Getting to the bottom of the piddly little things that needed attention on the RX400h I bought for my son.

The center vent diffusers on both sides of the nav screen don't seem right. The vertical vanes can be independently moved and feel quite loose. The horizontal vanes all move together when you slide the adjuster up or down. I am assuming this is not working as designed and something has broken or come apart. Can any of you confirm?

If this is broken, is there a DIY repair? Or do I have to buy a new vent assembly?

 

My 2006 RX400h has the same issue! I was thinking there must be a way to wire the louvers together without removing the vent but it’s probably easier to do that with the vent out. Hopefully that doesn’t mean removing the entire assembly.

 

I get to do this anyway, as I have to replace my worn out nav screen digitizer. I was planning on getting the vent situation sorted out when I remove the center dash assembly, but it would be great to know if I need to order any parts or repair kit ahead of time.

I find it hard to believe that Lexus designed the vent to work this way, so I am assuming something is broken or has some parts have come undone.

 

I also need to replace the navigation touch screen so i I would like to kill two birds with one stone. If I find anything I’ll update the thread but if someone can point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated…

 

I bought my digitizer on Amazon here: ​​​​​​
or, if you aren't very hands-on, you can remove your unit and send it in for repair at this place: https://www.autotechnologyrepair.com...screen-repair/

There are some pretty good videos on youtube for this repair, which includes the removal of the vent assembly. I am kinda surprised that I've not been able to find any video of someone fixing this wonky vent diffuser situation though. I found a video on youtube of some guy in malaysia doing this repair on a Lexus LS sedan, but the kit he used to repair it doesn't fit the RX models, and I've not found any similar kits for the RX.

 

The center diffusers on both sides of the nav display in my RX400 are missing the small plastic clips that are circled in red in the photos. This part connects all 4 of the vertical louvers so they move in unison. There doesn't appear to be any way to reliably fix mine, since the part is missing in my vents.

I was able to salvage two vents from a wrecked RX330 locally. The vents can be removed from the center nav screen assembly by releasing a couple clips on both sides of the vent. They clip back into place with a simple press in. Now they are as good as new.

 

I was think of just wiring then together with some thin copper wire. I’m on it now that I know they can be removed without removing the entire console. Thanks for the tip!

 

you do have to remove the center nav display assembly. The clips to release the vents from the panel are on the back side of the panel.