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Been wanting an RX400H for years, looked at a few but was always disappointed poor history trim missing dirty, took one out last week a 2008 filthy dirty inside and out wipers perished tailgate not working 160k. Trouble with these cars is even a bad one runs nice it was smooth on the road no bangs rattles quiet drove really well, but it was too much of a project at £3900. I have also been visiting this site for years looking for information but always left disappointed, most people talk about taking the car to the main dealer very little information for the home mechanic, however it has finally dawned on me there is so little information as so little goes wrong on these vehicles, its not just this site its all Lexus sites. There have been some good pointers and info on the common issues. Its unusual for an RX to appear for sale where i live being a small market town the diesel 4x4 is king but one came up a couple of days ago that seemed too good to be true, a 2005 SE-L 61k full history fresh MOT and advertised as excellent condition seller admitted on the phone he had been offered £3k on a trade in and was looking a bit more. Went along for a look and checked for wet carpets, took out the storage box in the boot to look for water ingress bone dry, checked the history which was a full main dealer Lexus serviced every two years, car barely managed 6k a year and about 2k for the past 4 years. Inside was immaculate except for a small mark on the rear seat. Would appear to have been owned by an elderly driver and was garaged, perhaps poor health was the reason for so few miles the past four years. MOT had no advisories super clean underneath even the original alloys are almost perfect. Only faults I could find were touch screen was not working but one was on order and is included in the sale, a little condensation inside both rear lights, rear hatch a little slow to open and well that's it, four nearly new tire's all electrics working oil looked clean even has the original head phones. So I bought it will collect mid week and post a few pictures then. Plans, check with the Lexus garage to see what work has been done specifically the timing belt, replace the pins in the rear calipers and waxoyl the underside, fit one of those GROM BT units when the radio is out, check the tailgate, blow out the sunroof drains, polish wax and drive.

There's probably nothing wrong. The steering geometry goes all to pot at full lock and one or both tyres have to not follow a perfect curve so they slip - what you hear is the tyres scraping on the road surface. (It's usually just the 'inside' one - ie right hand tyre on a right hand turn and vice versa) My IS250 did it, as does my GS300h, but worse. Search Google for Ackermann steering - you'll find articles which explain it and why the geometry can go wrong at extreme steering angles.

Well done. It is worth keeping an eye on the sensor itself and if you find that the light don't move when you load the back of the car it will probably need replacing. It's not expensive to do it and shouldn't take as long as doing the linkage did. Worth filling the plug and socket with silicone grease or Vaseline to keep the contacts dry as a lot or water gets sprayed onto this assembly due to its position under the wheel arch.

Thanks for that I did it today, pretty easy with the back wheel off. I didnt have to dismantle the linkage - it was just the ball joints on either end that were seized so the length didn't change. I took the linkage off the car and soon had the joints moving again with WD40, the rubber seals were a bit worn but I squirted the WD in with a fine straw to wash out the joints then got my gease gun with a pointed nozzle and filled the joints with waterproof grease. The whole job only took about 45 mins - I know Lexus were going to replace the linkage and sensor with new rather than refurb the existing but even so, I think they were pulling my pants down with that quote !

If you check the length of the linkage before you remove it you will not need to any setup adjustments when you refit it as long as it's the same length. If it is too badly seized you can buy the linkage alone for about £10 ( there were several old posts about this) and if the sensor is damaged - common as they let in water- you can get a replacement from USA for about £80 including delivery. The replacements are better than the original as the water seals are better. It is a very easy job to do. Easier if you take off the NS rear wheel but remember to prop the car and don't rely on the jack. good luck

I would make enquiries first about cost at an independent. I did this for my daughter, with a 2012 RX at a very good indie that I know. They were using non Lexus consumables, and the cost difference against Lexus Chester was not worth it, when you take into account the free battery health check and warranty. Lexus offer a discounted service cost for older vehicles, which I would think you qualify for.

i think the ved banding took a £10 / yr road tax to £130 / yr

You are right. I have booked a front ppf protection package for next week and now I am trying to find a good detailer

Exact same error that I had. Take it to see Dean @ Pipecraft and they will sort it out for ya. That error is caused by exhaust gases leaking out between the upstream and downstream lambda sensors. Because of that the system assumes that the Primary CAT is not performing as it should. The error can be caused by a split gasket where the middle (Y) exhaust section bolts to the headers/Primary CAT. It can also be caused by a crack in the flange that bolts the headers/middle together. Mine was blowing loud enough to hear it, but I've heard of others where the only indication was the error code.

Well the sensor spacers will fool the electronics into thinking the cats are working okay, so no fault light on the dashboard. However the car still has to pass the emission test at the MOT centre☹️ I would check the Y pipe for holes. ScottC

We had a TV like that

Im not sure if the current EV market is demand driven. It seems more pushed by legislation. The European WLTP norm that was laid down by the European Commision seems to be the big force behind all this. 95 grams in 2021 is the goal for automotive companies and with draconic fines if the average output of all cars together is above that. This is where Toyota finds itself in a different position than the European competition. Toyota is a truly global brand with focus not especially on europe so the european sales are part of but not dominating their figures. The Wltp is about european sales only. Other contributing factor is that all models in Europe are also availably with hybrid for some time now thus pusing the overall Co2 figure down. Toyota expects a fine of some 15 million end year, now compare that with VAG group that is looking at 1.5 billion... So the financial need for toyota is not really there to go EV full speed. VAG group on the other hand will introduce 23 EV models alone this year, now you know why..

With Toyota having the know how and actually one of the car manufactures to perfect the Hybrid drive train do you really think it will be a challenge to switch to a full EV drive train on thier cars? don't forget Tesla's main sales comes from the US with Europe and Asia being some what smaller sales targets. Toyota builds cars that can be used anywhere in the world be it the north pole to siberia to Africa so them stopping production and switching solely to EV cars will actually make them go bankrupt. at the moment, the infrastructure for getting everyone running EV cars is not there even in US and Europe as there are many members of the population who full EV cars will actually be an inconvenience rather than beneficial to their lives in terms of not having a charge points due to living in a flat or on street parking. let alone the rest of the world. also dont forget the power of oil companies mainly US oil companies and the "say" they have in US Gorverment policies. they will not allow full EV cars on the roads if it will not benefit or profit them so until they have also swapped oil for electricity, ICE cars will be around for a very long time.. but in all seriousness dont think its hard work for Toyota to switch to full EV they just do not make decisions based on US and Europe alone.

Its personalisation settings. Look in your manual and you then ask your dealer to set them for you. It's done via techstream

I’ve done it, not easy as you have to get the car up in the air and level. It’s easy if you have a pit or a 2/4 poster ramp but if your on axle stands then it can be a ball ache getting the car up and then level. The oil change itself is a doddle, there’s a drain and a fill bung. Always make sure the fill bung will undo before undoing the drain bung [emoji6] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I just answered my own question and found the answer from my 2011 post! I found loads of muck but no filter!

That’s a strange one, mine self locks but will only open when put in “P” or I unlock it on the door card, are all your windows working ok/drivers control/individually?......I know these need a sort of coding/synchronising from drivers door if battery is changed......possibly something similar

Very pleased for you James. Miracles may take me a little longer to perform !

I used the same person on EBay and had x2 keys sent. All done in 48 hours so these key I use daily now has a solid casing. I just sent him a pic of my key so he cut send the correct one. Jules

I remember that car well, Mark too and his GSF, lovely bloke and well wishes being sent.......I have also heard from a Japanese friend that they reckon the next five years will see the ISF gain in value, they estimate around 50 UK cars will become collectible......the future is likely to be the same as history (ie the mark I escort) not the best escort produced but the one everyone wishes they kept 😉......time will tell but prices don’t seem to budge much on a good example in the five years ownership I’ve had with mine.

This reminds me of the story my parents told me. They shared a house with another couple around 1955 and my Dad and the other chap rebuilt an Austin A40 Somerset engine on the kitchen table much to the annoyance of the ladies.

Ironically it's the motor industry that's fuelling the rising costs of the precious metals! Production of cars has increased hugely in places like India and China, so there's a consequential rise in the need for the precious metals to manufacture the cats for these cars. I just wish the media would get their facts right and stop their sloppy reporting, because it is they who are encouraging the theft of cats from hybrids above others. All cars have cats so if all cars were targeted equally it would take the pressure off us a bit - and yes, I know it's not a cure and would just move the problem to others, but hopefully it may lead to less repeat thefts from any given car. The media seem to have got it in their heads that because the petrol engine in a hybrid gets less use than a standard car then the precious metals will be in 'better condition' and so worth more and they keep repeating this, which is why the scrotes keep targeting us. It's over 45 years since chemistry lessons at school but I do remember that a catalyst takes part in a reaction (usually speeds it up) but is not itself altered by the reaction. Therefore, whether the precious metals come from a hybrid or not, and whether they are brand new or 20 years old, they should surely be the same as the day they were put into the cat.

Agree, the very local locksmith in our town did some considerable sucking of teeth and told me I'd be lucky to find someone to cut it before pointing me in the direction of the locksmith that did, in my nearest city! So your suggestion does sound a better route.

I've never had to do the job myself so I don't know but like I said earlier, some people have done this as a DIY job so I don't thing anything special is needed. Techstream software maybe, otherwise no idea?

What a load of rubbish! A height sensor linkage can be had from eBay for about £40 - £50 if I remember right, or if it's the electrical part of the sensor then they can also be had from eBay for about a tenner. At worst, any garage can do it but at best it's even DIY-able. Search the forum as there are quite a few threads about this very thing - here's just one of them: And here's the physical linkage on eBay so just click here

Hi Flytvr. Yes, I have heard, hence my avoidance of details.

At least my reply here stirred some interest for this meet 😂

Hi. I collected my 2007 LS600h L RSR (dark grey/cream interior, 98.7k miles) on 2 January '20 from the Peak District & drove back to Sussex. Very happy with my purchase, that I'll be driving for touring and charity-local-weddings, about 5k miles a year. My local independent engineer's advice: use the car every day and wash it outside & under frequently (I live close to the sea). Faults: the alloys need refurbishing and there's bubbling on about 1 inch on the leading edge of the bonnet (hood) and the near-side (left) exterior mirror has a crack though works well. RSR all works and I need to investigate an Alpine TV tuner fitted to the rear screen by the famous 2nd owner. I'm the 4th owner, w/a full service history, the last one (an independent) Nov2018 about 2.5K miles ago. I'm taking the car to Lexus for a hybrid health check and visual inspection in a few days. The hybrid battery shows 9 out of 10 bars on full charge. After 400 highway miles I'm showing an average 29 mpg (24mpUSg) though I expect this to drop. In summary: a huge amount of luxury for very little investment, though repairs could be eye-watering, even with a whispering engine that's just run-in!

any update on this at all? I would we would be interested in purchasing a GS-F

If you use the paddles you will use engine braking not regenerative braking. I've found it less effective in recharging the battery. The engine will come on to provide the retardation. If you simply apply the brakes you can push the regen to max quite easily. Using the paddles whilst in D will limit the gear range, great if negotiating hills.