sigtauenus

Just came out of the garage finishing up a 5 hour project on the wifes 2000 RX300. She had a bad coil on #1 and #2, so I figured since I was diving in, I would go ahead and change all 3 coils on the back of the engine, all 6 plugs, and while I was in there I changed the valve cover gasket on the back (already changed the one on the front a couple months ago) and changed the coolant hose that is under the lower intake. I'm sure a dealer would have done it in less than 5 hours, but I also bet the dealer charges by the book for those things even if the actual labor time is less. Just wondering how many brownie points I can take back to the wife, ie, "hey babe, I saved us $___ by doing that myself." This was a very intimidating project with as much as I removed and put back without breaking or losing anything. I'm very pleased to have this done.

Well, I had also planned on doing a valve cover gasket change. And then I figured I might as well do the radiator hose under the lower intake too while I'm that far into it. I took off the wiper/cowl assembly a few months ago when I did the timing belt (the manual said to, didn't really need to from what I could tell), and it wasn't that bad, particularly with an air ratchet. So Lexus numbers the cylinders alternating vice sequentially down each bank, huh? Did not know that. I've heard a bad coil on the Lexus can make other cylinders misfire, and we changed the cyl 1 coil a year ago with a Lexus part, so I was thinking it was only the cyl 2 coil that was bad. If the cyl 1 coil is actually bad I'm going to be *BLEEP*ed since I spend the extra money for genuine Lexus parts.

DOH!! Sorry, rookie mistake. I usually put the car in the title and forgot. 2000 RX300. Has a P0301 and P0302 which I'm guessing is ignition coils since we changed the plugs about a year ago. I bought 3 coils to change out all the ones on the back as well as another set of plugs, all from mylexparts.com. Replacing all three coils and the spark plugs with Lexus parts since we used cheap ones last time and I don't want to go to the back of the engine again anytime soon.

UPS shows my plugs and coil packs should be delivered Thursday. I figured tonight and tomorrow I'll actually start taking it apart. In hopes of having everything I need, if I pull the upper intake to get to the rear valve cover/coils/plugs, do I need a specific gasket there or is RTV usually used? I did all the hoses on the car and coolant change when I did the timing belt a few months ago, but didn't pull the lower intake to get to the hose that sits under it. If I'm going to have everything that far apart, should I pull the lower intake too just to replace that hose?

Well, I know I replaced 1 on the back and 1 on the front, but don't recall exactly which. I know the one on the back was the one closest to the passenger side so pretty sure that's #1. I just ordered 3 coils from mylexparts as well as spark plugs (might as well, right?), so I'm going to change all 3 on the rear bank and then rotate all 3 through the front bank to identify the problem coil(s) and then keep the 1 or 2 good ones as a spare.

Nevermind. Just realized #1 is on the back if I'm reading this right. I guess I'm pulling the intake tonight after all.

We are at the same point now, transmission will not go into overdrive. I'm glad you mentioned that as I thought maybe the issue was compounding but gut feeling was it was related to the coil. Codes came back P0300 for random/multiple misfires, and P0301 and P0302 for cyl 1 and cyl 2 misfire respectively. At least its on the front bank. I'm pretty sure we changed 1 and 6 last time, and based on other topics I read, there is a tendency for other cylinders to misfire when one coil fails. I suspect the problem is really only with cyl 2 so will check that first to confirm. I need to change the valve cover gasket on the rear bank but haven't because I didn't want to pull the intake. Now I might as well and do both at the same time, ie, gasket and coil packs. Fortunately the rear bank isn't a problem yet, but I'll put that on the list of things to do...

We are at roughly 160,000 miles on the 2000 RX300. We replaced 2 of the ignition coils with Lexus dealer parts about 18 months ago, and today I think another one failed based on the symptoms. I'm about to take it to get the codes read to verify. Engine runs and car is drivable, but it runs really rough at idle with transmission in drive, and runs rough on acceleration. If you step on the gas lightly it is ok but obviously that means it takes awhile to get up to speed. This is exactly what happened last time. Assuming the bad cylinder is not one that we replaced already, should I just go ahead and replace the other 4 now? I deploy with the military and need a reliable vehicle for my wife while I am gone. If this is a case of one going indicating the rest will soon follow, I'd rather spend the extra money on parts now while I can do this myself than pay 2-3 times as much a year from now when my wife takes it to a shop.

I did a timing belt change a couple weeks ago on my wife's 2000 RX300 at 155,000 miles or so, and while I was in there did a valve cover change too. I found some varnish like that pictured below, pretty close to the same color, if it wasn't exact then maybe a bit lighter in color than pictured. There was a bit of sludge in the recesses of the head but nothing significant. I added half of a can of seafoam and am going to drop the oil pan to inspect the contents, change the gasket, and then add a new oil and filter. The engine runs fine, and I can live with its current condition as-is, since it really doesn't look bad for having 155,000 miles on it. I have been using Valvoline Max Life dino oil 5W-30 for the past 30,000 miles (bought car used), but am considering switching to Mobile 1 full synthetic 5W-30 as I've heard it will help avoid the sludge better with the higher engine temps the RX runs with and perhaps even help to clean out some of the varnish on there now. Also, I heard that with higher mileage engines it helps to increase the viscosity to say 10W-30 or 10W-40. I've never run anything besides what the manufacturer specifies. I live in Virginia Beach, so it does get cold in the winter here, so I'm hesitant to change the viscosity on the oil. Opinions?

I'm in the middle of the timing belt change and have hit a snag. I've put the new belt on 3 maybe 4 times now (losing track already) and I can't get the timing marks to stay aligned after I rotate the crankshaft twice. I have the new OEM belt with the yellow marks for the timing, 2 solid ones for the cam and a dotted one for the crank. I have the crank set at TDC, the cams set with the timing pointer aligned with the notch on the rear cover, and install the belt with the yellow marks lined up with the timing marks on the cams and crank. When I rotate the crank twice, the timing marks on the cam sprockets line up with the notches on the rear cover, but the yellow marks on the belt are way off. At this point do I need to ignore the yellow marks on the timing belt and continue putting stuff back together or does the yellow marks need to match up too? I changed a TB on a Camry about a year or two ago and it took me 3 hours total. So far this one is kicking my butt.

That was a great link, thanks guys!

2000 RX300, driver side sunvisor keeps falling down. No problem for my wife, but I'm taller and it annoys me. Any tips to get it to stay in place.

It is still working all the way up and down, its just grinding. I think if I change it soon I might get lucky. I saw in that other topic instructions on taking the motor apart to remove the pieces.

Disregard, I found the directions. http://rx300how2.home.comcast.net/~rx300how2/antenna_mast_replacement.htm

I noticed today when I turned off the car that the antenna was grinding as it went down. I assume this means I need to replace the motor/cable assembly in the mast. Any tips on this? Is it something I can do myself?