jondoe888

All modern cars have computers that monitor fuel grade and knock, and will !Removed! the spark slightly to eliminate ping (pre-ignition). Premium is no cleaner or better than regular. It does raise the octane, and the car will have more power. Not much, and you won't notice the difference. And why would you need that difference, anyway? But not everyone will believe this. I didn't realize the Toyota engines are rated for regular. Interesting. If you want professional opinions - the car talk guys recommend regular fuel. Just because they've slapped a fancy name on the fender doesn't make these cars anything special. I've never used premium in mine, and may keep a car ~10 years.

I've used regular in my 07 rx since the dealer's tank ran out - just like the Car Talk guys recommend. I think the slight ignition retarding would hardly effect mileage, power or longevity. And I've never noticed any pinging on hills or heavy acceleration, but we rarely stress the engine in our advanced age. And octane is ONLY about pinging. Premium isn't cleaner or better - but it is more expensive. Occasional mild pinging won't damage an engine, and the computer adjusts the timing to the octane to prevent pinging. There were some good points brought up. Does anybody REALLY know the answers? I used to be a mechanic, and am just going by judgment.

Sorry if this is old news, but I couldn't find any info, except for the excellent rx330 page. You may want to merge this with that... Raise car - or not. remove 2) 10mm bolts in small panel below engine to get to the oil filter canister. A 3/8" ratchet and a 4-6" extension will remove the canister. No 'filter wrench' or socket is needed. The oil pan drain is not covered, and easily accessible. 6.2 quarts of 5w30 oil will refill the engine. My painful suggestion, learned the hard way long ago - Remove the fill cap and place it so you can't close the hood. I like to put it in the way of the hood latch (not where you would dent the hood if closed). I lost all the oil on a 3 hour trip in my 20's, and I KNOW I'm not getting smarter in my 50's. If you don't want to do the deed, or are addicted to 'free' muffins and drinks, take the car to a Toyota dealer or a trusted independent shop. Cheap oil change chains can be risky. Rotate tires every 5k. All tire manufacturers recommend 5 tire rotation. Find the pattern on line. Don't know why the manual doesn't recommend cross-rotation, like it was still 1975! Once you replace the tires, keep the best as the spare and go with 4 tire rotations.

Is it consistent? Can you ride along with them? Intermittent problems are very hard to diagnose, and they never act up when you need it.

All this, plus you got to talk to a lying service mgr too! Love that insurance! I was in an Allstate once, and I guy was telling me he was in a minor accident and was having with the insurance. The other driver also had Allstate, which one would think would simplify things. Instead, it was like the 2 offices were speaking different languages, and he had to keep going back to explain something! My wife was at a light and got rear ended. It wasn't hard, but was enough to knock her foot off of the brake and allow her to hit the car in front of her. She's a therapist, and checked to make sure everyone was OK. They all exchanged their insurance info and all was well. They all drove off contented. The next morning, the insurance agent called to say everyone involved went to the emergency room with complaints - all 5! - and no one had insurance. My wife tracked down the driver that hit her, living with his mother, and gave the info to her agent. They already had her deductible, and couldn't be bothered to follow up on the claim.

Looking over some of these posts, it seems I am not the only one with a slowly leaking spare that sets the warning light. The dealer has never found a leak, tho it has been alarming since new. When the light first came on, I kept checking the tires, not knowing that the spare had a sensor too. Now that I have rotated, the tire was down by 5# after the light was on for a few weeks. Those sensors are so sensitive. the dealer gave me a printout on their sensitivity, and I think it said they alarm with a 1.5# drop. I bought a digital tire gauge because my old one wasn't accurate enough to find the culprit. Has anyone else had this problem? I don't know why the spare would be an issue. Plus <my rant>, does anyone else hate the spare? I'd rather have a mini. It doesn't mess up the rotation pattern, and isn't a pain to get to every 4 months. Plus, you have one less alloy wheel to pay for (not that that would reduce the cost of the car any...) To me, if a tire goes bad, you put the mini on and drive to the shop to get it fixed or replaced. (unfortunately, the reality is all the crappy cars you see going around a bend at 75 on the highway. The mini will likely be bald, and the car will have kids in it... That doesn't mean a real spare would be in any better shape, but would likely have a much better load bearing capacity!) Added bonus... The manual states that the 5 tire rotation is front to back, but all tire sites say to cross-rotate, like they did at the dealership I once worked at. In the 70's radials were directionally rotated, but either better manufacturing or better research has changed this to cross-rotation. (LF to LR, LR-RF, RF-Sp, Sp-RR, RR-LF) Once you replace your tires, save the best for the spare and do the standard 4 tire cross (LF-LR, LR-RF, RF-RR, RR-LF)

...you can inflate to the max pressure shown on the tire sidewall... OMG - NO!!! This is like saying a car will go 120 because the spedo goes that high. As stated above, that is the maximum pressure for the tire. The door will list what is recommended for the car. I wouldn't go up at all, but I'd guess 5# isn't terrible. Not sure what it would do to the wear pattern, tho.

Then we bought our 07 in 9/06, there weren't many to choose from. The sales guy was excited about a new factory incentive where they got 1.5 new cars to sell for every one sold (instead of 1:1). When I was in for service this summer, the lot and showroom were stuffed. Plus I wasn't happy with the low used car prices. My reasoning was that while I was overpaying for a car, the depreciation was low. (In the mid 90's, I was a minor manager at a Lincoln dealer. I liked the looks of the sporty Mk9 models (Mk8?), was making good money, and thought I might get one. They ran in the low $40k's. One day, while flipping thru the paper, I noticed ads for these cars that were a year old - and they were going for $20k!!! What kind of idiot would sign up for that kind of a hit?)

I HATE having their lawyer ride along with me, asking if I agree. The dealer said they should have (by now) an upgrade. He said they will be able to install and uninstall the new new software, and the screen will be gone. He thought it might cost $50 - well worth the aggravation, I think! How many of you simply leave the screen on hold on your daily trips? The same with the disabling the nav search while in motion. Makes sense, but it seems this could be allowed if the airbag sensor for the passenger seat was activated. But nooooo. The lawyer says you have to pull over. grrrr