RX400h

Is there a reason why you don't want to use your phone? I have a Garmin unit that I've taken with me when we traveled using a rental car, long before our phones had reliable Navigation maps built-in but I will probably use my phone the next time I travel. However if you have a smallish phone I can understand why you'd prefer a Garmin or Tom Tom Nav unit which are typically $100 or less.

Thanks for the tip. I would've never guessed!🙂

How many miles are on the odometer? Many years ago, on our way back from Arizona, there were signs on the highway just before an upgrade, warning drivers to turn off their vehicle's air conditioner to prevent overheating. We had rented a fairly new van at that time and it didn't have any overheating issues. However, we took our 1994 Nissan Quest van to Las Vegas during a hot Summer week and the engine lost power while the transmission was struggling to shift properly. After returning, the van never had a repeat of the drivability problem, probably because it never experienced such hot weather in San Diego. The reason I brought up these stories is that driving long distances during high ambient temperatures can really be tough on an engine's cooling system. I think your RX will be just fine. Side note: I do occasionally have to top off the coolant tank - not very often, but the gallon of antifreeze is always handy when needed.

I believe a Lexus mechanic can plug a test instrument into the OBD port and then try to duplicate the problem. Have you left your RX there for the mechanic to try to do this?

Visually inspect the related ignition coil wiring harness and connectors. Check for damaged components and look for broken, bent, pushed out, or corroded connector's pins. How old is your battery? Which vehicle model and year do you own?

While I used to wear contact lenses, I don't anymore due to inability of my eyes to self-focus. So my eye protection from bright light is now through transition lenses and prescription sunglasses which are darker. Many years ago when I was wearing sunglasses with my contact lenses, a friend and I were riding our motorcycles on the highway and here and there, throughout the day and into the evening. As we were heading home I was pulled over by a highway officer who had to ask, "Why on earth are you wearing sunglasses at night?" I relied, "Well, I don't have a helmet so if I didn't wear these sunglasses I'd would've gotten wacked in my eye by that flying bug, about 2 miles ago!" Keep in mind that I was about 24 years old and my explanation made perfect sense to me....... 😏

You may want to take it to an Auto Electric Shop. They tend to be expert troubleshooters with anything related to electrical issues. I've gone to them multiple times throughout the years for problems that I couldn't solve.

My bet is that it is. Every so often a bad battery rears its ugly head. Thankfully, they are few and far between these days.

Do you really plan to use it? We never use ours but I try to open and close it every so often to make sure it works. My daughter's 15 year old Mazda Protege stopped working but she never used it so we left it alone.

Good luck! 👍

How old is your 12V battery? A weak battery can cause various warning lights to illuminate. There should be a date code on the battery. Anything over 4 years of age may be suspect. I just mentioned in another similar post that many unscrupulous vehicle sellers will clear trouble codes just before selling the vehicle. This is why Scotty Kilmer on youtube advises buyers to bring an OBD II scanning instrument when going to look at the vehicle. He also recommends taking the vehicle out for an hour drive (highway and city), if possible, since after that amount of time any codes that were deleted will come back. A scraping sound when applying the brakes almost always indicates worn pads. Any recommended local auto repair shop mechanic should be able to inspect your braking system.

A fairly common "trick" that sellers do is to clear all codes just before selling the vehicle. To avoid inheriting the sellers problems, bring with you a OBD II reader and look at history codes. If none are shown, ask to drive the car for one hour to see if any reveal themselves. In California, the seller is responsible for having the vehicle smog-checked and passed, just before the sale. The smog inspector checks the vehicle's computer to make sure that there are no codes and that all systems are ready.

Yes, they are solid. Ours is more than 16 years old with 135,000 miles and still runs like new. I recommend that you look at the maintenance schedule and verify that the previous owner had critical things done, like coolant, oil, spark plugs, etc changed. All recalls should have been taken care of, as well. The dash may have been replaced, free of charge, courtesy of Lexus. The rear window frames may have broken off, some of the leather, stained or wrinkled, and the hatch overhang weathered but these are strictly cosmetic. Good luck!

Trevor, that's a long way back - maybe when I was just a young kid! 🙂 When you compare a Camry hybrid versus a 4 cylinder ICE version, you can see that the 15 MPG difference represents an improvement of 47%. With gas prices sky high as they are, I'd bet it wouldn't take long to pay back the $1500 - $2000 extra cost. But yes, you have to look at differences closely after retiring. It does become harder to justify an electric car or even a brand new (any type of) car. Between my two cars I drive about 5000 miles. My wife's RX400h now sees only about 4000 miles per year but we've had that one for a long time and it had paid us back in spades compared to a non-hybrid..

Yes, as were all other Triumph cars that I can recall. I'm not sure if I ever saw the TR8 in person but I remember it being on the cover of Car & Driver magazine. I think it was an aluminum V8 and fairly lightweight. Bykfixer, the TR8 went on sale sometime around 1978.

You're welcome. A metric combination (box and open end) wrench set comes in handy.

Mechanics will often add an ultraviolet dye to the fluid to pinpoint leaking.

If your battery were drained from the headlights being on, you wouldn't have been able to start the engine by just touching the battery terminals. You may want to try to rotate each battery cable clamp to see if it rotates on the battery terminal. If it does, that may explain the no-start condition. You can tighten each clamp with a box end wrench but you have to be careful that you don't also touch a grounded object while touching or tightening the positive terminal clamp.

Very nice! I'm sure another one is waiting for you. I may never NOT have one in the stable. By the way, a friend I had many years ago during the early 80s had a Triumph TR7. That was a really fun car as well, although not quite as reliable as the 1990 Miata.

Some less expensive wheels are hit or miss when it comes to how well balanced they are from the factory. Wheels like Enkei, for example tend to be well-balanced but I've had inexpensive $100 wheels made by other brands that were never able to be balanced to my satisfaction. You may want to call various tire shops to see if they have something like this: Road Force® Elite Wheel Balancer | Hunter Engineering Company® These are well known among auto enthusiasts for being able to balance just about any wheel.

Once a vehicle gets past 15-20 years old, gaskets start to leak. Some of them can cost thousands in labor to replace. Back in 2014 I had a 1989 Mazda MX6 GT that was in great shape except for various gasket seals that were leaking. Spending the money to replace them would've made no sense, so I sold the car to a junkyard. Another reason why old cars are junked is because various components had been discontinued. This is why there is an old saying that you should buy the newest car you can afford. That is my advice.

Why don't you want to fix the power steering pump? Does it require special tools? Have you called around to see what the cost would be? Leaking oil is bad for the environment.

The old saying goes: "If the repair bill is equal to or greater than half the value of the car, it's time to put it to rest." You can get an excellent car for $10,000 that will last you more than 10 years if you select one that was both well-maintained and was considered to be a reliable car by Consumer Reports. After doing so you will most likely say to yourself, "Why didn't I do this, years ago!"

My daughter's first car was a 2002 Mazda Protege that had spent three years in New York. It certainly had rusty components but nothing that would make the car unsafe. Even in 2017 when I sold it, it was still perfectly safe. Imagine if the car were driven in New York for 10 years. By contrast, my 1989 Mazda MX6 GT was 25 years old when I sold it and its undercarriage was still in excellent shape. Of course, the car had spent its entire life in southern California.

I agree. Sometimes being able to see what a paint job looks like, 3 years after completion is just as important as scrutinizing the work immediately following completion of the job. Due diligence is important.