Coxy

On 23/09/2017 at 8:05 PM, sorcerer said:

You say "same commute, same roads" but that commute could be different every day, being affected by weather (especially wind speed and direction), minute differences in accelerator pressure and a whole host of other parameters.

As for detergents and cleaners in the 'super petrol', your theory may well be right. If they have actually cleaned the engine and its components then you should now be able to go back to 'normal' petrol and see an improvement in mpg over what you used to get on normal petrol, now that the engine is cleaner. If it holds true, maybe the same effect could be had by chucking some Redex or other engine cleaner in the tank every now and then, which may work out cheaper.

Actually if we're going down that route we'd also need to consider the fact that the months were getting colder from the start of the "project" and colder average also uses more fuel which further backs up my theory (because as it gets colder I should be seeing less MPG) and I have recently filled on normal for mpg to remain, 

7 hours ago, sorcerer said:

 

And at the risk of igniting the age-old discussion, there's really no need to spend extra money on Shell V-Power or any other brand of 'super fuel' unless your engine is tuned to make use of it (and even then it's still very debatable as to whether there's any benefit or not).

My RX has returned a better mpg after running a few months on Shell Vpower. 

I previously only ran it on 'normal', I once filled up about £45 with higher octane v power from almost empty and noticed no difference at all, so reverted to normal.

However in the past 4 months I've done nothing but run it on higher octane v-power and my average mpg has now increased by 3. Same Commute, same roads, on average. 

I actually do not attribute this to the octane difference but more so the additional detergents they claim they put in it help clean the fuel system and touch point engine components. Which I feel is supported by the fact I had to run it on v-power consistently and it was a while before I started seeing postive results but those results have remained.

I otherwise agree on your assesment of octane vs vehicle requirements. I believe the RX manual advises 91 minimum which I believe most branded fuel is in the UK. 

On 15/08/2017 at 7:50 PM, Gbneil said:

I know, I know, don't buy a v6 petrol behemoth if mpg bothers you, I'm just looking for some advice from owners who may do the same kind of miles I do. Some weeks I cover almost 1000 miles, I am self employed so utilise the pence per mile approach to tax returns, and whilst a more economical car means more money in my bank, I spend a lot of time IN my car and do love a Lexus. So, my commute is Dundee to Aberdeen return four days a week or Dundee to Edinburgh return four days a week, each of these once a month. I commute Dundee to Perth four nights a week week in week out. So, essentially ninety percent dual carriageway top gear cruise. I am a very steady driver, fifty to fifty five mph on cruise most of the time, rarely above sixty. I know, boring auld git. Anyhow, I know town mpg in an old rx would be ruinous, but with the driving style and mileage I do, would low thirties be achievable as that Is my breaking point? 

 

Would love a hybrid but still to rich for my meagre pockets. I ran an ls400 for several months and averaged 26-28mpg with 33mpg on longer runs, so quite light footed. 

Hate to put a downer on things but honestly regardless of driving style if you're hoping for an average for 30mpg from the Rx300 then to be straight you are going to be dissapointed.

Go in wide eyes open, that's all. 

Ha, water leaks, man...

I was one of the guys who had to renew my carpets, read essentially strip car back to a working chassis! I left a big thread with pics around so worth a look.

Mine was a multitude of things

-Front windscreen seal (not your issue)

-Hole under the tail light unit (bullet hole?) You can safely assume you won't have this.

-Tail light gasket(s)

-Body sealant drying around rear roof and top of boot shell area, under the last strip of the rubber roof rack guttering cover strip. The sealant shrinks, dries and exposes the seal lines of the double skinned body letting water in VERY inconspicuously. I fixed this with Granville clear sealant but it's a pain getting sealant adhere to the metalllic gloss paint of the surrounding area so has been fine since for a few months but has reared it's head again slightly, when I can be bothered I will fix with proper body sealant but will likely require picking some sealant out first (rather than sand and re-spray) At least 1 other owner had this issue on his, mines a 300 his was a 400h.

In short - ball ache.

Still love the car though... just. 

When it happens does it change in note or other ways when you put the AC on?

1 hour ago, rayaans said:

I suggest you read the original post again

 

Thanks.

All the glass franchises use aftermarket non OEM glass unless specified or in rare occasions where they use non manufacturer etched pilkington glass that is OEM quality but without the manufacturers stamp.

How else are they making a profit? 

Most of the glass is of Euro source (Nordglass, Polish), with some Chinese sourced becoming more common as the Chinese up their game.

NONE of the after markets will be OEM QUALITY, They will all claim and be factually correct that it meets OEM Spec (note the difference in wording), which will mean in terms of shatter specs, thickness, safety specs etc but it will not be up to OEM quality, especially Lexus'es quality control. 

Having said that I am using a Nordglass windscreen with perfectly acceptable results but only as I had to pay for replacement. If insurers were doing it I would be requesting OEM.

It'll be the circled bit as per pic I would imagine. Note the two rivets.

Personally I'd lift the rocker cover and remove the plate altogether and check remaining areas for the loose rivet.

Once confident loose rivet was not in the top end I'd remove the sump and check the oil pickup and sump itself.

I would imagine the guard itself protects against oil flinging out of the filler cap from components rotating at 1000+rpm (if you're running it stationary without the cap to check levels or such) and also to protect foreign objects from easily entering the via the filler.

In short - the car will function mechanically fine without the guard as long as those stray bits are fished out (so don't feel you have to be duped over a new genuine rocker cover at £0000's no doubt.

Quote

 

I would generally endorse these comments with the added comment that the seats and headrests are actually quite poor when considering the target market.

No auto folding Mirrors, and heat is slow to clear them by comparison with most European cars I have owned.

Auto wipe again present, the wipers automatically wipe however the system is not integrated with roof / windows automatically closing them when the rain starts as it is on many European cars.

Parking sensors, rear view camera is fine by day useless at night and doesn't really cover the corners. Front parking sensors I have come to the conclusion are if not essential damn useful, the front fender  has more overhang than one might think and because the car is big and there is a lot of "give" in the plastic it is easy to touch something and not know it until it is too late :-(

I have come to the conclusion that there has been a lot of cost cutting in corrosion prevention / paint finishes. I have never had or seen any European car that looses paint on alloy components like Toyota / Lexus :-(

Suspension there are IMHO some serious design flaws here and tyre wear patterns should be checked carefully particularly for inside edge wear.

IMHO you will not see much if any in fuel saving over the Volvo so my advice would be to stick with the Volvo as it is probably the better car, I say probably as I have never owned a Volvo so cannot say for sure. Anyway hang on for a few months and the govemint may be prepared to pay you scrappage on the Volvo :-)

 

 

 

XC90s have their fair share of issues too but unlike the RX most of them are mechanical and costly such as the rear diff / drive shaft couping being made of play dough, auto boxes prone to failure, vacuum engine mounts almost guaranteed to fail and general DPF issues on the Diesel  engines which incidently aren't very refined and struggle to return much more MPG than the Petrol RX300... go figure.

Having said that the XC90 ride is nice, interior comfort and trim is great, they have aged well and I personally felt XC90 seats (in leather) were some of the most comfortable I've sat in when driving, 

I agree on RX300 heated seats not being up to European rivals standards.

10 hours ago, aderz said:

The ML system is a pain as the CD player is packing up on mine and even though Ive found a supplier off a surround so you can fit an aftermarket head-unit I would have to change all the speakers as well.

Did the SE come with satnav? Even though its a bit old now I love the layout of it and the ease of looking at a big screen (not to mention Lexys saucy voice!). 

HI Adrian

Yep factory sat nav on mine, same year as yours 2004. But again is an option so some come without.

4 hours ago, flumperboy said:

I've always had a top spec car . Any one know what does the se-l have that a se don't . 

1 is air suspension . But what else e.g . Mark Levison 11 speaker sound system  . 

Just want to know is it worth me scrapping  mine or converting to cool ? 

Far as I know everything from an Sel can be had on an SE apart from air suspension. I've seen SE with ML systems. 

A lot of SEs on eBay etc are actually SELs just look at the interior shots for that little air suspension button. Whether that's a deliberate ploy by the sellers or just people getting it wrong on listing who knows.  

I have an SE with everything minus the ML system and turning headlights. 

3 hours ago, sorcerer said:

Absolutely!! I purposely and actively avoided the SEL models purely because of the air suspension and the associated costs when things go wrong with it.

Quoted for truth

I did exactly the same. Though it narrows down your options if you sit tight you will be rewarded. (Unless you get one with loads of leaks like mine :) )

Hello Richard,

I've a fair history in mechanics so this is based on my experience with engines in general and not specifically related to an rx300 but a lack of wanting to rev out along with your comments of running rich (what makes you think this?) leads me to suspect an air leak or a sensor that controls fuel/air (one or both) failing. Alternatively it could be spark related. Have you pulled the plugs?

Sensor wise we could have failings of :

MAF, (easy to find, on top of air filter pipe housing)

Lambda (oxygen) sensor, (usually located post manifold in the exhaust outlet)

Map sensor (possibly not present on RX300 due to age)

Deeper issues could be injector failing or coil failure (actually easy to fix)

From what you describe I do not believe outside temp fail would be related to your running troubles but who knows what sensors/stuff runs on the same sub looms as that (in essence nothing would surprise me with modern cars).

Hope that helps prompt some further investigation in the right places

Ask if they have the Hunter Pro alignment system in their place yet?

Kwikfit are on a roll out of these systems which are considered some of the best in the industry over the traditional tracking systems.

However it often is down to the skill of the operator more than the tools.

A "proper" alignment centre, that is, one that doesn't just generalise in a few things like exhausts and MOT's too (re kwikfit) but specifically focus on proper alignment as their main speciality and via ideally using a hunter pro system is where I'd be going personally (and I plan to soon as mine is tugging to the left a bit)

Try this - they only list approved hunter Alignment centres.

https://www.alignmycar.co.uk

Cheers

Hi

any way to tell if a used wing mirror is of the auto dimming variety?

mine got cracked yesterday from another driver who drove off. Lexus want 320 for just the glass needed. Bait steep for me at the moment. 

Whole unit nit is cheaper on eBay but gamble on whether it'll have the auto dimming glass or not with it, any way to tell?

Had windscreen replaced today at national windscreens, they showed me the old one and confirmed definitely the source of the leak, LH and LH bottom corner had not attached itself at all with the bonding material.

I was pretty confident it was this but always good to have your thoughts confirmed once and for all.

Also said the previous fitter didn't install the rain sensor stuff properly and asked if I had problems with auto wipers not working as they should - of which I had, so they sorted tghat too - Top service. 

Now just one rear tail light gasket remaining that I'm awaiting part for and she's all done!

Two no no's generally when I'm buying is cars from further up north, particularly Scotland (no offence guys!) and cars from the cost. No matter what they are.

Learn't from bitter experience previously. Car from Scotland was very new but absolutely covered in rust underneath. 

My theory is it's colder, higher and snows/ices more along with being generally wetter so that combined with more salt used on the roads due to lower avg winter temps.

The coast for the same reason but from sea air as someone mentioned.

Sorry - recognise that doesn't help anyone!

Finally believe I've cracked this.

Noticed it coming in to the passenger side too when sat in car at lunch during heavy rain today.

Long story short it was coming down from behind the dash. 

Stuck some folded paper towels into the internal crease between where the windscreen meets the dashboard. Came came out with a wet edge on the paper towel. Tried it again and again, same, pulled the LH B pillar trim off, carefully examined the internal bond between screen and pillar, used paper towel method again here, came back wet edged.

Finally found a small leak in the seal between windscreen and bpillar, the bond was leaking.

It was trackign down to the front windscreen edge and tracking down to the footwells from there, dependend on where i parked (work = flat, home = RH decline) dictated which footwell the water tracked to.

Getting new screen put in on Monday. I'm 99% sure this is the cause of this mysterious leak. 

What;s made it unbelievable difficult to trace is there's a lipped plastic trim peice that sits under and surrounding the glove compartment, due to it being lipped (imagine a tea tray) it's had to fill up slightly from the leak before it overspills into the footwell. hence when I hose tested it I could see no obvious signs there and then. OMG huh.

7 minutes ago, GrahamG said:

I know it is not the most likely culprit but if you temporarily taped/sealed the sun roof you could eliminate that source.

Not a bad idea. 

Might give that a go Graham

Yep done that, not come up with any luck yet on other possible sources beyond the initial leads.

Took it to a windscreen shop yesterday who were very honest and helpfully reluctant to change the windscreen as they said whilst it is a aftermarket one it is well seated and not often the cause of the leaks.

Last night I took the roof rails back off and siliconed the holes right up just in case - still leaked from the rain last night.

Front footwell leak is back - still at a loss on this one.

9 minutes ago, aderz said:

I have now converted from air to springs, got my new MOT today. I went with all new suspension as the cheapest quote I got was £750 from a breakers for a second hand set or I could buy a brand new set in individual parts from around £1200 less the money back for selling the air shocks. It feels pretty similar maybe a bit more vibration over bumps but all I have really done is swap out the SEL struts for the SE ones.

It is all physically the same size so it all fits first time with no cutting just a straight swap and other than undoing 12 year old rusted on nuts was no bother just a pain in the back as it was all done at ground level so you can only really do one corner a day, its not that bad a job just a lot of time. You will need a good quality socket set and a good breaker bar. Also a wobble socket is handy as some of the nuts are slightly hidden by panels (front top mount bolts), maybe using a smaller socket set would get you round this. An impact gun speeds up getting nuts off and on but the initial loosening an final tightening must be done by hand so its of limited use. Make sure your Jack and axle stands are all rated at over 2 tons.

Things I wish I had known before hand... Shocks/springs/front mounts/front bearing/bump stops and front rubber boot are all KYB. Rear KYB mount does not include a boot and the spring rests on the metal mount so buy the non KYB mounts that are an all in one mount/boot. Front spring cups are from Lexus only and you will also need a spacer between the rear shock mount and the nut that holds it all down (Lexus again or root around your junk nuts and bolt  box to find one that fits). My local motor factor could get most of the KYB stuff but the bump stops and rear mounts were off Ebay. The bump stops and front boot kits were from a French/German company and took a couple of days to get here. The front springs are REALLY strong and I ended up using 4 spring compressors as my old pair was visibly bending and my bottle went so I bought another pair just to make sure, rear ones are fine and a lot softer.

Droplinks... oh dear god... They were working fine but the hole to fit the key to hold them whilst you unscrew the nut was rusted to mush and the threads had rusted off the bolt so after and hour of trying to get one off I broke out the redneck toolbox and just angle grinded them all off and spent £80 on all new ones.

I also found minor surface rust around the turret area front and back on the inside so whilst the shocks were off I re-painted these areas. 

Insurance has not been an issue and has cost me an extra £40 a year due to "suspension modifications".

Is it worth it? In my case maybe as the car is 12 years old and over 100k miles, all the air compressors on Ebay were either pretty grubby or mad priced so my thought was to just get rid of the current and any future problems and change it all out. The body, engine and transmission are all in good working order so there is no reason  to get rid of the car I really like. Obviously if your car is still worth good money then just fix the air suspension but spending £2500 on a car worth around £3000 hardly seems worth it especially as I could then blow a shock in six months and get another £1000 bill. Its been a really interesting project and I'm happy with the results though obviously I understand this is not the solution for most people. Out of interest the one thing that made my choice for me was when I was in the Lexus showroom and noticed that a brand new RX400h has springs and dampers so it can't be that bad!

Job well done mate, I believed it was possible and posted in a few other threads including SLACKBLADDERS with my thoughts on this so I'm pleased to have my initial research and thoughts confirmed on this being very possible and fairly straight forward. It's the way I'd go if I had an SEL, hell i'd prob even do it if they were fine just for peace of mind.

So all four corners for little more than the price of one new air shock from Lexus! Good result for you.

Where abouts in Somerset are you Aderz. I work near Taunton so imagine we're not far!

Any interior pics? Love the interior of these.

Thanks for all your great comments. If nothing else hopefully this thread will serve as an aid to someone in the future.

I don't want to jinx it so touch wood but so far so good, had some pretty heavy rain earlier and was raining last night and seems okay.

There is some very slight residue damp in the front footwell but I am helplessly believing this is just final bits from the second leak I found still tricking down slightly as it's not a patch on how it was before I fixed it. I've left some blue roll under the carpet in that area as that stuff darkens very easy and noticeably when wet so will check that in the morning 

Mine car is on the originals but they are slowly dieing.

It's worth noting that the powered tailgate works fine at my house which is not far from sea level, however when I drive to work which is up in the hills quite substantially higher than sea level the powered tailgate then doesn't open fully - must be due to the altitude having an affect on the gas pressure inside the strut.

I will likely just buy 2x originals from breakers