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Hopefully the pretreatment is working its magic on that buildup am I mistaken or doesn't pulling the new fluid all the way through and out the return tube count as a full flush? Moving the wheel periodically during the process sounds like a good idea though. I wouldn't mind buying something like this if the little one is too weak and this gets it done right.
The big one is great for a shop setting and is quicker and doesnt require jacking up a car. While I bet it works really well, I saw some nice big chunks come out with the manual method. The rack did a great job of removing the chunks. I think either method would work fantastic. What didnt work well for me was just sucking out of the reservoir itself with low pressure - I could never get most of the debris out or the fluid looking brand new.
Having a garage is still new to me but I do plan to set aside some space for this gear. My wife and I each feel like we've found our nearly perfect cars now, so I want to be able to maintain them frequently and comfortably.
I have pretty comprehensive records for this RX and it's coming up on 190k miles, but I don't see a PS fluid flush anywhere. I'm going to assume that's true and start with your suggestion of direct draining, then finish it by pulling it though until it's clean.
@MattRX I also just saw the video you linked about the aluminum boot damaging the rack and pinion boot, and that's something that would forever stick in my mind now that I know it exists. Do I need to take the tire off to get in there?
You can squeeze under the car to confirm, but I took the wheel off to make sure I wasn’t doubting myself. Unfortunately the PO left it broken for too long and destroyed the rack so I had to swap to a different rack. It was leaking really badly.
Edit: As for that aluminum cover, mine has been off for a year with no issues. Classic case of over-engineering / poor implementation causing more problems than it solves. My Highlander never had that cover but the boots failed due to old age.
When I did my engine swap I also did a full transmission drain and fill (or as close to it as possible) And a filter plus pan gasket change. bought a 4.1 gallon shop case of BG full synthetic ATF for $30 and my transmission feels nice and smooth. I ended up spilling a bunch and dropping my impact in the fluid but the impact still works and I had just enough to fill the transmission up. Still have like 1-2 quarts of clean fluid left over.
one of those pump extractors would be nice though
Oh yeah, and the power rear hatch isn't working anymore... oops. That might also wait for a bit.
well, I found a little switch near the glove box that fixed that issue, lol.
Got more trim pieces back in place and removed the rear badges.
That rear bumper is really scratched up, pretty deep in some spots. Thinking I might just cover the whole bumper with flat black plastidip since it seems to attract abuse anyways
Nice! While you have that plastic trunk piece off, I'd load that piece up with as big of a matt as denim sound deadening as possible, made a huge difference! So did putting a bunch of butyl deadening near the license plate area. Trunk sounds more akin to a tank now when closed! I'm going to be getting my dash speakers soon and I think I'll stick with a midrange / fullrange instead of a 2-way, might sound off having two tweeters up front going off. I still need to remove the factory sound deadening from the trunk and re-do my work. Out of every method you tried, what was the best for getting that stubborn stuff off?
Man, those fender badges are expensive though! I think a perforated leather 2014 GS350 F-Sport steering wheel would be AWESOME! I have one lying around for my 2014 RX350 F-Sport. It's identical except it's heated which is something 2013-2015 F-Sport RX350s never got. I do need to restitch it though as it isn't perfect.
Too bad only euro RXs got perforated leather seats. I'd die to have those in my '08!
Oh that's a great idea, will get some denim for that area. I reached in and covered quite a bit of the inner panel with butyl and foam too. The best way I found to remove the old deadening was to use a heat gun and so slow inch by inch, once I found the right pace the metal scraper I used would pull it off like an orange peel. For the leftover residue I wiped it down with mineral spirits to soften it up and keep the dust down, then used a wire bush on my electric drill - recommend a dust mask or respirator if you go that way.
I do really like the blue fsport accents and did get a rear badge, I've been planning on those pedals too! I almost picked up those fender decals but couldn't justify the cost as I was making the order lol, maybe next time.
I was going to try to cut some corners on those items and picked up these seat covers which looked really nice and were styled perfectly, but they didn't fit at all and broke when installing so that got returned. Need to find a new solution for the worn seats.
I have the 1999-2003 RX300 ones on my mine as I got them new for almost free on kijiji. All of these springs will fit the factory spring perches fine but the 300 ones lower the front a little more than the back due to the different design of the front strut of a 99-03. Those 330/350/400h ones are the correct ones for our application. If you require any replacement hardware for stock or replacement struts, I have tracked it all down in this thread: https://www.toyotanation.com/threads...#post-14633037
As for lowering springs, those are just a stop-gap before I get my coilovers. While the springs make a huge difference over the stock ones, ideally if budget allows coilovers would be the more flexible and effective option on these things. The Highlander loves towing and heavy loads with lowering springs too! Does great. As for what brand, I'm eyeing the Fortune Auto 500s for mine. Lots of adjustment for compression & rebound, height, spring choices, spring rates, heavy duty monotube dampers and pillow ball mounts! Definitely overkill for a daily driver but I really enjoy my suspension mods. I do like the Eibach springs, but I would prefer if they could be a little stiffer and lower in the rear, and that's including the actual RX330/350/400h ones as well. If you just want to add some more spice and capability to your RX I'd say go for it! If you're crazy like me though you may not be fully satisfied.
Even better than the springs are some cheap and simple sway bars. There's a 18mm Cusco and 19mm Ultra-Racing rear bars available in AWD and FWD flavour made for our cars and these are a great bang for buck improvement. I just have a 2004-2007 Highlander 16mm bar as a temporary solution to hold me off before I go custom. You will have this 16mm bar if you have the Sport package, otherwise it's 14mm. These have a small rear sway bar from the factory and tend to understeer a little, beefing up the rear bar brings out the neutral-handling and sportiness that these should have had from the factory. Even worse are the flimsy stock brackets which I broke within a month on my Highlander, but that won't happen unless you run a huge 22mm rear sway bar like I did on that car. The 2010-2015 RX 26mm front sway bar is a great upgrade too and was required on my Highlander to tame the crazy throttle-off oversteer after beefing up the rear bar and brackets. I love the way that thing handles and my goal is to get my RX to its level and possibly even better. Decided to throw one on my RX in the meantime as well before I go for a BFB (Big Flippin' Bar) out back. The only problem with the front sway bar is that it requires removal of the steering rack, front two struts and rear engine mount to replace. That's the easiest way I have found to get it off as room is very limited.
Sway bars: https://www.toyotanation.com/threads...-help.1695939/ (Under 2004-2007 suspension section)
As it sits with the Eibachs, 26mm front bar and 16mm rear bar - it's not bad! It's not great either, but more than adequate for a 15 year-old Lexus that still is so smooth and comfy! 18x8" rims with 245s also made a huuuge difference - these cars are begging for extra rim width. Overall, a good compromise IMO over the Highlander that is lower, lighter, rougher and a lot crazier. I find myself just relaxing and kicking it back in the RX. You could go H&R springs like I did in the Highlander, but they are definitely a lot more aggressive and about a .5" lower.
Awesome info! I think coilovers would be overkill, I just want to feel less floaty in my daily commute. Specifically times like when I'm in the inner of two left-turn lanes at a stop light, I want it to not feel like it's trying to pull me into the next lane so much.
I don't have a sport kit so the rear sway bar upgrade is definitely happening, planning the Cusco 18mm in the next few months. After that I think those springs would be great so I'll see how I'm feeling around summer.
Well, I have poor impulse control and already ordered both the front and rear cusco sway bars from some sketchy website. wish me luck.
I'll start with my day's ****up: after putting 6 great coats of plastidip on the rear hatch trim, I let it roll forward as I was setting it into the garage to dry. oops.
also have the badges ready to reapply
I finally made an attempt at putting vinyl on an outer panel. I'm pretty happy with the outcome
do I care how cheesy the excessive fsport branding is going to be? not at all.
Holy smokes! More goodies to ogle over! Whered you find such a big roll of the cotton/jute deadening? I might put some of that jute material in the a-pillars since theyre off the car. For anyone else reading who wants a budget dash speaker upgrade, I can confirm that 3.5 JBL speakers will fit the dash - although I had to slot the brackets for them to fit. Definitely the limit for size on these cars! At 2 ohm vs 4 for the factory ones, I can finally hear these! Puts the stock muddy ones to shame. Half the weight too and a lot easier to pop in, probably uses a different style of magnet. Plugs right in too!
Cusco rear AND front bars!! Woowee! If youre going all out definitely grab the 2010-2015 RX350 or 2004-2020 Sienna AWD front upper sway bar brackets too! Confirmed both fit, Sienna ones are just different no. but both MUCH thicker than stock. Youre going even more crazy than me for sure! Best RX on here no doubt about that! If you have driven it, have you noticed a massive NVH change for the better?
Bracket (Upper) x2: 48824-48010 - RX
Bracket (Upper) x2: 48824-08020 - Sienna
^ Pick your poison! These are way tougher than stock!
Nice upgrade on the speaker! That dash unit is responsible for a lot of the fullness of the system's sound, i'd say it was more noticeable than the tweeter upgrade for sure.
Yeah figured might as well just do it with the sway bars, lol. Not going for best of anything but this has been a really fun and rewarding project! While I was working from home through all covid I got too used to only driving my wife's car so I'm excited to have the RX feel a bit more alive and responsive.
Thanks for the link to the bracket!
I picked up the DELPHI TC2022 rear sway bar end links from your recommendation, will be putting those on at the same time.
I didn't do any before/after DB measuring so my concept of NVH is very subjective, but whether it's real or just wishful thinking I'd say it's much more comfortable. I think it's a bit quieter, but the noise that is there seems less harsh and grating than before. I recently started looking at second skin spectrum liquid deadening that can be applied to the inside of the wheel well and it looks tempting. So unnecessary but tempting.
I think you'll see a massive improvement with the sway bars. Cusco 25mm bar should be just as stiff if not stiffer than the 26mm RX350 2010-2015 front bar due to presumably stronger materials. It's hard to believe how much better the Delphis are compared to stock, the originals are like a toy compared to it. I didn't really notice a stiffness difference with them and didn't expect one being they're just links, but it was just a no-brainer for me as I was already refreshing everything. Those links were also super easy to undo when I was auto-crossing the Highlander and doing a run w/ the stock 16mm rear bar and one w/ the Addco. We were able to get the bar swapped in under 10 mins without removing a wheel because of the welded nut on the links! No more futzing with allen keys!
The rear bar was a noticeable difference and the car was a lot more lively and willing to rotate with it on. Even going from a 14mm to a 18mm should be a massive difference! That's a 173% increase in stiffness over stock! I bet the Cusco bushings are also at least hardened rubber or polyurethane, which will react a little quicker/sooner than soft OE rubber. I didn't notice a decrease in roll w/ poly vs hardened rubber on my car, but I did notice that the poly would make it react a little sooner, but not by a huge amount. Ultimately I found the best compromise for DD to be hardened rubber, but to be fair I did use super stiff prothane poly bushings which were brutal!
With all of these JBL speakers in and only the stock plastic cone tweeter left, it's apparent that I'm definitely lacking some highs! The new dasher speaker was such an improvement it's almost handling the highs better than the old tweeter! I was a little concerned w/ the JBLs sounding a little tinny or harsh being that every single one of them is aluminum (Tweeter I get, but dash speaker and doors are too). I'll definitely update the post once I get my new JBL tweeters in. Should sound pretty good as they're the same crisp aluminum tweeters as my 2002 Highlander's except adapted to fit an RX. After that, I am definitely going to throw an 8" sub back behind the trim and complete the package!
That liquid sound deadening sounds heavy but I bet it works pretty well. I'd be concerned about spilling it or applying too much, etc. I'd be better off using a brush! Haha. As for the deadening, sometimes I forget how much of an effect was made until I drive a stock example. If I ever have my carpet out, I'm definitely going to try sound deadening the floor to see how much of a difference it makes
02-06-23, 10:23 PM
am I mistaken or doesn't pulling the new fluid all the way through and out the return tube count as a full flush? Moving the wheel periodically during the process sounds like a good idea though. I wouldn't mind buying something like this if the little one is too weak and this gets it done right.
well, I found a little switch near the glove box that fixed that issue, lol.
