DJ Les

I've been researching tyres as mine are about done. The tyres on my RX400h when I bought it are cheap Chinese budget tyres (Routeway Eco Blue RY22). I was surprised that the previous owner had put those on when, in the car's service history, it seemed that no expense was spared in servicing and repairs. I'm considering the Michelin Cross Climates. My local independent tyre centre fits them for £136.74 x 4 = £546.96, but, I have found that KwikFit will fit them for £138.00 x 4 = £552 less 10% = 496.80. Plus a FREE Winter Safety Kit. Seems a no-brainer to me.

Google search.

Yes, I do. Dunno if it is the same noise or not. I've had the car since February and it didn't do it until the last few weeks. I'm wondering if it's related to the aircon as it sometimes stops if I switch off the aircon, but, other times it does not stop until switching off the ignition. It's not the vacuum assistance as I have always heard that at about a minute or two after switching off. Very strange, there's no movement on the dash displays or clocks.

For many years I fancied a private reg to go along with my DJ name & website 'DJ51 LES'. But, it was £799 and available for well over 10 years which I didn't want to pay, then it dropped to £499 about 2 years ago. I ran vans for the last few years and thought it was not a good idea from a security point of view, probably encourage break-ins assuming there would be DJ equipment inside. Then, in February when I was looking for my Lexus, I found five RX400H SE-L's for sale around the country when I came across my current RX400H. It has had four private reg numbers in it's life, I couldn't believe that this is the original reg and I didn't have to pay for it. As soon as I saw it I thought "this is MY car......... Raveon"

Maybe worth reading this recent thread;

Here's a 'not so trippy' one I did earlier of the Toyota Celica GT4 Owners Club (I used to have a GT4 and was a member of the club before the Z3). Pity about the birdcrap on the windscreen ☹️;

When I had a BMW Z3 I attended one of these at Harewood House, Leeds back in 2011. Same organisation I believe. I put together this little mad video of it;

Earlier this week I ran to 50 miles with the 'fuel low' warning light on. On filling up I managed to get 59 litres in (after adding more 4 times after the fuel pump clicked off). I have reached 55 miles before, but, I think 50 is around the most I want to go to.

I have the RX400H and can open the sunroof and all windows by holding the UNLOCK button on the key remote until they start moving. Similarly, I can close them from the key remote by holding the LOCK button until they start moving. It says in the manual that the Dealer can enable and disable this. Dunno if your model can do that, worth giving it a try.

This article is very interesting as a new owner of an RX400H. When I bought the car I checked the tyre pressures, which, according to the Lexus door placard should be 34psi. So, that is the pressures I have been running. However, looking at the car parked outside my house I've been a little concerned that the tyres look under inflated. The MOT that was done the day I bought it mentioned wear on the shoulders which also pointed to being under inflated. I've took photographs of the complete tyre walls and have discovered that the max pressure is 51psi, quite a bit more than the Lexus door placard. So, I'm going to try putting them up to 45psi and see how they feel while driving.

New battery, identical to the 12 year old one it replaced. The red cover on the positive terminal was not in place, so, that tells me that someone has had problems before. Also, the nuts on the terminals have spanner marks on them and can only assume the battery has been taken off to charge it in the past.

Job done 😀 The Lexus dealer tested the old battery after they took it off and said it showed 9.8v just barely enough to wake the car up. 😳

Latest info, ran around the country lanes last night in the vain hope of getting some charge into the battery. Checked it this morning before starting it, 10.45 volts, still started fine. I have the full service history from new, so, checked through it all and there is no record of a battery being fitted. As I thought it is the original battery from 2007. Visited Lexus, Newcastle today and have arranged to have a new battery fitted tomorrow. Price? They said £84 + free fitting, can't get any better service than that. 😀

Ooh, just had a thought. What about the central locking?

Thanks Herbs. Radio presets are not a problem. Is there a specific procedure to reinitialise the windows and sunroof. Is this in the manual?

I've had the battery on trickle charge any a friends house this afternoon for a few hours while still fitted to the car, seemed to increase the voltage a little to 11.7. I can't do that at my own house as I don't have a drive or useable garage. Is there any issues regarding disconnecting and removing the battery from the car to charge it overnight in my house. I'm thinking is there anything that gets reset apart from the clock? How would it affect the hybrid system, if at all?

Battery was showing 10.4 volts. With READY light on it was showing 13.5 volts. Currently on charge. It’s a Toyota battery and looks like a made in Spain sticker, can’t find a date, but, I’m guessing it’s the original battery. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ha ha ha, I kinda said that with tongue firmly in cheek. I already guessed they would be a heavy drain on the battery. Will have to put thicker boxers on in these cold mornings. 🤣

Thanks Herbs & Les, sounds like we're all thinking the same, 12v battery. Since posting, I've just had a quick blast up the country lanes and back with all accessories off, hopefully, putting a decent charge into the battery. Are the heated seats a big drain on the battery? Been using them a lot the last few days (still a novelty to me lol). Will get a multimeter on the battery tomorrow as well as checking connections, etc. Cheers Les

It first happened last night. Turned the ignition key and everything lit up on the dash as normal, then, turning it further to get the READY indication nothing happened. Tried a second time, again, nothing happened. I then switched everything off for a few seconds and tried again and it showed the READY indicator. Everything seemed to work fine after that. The car has been fine all day today, then, tonight it happened again. I noticed the dash lights on the centre of the dash flashed on and off a couple of times. I thought it maybe the accessory battery, so, switched off the climate control, the heated seat and auto headlights. Tried twice more and then it showed the READY indicator. I drove a few hundred yards to the next supermarket. On returning to the car I had the same situation and I got the READY indicator the second time of trying. I'm now very nervous about it and not sure what to do if it fails. Anybody had experience of this and maybe point me in the right direction for a solution? Could it be the 12v battery under the bonnet not fully charged? The graphics were showing the traction battery operating as normal. Anyone got a clue?

I live on a main road that is half a mile long from a set of traffic lights to a roundabout at the other end and has been limited to 30mph for years. This used to be 'a red rag to a bull' for the boy racers. They used to race along from the lights to the roundabout regularly. From my house to 100 yards further along the street there were 10 cars written off in a 5 year period! One of the worst accidents was when 2 young girls lost control and crashed into the corner of a stone built house, the engine and gearbox flew out of the car and landed 20-30 yards further along the road, the starter motor flew through a neighbours living room window when the woman of the house was sitting watching television, luckily it missed her. This was in a 30mph speed limit!!! Turned out they were well over the drink drive limit and it wasn't the drivers first time. After years of campaigning we finally got sets of cushions installed along the road, it's a bus route so they couldn't put full width humps. I had a great laugh when the first group of neanderthal boy racers tried negotiating the cushions with their lowered little hatchbacks. They tried straddling the cushions like normal cars at about 5mph and scraped the underneath of their cars. They didn't have the brains to run the wheels over the cushions. They don't use this road anymore lol. We still get speeding drivers flying along straddling the centre cushions, but, not very often. Since buying my Lexus in February I've got used to using the cruise control set to the speed limits. I sometimes get tailgaters trying to intimidate me, but, just ignore them. On a couple of occasions they've overtaken me, even in 30mph limits.

When I bought the car last month I assumed (wrongly) that the rear parking sensors were factory fitted and the front parking sensors were an add-on. I also have the reversing camera and thought the rear parking sensors were just an added safety feature. After re-reading the manual (written in 17 languages) it seems to be a complete kit, LPA 800. I remember being surprised when I bought the car that there was such a thick manual dedicated to the parking sensors. The English part is 11 pages, the full manual is 155 pages. It mentions, Quote 'Please contact your installer(*) for more details about the detection zone of your vehicle. (*) "Installer" means Lexus authorised dealer or repair agent or other appropriately qualified and equipped expert'. I would assume the same kit would be available for all the different models in the Lexus range. Glad I have the kit fitted, I've got into some very tight parking spaces with the aid of the sensors (it's a big car). My partner almost has a heart attack when the sensors go off when parking in said tight spaces lol.

Although I read it in the manual a couple of weeks ago I had not recognised this button as what the manual meant. Mine does not have a green light as mentioned in the manual, mine is a white light the same as all the other dash lights. Also its low position, almost out of sight. No problem, sorted now.

Yes, I have that manual along with the RX400H Owners Manual, Navigation System Owners Manual and a Lexus CD. Also a Lexus Pre-Owned Vehicle File from Lexus Swindon Centre. There's also an In-Car Entertainment Manual specific to the rear DVD player and screens on the rear of the headrests (Still haven't tried a DVD in it).

Hang on, two minutes.......... ........... yep, enable/disable the front parking sensors. That solves that problem, I noticed the front parking sensors on the Autotrader picture before I bought it. Didn't realise that it was a dealer fitted option.