code58

The trans. comes out the bottom but you have to drop the front crossmember (cradle), at least on the drivers side, if not completely and suspend the engine (more than 1 way to do it). Do you mean overhaul the trans. yourself or just R&R it yourself? I have had the complete front drive assy. out and unless you're a glutton for punishment, I would look around for a good Mom & Pop independent trans. shop that is used to doing Toyota trans.'s and has a reputation for being good at it. Shouldn't cost you more than half what Lexus wanted. If you R&R it yourself be sure that you know what you're doing when you put the torque converter back in. I've known a few guys who cost themselves a whole lot more than they saved because of not getting the TC to slip ALL the way onto the splines (it can be a little bit tough), and really tearing things up. Good Luck!

RCNV- If I was a betting man I would go to Vegas and bet the house on it. The brushes get worn out and then the brush holders don't apply enough pressure to make good contact between the brushes and the commutator. The brushes are really tiny- after all this is a hobby motor. There is an awful lot of "dirt" (worn brush dust) in the motor. Even when I took the motors apart, cleaned them up, sanded the commutator with emery cloth and tensioned the brush holders, They still only worked occasionally. I would plan on replacing them in whatever way you choose to.

Mike, that is always a possibility. There is a way to test the A/F ratio sensors. Unfortunately the rear sensor plug is difficult to get released because of where it is. I actually think it's worse to disconnect it than it is to remove it. It's up behind the engine and you pretty much have to do it from underneath. The problem is it takes 2 hands to hold the plug and release it and it's virtually impossible to get 2 hands up there. Now if you had the intake manifold off, that would definitely be the time to change the plugs, A/F sensor and a few other things that are BURIED back there.

Good advice Lenore. I removed the throttle body also and it is still a challenge (you can't much see what you're doing, mostly feel), but I'd rather work by feel than by mirror. Drives me nuts to work by reverse image. If you haven't already got them in... be very careful not to cross-thread them. :o Best way to put a plug in an aluminum head down a deep hole is to use a piece of vacuum hose about a foot long (helps keep from dropping it) , lube the plug threads lightly with anti-seize and thread it in by hand til you KNOW that it is down a few threads. Very true- you don't want to cross thread em and it's easy to do in aluminum if the threads are kinda dirty from being in for 100k mi.

RCNV- Stranger things have happened. The one way to find out is to take the master control out of the drivers door and use a test light to see if you have juice leaving the control for the front locks when you operate lock and unlock. If you have juice there, the next thing is to pull the door panel and jump juice directly to the contacts on the lock assembly that operate the lock. (2 wires, they just reverse polarity to lock and unlock) You might take the right front door panel off and while someone operates (holds) the button for about 4 seconds try bumping the lock housing with a hammer handle. If it works then, it's still bad, just means the worn and dirty brushes were able to make enough contact to work briefly. Don't get excited if you are able to get them to work again, I took 2 of the motors apart and cleaned them all up and tightened the brusholders, the commutator and the brushes and it still didn't work very often because the brushes are too worn on this tinkertoy motor. If you have someone be your helper, have them operate the master switch but reconnect the pass. side switch because I believe the juice goes through it to the lock. The door lock panel unsnaps from the front and then slides forward off the back lug. It's in there pretty tight. Good Luck.

lmnop- I don't know what to say- Lenore said he put it through that and used a paper clip somehow to secure it. Is there enough meat to drill above or below that open slot? I can't believe the # of different configurations. If you'll notice, the pictures on the 1st. page of this thread have it through what looks like the same slot, but with it enclosed. ???? My DIL's RX has these beautiful arms with the nice round holes at the end that were unused. Now I feel bad that I thought maybe some of you were missing the arms with the holes because they are on the opposite side of the lock from where the little wires from the door controls are. Dirty pool I'd say. I had to blaze my own trail when I did them but I had the advantage of ideal arms w/holes to work with. I'm sure you could use the slot- just drill 2- 1/16in. holes above and below the slot and to the side a little and use a heavy paper clip like Lenore, to close that opening so that the rod can't come out. Good Luck!

Good advice Lenore. I removed the throttle body also and it is still a challenge (you can't much see what you're doing, mostly feel), but I'd rather work by feel than by mirror. Drives me nuts to work by reverse image.

When my mechanic replaced the injectors, seals etc he mentioned that one of them was physically broken too. The net result was mycar wentfromrunning lean to rich and still getting codes . the 2 constants in this whole process are p0303 and p0304, with the other codes being often but not always So today I went and had my codes pulled again: P0300 P0301 P0303 P0304 P1130 bank 1 sensor 1 I disconnected the o2 sensor on the manifold behind the radiator...was that the right one? It seems like itmay run a litle better but not a lot. CEL still flashing,rough idle and shakes under load around 2200 rpm in OD Mike, if you're refering to P1130 bank 1 sensor 1 is the sensor in the rear manifold, at the firewall. The front 1 that you disconnected is refereed to as bank 2 sensor 1.

lmnop- It sounds to me as though you have the type of arm that some have spoken of with the open slot rather than an unused hole like I had on both front and rear locks. As far as room, there is actually room in both front and rear doors. Nothing wrong with what you did, especially if you want easy access to the actuator. I had just never seen it done that way before. Let us know if you have the open slot in the white nylon arm rather than the hole. Since I have never seen one of the locks with the open hole, I would love it if someone would post a picture of it. I'm wondering if it is anything like some of the rod holes that I have seen over the years that are a quick way to simply "snap" the rod in from the side rather than having to "thread" the Z through the hole. They do have a molded tab that spring locks the rod in.

lmnop- In looking at your pictures I believe you mounted it in a totally different place than most people mounted them. I'm sorry I didn't take any pictures when I did all 4 doors on my DIL's RX about 2 1/2-3 years ago. If you look on post #4 on page 1 of this thread, on the picture posted, the right lower picture shows the way most have attached the actuator. In that picture you see a white arm that he has attached the rod to. The actuator then sits down in the lower part of the door with the arm going up at about an 80 degree angle to the rear on the front door and about a 50 degree angle to the rear on the rear door. My actuators were completely hidden down in the door. The white arm that you see in the mentioned picture even had an unused existing hole which was perfect for the "Z" in the rod to fit into. The rear door had the same unused hole in the arm that the front door has. It virtually looks factory because I used the existing factory bracket that was on the Ford actuators that I used. Some of them have said that their lock assemblies didn't have that arm but mine did. It is on the lock assy. facing the inside of the car right where you want it. I wouldn't worry about the added throw of the new actuators, the way they work is the motor isn't powerful enough to do any harm, it just stops short of it's capability. The reason it has so much longer throw than the original is where you drilled the hole, very short coupled! Drilling in that arm you didn't have a choice. Look for the white arm facing inward with the hole like the picture, maybe you'll luck out! Good Luck!

I took a look at the old IACV out of my DIL's RX and I couldn't see any reason for the wave washer. It LOOKED like insurance that it didn't need. It would hold the bearing in place but I tugged on the end of the shaft that rides in that bearing and it didn't seem like it was going anywhere. If you still had it apart I would send you this wave washer but I don't think you'll need it.

I assume you mean the type you hit with a hammer and it helps (spiral) the screw in whichever direction it is set to. I have 2 different sizes of those and they are great when you really need them. I used a 3/8 impact set low (so as not to strip the SOFT Japanese screws) and it worked just fine. The nature of the soft Japanese metal in the bolts and screws is that it "seizes" against the adjacent metal. It's not that it is tightened excessively at the factory, that's why when it does let go it is immediately loose. A harder bolt isn't able to "get it's fingers" into the adjacent metal so doesn't "seize" the way the soft does.

Sam- this is for both you and Bellarx. I know this is a long shot but I read something on one of the brake parts manufacturers sites. It said that brake lining material can get stuck on the surface of the rotors. This is not stuff you can see but could probably see under a microscope. It is often transfered when the rotors are hot and the brakes are applied for a little while (as they would be from a lot of stop and go and then having to stop with your foot on the brake for a little bit). The cure is simply on a back street or an area where there aren't hardly any cars around (don't want to cause an accident), speed up and apply the brakes hard 3or4 times. That is supposed to cause the pads to remove the transfered material from the rotors. (Just make sure you don't have to sit with your brakes on until they've cooled down). I have actually tried this when the brakes get a little "pulsating", like a little bit of warp to the rotors. And it actually worked! I drive an '04 Ford F-150 and they have had problems with them where when the emergency brake is applied and then released, the cable gets dry inside and doesn't release the EM all the way, and there have been quite a few reports of shaking so bad by about 40 MPH that they had to pull over because they couldn't control the truck. Don't know if this will give either one of you an answer or not but it is something too consider.

Just a little tip- I was fortunate enough not to drop the wave washer- but if you do..... I have more tools than it should be legal for 1 man to have (I spent my life in automotive work of one form or another) but if I drop (and lose) a small part like that I take the long wanded air blower and blow (not real hard) all around in the area that you dropped it in under the hood. Most of the time that will dislodge it and you will find it under the car. I also use a very powerful magnet on an adjustable handle (Harbor Freight) and scan the area with it to pick up the part if it is small enough that I don't readily see it. Hopes this helps those of you that have air and a powerful magnet. LOL

My wife's RX now has 92k miles and has had oil/oil filter change every 3k (or 3 months) with Castrol dino 5-30W oil. Removed valve cover and engine is clean as a whistle. Why should I change to synthetic at this point? I'm not arguing against synthethic, just don't see any reason to make the change. You live in a cold climate so wait until it's 5 or 10 degrees outside. Leave a quart of dino and a quart of synthetic outside over night. In the morning pop them open and pour. You will never use dino again. This is apples and oranges, I realize, but there a gagillion vehicles out there that have no idea what synthetic oil is and a lot of them will run a lot more miles that the vehicles that use synthetic. That's not to badmouth synthetic, that would be utterly foolish. I'm only saying if you change your oil with a good dino at 3-5k mi. and with synthetic at 5-10k mi. the largest chances are both of those vehicles will go to the junk yard WITHOUT engine failure or repair at 200-250k mi. If you believe you have to run synthetic to get long life out of a vehicle, Google "Million Mile Van". Approaching 1,000,100 miles WITHOUT ever having the heads or pan off! It's for real, and it's not the first either. And never a drop of anything but dino! Synthetic is good stuff, but not necessary for long life.

i tried sending a message, wouldn't let me... =\ I have two led lights that need to go a power source to a switch box in the cab, Sent PM- we'll see if it works. Roger

I couldn't care less if they're pretty...was just tired of constantly being told "your lights are on!" Finally went with the recommendations to leave them on, since obviously they get people's attention! Cheers, Mac The "irritated attention" is probably not the kind of attention I would chose to draw. I personally hate them and glad the state I live in does not require them, I would probably risk the ticket by disabling them.

Paul- I outfitted for 8 years for a major law enforcement agency before I retired. We always used a holesaw and rubber grommet but were normally running quite a lot of wires and I don't think that is probably the case with you. As you know the LED's take almost no juice so don't require very large wire. You didn't say where the LED's were going and maybe you don't need help with that. As far as getting through the firewall- I need to know a little more about what type of switching you will use and how many lights. If you want to PM me I could probably answer your questions a little more thoroughly. just need details. "Roger"

Mikey- A cleverly concealed (and I mean CLEVERLY) cut-off switch for the fuel pump is the surest way to make sure your car is where you left it when you come back. If it is done right they will not spend the time to find out what the problem is and trace down how to defeat it. That's what I use and I have not yet found anyone who could tell me where it is. Too many others out there that they can get away with in a hurry. And concerning the "Club". I'm no thief and I can tell you how to have that off the wheel in 10-12 seconds. I have read that police dept's don't recommend that for any serious protection.

TXRX- You're barely half way to replacement time. I changed my DIL's (at 97k) and if I had pulled a couple of 'em before I bought the new ones I wouldn't have touched 'em. My judgement, I would say they are good for at least 150k. I believe in checking things on a regular basis but those plugs just refuse to wear out. In my estimation I wouldn't use anything but NGK or Denso (Iridium).

Thanks for keeping us posted Lenore. Being a curious soul and always wanting to learn something new, what is he going to do? Is he going to return the long block or drill and tap the holes for the mount? By the way, not being familiar with the driveline in a Hylander, is that a conventional (longitudinal) mounted engine? You are a good neighbor for helping him. I appreciate that spirit! Just one reason that if I have a good rebuildable part I often choose to do just that, then I know what I have- no surprises. I hate surprises! :(

Sounds like the whole family gives new meaning to the term "pathetic losers".

dimsumboy, You are a shining example of why this world is in the mess that it is- people always rationalizing why what they have done isn't as bad as the next guy or why it isn't wrong at all. The truth is the truth and isn't dependent upon whether you or anyone for that matter believes it! And the truth is what they (as a family colluded to do) was wrong, is wrong and forever will be wrong. And no amount of rationalization to justify it will ever change that! What exactly did he learn? That it was OK to commit insurance fraud as long as you don't get caught? That the rest of us who DONT commit insurance fraud are the suckers because we have to share in the cost of something that we didn't do? (and we do!) With "a pocket full of money" we now know what the value of his mothers soul is because she sold it for $5000.

LRB- Get the codes read at Autozone or whoever does it for free in your area. Either go online and see what has set the light (if Autozone reads it they should give you a printout that gives you a very good idea of what the problem is) or come back here and one of us will help you with it. It could be something minor, after all 90% of all we worry about never comes to pass. Find what the problem is and then you're armed with knowledge, which is power! Good luck!