stringbender

How dreadful. This is simply awful. I'd be sure to use another dealer for the next three services which will be at least £1,000 of lost business. Alan

Is there any news John ? Have you picked her up yet ? or when will you. Horrible thing to have happened to you that will have tarnished the excitement I would have thought. Best wishes, Alan

I always do a brim to brim analysis of my fuel consumption and calculate after several thousand miles. My 05 RX gave about 23.4 mpg which I thought was pretty good for such a heavy car. The dash computer was hopelessly inaccurate reading about 2 miles per gallon above this. My current RX450h is a massive improvement and the last calculation gave 40.1 mpg ! and the screen gave similar figures. The hybrid is adding power to the drive but it's when you stop that the fuel is saved when the engine is shut down. I am amazed that such a big car can deliver such economy. Alan

Congratulations, I bet you can't wait ! I bought a 17 plate Premier last year and agree that the ride is excellent given that it runs on 20 inch wheels. The first thing that really stunned me was the HUD. It really helps me and I like that you can switch bits of info off that you don't want. Great when you're on navigation too. really cool. The 360 camera is good too but on mine when you stop you get a screen showing the view from the front camera. Err .... I can see that by just looking out the front window ! It would be better to see what's right behind you. Lexus say it can't be altered. The other amazing thing for me is the mpg. The screen says 39.0 mpg at the mo. I never trust on board computers but over the last 2,000 miles it's bang on. Enjoy your new pride and joy. Alan

Milliput. Mends everything. I think there's even a mention of a car radiator in the pack insert. Sticks to plastic and now available in black ! Alan

Have you ever used Milliput mark ? Since I was told about it I've mended so much stuff with it. You'd need to hold it in place for at least 2 hours. After that it's like steel. Easy to sand, easy to drill and it bonds to practically everything. I remember using it to fix some damage to the old RX rear bumper ( thanks to my dear wife ! ). I didn't go mad cleaning it but it bonded it and was there for over 12 years. Once it was sprayed matte black you just couldn't see the mend at all. I am reminded of it every day as I used it to mend my Sensor razor - still going strong which is good because Gillette don't make the razor anymore but you can get hold of blades off the web. Alan

I've had a look underneath and can see the new end pipe. What's interesting is that they put 2 new rubber hangers on for the new silencer (they're just on the engine side of the large silencer ) and these are different to the original ones. For some reason Lexus has changed the rubber from 18 mm thick to 28 mm thick. I've said all along that these two hangers are at 90 degrees to the other 4. There was barely any room for movement on the old ones and now there's practically none. If Lexus has changed the centre section for some reason then they may also have redesigned the bracket that bolts to the underside of the body that the hangers are fixed to. Seems a daft idea to me to have 4 hangers that allow maximum movement back to front but then fit the remaining 2 hangers to prevent this movement. So how come every other 4th gen. RX has no problem ? Alan

No, it's not the jerk that's my problem. I've just driven over 200 miles with just the rear part of the exhaust system replaced but not the centre section (as they got the wrong parts). I don't know whether I'm pleased or horrified as the problem is markedly worse. My wife drove home and said the same thing. Much, much more vibration coming up through but all they did was replace the end bit. How could that alone have made so much difference ? I was surprised to learn that they'd changed the centre section design at all so all I can hope is that when they replace that it will all be fine. Some hope ! Alan

Well today didn't go quite as well as I'd hoped. Got the car into Bristol by 10.00 am but was given a courtesy car as it would take so long to do the work! I had hoped to be there and actually watch the work being done. There were no unusual or suspicious forms to sign which was a relief and they were very kind and pleasant to me. Around 4.00 pm I got a call saying they'd got the wrong exhaust parts and so couldn't complete the job. I've been back in and collected her do we can go to Leatherhead in our own car. Bit of a waste of our day but at least going in the right direction. The only good thing to have come out of all this is that I've now driven yet another Lexus that pulled away smoothly and sweetly and there were no exhaust noises to be concerned about. This was the NX300 and whoever buys that one will be getting a good car. Alan

Thanks Mark, Good advice again. I've got everything ready and will be keeping my fingers crossed. If they do change the exhaust then I've got to go to Leatherhead on Friday to a funeral which will be a good test. Thanks again, Alan

I've owned 2 Passat estates in the past. Both were petrol engines but I remember how they used to practically die on you as you took off a bit smartish to get out of a junction. I used to think that at tickover they were running on almost fresh air ! Scary at times. I forgot all about that as soon as I moved to the RX300. Plenty of power at the ready to get you out of trouble. Alan

Thanks for that advice Mark. I'll be on my guard now if they want me to sign anything that might terminate my rights. I've said before that this whole business has got the better of me and I feel really stuck as I can't expect them to drive the thing long distance to try and experience what's bugging me. Alan

Back home now from our 750 mile round trip to Northumberland. Thanks for all the posts and will try touching the brake pedal idea. There were lots of times on the journeys there and back for the boom/thudding to show itself and as ever it was whilst coming off the throttle and the engine rpm dropping to around 1,000 rpm. Several really bad sessions when the vibrations really came up through the driver's seat into the cabin. This also happened in Alnwick and it was the worst its ever been. I wondered if we'd be in trouble for getting home. As if by divine intervention there was a phone call from Lexus Bristol the following morning saying that Lexus had agreed to replace the whole exhaust system ( including the large boomer box). This is booked in for next Thursday. I remain convinced that the exhaust system has something to do with the issues I'm facing but will be amazed if it cures everything. I live in hope. Yesterday I had a Mitsubishi PHEV for 24 hours but Jan's back was playing up and she couldn't get comfy in the passenger seat ( no adjustment possible ) and was in pain with her sciatica. The way the PHEV pulled away with no judder was wonderful but there's no comparison the the sheer comfort in the RX. I'll post again when the exhaust has been replaced to say whether that was a waste of time and effort or not. Thanks again, Alan

Wow ! Many thanks John and to all who have contributed. I will check out the ombudsman link as soon as we get back home. Alan

Thanks John, Apart from not knowing who could do this for me in Bristol then there's no reason. I've even thought of getting a new exhaust system custom made but that will invalidate my warranty. Also Lexus may simply ignore any report given that I'd paid for it. Looks like that's the only way to go now. Alan

Thanks for the replies Les. Your experience with BMW sounds horrendous to say the least. Maybe I'll get in contact with Milton Keynes when I get back but I think they'll be having none of it. As I don't know what is causing my problem and I can't get it to do it whenever I want then I'm not in a good position. They'll do anything to avoid the word "fault" and say that what the car is doing is just something that I personally don't like. I've kicked myself for ever buying this car - made even worse by the fact that my old faithful was running like a dream. But you live and learn. They made their money very easily that day! I'd have thought that the opportunity to check whether my issues were caused by the exhaust system being "not quite right" would have been worth investigating but I feel I've just been hung out to dry. I did get that My Lexus app but don't know what to do with it yet. Alan

Been doing that for a year now Les. They're not interested & haven't even replied to my emails. It's a case of put up & shut up or sell up. Sad. Alan

After all this time all I've managed to find out is that the car is perfect when the engine is cold. Normally at around 1,200 revs you can begin to feel it and it's dependent on the engine speed. Knock out of gear - all OK. Change to next "gear" all OK. I call it "coming off the throttle" as you do that and the revs drop to the magic number then you can expect to feel it BUT ..... not all the time ! ( see why it's driven me mad ?). Today's trip into Bristol was fine & nothing you could complain about. Over the year I've even felt that there was a "periodicity" to it and felt like logging the mileage when it was quite acceptable and when it was truly awful. Like a child with a cough it'll be fine when you go to the doctor ! But how could that be ? Surely it must be random. The only other thing is when I said that if the engine moves or tilts towards the back end then the exhaust system pushes hard against the rubber hanger and tries to squash it. As it's not very squashable then it transmits the judder into the car via the exhaust supporting bracket. Lexus have gone to all the trouble of welding an 850g counterweight bolted onto the main pipe and at about 50 mm out from it. So they must have known that this pipe can vibrate like an organ pipe - otherwise why bother ? Anyway, they're not interested in even trying a different pipe as a test so I think I'm stuffed. I'll never feel the same again about the legendary Lexus customer service. Alan

I've been jumping up and down for a year now Les and am getting nowhere fast. Such a mistake to have ever gone to Milton Keynes but it's done now. I never saw the book until it was all signed and they'd got my money. I contacted head office who assured me that all was in order. I bet all they did was to change oil and filter. Oh, the wonder of hindsight. Have downloaded that app & will see if there's any useful information there. Thanks for suggesting it. Alan

Hi Kevin, I wish I could replicate what's bugging me at will. The car has a mind of its own! I wouldn't describe mine as a noise though. The rumble is deep deep low frequency - probably measured in tens of hertz rather than hundreds of Hertz so it's felt more than heard. maybe the techs genuinely can't detect it and as it's not their car they just say it's not their problem. As I said before I wish there was some kind of frequency analyser which would enable me to at least prove that there is something horrible going on down below that is not there when the engine is cold but begins to show its face as things hot up. Alan

Thanks Les. Interesting to note that the only Lexus stamp in the book is the one I put there at Cheltenham. The one Lexus out there was at British Car Auctions in Banbury. I checked and was told that Lexus dispose of all their head office cars this way. Still seems odd to me, all the fuss about getting the Lexus stamp in the book and yet they don't even do it themselves. Alan

Thanks Les. No, I'm not very appy so will have to look into that. How do I get it ? The supplying dealer is just glad that I live 100 miles away but I wouldn't want to go back there anyway. My reply to Mark is more up to date. Alan

Thanks Mark, We're away up north next week so will try an independent when we get back. The whole issue has totally sunk me. I thought I was getting somewhere when Jenny offered to replace the silencer and rear tail pipe. Whoopee ! but then I realised she meant the final tiny silencer box and last bit of pipe. I've got a 24 hour test drive booked with Mitsubishi (PHEV) but the RX has so much more spec. The first half hour test drive in the PHEV was totally serene but I hardly got the engine to cut in. Yes, I am fussy, but I know this car is doing something that it shouldn't and I wish there was some way of measuring/ recording the vibration and deep low frequency rumbles. You'd think a brand like Lexus would want to investigate this to make sure that it was eliminated from the build process. I'd love to know what a main section of the exhaust and boombox silencer costs to actually make from scratch. But no, there are pennies to be saved and who cares if a customer of over 15 years isn't happy? Alan

Thanks Piers, Two friends and my wife have felt this problem. As usual the only people who can't detect it are the highly trained Lexus technicians. Alan

Thanks Les. I bought the car just about 1 year ago from Milton Keynes. I'd only really driven an RX300 before and was overwhelmed by the thing. I mentioned a deep exhausty thuddy/throbby /boom after the short test drive. but got the usual whitewash from the salesman. I was amazed that he didn't know where the 12 volt battery was and had trouble working out how to open the bonnet ! The car was an ex Lexus Head Office car and had only just come to them. Or so they said. I asked the guys at Cheltenham if there was any sign of an accident or whether the main exhaust pipe was original or had been swapped and they said it all looked normal. It was a huge mistake to have gone through with the purchase and one that I've deeply regretted ever since. I'd never buy a car from a dealer that was over 100 miles from home and this is looking like it's the end of my days with Lexus. Alan