Lexus RX 330 Maintenance and Repair

mvd1

Folks, there is a Technical Service Information Bulletin (TSIB) for the Thump/Clunk & Whine/Hum problem. The Number is TC002-04 and was issued on 2/26/04. The fix is "a revised oil cooler tube sub-assembly". It addresses the following problems (quote from TSIB): 1) ...drone, groan or hum when decelerating from 50 mph to lower speeds. Noise is most noticeable while in 4th gear... 2) ...thump or clunk noise on downshift at approximately 30 mph while deccelerating...also heard when coasting at 55 mph and lightly applying accelerator. The TSIB is for VIN's before JTJHA31U#4#059251 (4WD) and JTJGA31U#4#031105 (2WD). FYI other TSIB's: NV012-03 for Glove Box Rattle and NV006-03 for Instrument Panel Rattle. If anyone has questions please let me know. I have copies of all the RX330 TSIB's.

johngreis

Would you have the VIN #s for Canadian made?
-- for the thump/clunk and other rude noises.

Thanks

mvd1

The TSIB lists only the VIN numbers I included in my first post. Perhaps the change was implemented before production ramp in Canada.

my1stsuv1

Thank you so much for listing the info and VIN #. Yes, this is the TSIB what I am waiting for. The descriptions are exactly how I can reproduce the noises. I posted the whining noise a while ago. But no many people indicated they can hear the whining noise. My RX330 is in the service right now. Hopefully, they can apply this TSIB. I'll let you know how it goes.

my1stsuv1

Do you know any TSIB related to ticking noise and rear wiper?

The ticking noise (car idle) is caused by the fuel injector (from other web sites that owners were told by Lexus dealer). The sound is getting worst when the weather is getting cold.

The back wiper does not clean the top 1-2 inches. The other owners had replaced the blade but didn't help.

mvd1

Yes ticking noise appears to coming from the fuel injector solenoids being turned "on & off". I confirmed this with an automotive stethascope. There is no TSB covering this issue. I've heard this on several other cars, but usually you need to stand in front of the car with the hood open to hear the "ticking". By the way as of 3/5/04 there were 31 RX330 TSIB's. There is also no TSB on the rear wiper issue. I did manage to improve the rear wiper contact at the top of the glass, but would not recommend you do the same. What I did also now allows me to easily lift the wiper up and away from the glass for cleaning. What I did is remove the plastic cap over where the wiper is attached and then grind-off (Dremel tool) the piece of plastic that keeps the wiper from being lifted "up-off" the window. You'll see what I'm talking about if the you remove the cap. The same piece of plastic seemed to be keeping the wiper arm from totally extending and contacting the window.

my1stsuv1

I can hear that ticking noise while I am sitting in the car. Of course, you definitely can hear that when you step out the car. I got a EX330 loaner car today. The car seems quieter than RX330. How do you access all the TSIBs? Do you need to pay anything? Before you managed to improve the rear wiper contact, did you also have problem that the rear wiper cannot clean the top 1-2 inches?

edev31

Just wanted to say thanks to everybody for posting the TSB's and all of the feedback! Now I have some ammo when I go back to my service advisor and he tells me there is no TSB!!

I just started hearing the whining noise last week-and it happens exactly as stated on the TSB!

my1stsuv1: I also had an ES330 loaner last week, and the ticking noise was barely noticeable compared to the RX. It must have better insulation, since it's the same engine. I told this to the service advisor, and he said that b/c the RX was an SUV, and a higher profile vehicle, that's the reason for the loud ticking!! Yeah, right!!

Well, at least with all this info. I can convince the service dept. I'm not imagining things

gardencar

Great job posting the very specific info on the TSIB's. I will be having the clunk and drone issues resolved most definitely, now that I know which TSIB's to refer to. Thanks a million.

tomtomtom

is that a reason or design fault on why the rear wiper could not lift up for cleaning?

edev31

mvd1,
Thanks again for posting the detailed TSIB info. It really helps in my case since my service dept. hasn't been too up front with giving out that info, even when I specifically ask!

Do you know if there is a TSIB on wind & road noise coming from the front driver's window? It sounds as if the window or door isn't shut completely. I can really hear the cars next to me on the road, and I've never had this experience in any other car. I told my service mgr. this a while ago, and he said there was a TSIB, and they fixed it (I wasn't given a print-out, so I couldn't tell if it was done). I got the car back, and the noise was the same. The next visit, the service mgr. then informed me that there was no TSIB, and they didn't do anything to fix the problem the last time my car was in for service!!I guess he was misinformed by someone??? He also said that he could get in a lot of trouble if his GM knew he was telling me about all the TSIB's on the RX.

Anyway, any information you have on this would be greatly appreciated!

cwayne

When I turn right into my driveway which is slightly uphill there is a "clunk" in the left rear.I cannot duplicate this a the dealer.I don't really like the transmission shifting from 0 to 30 and back down to 0. Never seems to shift the same.

mvd1

Folks glad I could be some help with the RX 330 issues. Any service rep who tells you he would get in trouble by showing the number of TSIB's must be totally out of touch with reality. FYI - for a one day $10 membership fee you can log onto techinfo.lexus.com and download all the official Lexus TSIB's on any model. The service rep was correct the second time when he told edev31 that there was no TSIB on wind noise at the driver's window. As I previously posted, as of 3/5/04 there was 31 TSIB's on the RX330. As a former auto mechanic and now full time engineer, I'm still trying to understand why the rear wiper cover over the attachment point has the plastic tab that prevents the wiper from being lifted clear of the glass for cleaning. As I mentioned, I removed the tab which now allows the blade to be lifted clear and it appears I get somewhat better wiping action at the top of the blade area.

My RX330 now has 3.5K miles and is going in for the first oil change. I also have the dash noise (hate to have the dash taken apart) and the whine/clunk to be fixed. I find both of these issues very disapointing and have put a damper on my first Lexus experience. My previous Infiniti I-30 (2000) had no issues from day 1 and only ever had routine maintenance at the dealer.

bromley22

Great info on this board. I'm considering purchasing soon, since they know about all these and have tsib's, do they come delivered with all of these already done? So ideally I wouldnt experience any of these problems?

gardencar

I had a slight wind noise coming from the driver's door, slightly behind me and from above. I put my fingers in between the door and the rubber insulation at different spots to see if the noise would subside and sure enough, the wind noise stopped when I put my fingers into the upper corner area of the door. The dealer simply tightened the door hinges and the whistling is 99% gone. I have to really listen, to hear it now.

edev31

gardencar,
Thanks for the feedback! I will definitely ask my dealer to tighten the door hinges next time I'm in for service. My road noise is most evident above me and in front of the side view mirror. It really does sound as if the door isn't shut completely!
mvd1-
I will check out that site-it sounds like it's worth the $10 so I can approach my dealer with confidence!

Thanks again, everybody! What would I do without Edmund's Town Hall?? : )

gardencar

Here is a link to seventeen current TSB's that you can get for free. These must be the seventeen oldest and/or most complained about because they have caught the attention of the NHTSA.

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/tsb/tsbsearch.cfm

mvd1

For the RX330, the NHTSA is only showing a summary of the TSB. The actual TSB's are from 2 to 4 pages long. NHTSB will research and copy the complete TSB for for ~$40 per hour fee. For $10 a day, the techinfo.lexus.com site gives access to the complete TSB's and also the shop repair manual (worth ~$200).

nyca

can you download the entire shop repair manual to your PC as a PDF file and save a copy of it, for just a single $10 daily fee?

gardencar

You are right. The NHTSA only provides a brief summary. They are enough to identify the defect but lack the detail necessary for positive identification if someone is in doubt. The shop repair manual access alone, is worth the fee from the techinfo.lexus site. At the prices the NHTSA is charging, those "cheap" TSB's aren't really so cheap! Thanks for the info!

mvd1

Yes, it's all the PDF's you can download in a day. The manual sections are not in order, but that's "OK". I just saved all the files to a directory for future reference.

donna

Hi,

I am going to buy the RX 330 next month and have used this site to help me know what problems I may have. This is my first SUV and first Lexus. My daughter has had 4 and her in-laws each have the RX 300. I will ask my salesman about the problems you all have mentioned. I will be 70 next month and a female. Again, thank you all for the help. Now I need to see if I can buy it for the price some of you have gotten.

alolewis

I read somewhere, I think on this board, that the aftermarket Trailer hitch receivers do not fit the RX330 with 18inch wheels as they are not wide enough to go around the spare tire. Has anyone put on a aftermarket hitch with the 18inch wheels? My dealer wants $350 labor plus the $240 for the receiver, is it easy to put on? One aftermarket hitch used 6 bolts into threaded holes on the frame of the RX330 so it would be easy to install. I only want the receiver for a bike rack as I don't want to lift the bikes up to the roof.

stever

Here's the start of a recent thread about 18" wheels and hitches:

gardencar "Lexus RX 330" Mar 3, 2004 4:46am

Steve, Host

gardencar

Hey Donna,

Congratulations on your decision and on your diligent research. This is a great board and it certainly has helped me immensely. There is no reason why you shouldn't get as great a deal or even better than what you've seen posted here. You are going to love your RX330. Good luck and looking forward to hearing about your RX experience. Go, Donna!

cotmc

Awhile back someone reported that the Mercedes ML350 reliability was now considered at industry average. Yesterday I picked up the April "Annual Auto Issue" of Consumer Reports. Within the Detailed Reliability Ratings section for Used Cars, they do seem to indicate that the 2003 M-Class models had average reliability, but the 2002 and older models were definitely worse than average. Within the Vehicle Profiles section, CR rated the M-Class overall reliability as much worse than average (a solid black dot), and they specifically state, "Reliability problems continue to plague it." Perhaps they believe they do not have enough feedback on 2003 models, yet?

Overall, there was good news for the Japanese and the domestic makes. The data seems to indicate that, on average, domestic makes are now slightly more reliable than those from Europe. Of all manufacturers, Lexus had the least number of problems (on average) for all 2003 models, and they came in second (behind Infiniti) for least number of problems for 2001 and 1999 models.

For those of us who enjoy the European engineered cars, the news was not so good. The statistical reliability ratings for EVERY single model from Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Jaguar, and Land Rover was worse than average, and VW "continued losing ground". The BMW X5 and 7-series, and the Volvo XC90 SUV, were also singled out for their poor reliability track record. I was glad to see the previous BMW 5-series had better than average reliability from '99 to '03, but I wonder if that holds with the new iDrive model?

Getting back to the RX330, which CR dubbed their "Top Pick", much better than average grades (solid red dots) were reported for Reliability, Satisfaction, and Depreciation.

fsc1555

I know ive seen this before here but I cant find them now ! The power gate seems to act up every now and then ! They wont open even though i have all the doors open - with the remote or the button inside the car - happened when I have groceries in my hands! I have to manually lift the gate to open it and close it manually-soemthing Im doing wrong ? whenever I get home and try it with the remote then it will open - not sure whats going on! thanks

edev31

fsc1555,

I've had the same problem on my RX330 many times, and at first the service dept. said they"couldn't replicate the problem" even though it also happened on the loaner car I had from them too! It also happened to me when I had a ton of groceries to load!

The next time I brought the car in, they said there was now a TSIB. The service tech.said they fixed it, and I haven't had any problems since I picked it up a couple weeks ago. Here is what my print out states:

Open circuit in PRD ECU
Ordered PRD ECU and installed. Checked rear door operation 10 times without failure.
FP Number-89222-48010

Hope this helps!

gardencar

Rather strangely, the problem I was having with the sticky door lock gone! The door now opens beautifully from inside the driver's side. Also, coming back from Clear Lake today, down the St. Helena Mts., I tried listening for the hum when the tranny was locked out of OD and in fourth gear. I couldn't hear it! Now, I am not complaining that my car has self healing properties, and I hope these issues don't recur. However, I have already scheduled with Lexus service to perform the TSIB's during my 5,000 mile service. Do I go ahead and have the the TSIB's done or just leave well enough alone?

maohu

Between the dark tint on the windows and the low wattage back up lights it's very hard to see what may be behind you at night when backing up. I want to put something bigger than the standard 18 watt bulbs in the back-up lights. Has anybody tried to remove the plastic panel (in the rear hatch) that covers the lights and sockets? I don't want to just start prying with a screw driver if there's a better way to get at the lights.

my3rdrx

You don't remove the plastic panels to change bulbs. To get to the bulbs, you need to open your hatch and look for a plastic panel door directly behind the tail lights (one on each side) and ply it open with a thin-blade screwdriver and change the bulb that way.

eli104

All,

This message is both a question and a warning about the Navigation System in the RX330. (Though I hear that the system, and problem, are the same in all Lexus).

We recently purchased a 2004 RX330 in Connecticut. Waited extra time (weeks) and spent extra money on a navigation system that would find and route you to locations based on either address input or Points of Interest (POI).

The main problem is; the POI feature is sorely lacking in data. For example: Looking for a CVS Pharmacy in the New Haven, CT area sends you to CVS's corporate headquarters in Rhode Island! (There are dozens of CVS's along the shoreline here). Looking for Costco Wholesale in the same area yields Costco's in New York and Avon Massachusetts... skipping all the Costco's in CT.

A major selling point of these systems, particularly the POI feature, is having someone say to you "meet me at XXX restaurant," and being able to get there without having to call the place (which phone number you probably don't have anyway) to find out their address. If you have them on the phone, you might also get directions anyway. The lack of POI means much more work than the device was advertised to require.

I also own a Garmin dash-top device for our other vehicle. It cost less than 1/3rd that what we paid for the built-in device in the Lexus... and contains more than double the data (all of the POI that I can't find on the Lexus)!

Anyone else share this experience? Or is it just the Connecticut part of the database just that bad?

wwest

never adviseable to buy a "captive" device when there is a portable equivalent. Sales of captive devices are limited by sales of the captor, less competitive, useless effort.

nw1997

eli104,

    It appears that Lexus/Toyota's Navigation is not that great as promoted at many dealerships. My wife's 04 Accord's Navigation blows Lexus/Toyota's Nav. out of the water. When our RX300 lease was up in late 2003 we visited the dealership. They attempted to talk us into a new 2004 RX330. Our first impression was that this vehicle doesn't look appealing at all. The interior looked nice, but we miss the wood trim that was standard on our RX300. To us it seemed that Toyota/Lexus cut corners with this redesign. For starters, the engine is much noisier, the fuel savings is not that much of an improvement, compared to the RX300's 4-speed auto tranny. We were completely turned off, but over all Lexus/Toyota are very well built vehicles.

mfullmer

I had a GS300 loaner for a month while I'm waiting for my RX330. It had navigation and I found it very useful. I had similar issues with the POI but then I tried something. I had set my "Home" preference by just parking in my garage and then setting it. I deleted that setting and then put my physical address in, it found the address (and zip code) and then I saved it as my home. From that point on, it was very accurate about finding places close to where I was/my home.

This was an '03, built 10/02 so I'm not sure if it had an older system in it or not but I do know that they came out with a new data disk after that with more POI.

I can't wait to get my RX because I used the NAV very often in it. The RX they gave me last week as a loaner does not have NAV.

wwest

I was about to call Lexus since with the advent of spring and brighter days my Nav panel was just barely visible.

Turned out I had adjusted the contrast up too high. Yes, I said contrast too high!

It appears to me that as you increase the contrast the backlight goes down resulting in quite high contrast at night but virtually no visibility in brightness.

alolewis

Actually I have been very impressed with the Navigation system, has found every POI I have asked for which includes restaurants, golf courses, hotels, stores including a Chinese Grocery store. I am in the San Jose California area and haven't looked in other areas but the POI coverage here seems much more accurate than I expected. I have found one mistake so far, Spring Valley Golf course in Milpitas, the Nav system takes you right past the golf course (I didn't follow the directions to see where it would take me as I just stopped at the golf course).

tomtomtom

Some systems would take a longer route (or around the block) so you can arrive your address on the same side of the street.

edev31

eli104:

I have experienced the exact same thing in my RX330 Nav. system. I live in PA, and whether I'm traveling or local, POI's come up that are in different states, or very far away in my state! It's frustrating especially when you know there are restaurants, hotels etc. that are nearby (that have been around for years) and and absolutely NOTHING comes up as a local POI. I thought it was just me who was having this problem!

nw1997

We conducted some research and Toyota/Lexus POI are around 3 Million, while Acura/Honda are around 7 Million. This is a huge difference. My wife's Accord Nav. is amazing with the amount of POI in it's database. It's voice activated commands are also amazing.

tomtomtom

Agreed, the Pioneer system in my minivan works much better and have more information than the one in my wife's RX...plus I can voice/ manual input while the car is moving. Also, phone number seach is one of the great features that the RX system doesn't have.

02whttrib

Been a while since I posted here. I did a search and saw where others are having problems with this.

Any solutions/advice?

My RX was purchased in 4/03 new and has almost gone through a 1/2 bottle of touch up paint filling in chips. I also have 6 rock chips on the windshield, all have required repairs. My RX has 15k +/- and I am wondering here.

Color is bamboo pearl.

TIA
Ray

my3rdrx

There is an Nav system update that came out the end of 2003 which added another 3 millions POIs, for a total of 5 million. The part number is 00230-DVD03-CYx and can be ordered online for $288. You can check out the details at http://www.lexus-parts.com/partdetail.asp?PartID=2066&ModelID- =92&SubCategoryID=73

mvb8500

Hi all:

I recently, (three weeks ago) purchased an RX 330. On start-up, I have heard a funny noise -- almost like the car is over-starting.

Does anyone have any advice?

lovemylexus1

Can I ask how many times you have heard this noise?

It's interesting that this topic has come up. I heard something similar just yesterday....but it is the first time I've heard it. And, I was starting the car at the same time the power lift gate was closing. Thus, I attributed the noise to the RX doing too many things at once.

I plan to mention it on my next oil change.

my1stsuv1

Hi All,

Do anyone know if there are any TSIB related to these two issues?

bach47

Do you happen to know what the TSIB number is for the open circuit in the PRD ECU is? I provided my Lexus service representative with the FP Number you provided but he said that the FP number was a number that was used by your local dealership service department and he could therefore not track it. If you have the actual TSIB number it would really prove to be a great help to many of us. There are many of us RX330 owners that are experiencing the same problem with the rear hatch.

my1stsuv1

I think this is the one.

EL002-04 - Power Back Door Inoperative (Updated April 5, 2004)
Serial Numbers: 2WD - Japan 27908, Canada 5492; 4WD - Japan 54350, Canada 8100

fsc1555

thanks for the info - I have not been to the shop to get mine check - seems like when I do it the first time after not using it for a while I will experience it and do it manually then after that it will work!
I know its annoying - will get mine check when I go for my 5000.

thanks

edev31

bach47,

The numbers I posted were exactly what was on my print out (I just re-checked it).
I don't think my service dept. prints the actual TSIB number.Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

I had the same issue with a TSIB # that was posted here for the "clunk" when decelerating. My service manager said there was no TSIB for that, and that number I gave was for an RX300! When I mentioned it was posted here, and I insisted that he look more carefully....lo and behold...he finally found it!I'm bringing my car in Wed. Hopefully it should fix the irritating "clunk"!