Vadim

Hi, the undercharged battery is definitely correlated somehow to the PBD issue, but it does not seem to be the answer either. In my case, I replaced the battery, and it did not help: the PBD started working on its own 3 months later. As per the battery, there is a separate thread for that: The original is Panasonic AGM 55D23L (you can try Toyota / Lexus / Subaru dealers for the best price). If you want to exercise your judgement and consider non-AGM batteries, there are plenty by the same code for a fraction of a price.

Update on the tailgate PBU: two weeks since it resuscitated and still working. I never imagined it could be so exciting to see the tailgate working.

It does not seem so, because the average day/night temperatures changed a few times back and forth since mine stopped working. There is no way for water to get to the PBD electronics from raining or washing, it is well positioned and protected. Might be humidity or sunlight (the PBD circuit board is located very close to the roof surface with no thermal insulation between them). The only thing that actually changed recently was that I hand washed the car last weekend. Cars, you know, love attention )

People in London are bracing for ULEZ expansion in October this year, sell their diesels and inflate prices for reliable hybrids. I bought mine in 2019, and it hasn't dropped in price. I'd say don't prioritise mileage, because the 200k motorway miles may be better for the car than 60k miles on road humps in school run mode. I think it is better to get a more recent year even with higher mileage. And also put aside a couple thousand for repairs. RX is very reliable, but if and when anything breaks, the spare parts are expensive and often have limited aftermarket alternatives (check the power back door, story: 1k+ to fix). If you are not a smoker, avoid smokers cars - it is impossible to fully remove the smell. Sorry for sporadic advise.

A few members have had the same "sudden recovery" experience. It would be very helpful to find out how reliable such "back from the dead" units are. Any feedback?

Maybe not that bad luck after all. My second order from Dubai (the one which shipped to London, ON, Canada) has been fully refunded via eBay (loss on USD/GBP exchange rate is inevitable though). With a degree of disappointment I decided to put interior panels back on car until I procure a replacement PBD unit, pulled the string attached to the manual opening lever since January, and ... the lights turned on, PBD is back alive somehow! Since it stopped 3 months ago, I drove hundreds of miles, long and short trips, disconnected battery overnight, charged it, removed and put back the PBD unit and the tailgate lock unit at least two times for inspection, checked every fuse in the car, pulled out and tested the glovebox button and its wiring, the weather changed a few times from snow to late spring and back - all with zero effect. Now it suddenly started working again for no obvious reason. Anyway I'm going to put the plastic back properly, and lazily monitor reasonable PBD offerings. So, please don't throw away / leave to the dealer the replaced PBD units - they may well work in different circumstances / different cars. I think it may be worth putting them on e-bay with an appropriate description or donating them to electronics enthusiast owners for examination as discussed above. And if you order from abroad, keep in touch with the seller to find out the actual availability and make sure they get the part number, address and other details correct.

Bad luck: after my original order for the PBD unit via megazip.net was cancelled, the new order from "partslane" has been delivered today ... to Canada. Apparently somebody in Dubai had a hot day and recollected a small town London, Ontario province in Canada. Hope it will get sorted one way or another.

So far - just PBD unit replacement. After replacement you can donate the broken unit to members who wish to try to find the fault in the PBD cirquit board to benefit the Lexus community (the repair may be as cheap £20 and even a DIY soldering project if the fault is explored and pinpointed).

NRCocker, welcome to the Team PBD ) So far the most plausible and efficient solution has been Lexus Croydon in my view.

Good deal indeed, if VAT is in. I assume they have the PBD units for 2009-2013 in stock.

Still there for £353: https://lexuspartsdirect.co.uk/parts/lexus-rx/lexus-rx-phase-iii-2009-2015/lexus-rx-3-exterior-interior/lexus-rx-phase-3-roof-rails/

Sometimes appear on e-bay. If you find a set in good condition for about £200 incl postage consider it a fair price. When I was looking to equip my car with the roof bars two years ago, the cheapest option was lexuspartsdirect, who offered new for about £330 incl VAT and delivery. I also heard from some car breakers, that RX mk2 roof bars (factory black) may fit RX mk3, but never had chance to check. Despite the body is quite different, the roof slopes, screw positions and fixings may well be the same. If you find such a used set for RX mk2 in close proximity, it may be worth checking fit.

A very popular line of R9M 1.6 dCi engines, used in Nissan/Renault/Mercedes appears to be designed by the French. And it is quite good.

I’d say pretty much every fresh lexus should be able to cover 1mln kilometers on a good clean motorway, ambient air temperatures with no salt, dust etc. It is not the mileage per ce which makes a car break or look seedy, but the usage conditions, ageing of plastic, rubber and electric components, metal tiredness etc. I would like to say “every modern car”, but not really that confident about some French and Italian brands...

Also at last oil change I added Liqui Moly Ceratec. Did it based on good reviews, good personal experience with the brand and under impression that it should have maximum impact on RX V6 engine with more friction surfaces than in 4-cyl engines and no turbocharger (there are reports that Ceratec clogged the turbo because of high working temperatures of this unit or other reasons). So far (about 100 lockdown miles after the oil change) all good.

Used STP Petrol Treatment for injector cleaning on my 2011 RX. Picked based on price and good reviews. No issues, the motor sound changed a tiny bit (expected given age, substantial mileage, and the fact that the engine has never been treated with such cleaner before). I have yet to record any fuel consumption improvements, but expect them to be minor if at all. I think it is more for a piece of mind.

Herbie has some general reference material which does not provide a resolution to the problem with PBD directly (but still good to have if you plan to DIY repair your RX in the future). If the glovebox button is of no help, brace yourself for the PBD unit change at £1k++. It may be worth checking the replacement cost with a few dealers because the price may vary a great deal, and the part is not always in stock. If any of your mechanics have Techstream device to read the ECU error code for PBD, it can save money which Lexus would ask for diagnostics, and add more clarity.

I used K2 Air con cleaner foam. Helped to get rid of tobacco smells in a pre-owned car with good degree of success. Though I had to apply it twice. To let the foam in, I removed the pollen filter and sprayed on the fan and into the duct leading to the radiators. The K2 manual also recommends to spray the foam from under the car into the AC condensate drain pipe, because it is usually the shortest way to the AC radiator inside.

Bought the following kit on Amazon some time ago: It required Windows XP, and was tricky to set up. After all, it somewhat working. Note that Techstream is integrated into a web-based support system, and aftermarket kits like above come without access to the online resources. I think a standard ODB2 reader will be able to read the most of the errors, but may be unable to reset them or run systems tests.

If they have the part in stock, they can do “plug and see” instead of spending time on diagnostics. If the new part does not fix the problem, it can go back to the shelve. Also the PBD ECU appears to be a known weak spot of the car, despite Lexus dealers are reluctant to recognise it.

Good price indeed. Where is that?

Had my order for 68910-48023 (RX450h 2010-2012) from Emirates cancelled by megazip.net. Apparently they are out of stock. Price on the website jumped from about $400 to $1400 (currenly available from Japan only). If anybody interested, this part currently retails on lexuspartsdirect for £867.56, including VAT (link). This may be a more trouble-free way of getting the part from within the UK still at some discount to dealer's catalogue. The PBD unit for RX450h 2013-2015 (68910-48033) seems to be better stocked and can be found for lower price, but the compatibility is a big question: it can be just different colour marking of the wires, but can also be different signal sequencing and different wiring of the socket.

Might be an ECU issue, like many owners recently experienced with power back door control unit (stop working, then suddenly start working again in warmer weather etc.). Good luck and hope your compressor is back online for long.

It is good to do it periodically (once in 30k miles is very reasonable IMO), because otherwise adjustment nuts and screws can seise to extent that they will have to be cut out and replaced to do the adjustment. This is particularly a problem of with older cars. Rear adjustment bolts in RX, which connect the lower arms to the underframe often have such issue. Rear axle wheel alignment bolts for RX mk3 (circled red):

This may be due to the difference in viscosity between the old oil and the new one. Oil does not get better with time, and even its core characteristics may be affected. Last time I changed oil in a fully-fledged AT (it was Nissan Pathfinder) I had similar effect. The sound of the gearbox changed noticeably, and it started picking higher gear at slightly lower RPM. And it was perfectly fine. It might be partly due to the fact that I used LiquiMoly 1800 ATF instead of the Nissan Matic S. Despite LiquiMoly was certified for Matic S specs, it was noticeably different, even by colour.