VGR

Catalytic converters have been around for 30 years and for 30 years it has been well known that the life of a Toyota converter ranges from 500,000 miles for a perfectly maintained engine to 75,000 miles for an abused and neglected engine. Your car has been abused / neglected (by the prior owner(s) and that's why the engine sludged and that's why the exhaust got smokey. Continuous smoke in the exhaust stream overheats and roasts the innards of the converter, sometimes causing them to get clogged which in turn hurts power and fuel economy.

In case you didn't know - most of that stuff does NOT need to replaced until up around 400,000-500,000 miles on a Toyota / Lexus that had been driven and maintained properly since new.

Depends greatly on: 1. How the car was driven during the break in period. 2. Preventive maintenance service intervals. 3. Use of OEM vs aftermarket replacement parts, filters, lubes and fluids. 4. Driving style of the driver. 5. Driving conditions (city vs. highway) 500,000 miles is possible if 1. Car is broken in correctly as outlined in the owners manual 2. Preventive maintenance service intervals are twice as frequent as suggested in the owners manual 3. Only OEM replacement parts, filters, lubes and fluids are used. 4. Driver has an unhurried, easy going driving style although it is not harmful to cruise all day at 80 MPH on level ground. 5. Car is used mainly in highway driving. The engine can withstand city driving for 500,000 miles, but the transmission cannot.

Can you tell me how you plugged the tubes? What did you use and where did you buy it? And why did you buy a new Air Control Valve if the power steering system has been working fine for 2 years without one? Or were you planning to install a new ACV to stop a leak and then continue to keep the vaccuum hoses disconnected and the tubes they connect to plugged? I've asked alot of questions so I hope you will answer eash one or else I will still be miserably confused about all this. With regard to your question of gaining access to the bolts you are talking about, removing the radiator, alternator and air cleaner assembly gives you loads of working room. Your radiator is likely full of leaves and dirt anyway so removing it would give you an opportunity to clean it.

The gelling problem only occurs with ES300 cars that have not received timely oil changes? So owners who buy a used ES300 that doesn't have service records should not expect Lexus to be responsible for problems caused by maintenance neglect.

Nearly all Toyota Dealer parts dept's carry Type T-IV fluid in 1 quart bottles for $3.80 a quart. A Lexus dealer typically charges 50-100% more for exactly the same fluid.

Why did you think the semi-synthetic fluid would be better to begin with?

For 100 years the owners manuals of virtually every car in the world have told the public that the oil dipstick is the ultimate authority about how much oil to add and they have also warned against filling above the "FULL" mark yet most owners do it anyway because they go by "oil capacity"

Vacuum leaks very rarely occur on Asian cars because Asian car makers use extra high quality vacuum hose that dioes not crack or harden for about 15 years. A big mistake some Asian car owners make is to replace the factory vaccuum hose with auto parts store vaccuum hose. The auto parts store hose is junk - hardens in 6 months and is not metric so it fits either too loose or too tight. If you are concerned about vacuum leaks and your car is over 15 years old you might consider simply replacing all the vaccuum hoses with factory replacement hose available from Toyota dealers in 3 and 4 foot lengths.

Understand: You own ASIAN cars with unque ASIAN car engineering, parts, fluids and filters. Retail stores and auto parts stores carry AMERICAN car care products. Using American car stuff in an Asian car nearly always degrades the reliability and durability of an Asian car over the long run. If you added a pint or less of green coolant to the factory fill coolant (Toyota Red Long Life Antifreeze) there will probably be no noticable consequences, but mixing both coolants in substantial amounts will cause mineral buildup and corrosion problems in the cooling system which will cause all kinds of other problems. Simple rule to follow: Don't mess with the work of the Lexus engineers. At replacement time, use exactly the same lubes, fluids, parts and filters that the factory engineers originally installed in the car. So for example, when you see a new kind of coolant on the market, simply ignore it. Simply keep using the factory fill coolant mixture (50% Toyota Red Long Life Antifreeze mixed with 50% distilled water).

Forget Consumer Reports. Forget "Lexus certified" status. Forget extended warranties. Forget Price. Those are all distractions. What really matters is complete, always timely service records.

Since the transmission works normally when it is cold, the underlying problem sounds like it is electrical / electronic rather than mechanical in nature. This is good news if you can track down the gremlin. The Japanese company Aisin has built tens of millions of highly durable automatic transmissions over the past 40 years. All these transmissions have been equipped with metal mesh filter screens. Obviously if the metal mesh filter screen did not do an adequate job of filtering the transmission fluid, Aisin engineers would have changed the filter design decades ago. But Aisin continues to use their time proven metal mesh filter screen design so auxillary filters are not necessary and using them might be risky.

In the 50's, 60's and early 70's - before synthetic oils were available - the fad of those times were "oil treatments". The oil treatment makers would simply get a Indy 500 race car driver to endorse their additive products and the 16-30 year olds would buy them and claim noticable gains in engine smoothness, fuel economy, durability, etc. The additive makers never really needed to provide scientific proof their products significantly extended engine life and fuel economy because it was so easy to sell the 16-30 year olds without providing proof. The same situation exists today and has existed since 1975 in regards to synthetic oils. The 16-30 year olds have reliably and predictably turned out in droves to buy synthetic lubes even though the synthetic lube makers have failed to provide scientific proof their products significantly extended engine life and fuel economy.

Simply drain and refill the transmission oil pan every 15,000 miles. Incredibly simple. Incredibly inexpensive. And risk free (unlike mods).

Yes, many long time Toyota mechanics as well as ALL the Toyota service manuals recommend just draining and refilling the pan - sometimes multiple times over a period of days or weeks in the case of really old oxidized fluid. It's a risk free way of servicing the transmission. But many young people will flush anyway because it's in their genes and hormones to take risks "to see what happens" and especially because some older adults urge them on to take risks (the older adults who sell transmission flush services and the older adults that sell specialty transmission fluids like Amsoil)

If the transmission fluid was never changed for 115K miles then yes, the tranny could fail soon, especially if the fluid has turned black in color. If the transmission fluid was changed frequently - like every 15,000 miles - then 300,000 - 600,000 troublefree miles is possible (although if the car was driven hard and aggressively by a young kid then no amount of fluid changing will save the transmission. If the fluid was changed about every 30,000 miles then 200,000-350,000 miles of troublefree service is likely. The old pro mechanics as well as the Lexus service manual recommend just draining and refilling the tranny oil pan rather than doing a total fluid replacement.

A large number of Toyota / Lexus owners report little or no deterioration in the ride for 200,000+ miles. These are typically middle aged to older owners that don't drive agressively and hurriedly. The younger owners drive fast over bumpy roads and corner hard both of which takes a big toll on the front suspension and steering linkage. These owners watch Hollywood movies and TV ads of people driving wildly and they assume production cars are "built to take that kind of punishment". Not true and its a lesson they learn the hard way. Once a suspension and steering linkage has been stressed and worn by abusive driving it costs a fortune to repair the damage.

Toyota first introduced lock up torque converter clutch transmissions 20 years ago. Millions of them are on the road right now and they have not commonly had this "blockage in the valve body" problem you describe. On the other hand I think Toyotas drvien agressively by street racer / boy racer types of drivers will experience heavy wear and potential fluid contamination issues. So maybe those kinds of drivers could benefit a little from an extra filter.

Lexus is a victum of the American lawmakers who came up with new "VOC" laws (volatile organic compounds). The low VOC automotive paints chip easier than high VOC paints of the past.

On Lexus's website there is an Owner FAQ and here is what it says: Transmission fluid Question How long can transmission fluid last? Answer: "If a vehicle is driven under light usage, the transmission fluid may last 60,000 miles or longer." So fluid changes every 30,000 - 60,000 miles might work for some grandma owners, but since most owners drive fast and agressively they need the fluid changed* every 15,000 miles. *Changed means just draining and refilling the transmission oil pan as described in the factory service manual which is a simple and inexpensive procedure.

Like I said, the tick is present only in late model 1MZ-FE's and 3MZ-FE's - the ones that meet ultra low emissions - these ULEV motors have a new type of injector that sometimes audibly ticks. But the new injectors also help the motor meet the ULEV standards. The engine's valves have no chance of ever causing noise unless the car has over about 80,000 miles. So it would be a waste of time and money to tear down the engine to measure the valve clearances since your car has such low mileage.

No Toyota or Lexus tranny has ever needed an auxillary filter and installing one could interfere with proper fluid flow. Not even the ones used for trailering and motorhome duty. I'd just change the fluid more often if I owned an AWD RX300.

The front wheel bearings are sealed and don't need periodic greasing. Normally they last over 300,000 miles. And normally if they go bad there will be a deep growl when cornering at moderate speeds of say 30 MPH. I'd get a second opinion before authorizing anyone to replace the bearings

It's harmless fuel injector ticking. Also affects late model Toyota models with the 1MZ-FE and 3MZ-FE V6. This is one of those "spoiled brat owner" type issues; i.e. some owners will not accept the explanation that ticking is normal and unharmful and is just a side effect of a new injector design that reduces emmissions. Another "spoiled brat owner" issue is the transmission hesistation of the throttle by wire Toyota system. Some owners will not accept the explanation that the hesitation is normal and unharmful.