katabrontes

I had a similar problem when a local car wash lost my spare key. I bought a blank key with the electric module in it from ebay but because of the problems people have reported with getting these keys cut (some apparently broke the key cutters tools) I then had a key 9with no module in it - just a shell and blade) planning to put the module into the newly cut key and reprogram it. After trying various tricks found on the forum and also buying a programming tool from eBay with no success I took the key to a specialist key cutter in Cyprus (where they fix things) who showed me that the module didn't have the necessary chip in it! There was a small black plastic part in the bag when I bought the blank with the electronic module but I didn't know what it was - it was the chip! You have to put this in yourself before you program the key. When I get back to UK I will see if I can find the chip and then try programming it again.

Keytrader cut a blank in the holder for the remote module. On refection I think that is all you should need as I assume the module form your broken key is still OK. You can either send them a photo of both sides of your key or the Key code and they will cut the key to match. Then you just open the case and put your own module in it.

I had a similar problem when the local car wash lost my spare key. I got one made by the local shoe repairer for £30 but its a simple version and doesn't have the remote buttons but it will open the doors and start the car. Beware that if the car was locked with the remote when you open it with this key it might start the alarm going. You need the remote to switch it off. It doesn't happen every time. The same man can make a remote version for about £80 (better than the official Lexus price of about £350). I have finally found a key cutter in Cyprus who can make a duplicate key - they are good at this sort of thing here and repair rather than replace. In France I also had problems with servicing. Toyota agents claim not to know anything about Lexus and be unable to help with anything. Ridiculous as most of the parts (including he keys) are Toyota parts of course. It might be worth checking with a Toyota agent in UK, I believe they are much more flexible and their rates are alleged to be lower than Lexus. I have tried to program a replacement remote key I got on eBay and also one I got cut in UK ( www.keytrader.co.uk ) with a device which is supposed to do this ( OBDII 2 4D Chip 16 Pin Smart Key Maker Programmer Tool For Toyota Lexus ) but it wouldn't work. A replacement wasn't any better. The various tricks (opening and shutting doors etc) which I found on forums (mainly US) didn't work either. Has anyone else managed to get the key programmer to work?

This copied from a previous post about removing the shields Further to me previous post on this topic, I think have now solved the problem on my 400h As other forum members have suggested, you get a massive improvement in rear vision at night on the reversing system screen on the dashboard, if you remove the little shades that cover the bulbs. To remove the clusters, Just follow the bulb replacement instructions in the manual and that will expose the light clusters. The light clusters are held in by just 3 Phillips type screws. Undo those and that releases the cluster. Then there is just one small Phillips screw that holds the shade in place. undo the screw, remove the shade and then put it all back together (without the shades) and replace the cluster on the door. This makes a massive difference and increases what you can see by a huge margin.

Removing the shield is quite easy. Just open the light cluster and its not hard to work it out. There are lots of posts on doing it on the forum. LED bulbs are the only option for brighter lighting, the available tungsten bulbs that will fit make very little difference. You will need CANBUS bulbs and quite a few are available form eBay giving about 7-8-- lumens. I had to try a few different bulbs before I got good results from Star Canbus error free Ultra bright 7.5W LED (800 lumens) SMD 2835 from eBay. These are not available now but there are several alternatives listed. Check dimension to make sure they will fit as they tend to be a bit longer tan the original filament bulbs.

Sounds to me like a good argument for buying a good used one when most of the problem will have been sorted out by the 1st owner! The only new cars I have eve bought (3 of different makes) were a lot of trouble. The many more used ones since have been very little or none.

Its a big step up into a RX unless you get a 400 with air suspension (problematic it seems) in which case you can lower it a bit. My mother (102 admittedly) needs to use either a caravan step or similar to get into our RX350.

I think it disables the tailgate power operator

I had a very similar problem with my Toyota Surf. In the end it was thought to be due to the water pipes to the rear cabin heater which ran along the passenger side of the tunnel. I haven't noticed the same problem with our RX350 but as we are usually away for the winter we don't use the rear heater very much, mostly on air con to cool it down.

Having just returned to Cyprus I was disappointed to find that the headlights have returned to their previous yellow bloom. Pity. Maybe toothpaste etc repeated as required is best after all.

Follow up after I drove the car. 1. The headlights track on turns as they should. 2. After driving the car the next time I started the full "dance and turn" was as it used to be with the lights dropping at the end as before. I guess the sensor just needed to move a bit with the suspension before it settled down. Everything seems to be OK now except I need to lift the lights up a bit as now they drop on start up they are a bit too low.

Hi Murphybear and all others interested in this problem. The part arrived from USA a couple of days ago. I could have saved about £10 if I had normal delivery but as we were only here for a week or so I needed to be sure it arrived before we left. It took about an hour to fit but would have been much less if I had prepared the old parts a bit better when I had the workshop available (don't have on in UK at the moment). The sensor only fits on one way as the hole in the lever has one end square and the other rounded to match the spindle on the sensor. I needed to clean off a fair bit of rust from the hole in the lever arm before it fitted well. The other problem was removing the three securing screws which fix the sensor to the frame. One was very tight and I damaged the Phillips slots doing this so I had to resort to a Mole wrench which, just, got it out. Happily the threads on the four screws which hold the back plate on the sensor are the same so I used one of those to replace it. Worth dosing the thee securing screws with penetrating oil when you are removing the assembly. Be sure to use plenty of oil before you try to remove the securing bolts as they will be well rusted and may shear if you don't. The bolt on the end of the ball joint on the axle needs a small spanner to hold the nut on the back while you ease off the nut that holds it to the axle bracket. The one in the Lexus tool kit is just right. I packed a fair bit of Vaseline into the connector (yes it does fit the US part) but had to take a bit out afterwards as the plug wouldn't lock in as the sealing gasket jammed on the extra grease. I had to take the sensor bracket off again to sort this out so it would be better to fit the connector before you bolt the bracket back onto the chassis (the one with two bolts). Now to testing. The AFS light was out and the HID lights did their dance and turn but didn't drop down at the end as they used to with the old sensor. Having seen the state of it when I stripped it and noting that one pin was broken off the connector socket I guess it was behaving in default "fully up" position so the lights dropped down. Now they drop and move out and in but stay at the "up" position. As the warning light is not on I guess this is OK. Not having had a working sensor before I don't know what the "normal" would be but others may help on this. All in all OK and cost could be as low as £50 for a new sensor. If the tie rod with the ball-joints need replacing add another £10 or so. I think a new bracket could be made very easily with some sheet metal and tin snips or could be fabricated quite cheaply by a steel fabricator. Certainly well below the cost for the original part. Taking into account Lexus service charges I guess they would have charged about £500 for this. Pity the part isn't available from a UK source at a reasonable cost. Surprising really as it seems to be a part common to several Honda models as well as Toyota and Lexus. Several do sell them on eBay but they all come from USA. Good luck with yours.

I did similar sums when I bought my RX350 in 2013. At the time the cost of a hybrid version was considerably more that the simple petrol only 350. Certainly the running costs for the petrol version were a bit higher (more road tax, higher fuel consumption) but the initial coast was considerably lower. Curiously the cost difference in 2006 (the year of the car I eventually bought) was only £2-3,000 when new but in 2013 the difference in the second hand value (350 vs 450) was over £7,000. You get a lot of petrol for £7K even at today's prices! Add in the experience of some forum members with failure of batteries and an occasional inverter and the view that servicing for a 450 needed to be done by a Lexus agent whereas the 350 could easily be serviced by a reliable independent then over 5 years the sums clearly favoured the 350. On our fairly limited mileage the same arguments applied to a LPG conversion. Many people seem to get overheated about fuel consumption and seem prepared to pay a lot of money for a new car which saves a few MPG. Fuel is not the major cost of ownership and the overall difference of small savings in MPG is not much. For the 350/450 comparison on 5,000 mile per annum I calculated it would be no more than about £300 based on actual experience of achieved MPG rather than manufacturer's figures. Add a bit for saving on road tax but take of savings for servicing and the overall difference is probably less than £500 a year. I did not take into account the eventual resale value after 5 years ownership and the 450 would almost certainly get a better price than a 350 but I suspect that by then (for a car 12+ years old) but the overall figure would probably be much closer to the initial difference between he new cost than the second hand cost when I bought the car. |Since I dislike changing carts and tend to keep them until they cost more to service than they are worth as long as they are not causing any trouble this is less relevant to me anyway. I understand the the 450 is quite a different "drive" to the 350 as well because of the way the 4WD operates (petrol to the front wheels and electric to the rear for 450 so it alternates between 2WD & 4WD whereas 350 is AWD all the time) so I may not like the 450 anyway. Whatever you decide good luck and I hope you and your wife enjoy your final choice.

Having removed the rear sensor the HID dipped lights now stay fully up so I had to drop them down a bit temporarily. The "steering" has stopped working as well. We leave for UK tomorrow morning and the parts should be waiting for me when we arrive or very soon after. I will simply replace the existing sensor with the new one so the alignment should be the same. I will find out when I have done it and let you know (hopefully next week)

I have found the link to the ball joints and rods https://www.rapidonline.com/Mechanical-Fastenings-Fixings/Swivel-Head-Ball-Joint-M5-Steel-523780?utm_source=LexusOwnersClubUK&utm_medium=ForumLinks and this one fro details about fabricating the other parts of the brackets http://evansweb.info/2009/11/23/ls400-ride-height-sensor-repair?utm_source=LexusOwnersClubUK&utm_medium=ForumLinks

The warning light on mine is on all the time since I removed the sensor. I think I only have one on the rear offside. I couldn't finds one on the front. The sensor module comes bare with no linkage. There was another thread about this a while ago and the link rod is available quite cheaply (about £5) from a mail order place but I can't remember which it was. One piece of advice was that the ball joints tend to corrode so keeping them well greased will help to stop the link rob breaking. I guess you might find the other parts of the linkage from a breaker . I think the only option for the genuine part is the whole lot at about £200 which seems a lot extra for just a couple of pieces of pressed steel and a link rod. The part is being delivered to me in UK next week and I will fit it when I get back from France and will let you know if it works. It is said to be an improved version with better seals. I hope it works. The easiest way to fit and remove it (if you don't have access to a lift) is to remove the offside rear wheel and it is easy to access the bolts then. Much harder to do ti by crawling under the exhaust but make sure you put a prop or some blocks of wood under the suspension before you crawl under. Don't rely on the jack..

I had the same problem on my Toyota Vitz (Japanese import of Yaris) in Cyprus. I used Twenty20 Crystalite - Rapid Headlight Restoration from Autobulbs Direct (about £10) which did a pretty good job but I will have to see how its lasted when I get back to Cyprus in a month or so. Not sure if it has UV protection included in the secondary coating applied after the initial cleaning stage (it sa two part process). It was very easy to use but needed a bit more care in cleaning off the oxidised layer and could have done with a couple of extra pads of the wet wipes to do this with.

I had the same problem with my RX350. I stripped down the self levelling sensor as suggested by LexusLexus in the very good post above. Unfortunately two of the springs were so corroded they fell apart and one of the pins had broken off the socket in the sensor. Fortunately I managed to prise the broken pin out of the plug but the sensor is beyond repair. As an alternative to the Toyota part complete with the linkage at about £220 from eBay I have ordered the sensor only (Dorman 924755 Headlight Sensor) via eBay from USA at $85.60 (about £70) inc priority delivery to UK which should do the trick. In the meantime I will have to reset the HID lights as they don't drop after the initial "dance & turn"

As to navigation I think you would be better to spend the money on either a dedicated SatNav or use one of the free programs on your smartphone. The built system is pretty clunky by all accounts. I had a similar noise on my ancient Toyota Surf on full lock which was due to the coil springs binding in the cups at one end. A bit of grease sorted it out. I wouldn't discount the "small local dealer". I bought my RX350 from a small garage and they were brilliant at sorting out warranty problems. My experience of main dealers (with other brands) is that the service standards and quality of the work is no better than independents and often worse but their prices are much higher. Given the age and mileage of your 300 I doubt you will gain anything by using Lexus for service. Why not use your local guy?

I replaced the main beam headlights on my 2006 RX 350 with HID conversions from Autobulbs Direct (cost about £95). The main beam were not very good before but the improvement with the conversion has been very substantial. The only downside is the short delay while the bulbs warm up before the full brightness develops (not after dipping) but this has not been a problem in practice. I also replaced the reversing lamps (appalling in standard form) with high intensity LEDs and removed the reflective shields which tend to focus the light form the reversing lamp upwards away from the road which is not helpful. Again the difference was substantial and I can now see to reverse without having to use the brake lights or flashers as well. I had to try a few different bulbs before I got good results from Star Canbus error free Ultra bright 7.5W LED (800 lumens) SMD 2835 from eBay. These are not available now but there are several alternatives listed. Check dimension to make sure they will fit as they tend to be a bit longer tan the original filament bulbs.

I don't think you need to do anything. The headlights on the RX are not "handed" ie the dipping is not asymmetric as on many cars but both headlights dip evenly. The only thing you may need to change is to disable the "following mode" (AVS I think) so the dipped lights do not track as you turn corners as these are biased on the UK models towards the left and the LHD versions will be biased the other way. Advice from Lexus UK is below Our ref 637848 16 September 2013 Thank you for your further email. I can confirm that the HID (High Intensity Discharge) headlamps on the RX 350 do not need to be converted for travel on the continent. The set up of the headlamp is such that the light shines in a horizontal flat beam which has no kick up and as such is not dazzling to drivers of oncoming cars. As you have suggested, we would recommend that the Intelligent Adaptive Front-lighting System (I-AFS) is switched off when travelling on the continent. Yours sincerely Claire Newman Customer Relations Executive

I doubt it needs re-gassing if its blowing cold air out of one side. I think the warning light would be on if the gas pressure was low and there was no cooling. I suspect its a stuck flap. Try switching it between modes a few times to see if that will loosen it. Also try switching to recirculate and back a few times. I think if you have to remove the dash you might be in big trouble as there are air bags under it. If the worst comes to the worst you could just block the "hot" side off and rely on the air flow from the cold side.

I suspect it will but may as well wait and see before you get the electronic wizard on to it. I suspect it may not cost very much to sort it out.

I had my Saab electronics fixed by a Pakistani man in Poole (UK) a few years ago. He was very efficient so I am sure you will find an electronics wizard in Pakistan who can do this for you. He charged me about £100 and the Saab main dealer wanted about £1500 for a new part. I am surprised you have a good service history for the car. My Japanese imports (3 so far) all came with none at all but were very good cars and we kept them for 6, 10 and 7 years each (last one we still have). I think most Japanese cars are well looked after. Good luck.

I would try the electrician first and avoid the main dealer. They will probably charge you for the "diagnostic" (they did for me in France). A good car IT specialist could almost certainly repair the fault quite cheaply whereas the main dealer will tell you a module needs to be replaced at €x (plus several "0"). If you bought from a dealer you should have a warranty and this should be the first port of call. If not you have no comeback on the seller (not definite but probable) but it might be worth asking them if they had the same problem and if they did anything about it. If they admit they did and didn't get it fixed you may be able to return the car and get a full refund (depending on the law in the country where you live). Certainly worth asking the local Lexus dealer if they have had the car in for a similar fault - if they have and told the owner it would cost a few thousand to fix (which is probably why he sold it to you) you would have a good argument to return the car.