Stupot

Thank you all for the input. I went with Avons. The Primacy 4 sound good on a saloon car but I can't find any word on their use with an SUV and get the feeling they were not really designed with them in mind. The Crossclimates fit the bill and get thumbs up here, but seem in a similar ball park to the Avons which also get the thumbs up here. So I choose to go with what I already have on the front which do feel sure footed.

Wow, even my RX300 SE is ULEZ compliant. No charge!

My RX300 on 18" wheels needs two new front tyres. The worn ones to be replaced are currently Avon ZX7 with a pair of mid range 'General' Tyres on the back (shame it's not the Generals which need replacing). Both the Mich Primacy 4 and Avon ZX7 score well on quietness (important to me) but the Avon seems better regarded for grip/ride while the Michelin Primacy 4 seems to score much better on fuel economy being more of a road tyre and less an SUV tyre. Once the 'Generals' on the rear need replacing, I will match up with the front tyres, so future availability is also a consideration. I will rarely, if ever, be off roading, so, 99.9% road car, my driving style is calm, I'm no racer and like trundling along on the motorway, so high speed handling is not important.... fuel economy is attractive, but my gut says go with the Avons... I did have Primacy 3s on my LS400 which were very good. Has anyone has Primacy 4's on their RX? I could be persuaded!

Here is a thread about the hoses on a Gen 1 RX300 on a USA forum... see post #19 for someones opinion re pressure and hose type. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-1st-gen-1999-2003/572881-diy-transmission-tube-assy-oil-cooler-2.html

No, sorry, I have not... so will defer to someone with more knowledge.

Looks like that pipe has not been as fully pushed home as the other... if it were me, I would shove it on a bit more first (might need to un-tighten the clip first) and then make sure the jubilee clip is properly tightened up before heading off in undoubtedly more expensive directions.

On my last long drive with my Mk 4 LS400 before selling it, the low winter sun in my eyes....my mate and fellow LS400 owner pointed out the mini sun visor above the rear view mirror. I'd driven that car for over four years in total and never noticed that feature before!

My friend who I sold it to had it fitted (much to my disapproval) so it was there when I got it back. He bought it second hand on ebay, looked old and well used...advertised as an LS400 tow bar I believe. He got his local towbar shop to fit it. An ex-Lexus salesman came to my house last year, he worked for them when the MK 4 LS400 was a new model. He marvelled at my LS400 until he saw the towbar and his faced dropped as he said "that's not good.... that's what they made the RX300 for!"

I have a friend who lived and worked in Japan for many years and he once told me a lot of Japanese like their cars to be nearly new... so they probably never get to the leaking experience and why there is such a healthy export market from over there.

Just spotted my old friend, up for sale already... can't tell if they have sorted the various bodywork issues. Photos are a bit aloof. https://www.gumtree.com/p/lexus/lexus-ls400/1362636089

Well, the LS felt positively watertight to a depth of 30m in comparison to the RX sieve.

My rather battered 1998 Mk4 LS400 went to a dealer for not a lot of money just before Xmas. As some of you may have gathered, this was my second stint of ownership with the same car. I first owned it in 2011 when it was only a 13 year old car at only 85,000 miles that cost a little over £3k.... I was blown away by the car in every respect and had three and a half years of trouble free motoring, every MOT a straight pass. I sold it to my mate in 2014 with 120,000 miles on it because I had moved house and it did not fit on the steep drive very well and ground it's bottom on the high spot heading out onto the road. It also was not very practical for the local lanes and remote country car parks that were really 4 wheel drive territory in our new location. So, I manged with a Honda CRV. Then my mate upgraded to a smarter lower mileage LS400 and he was selling it... I wanted it back... and although I have enjoyed the last year of re-ownership, I've had to face up to it not being the same car I once owned. My mate had given the bodywork a good beating in car parks and a low speed non insurance bump in the snow producing a mangled wing. It now had 160k miles on it, is now 22 years old it did not feel as smooth or as a quiet as I remember.... but the main thing is even though I adapted the driveway with strategic concrete humps to ease egress, the car still ground if the boot was loaded or the fuel tank full. It was a nostalgia re-purchase... a good blast, but I have had to admit defeat and now have a Lexus RX300 which I rather like and is more suited to my zone. I'm sure I will keep poking my head in here, but just to say a big thank you to all the LS400 forum contributors, especially the long term LS400 owners on here (you know who you are) who share their knowledge which has been and will be invaluable to past and future owners of these amazing cars. All the best, Stu

My SatNav was not working well (freezing etc) when I got my RX300 last month. I tried removing the DVD, it looked fine, put it back in and the SatNav stopped working altogether with 'unable to read disc' message. I'd read on other forums that the drive motor can go on the Nav unit. So I removed the unit and opened it up hoping a simple clean of dust might cure, but maybe check the motor... but it looked pristine, despite having historical water ingress sloshing around in the boot, more than that, there was no way I had the expertise to strip this down to the drive motor which I could not even see.. so I put it back together, put it back in the car and hooked it up... still not working, took it out again and had it stored in the dry warm house for a week while I considered my options, looking at used units on ebay etc. But I knew that 'Herbie' was spot on...as in, why bother with it at all. I asked myself... if it were working... would I still use my stand alone Garmin anyway... the answer was of course yes. So I thought, to hell with it, but I might as well re-install the Nav unit just in case... so put it back, hooked it up, gave the map DVD a good wipe with a lens cloth, popped it in, and hey presto.... it's been working fine ever since... how long for I know not, nor care anymore.

When you have an hour to spare, read this thread... it's possible that the membrane behind your rear door card has been messed with or a door seal gone etc... but water will settle at lowest point, so wherever you are experiencing water, the rear boot of the RX is probably the source because it can run from the boot into the cabin...see my write up below. So....I was aware of the RX leak problems before I purchased my RX300 last month which indeed came with wet rear footwell carpets. The history showed Lexus had already had a go at fixing water ingress in 2014 swapping out the rear light gaskets. I tested sunroof drains, they were OK and clear, sealed up boot lid hinge plate bolts... I stripped out the rear boot floor/plastic trays etc. I sat in the boot of the car when it rained and watched water seeping in along the seams at back under boot lip exactly as per pictures on the last page of the above thread posted in March 2018 by 'Steve.ch'. No water came in from rear lights, so that was one possible ticked off the list. Looking in the stripped out boot, I could see how water coming in could find it's way to the cabin carpets via gaps on each side of the 3 or 4 inch high crossbeam/bulkhead running just behind the rear seats. I had an idea!!!! I wanted to have a go at fixing the leaks in time, but I wanted dry carpets much quicker than that. So, a 'managed coastal erosion' kind of thing sprung to mind. I filled the gaps each end of the crossbeam/bulkhead with expanding foam, once dry, I sealed over with bathroom silicone sealant which I also ran along the seams the of crossbeam and in it's holes. My aim was to prevent water reaching the cabin from the boot. Secondly, there are several small rubber grommets covering 5mm-ish holes in several places in the boot floor. I removed these, now water can come and go as it likes without wetting the carpets. I put everything back together and dried out the rear carpets as much as possible with swapping over towels with weights on them to sponge up the water... I also had an 8 hour drive to do over Xmas, so did this with heating on full aimed at the floor, sunroof open to vent the moisture (luckily no rain) It's worked... the rear carpets are dry even after heavy rain. I can lift out the plastic trays and see only a cup full of water accumulates at the back of the boot after rain (our drive has a slope and I park rear down... old habit from the LS) before it runs out of the holes.... and now after the long drive, with no rain, the boot is bone dry because it's also getting ventilation via the opened grommet holes. I might get round to fixing the actual source of the leak, but no rush now!

I take it you are talking about a remote key with the three buttons on it? If it is starting the car OK, then the car ECU and the immobiliser chip in the key are talking to each other.... as Colin says, might just need some kind of re-set for the central locking? Sorry if this is teaching granny to suck eggs etc... but is the battery you have put in located the right way up, making contact, right size? (mine is a 1616 size battery, probably same as yours) My spare key battery was flat when I got the car and it worked fine with a new battery, no messing.

I've just purchased a 2004 RX300 SE... the seat-belt buzzer was an unpleasant change from the LS400... found this thread that started back in 2007, and all sorted. Brilliant.

Good work... and the area around your strut looks beautifully clean...and rust free.

There is an interesting thread running on the LS forum. Worth reading as if they phase out E5 Petrol and you can only get E10... Lexus say the following... From this site https://www.acea.be/uploads/publications/ACEA_E10_compatibility.pdf Lexus: E10 petrol is cleared for use in all Lexus European petrol models made from January 1998, excluding: • IS250 2.5 litre V6 with engine 4GR-FSE made between August 2005 and September 2007. • GS300 3.0 litre V6 with engine 3GR-FSE made between January 2005 and September 2007. • LS460 4.6 litre V8 with engine 1UR-FSE made between August 2006 and September 2007.

Good move for if/when you come to sell, buyers are spooked (at least I am) when the DVLA mileage does not add up.

Here is a good example.... HPI check shows this is an SE-i... dealer says SE-L https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lexus-IS-250-2-5-Auto-SE-L-4dr/153624813806?hash=item23c4c0a0ee:g:rNgAAOSw5nZdajpU Lots of dealers also list the RX300 or 350 as an SE when it's actually an SE-L as they know the air suspension with the SE-L is not popular with buyers. The give away there is the air suspension adjustment button next to cig lighter.

Yes, that was my conclusion from my short test drive... in comparison to the LS400...a slight lack of low down pull... but I can live with it and in reality, it's plenty quick enough for me. I'm open to an SE or SE-L now... the most important factor is that perfect combo of condition/history/miles/price. Thanks for those tips

You are correct... I did not even twig that there was an 'i' version below the 'L' spec... so post face lift L version will also be great by the sounds of it. Thank you.

Thanks Normski... the 2009 SE-L I test drove did not have the memory seats, so perhaps it became an option on the SE-L post face lift

No, not sure at all... but I have not seen any pictures of a post face lift SE-L version with the memory seat buttons on the door card just above the window switches.... did they move the memory seat buttons to a more discrete location post face lift? Agree with that

Am I crazy?... I'm sure most on this IS forum will think I'm not I love my LS400, but time to move on as it does not really fit on my drive and is getting a bit long in the tooth at nearly 22 years old. I test drove a 2009 IS 250 SE-L and I was very impressed, I liked the feel and the refinement, and although not quite the LS400 magic carpet ride, l almost felt let down getting back into my huge old boat and manoeuvring it out of the tight car park! I've been trying to get my eye in on prices... I think I'd like a pre face lift SE-L as it has memory seats which does not seem to be on the post face lift SE-L? That said, I could be tempted by an SE if it was the right combo of price, mileage, service history etc. Some SE models seem to come with the upgrade of Sat Nav reverse camera... it's difficult to get the definitive differences in spec between the SE-L and SE. But there seems to be quite a price difference between the SE and SE-L. I'd like to pay less than £5k and get less than 70k miles for an SE-L... possible? I've studied the various 'what to look out for/buying guide' threads... some great info as always on these forums.