-June 2024 Special Lease Deals-
2024 Chevy Blazer EV lease from Bayway Auto Group Click here
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee lease from Mark Dodge Click here
2025 Ram 1500 Factory Order Discounts from Mark Dodge Click here
2024 Chevy Blazer EV lease from Bayway Auto Group Click here
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee lease from Mark Dodge Click here
2025 Ram 1500 Factory Order Discounts from Mark Dodge Click here
Options
Comments
I don't seem do be able to turn the central display off unless I have lights turned on. My RX is 2001.
Is this a normal behavior or a defect? Thanks.
can be adjusted to have one vertical bar which is to me like next to off. And found the brightness adjustment is completely independent of headlight on or only parking light on.
As if my story wasn't enough, it gets even better. I went out to my garage yesterday morning (in SoCal, btw) and the light was hitting the car just right, and all over the hood of the car is this 'overspray'!! You could even feel it hardened on the paint! I immediately drove it back to the dealer and fortunately (for them!) the GM was in. I sat down and proceeded to tell him the story and then showed him what I was talking about. The 'overspray' dumbfounded him and their detail person. Neither one could say what it was or what its source was/is. All I knew was it was from the EXACT source that made the windshield have to be replaced. If I were to describe what it looks like, it's *very* small little spots that look like you went through a sand storm and the windshield got hit bad by small pieces of sand. On the hood, it looked and felt like very small drops of pitch or sap.
The GM tells the detailer to take the RX and give it a full detail. I took the loaner and came home. A few hours later, I pick up the car and it's been given a really good detail in and out. The finish is smooth as a baby's butt. I *finally* was able to begin to turn the rotten taste in my mouth into one a bit less sour.
I'm still not satisfied to the point of 'excellence' though.
I also suggested the GM may want to do some detective work to determine what it is that's caused this to happen not once, but twice to the same vehicle. I knew black was a difficult color to maintain, but sheesh! this is ridiculous what has been happening. I'm not going to post what dealer this is as they are very much trying to make me a happy camper again. The GM threw Mr. Big's name at me and said he would discuss the saga with him on Monday. We'll see if they're smart enough to one--refund the license wrap price and 2-- offer another compensation. I still need to cross the bridge, if'n you know what I mean...
One other detail that very much surprised me was the fact someone had stolen one of my chrome tire stem caps and I 'assumed' they'd replace it. Not. I even mentioned it to the GM yesterday that I thought it would have been a 'nice touch' to see it replaced. It still wasn't, even after the mention.
What really boggles my mind is how all this could have happened. The dealer and service people are all very competent, professional, nice and efficient. It makes bagging about them all the more difficult.
Thanks for reading along...
I'm still not pulling any relay as my solution to it staying on is to use the foot or face mode of the system, thus making it turn off. If I can't outsmart a car, then I prolly shouldn't be driving....
Somewhat surprised, I recognize that it's not only my local dealer (SC) who can't walk his talk [about the relentless pursuit of perfection], which I attributed to the South. After the last service, my Rex had two rather visible scratches on the right hand side (I know because I checked before it went in - it had happened one time before but I was never sure where...). Upon bringing this up, my SA said that ..those things have to be expected. People walk around between the cars in the service area and hit them with cell phones frequently...!!! After having regained my countenance, I made my opinion heard and they finally agreed to give me a full detail which took care of the problems.
Do I give out an excellent rating for this? No, because getting it right in the second attempt and only after I made them aware of shortcomings is not the goal. As long as everyone plays the game of being politically correct not to hurt someone's feelings, nothing is going to change. What if they saw the scratches and tried to hide them from me, deliberately misleading the customer? Nobody compensated me for having to come back to the dealer the next day to pick up my car (30mls one way).
I paid a lot of money for the car and the service, I want perfect results to rate excellent, period. Anal or not, I see that as the only way to change the current situation.
Tarik
That's the procedure I used until OLD MAN WINTER arrived here in the Pacific Northwest. Now that he has removing condensation from a thoroughly CHILLED windshield surface requires more heated airflow than the combination mode can provide. And while reverting to the full defrost/defog/demist mode can certainly provide enough heated airflow to force a state change, it also engages the A/C compressor.
So I removed the A/C relay.
Thanks for your answer and regards of Switzerland.
Jean-Jacques (John) its easier for you...
I read "active noise cancelation" to mean the electronic system, maybe mounted under the front seats, that analyzes the local "noise" and then cancels it by an amplified inversion process.
Don't know if anyone is actually using it yet.
Jiamin, I looked more closely at the hitch and it does not stick out quite as far as the bumper...
Thanks!
David
When honda's last year for a car the year before the "redesign" has a special edition. So does rx.(Silver Edition) The market moves the vehicle design. the RX has not had substantive changes since inception. Market going toward longer with 3rd seat. Look at trailblazer changes for spring, to compete with the explorer etc. All are looking for 3rd seat. with honda getting a variant of the MDX, and the MDX itself pressure....pressure on lexus. how does lexus compete with everyone else going 3rd seat. i heard toyota customers want the highlander to have a 3rd seat. so my prediction
is major change in the market mover RX to stay competitive. If they don't and wait a year....y2k y2k+1, y2k+2 have no real changes to keep fresh. Other manufacturers won't keep still. The MB has had 3rd seat. Lexus won't be left out.
I'd bet some $$$$ on this....new rx next fall with the following changes
longer and wider with 3rd seat
redesigned dash to clean up
lower center of gravity
more power to separate it from the highlander
less pronounced rear deck
entertainment system offered
GS may go AWD to compete with MB, and Audi (c and e class MB's have AWD available)
As an aside--how reliable is the Audi A6 or A4--if i need to go AWD like to have option
over MB e 4matic.
Two questions: 1) Do I do anything now to the interior or exterior finish to protect it? Wax? RainX? Leather protector? My brother says to buy a "california brush" and keep the dirt brushed off now and then. I have not yet read the manual, but I trust you all who often know more about the care of the RX.
2) It pulls slightly to the right. This is inconsistant and very minor, but definitely there. Happens equally on windy roads and interstate (husband agrees if that matters) It's got 123 miles on it. Is this something I should have looked at right away, or should I drive it some more to "break it in" then assess. OUr dealer said there is no break-in period needed. He said to drive as fast as we want.
what do you think? thanks all
If the metal sheet were cold enough and/or the surrounding air humid enough you wouldn't need the spray bottle for the next step.
Now spray a light coating of fine mist onto, all over, the vertical metal sheet. You should see no visible result at this point other than a metal sheet covered with a fine mist. That's what your air conditioner evaporator will look like a few moments after you turn on the A/C and it is chilled enough by the refrigerant boiling in its interior to begin condensing water molecules from the local atmosphere.
Now if you were to leave the metal sheet just as it is the fine mist you deposited there would eventually evaporate away into the local atmosphere.
But, let's continue the experiment, using your spray bottle give the metal sheet another coat of fine mist, and another, and another, until here and there the fine mist begins to change into larger droplets of moisture and now as you continue spraying some portions, droplets, will have gathered enough mass that gravity will overcome viscosity and those droplets will begin to flow down the surface of the evaporator.
Now if you continue spraying the metal surface with the fine mist from your bottle you are basically replicating the continuous and ongoing condensation process that occurs on the surfaces of your A/C system evaporator as long as the A/C compressor is run to provide liquid refrigerant to be "boiled off" within the interior chambers of the evaporator.
If you boil water on a burner on your stove then until the water has all boiled away the temperature of the water remaining in the pan will be a very consistent 212 degrees F. Now virtually all of the heat energy being applied to the bottom of the pan is being "wicked" away via the steam leaving the water.
Unlike water, the refrigerant in your A/C system has a very LOW boiling point, for our purposes, lets say 32 degrees F. So as long as the compressor provides liquid refrigerant to "boil" within the evaporator ALL of the evaporator surfaces will remain very close to a 32F temperature.
You are removing HEAT from the atmosphere flowing through the evaporator, reducing its temperature to something close to 32F. Just as with the boiling water, the heat removed from the airflow is carried "away" by the refrigerant's "steam" as the liquid refrigerant within the evaporator boils from the heat applied by the warm airflow.
Now, if the relative humidity of the airflow through the evaporator is high enough, lowing its temperature to 32F will cause it to reach 100% relative humidity and any airborne moisture molecules will condense out of the atmosphere and onto the evaporator vanes.
Another point to remember, the viscosity of those water molecules and water droplets increasing substantially with lowering temperatures.
What this means is that these droplets must accumulate a LOT of MASS before gravity will overcome viscosity (one water molecule's "attraction", binding force, to its nearest water molecule "neighbors") and they will flow down these surfaces and out the drain tube.
So, at the very instant the A/C compressor circuit is opened and no more liquid refrigerant will be supplied, the evaporator surfaces are very COLD, 32F in this case, and the millions (billions{?})of small water droplets remaining (having not yet accumulated enough mass....) will continue to "cling" to the COLD evaporator surfaces and each other.
Now as the evaporator's surfaces begin to rise in temperature due to a rising local ambient these droplets will either flow out the drain tube as they lose viscosity with rising temperature, or they will evaporate into the surrounding atmosphere.
Historical information:
When I first came to Seattle in about 1961 four of us would often go skiing in a 1950s Ford sedan. Late in the afternoon we would get into the car for our return trip home, down the mountain. Ski togs in those days consisted primarily of blue jeans and wool sweaters Four of us, cold, tired, very sweaty, clothes quite thoroughly soaked, in a 1952 Ford.
The only way to survive getting down the mountain in this case was to turn the heat full up, route ALL of the heating capacity to the interior surface of the windshield, and lower the rear windows to help dehumidify the car's "atmosphere".
And a stop at the state liquor store in North Bend for a bottle of Old Forester.
Then along came cars with air conditioning and some nameless someone decided that an A/C could be used to help make driving in cold humid weather less hazardous. But there was a "technical" limit. In freon based systems of that era, up until about 1990, it was not technically feasible to manage the system differential pressures needed to make them operable below about 47 degrees F. That was the pressure level on my 1984 T-bird at which the A/C compressor would be shut down.
So basically, up until the early ninties A/C conditioners were not generally operable below about 50 degrees F, so there was never an issue concerning the growth of mold and mildew because above 50 degrees F the moisture condensed on the evaporator vanes during the previosu day's operation didn't "hang" around very long, probably not even overnight.
But, here we are in 2001 and apparently some bright young engineer, likely Japanese circa 1989, has discovered how to make A/C systems operate efficiently all the way down to 32F.
Except the moisture accumulated at these lower temperatures doesn't evaporate away when the overnight temperatures remain below 50 degrees F.
AND just what does happen to the small droplets of moisture left on the thousands of square inches of a Lexus very dense evaporator core once the defrost/defog/demist mode is deactivated and the A/C ciruit is opened? Or the operator just blindly shuts the A/C down after about an hour's operation in humid weather?
The A/C evaporator's placement in these systems is such that ALL cabin airflow comes through this device, NONE can be bypassed.
Mold, mildew, TOXIC MOLD even, maybe, and fogged over windshields and windows. God bless those brilliant, gadget and gimmickry oriented Japanese NipponDenso engineers.
They may be the death of us yet!!
When it comes time... If you plan on keeping it a real long time, use a high quality leather conditioner like Lexol or Conolly Hide Food (BuyHide food from the local Jaguar dealer.. $15/can). Do that 2-3 times a year, and your leather wont dry out. As far as the paint, Iuse Zymol onmy own cars twice ayear. But everyone in TH likes different stuff (Actually I love Ardex but its only sold wholesale in huge containers.. maybe your local detail shop will sell you some).
2) Alighnment ought to be covered for the first 12mo/12k miles... But if its out, it can cause premature tire wear which they WONT cover.
So keep an eye on it. I'd bring it up at the 1K service.
Good luck and congrats!
Bill
If they want 'excellent' from me, there needs to be more than this full detail on the car. I feel that's their cost for messing up with the overspray. I want to be compensated for all the trips I've had to make to correct their mistakes. I mean, would it have killed them to give me the tire stem cap?
Tarik
I'm curious to find out if Mr. Service Writer will call after he speaks to Mr. GM about my Saturday visit....
1. Check the car manual for the breaking period. The first 1000 miles should not access over 3000 rpm and recommend to drive local or city (stop and go instead constant speed on the highway for long distant). All car require break-in period. If do it right at the fist time it will better for the engine in the following years.
2.If the RX is slight pull to the left or right, check the front tires pressure. Make sure they both same psi
3. Wash & wax the RX exterior? I read from the web and listen to other recommendation, some say wait for the paint to harden, other suggest to wax it right away! I bought the car in June 2001 and I wax it after a month, then another wax in October. I use Turtle Emerald Series™ Premium Advanced Liquid Car Wax. It contain 100% Brazilian carnauba wax
4. Leather care? Since the car is new, so I only user the leather cleaner & conditioner combo. I apply it at the same time as I wax the RX and a recently third time for the front seats only cuz it mostly used.
For more infor:
www.zainobros.com
www.carcareonline.com
www.turtlewax.com
Good luck
The "brush" is actually a California Duster which can be used occasionally when your car is clean, but dusty only. Do not use on a dirty car, wont help. But if you washed a few days ago, and has sat in garage for few days and just has layer of dust....Its Great!
You might want to go to the maintenance town hall and look around. Be prepared for everyone to tout Zaino. I havent tried it yet, so can't comment. I have read there the a Rolls Royce dealer uses Liquid Glass. So there are plenty good products out there. In general, people that have done several light coats have acheived much better results.
I recommend getting someone that is easy to use, and you are comfortable with. Also get a detail spray to use in between wax jobs to keep the gloss, protect your wax, and keep the surface "smooth" for dirt doesnt sit in micro ridges. Malms.com has some good insight on this as well.
As far as your pulling to the right, i bet it is a tire out of perfect balance. Certainly have the delear test drive it and check the tires, until it is right. Lexus will stand behind it better than anyone.
As far as the break in period - Bullcrap, everyone car has one. Treat is like a new girlfriend for the first 1,000 miles, then gradually work it in. Besides going under 3,000 rpm. Be very careful to modulate your RPM. That is, do not sit in the fast lane and keep in locked at one rate for an extended time. You dont want the engine to "learn" anything (i can get deeper if you want) Also breaks it in much better. Normal city/county driving will do this anyhow. You will find 1,000 goes fast enough.
I've only had like 15 used RX300s in stock in the past 2 months..
Not a sludged one yet.
Also, none of them apparently went 25K between services either.
Bill
Goodyear Integritys. A passenger car tire spec'd by Lexus cause it's quiet and cheap as well as reasonably long wearing. But a lot of owners have had issues with pulling, esp. to the right, which were not cured by (sometimes multiple efforts at) re-alignment and re-balancing. My wife's RX was one of those. I was on the verge of taking it in again, but delayed a week to replace the Goodyears with Michelin CrossTerrains to see what affect they might have. Voila'! No pulling, just as quiet, better road/steering feel than the Potenza RE030 on my GS430.
Nothing further to add on breakin. Jon90 phrased it succinctly.
I've used one for 3 years now and haven't experienced any damage.
Another second to the Blue Coral wax treatment from the car wash. I'm lucky to have a very competent car wash and they offer this product. It's sprayed on to the vehicle and wiped to a shine with cloth. A full service treatment for about $17-20.
RK, congrats on the new RX! What color did you get? Were there any new colors for 2002?
I could have the same problem, not sure though.
One time I left headlight on purposely but doors were all closed, just wanted to try "auto turn off" feature. I only remember quite a few minutes passed and still it didn't turn off, but don't remember whether it turned itself off in the end, or I couldn't wait and turn it off.
I used to think RX300 has that feature. But after I take another look at the window sticker that I saved, it says "Automatic on/off headlamps". I think it means the third stop (auto) when the lamp switch is turned. It senses how dark the environment is to determine when to turn on headlights.
Where is the best place to buy Zaino? I'd like to give it a try?
Also, have any RX owners had a problem with a rumbling vibration at idle with the transmission in gear such as when sitting at a traffic light?
We have had this problem on and off since buying our '00 RX. Seems worse when it is cold. Motor mounts were replaced but the noise has returned. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Just ask Laxus.
Display turning off. A few posts back someone wanted to turn off the display (do not know why). On 01 NAV display, hit display button located below the display, then touch gooey button at top of the display (display off) and it will turn off. If it is the brightness of the display at night, try this. With lights on, instrument light dimmer reostat not full clockwise, touch display button located below the display, and you will see a gooey button located at top of display that says something like night mode on/off. Touch that and then whenever your lights come on the display will go to a black background as long as the dimmer reostat is not full clockwise. When in this mode at night and you want to escape from it, just simply turn the dimmer reostat clockwise and you will go back to the daytime screen.
Same problem here. Went round and round with dealer on last service visit. Seems like simple idle adjustment to me, but he claims cannot simply adjust idle without going into computer. Dealer says it has to do with drain on alternator- which didn't sound right to me. If its still doing it at next service I will raise the level of my complaint. Vibration is less without A/C or fan on. No vibration in neutral.
I tested the headlights a while back, and recall that they didn't turn off automatically (when in the "on" mode). As noted above, it might have something to do with testing it right after shutting the car off.
Something to the same effect. If I turn the car off and close all the doors, the car won't arm itself. But, if I arm the car, then disarm the car, it WILL arm itself in something like 30 seconds.
This is probably one of the programmable features that could be changed at the dealership.
-Craig
Another Point about Autolights:
I've had this happen a few times with other cars and it happened to me again last weekend. If you hand over your car to a valet parking attendant - BE SURE TO CHECK THE STATUS OF THE LIGHT SWITCH WHEN YOU GET BACK IN!!! These guys are not familiar with all the features of the many cars they park and will switch the lights OFF when parking it - then just switch it to ON when returning the car to you. I handed a car over to a valet attendant once - got back in thinking everything was as usual - got home and walked away with the lights still on KNOWING that they will turn themselves off in a minute (or so) and woke to a completely dead battery in the morning!! (It was a Monday morning too - to add insult!)
When I got my RX back from the parking attendant last weekend - sure as shootin - the lights were just set to the ON position. Glad I checked!
I'm not sure why they have this "feature" but there's probably a good scenario that prompted it.
Or are loading up the car with groceries at the supermarket. You unlock the car, load up the groceries, by accident place the keys in the cargo area instead of your pocket, and close the hatch. You then take the carriage to the designated drop off area. That itself will take 30 seconds. Now you're at the supermarket, car auto-armed, with keys inside, and milk, eggs, and ice cream spoiling.
-Craig
When you lock the car with the remote and then unlock it with the remote then open the door with in about 30 second and close it. The alarm will not re-arm and the car will not lock. Cuz you already turn off the auto re-arm & lock by open the door.
This auto re-arm and lock feature is similar to BMW X5
Any comments are appreciated.
I tried hit the lock button twice but still it didn't turn the light off. Then I tried more times but no matter how many times the lock button was pressed it just didn't work. My RX is 2000. I'll ask my dealer about this feature, or ask them to check it at next service.