tckcumming

My '92 and '93 ES300's both had this same problem. The "grinding" sound occurred when the accelerator was pressed while the car was in motion on the road, steering straight ahead. My sound occurs at around 3000 rpm or so, on acceleration. I spent a lot of time and effort diagnosing this problem with my '92. CV joints, transmission, motor mounts, exhaust - all checked out perfectly OK. It turned out to be caused by a stamped steel "dust shield" mounted between the engine block and the transmission. Corrosion and road grime cause the shield to lift slightly, and then it contacts the spinning flywheel. The teeth of the ring gear just barely touch the edges of the shield under just the right conditions and RPM, causing the noise. I had the problem corrected on my '92. The transmission has to come out and a new dust shield installed. The part is cheap (it's just a stamped steel piece), but labour is expen$$ive! Once the repair is done, you can be sure that it will eventually re-occur since problem that caused it in the first place is still the same. I just put up with the sound in my '93. It doesn't cause any damage to leave it - it's just annoying. My sound seems to have gotten better lately... or maybe I'm just getting better at ignoring it!

By the way... Thanks for the photo, skperformance. Bee-oo-tee-full!! :P The car's not bad, either!

Hello all, Thanks for the info. Sunny, bright day yesterday (for a change!), so I checked my HVAC for errors... none. I didn't know my car had a solar sensor. I guess it's working OK. This forum is a great resource, especially for those of us who have older cars and like to do some of our own maintenance and repair work. Thanks to all who contribute!

* '93 ES300 * 1 previous owner * purchased in 1998, it had ~ 45,000 KM (27,000 miles) when I got it (still had that new car smell!), I paid around $20K CDN - I traded my tired '92 ES300 + cash on this one. * purchased @ Tony Graham Lexus in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. * It has 165,000 KM (102,000 miles, more or less) This is my second ES300. My first, a '92, had a lot of miles on it when I bought it in '94 - so it was quite cheap initially. My present one, a '93, was on the dealer lot when I had my '92 in for service one day. Took a test drive - made a deal to trade. This one was like new when I got it. Dark green metallic, black leather interior, CD changer and all the other Lexus "goodies". This car has been awesome, very reliable, comfortable, and great for long trips. It has been to South Carolina a couple of times, to PEI, and made many long boring cruises down the 401 between Montreal and Windsor. As an ES300 owner for more than 10 years, I have seen some common problems crop up on both my cars. They occured at similar mileages, too. Here's a short list of some maintenace items I've encountered: - Gauge needles burning out. I know "they all do that", but I still find it annoying that Lexus persisted with this flawed system for so long. The dash really looks impressive when you first start the car - but you're soon looking at flickering, hard to read gauges every time you drive the car. - An alarming "grinding" noise when accelerating on the highway. Sounds like your transmission is about to fail, very disturbing. I spent a lot of time and money trying to find out what the problem was on my first ES300, I thought it was a serious transmission problem (the dealer did, too). It's actually a dust shield between the trans and the engine block contacting the ring gear on the flywheel. The transmission has to come out of the car to fix it... and the problem will re-occur anyway. The area of contact is very small and doesn't do any damage if left alone, which is what I have done with my present Lexus. In my opinion, this is a design fault that Lexus should have corrected - but they don't want to hear about it. - Front exhaust pipe failure at around 150,000KM. One of the flex joints in the front pipe fails. The entire front exhaust pipe, from both banks of cylinders, must be replaced at a cost of around $600 CDN. The flex joint alone can't be repaired. I expect to have to replace exhaust components in any car at some point, but t seems a shame to have to scrap a perfectly good exhaust pipe just to replace a failed flex joint. The rest of the exhaust system seems very robust, no other problems with exhaust on either of my cars. - Brakes. Again, I expect to replace brake components since they are by their nature "consumable" items. They work by generating heat and wearing away. But rear brakes in particular have needed far too much attention, IMHO. The shoes in the handbrake system are outrageously expensive for what they do. In fact, dealer cost on brake components and labour to change them is really out of line, again IMHO. I wrote Lexus a letter on this subject after my last brake job, done at a Lexus dealer for $1700 CDN - and that did not include repairing the handbrake. The estimate for that was an additional $600, which I passed on. If your brakes need attention, go to an independent shop for an estimate before laying out big ca$h to the dealer for brake repairs. Come to think of it - that's good advice for any kind of maintenance. - Power antenna problems. In short - expect it to break from time to time. Dealer wanted $350 to fix it (replace the entire power unit). I bought an antenna mast from a Toyota dealer for $45 CDN and did it myself. Some dealers will tell you the Toyota antenna won't work - but it will. This one fit my '93 ES300: Part # 86337-06010 for Camry V6 (same year). It will probably work fine for any '92 - '96 ES300. I had to cut about 5 or 6" off the end of the plastic that retracts into the motor so the antenna would go down all the way. Very easy to do. - Tire wear. The rear tires on both my cars wear more on the outside edges of the tread than the insides (or is it the other way around? don't remember...). Yes, I have checked alignment (many times), rotated tires, tried different brands of tire, etc. etc. It seems that "they all do that". Other than these items, both my ES300's have been quite trouble free. I would buy another one, except that I will keep my green '93 until it totally falls apart. I have to replace rear struts and the rubber boots that protect them soon. Two dealers quoted prices of $175 - $195 CDN for each strut, $70 for each boot, plus labour to install, plus tax, plus, plus, etc. I called Autopak (an auto parts supplier in Canada, they can supply rear struts for $78. Boots are $22 per side. I'll buy them later this week & post a "review" of the cheaper parts on the message board. I will also need a new radiator soon... more adventures in car maintenance to follow! Tim...

Oh, and by the way... When you are putting the door panel back on, be sure that: 1. the window is down all the way before you start 2. reattach the top of the panel first. There are three or four metal clips attached to the door at the top - make sure the door panel is hung over these clips, wiggle it around until it is in place - then replace the screws and pop in the plastic clips. If you do it this way, it takes about two miutes - very easy. Tim...

Good evening, I have a '93 ES300 - speakers are the same as yours, I'm guessing. I just replaced a door speaker in mine. The easiest way to remove the speaker is to remove the entire plastic housing. Unclip all the wire connectors on the speaker housing (there are 2, if I recall...) and remove the screws that hold the platic housing to the door. I think there are 4 screws. The entire housing, speaker and all, pops right out. You don't have to remove the plastic ring from the speaker unless you want to separate the speaker and the housing. By the way, I considered replacing my factory speakers with aftermarket ones too. My left door woofer blew, I figured it was a good time to "upgrade". I did a lot of research, to make a long story short... I replaced my factory speaker with a new stock one from the Lexus dealer. According to my sources you have to replace the entire stereo system in your Lexus - new amp, wiring, speakers, maybe even a new head unit - to really notice a huge difference in sound. I wasn't ready to go that route. Once I put the new speaker in place and buttoned everything back up, the sound was awesome. My old speaker must have been slowly degenerating before it finally blew, replacing it made a huge difference. One mod I am considering is putting a powered subwoofer in the trunk. Pretty easy to do, it will add a bit of "punch" to the already excellent sound from the standard system. The factory speaker cost $175 CDN - not cheap, but a lot less than a new stereo system. The new speaker came mounted in a new plastic enclosure - pop it in, 4 screws, plug in the connector - done. Just my opinion, for what it's worth. Tim...

I'll look for the estimate I got from the A/C shop & post the price when I find it. I remember that it struck me as quite reasonable, very "do-able" as an alternative to patching up the system and refilling with R-12. Thanks to all for the comments, especially nice to hear from fellow owners who have made a similar modification. I have a few upcoming maintenance "issues" that I plan to tackle myself, I'll be looking for more advice for sure. I'll also post my experiences here for others to read, if they're interested. Tim...

My local auto air conditioning shop has recommended that I convert my '93 es300 A/C system from R-12 to R-134 refrigerant. My HVAC system is working fine now, the only (minor) issue is that sometimes the A/C takes a while to cool the car down on a hot day. On other, similarly hot days it cools down much more quickly. Once the interior is cool, it stays that way. The guys at the A/C shop said it probably just needs some refrigerant added, pressure checks, etc. I will be taking it in this fall - when the weather is cooler - to have it serviced. It has never (to my knowledge) been serviced before. They said that it would be a good time to convert from R-12 since the car will be in their shop anyway - I can spend my money adding (expensive) R-12 and having all the old components checked, or just go ahead and have the seals and other associated bits and pieces replaced and the system charged with new R-134. They said they have done refrigerant conversions on lots of "older" cars, the conversion makes the A/C easier (and cheaper) to service in the future (according to them). I can't remember the price they quoted - but it seemed pretty reasonable, considering that they need to replace some parts and seals, etc. Anyone have experience with this? Your input and advice will be most appreciated. Thanks!!

Good morning, I'm new to this forum... lots of useful info here, very much appreciated. My car: '93 ES300 I read the FAQ for es300/330, tried this suggestion: "You can do a diagnostic on the hvac system by pressing the auto button and the recirc button at the same time then turning the key to on it will display any trouble codes if present ( post if it does and i will tell you what it means)" The HVAC display on my car flashes when I do this, and the number 21 appears on the left side of the display. Is this an error code? What does it mean? The HVAC system seems to be working OK. I also have a question about converting from R-12 refrigerant - I'll do a separate post for that. Thanks in advance.