cduluk

The Rx400h "shifter" is just a switch that sends messages to a motor which moves the transmission into each gear. It's not a direct mechanical drive. The problem you're describing is very... odd. Definitely a computer issue, most likely not something you can fix. I would say the issue is with the shifter switch, but the fact that the issue goes away after re-starting the car (resetting the computer) this tells me that the switches aren't failing intermittently, but that the computer is confused and resets every time you restart. Record the car when the problem is happening, and show the dealer. Better yet, bring the car to the dealer while the issue is happening and let them look at it. They need to be present to determine the validity of the issue before they can fix it. But DO NOT try to fix this on your own. I'm pretty handy myself, but i would never attempt to fix this. It's a computer issue and there's no way you'll be able to re-program it yourself. I'm sure you "could" develop your own shifter device, but why would you want to? There's no way you could get it to work with the car's computer, nor would it ever be as attractive as the factory unit. Just leave it up to the dealer. There's making "modifications" to a car, then there's "repairing". What you need is a repair, not a modification.

Are these "clamps" just thin metal prongs? Sounds a lot like the bulb clamps for an HID bulb.

Do you have HID or halogen? What you're explaining sounds a lot like an HID bulb vs a halogen bulb, but i wasn't sure if the 98 GS came with HID...

As SW mentioned, you can install an HID kit, but beware as you're gonna have a TON of glare. You'll be blinding other drivers and not as much light will be going on the road as it will be going all over the place. This is due to the fact that HID bulbs have a different focal point than halogen bulbs. Therefore the headlight reflector/projector units aren't interchangeable.

Depending on where your RX is built, you could have either version of the pedal. But as stated a number of times, the pedal type is NOT the issue...

I think the toyota/lexus engineers (wherever they are, japan or whatever) "know" there is an issue with the DBW ecu, but i don't think they've found it yet. I don't think for a second that they truly believe there's anything wrong with the pedals themselves. They're just doing this recall to buy time. As soon as they find the problem with the ECU, they'll develop a fix and recall the cars again, telling customers "it's just to be safe". If you look at the numbers of cars that have failed per total cars sold, it's a VERY, VERY small percentage. My guess it will take toyota less than a year to find the true fix, and between that time and now, only a few more cars will probably fail, definitely not enough to stir up any more drama.

One day i think engineers will be able to make electronic devices as reliable as mechanical ones, but for now there are going to be glitches. This is why i believe the issue with the 'runaway' car is with the car's computer. What's happening is that in some certain (unknown) situations the computer is telling the engine to rev up even though the main input device (pedal) is inactive. For all we know, this could be happening because a certain combination of things going on in the car (ie radio so loud, temp so low, windows down, etc) has a bad reaction in the computer. It might be the most random of combinations, but for some reason this combination triggers a confusing output. It would be simple to find the glitch if each computer system in cars were separated, but it's not that easy. The DBW "circuit" is intertwined with probably 500 other "circuits" that all combine into one board. And why do they do this? Because of money and space. Think of each "function" in your car that requires a circuit: AC, radio, windows, lights, engine, transmission etc.. Each requires a large circuit that would take up a lot of room and require a lot of expensive components if created separately. So what they do is intertwine the circuits so components of one circuit may also control another. This requires less components and circuit space, which saves money. Like in my 400h, a little wire got broken on the speedometer cluster and for some reason my center console lights went out And you'll often notice that when replacing fuses, there will be several systems controlled by that same fuse. It saves money and space to connect the systems together, but makes it very difficult (and in this case more expensive) to find problems when they occur.

oh god true... i forgot about the electrical assist. I don't think you'd be able to turn the wheel more than 45 degrees with the ignition off :o

There's not much you can do at this point, and even if you "think" you've found them, there's no real proof and there won't be much you can do. By now the car's probably already been repaired (and it's highly unlikely the shop recorded anything as they don't need to if they don't feel like it) and there won't be much to find them by. Just file an insurance claim and give them all the info you gathered. Your insurance company will do the investigative work if they want to. Your premiums may go up, but there's nothing you can do at this point... Next time, do whatever you have to do to follow the car and get a plate- jump curbs, ride on grass, whatever it takes. If you get a plate, officers can get an address and find the car the same day and record any damage. That's the best way to find justice. <_<

... that's because the real issue here isn't with floor mats or accelerator pedals, but with the car's ECU computer. It's currently being discussed in the "general lexus discussions" section of the forum. http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=62442 For the time being, if the "runaway lexus" problem happens to you, simply put the shifter in NEUTRAL and turn the ignition OFF.

Nice! Glad the ballast wasn't the issue as that would have been a pain in the butt repair <_< So be honest, with new bulbs do you notice the increase in brightness? :P

Personally, i love the style of the 01-05 GS300/GS430. The upgraded features from 99-00 include the HID headlight option, upgraded taillights, silver/black trimmed interior gauge bezel panel (small detail, but a nice upgrade). And the 01-05 GS430 has the wood/leather steering wheel and shifter knob, but you can get them both pretty cheap on ebay and do the swap yourself onto the GS300. That generation GS was ahead of its time with styling. Even to the day it's still a REALLY sharp car... Look at this beauty! But for 2006 they changed the styling completely... Didn't like the styling at first, but it's grown on me now. What's your budget?

Does your GS have the HID headlights or halogen headlights? The yellow fogs came with any 99-05 GS300/430 that came with HID. If your GS has the standard halogen lights, they should have standard halogen foglights as well. Your body shop probably ordered the wrong ones.

jw, it's not a simple fix, the needles do actually burn out. The capacitor issue you're speaking of has to do with an issue with the LS clusters, two totally different things. All Lextech does is remove the needle guts and throw in a 5mm LED firing at the tip. They don't add any other optic units, just throw in an LED and take your $200. Since they (he, whoever) has patent rights, they can do whatever they want. They can be mean, do a crappy job, ask high prices... they've got no competition. And i'm sure this "business" isn't his (or whoever's...) main source of income, it's definitely a side job. The way they do the repairs, they could bang out 3 or 4 in a day. So it's not like they "need" your business. And having done the repair myself (it can never come out 'perfect') i never liked customers who were very picky and who expected perfect OEM outcome... I bet from your first contact he could tell you were the 'picky type' and didn't think it would even be worth doing business with you... i guess he's got that luxury. I hate them more than you do trust me, only because i've had personal dealings with them as well. It's just a shame... :(

It's because engineers want cars to be smarter. Slowly, mechanical devices are being replaced with sensors and electronic devices to make everything work more efficiently together. Features such as adaptive cruise control and many other modern safety features requiring the car to make decisions on its own won't work with a direct cable design. The DBW system uses human control, but has the option to change input based on the situation. And there's no way the old cable design could ever work on a hybrid with two sources of energy <_< In my Rx400h, if i press the gas at any given point, the computer decides if i receive any power based on the situation. I don't have control anymore, it's kind of a scary thing :o Especially in snow! It's a good concept, it just needs to undergo some more evolution before they get it right.

It's just that Toyota doesn't know EXACTLY what is wrong. I'm sure they "know" it's with the computer system, but i don't think they know which component is failing, and therefore they can't fix it yet. The real fix will be the replacement of the car's ECU. When they come up with a re-design you will see Toyota replacing every ECU with the new one. At this point Toyota can either be honest, telling everyone they don't know exactly what's wrong and that they shouldn't drive their cars until further notice... or they can do what they've done- give people false piece of mind by telling them this pedal replacement will fix the issue. If Toyota came clean and told everyone they have no idea how to fix the issue, Toyota would go out of business NOW. Telling consumers they can't use their vehicles until they "possibly" find a fix- can you imagine what would happen?? And this "engine disable" bi-pass software is in NO way a good idea from Toyota's perspective. That would basically be telling the public that this 'runaway car' issue will probably happen to you- but if you have a good reaction time and press the brake, the car will shut off for you! May as well tell passengers on a plane that the pilots are drunk, and if the plane starts to go down you can press an ejector button so you'll pop out of the plane and a parachute "might" pop out and bring you down into the middle of the Atlantic... I think logically it's a good idea (considering the real issue is still present) but it wouldn't support Toyota's position that the problem is 100% fixed by this pedal replacement. It would only be treating the symptoms and i think that would scare people. This whole pedal replacement thing is just to buy them time to find the real problem. They'll replace all the pedals, and within a year or so, you'll see them asking everyone to come back and have their ECU's replaced too, "just to be on the safe side". Toyota is just hoping there won't be an excessive amount of future failures until they can find a permanent ECU fix. It's all about money. It's cheaper for Toyota to do the $15 pedal replacement for every Toyota keeping the owners happy, than to tell every Toyota owner the actual truth that they have no idea what the issue is. They'd rather compensate for 5 deaths than to keep every Toyota off the road and destroy Toyota's reputation. If Toyota finds the ECU problem quickly enough, they'll be able to fix it before any more suspicion is raised. Until then, they're using the pedal replacement to keep everyone satisfied.

zerkalo, i think you're speaking of the rear side-marker light rather than the taillight (link previously posted won't help). I changed the rear side-marker bulbs out with LED's when i had my Rx300. You need to gain access to them from the inside. Remove the mud-flap with the appropriate allen wrench, then remove the several other nuts and bots that hold the black wheel liner to the bumper. Then pull the liner out enough so you can get your arm in there, and feel around for the back of the lamp. You'll be able to follow the wires to the bulb. Twist the bulb counter-clockwise and pull. When pulling out the liner a bit and pulling the bumper out, make sure to be gentle as there are several white "awkward looking" clips (about the size of your hand if i remember) that hold the inside of the bumper in place. If you pull the bumper too much they'll pop out and fall... happened to me. Ended up just leaving it out couldn't get it back in... Whole job shouldn't take more than a half hour if you've got the tools <_<

Take it to a good autobody shop. They'll need to sand down all the rust to bare metal, and re-paint. Just do it before the rust eats through the sheet metal, as it's very thin <_<

Of course that's the problem. Not for a second have i believed it's a mechanical device causing this problem. Computers are complicated. Computers in cars? MORE complicated... If it was indeed the mechanical "pedal" itself that's the issue (due to corrosion or whatever) pressing the pedal a little would quickly loosen it from it's so called "stuck position". There's no way a simply designed mechanically moving part (that's exercised constantly while driving) could build up enough corrosion to get "stuck" . Maybe if it's sitting underwater next to the Titanic, but not in a car's cabin. And especially not in a 1yr old car. Having a lot of mechanical "common sense" and while looking at these so called "defective" pedals, i don't see any way it could be causing these problems... The likelihood of a simply designed mechanical gas pedal (which has been in existence and modified through evolution for many MANY years) being more problematic than a newly designed COMPUTER DRIVEN drive by wire system... just doesn't make sense. And it's already been shown that this apparent 'defective' pedal wasn't even installed on all of the cars that reported this problem. Some cars with this issue don't have the defective pedal. The one thing they DO all have in common? The DBW system. Toyota is doing this to shut people up, in hopes of buying time to find the computer glitch. If the DBW system is the issue (as i suspect), i'm not even sure Toyota will be able to find it. There are MILLIONS and millions of electrical parts involved, and unless an electrical engineer is present in a toyota while it's failing (having every component being tested at the same time for functionality), there's no way they'll be able to find the issue. My guess? Toyota will replace all these so called 'faulty' pedals with 'different' ones, and in the near future even the repaired vehicles will have the same problem again. Unless they find a computer glitch and find an easy repair, this isn't gonna be good... I do know one thing however, starting NOW this DBW system will receive a total re-design for future model Toyota's.

No need to remove the bumper to change the low beam bulb. You can gain access to the rear of the headlights from under the hood.... unless the standard Rx is MUCH different under the hood than the 400h is...

It's definitely not my first choice going through these things, but there's no way in heck you'd catch me hand-washing my car in cold temperatures <_< I don't love my car that much lol. Two or three times a winter through the car wash gives me a good balance between "clean" and not having any paint damage. I have my car detailed each spring anyways, so it's all the same to me. I REALLY hate winter...

Do you have a link to the one you bought on ebay?

Hey guys! Here in Rhode Island, it's pretty hard to keep your car clean during the winter months, so once and a while I'll take my car through one of those automated car washers. It's never my top choice, but it beats having a caked layer of sand and salt on the car. Anyways, I took my Rx400h through my local car wash for the first time. As soon as the jets started to spray the water/soap mix on th car, my windshield wipers started going off like crazy! (Due to the automatic wipers) luckily I was paying attention and was able to turn them off before the felt cleaning parts in the washer touched the windshield. It could have been bad! Also when I came out, I noticed that the little black antenna on the roof was sort of... "bent" a little. Not that bad, but next time I will surely fold it flat before I enter the wash. So just a few things to keep in mind before going in an automated car wash- set the "auto wipers" to OFF and fold the little back antenna flat before entering =) Also, the temps were around 25 degrees when I went through. Some of the felt cleaning devices in the wash had developed some icing, so I could hear the pinging all over the car... but it didn't do any damage thankfully. So make sure the temps are high enough too! Lol Hope this can save someone in the future =P

LED's are fine, but you need to be careful which you get. Most of the ebay junk will burn out very quickly. You need an LED bulb with a built in voltage regulator. I've been through several ebay bulbs but they all burn out... The only ones i've had any success with are these: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Error-Cance...sQ5fAccessories

Only replace your HID bulbs with the OEM philips D2S 85122. But yours might have 85122+ you need to check... Any other brand won't match color and won't even come CLOSE in intensity. Not to mention they won't last as long. Philips are the best, no doubt about it. You should be able to find a used one on ebay for less than $50, or a new pair for less than $130 shipped.