lazycreeks

This is my fix - '92 ES300 The driver’s side mirror swings back and forth and will not remain in the detent where it used to firmly rest. Inside the mirror housing, a “U” shaped clip that kept a spring compressed enough to hold the mirror in place worked its way out of place. The plastic cover is too small to allow compressing the spring and reattaching the “U” clip. I finally discovered a very inexpensive fix. I bought a square piece of rubber about 5” x 5” from a crafts & hobbies store. This flexible piece of rubber is about 1/8” thick. With common scissors, I cut a square about 1.5” x 1.5”. Swinging the mirror fully toward the front of the car, I placed the rubber square in the vertical gap between the body of the mirror and the base that attaches to the car door. Then pulling the mirror backward towards its proper position drew the rubber square fully into the gap, holding the mirror firmly in place. No tools, and it holds like it did when it was new. You can still adjust the mirror forward and back, and I can’t even see the reddish rubber square. What a laugher, especially since I have agonized for so long about fixing this problem without spending a small fortune. Just make sure the thickness of the rubber is just slightly thicker than the gap between your mirror housing and the part that attaches to your door. Probably simple garden hose washer would work too. Whatever works for the driver’s side mirror will certainly work on the passenger’s side mirror too. Hope this helps

Dollars to donuts it's coming either from a valve cover gasket or the new rear main seal. When the engine runs, a small amount of oil is escaping onto the hot engine block, probably from the back of the engine. By the time you stop and get the lid up, it's vaporized. If left long enough, I think progressively more and more oil will escape such that you'd see it. I've experienced this same phenom after DEALER-performed maintenance that you described. After they fix their sloppy work, look for a new mechanic. Best to you

My daughter borrowed my '92 ES300 and left an unopened can of Coke in the beverage holders. Returning a few hours later, the extreme summer heat exploded the Coke and splattered sticky pop all over my AC/heat louvered vent above, all over the climate control, and the radio. After several months, I still can't move the louvers to direct the flow of AC/heat. Need to remove the center louvered vent to clean and repair broken (frozen) slats. Any advice as to how to remove this vent? It's NOT part of the center console. Thanks

You might save yourself some time, money, and agony muckin' about swapping out an unknown cluster when there is a great source for new needles and backlighting for the Lexus dash cluster gauges. Check out Lextech Lighting. Pick your choice of needle colors, backlighting colors, etc. I've used the same guys twice now in 12 years. Needle set runs about $100 and backlighting around $30. You pull out the cluster and send it to them. Turnatound time is about 5 days. AND, you don't have to dis-assemble the cluster. Cluster will be better than new because they replace with LEDs that are bright and last "forever". Worth checking out before you find yourself knee deep in wires and needing a big shoehorn to get the foreign cluster into a very small, tightly designed space. http://www.lextech.org/osCommerce/ Best of luck