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Battery question. So on this “little old lady” RX I bought, she would change the battery every year, regardless (because it wouldn’t start once in her garage). However what is in there is a Toyota standard (not AGM or other style) battery rated at 575 CCA. For as much electrical as this car has, that seems too small to stay charged. I’ve searched my owners manuals and can not find out what is recommended CCA, or size.
Does anyone know the correct size battery is or did you replace with a better battery, like AGM 750 CCA or what?
You can look it up on one of the battery company web sites or chain auto store web sites. They will recommend a certain battery or 2 and you can see the CCA specs etc.
Hope this helps in better understanding the battery capacity ..
CCA [cold crank amperage] is number used to designate the current supply capability when the battery is fully charged. The muddy part is the number can be the peak number and not sustained. Almost like the audio Watt number used for amps.
The most demand for current is during starting. In order to get more current, the plates in the battery are increased and connected in parallel. One my wish to have more and more CCA battery, but the down side is the load the battery presents to the charging system [ignoring the physical size + weight].
Assuming every thing is all right, the charging system should be able to sustain the current need during running AND the depletion during starting.
In a nutshell, get a battery which meets the minimum spec, but do not go too far up in the number scale. Drive for enough time to bring up the lost charge. If you do not drive enough, get a trickle charger. People have fancy trickle chargers, but I have used trickle charger from Harborfreight [bought for less than $5].
The OE battery is appropriate in CCA but is usually much lower then what autoparts store will recommend. You might get a 525 as a Lexus factory, but your local parts store will be like its needs a 800+CCA.
I do like the higher CCA since my personal opinion is that keeping the age of the battery same, usually you`ll get some more use out of a 6 year old 800 CCA battery thats down to 525 CCA, versus a 525 CCA battery down to 400.
Either way the first step is after a full charge either on a battery tender or simply driving it for a week on your normal duty cycle drive it down to your local parts place (usually free_ or Lexus (if they do the test for free) and let them run a battery load test that displays the factory rating, and what its able to put out now. You need the numbers and not just a test thats says "battery ok" (those are useless)
Congratulations on such a great find and welcome to CL! My sister found one of those once, an 8 year old Honda Civic with 17,000 miles owned by another old lady. Her daughter was happy.
Because it is 10 years old you should change all the lubricants, coolant and brake fluid. Make sure they service the brakes and lubricate the slide pins as they probably have never been touched and are the original pads.
If it has the tow package make sure they change the rubber oil cooler lines for the metal replacement ones. This repair is under $300 and will save you from engine failure due to a sudden violent rapid oil leak.
You may want to consider a transmission fluid drain and fill, but could possibly wait until 50,000 miles for that. If it was my car I would do it now while doing all the other lubricants etc.
It has electric power steering, so not fluid to change there.
Check if the rear shocks are leaking, you can tell if the lower halves are wet looking or darker in color. You can buy OEM replacements or KYB and it is a simple 2 bolt process to replace them.
Check the dates on the tires and if they are over 7 years old replace them.
Check and probably replace the engine air and cabin air filters.
Many dealers offer packages to change all the lubricants etc, and you can take this to either a Toyota or Lexus dealer as the RX350 is a mechanical twin to the Toyota Highlander. You can even shop prices if you have several of them in your area.
Wherever you go make sure they only use Toyota Super Long Life Coolant and Toyota WS Automatic Transmission Fluid. All the other lubricants can be any brand.
Enjoy your new ride!
Hi. With the oil cooler lines, is there a model year of when they started using the metal ones? Also is the oil cooler only on towing package equipped RXs? I noticed on my 2011 the front vents you mentioned for the transmission cooler. thanks
Edit- I know its not always best to assume things but if the front oil lines are metal, would the other line be metal as well? is there a good angle to view the other line without removing too much?
I think that they started using the metal oil cooler lines in 2012.
Only the tow package models have the oil cooler. If you have those vents you probably have it.
It is easy to check if you don't mind laying on the ground on your back scooting your head under the front bumper and looking up at the engine around the center of the car a bit towards the passenger side. The cooler lines are right above your nose and above the oil filter. I think you do not have to remove anything but you may have to remove or push the lower trim cover out of the way. A small flashlight may help. See the link below for more guidance.,
I am pasting a link to the Google search, which has images of the old and new lines. The old ones are black rubber. The new ones shiny metal. There are two lines next to each other with a common connection plate at each end. Click on a couple of the videos in the link to see more about what they look like on the car. Once you do that you should be able to look at your car and instantly know if you have metal or rubber.
There are no other oil lines that are of concern for leaking as the VVT-1 oil line was changed to metal in 2009, so I am unsure what you are referring to in your final question. https://www.google.com/search?q=lexu...hrome&ie=UTF-8
I recently replaced our battery at the dealer. With a coupon they had, it was pretty close to what you would pay for a big box battery. It's a Lexus branded battery, 84 month warranty, 630 CCA's. Part number 00544-MF24F-630
bison - That is the VVT-1 line, which it states in the title of the link you posted and which I said in my prior post was changed before the 3rd Gen RX was released.
That line has always been metal in the 3rd gen RX350. It was only in the earlier years that it was rubber, such as the Gen 2 RX350 and Highlander. Nothing to be concerned about.
What year is your RX?
Mine is a 2011. I understand now what you mean. The only concern is the oil line for the cooler to confirm if that has been changed out. thanks for the clarification.
07-20-20, 03:51 PM
What is the BEST battery??
