RX400h

The "average mileage for the RX400h was never 30 MPG, that was even above the city mileage, which is listed as 28 MPG. Very few people drive solely in city traffic. However, those who are regularly in traffic jams do see upper 20s, which is excellent compared to the non-hybrids that can easily see only mid-high teens. I had a couple of coworkers who were getting 16 MPG in heavy traffic conditions.in their RX non-hybrids. We average (with a mix that is slightly highway-centric) about 26 MPG, even with my heavy foot on the weekends. Our heavy traffic mileage is closer to 28.

Nice job and thanks for the writeup. I honestly did not know those mirrors existed!

Have you checked the pressure in each tire? It could m be that an underinflated tire can adversely affect VSC and ABS.

I would've told my dealership to keep the car until this issue happened, again. Is the steering wheel locking or your ignition key? If your ignition key is not turning, did you rap it to fully seat it and then later on, inject powdered graphite into the ignition cylinder key hole?

While torquing the steering wheel, left and right, and with the key in the ignition, turn the key to start the engine. That should work if the steering wheel was inadvertently rotated after the key was removed. Now, if the key is not inserted all the way in, rap it with a hard object to get it to bottom out. If this works, buy a small tube of dry powdered graphite and squirt into the cylinder before inserting the key, the next time.

The top five (recommended) Consumer Reports picks for "All Season Truck" tires are: 1. Michelin LTX M/S2 2. Michelin X Radial LT2 3. Continental CrossContact LX20 4. Michelin Latitude Tour HP 5. Michelin Latitude Tour I am not sure what each tire's speed rating is. I believe OEM is "V"-rated. Recommended V-rated all-season tires are: 1. Continental Pure Contact 3. Michelin Primacy MXV4 Check to verify proper load rating

We still have the Paradas, although one of the fronts picked up a big nail or screw in its sidewall. Both fronts were replaced and since they are fairly new, I will most likely buy the same tires for the rear - perhaps, this Fall or before the rainy season. 40,000 miles is great for a relatively high-performance tire. I am extremely happy with the Paradas. Yes, it WAS Rey. Before he traded his RX, he either switched back to the OEM size or was planning to.

Keep in mind that the tire size you mention is almost 2 inches larger in diameter than the OEM sized tire. Your speedometer readings would no longer be accurate. I recall that at least one member of this forum used to run that size tires on his RX400h, but I would not recommend it.

Maseace provided this info, a while back. It may provide a clue. http://uslexusownersclub.com/forums/topic/76194-rx-400h-air-conditioning-problem/

Only if there's no chance of messing up the calibration, making it harder to fix, afterward. Is that the only calibration procedure you can find?

I know that some Subaru owners are having a similar issue. Apparently, oxidation of the sensor connector prevents the brain from detecting the airbag sensor signal. Some owners have simply unplugged and plugged in the connector to the driver's seat/airbag to rectify the problem. It may be worth a try, in your case.

I sometimes hear a slight thunk when I brake from a low speed, (backing out of the garage) but I'll bet it's just one the calipers that needs grease on the slides. Non-hybrid vehicles generally have their caliper slides greased when pads are replaced, but hybrids typically don't need pads for more then 100,000 miles, so general caliper maintenance tends to get bypassed. But that's amazing that the service manager "never heard of this type of problem". What should happen among the service employees is communication among them and the mechanics, regarding any issues. Many years ago when my wife had an 86 Honda Accord, the turn signals stopped working. I called the local dealership's service manager and asked him if he'd experienced this issue, before. He told me that not only was it very common, but also that there was a simple fix - push and pull the emergency flasher button, multiple times. Apparently, power to the turn signals was routed through the emergency flasher switch. That switch's electrical contacts gradually corroded to a point where power would not pass through. It made sense because we never used the emergency flashers. So that service manager saved me a trip and the cost for a mechanic to cycle the flasher switch.

Frank, Have you asked a service manager if this is something he or she has experienced with other customers' vehicles. I know they like to say " Bring it in and we'll take a look/listen." but sometimes a manager will give out that information. In the absence of that, let's hope someone or two will chime in with personal experience. Dave

That appears to be what many other RX330 owners have complained about. There was an upgrade/TSB available for early versions of the ECT software. You may want to check to see if this was done by your dealership. From what I have read, it worked for some vehicles, but not all.

I'm not sure about longevity along the East coast, but out here on the west coast, exhaust systems last almost forever. An inexpensive way to get that "rumble" is to go to a muffler shop that sells Magnaflow mufflers. I did this for my old Mazda MX6 GT. The shop installed larger pipe and both a catalytic converter and muffler made by Magnaflow. The sound was great - low rumble that was not too loud or obnoxious in any way.

...cannot be matched? Do you mean mismatched or replaced with other types?I, too think it is unusual for the plugs to be bad at 87,000 miles.

I agree with maseace. You will need a multimeter to do this. You can get a decent one at Sears for $50 or less. Set to DC volts and touch the red lead to the positive terminal and black lead to the negative. You should see a minimum of 13.5, but no more than about 14.5V while the engine is running. By the way, a bad alternator should not cause a new battery to be on its "last legs". If that battery can no longer accept a charge, then it was likely not good from the beginning.

Our Windows phones (currently, HTC 8X) work, perfectly with our 06 RX400h. I recall that we paid a bit extra for this service that updates the list of compatible phones, each year. We haven't had to use this service in quite a few years, since we have never had a problem with our last two generations of HTC phones.

As far as the sparkplugs go.......I'm not sure if this Canadian version is exactly like yours, but one thing is for sure about it - it is not exactly a quick procedure. http://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-second-generation/609747-lexus-rx350-3-5l-nap-made-in-canada-2008-spark-plug-change.html ...not sure about the coils, though. By the way, how many miles are on your RX?

Flip it on at night with your lights on and see what happens. If it's nitrous oxide, there will be a tank in the car, somewhere and flipping the switch would produce a 50-200 HP increase under full-throttle conditions. Somehow, I don't think that's what it is for, however.

The overdrive solenoid in my old Mazda's tranny would not function if the fluid level were a bit low. The car would stall while coming to a stop. Adding a bit of ATF was the easiest transmission fix I ever accomplished. Another funny story: When I had my Mazda RX3, I had a habit of popping the auto tranny into neutral as I backed down my driveway. This somewhat reduced driveline shock when shifting into drive. When I bought the MX6 GT, I thought that its tranny was on its last legs when it would not shift at times. Then I started shifting directly from reverse to drive, without backing down the driveway in neutral. Bingo, the transmission behaved, perfectly, afterward. My guess is that a spool valve wasn't fully activating until I changed that 10 year habit.

....an RX2008? I never heard of that model. ^_^ But yes, all that was mentioned is correct.

That was impressive, for sure, but todays transmissions (8 speeds and highly electronic CVTs) are light-years ahead of the old 3-speed autos used over 20 years ago. The service manager at a local Mazda dealership told me his mechanics aren't allowed to rebuild or even repair auto transmission. Sadly, most "experts" are not. If you found one, you are lucky. They seem to be few and far between.

The ones I worry about are the transmission shops that rebuild the transmissions, themselves. I've known and read about many folks who had their transmissions "repaired" at one of those shops, only to have it fail, within 30,000 miles. Anyone who has taken apart a modern auto tranny and tells you it is simple is either a mechanical genius or is lying. Many vehicles will get crushed at the junk yard, not because they are worn out, but because their electronic-related problems are not worth solving.

I have never known anyone who had good luck with an auto transmission rebuild at an independent shop. Auto transmissions are incredibly complicated and you are much more likely to have success with a factory-rebuilt (with all the latest upgrades) or new transmission. Regardless, transmissions should last past 150,000 miles.