Romasato

For what it's worth, the interior carpets have really thick and dense recycled padding fabric underneath. It took me DAYS to dry it up after REMOVING all of the interior carpet upholstery and taking into the house. Not sure how you've been drying it up but in this cold weather here in UK I doubt it is dry yet...

Yes, these cars have this problem of water ingress. I have tried finding the leak but couldn't even after taking apart most of the interior - it must be behind the second layer of the car frame somewhere near back door. These are the specialists to go to if you're not too far from them: https://cars.newagain.co.uk/car-water-leak.asp. First watch the video on their website giving some ideas what to check first - you may not need to visit them after all. Otherwise I have left some microfibre towels on the bottom of the trunk below plastic trim (had to unscrew a few bits): they absorb and keep the water from flowing further to the rear passenger footwells etc, I occasionally squeeze them out... One day I'll get that snake camera and will figure out the exact spots where water is coming through.

Does OP have iPod connected to the car via integrated cable? I used to have the discharge problem, disconnected the iPod Nano and also changed to Varta battery as the old one was ruined due to discharging. I suspect iPod Nano is draining it. Now the car can stand for weeks without any problems of starting.

I've taken my Rx400h to Edgeware road twice because nearby dealership in Twickenham did not have availability. Both times Edgeware guys would fine lots of things to fix, especially once I had the lexus extended warranty. Spent £3k+ there and I don't trust them.

Just get a solar charging panel to keep the battery trickle-charged when going away for longer periods - if I understand correctly, connecting it via OBD port will charge the battery. In addition, might want to choose a more expensive (~£170?) AGM type of battery which is less affected by deep-cycles (full discharges). My regular lead acid (wet) battery stopped retaining charge after a few complete discharges.

Was thinking it is about time to get my Lexus detailed - but googling for car detailers brings up so many - and many of them are nowhere close to West London. Does anyone have any good recommendations for a dependent and not too expensive car detailer somewhere in West London (Chiswick / Hammersmith / Ealing etc.)? Thanks!

RX 400h were made and sold until 2009 I think - how can it be first reg. in June 2013? Are you talking about RX450h?

Wondering the same. Event if I had many parts modded (but they are not affecting performance or safety of the car) and eventually got into an accident where they got damaged. Shouldn't insurance company just replace them with the original Lexus parts without questions asked?

Glad you had it sorted out. And yes, Tony is a bit of character, but for the lower price compared to the dealerships I don't mind. He actually mentioned he had another same RX400h in today with the same problem when I called him to arrange an oil change :)

The whole exhaust comes as one part and costs ~1000GBP. Hence no surprise that Lexus dealers charge ~1400GBP for the replacement job if you calculate in the time of mechanic required to fit it (~160GBP/hr).

Just received the Catman.co.uk catalytic converter for RX400h - and that's what it looks like:

I go to this guy in Brentford: http://carreraworxgarage.co.uk/, Tony is really helpful and the quote he gave ~60 pounds to fit the new catalyst. I actually do the oil change and did over there the bigger servicing jobs like spark plug change etc. So far happy with the service.

I was trying to google for the above information without luck - do you have any links where I could read about the 2 catalytic converters in RX400h? EDIT: actually, after looking found the two other catalysts in the engine manifold diagram - from https://lexus-europe.epc-data.com/rx400h/mhu38r/5163/engine/1701/?full Still, would love to have some source for the 15% bit of emissions work. If the 15% bit is true, this brings me to the reasoning that I can skip replacing the stolen cat.converter avoiding the risk of repeated theft - at least for now or until the wave of thefts reduces. I have already ordered the 3rd-party one from Catman.co.uk, but thinking I will not fit it and will wait for the MOT and try passing MOT without it. If they fail it - then I'll fit it up for £30 pounds or so. For now a simple pipe will do.

How long and how much effort do you think it takes to cut through those cables? Think of the tools bike thieves use. You'd never buy and use a bike lock with thin cables like that as it takes 5 seconds to cut through them.

It better be something better than nothing for the extra 200-300 pounds. I am not sure if there are so many other car models with higher ground clearance and with easily accessible converters like RX SUV. And if that means 300 GBP profit for the thief, they'll memorize location and come back with extra tools.