TLMichelle

I was looking at the coolant in the radiator of my '94 SC300 and it looks rusty and smells gross... not sweet like anti-freeze. I just bought the car in January of this year, but before that, it hadn't been registered since 2013 so it was probably sitting. Should I be concerned? It seems to run fine because I've been driving it with no problems. The heat works but not the AC. I'm bringing it in to a shop tomorrow morning to have them diagnose and possibly fix the AC, change the oil, patch a tire, and I'm thinking I should probably have them also flush the coolant. The car loses oil over time, though I don't know how fast. I'm not sure where it's going. The car used to smell like it was burning oil until I had the exhaust leaks fixed, but even after that, the oil level still goes down. The color of the oil looks normal, so I don't think there is coolant mixing with oil. The oil wouldn't leak into the coolant, would it? My old car took green coolant, but I'm not sure if this car takes orange coolant? I don't know if that matters or if it is just a preference. I was wondering if the coolant in my SC300 was orange, and dipped the end of a rolled up paper towel into the radiator to see what color would bleed onto it. That is how I made this discovery. The paper towel got brownish staining from the neck of the radiator and I don't even know for sure if it touched the surface of the coolant inside. The level probably isn't low, but it was not up to the top of the neck. I'm not sure what the deal is with the reservoir tank because the small hose connected to the cap is cut off. Any thoughts?

My 1994 SC300 has a few minor rust spots, like, the rust is starting in small flaws in the paint. I know that in a couple years (or perhaps sooner) they will be serious problems because rust is like cancer to cars. I want to fix them this spring and I'm shopping for paint now. I know it's going to need Toyota 202 black paint and I think primer, too, but I don't really know if you're supposed to use primer on very small areas. My plan is to sand away the rust and if the sanding makes a hole, then I have some putty that I can fill it with that can be sanded flush with the body. Then I'm going to paint it and try to do it "right" so that it will look decent and not be prone to rusting again. Last fall on my Acura, I sanded the rust spots, which became holes that I patched with putty, then sanded flush with the body, then painted over with one coat of generic touch-up paint from Wal-mart. After a couple weeks, there was new rust under the touch-up paint. I don't want that happening on my SC. Looking online, there seem to be a variety of ways to touch-up car paint - spray cans, touch-up pens, jars with paint brushes, etc. I don't know what I should buy for this particular project. If I was just touching up scratches and chips, I think the touch-up pen would be the best option, but with my rust situation, I'm probably going to make the area needing paint larger and messier when I sand it, so I think the paint brushes or spray cans might be better for that? Has anyone here had to do a project like this, and if so, what did you use?

Nice! I recently bought a '94 SC300 and it is a sweet car. I thought my '98 Acura TL 3.2 was the best car I've ever driven, but I'm not so sure now.... (Don't tell her, but I think she's getting replaced!)

I tried doing that, but I was afraid I would break the key and gave up.

That's exactly what the problem was - that little wire was melted. I was going to remove the insulated washer between the two copper pieces to bypass that little wire, but right before I tested it, my mom texted and said I should have my dad look at it first. Today I brought it over and he soldered a car fuse to it connected by short pieces of wire. It doesn't look great, but we just stuffed it back into the dash and now the socket has power! :)

I have a 1994 Lexus SC300 that I recently bought used, so I don't know its history. It has keyless entry, which I really want to use, but it doesn't work. I know the transponder in the key sends the signal when the button is pressed because I've tested it with that 94.9 radio trick. Since the transponder works but the car doesn't remotely unlock, I'm assuming it needs to be programmed. There are all these crazy steps to take on the Internet to get into "diagnostic mode" that I've been trying repeatedly - open door, actuate locks, stick the key in the ignition and pull out, lock and unlock the doors a million times, do something else with the key, close the door, open the door, lock and unlock door more times, etc., etc. - but the only feedback I get from the car after I do all the steps exactly as instructed is the buzz sound from the motor in the radio antenna. It should instead automatically actuate the locks, but it doesn't. Maybe I am doing it wrong - I can't tell because the car doesn't say one way or the other. I could keep trying, but I'm getting tired of this. So now I have to ask, is it possible that it's not me and there is something broken about the car that is preventing me from entering "diagnostic mode" like a computer failure or something wrong with the locks?

That's interesting because the stock antenna doesn't work and somebody had installed an alternative radio receiver so that the radio could work. Also the stock antenna doesn't go up and down, but there is a motor that runs for several seconds after I turn off the car. I will have to check into that further, thanks.

Thanks for posting that, but it says it's for the LS. Does it apply to my '94 SC300, too?

I assumed it wasn't the master because when I use it on the trunk, it goes in most of the way, but it doesn't turn. The drawing of the master key in the manual does resemble it, though. My dad looked at the key and fixed the transponder, and we confirmed that it worked by tuning in to 94.9 FM and hearing the tone when the button on the key was pressed. So we know it's sending a signal, but the doors still won't unlock remotely. I tried reprogramming it, but the car provides no feedback at all, so I don't know if I'm doing it right or wrong. Do you know where the receiver is located in the car?

I checked the fuse myself and then my dad pulled out every fuse in both fuse boxes to rule all of them out, so we can say with confidence that it isn't a blown fuse, unfortunately. I haven't had anyone else look at it besides my dad, who just has a general knowledge about cars from his own experience working on the cars he's owned. Thanks for the tip on TIS.com and Sewelllexus.com. Yesterday I was showing the car to my brother and noticed that the floor of the center console compartment was all busted up and there are bolts under it. I wonder if I can unscrew those to get the center console out? Also, there is a female LAN wire in there... do you know what that is for? Can I get trouble codes out of it? I have one of those nifty code scanners, but I think it only plugs into 1996+ cars, but this one is a 1994.

My 1994 SC300's cigarette lighter socket is dead and I really need to replace it so I can plug things into it. The problem is that I need to know how to do it and I can't find instructions for this car online. Maybe I'm just using the wrong search terms, but I don't know. Does anyone know how to do this?

I don't think I have very good judgement for this, but I think if the rusted metal is thick enough, it should be okay and won't rust through, but thinner metal is pretty much doomed. I had some rust spots on the body of my old car that didn't look that bad, but when I sanded the rust off, they turned into holes because the body metal is thin. If I was buying that car, I think I would be concerned - for not really knowing how bad that rust is - but perhaps you could ask for a price cut because of it, and it might be just fine for a long time. Somebody else should weigh in on this, because like I said, I don't think I know enough about this to give good advice.

I have a '94 Lexus SC300 and I'm missing the master key, but I noticed that the key that I do have has a button to unlock the doors remotely. It didn't work, so I replaced the battery, but it still doesn't work. I tried turning on the switch under the dashboard, but it still does nothing. I don't really want to go to a dealer to get a master key if I can help it, so is there something special I can do to get the valet key to remotely unlock the doors? I finally managed to get the trunk to open a few hours ago by taking apart the dash and pressing the secret button. I'm hoping there is a secret button for this one, too.

When I saw the ad for the car on Craigslist, I had a feeling that it was going to be "the one". It is a pretty sweet looking car. Wow, 17 years? I wish I could have stayed with my Acura for that long, but I've only had it since 2009. Maybe I'll have the SC300 for that long. Why did you have to sell your old car?

Hi! Not ready to be SCMichelle yet because I'm missing my TL, but maybe that will change once I register the SC300. :) I'm waiting for the beginning of the month. Here's a picture of the SC300 the day after I got it. It came with free snow on the hood, haha.