Mihanicos

Press snd hold the set button then press L1, or any other position you wish to designate. Chris

Try restoring the plastic cover with products suggested by other members. If your low beam is not up to standards and it is a Xenon HID, the reflector may have lost its shine due to the heat emitted by the bulb. The reflectors are plastic now and cannot withstand the heat. Retrofitlab is a dutch company that specialises in retrofit reflector kits. If you opt out for a new headlight or reflector, I would recommend to use LED bulbs instead, much lower heat dissipation and brighter white light. I have the same problem with my Toyota Avensis, I will buy new headlights altogether with L E D bulbs and try to repair the old ones. Chris.

Check the wiring including the connector from the lamda sensor. Follow the wiring and look for short or open ciruit. If you have the circuit diagram, check that the output of the sensor reaches its destination. This sensor monitors the air to fuel ratio and continuously adjusts the amount of fuel injected to the engine. For peak performance, it is important the engine ecu reads the lamda sensor. Chris.

You are welcome. We say " Experience is a flame that illuminates only those who has burnt " ! It is a very straight forward job. My brakes used squeal a little under light and slow braking, just before the traffic lights. Most concessionaire garages and mechanics never touch the brakes, all they do is just look if the pads are worn. Then they just replace them. They have no time to "waist " doing what I always do as I described above during annual maintenance. Chris.

From what I have read, experts say that when the engine oil changes colour towards black, it is doing what it was designed for, clean the engine in addition to lubricating and cooling it. Now most manufacturers recommend one oil change a year or a certain mileage, whichever comes first. Certainly more frequent oil changes can only be a plus, I used to do that when I was doing more city driving than motorway. I can see the benefits of engine flushing but I would worry about the effects on the rubber seals in the long run. There is a possibility that the chemicals within the flush agent could compromise the lifespan of the seals. A good quality engine oil is a good detergent to clean the engine too. Chris. I

Remove the brake pads including the springs and clean thoroughly the caliper parts where the pads and the springs rest. Remove the antisquel shims on the back of the pads and clean them thoroughly. Sand off any corrosion on them so they are flat. Do one caliper at a time so you can check how everything goes back together by looking at the other corresponding caliper. Apply copper grease on the back of the brake pads, then fit the first antisquel shim then put copper grease on it, then put the second antisquel shim, then put copper grease on the antisquel shim only where the caliper piston contacts it. Make sure the copper grease never gets in contact with the rubber dust boot because it will make it swell. Put copper grease on the top and bottom of the brake pads so they move freely within the caliper. Put copper grease on the springs where the pads are held and on the spring behind them. Sand any rust off the pins and grease them. For the rear brakes, clean and sand off any rust from the slider pins of the calipers. Use silicon grease to lubricate the slider pins, this grease will never dry and will maintain the softness and flexibility of their rubber dust sleeves. Do not use any other non recommended greases, they will make the rubber sleeves swell and they will not fit into their position. Copper grease does not run due to high temperatures. Chris.

When a car has been parked for some time, especially out in the open air, the handbrake shoes stick to the drum and when the car moves for the first time, they are forced to move with the rear drums until they break free. The noise like a metal hitting another metal. Happy motoring, every year, independent consumer associations rank Lexus and Toyota top on their lists. In 2019, out of the 10 most reliable cars 7 were Lexus and Toyota, one Mazda, one Honda and one Kia. ( See Youtube ) . Chris.

The cv joints may be worn. To test follow the same procedure you described, keep the brakes on all the time and select D. Wait for the gear to engage and note the nose going up. Then select N, wait for the nose to return to its original state and then select R. Note the nose loweing itself, the indication the the gear has engaged. Repeat the procedure going from R to D and then to N. If the cv joints are worn then you should hear the noise you described at each gear engagement, disengagement. Worn cv joints indicate a high mileage. Chris.

Some time ago, there was an article in a motoring magazine about other car manufacturers raiding Toyota's design teams. In that article it was stated that Toyota's unbeatable reliability comes from using proven designs from existing models to newer models. They only modify the part dimensions but keep the proven principle the same. Look at every year's most reliable cars according to their owners. For 2019, out of the top 10 reliable cars 7 were Lexus and Toyota , one Mazda, one Kia and one Honda. Similarly for other years. For a lifetime I drove and personally maintained up to and including full engine and automatic transmission overhauls strictly to manufacturers specifications Mercedes, BMW and Volkswagen. Their design and reliability have a lot to be desired for. Chris.

In first gear is more evident because more torque is needed to accelerate the car from rest. When higher gears engage, is not noticeable unless you accelerate hard. Indeed it could be a solenoid, although I would say a low possibility, but before you dive deeper, always begin with the simple and easy fixes. Chris.

This is a sign of low oil level and as a result the oil pressure is low, hence the clutches slip. Check it according to the manual. All " sealed " for life and maintenance free automatic transmissions need their oil and filter replaced. For my car if my memory serves me right, the oil must be changed every 62000 miles or 4 years. I am not quite sure of the figures, other learned members with better memory will correct me. Refer to Lexus tech doc for up to date information. Chris.

Lexus 430 V8 engines with 1 million miles are still running with no problems ( refer to U tube ). Smaller capacity engines are stressed more and operate at higher revs in normal operation hence their life is shorter. Depends on the owner, the quality of oil used, driving style, environment within which they operate etc. Chris.

Minor bonet damage should sound the alarm! This usually means a collision. Check all the gaps of the body, go to the back end and look at the front end with your eye in line with the plane which contains the whole side of the car. If you see ripples then this is a sure indication that the car has been involved in an accident where you see the ripples. Check all sides against the light. Check the gaps of all adjacent panels and that the panels are in the same plane. This is a very high mileage car with a small engine, synonymous with short life. I would not even look at it. Even if the body is perfect with no accident involvement, the high mileage could be hiding issues that will surface soon. Find another or another model. Chris.

If you have no repair manual, just mark the position of the pulley nut against the bolt. It is a straight forward job, make sure you clean thouroughly the crankshaft and grease well the oil seal cavity so it is lubricated until oil arrives from the pump. Check the crankcase positive ventilation valve. If is not working you get pressure build up in the crankcase and this leads to leaking crankshaft oil seals. Chris.

If you drain the transmission, you will only get about half its capacity out. Flushing a transmission especially with high mileage is generally not recommended. Chris

Ideally all tyres should be exactly the same, make, type, speed rating etc. If not, at least the front should be identical and of the same make and similarly the rear too if of a different make. Even if one tyre out of a pair has a tube inside the other the car will wander on the road. Tyre pressures should right, a professional cheks the pressures before aligning. A very important condition is the calibration of their electronic equipment. Only they know. I would suggest to make sure the foregoing conditions are met and if you opt out for another alignment do it with instruments that use absolute methods of reference and not electronic. They have no moving parts and they are factory calibrated for life. When the steering geometry is right, the car obeys to every slightest command of the steering and drives straight ahead, on a flat level road, with no hands on the steering. Chris

This is the first time I hear of such a lot of hot air from people who are supposed to be professionals. If this happens in uk what would they expect to happen in hot countries like UAE! I changed my front rotors by originals some time ago and as far as I remember, there is no brand engaved on them, only the minimum thickness. I would conclude that they fitted rotors out of a rejected batch or non original rotors. Inferior quality and lower price is associated with poor casting and machining resulting in poor performance. Chris

Quite right, 0w20 is the correct oil viscocity for uk, I was writing the post when something interrupted my sequence of thoughts. I stand corrected. Chris.

Small engines and city driving demand a high quality oil. Some engines are designed to use oil for better fuel economy, one litre every 1000 miles is considered normal. However in the long run this burnt oil goes through the catalysts who get blocked and need replacement, so where is any fuel economy! I use Amsoil API SN 5W30 ILSAC GF 5 for warm weather. For uk 0W30 is recommended and the oil level never falls even a hair line below the max level irrespective of driving style. Chris.

The original tyres fitted on my car are 245/40/R18. If 17 inch diameter is indeed an option, I would recommend it. Larger diameters indicate a lower profile which in turn means a higher speed rating of the tyres and that means shorter wear. Avoid Y, W, Z speeds, they wear out in no time. Opt out for V speed ( 140 mph ), you get much higher mileage out of them. I use Hankook all season, V speed, absolutely silent, smooth as silk with exceptional grip in any weather. Chris.

Any diesel cycle engine is a compression ignition engine. For optimum performance the fuel must be drlivered to the injectors at the right pressure, the injectors must be in good condition to atomise the fuel at the right pattern and the injection timing must be exact. Whenever a diesel engine is smoking this means unburnt fuel. From the techstrream all the above data is available, all they had to do is look. Car misfitters are everywhere. Chris.

Hi Steve " It takes one to know one " . Liberace, Monte Carlo concert, 1982 ! Chris.

Hi I admire and congratulate your perseverence to find the cause of your issue because you are a perfectionist. One point worth considering is the fact that all capacitors degrade over time and this causes their series internal direct current resistance to increase. This in turn increases their operating temperature depending on the current passing through them. An ideal capacitor has zero internal resistance and blocks all direct currents through it. Alternating currents are conducted and the resistance of the capacitor depends on the frequency of the current through it. The Toyota/Lexus inverters have six such capacitors and they are at the bottom of the inverter hausing, if my memory serves me right. Under hard acceleration the inverter dc current is at its maximum hence the generated heat from the capacitors, due to their internal series resistance, is at maximum too and this heat is dissipated into the coolant. Chris.

You are welcome.

The gearboxes of your car last forever and very rarely indeed give any trouble. I had a look at my scanner's DTC library with all the letter prefixes, C, P, U etc but nothing relates to a gearbox malfunction. If it is anything related to a clutch malfunction, you may have low oil level and the oil pressure operating the clutches is low. A solenoid may be unable to engage fully due to debris in the oil. You may have a clogged oil filter. Before condemning the gearbox I would change the oil and the filter using original parts. Chris.