Snowman9000

Lexus employed special hinges on the SC to open the door up wide for easy in/out. The downside is that they are known to wear out or break and let the door sag. You are probably seeing that. The repair is a couple hundred bucks for parts alone, I believe I read. But also, there is some backyard fix involving welding. I have not had this problem myself.

I am new to the world of Lexus and I have formed an opinion that my SC300 is a wonderful "driving machine" but I do get pee'd off at the common failures. I too think they are quite common in fact. I think Lexus told its engineers to use a clean sheet of paper and they used some "cool" electrical things that were (obviously) not proven. I would not pay much for a salvage yard gauge set. After all, it's as likely as yours to be messed up. For discounted new parts, try www.irontoad.com I have used them for a few parts already and their prices are quite good and the service is excellent.

One more thing. Lay some masking tape onto the front bumper right under the light, before you remove the light. Removal is pretty easy, but you need to protect the bumper from scratching because you have to pry/persuade the assembly out over the bumper. -Don M

{Please see the FAQ} - AWJ The above link will take you to some good discussions on the subject. In summary, if your lens insides are not dirty, you can just dry out the lights and reseal the leaky top seam. That seems to be where the water gets in. I just did it to one of mine after the first rain I experienced in my new 92 SC300. I removed the light housing, placed it "holes down" over a floor air register in my house for a day to dry it out, then sealed the top seam above the parking light side. There is a low spot there in the seam and mine showed cracks in the sealant. You are sealing the seam where the black plastic rear housing meets the lens assembly. I used hardware store exterior 100% silicone "door & window" caulk, because I had some in the garage. It seems to have worked. Although it only appeared to be condensation, there was actually an ounce or more of rainwater inside the housing. There is debate about whether or not to drill a 1/8" hole into the lens under the lower corners. Personally it looks easy and could be effective. Several people that have done it swear by it. Others that have not done it tell you not to. I guess I believe those that have done it versus those that have not. But I did not do it as it does not seem to be needed yet in my case. If you let it go, eventually your lenses get dirty inside. If that is the case, you can read the threads and find the procedure for warming the assembly in an oven for a few minutes, which looses the factory sealant goop. Then you pry the black housing off, clean things up, then re-seal and reassemble. I have no experience with that. Hope this answers your question. :D -Don M