amf1932

I noticed that when I start my car in below freezing temperatures and then shift into drive or reverse the first time, the transmission seems to slip(RPM increases with very little pulling power). This only happens once and then every shift afterwards is absolutely fine. I might add that my '07 ES350 has about 15,000 miles. Any ideas? :(

I tried that, but it's too soft to work with. heehee

Well then......I'm going to sculp one out of a big block of 14K gold.

Same to you.

I sorta realize that, but I think that the manufacturers of diecast models missed the boat in this respect. I'm sure that most all members of Lexus message boards that own ES350's would love to buy one.

I have been looking for years for a high quality diecast ES350('07 to '11)to add to my collection without any luck. A prize will be awarded for the first guy/gal who finds me one. :)

I have used 87 octane gas with absolutely NO problems. Try a few tank fulls and get back to me with your results. Heres what it says in the Owners Manual:

Never mind, I found somebody else to wash my car.

Hey Lexir.....Ya gotta wait in line........I was first. :chairshot:

OK Steve.......the next time I drive down to Gaithersburg I'll let you show me how you do it, but you have to do it on my car. LOL :P

So, then what does this mean: "2010CY Lexus Hard Drive Navigation Update - Dealership installation only - Designed as a one-time use only."? I figure you can buy it from Sewell, but you still have to take your car to your own Lexus dealer to do this install. :whistles:

Automatic/drive-through car washes are more popular than ever because they save time and hassle. But are automatic car washes safe for your car? In fact, in many instances, they are the "safest" course of action for many car owners who want to keep their car clean. In fact, automatic car washes can be safer for your car's finish than washing your car yourself because do-it-yourselfers sometimes don't use enough water to safely remove dirt; or they wash the car in direct sunlight -- which can burn spots in the paint. Or they use the wrong type of soap -- such as dishwashing detergent, which removes protective wax and leaves a chalky residue on the finish. Or any one of several common mistakes can end up doing more harm than good. Keeping your car clean and the finish looking good can also mean higher resale value when it comes time to get a new car All else being equal, a car with faded paint and a dingy overall look sells for 10-20 percent less than an otherwise identical vehicle that just looks nicer. So how often should you have your vehicle washed? That depends on how quickly it gets dirty -- and how dirty it gets. For some cars, once a month or so is sufficient -- especially if the car is lightly used and kept in a garage. But some cars will need a bath more often -- especially those that are parked outdoors where they're exposed to bird droppings, tree sap and so on, or driven in areas with very long/severe winters, where the roads are salted when it snows. Here are a few important things to keep in mind when it comes to automatic car washes: Be sure it's "brushless" -- Some older car washes still use abrasive brushes (instead of cloth), which can leave small scratches in a car's finish. On older cars with so-called "single stage" paint jobs, light scratches could usually be buffed out; but all modern cars use a "base/clear" system with a thin, transparent layer of clear coat on top of the underlying color coat to provide the shine. Once the thin clear coat is damaged, often the only way to restore the shine is to repaint the damaged area. Another safe bet is "touchless" car washes that use only high-pressure water jets and detergents to clean the car -- without physically touching it at all. There is virtually no chance of your vehicle suffering any cosmetic damage this way. Some areas have "self-service" coin-operated hand washes, which are great for spraying away heavy dirt buildup. You'll usually need to bring your own bucket, wash cloth/sponge and dry towels, though. Watch out for the after-wash wipe-down -- Most drive-through washes use a strong jet of heated air to force excess water off after the car goes through the wash. Many full-service car washes will then have you drive the car (or drive it for you, in some cases) away from the wash area to be hand-wiped by attendants. This is usually OK -- provided the attendants are using fresh, clean (and soft) towels to do so. Be alert on busy days, when lots of other cars have gone ahead of you. If you see the attendants using obviously dirty old rags to wipe the car down, you should say "thanks, but no thanks" -- and drive away wet. Dirt and other abrasives in the rags can scratch the finish just like sandpaper. Simply driving away from the wash and letting air flow over the car to dry any remaining water won't hurt anything -- and is the best guarantee of a no-damage experience. Any lingering streaks can easily be cleaned up at home yourself using readily available spray cleaners designed for just this purpose. (Honda Pro Spray Cleaner & Polish is excellent for this; it also provides UV protection and easily and safely cleans off bugs, tar and road grime, etc. without water.) Hold off on the extras -- A "works" car wash can cost twice as much as the basic wash, but you may not be getting twice the wash for your money. Undercarriage rustproofing, for example, is of dubious value. Effective rustproofing is applied to brand-new metal, in order to seal it from contact with external corrosives such as road salt. Most new cars are extensively rustproofed at the factory during the assembly process; further "treatment" is superfluous -- and a money-waster. On the other hand, if the wash offers an undercarriage bath, it may be worth the additional cost. Jets of water sprayed directly underneath the car can break loose accumulated crud that would be difficult (and unpleasant) to try to remove yourself using a garden hose. It's also important that underbody drainage holes not be obstructed by mud and other buildup; accumulated moisture can accelerate rust or (in the case of the air conditioning system) lead to the formation of mold in the system. The undercarriage bath should help keep those drain holes clear. Do, however, think twice about spray-on wax. This typically adds at least a couple bucks to the cost of the wash and while it doesn't hurt anything, it's no substitute for hand-applied polish/wax. Spray-on "wax" may provide a short-term gloss enhancement, but doesn't protect against UV sun damage the way hand-applied wax does. Ditto the cost of having an attendant spray Armor All (or a similar protectant) on your tires to make them shiny. The cost for this extra can be equivalent to the cost of buying an entire bottle of the stuff on your own. Wheel and tire cleaning is an exception; the heavy-duty cleaners used by the car wash do a great job of removing baked-on brake dust, etc., that can otherwise be a real chore to clean on your own, using over-the-counter cleaners, a hand brush and a hose. It's especially important to keep aluminum alloy wheels clean; brake dust can eventually permanently stain them if it's not regularly cleaned away. Finally: Make sure your car's OK before you leave -- While many car washes will have a disclaimer posted that they are "not responsible for any damages that may occur" as a result of running your car through their wash, that doesn't mean you should automatically absolve them of any damage their equipment or personnel may have caused. If you notice something, ask to see the manager and point it out to him; whether "legally liable" or not, he may offer to fix the problem in the interest of customer relations. And even if he does not, you can still pursue the matter with a higher-up (such as the company headquarters, if the wash is a franchise, as many associated with big-name gas stations often are). If you have a cell phone with a camera, use it to take a photo of the damage in order to support your claim. And it ought to go without saying that you should never leave your purse or other valuables in the car if you use a wash where an attendant will have access to the vehicle's interior.

Actually, the only time I had the light illuminate on the dashboard was after I owned my car for a few years. Up until that time I didn't bother to check the spare tire inflation. Sure enough, when I inflated the spare tire, the dashboard light went out. It works this way.......if 1 tire inflation is lower, by a certain percentage than the others, it'll trigger the dashboard light.

Yes. The system in all the ES350's with a full size spare monitors ALL 5 tires.

LOL

The DVD is the exact same price as the upgrade used in your car at the Lexus dealer. The price was dropped for the DVD a while ago. :)

Your navigation uses "flash drive" type and need security code. Only dealer can do this.

They think we all are willing to pay extra for the best performance, which is why we bought a Lexus...and not a Toyota. As I mentioned in previous posts that on my previous ES models that I have owned I started to use premium fuel than switched to regular grade. In all these cars I didn't notice any performance changes, pre-ignition, and no changes in fuel mileage. My 0-60 acceleration was absolutely imperceptible. http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/premium/questions.html#4

So, in other words you have to bring your car to a Lexus dealer to do this update? If so, that means you have to spend FULL price!!! :whistles:

Yup, the geezer is back........I finally got my computer working again. :)

A great pictorial how Lexus manufacturers the wooden steering wheels. My link

I definitely agree with what you said. As far as disconnecting the battery to reset the computer, I doubt that this will correct this problem. Besides, doing this will also lose your radio pre-sets, clock, and possibly the seat and side view mirrors memory. If the dealer still insists that this is normal(It's NOT), than your recourse is to call Lexus Corporation to escalate this situation.

Hey Steve- That's great! Knowing you for all these years I'm glad you finally bit the bullet. I'm still driving my old '07ES which on this date turned 13K miles on the ODO....I do most of my driving around town with my wifes Corolla(easier to park). When ever I travel long distances I rent a car....that's the reason my ES has such low mileage. Still drives and looks like new. Getting back to your new baby......you have to admit that the tranny shifting is a helluva lot better than your '03. Congratulations, Alan

If the blades are in the summer position(almost hidden by the hood), then you have to give a firm tug on the arm into the upward position. Don't grab the blade itself, but position your hands on the area where the blade is afixed to the arm. You will hear a click when the repositioning is correct. To once again position the blades to the summer position, just push down on the arm.

TOKYO — Feeling her Toyota Mark X station wagon lurch forward at a busy intersection, Masako Sakai slammed on the brakes. But the pedal “had gone limp,” she said. Downshifting didn’t seem to work either. Masako Sakai, 64, in Tokyo, where she said her Toyota suddenly accelerated before hitting two other vehicles and injuring three people. She said Toyota was not interested in her complaint. Fumio Matsuda, a Japanese consumer advocate. He said Japanese authorities saw consumer activists as dangerous. “I tried everything I could think of,” Mrs. Sakai, 64, said, as she recently recalled the accident that happened six months ago. Her car surged forward nearly 3,000 feet before slamming into a Mercedes Benz and a taxi, injuring drivers in both those vehicles and breaking Mrs. Sakai’s collarbone. As shaken as she was by the accident, Mrs. Sakai says she was even more surprised by what happened after. She says that Toyota — from her dealer to headquarters — has not responded to her inquiries, and Japanese authorities have been indifferent to her concerns as a consumer. Mrs. Sakai says the Tokyo Metropolitan Police urged her to sign a statement saying that she pressed the accelerator by mistake — something she strongly denies. She says the police told her she could have her damaged car back to get it repaired if she made that admission. She declined. The police say it was a misunderstanding and that they kept her car to carry out their investigation. But veterans of Japan’s moribund consumer rights movement say that Mrs. Sakai, like many Japanese, is the victim of a Japanese establishment that values Japanese business over Japanese consumers, and the lack of consumer protections here. “In Japan, there is a phrase: if something smells, put a lid on it,” said Shunkichi Takayama, a Tokyo-based lawyer who has handled complaints related to Toyota vehicles. Toyota has recalled eight million cars outside Japan because of unexpected acceleration and other problems, but has insisted that there are no systemic problems with its cars sold in Japan. The company recalled the Prius for a brake problem earlier this year. Critics say many companies benefit from Japan’s weak consumer protections. (The country has only one full-time automobile recall investigator, supported by 15 others on limited contracts.) In a case in the food industry, a meat processor called Meat Hope collapsed in 2008 after revelations that it had mixed pork, mutton and chicken bits into products falsely labeled as pure ground beef, all under the noses of food inspectors. A 2006 police inquiry into gas water heaters made by the manufacturer Paloma found that a defect had resulted in the deaths of 21 people over 10 years from carbon monoxide poisoning. Paloma initially insisted that users had tampered with the heaters’ safety device; the company ultimately admitted that the heaters were at fault — and that executives had been aware of a potential problem for more than a decade. Executives are now being charged with professional negligence, and a court verdict is due in May. When it comes to cars, the rapid growth of the auto industry here and of car ownership in the 1960s and ’70s was accompanied by a spate of fatal accidents. A consumer movement soon emerged among owners of these defective vehicles. The most active was the Japan Automobile Consumers Union, led by Fumio Matsuda, a former Nissan engineer often referred to as the Ralph Nader of Japan. But the automakers fought back with a campaign discrediting the activists as dangerous agitators. Mr. Matsuda and his lawyer were soon arrested and charged with blackmail. They fought the charges to Japan’s highest court, but lost. Now, few people are willing to take on the country’s manufacturers at the risk of arrest, Mr. Matsuda said in a recent interview. “The state sided with the automakers, not the consumers,” he said. It has become difficult for drivers to access even the most elementary data or details on incidents of auto defects, says Hiroko Isomura, an executive at the National Association of Consumer Specialists and a former adviser to the government on auto recalls. “Unfortunately, the Automobile Consumers Union was shut down,” she said. “No groups like that exist any more.” For the government to order a recall, it must prove that automobiles do not meet national safety standards, which is difficult to do without the automakers’ cooperation. Most recalls are done on a voluntary basis without government supervision. An examination of transport ministry records by The New York Times found that at least 99 incidents of unintended acceleration or surge in engine rotation had been reported in Toyotas since 2001, of which 31 resulted in some form of collision. Critics like Mr. Takayama charge that the number of reports of sudden acceleration in Japan would be bigger if not for the way many automakers in Japan, helped by reticent regulators, have kept such cases out of official statistics, and out of the public eye. In 2008, about 6,600 accidents and 30 deaths were blamed on drivers of all kinds of vehicles mistakenly pushing the accelerator instead of the brakes, according to the Tokyo-based Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis. But Mr. Takayama has long argued that number includes cases of sudden acceleration. “It has become the norm here to blame the driver in almost any circumstance,” he said. “Regulators have long accepted the automakers’ assertions at face value,” said Yukiko Seko, a retired lawmaker of the Japan Communist Party who pursued the issue in Parliament in 2002. The police strongly deny pressuring drivers to accept the blame in any automobile accident. “All investigations into auto accidents are conducted in a fair and transparent way,” the Tokyo Metropolitan Police said in response to an inquiry by The Times. Figuring out who is really to blame can be hard because of Japan’s lack of investigators. Japan’s leniency has also meant that automakers here have routinely ignored even some of the safety standards for cars sold in the United States. Until the early 1990s, Japanese cars sold domestically lacked the reinforcing bars in car walls required of all vehicles sold in the United States. Critics say skimping on safety was one way automakers generated profits in Japan to finance their export drive abroad. A handful of industry critics like Mr. Takayama and Ms. Seko have, over the years, voiced concern over cases of sudden acceleration in Toyota and other cars in Japan. Under scrutiny especially after the introduction of automatic transmission cars in the late 1980s, Toyota recalled five models because a broken solder was found in its electronics system, which could cause unintended acceleration. In 1988 the government ordered a nationwide study and tests, and urged automakers to introduce a fail-safe system to make sure the brakes always overrode the accelerator. This month, more than 20 years later, Toyota promised to install a brake override system in all its new models. Meanwhile, Toyota maintains a large share on the Japanese market, with about 30 percent. The Prius gas-electric hybrid remained the top-selling car in Japan in February despite the automaker’s global recalls, figures released Thursday showed. But Japan’s pro-industry postwar order may be changing. In 2009, in one of the last administrative moves by the outgoing government, a new consumer affairs agency was set up to better police defective products, unsafe foods and mislabeling. The new government’s transport minister, Seiji Maehara, has been outspoken against Toyota. He said last week that he would push to revamp the country’s oversight of the auto industry, including adding more safety investigators. The government has also said it was examining 38 complaints of sudden acceleration in Toyotas reported from 2007 through 2009, as well as 96 cases in cars produced by other automakers. Toyota continues to deny there are problems with unintended acceleration in Japan. “Yes, there have been incidents of unintended acceleration in Japan,” Shinichi Sasaki, Toyota’s quality chief, said at a news conference last week. “But we believe we have checked each incident and determined that there was no problem with the car,” he said. Mrs. Sakai said she has called and visited her Toyota dealer, as well as Toyota Motor itself, but has not received a response. A Toyota spokeswoman, Mieko Iwasaki, confirmed that the automaker had been contacted about complaints of a crash caused by sudden acceleration in September. She said, however, that she could not divulge details of how the company handled each case. “We are investigating the accident alongside the police, and are cooperating fully with investigations,” she said. “Anything we find, we will tell the police.”