code58

This your neighbor from down the road. Help me out here, I'm confused. Cylinders 4&5 are the cylinders the original codes indicated a problem with. The term "switched the COP's" has pretty much been used by everyone here. Were they "switched" or replaced? It wouldn't do much good to "switch" them if they were both indicated as problematic by code. If they were replaced, that a different story. You can test the COP's, one at a time by removing them, leave it connected to the connector plug and insert a spark plug (used) and run it to observe the spark. DO NOT remove the spark plug from that hole and DO DISCONNECT the plug in on the injector from that hole. You are only observing the spark. (I know, not very scientific, but it does work). After you have determined your COP's are firing steadily, remove the plug on to the injector from the bad cylinders 1 at a time and see if the lack of fuel makes any difference. If it does (and indicates injector problem), I would 1st get a can of CHEVRON INJECTOR CLEANER, the straight stuff, will be anywhere from $7. to $10 for the can and add to about 10 gal. of fuel. If that doesn't clean the injectors out (best stuff ever made for injectors), then it may be time for some rebuilt injectors like smooth1 said. But I don't like throwing parts at a car (can get expensive without fixing the problem) so I'd rather KNOW what I'm doing has a pretty solid chance of fixing the problem. Good Luck! P.S. Make sure the spark plug is grounded to the engine if you do the COP test.

Good time to give the throttle body and the IACV a good cleaning. Some clean the IACV on the car, a little more work but I prefer to clean it off and know it was done right. The rear plugs aren't easy to get to but I always try to keep myself in a good frame of mind and enjoy the challenge and it'll be over before you know it and you can bask in the satisfaction of knowing you've accomplished more than one thing (saving quite a bit of money not the least of it). hey code58 i see you're from the OC as well. Which part if you dont' mind me asking? Just down the road a skip and a hop- FV. Roger Concerning the plugs, I did it mostly by feel and though they're a challenge, they're not impossible. I would say that I changed them at 97k on my DIL's RX and they did NOT need changing! Iridium is the hardest metal known to man and it just doesn't wear. I did find them on e-bay and discovered the seller was local (Beach Blvd.) so called and asked if I could come by and pick 'em up- no problem. It was about $48 something plus tax for 6 Denso Iridium, from what I remember. Very little chance it's plugs- very good chance it's COP's

I don't think much of ShameWow, but this is the one application where I think it would actually do a good job. I had some of those years ago and they didn't do a very good job of any other drying BUT they are super absorbers!

Thank you so much for the advice. The only question I have is what is a "awl"?, I am assuming that is long and pointy but I don't know. Just go to Home Depot or whoever your friendly local hardware store is and ask them for an awl. You are correct, it is a sharp pointed tool. IF you choose to drain the water that way BEFORE you dry it out completely (a must) , You can easily seal the holes up with a dab of caulk or silicone. As others have said, drying out completely is not an option, it's a must.

Smyrnagc is right, make certain that that is what you need 1st. before you go buying any parts or worse yet installing them and then finding out you've not only wasted your money but you time. It may very well be the problem, but what the code points at is not necessarily the problem. You'll feel a whole lot better spending the time diagnosing the problem right and only doing the work once to fix the problem than assuming that the OBD code pointed directly like a lazer at the problem and finding out that wasn't true. Good Luck! P.S. Use only original eq. Denso A/F ratio sensor if that is the problem!

You probably won't like my answer but it actually works. Take an awl and poke a small hole down through the carpet and floor. (The hole won't show in the carpet). It will take a while for it to drain all the water that will run out but your carpet pad is still going to be soaked and you can't leave it like that or you will probably have some nasty stuff end up growing there. Probably the best thing would be a wet and dry vac (might even be able to get the water out that way enough), but then you're going to have to pull the step plate trim and vacuum the water from the bottom and then putting a high power fan like a Patton blowing on the bottom with the carpet propped up or a small heater to dry it out completely. It has to be dried out!

Okay, so I take my '04 AWD RX330 to the snow and chains or AWD is required. How does Caltrans/CHP kow what I'm driving? Thanks.... Tell 'em to do the same thing you did- look underneath. Probably won't happen but it's good for a try.

Good time to give the throttle body and the IACV a good cleaning. Some clean the IACV on the car, a little more work but I prefer to clean it off and know it was done right. The rear plugs aren't easy to get to but I always try to keep myself in a good frame of mind and enjoy the challenge and it'll be over before you know it and you can bask in the satisfaction of knowing you've accomplished more than one thing (saving quite a bit of money not the least of it).

Fireguysith- Did you have them do the work on the IACV (idle air control valve)? The reason I ask is most people once they have visited the forum and read the instructions for cleaning it, go ahead and do just that. The dealer is not going to offer that service, they're only going to replace it (which it probably seldom needs). If you feel it needs to be replaced or are just more comfortable doing it, it can be bought from an online Lexus dealer in Cal. for $150. plus shipping. I spent my life in automotive and get angry when I hear of people getting ripped off in automotive matters. There are honest mechanics and shops and they get painted with the same black paint that the dishonest ones have brought upon themselves. Good luck and let us help you in whatever way we can.

Lenore, I have contended from the beginning, after replacing my DIL's rear main seal and seeing the rock hardness of it that the rear main seal was not so much the problem as how hot the whole interior of this engine ran and especially the crankcase. I feel they only came up with a material that would withstand the heat better, rather than change the design, which didn't seem to be different than the original. There are people that don't realize even today that the primary reason for running them so hot is to reduce emissions by burning the fuel more completely. How often did you hear of oil sludging or gelling 25 yrs ago, and the oils weren't near as good as they are today? I believe it is primarily because of the high internal temps..

Lenore- I am wondering why they use steel sleeves. I realize there are a lot of aluminum engines today and I have no idea how many of them use steel sleeves. I'm curious because the art of alloys in all metals today have produced aluminum that is actually stronger than steel. It seems like it would be more cost effective not to use sleeves because of the cost of the sleeves and the installation. Aluminum has so much greater expansion and contraction than steel that it seems there would be problems with keeping the expansion and contraction closely enough coordinated between the 2 different metals for it not to be a problem. As I said, the vega engines I saw were proof that they can produce an aluminum cylinder that doesn't wear. Of course I don't imagine those sleeves are cast iron, are they?

BS- (Sorry, I hesitate to write that but i generally abbreviate the name in addressing). I believe what Lenore was referring to was not that it doesn't have a water jacket in the rear bank but rather that it just doesn't get the same air for cooling back there. Don't think it would last long without a water jacket. Even the V-8's that have equal cooling on both side from air flow have more problems with the rear cylinders running hotter because they don't get the air cooling that the front do.

I used your suggestion to clean the contacts with a pencil eraser ... the remote is working again ... thank you! Thanks also to all others who offered possible solutions. One thing I want to say about remote batteries. After I had replaced all 4 locks with donated piggyback locks and everything worked perfectly, when I was going back into the house (evening) I hit the remote one last time, and it failed!!! I was crushed! What was wrong? I tried it several more times and it would work sometimes and sometimes not. I checked the battery with a DVM and it tested 3.0V. It's a 3.0V battery so I thought that can't be the problem. A 3.0V cell would test about 3.3V when new. I was tearing my hair out and so I thought the only thing I knew to do was go get a new battery, though I didn't see how that could be the problem. (I had taken the remote key all apart earlier and cleaned it thoroughly) Got a new battery and it is still functioning flawlessly almost 3 years later, on that same battery. They seem to be rather voltage sensitive.

Interesting thing about today's aluminum blocks, Lenore. I worked at a Chevy dealership back in the '70's when the Vega was around. The engine (whole car) had a bad rep. but I can tell you for a fact that I have seen the inside of those things with 90-100k mi. and the rings were worn out but the cylinders had 0 ring groove. That aluminum simply didn't wear. I know they used a coating that was supposed to be 20 thousands thick but I don't think the aluminum alloys that they have today wear any where near what the cast iron did. Glad to hear that things went as well as they did with your neighbors car. Always encouraging to turn the key after an overhaul and have it fire immediately. Sounds like you both learned from it.

Hi Lenore- I trust he will be using full synthetic from now on. You know me, I'm a curious soul, always wanting to learn and I'm still scratching my head over this whole oil and sludge issue. I think you know what I mean. Did he (the 2 of you) do the rebuild all on your own, meaning just have whatever machine shop work that needed to be done and did the entire remaining on your own. As in full assy. of the short block or did you (he) have the machine shop do that assy.? I just replaced the water pump, idler and tension pulleys and a new timing belt on my DIL's RX a couple of days ago. Why, you ask? I'll explain in a short while (as soon as I get a little bit of time), for those that are eager to learn as I am. My brother just passed away yesterday morning after a short illness. He was also one who was always eager to learn. I mourn the loss of all the knowledge that he took with him. He was also one who did a lot of reading and always went to technical sources to get the facts- had no use for old wives tales, as I don't. Till later, Roger

Lenore, that is one clean looking engine (on the outside, not the inside! LOL)

What does it run for a rebuilt long block? An engine can be in good shape at 80k or bad shape at 30k but I would really have to be convinced that an 80k mi engine was in very nice shape to pay that kind of money for it. If you're going to keep the car I'd definitely look into rebuilt by a reputable rebuilder for a little more money. I would not be putting $1500. into installing a used engine with 80k only to find out it had to come back out. Good Luck!

I would be happy to help you with it. I tried to send you a PM and it wouldn't let me. I don't know if it's because you don't have enough posts or if you have to disable PM block. Give me an e-mail add. or ph.# to make contact. Roger

What does the manual in your '06 recommend? The later transmissions shouldn't have the problems that the weak earlier ones did. I would change it by whatever the manual says, or earlier if it smells burned at all or is getting dirty at all. That should be a full synthetic ATF so it should last a lot longer than 30k unless you're towing with it or getting stuck in the snow a lot- anything that is unkind to it. If it looks nice and red (or pink) and no burnt odor and isn't up to the miles the service manual says, I don't think there's any reason to change it. I personally (this is me and others will have their own opinion) don't like to ever simply drain a tranny pan, even if it has a drain plug. I always prefer to remove the pan and clean it and the magnets and change the filter. That is unless it looks like you just put it in. I like to get a look inside and that's the only way you get one. What if there are some nice sized slivers of metal on the magnet? You'll never know that important piece of information because the magnet will hold them when you drain it.

Sorry to be so blunt but does that dealer hire the retarded. The severely retrarded? I can't fathom that any competent mechanic would tear an engine down that had the 2 lowest cylinders at 150 lbs. compression. That is just crazy. These people have no idea what they're doing. They should be responsible for returning the engine to the condition it was when you brought it in but I don't know that I would trust them to work on a lawn mower without messing it up. You desperately need someone who knows what they're doing. Even the spark plugs that they charged you to replace shouldn't have needed replacing at 60k mi. They are good for at least a 100k to 125k. Did they get a look at a large bank account that you have or something? Flee from them as quickly as you can.

That's clever Imnop, I never thought about operating the lock up there. I would say no one else has either, at least I haven't seen anyone post who has done it that way. Kudo's to Ya!

thought I would ask one more time if any one out ther knows the easyest way to change out a right fender before I just wing it on my 2004 RX330 Did you ever get around to removing your fender? I will be replaceing the fender liner on my RX330 soon and wondered if you had any tips? KBK- the fender and liner are both easy to remove but the fender liner is the really easy one. Just remove all the 10MM bolts (most will be screws actually, because they go into plastic clips). And because the liner is plastic you can wrestle it out of there quite easily. You can do it with the wheel on but it will be easier with it off. I think if you take a look at it when you have the bolts all out (to see which side the liner actually fits into the clips) it will be self explanatory from there.

I'm betting there is a chance that none of the 300's were ever produced from the factory with the updated steel/6 gear planetary. By the time they admitted to themselves that it was a weak design and actually incorporated the changes into production they were building the 330 and the 350. A lot of manufacturers do that. They may know they have a problem and what they need to do to correct it but to make the change at that time is an admission that they screwed up and everyone who has a car built with the problem will expect it to be corrected whether they ever have a problem or not. Too costly! Look at what it took to get satisfaction for those 3.0L Toyota built engines and the Fords with the spark plug blow out and the spark plug breakage problem. Toyota was forced to deal with the problem at least somewhat and Ford never has really admitted to the serious screw-up with the spark plug problems. Too costly! That's the bottom line.

The problem often is not the felt channels but the metal horizontal channel in the door that the roller runs in. If it is greased when built new, the grease (along with the dirt that has collected in it) dries up and becomes stiff. If it is assembled dry (I have seen them both ways) it collects dirt and causes binding. In more years of doing body and mechanical than I want to admit, I have seldom ever seen the felt channels to be the culprit, it is virtually always the metal guide channels that the rollers run in that are the problem. The felt in the vertical channels sometimes contributes in a minor way but are not the main problem. When I said that a poster (moderator) on another forum used WD40 in the channel (horizontal) what it did primarily was flush the old grease and dirt out and cause it to work again. He still had to remove the door panel to do it. I am not a strong advocate of WD40 and personally don't use it often, choosing rather to use other products that I consider superior. Whatever you chose to do, to do it correctly for long term satisfaction, the trim panel will more than likely have to come off.

There is a gentleman on the other Lexus forum that had a similar problem and I believe he flooded the channel that runs horizontal in the door with either WD40 or spray White grease. I agree with that fix and I also used spray silicone to flood the felt that the glass actually runs in. I believe the horizontal channel is more likely the culprit. The unfortunate part is you have to remove the inner door panel to do it. You are in danger of damaging your motor by continuing to tax it that way. Once you remove the inner door panel you might want to remove that channel and clean it thoroughly if the grease has dried up in it before you regrease it.