sigtauenus

After reading more about this, I'm going to try a force balancer at different location assuming that Sam's Club uses the standard dynamic balancer.

I got Michelin Latitude Tour tires from Sam's Club for the 2000 RX 300, size 235/55R18. We've taken them back 3 times now for rebalancing, and this morning was the 3rd time, and they also rotated the tires. Driving home I still had the shimmy. Its my wife's car, and she is 100% sure the shimmy started after we got the new tires. It was initially reported that the shimmy was around 60 mph which gave me the indication it was a tire balance issue, but driving home I noticed the steering wheel bouncing back and forth anywhere from 35-40 mph up through 70 mph, which is a pretty wide range. Is there anything else that would cause a shimmy while driving, specifically not braking? (not saying it doesn't happen while braking, just saying it happens when the brakes are not applied). In searching this forum I saw some posts about warped brake rotors and what-not, but not sure if that would be applicable since it is a constant problem, not just while braking. Is it possible that Sam's Club overtorqued the wheels and warped the rotors which is causing the shimmy? The tire reciept says the wheels were torqued to 76 ft-lb. I'm going back this afternoon to talk to the Service Manager at the Sam's Club, and also considering a visit to a independent service station for a second opinion or perhaps even pay somebody else to check the tire balance. The vehicle has 155,000 miles on it and as far as I know it still has the original struts all around so not sure if that would be a factor or not. I haven't crawled underneath to see if these cars have a steering stabilizer or not either. Suggestions?

I have a problem that sounds like it may be "the dreaded door lock actuator" but I'm not sure. Driver side front door, press the lock button with the keyless remote, and the lock tab on the door only flips over half way, leaving the door unlocked still. Pressing the rocker switch (the one on the door itself) gives the same results. If I manually push the lock tab, the door locks. This is an intermittent problem, sometimes it works fine, other times it doesn't. I've seen the write-ups here for how to fix the actuator with a cheap universal actuator, but I have not yet identified that the problem is the actuator itself. Does the problem sound like an actuator issue? I'd like to at least hear that it is before I go the route of opening up the door to test it.

I replaced two on my 00 RX 300, $105 each from the dealer.

I have been reading about all the transmission issues with the early RX's, and have been wondering how I was getting along with mine at 146,000 miles with no problems. It just occurred to me that when we bought the car used, the CARFAX report showed a transmission service at 96,000 miles (we bought it with 126,000 miles). I thought at the the time that it was odd that a dealer would report a routine service like that, but didn't think anything of it. How likely is it that due to the significant expense of a transmission rebuild that this car did indeed have a rebuilt transmission installed at 96,000 miles and hence the CARFAX notification?

Thanks for the info, also thanks for replies to my other topics as well. Looking at the lights on ebay, there is a lot of them on there that don't look clear on the main lens. What are the problems associated with aftermarket? How about replacement housings from a supplier such as Autozone ($160 each)? I looked around on ebay and just wasn't happy with what I saw. The best looking ones still weren't clear like new. And I wasn't pleased with the idea of aftermarket ones with a no return policy. I ended up going with the Autozone ones because I knew I could take it home and try it and if I didn't like it I could take it back for a refund and not lose any money on the deal. The housing from Autozone came with all new bulbs, made by Phillips, and I left them all in except the main headlight which I had recently installed brighter Silver Star Ultra bulbs by Sylvania. It also came with a new trim piece but I transferred over the old one that was already painted body color. Total time for the install was about 30 minutes, most of that spent taking off the plastic wheel liner to get to the mounting nuts. Fit on the Autozone unit was great, and I like the look to it. If I get 4-5 years out of it, great, I'm ok with that. I also just replaced the chrome Lexus L logo on the grill so the front of the car looks really nice and clean now. If I have any issues with condensation with these housings I will post a follow-up.

Just got to this the other day. It was an easy fix. I was surprised at how small the bulb was and even more surprised that Autozone carried it. For anybody else who uses this post as a reference, the bulb size was a 74. Thanks for the info.

As a follow up, I used a upholstery shop in Norfolk and got both arm rests done for $100 cash. Very easy fix and took care of an annoyingly unsightly and uncomfortable problem. Thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks for the replies, particularly the OEM size for RX330. The miata calculator helped too, it said the size I came up with was .08% bigger than the stock size, while the RX330 size above is .08% smaller. I guess that's closest I can get either side of OEM for my car. Since the RX330 is a stock size for those years, that probably means tires that size are more readily available so I'll go that route. Again, thanks for the replies, very helpful.

I have a 2000 RX 300 that we bought with 18" RX350 wheels already on it. Story was a friend of the seller totalled the RX350 and they got the wheels and tires free. We have always had a problem with the tires rubbing up front against the inner wheelwell with the steering wheel against the stop in either direction. We will need tires soon so I want to size the tires closer to OEM size to avoid the rubbing. OEM tire size is 225/70 R16 - dimensions spec out to 29" high by 10.0" wide Current tire size is 255/55 R18 - dimensions spec out to 28.4" high by 8.9" wide Keeping the 18" wheels, the closest tire size I have found to the OEM spec is 225/60 R18 which is 28.6" high by 8.9" wide Primary concern is the possibility that the wheel itself is not wide enough to support the thinner tire. Lastly, Lexus is built for comfort, not necessarily performance, and this is my wife's car. The tires that are on there now (don't recall the brand) look like they belong on my Mustang. What's a good all season tire (brand/type) that has good longevity that is good for the typical soccer mom. (my kids don't play soccer yet, but that's the profile my wife fits). We live in Virginia Beach.

Thanks for the info, also thanks for replies to my other topics as well. Looking at the lights on ebay, there is a lot of them on there that don't look clear on the main lens. What are the problems associated with aftermarket? How about replacement housings from a supplier such as Autozone ($160 each)?

My wife's 2000 RX300 has 140,000 miles on it. From what I understand and have read, Lexus says the fluid does not need to be changed. I also understand Toyota still has a proprietary blend of ATF. It goes against my grain not to change the fluid in the transmission. Do people really drive these things forever on factory fluid? Is there really no alternative to the $5 per quart dealer supplied ATF? I'd like to do a drain and fill (know better than to do a flush), but won't if its actually better to just leave well enough alone.

Has anybody taken apart the automatic gear shift lever to replace the light bulb(s)? My wife's 2000 RX300 has a burned out light on the gearshift lever and it is annoying not being able to see which position the shifter is in when shifting at night. Obviously can use the indicator on the instrument panel, but habit is to look at the shifter while shifting vice the instrument panel.

Are there any options for leather arm rests for the 2000 RX300? My wife's are worn through on the driver side, and besides being ugly, its uncomfortable holding your arm against the torn leather. I saw replacements on the order of $400 at mylexparts. I have thought about pulling them off and switching sides (so the torn top of the driver side would be on the bottom of the passenger side and vice versa) although I've noticed the shape is slightly different, ie, not perfectly symmetrical. This would make it comfortable for the ride and we would only see the ugly tear with the arm rest in the up position. Suggestions?

I'm looking for replacement headlamp housings and am hesitant to buy a pair off ebay, although that seems to be the best price at roughly $150 a pair. Primary concern would be potential leaks and moisture/fogging, but that has been an issue even with factory originals. My wifes 2000 RX 300 was bought used, and the housings already seem to have been sprayed with a clear coat which is pealing off and besides light quality, it just looks awful. I hate the idea of paying $250-280 for dealer replacement housings when they have already proven to be not of that great quality to begin with. If I have to replace the housings again in 4-5 years, might as well buy the cheap ones. I've seen in the search that they can be sanded and polished or repainted with clear, but for $150 its not worth my time to do that with questionable results given their current condition. Any suggestions? Here are two on ebay that appear to fit, although I'm not sure how much they match the OEM housings. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LEXUS-RX300...sQ5fAccessories http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2000-00-LEX...sQ5fAccessories

On the webpage it has this "To My Valued Customers I would like to thank you for your support and your patience with me during the last 6 months. I have been dealing with and recovering from a very serious illness which has left me unavailable to answer calls and emails in a timely manner. I am now strong enough to return to work full time beginning Monday 9/8/08. If you would like to know more about Guillain-Barre Syndrome you can read more about it at the GBS Foundation." It would be my guess that either they are out of business, or dealing with some medical issues right now.

I agree, and I'm not convinced its ABS either. There's a difference between the car shuddering just like it does when ABS is on and the car shuddering because ABS is on. First step, go to your local Autozone and have them pull the codes for the CEL for free. If you have an electronic issue on the ignition side, say a bad coil pack, you will get hesitation and vibration/shuddering due to the missing cylinder(s). If that is the case, you will have a code for the engine cylinder miss. That's not to say that the code for the miss is the coil pack, as it could be a spark plug or something else, but it keeps you from going down the road of checking the ABS if it is entirely unrelated.

I had this problem with a previous car, the mechanical part of the button, the part underneath the rubber cover that you actually touch, broke loose from the circuit board inside the remote. It was soldered on four corners to the circuit board. Once it broke loose, it was able to move around inside the remote but in the general area of the button. Sometimes pushing the button didn't work because the mechanical part of the button wasn't engaged, or because it wasn't in a location to provide an electrical connection on the circuit board. Other times it would be in the right spot and worked. I have not had reason to open up the Lexus remote to see if the design is the same, but I would not rule out the possibility that there may be a loose connection inside your remote that is the problem.

That would be no different than cars that have space saver spares; they are only meant for 50 miles or less, basically just enough to get you to a service station. Also, in recent years the age of a tire has become an issue, particularly in context of classic cars that may have plenty of tread left but are driven infrequently so the tires may be 10 or 15 years older. I used to just let spare tires go forever and ocassionally check the pressure on them, but now whenever I change a complete set of tires, I pick the best of the 4 old ones and make that the new spare so the spare doesn't have too much age on it. It would be extremely inconvenient to have a flat, put on the spare, and then have the spare blow out shortly afterwards because the rubber no longer has any strength to it. For the OP, since your RX is now 7 years old, and since you really should be buying two new tires, you may want to consider having the relatively good existing tire rotated to the spare, and discard the old spare due to age. If you haven't looked at your spare lately, I would bet it is holding less than 10 psi or may be even entirely flat (0 psi).

We bought our 2000 RX300 with 126,000 miles on it less than a year ago and have probably put 15,000 miles on it since then. Here is what we have done other than regular oil and filter changes: Replace two coil packs (was causing engine to miss) Replace dash cigarette lighter socket (broken) Replace passenger side bumper light socket (rusted) Replace quarter and hatch brake light bulbs Replace A/C belt (squeal) Annoying but not yet fixed: shift lever indicator light (on the shifter not in the instrument cluster) is intermittent. I thought it was the bulb but it comes on occasionally. shift lever indicator light (in the instrument cluster) does not light up when shifter is in Drive, but does light for other shifter positions. Headlights housings have a funky look to the surface of them, kind of like cracking or peeling. They still pass inspection in VA but will likely need replaced in the next year or two. The leather on the driver seat is cracked in a couple places down by the adjustment switches and the leather is worn on the arm rest. We also had some issues with a leak in the back, but while we have found and fixed the cause, we are not sure if it was our fault or not.

Thanks for the suggestion. I have used Crutchfield for several of my older cars upgrading stereos but didn't consider them for the Lexus because the factory stereo is pretty difficult to change out the way it is built in with a/c controls and what-not. I talked to the Crutchfield customer service and explained what was going on, and the guy said he'd love to sell me an amp but doesn't think he has anything that will really work well with the system. He recommended picking up a factory amp used or sucking it up and buying one from the dealer. I actually don't mind buying it from the dealer, but on the off chance that its really not the amp that is the problem, I'd rather make a $100 mistake than a $650 mistake since electronic parts are usually not returnable.

I agree too. It sucks, but that is the way to go. Just had to do this on another car a few months ago.

In absence of any leads for an amp from any source other than the dealer, would it work to tie each respective speaker wire together and bypass the amp? I'm not sure how much power out the head unit has, but at least this would give me some speaker volume until I figure out what to do with the amp. Would this work or is the head unit too underpowered to drive the speakers directly?

That's disappointing about Toy-Lex, I used them as recently as Nov '08 to get keys cut for my 2000 RX300. I bought my car used and only got the valet key with the car. I sent Toy-Lex the ECM and they were able to cut and program new master keys for me, and turnaround including shipping was less than a week. I paid a lot because I didn't already have a master to copy, but it was worth it to me to get that and a lot cheaper than going to the dealer. Also note the posts above stating Toy-Lex is out of business are dated Apr/May 08 and I used them with no problem in Nov 08. Might be worth a try to call or email to verify their status.

Thanks Mikey, that was it. Totally did not even think to look up when I was checking the lights.