monarch

It's a simple matter to perform your own objective test: take out your old air filter, vacuum the loose dirt out of the filter element and also clean the air filter housing of any loose dust and dirt. Next take a 1/2 inch drill bit and drill several holes in the filter element and reinstall. Now go for a drive and see if you notice any power gain.

Hundreds of RX300 owners, including owners of the 1999 models, have told Consumer Reports their engines and transmissions have been reliable: http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/mastertech/cr.jpg No one on this forum has identified a design defect. Therefore what design defect could Toyota be sued for?

Toyota belts are extra high quality and Toyota belt pulleys have a low friction finish that minimizes belt wear. These are some of the reasons your factory original belt has lasted 101,000 miles and counting. Toyota doesn't even require Toyota belts to be inspected until 60,000 miles and then if they look OK to reinspect them every 15,000 miles thereafter. More noise, faster wear, imprecise fit (because of not being metric) and slippage under some driving conditions are possible if you use aftermarket belts..

I was in a wrecking yard recently and deliberately scratched the "wood" inside an ES250 to see if it was real. It was. Then I scratched the "wood" of a Camry and found out it was fake.

Or could we say the engine/transaxle(??) delay/hesitation symptom is most noticable and annoying in the 1MZ-FE and 3MZ-FE V6, 5-speed automatic, electronic DBW throttle, equipped FWD & AWD Toyota / Lexus vehicles? Or do you think the symptom in the AWD versions is less noticable and annoying? I don't believe Toyota ever used the 1MZ-FE / 3MZ-FE V6, 5-speed automatic, DBW combination in any of its rear wheel drive vehicles.

The electric fuel pumps in Toyotas almost never go bad if the fuel filter is changed at least every 100,000 miles and the owner uses a name brand gasoline (Chevron Shell, etc). The electric pump in my '92 Toyota pickup is still working fine at 469,000 miles.

For a whopping 28% off MSRP, visit the website of BOB BRIDGE TOYOTA and pretend you have a '97 Camry 3.0L V6 https://www.1sttoyotaparts.com/partscat.html FRONT PADS, Camry, 3.0L 97-00 $33.02 REAR PADS, Camry 95-98 $33.02 You pay no sales tax and that offsets most of the 10% FedEx Ground shipping charge.

Thu Jun 1, 7:08 PM ET DETROIT, United States (AFP) - The Big Three US automakers reliance on trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) to drive profits hit another pothole in May as consumers switched to more fuel-efficient passenger cars and cross-utility vehicles. Asian automakers -- which offer a wider range of more fuel-efficient vehicles -- continued to post sales and market share gains, now accounting for 40.2 percent of the massive US market, up from 36.3 percent a year ago, according to Autodata. The Big Three's market share fell to just 52.9 percent in May from 57.6 percent a year ago. GM posted Thursday a 16 percent decline in demand in May from a year ago, ending at 345,157 units. Passenger car demand was lower by 19 percent at 129,905 units, while truck sales were off by 13 percent to 215,252 units. "This was a challenging month for us," Paul Ballew, GM's director of global market and industry analysis, told reporters on a conference call. He said demand for some traditional truck-based SUVs, particularly the Chevrolet Trailblazer and GMC Envoy, were running at nearly half the pace of a year ago. The story was similar at Ford, where sales were off 1.9 percent from May 2005 at 278,546, after strong car sales were unable to offset a steep drop in demand for trucks and SUVs. Truck sales fell 6.6 percent to 170,298 units while passenger car sales climbed 6.4 percent to 108,248. German-US group DaimlerChrysler said its US sales fell eight percent in May to 212,882 units after at 14 percent drop in sales at the group's US-based Chrysler offset a 21 percent increase in sales at the Mercedes group. Meanwhile, most Japanese automakers posted robust US sales rises. Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. reported overall best-ever monthly sales of 235,708 vehicles, an increase of 12.3 percent over May 2005. Year-to-date sales rose 8.8 percent to 1,000,524. "The pinch at the pump has made small cars part of the big picture, right along with hybrids," Jim Lentz, TMS group vice president and Toyota division general manager, said in a statement.

When you get the old factory pump out, it would be interesting to place it side by side with the TRE pump and take pictures of both of them. Lexus fuel pumps are made by Japanese companies like Nikki so I'd be very surprized if the TRE pump looks exactly like the factory original pump.

If I was looking for a soft riding tire for a GS, I'd visit a Lexus and Toyota dealer and see what tire model comes standard on the LS430 and Toyota Avalon. Then I'd buy one of those tires.

On the Toyota Motorhome forum, owners have not had transmission burn up problems when they obeyed the owners manual and locked the transmission out of overdrive when towing. The LS400's, in fact, have the same heavy duty 340 series automatic transmission as the Toyota Motorhomes The mighty 2007 Toyota Tundra has an available 5.7 liter V8 with a heavy duty six speed automatic transmission and mammoth 10,000 pound tow rating. It will also be available in a double cab / crew cab configuration. So now Americans will finally have a more reliable and durable alternative to the large Dodge, Ford and Chevy pickups. And while the American pickups may be built or partially built in Mexico, the Toyota Tundra will be fully built in Texas and Indiana.

I'm a huge fan of Tyvek car covers. They're only $39 at Walmart. They will keep your car cool on a blistering hot day plus they are very breathable so any moisture under the cover due to rain or condensation evaporates fast. Downsides are: a) they are bright white so are more unsightly than a green or brown car cover B) they wear out after only 1 year of use, but at $39 a pop, one can't really complain.

Here's a 182,000 mile 1999 RX300 transmission durability testimonial that was posted to the forum earlier today in another thread. It nicely supplements yesturday's 161,000 mile 2001 RX300 AWD durability testimonial: Erv @ May 31 2006, 10:14 PM wrote: "I just wanted to put ion my 2 cents, I have a '99 Rx300 with 182K+ miles. I am located in upstate NY and drive the vehicle year round. My rear wiper has stopped working and my power antenna is not working. Other than thos things everything is fine. I have not done anything with the trans, or any other major componants. I bought in 2003 with 100k on it and have changed all fluids once, changed one O2 sensor, changed one front strut, and a mass air flow sensor, timing belt and brakes. Other than that I would say I am pleased. I am a sales rep and depend on my RX everyday to get my work done and I have not been let down yet. If I was in any other vehicle, I probably would not be able to say the same. I challage a chevy, ford, dodge etc to accomplish the same!"

I do confess to spending time reading owner testimonials about the durability of the RX300 AWD transmission. Testimonials like this one from LexiQueen @ May 29 2006, 04:44 PM: "I have owned my 2001 RX300 [AWD] since day one Sep 20, 2000! I turned 161,000 miles this morning and this has been the best car, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!! all in all I am very pleased! The only info I could find for changing transmission fluid was Sep 2004 97,900 miles. Apr 2006 155,400 miles. I am sure it was changed at other time especially if it was recommended."

Yes, change the spark plugs and wires and power steering fluid and have the throttle plate cleaned. These measures will maximize fuel economy, engine power and minimize emissions

Same thing that has been on the horizon for most American cars built since about 1975: mediocre levels of reliability, durability, owner satisfaction and value rentention. Net result: even more loss of market share is on the horizon for American car makers.

All Toyota / Lexus owners manuals advise to lock the automatic transmission out of overdrive when towing. Locking out the overdrive when towing will prevent alot of gear shifting, reduce the vibration, reduce transmission fluid temperatures and improve fuel economy.

nc211, you might want to check out a factory repair manual for the 430 before you buy one. You may think twice about getting one once you see how complicated the electronics and mechanicals are of a 430 compared to a '97 or earlier LS400.

Toyota dealers are owned and run by Americans, not by corporate Toyota. Some dealers charge ABOVE retail price ! In other words, you are being soaked by your fellow Americans, not by corporate Toyota. Corporate Toyotas suggested retail price for Type T fluid is around $3.75 - $4.00 a quart.

lexls.com, click on tutorials

aftermarket starter

LexiQueen, do you recall how often the transmission fluid was changed on your 161,000 mile 2001 AWD RX300?

Another inexpensive option is to use a 10W-40 or 20W-50 "high mileage" motor oil like Valvoline Max Life. These oil come with seal swelling additive.

Toyota has explained they use dino because it delivers excellent engine life (500,000+ miles) at a more reasonable cost to the owner than synthetic. Toyota has also sternly warned owners not to extend the length of oil changes beyond the 6 month / 5,000 mile limit when using synthetic oil. The bottom line is that if you use synthetic you'll spend 3 times as much money on motor oil, but will not any see a measurable gain in engine life or fuel economy. I subscribe to some semi-truck trade magazines and learned that a majority of the nations long haul trucking companies also do not use synthetic diesel motor oils because it eat away at their bottom line. FedEx and UPS, in fact, use the least expensive motor oils of all: dino oils that have been used, re-refined, then resold.

Since 1989 every Lexus and Toyota comes from the factory filled with Genuine Toyota Motor Oil. Toyota claims Toyota oil is a conventional oil that is specially formulated by Toyota for Toyota vehicles, just like Genuine Toyota Long Life Antifreeze, brake fluid and so forth. Although most Toyota & Lexus owners have no trouble believing Toyota and Honda build the most reliable and durable cars in the world, they have tremendous difficulty understanding that the underlying reasons these cars are exceptional is because the parts, filters and fluids they are made with are exceptional in quality too.