newbie

Used to have the same problem with my LS, I don't think they like being left unattended or not driven for a wee while, got round this by leaving a trickle charger solar panel on the back parcel shelf and never had a problem from that day forward. About £40 should get a good solar trickle charger and saves a heap of messing around when you do want to use the car, avoid the very cheap and nasty ones off flebay as they're OK for lawn tractors but not high amp car batteries. As always in life, you pay for what you get

Thanks for the help, I've been informed that the only known problems are a suspect wheel bearing and an occasional squeeky / squealing belt. I'm test driving the car on Friday, but as long as that's all that is wrong I'm fairly sure it'll be a sale. Assuming the wheel bearing is goosed, anyone know what the cost of these are (both front and rear as I'm not sure which one is suspect yet) and also I guess squealing belt is usually down to tensioner or excessive belt wear, again if anyone has a cost for these that would also be great. Ok here's the update. Took the car out today, and to be honest she's tatty and has obviously lead a neglected life (reflected in the price) most of it's cosmetic, but there's 2 things that concern me one more than the otther. There's quite a lot of noise coming from the rear end, I suspect a dodgy wheel bearing (or bearings)....relatively cheap to put right however, should it not be the bearings does the RX suffer from suspensions problems like the old LS used to ?? and if so am I looking at a high bill ? But more importantly and the thing that is really concerning me is the fact that the expansion resovoir had almost no coolant in it, and with no obvious signs of external leaks this can only mean she's loosing water up the exhaust, does the Lexus suffer from head gasket problems ? or is it usual to loose coolant over a period of time for no real reason ? Thanks in advance

Thanks for the help, I've been informed that the only known problems are a suspect wheel bearing and an occasional squeeky / squealing belt. I'm test driving the car on Friday, but as long as that's all that is wrong I'm fairly sure it'll be a sale. Assuming the wheel bearing is goosed, anyone know what the cost of these are (both front and rear as I'm not sure which one is suspect yet) and also I guess squealing belt is usually down to tensioner or excessive belt wear, again if anyone has a cost for these that would also be great.

Guys, Need your help. After selling my old LS 400 I've yearned for a new Lexus and I've been offered a 02 RX300SE at a price I can't really say no to, but before I go ahead and dive in head first I would appreciate some unbiased feedback that the car review websites don't tell you about, therefore I have a few questions. What are they like to own / use as an every day car? Servicing costs? Cost of parts ? Reliability? Running costs? Things that are bad ? Things that are good ? Common faults / known problems ? What to look out for during the test drive ? What to avoid ? Cost of tyres and other consumable parts etc etc etc I know it's a lot of questions, but it's a lot of car if Iget it wrong, and there's no better people to ask then those that are in the know. Thanks in advance Paul

I see there's a brand new Genuine Gearbox filter on ebay at the moment......probably never been a better time to change the oil strainer as I know the dealer price for these are riddiculous. Oh no! a competitor on the bidding! I guess there's a few competitors bidding as the price has risen a few quid overnight. As the auction ends today I guess it's a case of may the best man win :winky: GOOD LUCK!

I see there's a brand new Genuine Gearbox filter on ebay at the moment......probably never been a better time to change the oil strainer as I know the dealer price for these are riddiculous.

John I 100% agree with you regardinig what the books suggest, but can you honestly say that the gearbox runs smoother now because your using type IV or is it because it just needed changing from the opil that was in there when you bought the car, what I'm trying to say is that is it the type IV that's making the gearbox better, or did it just need a change and would Dexron have the same effect, and unless you've owned the car for many, many years and have replaced the oil with both types on numerous occasions, can you honestly put your hand on your heart and say for sure it's the type IV ??

£38 as per Nicks post above.....Dexron III for sure

There's lots of horror stories relating to not using the toyota type IV (most of which are old wives tales), but a bet if you call your local Lexus dealer and ask them what they use they'll tell you Dexron III (bog standard ATF fluid), and they'll also tell you that's all they've ever used without any issues or problems. In fact my dealer told me that they have never once had the type IV in the dealership since it opened over 7 years ago and they've performed 100's of gearbox flushes since then. So my tuppence worth is this.... the type IV fluid (if you can find it) retails for approx £40-50 per litre and you're going to need approx 5l so if your feeling flush go for it, otherwise use the Dexron III as per 95% of the Lexus dealership do and you'll be able to find 5l tubs for about £25, it may also be worth asking the dealership how many failed boxes they've seen that had used the dexron III, and I think you'll find the answer is none ! As for NIck in Hull, for that price I can assure you the dealer used Dexron III, you may want to check with them if you do not believe me. But as always with life you have choices so it's up to you, if you want peace of mind stick to the type IV, other wise Dexron III everytime!

Does anyone know of a standard 'off the shelf' kit car that is based around the fabulous mk3 engine ? I'm thinking the car is worth so little now it's not really worth selling which is a real shame of a great car so (if possible) I'd like to use the engine (and other bits) as a donor for 'a bit of fun car' but can't seem to find anything that the engine will slot straight into. Anyhow if someone knows anything and can point me in the right direction that would be great,

sorry to hear of your loss, however I'm sure many Lexus owners on here (me included) could benefit from the parts. do you know what the insurance company has done with it or do you still have it ?

it's possible to get around the import duty by asking the supplier to mark the parcel as 'a gift' and declaring the value at under $50

The exact part number slips my mind., I'll have a look tonight when i get home, but when I got mine back in Januaray the best place to get them is ebay USA, even with the shipping they were still considerably cheaper than any price I could find find in the UK.

The amp is under the drivers seat if its a UK car. sorry forgot to add, the link takes you to a 98 model, which I think is the Mk4, however the wiring may be the same but I would double check everything with a multimeter first. I know I tried to to fault find mine and in the end ending up ripping out the amp altogether and starting again with a new head unit and speaker cable. Good luck you'll need it as it's a bit of a nightmare job

The amp is under the drivers seat if its a UK car.

I agree, in fact the only way to get my stereo to work was to remove the amp completely and run new cables to the speakers.

you'll find them on ebay USA. Search for lexus stereo and Metra http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LEXUS-LS400-DOUBLE-D...7QQcmdZViewItem

you'll find them on ebay USA. Search for lexus stereo and Metra

Real helpful post pete I'm sure he's much more clued up after that faultless diagnostic. Ligthen up it was just a bit of fun

Drive Jerking, is that not ilegal ?

Well guys, I too suffered (note the use of past tense) from the leaking boot syndrome. I followed the advise from numerous posts on this forum and cleaned out the drainiage channels, removed the seal and siliconed it back in, reseated the aerial, replaced the filler cap seal, even as a last ditch attempt to get the water out drilled a series of small drainage holes in the spare wheel well, and all failed, so in the end I knew I had to replace the seal. I contacted the main dealer for a price of a replacement and nearly sh.. myself so I hunted around the internet and found these guys http://www.sealsdirect.co.uk I bought the closest seal I could find that matched the dimensions of the OEM one (ETS59) and bit the bullet and bought 5.5m of the stuff. I can report that it has now been fitted for the last 2 weeks and the boot is bone dry ! Total cost including next day delivery £30 You may want to consider it as an alternative to the OEM if your sick of the swimming pool in the spare wheel well. Note, the profile of the seal is slightly different to the original lexus one, but the original leaks......this doesn't.

I have a MK3 do they have speed sensative wipers ?? Hi yes they do - last week when it was raining i had them on intermittent and everytime i went over 20mph then would automatically switch to constant. They would then switch back to intermittent when i slowed down/stopped - try it next time its rainingregards miq Never thought I'd say this........can't wait for it to rain ! Cheers I'll give it ago. Although on the downside the boot is leaking so when it does rain the spare wheel fills up. I do have a replacement generic (non Lexus) lip seal....just haven't got round to fitting it yet

I have a MK3 do they have speed sensative wipers ??

Let's be brutally honest here. This is absolutely nothing to do with the enviroment or saving the planet. This is a stealth tax, plain and simple. Will the extra moiney generated go to enviromental projects ???.....NO. It's just another way to get money off the hard working people of Britain whom the government have targetted as being able to afford it. If you look at the figures another way, from next year you'll be paying an additional £4 / week to drive your car now than you did before the budget, now I'm sure the reasoning behiind the governments actions is that if you can afford to buy / maintain / and fuel big luxury cars, you can afford the extra £4 / week without kicking up too much fuss. (Obviously this will be considerablyt more if you live or commute in central London) I do think it will have an adverse effect on new car sales, why on earth would you buy a brand new car and take the hit of double road tax for the first year, when a pre registered one will save you nearly £500. Obviously Gordy and his morons haven't factored that into the failing economy. No one is happy about the present situation or how much money we pay in taxes each year, but everyone seems to convieniently forget this when it comes to election time. You have a voice, use it !