NEILJ

Morning Lonely Boy I didn't realise so many models were affected, it is not a good reputation for the brand. I just wanted to mention that I have trawled youtube on this issue and there are many Vlogs on tracing water leaks on your model but I'm afraid it involves removing many interior trim panels and in some cases bumpers as well . I hope you can get your car sorted but I get the impression that some owners are getting rid rather than taking their cars apart. I have looked on Autotrader recently and a couple of adds are on there where they show a photo of the boot area and the jack and tool kit are red rusty so one car to avoid I think. Such a shame though as they are such nice cars otherwise. Neilj

Just a warning to all on the Lexus UK Forums. Opened my email this morning and had got two emails to say there was a reply to a post I had been replying to. I did open the email but luckily didn't open the link as I noticed it had come through at 2.31 am in the morning and it was from wizzy millions. So went straight to the forum , signed in and there were no replies. So please be careful forum members as you could not tell the difference just looking at the email listings, usually there is a dash or full stop in the Lexus owners club title but even the Icon was identical to past notifications. Hope no one else has had this happen. Neilj

Afternoon Only just seen the video you uploaded olumite thanks. The roof rails on the RAV4 are very different to those on the RX but the chap is using the same sealant as I used when I last sealed the roof bar. If I remove and re seal the roof bar again I will take photos to show how I re sealed it and show the Tiger seal sealant I intend to use . Thanks for the video upload and hope you find what you are looking for with an 09 RX450H. They are a nice car but not without their issues just not as horrendous as some other brands . NeilJ

Morning Coin Oh it is an interesting one is this . I don't know if you are familiar with the Roof Bar mountings , they are nothing complicated . A gasket sits over the mounting holes and the roof bar sits on the gasket and the fixing bolts pass through the roof bar and the gasket sandwiching the gasket and creating the seal. I used Loctite black silicone sealant I put it under the gasket and on top of the gasket and on the underside mounting surface of the roof bar then smeared the threads of the mounting bolts and screwed it all together . Not a drop of water entered the car for eight months after that. I was going to have the roof bar off again clean everything up and re seal with Tiger seal this time but since this development I will hold off for a month or so and see what happens. You might think this silly but I have wondered if it is heavy condensation because the interior vents are not allowing air flow through the car . I will reserve judgement and see what happens this next month. NeilJ

I am truly baffled A quick update on the water ingress and damp patch on the A pillar trim. From around 6pm yesterday until about 8am this morning it has absolutely poured down all night. Well over these winter months I have been pushing a wad of kitchen towel in the area that gets soaked to try and help so last night at around 10pm I thought I would go out and put a new dry wad of kitchen towel in as by now with all the rain it would be wet. So got in the car and grabbed the kitchen towel in the lower windscreen and it was dry as was the A pillar trim completely dry so put the towel back locked the car and left it overnight. It was pouring down so hard last night the rain woke me at about 4am and I thought must check the car in the morning. So around 9am went to the car and the kitchen towel was a bit damp but the A pillar trim was dry not a sign of anything. The only difference in this morning was it was relatively warm , still wet and drizzly but a mild temperature. So as I say I am truly baffled . It was around this time last year I had the roof bar off and re sealed it and the car was dry for eight months until around late October when the temperature started to drop and the damp patch returned when it rained. It does appear to be temperature related . I would be tearing my hair out by now if I had any , so let's see what happens the next couple of months , I will hold off taking the roof bar off again to re seal . NeilJ

Morning Russell Yes when you go through the forum there are so many people reporting on this, one chap recently reporting water dripping in through his front interior light in a virtually new RX450H and Lexus saying they want £250 just to look at it , it is not on is it. Surely Lexus have the resources to monitor the forums and then give some advice on what joints and areas that would need re sealing from their vast experience of their service departments. They wouldn't need to post as Lexus, although if they did I am sure it would bolster some confidence with Lexus owners, but they could make up a user name and post . It would help so much if you were just pointed in the right direction , like you see many You Tube videos on this subject , just to say these are the weak areas that you may want to re seal to save you time in ripping out interior trim , roof linings etc. At this point they are getting a bad reputation with this as mobile paddling pools which is not good. I have recently been looking at Autotrader for an RX300 but now having second thoughts and looking at other marques , I saw one add with a picture of the boot and the tool kit all red rusty including the scissor jack which indicates to me that its got rather wet in that area , so another mobile paddling pool that someone has got rid of errrr no thanks. Neilj

Hello Simon and JD Thank you Simon for your in depth explanation of your cars problems. Like you and your wife I love my car too or else I would not put up with this issue but it has got to the point now that I am looking at alternative vehicles on Autotrader and when I look the only cars I am drawn too are older Mercedes ML's , Toyota Rav 4's and possibly Mazda the rest I consider to be Junk after seeing the issues my neighbours have had with their BMW's and Land Rover/ Range Rovers . There is Currently a low mileage RX300 on Autotrader that looks very nice but they too have terrible issues with water ingress so have resisted the temptation to go and look . My Rx like yours has no sunroof so the only place I can see where water is getting in can be the roof bar mountings which I have had off twice now and resealed so when the weather gets a bit better the bar in question is coming off again and I am going to try Tiger Seal this time, so will let the forum know if I succeed but as I have mentioned in a previous post the silicone sealant I used the last time kept the car dry for over eight months and I can only think that the expansion and contraction with the hot weather has broken the seal . I am thinking that the Tiger seal has stronger bonding properties but will have to see. I have had the car for ten years now and the problem only arose after I had taken the car into the paint shop to have a rear bumper repair done after someone reversed into the back of the car , the previous years the car had always been watertight. When I look through the forum it is like JD has said that there are a lot of Lexus cars with the same issue but when I spoke to Lexus service department, who by the way have always been very helpful in the past, to see if they could shed any light on the problem they said " it just does not happen on Lexus" they have never come across this problem hmmmm perhaps they should read the forums like we do aye. So Simon and JD thank you for your replies I will continue to investigate and let you know if I have success or failure in the coming months or if I give up and buy a nice old Mercedes ML320 petrol , definitely not a stinky diesel but this issue like for many is putting me off considering Lexus in future which is a shame as I have loved the mark especially my SC430 I cannot bear to part with that one it is one of if not the best car I have ever owned. Neilj

Morning Russel Thanks for that I will get a bottle and try it when the weather gets dryer . It has been as bad as last year before I resealed the Roof bars and that fixed it for over Nine months so I have thought I will try and re seal the Roof bar one last time using Upol PU sealant and if that doesn't work then it will be Captain Tolleys . NeilJ

Morning Lonely Boy My RX300 had the antenna at the rear see photo There are many videos on youtube about RX300/350 and 400h models with water leak problems on welded seams and am sorry to say it does not seem to be the easiest of fixes. Also reports of the door drains clogging up so much so it fills and leaks past the bottom of the door seals. My RX 450H has no sunroof either and therefore the only possible way for water to get in is through the roof bar mounts or the windscreen which was taken out and refitted and sealed by a reputable wind screen fitters and cost around a £180 . I might add that there are places that specialise in leak detection using ultrasonic/ microwave technology but I cannot vouch for how successful they are, again I have only seen youtube demonstrations . I did speak to the Lexus main dealers to see if they could point me in the right direction but they insisted that they had never heard of such problems and in their words said it just doesn't happen which is obviously not true. It is such a shame that Lexus will not acknowledge this and maybe give some guidance to owners to try and resolve this problem. My RX450h had been fine for over five years until it had to go into the paint shop for a rear bumper repair where someone had reversed into my car and ever since then I have had the problem, both baffling and strange. Sorry I cannot be of more help but as I have said previously keep us all informed of your progress thanks. Neilj

Morning Lonely Boy Please note I have the RX 450H no sunroof , not the same car and structure as an RX300. I had an RX300 before the 450H and had no problems with water ingress on that car. I would suggest you put a few searches in on youtube as there are a lot of videos of sorting RX300/350 water leaks which involve rodding out sunroof drains etc. I still have the problem ongoing and find the problem very baffling. Some times it can absolutely pour down and the car remains completely dry and other times it can be a day of light rain and the damp patch appears however it does seem coincident with the external temperature and I have been wondering if it could be condensation off the screen wicking onto the A pillar trim. I have had the windscreen taken out and re sealed and have resealed the roof bar mountings on that side and renewed the pollen filter so the car can breath , oh and the one other thing I have noticed is the dehumidifier bag of silica I keep in the car needs drying out every few days at this time of year. There are no signs of wet or damp carpets and summer months it has stayed dry even after a deluge of rain. These things are set to test us so good luck with your car Lonely Boy and hope you find the problem and fix it so please let everyone know your progress thanks. Neilj

I really can't fathom it Morning All Just thought I would post another update about this ongoing problem . Since my last update we have had many downpours over this last month and the car has remained dry , no damp patch but since the weather has become colder the damp patch has returned this last couple of days. I did buy one of those silica gel bag dehumidifiers that changes colour when saturated and have had to dry it out a few times this last week which indicates condensation. To recap the windscreen has been taken out and resealed last January then I resealed the roof bar for a second time which appeared to resolve the problem for nearly eight months and now the damp patch has returned but has on many occasions remained dry after so many days of heavy rain the only thing that has changed recently is the temperature. So could it be condensation on the windscreen and it is wicking onto the A pillar trim where it comes close to the windscreen glass. I seem to remember reading something in one forum about replacing the pollen filter which I haven't replaced in a while so will replace that to see if that helps the cars interior to breathe better, yes I am clutching at straws but for £15 it is worth a try I reckon. This whole problem only appeared after the car was hit on the back bumper and had to go into the body shop for repair and for the seven years I had owned the car previously it was never any problem and then as soon as I got the car back from the body shop the damp patch appeared after it rained or I washed the car. I really don't know what to try next , any ideas anyone ?. Neilj

A further update , the leak has returned Morning all. Well after my last update I thought I had finished with this topic and it was all sorted . It must have Been back in February/March that I had the roof rail off on the RHS and resealed it for a second time . I thought I would leave it a couple of months before I reported on the success just to be sure so after many down pours and the car staying completely dry I reported in June that the resealing of the roof rail mount appeared to have resolved the problem. So we had a deluge of rain all night this last Thursday and Friday morning after the bin collection I was out taking the wheelie bins back around the back and as I walked past the car I glanced in only to notice a great big damp patch on the A pillar again . I immediately got the car keys to have a closer look and hope that is was just a shadow or something but sure enough it was soaked again arrrrrgh .....gger. So what is happening is the car body flexing and breaking the seal , why should it come back after nearly eight months and many downpours without issue and what do I do next take it all off again and reseal. The roof bar end cover clips are very fragile and I wonder if they will stand up to many more removals so after trawling through this forum I stumbled on a post where someone has recommended a product I have never heard of called Captain Tolley’s Creeping Crack Cure (leak/crack sealer). So wondered if anyone could comment or tell us if they have used the product successfully. It is worth a try for £10 but just wondered if it might stain or affect the paintwork , any ones experience of using this product would be most helpful if they have the time to post thanks. NeilJ

Morning All Sorry I have only just got around to update , have had plenty to do with this nice weather. So I got a Denso Sensor from Autodoc DOX-0238 DENSO Direct Fit Lambda Sensor Right, for pre-catalytic converter, M18x1.5, Regulating Probe, Heated, Finger probe, Lambda Sensor ▷ AUTODOC price and review Cost in total £77.63 I booked into my local garage I have used for the past twenty years , they have always been very good . I removed the under trays and Matt fitted the sensor in less than a half an hour on the lift and charged me £35 which I thought was brilliant . I cleared the code with my scanner and it has been running fine again since . So all in £113. Cleaned up all the undertray and fixings and gave them a coat of gloss black and put it all back together but had four fixings over so will have to look where I have missed when it is up on the ramp again for MOT this next week. Thanks oldjoe 90 , you must be about my age remembering Joe 90, I will have a look at opie oils website . I did see an offer on GSF car parts which was cheaper than Autodoc but no stock , funny how they have marvelous offers on things you can't buy aye. Anyway all well again for now. Have a couple of things to look into on the RX now always something to fix. Neilj

An update on the water leak on the A pillar. Well after the last post I had my head in my hands wondering what to do next. Waited for a dry day and had the roof bar off again and black silicone sealed absolutely everything, around the holes , in the holes , both sides of the rubber gasket and the underside of the roof bar mounting surface leaving nothing to chance. Put it all back together and crossed my fingers and toes. Oh I cracked the rear roof bar cover taking it off so wasn't best please to say the least. I super glued and flatted the crack , got my air brush out and sprayed it up with Star silver 3 which matches perfectly luckily. So the next rainy day , phew it was as dry as a bone and has stayed that way since. So it was the roof bar mounting after all but I am not complaining about having the Screen out and back in for nothing just so pleased to have it fixed . NeilJ

Thanks Colin and Bob That is everything I need to know for now so will let you know how I have got on at a later date. I will get the sockets from our local screwfix, well worth it. So I am out in the SC tomorrow and if the code shows up again I will bite the bullet and get on with it whilst the weather is so nice . Keep you posted NeilJ

Thanks Bob Have re read your reply and the sensor bank 2 sensor one is pre cat so the connector is accessible although the sensor is a .....to get to above rack. The videos I have watched were not clear about which sensor they were changing and must have been talking about the post cat sensors. Whilst the weather is good I might have a crawl under the car to locate the sensor. The illustration is always very helpful, I should know as I used to draw them up myself for other companies. Oh and so the Denso one it is then Bob I have looked them up and they are a good price compared to the £221 Lexus quote. Thanks again Neilj

Colin and Bob Thank you both for your advice and replying so quickly. I like to do my research thoroughly before attempting a job and this is no exception. So the youtube videos are correct and the connector is under the footwell carpet which I do find a bit crazy but if that is what it is then I just have to get on with it . The car does about a 1000 miles per year now just summer use so I want to keep the costs down as garage rates are so expensive now and being semi retired I have the time. I have cleared the codes again and the last time I did this last year it didn't come back until now so I will give it some more time before proceeding. Could I further ask Colin or Bob did you buy the oem Lexus part at £221 or did you buy a generic. I have read that the Lexus oem is actually a Denso which is much much cheaper but you might have to solder and heat shrink the wires with the existing plug so if you could further advise thank you. As ever the forum is so useful and the people so knowledgeable . I must update on my RX water leak on the other forum to give some feedback to others as Colin and bob have helped with my problem. Thanks NeilJ

Afternoon All Have had my SC430 throw up a p0051 code H02S heater control circuit low bank 2 sensor one which I believe points to the common problem of an 02 sensor going bad. I cleared the code last year and it ran for months before I put the car away for winter. Have been running the car a couple of months now and this weekend the code popped up again. So wanted to ask if anyone has replaced the 02 sensor themselves. I am watching the odd youtube video and they are saying they have to take out the seats and cut the carpet, surely not. I cannot believe Lexus would come up with a design like that . I suspect you have to pull out a grommet perhaps and pull the wire and connector through the hole to unplug but take the seats out and cut the carpets that's just nuts. I hope there is someone on the forum that has done this job for themselves and could give some guidance. As usual any advice will be much appreciated. NeilJ

Might anyone have an idea Well the water ingress and damp patch on the A pillar trim got so bad over Christmas that I had no choice but to have the screen taken out and re bonded in and run the risk of having to have a new screen. They were successful in taking the existing screen out and therefore re bonded it back in. So the next morning after a rainy night I thought I would just check that everything was dry and to my horror the same damp patch was there , not as bad as it has been but damp never the less. I have since had the roof bar bolts out and packed the holes with silicone sealant and screwed the bolts back in but it is still damp. My car has no sunroof so no problem there , so please has anyone else had experience in tracking down water leaks as I am now at a total loss as to what to do next given that a windscreen leak should be eliminated from the list. Oh the patch always appears at the bottom of the A pillar trim. The screen company said that they had to dry out a lot of moisture before refitting , I have to get this solved before it gets into the electrics and wrecks the car. As I have said before Lexus just deny that any such problems exist but it seems that many owners are having some leak or other. Any ideas would be much appreciated thanks. Neilj

Afternoon all I still have the problem with the A pillar leak. It has been intermittent at times ie it hasn't always leaked when it rains but recently it is now quite consistent. So before going all out to have the windscreen replaced I want to investigate. So my question is has anyone removed the A pillar trim and if so could you please advise how or do you have a link to a video or even a set of images showing the removal and where the clips are located. I don't want to break anything in the process but any help or advice would be most appreciated thanks. I am thinking that I can remove the trim for a week and observe where the water is getting in on the A pillar trim. Thanks for reading and look forward to any replies. Neilj

N18RKS Thanks for taking the time to reply and glad to hear you have your car fixed. I did enquire with my insurance but they would not touch it without the screen had been damaged. The windscreen specialist up the road said there is a 95% chance he can get the screen out without damage but if it cracked the screen would cost £550 plus fitting plus Vat so best part of a £1000 I reckon. Well your experience tells me that is what I have to do in the coming weeks so thanks for your advice. So much for Lexus saying it just doesn't happen on Lexus cars I have read all sorts of reports on this model and others of leaks, why can't they be honest and advise like yourself even though it might bruise their reputation just a little it would still be no where near other makes woeful stories. Well I had better book into the windscreen place and hope for the best gulp. Neilj

Morning All I have a 2009 Rx450H with roof rails fitted but no sun roof. This is my problem too now. I recently had the car hit on the back bumper and had to take it into the body shop for repair and since I got it back the wet patch has appeared on the A pillar trim every time it rains or I wash the car. I don't know if it is just coincidence but does seem a bit strange especially since after getting the car back I found the drivers side windscreen wiper had been taken off and just placed on top of the arm, lucky I spotted it as the arm would have scratched the windscreen should I have operated the wipers. So I have had the roof rail off and sealed around the fixings with black silicone and it did seam to improve things a little but the problem still remains and today I have noticed the carpet is wet . I contacted our local lexus dealership and they said it just doesn't happen unless the car has been tampered with ie windscreen incorrectly replaced but have taken the car to a local windscreen specialist and he has looked and said it is the original windscreen and cannot see that the bonding has failed. So I got the hose out and doused around the screen area and no leak but when I moved backwards behind the the roof rail mounting the patch appeared. So just wanted to ask if the windscreen replacement did the trick for N18RKS as I really don't want to go down this route unless absolutely necessary. I was thinking of having the roof rail off again and the rubber trim to see if there is anything obvious but other than that I am at a loss as to what to try next. I have had the car over six years now and the roof rails have been on over three years so any thoughts and comments would be appreciated thanks. Such a shame as it has been a lovely car so far but this is concerning with so much electrical tech in these cars. Hope someone might have an idea. Thanks Neilj

Hello folks I am back to ask as usual I have recently disconnected the battery on my SC430 do a minor job and after reconnecting guess what the ...expletive **/+- CD player showed up error one and has not worked since for about 5 weeks now and enough is enough. So I am ripping it out once more but this time I want to make sure I never have to take it out again. My idea is to fit a USB/AUX digital music adapter so if the cd screws up again I can leave it be and still play the music of our choice, the radio plays such dross these days like whats happened to music errr I digress. I have looked at various units as follows:- Grom Audio priced at £130 Xcarlink priced at £79 Yatour priced at £60 approx. but Chinese and you need extra cables I think which puts the price up further. So the question does anyone have experience of fitting anyone of these units can anyone advise or recommend. I am looking for the best value these days as I am what you call semi retired and whilst the Grom looks very good it has the Bluetooth feature which is extra to my requirements and therefore the Xcarlink or Yatour would suffice but I am not sure if they work as I have seen a couple of threads where one chap said they didn't and other threads saying how good they are. So as usual any comments/ advice would be much appreciated thanks. NeilJ

Hello Kiri Please excuse me but I Haven't looked at the forum for some weeks but have just seen your post. I will try and add to NeilE's excellent reply with all his photos etc which are very informative. So to explain how I removed my front bumper. First job is remove the black wheel arch trims which are fixed by self tapping screws all the way around. Then lift the bonnet and remove the grille and all the fixings and plastic push rivets. Next get on the floor at the front and remove all fasteners and push rivets and then put something under to support the bumper when it drops away. Now, and I think this is what you have missed, go back to the wheel arch and where the bumper butts up to the wing push your finger in behind the wheel arch liner and pull the liner from behind the wheel arch lip, no need to remove any wheel arch liner fixings. Now push your finger in underneath the lip of the joint between the front bumper and the wing and you will feel a 10mm hex head screw which retains a wedge type clip that fixes the bumper to the wing. Undo the fixing and remove the clip obviously on both sides.Now hand under the bumper just below the reflector and gently lift and pull at the joint below the wing to release the bumper from the body clip. The bumper should now be free and drop onto your support however note the headlamp washers are still attached and the hoses are not too long. With the bumper off it will reveal one of the screws behind that fixes the headlamp unit. Remove these and the unit will come out for you to change the bulbs. Don't buy the cheapest bulbs as you don't want to do this again any time soon. Hope this is helpful oh I noticed neilE has uploaded an exploded view so blow this up to see all the components and you will see all the fixings I find these extremely helpfull. Good luck and hope you get there without any damage. Neilj

Thanks chaps for your congratulations and I got there in the end. Just to add the rest of the strip down was fairly straight forward although one of the plastic squeeze clips tucked up on the top right (left hand mirror) was tricky to get to release. When I got the covers off it revealed lubricant that had gone hard and sticky which must have been causing the problem as Steve had mentioned in his reply it was gunked up. So cleaned it all off with white spirit and gave it a spray with silicone lubricant as I had that to hand. I did think about vaseline but thought in time that may go sticky too. Reassembled, cleaned up and tested the fix and all is well it cycled in and out no problem just hope it lasts a while now. Another procedure learned for the future and another daunting task for me at least conquered. As ever you have all helped me to get this done so thank you. What next I wonder lets hope nothing for a while although this year it needs a cambelt but don't worry I am not attempting that one that will be one for the excellent mechanics I go to down the road. Can you imagine how long the post would be for a cambelt job oooh errr. Neilj