RXStu

Hi, Yesterday I had a problem whereby the electric tailgate opened a fraction, then closed with an additional 'bleep' for good measure. I tried opening/closing for a while but to no avail. I fixed the problem by disconnecting the battery to reset the car. It then worked fine after that. Coincidentally I had put a roof box on the car yesterday. I wonder if that had anything to do with the problem.... Anyone else had this problem? Cheers, Stu

MasterTC, I also have had problems with my head unit. I drive an '04 300 SEL and often get the error code 3 or 4. I find that switching off the ingintion and restarting one or two times fixes things. On one occasion I had to remove the head unit all together to get the discs out and get it working again. When I complained to Lexus they said that a replacement would be over a £1000 and because the car was outside of warranty I would have to pay. The title of your post suggests that you got yours replaced under warranty. Did you set a precedent here or have others on th eforum received a replacement unit whilst outside of warranty?

I had the suspension sensors fail on my '04 RX300 too. I was in luck. I took the car (outside of warranty but only 35k miles) to Twickenham Lexus. After a couple of days my wife had a call off Jackie there. The bad news: the parts alone are £1.5k, the good news: the car is ready for collection and lexus would be picking up the tab. When my wife asked why they were so generous the reply was that they hoped that we'd be buying Lexus in 50 years time.... and I must add that we might just do that too. Stu.

Hey, you don' happen to remember whether this gained you access to the front footwells? I have what sounds to be a bolt ot screw rolling about down there. I'd like to get the little bugger out at some point. Regards

Hi there, I have a problem in that there is a noise from under the driver's seat/front footwell. It sounds like a screw or bolt rolls once or twice under braking, or acceleration. I have investigated and had a jolly good look under the seat, even removing the horn shaped air duct from under the drivers seat. The sound seems to be coming from just in from of the driver's seat, just before the 'VIN' plate. I am considering taking up the carpet but am worried that I'll start something that I'll regret in the end. Has anyone else come across this? Should I go ahead and lift the carpet (removing door trim etc to get to the offending area). Thanks, Stu [2004 MY RX SE-L]

Use itunes to burn your mp3s to a disc and you'll get the CD text for album and tracks.

Buy them. I bought pads and discs and have had no problems with them. See my post.

http://site.crownclassiccars.co.uk/index.p...3723a5358b723c3 I use them on my RX300, very trustworthy and a high standard of work. See my other posts.

Valkirk, I know. It's a joke. I'm happy to live with the missing disc but it just goes to show you how there are fewer and fewer reasons to use Lexus for maintenance once the car is outside of warranty. I will take my car to Crown Classic Cars in Twickenham from now on. They replaced the brakes for me and I was so impressed I have decided to take it outside of the Lexus history from now on. Makes no difference to the market values now at the prices you quote.

As an update to this. I spoke with Lexus Twickenham and also Lexus customer services. Apparetnly this fault has not been reported before on RX300s, only on the IS series. The solution is to remove the unit and either send it away for repair or replacement. Customer services kindly offered a contribution of £450 to the cost of replacing the £1100 unit and all I would have to pay for is the £115 labour +VAT. It seems quite a lot of money to pay out on a car that has only covered 27k miles and is only 4 years old. Also, it only effects the CD6 so far. I am a bit dissapointed that I cannot go the the marke and buy an after market CD player, from reputable brands such as Clarion. Does anyone know whether this is possible at all?

Hi there, my CD player has just started to display error code 3 when I try to load CD6. Has anyone ever had this and can anyone offer a simple solution. The RX300 is outside of warranty, and I still have 5 CDs to play with so I'm not keen on shelling out for a solution. Thanks, Stu

Hi, check out the little levers on the edge of the boot, about waist height, used for securing the luggage cover. If these are 'open' they tap against the boot. Lock them closed and you'll enjoy silent motoring again. ;-)

My Astral black RX looks absolutely amazing after a good wash and polish. This look lasts for....about one night, after which it takes on the general outer london dust that seems to cover everything. Oh well - looks good from the inside.

Just thought I would make forum members aware of the outcome. I have placed an order with EBC for upgraded pads and front discs. I checked the discs myself and the rear ones have only a mm lip, whilst the front ones have over 5 mm. I have also asked a local workshop to do the job - 1 hr for the front disc/pads and 1/2 hour for the rear pads. I think I'll ask him to rotate the tyres while he's got the car in. Vehicle: LEXUS/3.0 (RX300)//3.0 (RX300) (2003-) Item Part Number Qty Unit Price Unit Weight Part Description 1. D1291 2 49.95 8.2kgs Actual EBC Standard Brake Disc (One piece, 2 discs per car) Vehicle: LEXUS/RX300/3.0/2003- Item Part Number Qty Unit Price Unit Weight Part Description 2. DP61681 1 46.00 1.9kgs Actual SUV 4x4 6000 Series Brake Pads (Complete axle set, both wheels) 3. DP61682 1 29.95 2kgs Approx SUV 4x4 6000 Series Brake Pads (Complete axle set, both wheels)

I like it :winky:

Thanks for the explanation. Other than having to regrind the discs I'm considering changing the pads myself. To buy the parts I've been browsing the internet for parts prices and have come across these pads http://www.ebcbrakesdirect.com/car/parts_p...+%282003%2D%29# Now I appreciate that they might look a little 'low rent' in certain circles but I'm a sucker for 'upgrades' and part of me thinks that green pads might look a bit different on my black RX. What does the forum think of the green pads? I guess the majority would go for the standard black ones, but the prices at EBC are very keen whichever type I plump for.

Hiya chaps - I spoke with both Lexus and the garage who did the MOT. Lexus came out pretty much on a par with the service pricing. On the brake front they came out approximately 1/3 more expensive, which I guess isn't too bad. The one thing that I was confused about when I spoke with the MOT garage was that he told me that it wouldn't now need new discs, but would probably require them 'regrinding'. Does anyone know what regrinding does? It's £22.50 per corner but to be honest I haven't the foggiest what it's for. Surely if the discs are 'worn and lipped' then grinding them will wear them even further...? I've read ihpj's comments (cheers fella) and can't myself see how I can require discs. I tend to go easy on the brakes anyway, using the engine to brake when coming down off slip roads etc. I wonder if the garage was 'building some business...'. Hmmm. I think I'll get the car serviced at Lexus and get a second opinion.

I have just had my RX300 ('04, 26k miles) MOT'd and the report stated that it had passed, however the front discs are worn and lipped and that the front and rear pads are worn very low. My questions are: 1. Would you consider such a low mileage car to have worn out the discs and pads so quickly? 2. When replacing the discs, which type should I go for (ventilated, not-ventilated, brands etc.)? The garage that did the MOT advised that the estimated cost of the work would depend on these factors. 3. Given that the car is over three years old (it's nearly 4), and outside of warranty, should I get the work done by Lexus or another reputable garage? 4. Related to Q3, should I get the 30k miles service done by Lexus or the other garage? 5. If I go with Lexus, who should I put my business with? I live in Twickenham. Thanks in advance of a helpful response. Cheers, Stu

Also check out Piston Heads e.g. http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/406016.htm And this lot... http://www.lotsofmotors.com/motorFrame.php?dealerID=37

Hi Mark, I bought an '04 black/black SEL in December 06. IMHO it is the colour combination to go for. With regard to buying private or from a dealer, I was looking to my local dealer (Twickenham) but although a very nice bloke he just didn't appear to want to do business - coming up with blue/crema cars (I was after black/black) with high miles for what was pushing £25k. In the end I found the exact car I was looking for, with 10.5k, privately for £21k. It still had 6 months to run on the warranty so I was comfortable with shelling out that amount of cash for a private buy. I would advise you to do the same. Pay for a HPI check, look at the service history and probably most importantly get to know the seller and his/her situation. If they are an honest family you will will know. The final thing to bear in mind is that the depreciation is fairly high on these cars. This is another reasons for buying as low as you can. Good luck.

It is a safety feature. The car has to know where the fully open and closed positions are so that it knows when there is something else obstructing it at some point in between, i.e. a childs head or something. It then knows it is not at fully closed and will stop the window for obstructions. This has been the same for any car i have had with the auto close feature, BMW, Rover (even cheap cars care about kids heads ) etc. Cool, that makes sense. I must try the sunroof come to thing about it.

Williz, Top Man! I've just fixed it using the technique you suggested. What an unusual 'feature', does anyone know why on earth this is necessary? Cheers, Stu

Hi there, can anyone help me with a problem that I am facing with my 04 RX300. Last week I had a flat battery that I fixed by having a jump start (not sure if this is relevant but the problem occurred after this). Now I find that the 'auto' drop on the electric windows doesn't work - the windows go up and down but not all the way down or up in an 'auto' fashion. Also, the drivers side switches do not operate the other windows in the car. Can anyone provide advice as to how I can fix this?

All - just to point out that it was the nut off the parking brake cable that had worked loose and fallen off. I crewed it back on and everyhting works fine. It could do with one of those plastic collars really to prevent it falling off again.

Hi there, I am the owner of a 21k mile 2004 RX300. The parking brake has lost much of it's 'feel' recently and is very easy to apply (I can easily do this by hand when I am looking down there). I didn't think much off it until last weekend when, whilst in traffic, I put the car into neutral and applied the parkign brake. The car rolled forward as though there was no brake at all. I realise now that the reason for the ease of use is that the parking brake is not being applied! I didn't worry about this until yesterday when I was driving and a little nut fell out from the footwell and bounced off my foot! I wondered if anyone else had experienced this, or whether anyone else knew how to investgate and fix the parking brake problem. I don't think that the underlying reason is the brake itself as this was tight and the car is low mileage. Can you help? egards, Stuart