99 Lexus RX300 maintenance suggestion need
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99 Lexus RX300 maintenance suggestion need
I just bought a 99 RX300 w/ 167K miles less than one month ago. really love it. still learning it. really glad to find this forum. need some suggestion for maintenance. The following are some info about this car:
1) it runs smoothly and quietly. previous owner had all the maintenance document for the past 9 years.
2) He just changed a brand new transmission when it's dead 2 years ago. So it's still under 3 years warranty.
3) I just changed rear brake pad. It's almost gone. Mechanical guy showed it to me and told me that it would hurt the rotor if I keep regular driving like one week more. really glad that I did it before that. The front brake is new.
4) I heard some noise when I turn left at high speed or accelerating to certain high speed. Right turn or normal left turn will not make that noise. At the beginning, I thought it's because of CV joint. But after I changed rear brake pad, the noise disappear. So I guess the noise is from the bad brake pad.
5) CEL lighted on once. Then I went to Autozone to have a free check. The code I get is P0171. Interesting thing is that right after I got the code, the light disappear. Never light on again. Do I need to clean sth or change sth? BTW, it happened in ONE day, i.e I found the problem around lunch time and had it checked around 5pm.
6) the 6-disc player works great, but it does make some noise sometimes. just like it keeps changing disc, even when it's playing disc. is it normal?
so far, that's all the things I noticed. Any opinion or suggestion will be appreciated. BTW, how can I get accurate MPG number for highway driving and city driving seperately? right now, I can only read it through the screen, which for sure it's mixed number.
1) it runs smoothly and quietly. previous owner had all the maintenance document for the past 9 years.
2) He just changed a brand new transmission when it's dead 2 years ago. So it's still under 3 years warranty.
3) I just changed rear brake pad. It's almost gone. Mechanical guy showed it to me and told me that it would hurt the rotor if I keep regular driving like one week more. really glad that I did it before that. The front brake is new.
4) I heard some noise when I turn left at high speed or accelerating to certain high speed. Right turn or normal left turn will not make that noise. At the beginning, I thought it's because of CV joint. But after I changed rear brake pad, the noise disappear. So I guess the noise is from the bad brake pad.
5) CEL lighted on once. Then I went to Autozone to have a free check. The code I get is P0171. Interesting thing is that right after I got the code, the light disappear. Never light on again. Do I need to clean sth or change sth? BTW, it happened in ONE day, i.e I found the problem around lunch time and had it checked around 5pm.
6) the 6-disc player works great, but it does make some noise sometimes. just like it keeps changing disc, even when it's playing disc. is it normal?
so far, that's all the things I noticed. Any opinion or suggestion will be appreciated. BTW, how can I get accurate MPG number for highway driving and city driving seperately? right now, I can only read it through the screen, which for sure it's mixed number.
#2
You could reset the AVG MPG display before city driving and highway driving.
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other things to pay attention to, smell the transmission fluid, if it smells burnt or has really lost that cherry red color, consider doing a drain and fill, or if its really bad drop the pan and change the filter and change out 7 out of the 9 quarts in the transmission which this is probably not necessary considering its a relatively new transmission, if you ever have to change out o2 sensors go with OEM, i went with bosch and had no problems but i have read where a lot of other people have, same with spark plugs, i went with bosch plat fusion since you need ones with iridium tip, there again i had no problems with them but others have, theres a lot of good guys on here that can help you out so feel free to ask and somebody with chime in, if it wasnt for people like bob, lexmex or salim i wouldnt have gotten my 99 rx to almost 230k miles and still running great!
#4
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On #5, that P0171 can sometimes correct itself, as it might have been a temporary condition that is no longer detected say due to a gas cap not tightened enough or some brief weather issue. Usually occurs after starting the vehicle for the 2nd or 3rd time after the CEL first occurred.
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thanks for all the suggestions.
just want to share some of my new experience. My battery just died. fortunately, it's died in my garage. Just installed a new battery and then all the info reset. want to have a highway test drive to see what's the HW mileage.
guess what did I find? 50.0mpg. really amazing! hardly believe the number shown on the screen. It's a 20 miles HW drive. I put cruise control on. about 65m/h. fortunately, I only push the brake one time during the HW test drive. at the beginning, the number increases very fast. when it jumps to 35mpg, I am a little bit shocked. was wondering whether the number is accurate or not since it seems that the number will increase at the same speed as the beginning. Before it reaches 47mpg, it increases very fast. After it reached 47mpg, the number begins to increase by 0.1m each time. Finally, it reaches 50.0mpg and stays for a while. I didn't want to try more. I am very satisfied w/ the result.
is it normal? or the number shown on screen is accurate? please share some of your exp about mileage if you can. Thanks.
just want to share some of my new experience. My battery just died. fortunately, it's died in my garage. Just installed a new battery and then all the info reset. want to have a highway test drive to see what's the HW mileage.
guess what did I find? 50.0mpg. really amazing! hardly believe the number shown on the screen. It's a 20 miles HW drive. I put cruise control on. about 65m/h. fortunately, I only push the brake one time during the HW test drive. at the beginning, the number increases very fast. when it jumps to 35mpg, I am a little bit shocked. was wondering whether the number is accurate or not since it seems that the number will increase at the same speed as the beginning. Before it reaches 47mpg, it increases very fast. After it reached 47mpg, the number begins to increase by 0.1m each time. Finally, it reaches 50.0mpg and stays for a while. I didn't want to try more. I am very satisfied w/ the result.
is it normal? or the number shown on screen is accurate? please share some of your exp about mileage if you can. Thanks.
#6
U definately are not getting 50mpg anywhere with a rx300...lol. Mine read that I was averaging nearly 25mpg which I just assumed was inaccurate. (AWD) There are very few fuel efficient cars that can claim 50mpg. Don't know how it calculates but obviously not accurate. Enjoy your RX!
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