Dr. Amdahl

I've been using one of these....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Transmitter-SMBOX-Bluetooth-Handsfree-Wireless-Black/dp/B0792T86C4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Absolutely brilliant bargain, put a 32Gb memory card in the side with most of the music I want and can stream my favourite Barbados radio station, spotify, youtube, etc all for about a tenner! Sound quality through an unused radio frequency in my Mark Levinson is great too!

That looks like it would have done the job, thing is though would all the other functions that disappear when you remove that antiquated CD/cassette work with the replacement unit? Reversing camera, heating controls, satnav, etc are all connected to the back of it, I'd be surprised if the new unit supported all of them?

So, got into the car the other day and the CD player (Mark Levinson) had 'CD' on display. Was working fine the night before. Pushed 'play' - nothing, pushed 'eject'- nothing, pushed 'Radio' - nothing. Tried all the usual tips - even disconnected Battery and reconnected - nothing. Took the whole lump out and removed the lid of the CD player to reveal a mechanism reminiscent of a Grandfather Clock! Sent off the lump to Cartronics for repair (bear in mind this means - no rear view camera, SatNav or demister, heater, etc, etc). They replaced the CD changer (ordered from Japan - two weeks' lead time) - the cost?

£780.....

OUCH!

Apparently from Lexus it would have been north of £2K.....

Good series, however if my RX ended upside down I would like to hope that all those myriad airbags would have deployed....!

Those codes indicate a loss of data from the accelerometers and steering angle sensor to the ABS brain. when you say there is a wobble during braking from the front left wheel, it could be you have a failing bearing or damaged brake disk or something loose which are causing enough vibration to confuse the ABS controller's software, this stuff is very low level and will include routines that default to fail and switch on the error codes if the data doesn't make sense, sensor vibration can generate too much data also known as a 'bus storm' this can also be caused by a bad ground connection. I would take a good look at the wheel in question and see if there is any play or if anything looks damaged, loose or worn.

Using the cruise control on my 350 coming back from Warrington to Stansted area (all motorway) heavy traffic so set at about 65 managed 34.8 (210 miles)

I was only joking Colin, I guess I got lucky this time round. Still can't believe I saved £125 on one little part, makes you wonder how much of a markup other bits have. I guess we are subsidising the shiny big showrooms and the free coffee.

Do you think I should hotfoot it up the road to Stansted and give FedEx their tenner? To be honest I think they owe me that for the rooftiles their so**ing great Jumbos have loosened thundering in to land at 3am 6inches above my house.

New coil has arrived from Rock, total cost £40.72 including postage. Denso part number is 673-1309, even came with a free RockAuto fridge magnet and I didn't get charged any duty. Have been driving for over a week with no more error lights after using contact cleaner so it will go into my spares stash along with my wireless OBD dongle. Thanks Chris and Colin for your help as always.

OK so I ordered some di-electric grease and a new Denso coil from Rock Auto. In the meantime my curiosity got the better of me and I had a half hour spare so I decided to take a look at the coil. This has to be about the easiest part I've ever taken out of an engine! I removed it (takes about a minute) and gave the ECU connector and plug and the HT connector a good old spray with contact cleaner, the outside of it was coated in a brown dust (I assume these things must generate a healthy magnetic field when they're firing so they attract any fine oxidised metal dust) so I gave the whole thing a good wipe down. Put it all back together on Friday, no codes since despite a fair amount of driving. New coil will arrive from the States next week so it will go in the glovebox until I get a repeat.

Not teaching me to suck eggs Chris! Appreciate the suggestions, have ordered some dielectric grease and will try that first - very good idea. Will keep you posted, many thanks.

Hi all, just started getting the engine check and VSC light. It's happened twice in a week so far (it resets itself after three or four restarts). I checked for codes which are logging as p0356 a faulty 'coil on plug' for what looks like the front right hand cylinder (Cylinder 6).

I have done a bit of research and have discovered that there are a whole range of prices for these things, the Lexus official one is quoted at £165 which seems a lot compared to the alternatives. I am also thinking it would be wise to replace all the plugs at the same time as the car's now done 55K Miles.

So, can anyone advise the best source for the coil and plugs? There seems to be a number of Toyota part numbers which are also confusing, don't mind paying for quality and longevity but from experience the (good) non originals are often just as reliable?

Mine shudders very slightly when the air con cuts in, are you sure it's not just that?

Especially when they know that the £900 per month is barely paying the depreciation cost

Hey Gents, please choose some nice combos and look after them. Us lesser mortals are looking forward to relieving you of them in five years' time for a third of the price. Joking aside, you lucky lot - wish I could justify buying a brand new Lex, I have a drool each time mine goes in for a service.

They did a sterling job, even though they thought it would be a funny joke to put their masterpiece into a box marked TOY OTA. I obviously new it was not a toy, although not at all sure what an 'ota' is (must mean something amusing in Levinsonian) when I plugged it in all was well.

I blame Will.I.am for all of this......

That's very kind of you to look, but I'd rather pay the extra for a new one. I know what the couriers are like and USA is a long trip for something that's seemingly a little fragile. I have already instructed and paid the Levinsonian Elves their fee and they are beavering away in the hills above Levinsonia expertly fashioning my new speaker out of lark's vomit and truffle oil. I understand they are distantly related to the endangered Bavarian Pixies that occasionally find the time to make little plastic bits for my classic 911 and bring them to Stittgart every 4 months (at a price).

I will be keeping my eye on eBay to see if any cheap ML speakers come up, that way I won't be scared to turn it up above 45...

Part number if anyone else needs it is 861600E030

During a particularly Sunny drive over the weekend I had the ML system wound right up to full when all of a sudden the sound from my centre front speaker became very distorted and crackly. After figuring out how to remove the speaker (luckily you just need to carefully prize off the grille and remove a couple of 10mm bolts) and testing it by connecting it to my home stereo I was relieved to discover it was blown and that the amplifier is ok.

Imagine my delight after calling Lex this morning to be told that the TINY little thing is £125! One hundred and twenty five quid for a midget of a little speaker (or is that £5 for the speaker and £120 for the Mark Levinson sticker attached to it?)

Needless to say I won't be having the volume on full again any time soon...... Not happy

The Techstream software Toyota/Lexus use doesn't need to be unlocked to test the AFS (headlight system).

One simple test you can do yourself is park nose 6-10ft away from a wall (preferably as it gets dark!)

Turn off car completely & remove keys.

Turn stalk so headlights are on (not just sidelights or Full beam).

Whilst you Insert keys and turn to the position just before starter motor kicks in and the dashboard lights up - watch headlight pattern on wall. Both beams will do a little dance, outwards, inwards, up and then level...

If this works it shows that the light computer and both headlamps themselves are working (the most expensive bits!).

The likely cause would then points towards the height level sensor on the rear wheel struts (one each side) or the steering angle sensor (really unlikely as you're VSC light would also be on!)

Hope this helps!

What's a starter motor ? ... lol ... ;-)

It's the little one bolted to your proper engine as opposed to the dodgem car motors hanging heavily on the rear wheels powered by that hugely environmentally damaging Battery pack weighing down your car and connected by the ridiculously expensive chunk of electronics weighing down the front.

only joking.. ;-)

Basically there are 240 NiMh (Nickel Metal Hydride) 1.2Volt batteries in the 400h. These are connected in series to produce about 288Volts. The inverter and its associated control computers feed the power to the batteries from the two MGs (Motor Generators) one in the braking system and the other in the wheels and supply power to the drive motors to move you along, converting the voltages appropriately. Obviously due to the high current involved this generates a lot of heat which is why it has a liquid coolant.

It seems very suspicious to me that the unit was performing perfectly until a few miles after the coolant was replaced, as has already been suggested any type of anomaly such as an air lock would be my initial prognosis. I worked as a mainframe computer engineer for many years on liquid coolant chilled processors so I feel qualified to chime in.

Good luck with this, I would definitely be asking for an explanation with respect to the failure mode if it is the inverter.

Mystery solved.... It comes on at night to light up the pedals/footwell never noticed it before! I love this car

Hi all, I just bought a little wireless dongle that plugs into the diagnostic port under the dash so I can read faults, etc. it works brilliantly shows rpm, engine sensors, etc. I noticed that there is a little orange light a few inches to the left of the port (under the steering wheel) does anyone know what it's for? Just curious... Many Thanks

Hi Chris, I had exactly the same issue with my '56 reg RX350. After a bit of research I bought myself a little can of graphite lubricant, it comes in a tiny container with a nozzle you push into the key hole and spray into the lock. It took a few days and a second spray (don't use too much). All working perfectly again now! Be patient it took a while to work its magic.

eBay item 190772296791 15ml

1 x LOCK LUBE LUBRICANT AEROSOL SPRAY PADLOCK GRAPHITE OIL CAR KEY DOOR DRY

£2.69 (no affiliation)