rbss

Steve, yes, I did solve the problem.... Sold the car! I've been fighting with this for over 6 months. Initially the back of the car was wet, toyota cleared the rear sunroof drains. helped for a while, but then water reappeared again. I did took out the boot cover struts and installed rubber seals, and sealed everything with silicone (black one, for cars, good for extreme temperatures. Result - dry car again. Then I started to have problems with water in the front - initially in the footwell, but then one day it was coming down the a-pillar - from the top, to the bottom, water coming out from the tweeter speakers... Not even leaking - just running water! Never found where that leak is and how to fix it. Toyota doesn't have a clue. Tried other 2 garages... nothing. SPent two days under the car .. couldn't find it myself. Just before xmas, opened up the boot, C-pillars are soaking wet again, all upholstery wet took out the boot covers, completely flooded. And the rear light stopped working. I was close from taking a hammer and destroy that b...y thing, but managed to resist and.... traded it for a different (smaller) suv... So... wasn't a happy chappy overall. Can't believe that 10year old car wasn't even watertight. Problems from 1940's should be completely the thing of the past these days, especially in a premium car brand...

Thanks Graham. Checked the YT, forums and worrying thing is that I haven't found any post saying exactly how to fix it. Most people says "yeah, finally got it fixed" and then week later they're back to square one...

Took off the plastic door trim, lifted front wheel arch, removed inside trim on the drivers side and the pipe is nowhere to be seen. Don't want to remove a pillar as they are airbags there... Really tempted to plug the thing with outdoor silicone once and for good, but I wonder if the water might be still coming from other places and because the drain on the bottom of the car (wherever it is) is blocked it won't fix the problem... Can't really afford £300 for Toyota work....

Removed the trim on the bottom side around the carpet, I can see lots of water but no drain hose anywhere... After tonight the water now coming out on the top of a pillar, spilling into the car.... Where is that b...y drain pipe????

So it's trim removal job?

This is what I was looking for when I took off that plastic cover underside the car - but could see nothing like it anywhere...

Steve, can you resend that diagram please? For some reason no longer see your post....?

Deffo drains are on both sides. Thanks for the tip, I'll try to see where it drainst on passenger side. I've seen the water coming from underneath the car, I'd never figure out to check the door sill! If anyone has a picture or knows the exact location of this slit it would be ideal. It is pitch black nowadays when I'm back from work... Why this couldn't block in the summer. ??

I went to toyota few months ago to unblock the drains as the back of the car was getting wet. They unblocked the rear drains, and everything was fine (I thought). A month or so later the front drain on the driver side got blocked. Went back to Toyota, but I was told after whole day they kept my car (only worked on it 30 minutes though) that they don't really know whats the route for the front drain - they tried compressed air, some flex cable, but that didn't work. I was then told that because they don't know how to fix it, they wont charge me for the diagnostics, but if I want to get this repaired, it would cost me quite a bit, as it would take them approx 4 hours. Not sure how they estimated that as they said they don't know where the drain goes, but I just can't afford that. I took out the plastic coverings under the door, hoping the drain hole will be there somewhere, but I can't see anything ... Does anyone have an idea (or picture/diagram if possible) where the front drain on drivers side goes? The only other option I thought about is that if I can't locate the blockage and remove it, I will need to block that drain hole with silicone of something similar to stop water getting into the footwell (and would need to remember not to park at an angle pointing the drivers corner as this could overflow into the cabin)...

Finally managed to get my hands on Yatour device, with extra Y splitter cable I managed to install it within 10 minutes. Once I've formatted the SD card to FAT32 and put the folders in orders as specified by the manufacturer, this is working beautifully indeed! Job is still not finished though ;) During the process of taking the radio out, I have managed to drop 2 screws into the gearbox centre column :D I can see one of the screws, so little telescopic magned should do the trick recovering it, but the other screw is nowhere to be seen. I have taken the lower panels on the very back which give some access to the centre column, but still can't find that other screw... Does anyone know how to take out the plastic panels covering that gearbox space?

Disconnecting the battery fixed the problem!

Spark plugs finally changed. Hats off for people who did that change without taking out the whole manifold. I was trying to help with the disassembling and assembling the parts back - but 99% of the time I was only holding the LED lamp :) Despite all the care taken with disassembling and assembling parts back, something's not right .... The car started fine after we changed the plugs (I wouldn't yet say whether the "cold start" is fixed or not) - but once it started, it was idling very high (about 2-2.1k rpm). Addidng the accelerator pedal would react as usual, but after it was released the rpms were coming back to 2k. Eventually, when the engine warmed up they dropped to the 1.4k rpm level - which is much higher than before, something between 600-700 rpm. During the whole process of changing the plugs we had to dismantle the air intake and take off the manifold out - so we cleaned the throttle body, and all the parts all along, and replaced the air filter, which was very dirty. After a bit of reading I think we either could create a small vacuum leak somewhere, or mess up with the IACV... I'm in the office now, so can't look under the bonnet, but can't even remember where this IACV was mounted - is it normally on the throttle body ? OBD scanner was connected and did not see anything strange - fuel mix normal, air normal (so most likely no vacuum leaks?) etc. But the idle is just sitting on the very high level. Is there any chance the ECU would need to adjust to the new filter and cleaned throttle body? We didn't disconnect the battery so the ECU still have the old settings...

As far I know it has the 5 speed autobox - based on the fact that when you switch it to "sport" mode, it shows the numbers on the dash, 5 is the highest gear ;) As for the MPG, the highest mpg from the manufacturers info is 30. (it's real, I managed to get it on a long run from London). The LPG consumption can be anything between 5-20% lower than on petrol, so you're talking 24mpg as a worst case. I can apparently get that, I am merely trying to improve it by a bit, to something like 25-26 mpg on a longer runs ;) Maybe I can actually get it, I just didn't have a chance to try the car on LPG, on a long run and ... in good weather conditions...

Thanks for explanation carld. As I've said I'm waiting for the weather to improve to see what the car is capable of. ;) I'd be very happy if I could get to 25-26mpg !

Carld-first of all - great result on LPG! Are you calculating real mpg or adding the miles on petrol as well (not that it would make much difference)? I recently got 19mpg for very short trips to work over 2 weeks time, so was well chuffed. Then drove to Glasgow yesterday, and only managed to get 236 miles from full tank, so calculated mpg juuuust under 20 :(((. But saying that, I was doing steady 75mph and the wind was very bad, lots of gusts and rain, even the trip co outer was struggling to show 24mpg. On the way back, after we put LPG in ( 54.5l went in?) The weather improved a lot and we were getting 29mpg shown on trip computer... Can't wait for some nice and calm day to see how much I can really squeeze from it ;) 3 spark plugs changed. The back three need to be done at LPG installer as one from the pipes blocks access to the screws holding the manifold. Will do it over next week. May be me but think the car starts a tad better? Will wait with judgement once the back three plugs are done as well.

carld, any news on the mpg on the longer run? ;)

Lucky you ;) The bigger the tank the better ;)

How big is your lpg tank?

That's why I went for the prins vsi with valvecare and keihin injectors...

Why Italian system? I don't know much about them, was always told that the prins and brc are among the best but come at quite high price... but happy to hear all views!

One thing that I find missing from the Prins report is the clear evidence of how many cars they have had reports on. Was it one RX300 that has been converted to LPG with their system? Was it 10? If you then take the number of LPG installers, these numbers could be much bigger. But then again ... never found a Lexus report showing how many VSR problems they had on engines without LPG conversion. I am hoping (let's be clear on that :D), that spending top money on top LPG system will save me money on engine repairs... In countries where Petrol cost arm and leg (e.g. my father could buy just under 300 litres of petrol for his monthly salary, whereas in the UK average would be probably ... well over 1000 litres?) the LPG is far more popular and ... even then the clear evidence that "LPG ruins engines" is very limited. And every garage would change the spark plugs :P

So you have had a problem with VSR? If so, details please ! :D

yes. I take all installers were making comments based on "experience" ? ;) As far I am aware, there is Prins report that shows the info about Lexus cars with V6, and ... some anegdotical evidence of VSR on the net. One of the guys who was claiming his engine was damaged said that he had the lubrication system installed, but after 40 or 50k miles on the LPG. I hope not to be proved wrong, but so far I have seen only 2-3 reports on the net detailing the VSR on Lexus engines with LPG. None of them is clear and factual. I have also found some reports of the VSR on Lexus engines (and not only Lexus engines) ... without LPG, so it's not only the LPG issue, but LPG conversion can make things worse (from what I understand). On the flipside, I've seen tens if not hundreds reports of cars running without any problems. When I talked to few people in Poland and Germany about the issue, I was told that 1) lubrication system is required 2) Valve clearance check should be performed every 30k miles or so. (now, knowing that even spark plugs are difficult on this engine, I am somewhat scared to think what clearance check involves! :D). After all this... I managed to go through the first 1k miles, with no problems ;) I hope another 49k, and I will be singing the same song! ;)

Small update. The oil/filters have been changed, and wheels aligned (from I was told they weren't far off though). Not sure if it's me, or what, but the car does seem to be running a bit quieter now. Unfortunately, the plugs have not been changed. Guys noticed the LPG pipes and panicked. Need to find another garage.... or learn how to do it myself! (judging from the YT, it's hell of a job though! :D).

A light in the tunnel... Thank you Joseph !!!