RX400h

This procedure is in your owner's manual.

Hi Dave,Do you have an idea how much the Yokohama's are in your region? Hello, Paul, I normally check prices at tirerack.com and either order from them or use that price as a bargaining chip, locally. I did buy the Parada-Xs from Tirerack and had a Big-O Tire shop install/balance them. Currently, they are $159 each + shipping, but no tax.

What does your owner's manual state? As 1990LS400 mentioned, the change interval(s) should be in there. I think 90,000 is the transmission fluid change interval.

The Consumer Reports 2013 Buying Guide lists the Continental PureContact all-season (V-rated) as #1. In 2nd place is Pirelli's P7 Cinturato A/S and third, the Michelin Primacy MXV4.

After many thousands of miles, I still highly recommend the Yokohama Parada Spec-X tires. They handle well, are very quiet, and seem to be wearing very slowly.

Ours are on approx. 24000 miles and are still very quiet. We rotate every 5-6000 miles and have plenty of tread left. All-in-all, these tires have been great over the past 2 and a half years.

113 miles? Congrats! That's extremely low miles.

Are the front tires on ramps?

On a side note, the 2006 RX400h is actually a bit faster than the RX450h, according to each being tested by Car & Driver. The 400h accelerated to 60 MPH in 6.6 seconds and the 450h in 6.8 seconds. Also, the 450h weighs in at 157 lbs more than the 400h.

I recommend that you get a custom-fit cover that has side mirror pockets. Are you saying that when you travel, you leave your car outdoors at home or at the airport? I'd be a bit reluctant to leave a car cover on a car that is far away from sight.

Consumer Reports agrees with the majority of this article, concerning whether the dealership fuel injector cleaning service is necessary: http://www.kbb.com/car-advice/articles/do-you-need-an-injector-flush/ I pour a can of concentrated Techron in the tank, every 6 months or so and my gas mileage has stayed rock-steady throughout the years. Of course, I replace my air filters every 12,000 miles, also.

How can you possibly explain the massive change in fuel economy? If you believe the spark plug change could do this, you would have to assume that the plug gap were substantially larger, but even if this were true, wouldn't the input voltage increase to compensate? It is obvious to me that a computer controlled engine cannot fully compensate for extreme changes, including those of air flow and spark plug electrode degradation. That being said, I must also add that my experience with late model spark plugs and conversations with dealership service managers has prompted me to believe that many modern spark plugs reach 100,000 miles or more before fuel efficiency is significantly affected. Back a few years ago, there was a heated discussion about aftermarket (oiled) filters. This was posted by an automotive engineer. See his last paragraph:

That article is deceptive. As your intake air flow decreases due to an air filter that is getting more and more clogged, engine power decreases. To accelerate as briskly as you are accustomed to and assuming you did not somehow decrease the weight of your vehicle, a steeper throttle tip-in is required, resulting in GREATER fuel consumption. A good example is an air compressor. If you slowly restrict intake air flow, output pressure is reduced. Now, if you could increase the motor speed to compensate for the diminished output, power consumption would increase. Anyone who tells you it would not needs to retake physics. Cduluk, knowing your driving style, I'd say it's a sure thing that replacing your air filter restored power, allowing you to ease up on the gas pedal, thus reducing your gas consumption. A dirty air filter only affects performance at wide open throttle. Before that, the engine doesn't care where the air flow restriction is, be it the throttle valve or the air filter- in this case a summation of each. The mass air flow value determines fuel flow, not the position of the throttle vavle. Try this experiment: Restrict your air intake flow by 75% and then regularly drive aggressively, as does Cduluk. Continue this type of driving for one tankful and don't forget those occasional but brief full-throttle runs on hills and on the highway. Now measure your fuel consumption and report back to us. I think it's safe to say that you will experience what Cduluk had when his air filter was severely restricted.

That article is deceptive. As your intake air flow decreases due to an air filter that is getting more and more clogged, engine power decreases. To accelerate as briskly as you are accustomed to and assuming you did not somehow decrease the weight of your vehicle, a steeper throttle tip-in is required, resulting in GREATER fuel consumption. A good example is an air compressor. If you slowly restrict intake air flow, output pressure is reduced. Now, if you could increase the motor speed to compensate for the diminished output, power consumption would increase. Anyone who tells you it would not needs to retake physics. Cduluk, knowing your driving style, I'd say it's a sure thing that replacing your air filter restored power, allowing you to ease up on the gas pedal, thus reducing your gas consumption.

I normally go to Discount Tire, although I have ordered tires from Tirerack.com and had them installed at one of their recommended installers. I have Yokohama Parada-X and they have been stellar tires for many thousands of miles, so far. Brake squeaking can sometimes be fixed by disassembling the pads and applying anti-squealing grease to the back of each pad. Regarding the disconnected leads: I'd have the dealership tow your car back to reconnect the leads. After they do, try to find a more competent dealership or repair shop.

A filthy air filter will destroy mileage. You should check the filter after 10,000 miles of use. Your plugs were probably okay.

I believe the key is in the back where the tire-changing tools are. The manual that is linked in one of the stickies, above should contain info about this.

Congratulations! I tell people all the time that in most cases regarding Japanese vehicles, it is never truly cost effective to keep a new car less than 10 years. However, the many advancements that are bound to be included with your new purchase cannot be measured in dollars. I our case, we are still very happy with our RX400h (also purchased in April of 2005). I am fairly certain, though that our next vehicle will be far lighter and more efficient - perhaps a Mazda 6 or Lexus ES300h. The consistent $4/gallon gas prices are the motivating factor.

Good advice! Perhaps a neighbor can help?

....not bad! However, we do expect you to buy a hybrid, the next time you are shopping for a new car. ^_^

The latest IE is actually very good. I run Win 8 Professional at work, which comes with IE 10. Page loads are lightning quick and safety features are abundant. As an aside, my son tells me that a program called "Wine" can be used with Linux. Once Wine is installed, "Chrome" can be installed. Chrome has an IE mode, which may work to view programs that can be viewed only with IE.

According to our 2006 RX400h owner's manual: What fools many people about this statement is that our gasolene pumps do NOT display Research Octane Number (RON). Rather, they display an average of RON and Motor Octane Number (MON) [(RON+MON)/2]. Essentially, then, you do NOT need to use 91 octane as stated on the pumps. Your 2006 RX400h will "potentially" produce more power with higher octane, but only if you accelerate aggressively. Otherwise, you are wasting your money. I would, however use 91 octane in a very warm environment, such as Arizona or Nevada when Summer temps can climb to 100 degrees F. Conversely, during very cold temps, I'm sure any grade would provide more than adequate performance.

Try using midgrade. We average 25-26 without being ultra-conservative with our driving. During Winter months, I often run with regular and get the same mileage.

I'm not sure if this is the case with our cars, but some Toyotas' dimmer switch provides ground for the high beams. If so, a bad dimmer switch may be the problem. Other possibilities are the relay and column swtch, itself.

That's good to know. Thanks, Randy.