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Guys- I can't believe that a clogged A/C tube would dump a half inch of water on both sides in front. He said it happens after a heavy rain and you usually aren't running your A/C in a heavy rain. Besides, the rain shouldn't be getting in to that point anyway, that should only be evaporator condensation. Evaporator condensation in the heavy rain when you probably wouldn't be using your A/C? I doubt it. If your getting that much water in, you've got a pretty healthy leak and as soon as the rain stops, I'd get the water hose out and make my own rain. Get inside while someone runs the water over the outside with pretty good pressure. I used to do water leaks a long time ago at a dealership and I could always find the leak that way. You might want to do a little looking with a good light before you even do that. If you have had water coming in for a while, it will usually leave some sign, even when it's dry. Has the windshield ever been replaced? That's one of the 1st places I would test.

What 1990 LS 400 said is true. The VVT-1 engines are interference engines. it is something that has been debated repeatedly on the Lexus forums. Because it is variable timing there may be times that you don't suffer damage because of a broken belt but don't ever count on that. Gates says the VVT-1's are interference, take it to the bank, rather than going to Las Vegas on this one. They are an extremely durable belt and extremely good parts (including bearings), but as 1990 said, belt breakage CAN happen because of other reasons.

Eldo- I think you might want to look for damage to the "outside air entry" plastic grills. I have worked on cars that have had rather large holes in those grills made by small animals that like to chew on those type of things under the hood. There are quite a few of that type of animal in different areas of the world, including the U.S.A. I have seen rats chew heavily on almost anything made of plastic or rubber under the hood. I've even seen them chew on the tires of a car. There is no way those acorns should be able to get through the openings that the air comes through. I'm betting you'll find holes chewed that are large enough for the (probably ground squirrels since you are in the Mid-West) to get inside to stash their nuts where you found them. You would have been a big disappointment to some hungry squirrel had you moved out of the area before winter comes.

I wouldn't try to get them open. Trust me, they were never meant to come apart. Almost for certain you would break them getting them apart, and has been said, the discoloration and haze is on the outside, not the inside.

tritri- You have asked the question and I will give you one mans opinion- you will get others. I have done all of that on my DIL's '99RX and I personally wouldn't worry about any of those things at this point. T/L uses some of the finest parts I have ever seen in a lifetime of working on cars. I replaced the T/B on her car at 97k mi, thinking it was way overdue and discovered the original belt looked like it had 20k mi on it. I did replace the W/P, idler pulley and tensioner pulley at about 130k mi trying to find a small squall. I got rid of the squall but upon cutting all of the parts apart to inspect their condition, they all looked new (not kidding) except for the tensioner pulley. All 3 were as smooth as silk but the tensioner pulley was bone dry of grease. (all bearings are sealed) It still was smooth as silk and no sign of damage but I'm sure the dry bearing was what was making the noise, which was only for a little while at start. If you wait for the belt to break (which I wouldn't recommend) you'll be waiting a long time. I only remember 2 people who ever CLAIMED to have had a T/B break, and when questioned a little about the details, neither ever responded- so to me the claims are in question. There are those that have gone to close to 200k mi without any breakage, and I am not surprised. When you decide to have the work done, a Toyota dealer should be able to do the work, and for a lot less than a Lexus. Your money, spend as you wish, but you have the straight scoop from one lifetime mechanic. Good Luck! By the way, I replaced ALL of those parts with ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT parts bought online for $184. In my opinion there is a HUGE amount of profit built into that estimate, even for a Lexus dealer. Just noticed that that is only W/P and T/B. Sorry, but that is INSANE! Where in Ca. are you?

Not in the least. I felt bad when I realized I'd gotten busy and hadn't done what I told you I would. I generally take it pretty seriously when I tell someone I'll do something and have been aware in recent time this is not the 1st time I've done this. Too much on my plate. I hope you got it all hooked up and working. Roger

BB- I would suggest you might try an active Toyota site or two also because I'm assuming they probably also have the same problem because they also use a Denso alternator. Thanks, will do! Any suggestions for good sites? Sorry BB, even though my wife drives a Toyota, in the 7 years since we bought it we haven't had 1 minutes trouble with it, hence the reason I don't frequent the Toyota sites. That's the longest we've ever kept a car and since we both love the car, it will probably grace the garage for a while longer. In beautiful shape yet. I would suggest just Googling "Toyota forums".

BB- I would suggest you might try an active Toyota site or two also because I'm assuming they probably also have the same problem because they also use a Denso alternator.

Brenda- I would take maxsteel's advice and pull the relay to see if the problem goes away. If it does, I would next see if you can find "how to" thread on cleaning the sensor ring (1 at each wheel, looks like a gear) and the sensors for the ABS. That may cure it, but as I said be careful in cleaning them.

Queen B- I think maxSteel and eatingupblacktop have steered you in the right direction. I didn't even think about the ABS. It may be dirt or rust or damage to an ABS ring on one of the axles (1st place I'd look) or it may be something actually wrong with the ABS unit. I would check and clean the ABS ring and sensor at each wheel, but be careful because if you have to replace any of those parts it's quite expensive. Good Luck!

QB- Do you have anyone who can take a look at it for you? A male friend or relative? It does sound to me like either the caliper bolts are loose or the pad is moving in the caliper because it's not a good fit (loose) or if it has "tensioners" to hold it tight (quite a few cars do), that they have been left out. (I don't believe they can just come out) I would try and find someone knowledgeable who would at least do you the favor of taking a look at it for you. If you are going to drive a Lexus, I strongly advise you to start looking now for a GOOD HONEST COMPETENT Lexus or Toyota independent shop (before you need it) Anyone who works on and specializes in Toyota should also be able to work on your Lexus- they share so many similarities in drivetrain and design thinking. Probably be cheaper too!

Sorry about that RX300MS How to embarrass yourself: look at the post count in the upper right corner rather than in your profile. I am not sure what they use for a relay. Is it a Lexus only part? Do you have any "Pick-A-Part's" in your area? That's where you go and take the part off yourself and it's MUCH cheaper that a regular wrecking yard. I don't blame you for not wanting to go to the dealer. When a car gets that old, the aftermarket sometimes even supplies them because people aren't so inclined to go to the dealer for parts then. Good Luck!

If the P/S belt breaks, you lose PS. If the Alt/A/C belt breaks, well that's self explanatory also. They put very good belts on their cars and they last a LONG time. I personally would use the original equipment belts. If your dealer is honest about not jacking the prices up that are in his book, the belts are quite inexpensive. The dealer can do anything he wants with the prices, he's not bound by the retail prices, and many do add to the retail price- 10-20%. You can order the OEM belts from online sources and know what you're going to pay before you order. I would go to a Toyota dealer and ask for them for a Highlander or Sequoia. They may have a different part # but they will be the correct belt and most likely cheaper than Lexus. They often don't let the parts #'s cross reference from T to L because they know it will cut Lexus out of a lot of parts sales with their higher prices for the same part. Just take your old ones with to compare.

Believe you already know it's not a valid code. Wonder where they came up with that? You should ask them. It would be interesting to see what their answer was.

Wise man! Listen to the NO-FLUSH people! Disregard the rest. Way too many failures very shortly after a "flush". I need to see things with my own eyes, therefore I believe in pulling the pan and cleaning it AND the magnets. Gives me a look at what things look like in there, even though I use the pump to completely change the fluid afterwards. Nothing wrong with just filling it afterwards and then doing a couple more pan plug drains in the next month to mostly change it the easy way.

RX300MS- Looks like you've been around since '03 but this is your 1st post? I assure you that most of the time you'll get a better response if you at least fill in the information on your vehicle. Often, regulars won't bother to respond when they have NO information on the vehicle to go on. You say you suspect it's the relay but weren't able to locate 1. Where did you try? We don't even know if you live in Alaska or the Congo. Have you tried the Lexus dealer? The cooling fans are only going to come on if the A/C is on or the temp is high enough to call for cooling and most fans (engine) don't run for very long before they shut off unless it's a hot summer day. When you start the car and let it idle, none are going to come on unless it gets warm enough. If you are in Minnesota this time of year, your fan may never come on because it doesn't NEED to. When you turn the A/C on (this is a different circuit), both fans are supposed to come on and the condensation is completely normal. When the A/C is on, the pipes will either be frosted or condensation, that's what they do. The A/C also automatically comes on whenever you use the defrost because that's the way it's wired.

Safelite is a good choice. They'll come to wherever you are and install it. I had one put in my DIL's '99 RX about a year and a half ago and it ran me about $190.-$200. W/new rubber outer moulding- no rain or nav.

My sincere apologies Solace- I told you I'd check for those and didn't get to it for a couple of days. When I did come across them recently I figured you had figured it out by then. In the loom that goes across the door back to the lock- the blue/red tracer is the lock wire and the blue/yellow tracer is the unlock wire. If the piggyback lock assy you bought has the green and blue wires, the green is the lock and the blue is the unlock. If it has different colors, it's easy to jump juice to each and then reverse them to determine which way it has to go to lock and unlock. Good Luck!

SL- Has anyone ever checked your alternator output? It sounds to me like the regulator is allowing it to put out too high a voltage. If a battery is not overcharging you shouldn't have that kind of problem. Nor should you have to be replacing batteries every 2+ years. Have someone reputable who knows what they're doing check the output. (not all people who will do it for you are necessarily reputable or skilled) It should be putting out approximately 13.8 V to 14.8 V. I prefer to see about 14.2-14.4V on a good healthy system at about 1500 RPM. It should be checked at that RPM rather than idle.

I saw your post on the other forum and the answer was spot on. I have done the rear seal on my DIL's RX and can almost GUARANTEE that's where it's coming from. The crankcase gets very hot on these engines when used in the RX and it simply "cooks" the seal. The suggestions were good ones and I would probably use the Auto-RX myself. It truly works and will really clean up the rest of the inside of the engine in the process of revitalizing the seal. A little pricey but few things do all they claim to do, but it does.

Are you sure ALL the rear lights work? That means ALL brake lights as well as tail lights. That includes the 3rd brake light. If they all seem to be working, I would take them out, 1 by 1 and do a "thump" test on them. Hold the bulb firmly by the thumb and fore finger in 1 hand and give it about 3 or 4 good firm thumps with your "thump" (second) finger on the other hand. If the elements are getting weak or have a minor fracture but still light, it will expose that weakness and the element will break. (Don't worry, it was going to break anyway) Make sure ALL bulbs that have 2 elements work on BOTH elements.

That was worthy of a little dance believe me! :D

Gruss- the A/F ratio sensors are called wide band because they do just that- they swing constantly from one extreme to the other in the course of doing their job. They have a much wider and faster pattern than the 02 sensors. They are able to more fine tune the mixture that way, but if you ever look at a graph of what they do in action, you'll see what I mean.

I can't believe that all 3 sensors (2A/F ratio, 1 oxy.) have gone bad and stuck at 1 voltage. Something just not right with that picture. Have you had any work done on the car in recent time (or, yourself done any work on it in recent time) ? When something doesn't look right with a picture. there's generally reason for it. That is completely abnormal for those zsensors to fail in that mileage. I'm not sure whether it's normal for the rear (02) sensor to normally fail in the life of the vehicle even. A/F ratio more like 100k-150k mi. What brought it to your attention to scan it? Was it running poorly. I would think it might not want to run at all with NO action on the part of the A/F ratio sensors. Still say something not right here. IF it needs new sensors, only replace with Denso! And not the universal. I tried them and they didn't work for me.

Joe- You are only able to check the heater in the sensors, not the A/F ratio sensor itself.