[/B]how many miles before you change fuel filter? where is it located any pics would help? is it hard and were is it located at? having a bad fuel filter can it cause poor gas savings economy? has anyone ave a pics of how dirty there's were? thanks anything else in fuel system that needs to be checked? thanks[/B]

 

There is no interval for fuel filter replacement. I believe it is in the fuel tank and fairly difficult to replace. Don't worry about it.

I don't think there is a maintenance interval on any fuel system part (e.g., canister filter, fuel cap seal). You can just wait until the OBDII trouble codes appear and then replace things.

 

Bob is correct is located as part of the fuel pump on our cars. It is difficult to replace, and does not require replacement unless something is actually wrong. I looked into this a few weeks ago for mine as I was doing the regular maint. stuff to it. My honest thought is I will not touch it until it has a problem, and if it does, I will replace the fuel pump while I am at it. I mean I have 180K miles on my RX and if I have to tear down the car to the fuel pump to change a filter, I am putting in a new pump while I am there. I am a big fan of replacing parts like that when you are working near them or have to take them loose. i.e. I replaced the front struts on mine this past Saturday due to having to change the upper strut mounts to eliminate a rattling noise. Even the guy at Lexus told me that the struts would need to be replaced, however I had them off the car, it only made sense to me.

 

@180,000 miles how does your rx run? reason i ask is i want to determine how long mine can last is it possible to run up to 300,000 miles? if so i think maintence is an important factor i love fluids that maintain the rx to its best like lexmex my rx has 71 something thousand miles, and i am thinking way into the future, like what stuff i need to maintain what products to buy this forum is a wealth of information and i have fun learning at the same time, so in the future when someone else gets lost like idid in the begining i can help them out also, i really enjoy and have fun learning from enthusiasts, and hopefully be able to teach folks also. i love the rx and it's my first luxury, i am pleased and plan to buy in the future again as it was a better experience then i could imagine, love the features.... heres the thing buddy alot of folks when they hear a luxury company name such as lexus, mercedes and etc, some folks freak out thinking that owning one could cost a fortune just because through the years you know how much they cost brand new and word of mouth, i myself thought that way also, but after a few friends owned some luxury cars they really aint that bad compared to regular cost figures car, i was told buying any luxry car 4 door will save you money as a sedan basically your insurence costs will be similar costs of a honda 4 door and etc. , so my brother bought a mercedes used and i bought a lexus used and was right costs were not that bad, for similar cast of a new car depending on cost i figure i would step up a notch and see and have a little taste of luxury, i did extensive reasearch and ended up buying a used lexus, every time folks ask how much was it because they see its a lexus i always encourage them to step up a notch after i tell them how much i bought it for they get amazed they are thinking off the top of there heads retail new car price when after several years costs go down which was pretty kool after i explained my theory cost used luxury vs new regular it came to there mind they could own one, but with extensive reseach and buying the right product, some luxury can be expensive to maintain but i find lexus to be resonible on there prices for maintenance costs on some products... i used to see teenagers with cadillacs and thought in my head how could they afford one of those or its probably their parents car or etc, but i figured it out some folks buy used luxury after the years go by as costs fluctuate over time and if you couldn't afford a luxury car when it first came out you could after several years as cost go down, so i saw an opportunity to own an rx and never looked back love it alot was one of my best choices i have made, some maintenance are close to regular cost such as sparkplugs, filters, and etc... so its been amazing without this amazing forum and the internet i believe things would be diferent today, easier to research, and etc... godbless oh also without kool forum like this im sure me and others would be lost also, this forum is amazing with alot of wealth of information and good enthusiastic folks, thats where the fun and learning begin...

 

Well at the risk of my wife killing me, lol..(she doesn't like people to know our business) We bought our 1999 Lexus RX300 AWD from my sister and her husband about a year ago. We paid 5K cash for it, and sold her 2005 Mini Cooper S. This eliminated a car payment for us, and was the main reason we did it. The RX runs like a champ, have never given me a reason to fear driving cross country if I wanted to. It has 150K on it when we got it, my wife drives a ton for her work. I can definitely see your point on the luxury car theory. For me it was just a deal I couldn't pass up as the cars book was over 12K or so when we bought it. I knew when I got it that my wife was going to run the miles through the roof on it, so staying on the maint. has been a priority for me. I like you enjoy these forums to see what fluids/parts everyone is using however the most useful part to me is hearing the problems people are having and what the resolutions are, this gives me a chance to be "proactive" and look at my RX for signs of the beginning of the same problem. Also I have worked as a technician for Land Rover and Saturn in my past life. I enjoy working on cars, and I constantly am looking for things to do to it. I just replaced the front struts an am already considering doing the rear ones, it doesn't need it, however it wouldn't hurt the car either. I am not a "tuner" kinda guy who wants to change all the parts I can to make the car into a racer, that is not the point of this car to me, however I can see why it would be fun to do. I need this car to last me 4 more years period, and I fully expect it will, as long as we take care of it.

 

ok kool yeah i like looking at forums to see issues, i did that before i bought this... how do you know when a strut is bad, i was trying to figure out if mine were good? thanks

 

well usually when a strut is bad you will see fluid traces on the strut itself from the gases leaking on it, and capturing dirt. Also pushing down on the vehicle and seeing how much bounce it has in it is another test I do. If the vehicle bounces too much then the struts could be worn. However struts don't go bad that often and really don't need to be replaced that often.

 

smeree,were your struts original when you replaced them @ that kind of milage?

 

Yeah they were the OEM, and I only did it due to a rattle in the 99 models related to the mis-designed upper strut mount. I needed to replace the upper strut mount in order to get the rattle fixed with the new design from Lexus. Figured might as well do the struts while I was at it. Found that Monroe makes a sensatrac series that is CERTIFIED by Lexus/Toyota as a factory replacement for our vehicles, ordered them for 115.00 each. The car definitely rides better, in fact so much so, I am doing the rear ones either this weekend or next. It really isn't that hard to change out the struts on these cars.

 

Would be interested to see your long-term experience with the Monroes.

 

That`s good new`s,as I will probably need them by next year.I have found Monroe to be a very nice riding shock/strut in my earlier vehicles.I don`t care for Gabriel at all.Very stiff shock absorbers.And they don`t make any for our RX anyway.So at least we have an alternative to KYB.Not just KYB or nothing.

 

BTW, did you get the fast strut?. Meaning it comes as a unit with new coil springs and all.

 

No, I got just the strut itself...I believe it was these (they had a sale when I bought them in the store) http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductD...ype=49&PTSet=A

I also bought the spring compressors at Sears (craftsman brand) for 54.99 and LOVED them. They have locking pins on them to keep the spring nice and safe. Also I damaged the threads on these when doing the swap on the struts and took them back to sears. Since they have a LIFETIME unlimited warranty they gave me a new set no questions asked.

As for the replacement pretty simple, total of 7 bolts need to be removed on passenger side and 8 on the driver, the extra one on the drivers side is to remove the brake fluid resevoir. Two 7/8" bolts on the bottom of the strut, a 12 mm brake line bracket, a 15 mm control stabilizer bolt on the strut, and 3-14mm bolts on top under the hood. I am going by memory at the moment but I think that those sizes are accurate. Removal takes about 30 minutes per strut, compress it, remove the nut from the top, remove strut mount, bearing and holder, boot cover, and strut boot. Put on these parts on the new strut (of course transferring the bottom coil spring insulator), put the bolt back on the top of it, slap it back on the car, lol....Side note the Monroe's I used also came with (in the actual box) TOYOTA/LEXUS replacement instructions, also the bracket for the brake line was IDENTICAL to the Lexus OEM. Total process took me a few hours as I had never done struts before and took my time. I made sure to mark the position of things as I removed them, however it was such a waste on my part. I noted during the swapping of parts to the new strut that the strut mount, bearing assembly, boot cover all have arrows pointing out, so re-aligning things was easy. Hope this helps answer everyones questions, it truly is an easier than you think task.

 

Yeah I am looking forward to it, the LIFETIME warranty on them makes me feel a little better about them as well, lol...however I am sure I will not have to replace them again in my ownership of the car. They came black and matched up nicely under the car. I noted that it appears the KYB brand are Silver and that would seem to stand out a little to me, lol....However a week later I am hitting all the bumps and railroad tracks pretty hard here lately, and the car is dramatically different. I have to take it Friday for it's alignment, and figured what the heck let me put these struts to the test, LOL.....

 

What I did with my KYBs is painted the top of them with some automotive paint I got at AutoZone. A simple DIY. I agree with you that the silver stood out, but didn't look to bad on my black RX.