New 2000 Es300 Owner Here. New Engine And Aux Input Mod

[stapuff]

I bought a 2000 ES300 on Dec 27, 2006 from a used car place here in atlanta, and after I bought it, I took a road trip up to nashville, and sludge killed the engine about 60 miles from nashville. I had heard nothing about the sludge issue at that time so was very worried. After I got the car back to atlanta, I heard about Lexus replacing these engines for free. So I tow the car to the dealer, have them look at it, and get a new engine after a few weeks for only the cost of the timing belt, water pump and a few other things $408. So now the car is awesome, and my biggest concern now is properly breaking in the engine.

I also got a sirius radio for the car and did some research on aux input options. I decided to give an idea of mine a try, using a 4PDT relay to switch the audio between the CD changer and the Sirius unit. I used a small switch to send 12v to the relay to switch the R+,R-,L+, and L- lines from the cd changer to the Sirius unit. It works ok, but as I have noticed with earlier implementations of using aux inputs (kenwood cd changer port), the line level is lower than it should be. I should build a preamplifier for the Sirius line out to get it to a suitable level comparable to the cd changer.

Just wanted to share my experiences, say hello, and talk a bit about breaking in new engines, aux input options and anything else.