ColinBarber

That's even worse for Lexus. Servicing is as expensive as MB, if not more, and it has to be done twice as often! Factor in your wasted time and effort in getting your car serviced twice as often and it is even worse.

A 9 year old vehicle that has done 140k miles and a repair cost under 10% of the vehicle retail price - The sale of goods act isn't going to help you there. Plenty of vehicles have engine, transmission and infotainment system failures at similar age with similar repair costs. You have the option of purchasing warranties/insurance to cover these sort of failures. The battery can almost certainly be repaired for a fraction of the cost that Lexus are quoting you.

The 30% is debatable and probably only near achievable when compared to a dirty OEM filter however providing 30% more air isn't really of much benefit if the engine cannot make use of it - are you going to raise the rpm limit from 6,000 to 8,000 to make use of all that extra air? The stock filter isn't too restrictive. The engine isn't doing that much work to draw air in through the filter and therefore there is very little to gain even if you can improve things. The fact that the same filter is used on the RX350, a vehicle with 35% more power compared to the RX300, shows that it isn't a limiting factor. In order to achieve better breathing the K&N filters to not filter as well as a Toyota OEM filter - there have been independent tests that prove this, so more dirt will enter the engine and therefore increase wear, but probably not by enough to worry about. By all means fit a K&N filter, if you want a little bit more noise or want to extend the servicing interval of the air filter, just don't expect to see any noticeable improvement in mpg - once the placebo effect wears off and you drive in the same way as before you will be back at the same economy figure.

The cone filters do add a bit of performance, but mainly noise, but the drop in panel filters really don't add much, especially to a non-modified engine - the stock filters aren't that restrictive. The K&N also filter less so you add a bit more wear to the engine.

You lose low down torque if you open the valve too early, that is the whole point of the system - gives a long air intake path at low rpm to increase torque and shortens it at high rpm to improve top end bhp. Having said that lowering the switch point 500 to 1000 rpm may improve things slightly - but don't expect much, a bit more noise to fool you into thinking it is going faster would be the main benefit.

Toyodiy.com show the same part code for the 2004 RX300 air filter and the RX330 so the aftermarket ones should also fit both.

It is likely that the next Auris/CT would adopt the same Prius drivetrain but they could certainly remove the rear motor if they needed to reduce costs or increase boot space. Unlikely to see a new generation until 2017 though.

No I don't agree that 3 should be replaced and why even stop at 3, why not all 6? They don't all fail at once and one failure doesn't affect others. These aren't VW/Audi coil packs that all fail together just outside the warranty period ;) Worth just reseating/cleaning the connector first.

Welcome Chris :)

You cannot perform proper testing by measuring the resistance. These aren't basic coil packs, they have solid-state ignitors built in.

It's nothing like the IS, that doesn't have a screen or wiring in place.

Worth test driving another so you can compare. 1st to 2nd can be a bit notchy but I don't recall a problem with 4th on my wife's old car.

What is the length, I'm sure other Toyota models have a rubber that will fit? Given the price that Lexus are now charging just for a rubber that probably costs under 50p to manufacture and ship to the UK it may just be easier to buy a new complete blade. Try http://www.wiperblades.co.uk

In theory it should work as you already have the screen and unusually for a Toyota the additional wiring seems to be in place in the boot. Not aware of anybody doing this so cannot confirm it will definitely work. You would also need the GPS antenna.

The pre-release press vehicles in 2010 got a bad review so the suspension was slightly modified before first customer vehicles arrived in Feb 2011. Since then the only significant suspension revision came with the facelift model in March 2014. As others have stated the smaller wheels ofter better comfort as the higher profile tyre absorbs more of the bumps. The harshness is really a personal thing so best to test drive some, and it is the rear passengers that feel the worst so put someone in the back on a test drive.

Welcome Ray. Good choice of vehicle :) At this present time there have been very few issues reported with the current, third, generation of RX. Air suspension has historically had some reliability issues on other models, not sure if the lack of issues on the RX450h is due to improvements in the design or just they aren't yet at an age where failures may occur. The brake callipers move in and out by sliding on pins. These pins can corrode which somewhat seizes the brakes. This is compounded on a hybrid as the brakes are used less so are stationary for longer periods allowing corrosion to take hold. The end result is braking only on one side of the disc, or not at all, which allows corrosion to occur on the friction surfaces of the disc causing a grinding noise when braking and the need to replace the discs. Worth checking/re-greasing the pins every couple of years as preventative maintenance. The small 12v "aux" battery is quite small and therefore if you leave your vehicle for 3 or more weeks it could go flat. Your vehicle will be of an age where the original battery has lost some of its capacity so that maximum standing time could be reduced. This issue plagued the previous generation 400h but a large battery is fitted on the 450h. Avoid just having the ignition on for more than a couple of minutes, for longer periods make sure the vehicle is in 'Ready' mode so that the hybrid system is powering the vehicle and not the small 12v battery. Sat Nav map updates are quite expensive so you may find owners haven't updated and you still have the original disc that came with the vehicle from the factory. Worth opening the sunroof and pouring water around the frame to make sure it drains away. The pipes exit under the vehicle and can get blocked.

Technically yes but like most things these days they aren't designed to take apart. The Impeller on the inside and hub on the outside are press fitted to the rotating shaft so they would be very difficult to remove without damaging the fragile aluminium casing and the bearing and seal themselves would need to be sourced somehow as they aren't available as spares. Given that you can purchase an OEM water pump for around £100 it just isn't really worth trying. The biggest expense is the labour cost, why risk having to go through it all again in the short term if a repair doesn't hold up.

You may be disappointed. It doesn't have many numbers in the database.

Unlikely anything to do with the coolant, the bearing is on the outside not in contact with the coolant. A tiny bit of play isn't an issue but it will get to the point where the play allows water past and/or the bearing may start to get noisy. Water pump reliability is a bit of a weakness on the 250 engine, the bearing probably should be a little bigger to deal with the tension the belt is under.

Welcome Mark. Enjoy Monday :)

Just the 350 it seems.

I suspect that the solenoid is playing up, or poor electrical connections. It may be possible to remove it and clean it up as a temporary repair but ideally needs replacing if it isn't a connector issue.

Is the transmission fluid at the correct level? Checked when at operating temperature, with the engine running, on level ground, and having slowly shifted through all the gear options on the gearstick?

It is an easy procedure but expensive as only Lexus discs work. A new disc set is around £150 from Lexus, these normally contain multiple discs to cover the different countries in Europe. Some people purchase these discs and then split them so you can pick up the main western Europe disc which covers the UK on eBay sometimes for £60. You may prefer just to stick with your Garmin.

Hi Ron, not sure why you had an immobiliser issues after the failed battery but it sounds like this is now resolved. The AA clearing the fault code shouldn't have made a difference - sometimes having the key in the ignition for several minutes will reactivate the key/immobiliser pairing so this may of happened and the clearing of fault codes was a coincidence. If you disconnect the battery then the radio presets will be lost. You should be able to manually tune to the desired station and add back the presets. There isn't a code to enter into the radio to activate it.