bushrat

My 2004 RX 330 with all wheel drive at 45,000 mi. has just started to make a low pitch humming sound comming from the rear drive train. The sound is noticable at medium speeds starting at 40 -to 50 mph. Is this an indication of a major problem or that any service procedure should be performed.

Tires are about a year old and the sound was just noticed about 2 weeks ago, so I don't think the humming noise comes from the rear tires.

Anyone with knowledge of what's going on, please reply.

You may want to look at the rear wheel bearings. They seem to be problimatic - My 2004 RX AWD developed a humming noise at speed : had both rear wheel bearing replaced at about 42000 miles ( 67000 kms ) - fixed. My father had a rear bearing on his 05 Highlander replaced at about 60000 miles ( same setup ).

Talking to the mechanic that replaced the bearings said they see a fair number. These are low milage bearing failure - something may be up.

Cheers

Dead simple fix, and no stealership. I fought with mine for 2 ( yes two ) years before figuring out it had not be reset by the dealer when the battery was replaced.

The reset is in your owner's manual, but it goes like this - Push and HOLD the slide switch towards the forward position until the roof cycles all the way open AND all the way closed. Then release the switch. To chech operation, push and hold the slide switch forward for about 1/2 a second and release. The roof should open about 80% of the way and stop. You can open it he rest of the way by pushing the switch a couple of more times. Closing is the same - push the slide switch to the colsed position and hold for 1/2 a second and the roof should close automatically and even stop in the right spot.

Cheers.

I acutally looked into this. Thought it was the valves and they just needed adjustement. Dealership said it is a well known issue from Lexus, and that it isn't the valves, in fact it is the fuel injectors and the rails. Apparently there is an upgrade kit out there to resolve this, but Lexus of course is charging a significant of money. Price wise i cannot remember how much anymore. But basically, its normal and live it is what they said...unless you want to shell out some money for the ugrade kit.

Sorry, here is the link. Can't figure out how to delete the first post.

For your reading enjoyment, here is the applicable TSB for the injector issue.

Cheers.

FUEL INJECTOR “TICKING” NOISE -- EG005-05 Revised.pdf

I acutally looked into this. Thought it was the valves and they just needed adjustement. Dealership said it is a well known issue from Lexus, and that it isn't the valves, in fact it is the fuel injectors and the rails. Apparently there is an upgrade kit out there to resolve this, but Lexus of course is charging a significant of money. Price wise i cannot remember how much anymore. But basically, its normal and live it is what they said...unless you want to shell out some money for the ugrade kit.

For your reading enjoyment, here is the TSB for the injector issue.

Cheers

Hi,

My wife's 2004 RX330 keeps getting the famous error-3 and error-4 when she tries to remove the cd's that are in the changer. I have read out here that this is a fairly widespread problem. I just called our Lexus dealer and they say it isn't a widespread problem and it will only cost us $900 to replace it with the same crappy unit that won't work now. I guess I have "stupid" stamped on my forehead or they just don't get it. My wife doesn't care about having a 6 cd changer but she does want at least a single cd player. She would also love the ability to put mp3's on a memory card (not an mp3 player), slide the card into the unit and let it play from the memory card. She was recently in a car that had this ability. Does anyone make an aftermarket product that might do this (and yes I'm searching on the net for it also) that would fit into her car without it looking like some kid took a hacksaw and cut out what is there now and duct taped a new one in? I'm hoping someone has actually done this or had someone do it so they can make recommendations. Local auto stereo shops here in Denver get absolutely horrible online reviews so I'm leaning towards a Best Buy or someone who actually stands behind their product and installation.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Calling Lexus was a total waste of my time and a bit insulting.

Thanks,

Don - Denver, Colorado

The unit is made by Pioneer. I read of several people removing the unit and taking it to an authorized Pioneer servive place with good results and a fraction of the stealerships new price - and yes it is a wide spreed problem. It only seems to occur on my RX during the winter.

Check out a company called speedofix. I talked to them ref. an RX 330 conversion and was told they could easily reprogram the imp - metric issue.

Cheers