 1) they make big $$ on the extended warranty and 2) they make big $$ again when the warranty expires because the owner will likely decide they need a new car because their car is getting too unreliable and expensive to keep running.

My guess is your engine has sludge inside of it that blocked critical oil passageways and the engine noise you heard was not really coming from the power steering system, but was actually the sound of the reciprocating metal engine parts starved of motor oil. Sludge can develop if owners fail to maintain the engine oil level between the ADD and FULL marks on the engine oil dipstick and fail change the motor oil at least every 6 -12 months or 5,000 -7,500 miles since the day the car was brand new. Driving any car even one block without oil pressure can destroy the engine. Oil pumps, like the engine itself, will not fail unless starved of clean oil. About all you can do now is get a second opinion about the need for a new engine and then either have a rebuilt engine installed or a good used engine installed.

Air filters generally become pretty dusty and buggy after 10,000 - 15,000 miles.

Why was the crank shaft pulley replaced or the crank shaft pulley seal? Was the serpentine accessory drive belt replaced or the engine timing belt? Is the leaking fluid power steering fluid or motor oil?

This thread has great info. and photos of the air control valve plumbing and diagnostics http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...opic=6583&st=15 I guess the last possibility is that if the Autozone pump was not starved of fluid then it was not rebuilt properly.

If the dashboard warning lights are now off then the alternator is OK. Mehullica is a highly experienced Lexus service tech and if he is right about your old idle-up valve (also called the air control valve) possibly being bad, then your worries may not be over because it's likely the repair shop that worked on your car transfered the old valve over to your new pump. Therefore there is a chance this old idle-up valve could suck out the PS fluid again during a long drive and starve your new pump of lubrication. So as you continue on your trip, I'd keep checking the PS fluid level in the reservoir every 25-50 miles or so and keep it topped off as necessary (but don't overfill it of course). If the fluid level drops, I'd order a new air control valve. They cost around $70 from discount toyota dealers like 1sttoyotaparts.com The toyota part# is 17630-16040. As a side note, did you modify your PS system in any way when you installed the rebuilt pump from Autozone? Like did you install an aftermarket filter in any of your PS hoses? Did you cut the hoses to install the filter? Did you install new aftermarket hoses? Or new aftermarket hose clamps? The reason I ask is because any mods of this nature could also be potential sources of the PS fluid leakage which in turn could have starved the pump of lubrication resulting in its failure. Lastly, did you floor the gas pedal during your trip? The tendency of a bad air control valve to suck fluid out of the system might be greater during wide open throttle.

Yes, there is an air control valve that is threaded into to the power steering pump. If the valve is bad, power steering fluid (auto trans fluid) gets sucked into the intake manifold and burned, resulting in a smokey exhaust. For this reason, to ensure long term reliability from the PS system, some owners install a new air control valve whenever they install a new PS pump. If I had to guess, I'd say maybe your air control valve allowed PS fluid to flow into the manifold while you were driving causing the PS fluid level in the reservoir to get real low which in turn caused the pump to overheat and seize up. In any case, the seized pump could not have harmed your engine so you don't need to worry about "more damage" (although I hope your alternator did not get contaminated with a bunch of leaking power steering fluid)

I agree wwest that it is the seal that actually fails. The Toyota Long Life Antifreeze is silicate free to prevent abrasive damage to the water pump seal. And unlike auto parts store brands of antifreeze, the Toyota antifreeze contains a healthy dose of molybedenum lubricant

But what American auto parts store carries metric size transmssion fluid cooler hose? If a Toyota owner does not use metric inside and outside diameter hose then it's not going to fit the nipple on the radiator or the hose clamp precisely resulting in degraded long term hose reliability and durability. The quality of the rubber used in a auto parts store is also going to be (at best) American car quality hose. If a cooler hose leaks badly while driving 70 MPH on the interstate the transmission could pump quarts of fluid onto the highway and self destruct in a matter of seconds. This happened to a coworkers 1989 Chevy pickup..

Your RX300 has variable valve timing. So the valvetrain POSTIVELY WILL BE DESTROYED if the timing belt ever breaks. However, Toyota uses a super heavy duty timing belt on variable valve timing engines. Therefore a safe replacement interval for many drivers is in the 120,000 - 150,000 mile range. Since the life of a Toyota water pump is in the 120,000 - 240,000 mile range, it makes sense to change both the timing belt and water pump in the 120,000 - 150,000 mile range. PS. Always use a 50/50 mix of genuine Toyota Long Life Antifreeze and distilled water when replacing the engine coolant to be assurred of 120,000 - 240,000 miles of water pump life. Since service shops - including Lexus dealers - may cut corners in this regard, buy the Toyota coolant at a Toyota Dealer Parts Dept and distilled water at a supermarket yourself and take it to the service shop and order them to use it. PSS: Leadfoot type city driving causes the timing belt to wear more quickly so those kinds of driviers should change the timing belt at 90,000 miles.

I've said that I'm not aware of any RX AWD transmission failures when the transmission was always keep lubricated by good, undeteriorated fluid. In other words, no failures when the transmission fluid was always replaced BEFORE it got seriously brown or black. Brown or black fluid = deteriorated fluid that is no longer functionally capable of preventing excessive transmission wear. Therefore in my view, owners who continue to drive with fluid that is brown or black are physically torturing their transmissions. I am not aware of any carmaker in the world that builds a transmission that can survive for long when lubricated with brown or black fluid. In your car's case, it appears that 30K transmission oil pan drain and refills were not frequent enough to mitigate the severe driving conditions your RX was subjected to (slow moving, stop & go, bumper to bumper Sacramento city traffic in 90-110 degree summer heat with the air conditioner on).

Depends on how long the junkyard seat has been exposed to the rain. If just a matter of days or a few weeks and the seat doesn't smell moldy then it's likely OK. I've had good luck with junkyard seats as long as the car I pulled them from had relatively low odometer mileage.

The two sensors located behind the catalytic converters normally last about twice as long as the two sensors located in front of the converters. For that reason, another way to save money is to just replace the two sensors in front of the two catalytic converters. Replacing just these two is almost guaranteed to get rid of your Check Engine Light.

Are you talking about the rear differential of your LS400? If so, the frequency of oil changes depends on your ownership plans and durability expections for the car. If you plan on selling or trading your LS400 before the 200,000 mile mark then you really don't need to change the oil because nothing in the differential mechanism is likely to badly wear or fail before then. If you plan on selling or trading your LS400 at between 200,000 - 300,000 miles then it would be desirable to change the diff. oil about every 100,000 miles. If you plan on keeping your LS400 for over 300,000 miles, then diff. oil changes every 75,000 miles would keep wear down to such low levels that you would likely be able to drive 500,000 miles or more without any rear end trouble. I've been changing the differential oil in my troublefree 467,000 mile Toyota pickup about every 75,000 miles.

That means the fluid level was correct afterall. New fluid is hard to see as you noted.

Based on extensive experience renting 4 cylinder Camry's and Corolla's over the years (and owning two of the latter) I have found it's normal for them to idle at between 1500 - 2000 rpm when first started in the morning whereas the V8 and V6 Toyotas and Lexus's tend to be set to idle at between 1000 - 1500 rpm when first started.

The MX4's don't have good scores because of Tirerack.coms inherently biased rating system. Some of the smoothest, quietest riding tires ever invented get mediocre scores at tirerack.com. Conversely, rather harsh riding tires like the Goodyear Comfortreds get top marks for ride smoothness at tirerack.com !! Consumer Reports, on the other hand is more accurate and objective and the Michelin X tires (available only at Costco) and MX4's (available everywhere) get top marks for ride smoothness and quietness. A buddy of mine who used to own a LS400 and now owns a Honda Pilot SUV put Michelin X's on the Pilot and loves the luxury Lexus-like car ride and good fuel economy the X's provide. If you really want a smoother, quieter ride you should also ditch the low profile wheels you have and go back to the factory original wheel size.

Loosen the power steering pump pulley set nut BEFORE removing the serpentine drive belt because the belt helps keep the pulley from turning, therefore easing pump pulley set nut removal. However, after I removed the pulley nut and serpentine drive belt I found the pulley was still stuck and wouldn't come off with ordinary hand force. Some kind of puller is needed. I went to Autozone to rent a puller but I couldn't figure out how to connect it to the pulley so I gave up. Now maybe you will get lucky and your pulley will come off just using your hands. Some owners have been lucky like that.

Check your tire pressure and the PS fluid level. One or both may be low. Your PS oil filler cap says "Use Dexron Type ATF" and Mobil 1 ATF is a Dexron automatic transmission fluid so it is an approved choice. However, if the steering effort is really stiff like on a car that doesn't have power steering then something more fundamental is wrong like low tire pressure, low PS fluid level, clogged steering rack solenoid filter screen or something like that.

Yes only 20% have had problems with under 100,000 miles , but if there had been a poll of LS400 owners probably 0% with under 100,000 miles would have reported problems. Therefore this evidence suggests the RX transmission is more sensitive to the consequences of transmission maintenance neglect as compared to the LS400 transmission. Therefore, savvy RX owners should be extra careful about periodically monitoring the condition of their transmission fluid and changing it BEFORE it gets seriously brown or black. Wear occurs very, very slowly if the internal parts of a Toyota automatic transmission are always kept bathed in good fluid and occurs comparatively rapidly if the parts are bathed in badly deteriorated fluid.

I saw K&N air filters at Walmart too, right next to the Fram Air Hog filters. I took one of the pre-oiled drop-in type replacement K&N filters out of the package and held it up to a store light. I could see hundreds of points of light through the filter media. Then I thought to myself "wow, all those hundreds of tiny holes let alot of air and abrasive dirt get into the engine". I also thought to myself: "no wonder Ford and some other automakers won't honor the new car powertrain warranty if an owner uses a K&N or Fram Air Hog type air filter."

Those are good prices indeed. Here's how they compare to Park Place Lexus in Plano, TX: P/S PRESSURE HOSE, LS400, - Park Place Lexus: $317.04 Roseville Lexus: $291.52 P/S RETURN HOSE, LS400, No.1 - Park Place Lexus: $105.50 Roseville Lexus $95.00 P/S RETURN HOSE, LS400, No.2 - Park Place Lexus: $135.36 Roseville Lexus $127.00 P/S RETURN HOSE, LS400, No.3 - Park Place Lexus: $60.08 Roseville Lexus $50.00

5W-30 conventional oil is what the manual and oil filler cap specifies for use in both the summer and winter. Of the thousands of owners on this forum, NONE have ever reported a case of heavy engine wear or engine failure when they followed the owners manual instructions to use 5W-30 conventional oil and to change it at the prescribed intervals. Ditto in regard to differential oil. The manual specifies 80W-90 conventional in climates where winter temps may get below zero degrees F. If you want to use synthetic anyway, use of 80W-90 synthetic sometimes results in higher noise levels. Using 75W-140 synthetic solves the noise problem.

Did the filter purchased from Lexus with the paper or fiber type filter medium in it come in genuine Toyota packaging? That is the way you'd know whether or not it is a genuine Toyota filter or an aftermarket brand and design. It would surprize me if Toyota abandoned the metal mesh filter screen design it has successfully used for the past 38 years because a paper / fiber type screen (like American cars use) would be subject to clogging and necessitate periodic replacement (as is the case with American car tramny filters) that would then have to be listed in the RX scheduled maintenance guide (but aren't so far to my knowledge).