Gavinw35

Well around midnight last night a friend and I decided to make a run to Laguna, Huntington and Newport beach. So we packed up the Lexus and at 4:30 a.m and was at the beach by 9:30! After driving around the few beach cities and having an amazing day we headed back to Vegas around 5 and got back at 9. The car did great except for after driving pretty hard until barstow (halfway) my check engine light vsc off and track off lights came on... the temp gauge said a little above half as usual but there was some sort of steam or smoke or something coming from the hood (not major but enough to notice) when we stopped to fill up with gas.. this stopped and when I got home there was no signs of it? Any ideas? The car does have 103,700 miles now.

RX330inFL

Am going to guess these are separate events:

1. check engine light vsc off and track off lights

2. steam/smoke from engine bay

First, would take your RX to see if there are any error codes thrown from the warning lights on the dash. Could have been an engine misfire due to plug or ignition coil. Could have just been a one time occurrence as you were driving hard, so have the code cleared and see if it comes back. New plugs at 120K, so these are fairly worn by now.

Second, have you had the timing belt changed yet? Water pump replaced/inspected? Look for signs of fluid/oil leaks in the engine bay and underneath. Anything getting on a hot engine could have created what you saw. Something from the road? Perhaps. Check water pump and radiator would be my recommendation due to the age and mileage of the vehicle along with known weaknesses previously reported here at Club Lexus. If those are clear I would have the suspension checked for torn boots, leaking suspension, etc.

hypervish

What's the coolant level? Remember, DO NOT open the radiator cap when the engine is HOT, make sure the engine is COLD.

Do you have a code reader? If not, you can take it to AutoZone to get the codes read for free, and then post the codes up here.

Gavinw35

This morning when starting the car the check engine light along with track off and vsc lights were off... took it in for inspection all fluid levels fin and topped off, oil changed, air filter changed etc. They didn't find anything wrong and said the car was fine. Hmm I don't know what the steam or smoke could have been from? Obviously the engine was hot but beings that the temp gauge read okay it doesn't really make sense.

Carver

Could have been some bad gas making the computer act up momentarily.

Gavinw35

Must have been something that just threw it off... did a total of 580 miles in that one day so im not surprised.

The full report of how the car did on the trip was that I averaged about 26 MPG doing 75mph-95mph. One complaint I had was that the cruise control was terrible on inclines... The car would start searching for gears and not smoothly at all. As soon as I would take it off cruise all was good. Filled up 4 times total, once before leaving, once in barstow when i already had a half tank and again in barstow on the way back and filling up from 3/4 tank for the school week. One thing though is that on uneven highways or bumps crossing a bridge or something seemed a little harsh for what im used to in this car.. maybe I need to replace the back shocks.

Lastly, a quick question. is it bad to be taking this car on the Road Trips? The only reason i took it was because its already at 103,000 miles so im not worried about racking up milage anymore lol and beings that we just got our BMW 750i I dont want to be putting road trip miles on it for a good while even though it is perfect for road trips.

RX330inFL

Driving 580 miles on your RX in a day is really not all that much. As long as your vehicle has been maintained and driven in a reasonable manner it will keep going and going. I, for example, on a number of occasions have loaded up my RX330 and driven non-stop from FL to PA -- about 1200 miles. There have also been several recent postings where individuals have driven over 2000 miles (on a two day trip) and over 3000 miles on a trip from FL to CA -- both were also towing small trailers. Keep your RX maintained in accordance with the Owner's Manual and you should see 200K miles without much fuss.

Even a brand new vehicle can leave you stranded. Know what to do in an emergency and be equipped to deal with them as they arise. Even having a cellphone with you is no guarantee when things go wrong.

thomas1

Agreed, my RX400h has 115k and I make a 435miles trip to LA a lot...I would take the car anywhere a new vehicle would go...I am expecting 300k out of this vehicle...