Es300 Maintenance

[cdrager]

Hi!

I have a certified '97 ES300, and it's just about out of the certification period--which means I'll start performing the maintenance myself.

Any recommendations on service books? Amazon has the Camry/ES300 Haynes book for @15, but I'm not sure that book has the complete maintenance schedule. One of the things I'm looking for is the complete maint. schedule, as the only document of that type that I got with my car was put together by the dealer, and it's an over-kill maintenance plan that include oil changes every 3350 miles--plus it only goes ot 60,000 miles.

Speaking of 60k miles, what's the recommended interval for timing belt changes. On my Miata, it's 60k--except in CA, where it's 90k!

One last question: I'm taking the car in for one last visit to the dealer within the certification warranty period. This visit is for the 45K service, which I'll pay for of course, but I also have a non-working passenger seat heater that I'm hoping will be fixed under the certification warranty. I've checked on that likelihood with both the dealer and "Lexus Central," and their response has been: "We'll have to look at the problem and let you know." That seems pretty wishy-washy to me, so any thoughts or similar experiences to share from anyone?

Thanks for any advice!

Chris

[steviej]

The warranty is bumper to bumper so push it. Use the customer satisfaction angle. The should take care of it, ask to spead with the service manager and general manager if you have too.

timing belts should be replaced about 90k miles.

There is nothing like a factory service manual if you can afford it. Check Ebay, sometimes these factory manual pop up there. I don't have any experiecne with the CD manuals on ebay, but have heard they are just a compilation of PDF files.

The Hayes or chilton manual are a good investment for short money.

steviej

[gbhrps]

I bought the actual Lexus manual for my wife's 97, and its a Godsend. If you can get one, bite fast. My local Toyota dealer (the Lexus dealership is 100 miles away) says that the only real problem they have experienced that is noteworthy, because it had them baffled (and at the time that they had only serviced the few Lexus cars that they brought for leasing, as they aren't a Lexus dealer), was the seat heater in an ES 300. Other than that, they said that an ES 300 was bulletproof. I would not sign off on your seat heater problem without satisfaction. It appears to be a reaccurring problem?

[cdrager]

Thanks for the replies! I'm going to hang tough on the seat heater, as Lexus did pick up the tab for the driver's side, which crapped out at 40,000--and now the passenger side is dead at 44,000.