My RX400H

[fiatman]

Been wanting an RX400H for years, looked at a few but was always disappointed poor history trim missing dirty, took one out last week a 2008 filthy dirty inside and out wipers perished tailgate not working 160k. Trouble with these cars is even a bad one runs nice it was smooth on the road no bangs rattles quiet drove really well, but it was too much of a project at £3900. 

I have also been visiting this site for years looking for information but always left  disappointed, most people talk about taking the car to the main dealer very little information for the home mechanic, however it has finally dawned on me there is so little information as so little goes wrong on these vehicles, its not just this site its all Lexus sites. There have been some good pointers and info on the common issues.

Its unusual for an RX to appear for sale where i live being a small market town the diesel 4x4 is king but one came up a couple of days ago that seemed too good to be true, a 2005 SE-L 61k full history fresh MOT and advertised as excellent condition seller admitted on the phone he had been offered £3k on a trade in and was looking a bit more. Went along for a look and checked for wet carpets, took out the storage box in the boot to look for water ingress bone dry, checked the history which was a full main dealer Lexus serviced every two years, car barely managed 6k a year and about 2k for the past 4 years. Inside was immaculate except for a small mark on the rear seat. Would appear to have been owned by an elderly driver and was garaged, perhaps poor health was the reason for so few miles the past four years. MOT had no advisories super clean underneath even the original alloys are almost perfect.

Only faults I could find were touch screen was not working but one was on order and is included in the sale, a little condensation inside both rear lights, rear hatch a little slow to open and well that's it, four nearly new tire's all electrics working oil looked clean even has the original head phones. So I bought it will collect mid week and post a few pictures then.

Plans, check with the Lexus garage to see what work has been done specifically the timing belt, replace the pins in the rear calipers and waxoyl the underside, fit one of those GROM BT units when the radio is out, check the tailgate, blow out the sunroof drains, polish wax and drive.

 

 

[rich1068]

Sounds like you've got a good 'un. The 400h is a lovely motor and I do sometimes wonder why I sold mine.

[Herbie]

@fiatman Hi Paul,

Just sent you a PM that may be useful to you once you get your new beast. Don't forget to let us see lots of photos!

[royoftherovers]

A lovely story Paul.Welcome.

[welland]

On 1/19/2020 at 5:12 PM, rich1068 said:

Sounds like you've got a good 'un. The 400h is a lovely motor and I do sometimes wonder why I sold mine.

I agree.  Would it be indiscrete to ask how much you got it for?

[rich1068]

A bit more than you paid for yours 

[fiatman]

Got it home last night, spent some time this morning phoning anyone mentioned on the history ect, apparently it lived in an underground car park in Dublin for many years, the owner spent most of his time in Spain hence the low mileage, spoke to a dealer who bought it of another dealer and had it on his lot for a long time these cost 1800 euros to tax in the republic of Ireland, he just couldn't get rid of it. 

So far I have ordered a new key but need the gubbins, a digitizer screen for the sat nav as its stuck on the one screen. Even though the oil is still reasonably clear think I will put it in for a essential care minor with a dealer which includes the hybrid check, then change the timing belt water pump ect or maybe do the belt first.

The tailgate wont open on its own closes perfectly, opens 1 inch beeps then closes, think the struts are fairly stiff looking cars not had a lot of use, what do you think? 

Voice command is a dopey cow, just have to use the buttons, want to get the wheels off check the rear calipers slide pins, fuel tank straps and the height adjuster thingy for the lights, will treat the backing plates and give the underside a coat of waxoyl. Headlights are ok but would benefit from a polish, need a clock spring as the cruise control isn't working but otherwise very happy with our purchase.

what did I pay just over what the dealer was offering, its a good deal for such a lovely car is almost perfect condition, wont put it on the road just yet want to get all sorted but hopefully by the end of February. 

This is the worst wheel after 15 years

 

[Herbie]

Looks good Paul but when I click on a photo to get a better look, all of them just return a message from imgur saying "Zoiks, you took a wrong turn".

Why not just upload them straight into the forum here.

[rich1068]

Imgur is a bit flakey. I've stopped using it now. Uploading to here is a better bet as you say.

Re: the screen Paul. Have you tried ejecting the nav disc? The screen on my GS used to lock up and in fact it was the nav unit in the boot that was faulty.

[fiatman]

Rich the screen wont react to any contact, it changes with the buttons below or if I use that dopey cow

[fiatman]

Might be I am the dope perhaps I should learn the commands

[welland]

On 1/24/2020 at 5:47 PM, fiatman said:

Got it home last night, spent some time this morning phoning anyone mentioned on the history ect, apparently it lived in an underground car park in Dublin for many years, the owner spent most of his time in Spain hence the low mileage, spoke to a dealer who bought it of another dealer and had it on his lot for a long time these cost 1800 euros to tax in the republic of Ireland, he just couldn't get rid of it. 

what did I pay just over what the dealer was offering, its a good deal for such a lovely car is almost perfect condition, wont put it on the road just yet want to get all sorted but hopefully by the end of February. 

Staggered that the tax is so high in ROI.  We should all go and buy our used cars over there! 

Sounds like you got it for a great price, though I misunderstood the history in your first post.  I thought you'd bought it in a private sale from a long-time owner.  

[fiatman]

First chance I have had to look at the RX today, put in a DVD into the player to see if it would work changed the batteries in the headsets one was working the other not, opened it up to find the two wires were off so soldered them back on and found both were working fine, cant be said the same for the screens one was flickering but think one of the buttons on the screen is stuck in so need to remove it. Took out the DVD player itself and blew it out with the compressor.

Next made up this pipe for blowing out the sunroof drains which were clear second picture shows the water flowing freely

Then had a clean under the bonnet and polished both headlights.

Got a second key but need the gubbins is there a difference between the three button fobs?

[fiatman]

Also had a look at the tailgate, the struts are not lifting they will hold it at any point. I assume the struts do most of the work in lifting the tailgate up is that correct?

[Herbie]

Still no joy when clicking on your photos Paul. Instead of linking to imgur, just click on the link that I've arrowed below to upload them directly into this forum.

[rich1068]

13 hours ago, fiatman said:

Also had a look at the tailgate, the struts are not lifting they will hold it at any point. I assume the struts do most of the work in lifting the tailgate up is that correct?

You can get new struts from here if you need them https://www.sgs-engineering.com/gsc2619-lexus-rx400-tailgate-strut

[fiatman]

Just ordered a service kit from Lexus Parts direct and a Gates water pump cam belt kit. Had thought about an essential service major with Lexus but it doesn't include the spark plugs and all the checks have just been done during the MOT check. The nearest dealer is 100 miles away so will pop in for a hybrid check when next in the area and a check for any recalls. Car is 15 yrs old and I hope to keep it for a while so want everything done, dread to think what Lexus would charge for that amount of work. Once that lot is done it a change of transmission fluids and brake fluid.

Thanks rich for the tip that will be on next months list.

[rich1068]

I always find this is the best and most fun part of getting a new to you car. All the fettling and fixing. But I have a nasty habit of then moving them on in better nick than when I got them and at a sale price that certainly doesn't reflect what I've spent 

[fiatman]

Cam belt kit arrived today didn't get to start it until after 2 but thought I could get the most of it done, got it stripped down easily enough up to the point where I tried to take of the crankshaft bolt but couldn't shift it at all even with my impact gun 1000w and 450 nm of torque. so checked the net and found this was not uncommon and there was a special tool which can be bought for about 40 quid. mmm I can make one of them pretty its not

Socket on and a long bar but the bolts I used kept snapping, tried three sets of bolts eventually the nut gave in and with the use of a puller got the pulley off, this took best part of 2 hrs to get off.

I also bought a strut for the tailgate but found the new one was no stronger than the old one so suspect its a motor problem, can live with it for now, goes down no bother but not up?

[Herbie]

Well, I give up.

I don't know what you have against posting photos in this forum, instead relying on imgur, but you obviously don't want to do it for some reason so I'm giving up squinting at small photos.

[RgrWynne]

Herbie is it not poss just to expand the photo out. I have done it on an iPad no probs.

[Herbie]

2 hours ago, RgrWynne said:

Herbie is it not poss just to expand the photo out. I have done it on an iPad no probs.

Not when you're viewing on a Windows PC Roger, not unless you zoom in to make the whole page larger but that doesn't increase the photo itself. Even on your iPad you don't get any extra detail that way, it just starts to go blocky.

By uploading the original photo straight to the forum, the forum software shows a smaller photo but makes it clickable so that you can open the original and zoom in to see all the minute detail, which in theory is what you should be able to do even when the photos are held on a third-party website like Imgur.

I think the problem is that Paul has made a mistake somewhere and everything seems to work for him as it should because he's still logged into his Imgur account. However, if he was to log out and try it like any of us are, he would also get the "Zoinks! You've taken a wrong turn" message that we're seeing.

Of course, I can't make him rectify the situation but it's just so frustrating knowing that there is much more detail to be seen and not being able to get it.

[RgrWynne]

Hi Herbie, understand from your perspective . TBH I am pretty non tech, I don’t even know how to put pics on the site. Really must try harder 😜

[Herbie]

It's dead simple Roger, honestly.

When you're typing a message like I am now, just at the bottom of this text box is a paper clip icon with the words "Drag files here to attach, or choose files..."

Simply click on 'Choose files', which opens a window where you look for the file you want to upload, click on the file, click 'Open' and that's it. The forum software will do the rest and Robert is your mother's brother.

For example, just click on the small photo below to view a much larger one. And you can even go further - click on the small one and it opens another window with a larger photo in it. Notice that the cursor has a + sign to it, so click on that and the original size photo will open to show all detail:

 

[RgrWynne]

Thanks Herbie, appreciate your guidance and will try it in future, Cheers, Roger