i didnt have the "luxury" to wait either as i dont have a second vehicle. so price was sorta no object as i had to have my rx!. There was no way i could rent a car or something like that as the cost may have added up to almost the cost of my new radiator anyways. so my dad had to help me pay for the new one and generally does help me with most big ticket repair items on my ride.

 

yea ive heard to stay away from using stop leak stuff as well because yes it can in fact mess up things and make things even worse than they already may be. it was just a thought though.

 

Ah, to be young again ... enjoy it while you can. Due to cost, I remember riding on Dad's insurance in my late teens/early 20's. Good times and now in my early 50s (ugh). (sorry OP, didn't mean to derail thread).

 

yea i know but the thing is for right now im still unemployed and i like thousands of others are trying very hard to get someone to hire me! my previous job was short lived due to the pandemic crap sadly. So what i thought was going to be a long term job for me ended up not to be and so ive been stuck looking for some place to finally hire me off and on but sadly nothing so far; so thats why i have to have help with stuff like mortgage, car insurance etc because i just dont have the funds for it at present. (sorry didnt meant to derail thread here by the way)

 

I’m currently at 233,937 and Chevron gas did not save. After some research at midnight, I found someone saying that PCV relates to code P0420 (which I have as a pending code). I went to Lexus and used AAA member to get a discount with total of $13. I hope this will assist with the intermittent code coming back. Almost due for an oil change. I have ordered radiator and control arms from eBay.

 

wow!!! i hope mine gets that far which im pretty sure it should despite what ive previously posted on thinking those things were issues but actually werent.my last loan payment on this rx is this month and then its totally paid off free and clear and then im just gonna drive it til the wheels fall off so to speak lol.

 

Woo hoo!

 

I am grateful my mother handed me down the vehicle with the promise to get rid of my Benz money pit that was leaking oil all over the driveway. Yesterday was the first time I used a code scanner to erase the pending code. I recently noticed a torn rack and pinion boot on passenger side. I will be replacing the boot, control arms (due to bushings), sway arm links (one side torn, replacing both), and possibly ball joints (old ones look good, so maybe sell new ones). Then pray Mobil 1 will help me reach over 250k.

 

it should easily reach 250,000 without so much as a minor hiccup or 2. as i mentioned before; i too have one bushing on one of my lca's that is 30 percent torn and i believe that is what is causing a bit more "bumpiness" than there would otherwise normally be. But!; my indy shop who i always have and always will trust has told me not to bother doing anything until it reaches 50 percent torn as its a big big job as apparently; the entire motor has to be partially lifted up to get access to the arms and bushings and for that yer talking $$$$$ for probably several hours of labor to get it apart, replace the bushing(s) then get it back together. I will have to somehow save some $ up and put it aside as i might as well try and do all of the bushings and control arms all in one shot and just have it be done and over with.

 

>>>> noticed a torn rack and pinion boot on passenger side

Look closely at that boot, is it "torn" or has oil leaking from the rack "eaten, dissolved" itself through the boot(it will be oily, grimy at the hole edges). I.e., leaking steering racks are one of these car's known problems. I bring this up, because if it is leaking, you will just be hiding the problem for a few years, rather than fixing it, but that may be fine. I had the problem, and used Lucas PS Stop leak instead of replacing the rack, been good for almost 2 years.

 

this is exactly the problem i thought i had initially when i originally went to my indy shop down the street to have the rack inspected as well as a few other items(dont recall what they were off hand) and apparently; there is so much staining from my transfer case leaks that it looked like my steering rack was leaking but it actually wasnt. Im definitely not looking forward to the time that it does start to leak as thats gonna be big $$$$$ to fix that as that means a whole new rack of which i wish they made remanufactured racks that would be a lot less $ in terms of the rack price itself.

 

Happened again...

Coming back from vacation I got the P0430.
It was about half a tank of gas after I filled up at an I-95 hiway exit gas station at mile marker 1 in Georgia.

Check engine light came on so I immediately pulled over and scanned codes- then a sigh of relief since nothing catastrophic- cleared it and made my way home and light stayed off.
This happens for last 3 years getting gas in Ga traveling.

My O2 & AF sensors were replaced in 2020 along with other sensors to freshen everything up for preventative maintenance- kept old ones in trunk for emergency spares- so I know it's not a sensor issue.

I'm think gonna run the Cataclean.

 

that does seem odd for that code to pop up if u replaced all the sensors just as a ounce of prevention. So if they were replaced then yea maybe something got in the cats or something? i mean sometimes even these types of things can stump even experts.

 

I was able to replace my LCA, but did not change the ball joint or sway bar links because They weren’t damaged. I replaced the power steering top return hose with 3/8 hose a month ago and it started leaking from the bottom one a day or two ago so I replaced it. Now time to wait for a power steering pump and trying to buy a new valve cover gasket off offerup.

I am bewildered, but after I replaced my radiator yesterday and completed an oil change. I reset the light and drove highway for over 45 min without it returning (where before it comes back within 10 min of driving) I don’t want to jinx it, but maybe I just had low coolant that tripped? I heard that exhaust leak could cause it, but I’m crossing my fingers for the next 100 miles.

 

yes it very well could be that the cel was caused by a low coolant issue. nowadays; with all the computers and electronics in vehicles even the slightest little hiccup sometimes can cause the cel to come on. On my previous rx300(first gen rx); one time the cel came on so i went to have it read at i think autozone; and it turned out to be a "ghost" light up; by that i mean i was told by peep in the first gen forum that sometimes the computer will light that light on for no apparent reason even though there is nothing wrong.