Tells Us About Your Car And Its Mods Or Problems

[pennce]

New to the forum and to the toyota/lexus community about a year ago.

I imported a 1994 Toyota Aristo 3.0V in near mint condition and only 40k Miles. 

Interior needed a little bit of work, one ot the side panels had to be replaced so I sourced one from a junkyark and switched my fabric over turning out quite nice I think. And my drivers side floor mat had a large stain that ended up coming out with lots of aggressive scrubbing.

Engine and transmission were issue free, except some oil changes for the sake of keeping the car current and up to date on maintenance.

Suspension is Tein coilovers that were sitting a bit low for the area I live in, so I raised the suspension about an inch and then got the alignment just right.

Replaced the front and rear brake rotors, pads were basically new but rotors were worn and a bit pitted from long term storage.

Some elbow grease and hard work has resulted in a car thats been an absolute pleasure to drive for several thousand miles across several states and into Canada on vacation. Boarder Patrol didnt give me a fit but sure was surprised to be talking to my wife/passenger at the checkpoint instead of me. Definitely the most comfortable car I have ever owned or cruised in, with plenty of power to boot from the twin turbo engine.

Doesnt seem like this thread gets updated very often, but I am happy to be here and possibly contribute some mechanical help or import help to anyone of need. 

[ImRiptide]

GS300 2003 Black, One other owner 

bought for $4100 In Pompano Beach Florida

Have had the car for 76 days now and these are the things ive done so far

A/C compressor, Blacked out the Grill, Cut the front rotors, and thats about it

Zero mods the car is completely stock 190,000k miles i got it past 190k on the way home from buying it.

This is my first car, and daily. The center console wont stay closed and the rims are so ugly Im thinking newer Lexus rims to replace these 20 inch monsters. 

turbo a 190k gs 2jz??

 

 

[Peanutbutterguts]

I own ‘03 GS 300 SE...many things changed including an engine.  Car is running rough with a flashing CEL.  Code coming up as injector issue.  Not sure what else to do.  Been advised to get rid of it but I live my car.  Thoughts???

[Bykfixer]

After restoring a Prelude SH stem to stern I'm about to embark on an 04 black n tan 300 that has battery drain issues coming from a door light activator, and the cd player. The fuel pump was replaced at 250k. It has a few scratches and a slight oil leak at the top of the timing belt cover area. 

I learned the Honda way and now look forward to learning how Toyota differs in engineering and build methods. Plans are to generally keep it stock with a few minor tweaks as I learn how to. 

Thanks for reading. 

 

[Gs400DTX]

Hey everyone. I got a 2000 GS400 i got for $500. I took it park place lexus to get it looked at and they told me i need a new transmission because the transmission oil pan seal is leaking. Is that true? If so where can i get a good transmission at? Or am i able to reseal it. The tech said it better for me to get a new trans because i will have issues with the transmission after replenishing fresh fluid in an old automatic transmission – they tend to start slipping.
please help and thank you.

[Lexus Owners Club]

On 3/22/2021 at 12:41 AM, Gs400DTX said:

Hey everyone. I got a 2000 GS400 i got for $500. I took it park place lexus to get it looked at and they told me i need a new transmission because the transmission oil pan seal is leaking. Is that true? If so where can i get a good transmission at? Or am i able to reseal it. The tech said it better for me to get a new trans because i will have issues with the transmission after replenishing fresh fluid in an old automatic transmission – they tend to start slipping.
please help and thank you.

You should be able to replace the pan gasket and fluid and filter and this shouldn't lead to slipping.
Certainly worth a try for the limited cost involved

[Crash138]

Hello, new member here, just bought a silver 04 GS300 with the Mark Levinson sound system for $3000.  It has 182k, just had the timing belt, brake booster and door locks replaced at a lexus dealer by the previous owner and then got stuck in a hail storm damaging the roof and hood.  They took the insurance money and put it up for sale, I already sourced a color matched hood, and will fix the roof myself if I ever need to take the headliner out for the moonroof.  Other than that the only problem I have noticed is a hesitation in acceleration when at a stop and turning.  doesnt do this when going straight, at least not yet, which perplexes me because my initial assumption was fuel pump or dirty fuel sock, since the tank is full.  Im a Pontiac guy, mostly any generation of Trans Am, so this is my first Toyota family experience.  Naturally I wanted the 2JZ experience, but with the 13 vehicles I currently own, none of them are a big plush car so that was my reasoning for the GS.  Im a little underwhelmed by its acceleration, and Im also an idiot, so naturally im looking to turbo, bigger brakes, coil overs, wheels and tires and any other mods that will make it more fun at a reasonable price.  So other than the help with the hesitation issue, I was hoping to find some sticky threads on here about the CXRacing turbo kit which seems a helluva lot cheaper than a TT Aristo swap, though I seem to have read my stock tranny wont do well with over 350 RWHP so Ill need an aristo tranny for around 500RWHP.  Im interested in possible a toyota parts bin upgrade on brakes if possible, maybe the 400 has bigger brakes? or LS or supra parts swap over?  Interested in opinions on coil overs, specifically the ones to avoid, best bang for buck set, I need tires so ive already kind of settled on some 18x8.5s with a 35mm offset at all 4 corners, daily driver so rotation of tires is important to me, OH! and my AC works but doesnt blow through the middle vents, which hopefully is a ducting disconnect issue that can be easily fixed, or if its a problem with the touch screen HVAC controls I have seen some tesla type 12" screen mods for the car that might fix that hopefully, as that would be something Id be interested in doing.  Any help or pointing to the right direction would be greatly appreciated, or even a "dont be stupid and do that" would work, hahaha... thanks in advance

[Crash138]

On 3/21/2021 at 7:41 PM, Gs400DTX said:

Hey everyone. I got a 2000 GS400 i got for $500. I took it park place lexus to get it looked at and they told me i need a new transmission because the transmission oil pan seal is leaking. Is that true? If so where can i get a good transmission at? Or am i able to reseal it. The tech said it better for me to get a new trans because i will have issues with the transmission after replenishing fresh fluid in an old automatic transmission – they tend to start slipping.
please help and thank you.

Ive heard this a thousand times and never believed it until I changed the filter on a 2000 nissan frontier and it started slipping immeadiately afterwards.  So it is possible once you change the fluid (and change the filter while youre there with the pan off)  that it could start slipping.  HOWEVER, until it starts slipping ignore that mechanic.  If you fiill the fluid before driving and it doesnt slip, this is a non issue in my book.  BUT if you have been driving it with low fluid the damage is already done and you will be living on borrowed time.  Either way, unless you just have money to throw at it, you dont rebuild a tranny until you need to rebuild a tranny.

[Bykfixer]

My latest little mod was to add a Hot Wheels sticker

 

[Jason94]

Hi there I’ve just bought a 1999 Lexus GS 300 sport and it’s battery was flat so I ve since then put a new battery in the car now I’ve no power inside the car whatsoever electric windows,sunroof,dashboard light, stereo isn’t working now, and the car won’t turn off the immobiliser won’t turn off for the engine to start any help will be much appreciated, thanks 😊 

[Bykfixer]

The way Toyota laid out the cables for the battery versus a battery, in many, many, many cases the user accidently hooks the cables on backwards. Seems like a "duh" to get it correct yet it happens pretty frequently. 

If you did that you've blown a bunch of fuses. When my son did it his car was completely dead but as he changed fuses some things began working. Until he changed out a blown main fuse under the hood the car was not driveable. 

In his case ironically the fuel pump konked out too so once the electrical stuff was repaired then the fuel pump quit so when that was replaced all was right with the car. 

It's my car now and is the one shown in this thread. Hope you get yours fixed soon. 

[Bykfixer]

After sitting for about a year with a dead battery I swapped in a new one recently. I took a red sharpie with me to the parts store and before loading it into the car I drove to acquire said battery colored the top of the + post red. 

When removing the dead battery from the car I colored a sizeable portion of the + terminal on the cable red. Note the little red cover can slide down the cable and be out of eyesight when hooking up the cable.
 

I set the new battery into its hole and noticed right away the red top battery post was on the - side of the cavity. How did I know that? Well, because the terminal of the cable closest to the red post was not also red colored. Had I not colored it with a sharpie I may have hooked it up backwards too.

Such an easy mistake to make that ends up causing lots of aggrevation swapping fuses after. I suppose I could say the so-called mod is those red colored areas on the battery to thwart accidental backward install. 

[BeeBee88]

I have a 94 gs300 and I love it. Only drove it for 6 months and transmission slipping it’s been sitting for a year in my dad’s backyard; NOBODY wants to help me fix it! 
3 previous owners but remained in the same family; has 20” chrome rims on low profile tires, paid $2200 cash for it. 
Engine is the 2JZ which is still in perfect condition… really wish I could fix or trade or SOMETHING! Not ready to consider it a loss yet. Please help! 
 Only other things done was I think my brother did a complete tranny flush when I told him NOT TO, replaced front driver side ball joint; cotter pin came out twice while I was driving, lucky I wasn’t going fast so  didn’t really hurt anything. Just had to jack it up till it was delivered. 
Started overheating, changed thermostat  and fixed that.

Then somehow got a hairline crack in the radiator, ordered new one, replaced it myself.

that’s my brother in the picture I bought it from him right after this picture was taken

Edited January 19 by BeeBee88