katabrontes

Thanks for this idea Delphius. I will get my garage to check the sensors. I suppose it might just be a dirty connection as it's intermittent often happens when it's raining.

Thanks for the idea. Battery is new. Wouldn't a faulty wheel sensor trigger a fault code? I have checked for codes both while the lights were still on and after they had reset and there were none in both cases.

From time to time three of the warning lights ( brakes, VSC & ABS) fail to go out when the engine starts. Occasionally they will come on while driving. If I restart the engine they go out and stay out. I can't get any fault codes on my reader and neither could my local garage (not Lexus) with a more sophisticated system on a laptop. The car drives normally and there is no indication that anything is wrong. Any ideas would be appreciated.

I noticed this problem when we tests drove a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Many years ago. We bought a Toyota Surf then which was a really great car and an excellent workhorse until the Aircon finally failed and we changed it for an RX 350 which I like a lot.

Seems pretty steep to me. I have spent about £1,500 over 41/2 years on my RX350 including brakes pads and a new set of tyres all round. Servicing at my local garage is about £200. We haven't got to 100,000 yet so I haven't changed the plugs which will be an expensive one due both to the cost of the plugs and the inaccessibility of the back 3 cylinders. We don't do as much mileage as you as we don't use the car for about 5 months of the year when we are away. So far the only failures have been the headlight levelling sensor on the rear suspension that I replaced my self for about £85.

I suspect the leveling sensor has rusted and jammed and this was why the linkage broke. They tend to let water in through the seals. New ones are available on eBay. I got mine from USA for about £80 inc shipping. Fitting is quite easy but easier if you take off the o/s rear wheel.

Do you have a sunroof?

PS check a sunroof carefully (see my comments on recent post about sun roof problems)

Hi Jeff I am a young 75 year old (can’t be middle aged as I am not ready to grow up yet) When my old Toyota truck finally gave up on me 4 years ago I bought a RX350 (2005 but only 28000). I researched the hybrids etc and several other large 4x4s and concluded that although the hybrid version of the. 2005 RX cost about £3000 more when new it would have cost nearly £8000 more when I bought the 350. You get a lot of petrol for £8K! Like you my cars have always been serviced by a local garage. It’s less expensive and more convenient than driving 40 miles to the nearest Lexus agent. I was told that most of the servicing on the 450 is the same as the 350 and the only thing Lexus agents have to do is to check and change the coolant in the inverter (I think that was right). I do about 5000 miles a year, mostly in France, and I reckon the extra cost of the 350 over a hybrid is about 750 a year allowing for the extra road tax and lower mpg but I reckon I would save about £3-400 on not using Lexus for servicing. If you keep the car for about 5-7 years as you have for the RS then I doubt any buyer would care about a Lexus service history as long as the stamps/receipts were available to produce. Personally I would look at a good 350 which will cost you a lot less as they don’t have a good market with the current hysteria about emissions and mpg. I get about 24mpg but on my mileage it isn’ worth bothering about. The 350 is a lovely car. I don’t like the look of the newer 450 and I think the front is very ugly. Other differences are that the 350 is AWD whereas the 450 is a FWD on petrol and RWD on electric with both when you put your foot down.. I thought the alternating drive would feel quite strange but actually I didn’t notice it on a recent test drive. Lexus dealers do, IMO, overprice and the same spec car will vary surprisingly between them. Anyway follow your heart and enjoy it whatever you buy.

I get this quite often (2005 RX 350)(and I haven't cleaned the engine) when I stop the engine and restart it it clears. I have checked the OBD codes with a small module checker (and so has my garage with a laptop) and we have never had any fault codes come up. Everything works OK. I did have a fault on the VSC only when the height sensor on the rear suspension failed but this was Ok when it was replaced (about £80 from USA without the linkage which was OK). If the OBD codes don't show a fault I guess you can ignore it.

I would be very cautious about any problem in operating the sunroof. When I bought my RX350 the sunroof did not work and it was diagnosed as a motor fault, the motor was replaced by the dealer but then failed again. Further investigation revealed that the sunroof had stuck and it had to be removed completely to discover that the problem was a small plastic rocker on one side which had broken and jammed in the rack, as a result the tape which moved the roof on that side had broken and the motor had burned out. The broken part and the motor were replaced and since then all has been fine. HOWEVER - to remove the sunroof the whole head lining and side linings had to be removed starting at the bottom. The labour time for all this was about 20 hours (about £3,000 at Lexus rates) plus the parts (about £4-500 including 3 motors) (see horrendous photos attached) An easier sunroof problem is leaks into the space under the rear boot shelf. I also had this which I traced to a kink in the plastic tube draining the rear corner of the sunroof. I fixed this quite easily by cutting off the last few inches of the tube and replacing it with a short length of 15mm copper pipe. Its a good idea toe clear these drainage tubes form time to time either by pouring hot water into the channels around the sun roof or running a length of the spiral spring used to hold up net curtains through the tubes (some members have used a thin brush on a long length of wire to do this). The rubber drain from the cills can also get clogged with mud quite easily and its worth checking those every few weeks or months

The rear drains run down inside the pillars and exit through the sides at the back each side of the removable tray at the back of the boot they drain onto the outside just below this. You might be able to access them by just removing the rear quarter lining if you think the leak is at the joint between the tube and the sunroof tray

This is very bad news .Removing the headlining is a major job. You have to start at the bottom and remove lining from the pillars etc before you can take out the headlining. The garage who fixed my sunroof problem took 23 hours of labour to do it. They did have to remove the whole sunroof mechanism so exposing just the drain might not take quite as long. The attached pics show the car once it had been stripped out. Bon courage!

Hi Ian2015 This is exactly the question I asked in a main agent yesterday when looking at a 2010 RX450 which had only the two corner sensors at the front. They said they hadn't been told of any problems with parking (typical main agent reply in my experience) but since Lexus has now fitted 4 at the front there clearly was. I also thought it should be quite easy to add another two linking them as suggested above by just jumping them onto the lead to the nearest corner sensor. Has anyone done this or knows any reason why it wouldn't work?

I did similar but less sophisticated sums before I bought an RX350 in 2014. Essentially the RX450 would have cost over 50% more than the RX350 and that buys quite a lot of petrol. Although I am not convinced it is necessary many have suggested that the hybrids should always be serviced by Lexus agents so there is a saving there to set against the higher Road tax. I am not sure about insurance but I suspect it would be higher for a hybrid. Not a lot in it overall. There is also the difference between them in the type of auto gearbox and the AWD of the 300/350 and the alternating front wheel and 4WD of the hybrids. I haven't driven a hybrid yet but like the 350 a lot. It's a really lovely car. All that said we only do about 5000 miles a year so well below you. I get about 26-28 on a 400 mile run back from France which is omainly n motorway or dual and only about 60Km on country roads. Running about in France and UK I get about 22-24. I doubt very much if you would get as much with a 300 which generally seem to be a bit thirstier than the 350.

Ditto. I forwarded it to Action Fraud. I doubt it will stop it but might lead to an investigation if others do the same.

Great news, glad you are pleased with it. My guess is the boot problem will be due to problems with the drain tubes form the sunroof which run down the rear quarter columns and through the boot each side at the back behind the trim. You need to remove the trays under the floor and the two side panels each side which isn't too hard to do. Mine was kinked on one side and got blocked with crud. I shortened the plastic tubes and inserted a short length of 15mm copper pipe into the plastic tube (you need to dip it into hot water to soften it a bit and then it easily slides over the copper tube)and then pushed this into the rubber tube lower down which drains to the road. Mine was leaking at the joint of the plastic and rubber. Its fine now and shouldn't be a problem again.

Thank you Colin. Great news,I was expecting to have to replace it soon.

This is interesting Julian. I understood that the RX has a timing belt not a chain. If it's a chain I think you are right as I didn't change it on my old Saab 900 and won't on my Toyota Vitz. Can anyone confirm which it is on the Rx350/450?

I like it a lot. When I bought it the 450 would have cost about £6-8000 more. You get a lot of petrol for that and I like the AWD and the auto gearbox. Haven't driven a 450 but I am not sure if I would like the CVT gearbox and alternating 2 and 4 WD.

I bought a 2005 350 in 2013. There were a few problems with the parking sensors (after market type) and the sunroof didn't work. The parking sensors were sorted out by the dealer quite quickly but the sunroof turned out to be a major problem as a small plastic part had broken and jammed the roof, burnt out the motor and broke one of the tapes that moved the roof. All sorted out under the warranty but the roof took about 20 hours labour as most of the inside of the car had to be removed to remove the roof assembly. Later I had a spark plug coil fail but also done under warranty. Since then trouble free and a lovely car to drive. I replaced the self levelling sensor this year (about £85). After 10 years it's sensible to get the timing belt and water pump replaced if not done recently.

If the linkage has seized the sensor may not have much longer. If the light comes on again it may be that. The seals on the original are a bit fragile and fail letting water into the body of the sensor (which is really just a rather expensive volume control as you have discovered). If the damage inside isn't too much you can clean it up and replace the seals (available at about £3 from http://www.wychbearings.co.uk/10x21x7-r23-nbr_oil_seal.html ). Unfortunately you may find the small springs inside which make the contact with the wiper have corroded (mine had) so you will need to replace the whole sensor. I got mine from USA for US$85 including delivery. Headlight Level Sensor fits 2004-2009 Toyota Prius Tacoma DORMAN OE SOL This model has improved seals and should last longer. Fitting is quite easy once you have removed the o/s rear wheel. The attached instructions for rebuilding the sensor are from the Forum and were very helpful. Refurbishing headlight levelling sensor (ex Lexus Owners Club 2013).doc

Sorry Steve the RX is in UK. Cyprus is a Vitz. Enjoy your stay in Protaras. BTW it was engine oil but even at £50 every 10 years or so it's a lot cheaper than a new gearbox.

In Cyprus it is also recommended to change the oil every 5K - as our mechanic says "oil's cheap, engines aren't"

I got the key cut by sales@keytrader.co.uk you need to send them either a good quality photo of both sides of the key or the key number which might be in your handbook but make sure its the right one or they will cut the wrong profile. The electronic module came from eBay, I am sure there are several suppliers for this. Make sure you don't lose the small black chip (it has a number written on it). If its packed separately you need to put it into the module, take care opening this as the tabs are quite fragile. The programming gadget came form eBay as well and was the red Toyota/Lexis one. I can't confirm it works as I won't be able to check until I get back to UK next week and find the chip. There are a range of other tricks to do this involving opening and shutting doors and windows etc to be found on links on this forum. I have copies of the instructions on file and have attached a few. Instructions for reprogramming key fob for Lexus (actually for IS but may work for RX).doc Instructions for Toyota keymaker.July 2016.doc Istructions for using Toyota Smart key programmer (ex Lexus forum link by a locksmith.4-8-2016.doc Reprograming Lexus remote key (ex Lexus forum 21-6-2016).doc