Barry14UK

Hi Herbie, I called in at the electrical place where the sounders were fitted yesterday and was told the ones they had fitted to my car they had found in a draw. They said they come with tow bar kits (it being a legal requirement that either a warning indicator by a light or by sound is installed for towing.) They showed me a sample but when I popped the small panel that caps the end of the dash on the drivers side, I found they had fitted a slightly different type. The two sounders don't incorporate any fixings (as some do) but have been coupled together by a tie looped round the Lexus fabrication. They are black without any markings each with 2 black wires coming out of a common cable or sleeve for the 4 wires. I made the diameter 11.5mm and the length 9.5mm of each sounder. I will try to upload pic and video with sound in due course but nearest I can find to mine https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Miniature-Electronic-Buzzer-Sounder-5v-or-12v-Subminiature/113895625290?hash=item1a84b5524a:m:mvAUe7q7vXMNrwO6cCNQUNQare these. They are of course 12v and there are a number of variations on ebay.

Takes away the 'floating roof ' effect which not every body likes but only you can decide if you like this better. Why not do a poll on it if you want the views of others to help you come to a decision. My opinion for the little that it is worth, is that the car as shown in the pictures looks rather 'funerial' at the rear end, and is not to my taste but undeniably it does stand out!

Seems Toyotec favourably reported on here https://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/search/?q=Toyotec Found using the Search facility

Fitting a suitable alarm would be challenging because of the effects of heat and spray but perhaps not insurmountable - will further investigate. Meanwhile, it has been suggested to me that having a stainless steel bar welded along each side of the exhaust pipe where is could be cut, terminating in a cage round the cat bolted to the underside of the car would discourage thieves due to the additional time they would have to spend and be at risk of discovery. Unfortunately, this crime not only costs a lot in money and inconvenience but because a number of those affected will claim on their insurance companies, will result in increased premiums for everybody.

Black would be complementary to other features of your car. Have you photoshopped it to get more of an idea? Is it easy to remove wrap in due course before selling as may put off potential new owners? If wrap was removed in due course, would ageing of unwrapped areas result in a mismatch with the covered area? These are some of the questions I would want to satisfy myself on. Another thing is that a light colour reflects the sun more than dark which to maintain the same level of comfort in hot weather might make bigger demands on the air con system. But your car, your decision

Agree with what others have said. However, on one occasion I had a similar problem and when I disconnected the battery I found a build up of corrosion on the battery terminals. With this cleaned off along with the posts, after reconnecting all was good again - no need for a new battery at that stage - always worth checking. True about batteries just dying these days rather than fading. Can apply to motor cycle batteries too as I have experienced. Batteries are not always cheap but are normally accessible and it could have been worse!

Herbie, if Lexus won't play ball, bearing in mind the broken parts don't seem to be on view, depending on how bad they are it might be worth checking whether it's feasible to rebuild them. When I have had broken plastic parts in the past, where space permits I have repaired them in the following way. Apply a fine coat of superglue to hold them together. Then where access is possible use a good size soldering ion to spread the plastic. This does need to be done carefully because it's easy to just make a mess and collapse the parts. (I have done so many repairs like this over the years that I am quite skilled at it and I would not recommend it to somebody who is not familiar with the process. I then smooth down the repair. I also wear a mask because of the fumes produced, In some cases I omit this and support the superglue repair by a sleeve or build up with Milliput which can be drilled and tapped as required, as indeed can JB Weld for those more familiar with that product. However, there is a fairly new product on the market activated by a light. I haven't used it yet myself but will be giving it a try. A thin layer of a sort of gel plastic is applied to join broken parts and becomes set in seconds only after the light it shone on it and once this has been done further applications of gel and light can be used to build up a sleeve or support. Here are a couple of videos showing the product, it's application and result. The kit is advertised on Amazon for circa £15. Hope neither you nor anybody else needs it but maybe useful to know.

Certainly worth asking Lexus for FOC replacement in the circumstances. It's not as if the plastic is very old and brittle. or you have been abusing it. Do let us know Lexus response.

Sorry you like a growing number of others have been affected. There are several recent threads on this and at least one gives details of supplier of suitable cat locks

Hi, You don't say what work has been done on the braking system and when. If the brake fluid has not been changed in the last 2 to 3 years that would be a good place to start. You may be aware that brake fluid is hygroscopic - it absorbs moisture, so a high level does not exclude this possibility.

In view of response, on Monday when they reopen, I will contact the firm who did this work for me. I explained my problem to them about a week or so previously while I was in Barnstaple and they didn't have any of the sounders left at the time so ordered in for me. When these arrived they temporarily hooked them up to a power supply in their workshop to see whether I found them suitable, before fitting to my car. I didn't ask what they were referenced and it was not specified on their invoice. It's probably better if I ask how these are described and where available and post what I find out so they don't have to potentially give the same information to several people who will not be buying or having work done by them anyway. Because everything is hidden behind panels, there is nothing to see. I will try to do a short video recording the sound and also showing the connection to the Tomtom mount which has has been neatly done.

Rather late now but as a checking point for sticking caliper, after a run check whether the spokes of one wheel is warmer than the others. If you have a temperature probe and can use this to contact the alloy spokes or better still the rotor there is a good chance that the markedly hotter wheel with have at least a partially seized caliper. DON'T touch the rotor with an unprotected hand - they get very hot!

Tech fitted a new socket so the other one under the central arm rest and the other one beneath the central consul still available. Didn't want any flashing lights, the audible warning serves the purpose well and you wouldn't want it to sound for long. The sound could be reduced if required by adding a bit of acoustic insulation. No drilling involved. Connect to horn - like your sense of humour!

As I believe I mentioned somewhere previously, I couldn't hear the turn indicators on my RX with the audio on even at moderate levels and with the benefit of hearing aids, Also with the seat and steering wheel in my preferred position, I cannot clearly see that the indicators have self cancelled as they sometimes fail to do depending on the lock applied. and in any event I prefer not to have to look down as I have Head up Display. (I read on another model forum of the club that this was a problem for a member too), Somebody suggested I adjust the seat /steering wheel configuration but why try to make the foot fit the shoe rather than the shoe fit the foot? The answer was to boost the sound emitted by the Lexus (relay?). Not wishing to do this myself, I got my local auto electrical firm to wire in two sound emitters, one to each flasher circuit. These emitters are very small, about the size of the tip of your finger but produce a a good and unmistakable higher pitched sound in tandem with the Lexus ones and serve as a reminder that my turn signal has not cancelled. These did not have to be coded and you don't see them. So if anybody else has my problem this is a good solution. It's possible that any subsequent owner would find this a little too loud but it would be easy to disconnect and in any case I don't plan on selling the car any time soon. Whilst the tecky had one of the small panels out he tidied away the hard wire cable that powers my TomTom and connected it to a new dedicated socket which is not visible, so you only see the couple or so inches of cable as it comes out from between the A piller and end of dash to the TomTom base. I am very pleased with the result.

Thanks to those who have posted thoughts. As intimated at the outset, I find the braking fine at about town and 30 mph. There is no judder or vibration and car does not pull to one side at any point. The car was maintained by Lexus from new and any new rotors/pads fitted within the 37K miles at which point I bought it, would have been Lexus. Lexus reported brakes OK when they fitted new tyres recently. The car may have brake assist in an emergency but I have not found the need to brake really hard yet, although I have done so fairly hard to deglaze the rotors as one does from time to time. (Incidentally, I am aware that rotors don't usually warp with normal road use. What can happen is that when hot a minute amount of pad material can transfer and be deposited on the rotors which then induces uneven rotor wear. This can happen if new pads are not properly broken in and particularly if after heavy braking producing a lot of heat the car is brought to a stop with the brakes still held on. EBC provide a small depth of different material on their 'Green Stuff' pads to assist breaking in or did when I tried them). Over hard use producing too much heat can cause crystallisation. The type of sliding caliper with only a sole piston pushing on one side is never going to be as good as a multi pistoned caliper with pistons pushing pads towards rotor from both sides as found on some standard cars or those fitted with 'Performance' brakes. Anyway, when the opportunity arises I will take pads out clean and lube as appropriate. I will then take a view on possible upgrade of some sort but no point in fitting competition type pads for road use. By way of example, using standard brakes, in comparing the RX 450h of 2015 with a 5 series BMW of the same year, the front overall rotor size and curb weight respectively is 328mm and 4650lbs against 348mm and 4090lbs. So the RX has smaller rotors but is considerably heavier, indicative of why it will be outbraked by the BMW.

It would be interesting to know how much friction material was on the outside of the OSF and indeed the NSF inner and outer pads.

Never invoked the ABS because I drive the RX like the old man I now am but have been driving cars for over 55 years and motor cycles before that at much faster speeds then than allowed now and before motorways. I think I have learnt to read the road pretty well and further adapted to optimise hybrid performance but I drive up to 70mph where permitted and appropriate. Sorry but 'Pretty sure Lexus has specified the brakes to safely arrest the car in all situations' doesn't make sense. Meet me on dedicated strip and see how much further you need to stop in an RX from 70mph than me in my 18 year old BMW 5 series with standard brakes or the several Mercedes I had among other cars before that.. After I stopped I wager the RX would still be travelling fast enough and further enough to cause more significant damage. I have had a few near misses over the years with drivers and on one occasion a horse charging out from nowhere visible in front of me so good brakes and good tyres always important to me. In my opinion Lexus RX brakes should be better to combat it's heavy weight even though not driven hard, certainly for one emergency stop if not for several that more performance related cars can perform. So may see what upgrades (if any) offered in the USA where the RX is sold in greater numbers.

Replied to PM and again thank you.

One of the few disappointments I have found with my car concerns the Brakes at motorway speed or indeed even when braking on a steep decline at slower speed. As we know this is a very heavy car and calls for very good brakes. I am therefore surprised that with the development of the car over the years this has not been better addressed, Certainly around town the brakes are fine. Lexus checked my rotors and pads when they fitted my new tyres very recently and said these were good. My car was also road tested without adverse comment after some adjustments including 4 wheel alignment, so I believe the brakes are typical of the model. Although one can mostly counter this shortcoming by allowing for it, there is the odd time that better brakes would be helpful. (Incidentally, I ,don't find the retardation effect of the hybrid matches that of a manual box). Admittedly this is not a high performance vehicle and this may account for the lack of brake upgrades available but in an emergency it matters not whether you are in a sports car or heavy SUV, you need to be able stop well. Anybody any thoughts on this or done anything to improve their brakes?

Paul, don't know if these are still available but maybe worth you checking as look a good buy

Much appreciated Herbie. No great rush, at present busy taking some more bits off a E39 BMW 530i before it goes to breakers. Most of the parts I wanted were to complete conversion of my E39 530SE to sports spec before I say Goodbye to that too. It was designed along with several others of the era for BMW by Joji Nagashima, a Japanese designer.

Looks like the cats gone to me.

Apart from the paper manuals that come with our cars, is there a more detailed 'workshop' manual that anybody here can recommend? I expect (a) genuine Lexus one(s) would be very expensive as I recall the 2 or 3 genuine Toyota manuals covering my Camry bought from Toyota back in the early nineteen eighties were. I was able to get Haynes manuals for subsequent cars which while not the best sufficed and indeed Mercedes and BMW being less exclusive than Lexus, there were a lot of pics and videos on the net with detailed info contributed on club sites. I suppose the way to go now is paperless. I did note that the RX450 of 2012 which would largely cover the 3rd Generation until discontinued can be downloaded here https://www.emanualonline.com/Cars/Lexus/RX-Series/RX-450H/2012-Lexus-RX450H-Service-%2526-Repair-Manual-Software.html Anybody done this and can recommend or make alternative suggestions?

Lucky I got mine ordered in and fitted by Lexus Cheltenham on 27th Sep then. I wonder whether the favourable reports circulating about these tyres and the fact that Black Circle were discounting them with a further £40 off if 4 were purchased may possibly have caused a run on them.

Interesting vid that and at times the rear wheels were spinning so more appropriate tyres likely to have given better result. Had a look at at a Rav 4 whilst at Lexus Cheltenham. recently. It has a bigger boot than the Lexus equivalent and seems a pretty good package but a lot of hard plastic inside and was disappointed by the trim. Fortunately our roads are not yet like 'trails' but moving that way in some parts! Reassuring that driven properly hybrids can cope with minor floods but there are limits lol.