ArmyofOne

Bah, my car has been leaking for over 50K miles, it is still fine, just leaky. as long as you stya on top of the oil level. know how much it leaks and at what pace under what conditions and add to it, its not THAT urgent fo a matter if you KEEP UP WITH IT. LOL.

now seriously, if you have the means, fix it.

HOWEVER...it should NOT cost $3350.

LCA Bushings-if they were gone you woudl know it, clunking and squeaking in the front end. these are urgent, perhaps moreso than an oil leak...if you dont fix them your steering rack and pinion and everything connected to it (tires, bearings, ball joints and even your transmission) will wear exponentially faster. so take care of that first: $500-$700 at a independant shop. (DO NOT GO TO A DEALER IF YOU CAN AVOID IT...in your area, their shop rate is WELL in excess fo $120 per hour usually).

The rear main seal should run $800-$900 to replace.

do the Timing belt and water pump now, or wait another 10K miles and have en tear it apart again. Individually, the TB/WP replacement will run between $650-$800 depending on shop. with the other fixes, it may be cheaper.

do the filter and bulbs yourself they take 10 mins each.

I was wondering how hard is it? Seems fairly easy, i was wondering how do you gap the plugs correctly? Is there a certain torque you should put on the plugs when you put the new plugs in? thanks.

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I am a human torque wrench. i can judge torque fairly accurately by hand. comes from being around cars all my life. however, i still use a TQ wrench on things like head bolts and internals, things that have to be precise.

spark plugs on an engine liek this dont have to be torqued precisely. simply put anti seize ont he plugs, gap them with a gapping tool from autozone ($1.00) and then put them in. turn lightly with little pressure until they wont turn, then give it about half a rotation of heavy pressure and you are good.

put the plug back on the wire and drive.

Synthetic oil doesn't cause leaks, it simply points out where the leaks are.

Im SO glad you added that line.

this way i can respond in the thread (i have sworn off synth vs non threads forever). Too much BS on the net.

unfortunately, it sounds like your valve covers may be leaking.

The first thing i would do though, is change the Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) valve. That probably should have been done 25K miles ago. It will cause leaks if it gets clogged.

An internal combustion engine creates pressure. (Forgive me if im talking down to you, but you havent indicated whether or not you are mechanically inclined or not, so if you are, i mean no offense by any of this). The PCV valve takes the exces oil and pressure, and puts it back through the intake system to be burned withthe gas. Unfortunately, if this valve clogs, the excess pressure cannot get though, as a result, your gaskets will begin to leak as the pressure breaches them. Usually the valve covers are the first to go. This is simply because they are closest to the valve.

the good news is, that this is a fairly straighforward fix. If you cant get it done at a shop for under $450, go to a different shop. and if you DIY, you can do it under $100, including the PCV valve.

I know i hound on this, but it really is such a simple task, and a $7.00 part.

Other possibilites are the Rear Main Seal between the engine and transaxle (transmission). unfortunately, this will run as high as $1,000 to replace at a shop, but start with the little things.

and vcv10guy is right, the Synthetic didnt cause your leak if indeed you have one. it was already there. it just didnt leak bad enough to notice until you switched.

keep the synth in there.

also, a possibility could be your camshaft and crankshaft seasl leaking. if this is the case, get that and your timing belt and water pump a litttle early, shouldnt run more than $850-$1000. this typically doest happen until 90k, but its known to happen earlier, especially if the car is older.

seals arent nessecarily affected by mileage, but my age. the get old and britle.

I'm sure the compression is fine, and if it isn't, you may as well run it hard till she dies on you. Why not enjoy it, it's not like your running twin turbo's and nitrous. There isn't much you can do without dropping big dollars. The Lexus version 3.0 is allready tuned up from Toyota.

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how do you know? the only way is to check...

thats the VERY first thing anyone should ever do to their car before thinking about engine mods, unles they plan on a rebuild anyways.

By 150,000 miles, the rings and valve seals (as well as head gaskets) may beon the downhill parts fo their life. doinga compression test will tell you if they are holding where they should or not.

if the compression is low (i believe on your engine 170ish is the low side...but dont hold me to that, mine has a lower compression than yours.) then you dont want to do much until you get that taken care of.

as a safe way to test compression, to make sure fo an accurate reading, take 5 readings, and average them out. the compression will be off a little from its previous reading.

for those tranny mounts just look for a few aftermarket part shops. i would refer you to my family's shop but i dont think im allowed to do that on here? its down in pembroke pines. also the oldest parts dealer in south florida.

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did you ever think that the tranny mounts were the cause fo the hard shifting? :whistles:

:) i had to say something.

LOL, but at 250K, you can pretty much rest assured that the tranny you are gettig has fewer miles. i woudl keep the old one just in case.

BTW, when you enlarge the pix you put up...they dont work.

I know this may be a stupid questions,

But is the SC300 and the GS300/IS300's cat back system similar?

I had an argument with a friend, and we're both wondering if they're bolt on-

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IS300 is different, no duals.

the GS/SC should be similar, if they have duals, i believe they do (my nighbors GS3 does anyway, i KNOW the SC3 does)

the only difference might be length and where they mount. then off course how they connect to the headers, since those may be in a slightly different position.

Thanks Steve. 

Any more advise out there ? 

Thanks,  George

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PCV valve.

Fuel Filter

I notice this same button in the rx300 (must do the same as the ls as every other model).  Is it dangerous to leave this button on at all times? Will it make the transmission stress too much to cause early breakage?

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I dont think it does. As matter of fact, some people go and say letting it shift harder produces less wear in tear in some parts of the tranny. Because the slow shifting wears tranny's faster due to the "slipping". I read a long article about faster shifting in fords, so im sure the same logic would apply.

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to make a tranny shift as smooth as an LS w/ECT off generates alot of heat.

what i usually do is leave it off till the car warms up, then on it goes :)

And I know my dad had to but ball joints on his LS400 at around 80k and an A/C compressor around the same time. People put motor mounts on ES's all the time well well before 360,000 miles. Rear main seals are also very common on the V6 cars. 360k on struts/shocks? No way, thats not even physically possible. I've never seen a strut that lived past 150k with meaningful life left.

Scheduled lives are all well and good, but like most other things real live variables will shorten them dramatically. I wouldn't put much stock in most of those numbers as we have real live examples of them being proved wrong all over this site. Look at the pics of Josh's rack and pinion and blake's tie rod ends and ball joints, well before the mileage you posted and unquestionably dead and had been dead for some time.

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I replaced the struts in my contour the first time SW03ES, at 210K, they were still OK, just ok.

be that as it may, Motor mounts i Know for a fact are about every 100K miles.

as steve sais, there are exapmles all over this site.

Blown Ball joint, 140K

not 360,000. Jason says they were done long before 140K.

as for the R&P,

The wheels are straight here, while the steering wheel is not. and if i were to try to change lanes, the wheel would have to be turned 90 degrees opposite the way its pointing before it would go.

at 140K. but again, jason said it was gone well before that, more than likely around 90K.

Kdawg, how many miles do you have on there? With very high mileage, I would'nt go nuts on it, as it will make that old engine work extra hard. But, you could simply do intake and exhaust. Ignition wires are good too. And also have the Y-pipe rerouted by a custom shop for more power. If you peek under the car at your Y-pipe, you can see that both of the exhaust manifold collectors flow into eachother, cancelling eachother's flow out, taking away some good horsepower. Have it made so both collectors from the exhaust manifold face the same way into the exhaust pipe.I am glad to see some one hooking up an ES. Hope this helps.

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Ya it has 150000 miles but I'm really wanting to help the horsepower on it.

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then the place to start is a compression test. if the compression is bad, dont even bother.

VGR-

well, tell that to JPI, he himeself has told me that camshaft and cranksahft seals are VERY prone to leakeage, especially with a clogged PCV valve.

why are we even talking aboyut this, its OBVIOUS that the car wasnt maintained.

Lack of maintenance on this car ends here.

my rack and pinion was gone at 90K BTW, ball joints at 80K.

and before you go blaming hard driving, the car was owned since 1992 by an old !Removed!.

the fact of the matter is, for 10 years, this car had less than 3,000 miles per year put on it. AND, it wasnt maintained. that is NOT good for any car. and im sure that all of those things there have a time as well as distance limit.

you mind linking me to a source of this info?

post some engine shots when you get ur car back if possible, be cool to look at

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i have some now

only the external engine though. when jason is inside the motor, he will take pix for me he said.

Thats one of what it currently looks like.

as for my dad, i knwo he worries, but he neednt. if i couldnt afford it, i wouldnt do it.

VGR, SW03ES is right. You must not have seen the threads i have put up. thats ok though, i dont mind reexplaining. :)

When i got the car, the tranny fluid waws black, the air filter was done for, the oil leaks i was told were simply valve covers. wrong. the pcv valve wasnt changed for 138,000 miles. that right there is what blew all the seals. mine is getting a new one now, again, after just 10K. might as well start fresh.

and i disagree with you here:

Timing belt**

Water pump**

Rear main seal

Power steering pump (still working, but leaky)

Rear Brakes

Front Brakes*

CV joints and driveaxles*

Spark plugs*

Spark plug wires*

Cam seals**

Crank seals**

its common to have to replace cam/crank seals when a timing belt is done. mien are leaking cause it was wayyyy ypast its interval. the pcv valve being clogged, didnt help.

as you can see agood majority of what you quoted is somewhat common on ES's. i have seen rear main seals fail as early as 30K miles or as late as 300K miles, or never.

if you run a searck, you will find NUMEROUS posts about valve covers leaking, even on vehciles that were maintained properly.

but alas, lack of maintenance was the biggist factor of the degredation of this car.

Good call Econ, I found the instructions on the shocks there. I don't know why I didn't think of that, been on that site a million times. I'm the one that needs the coffee

The fronts look easy, no sweat. But the back ones look like hell! Army, do you know if they're really that bad? Do you really have to remove the back seat and so forth? These cars require some tlc, but when they're right, boy are they RIGHT.

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yes the rears require backseat removal.

but that isnt that difficult on the ES, so it shouldnt be too much harder on the LS.

wish you were near here, jason will do shocks/struts/springs for $250.

try doing just the fornt, and then see fi that helps the noise, then pay someoen to do the back.

Wow, I'm glad they didn't go off. The seat belts were all they needed. Now we're guessing the repair costs.  My guess is $5200. The tranny cooler is leaking, radiator and A/C condenser are damaged. The radiator is just touching the the cooling fan, but you can still spin it. This thing's built like a tank- nothing behind the very front looks damaged.

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get your parts here:

http://www.discounttoyotaparts.com

there isnt $5200 worth of damage there.

$3k-$3.5K max.

do most of it yourself save some cash.

im speaking of unistalling/reinstalling aprts. it is apparent that the core supports have to be straightened, this is best left to professionals. that should run you $1,000 or so, and then yeah with paint and all,it may come out to $4500 or so.

from what i can see:

2 new fenders (junkayrd)

Hood (junkyard)

Grille (junkyard)

Bumper (junkyard)

Bumper cover (junkyard)

Headlight asemblies (ebay)

Header Panel (the panel the headligths mount to) Junkyard or toyota dealer

whatever panels are under the car for rain protection ets

looks to be about $1300 in parts if junkyard, for body restoration.

the rest fo it, i would go new.

do yourself a favor, invest in a brush gaurd. next time there wont be near as much damage.

I have a 92 ES 300 and i was wondering what mods i could do to my car to make if faster and also i was wondering if it is bad for the engine to put it in L gear and then step on the accelerator because it increases my acceleration alot.

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not bad for the car to do that, as long as its not frequent, adn as long as you shift before redline.

these arent race cars, if you wanted fast, you should have bought an SC or an IS. sure, the ES's are fat for their class, but lets face it, a 16.5 isnt that great down the quarter.

I would rather have it smooth ridin that fast anyways, ESPECIALLY after my car accident, when you have an airbag explode in your face, it kind of changes your persepective on driving a little bit.

i wanna do timing belt and water pump on my es250 , if anyone has carfax let me know, be cool to look up ,my vin number ,

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this has what to do with the topic at had...exactly?

you hijacked my thread! LOL

alas, i am just kidding.

I dont have carfax, but i did when i bought this car, i woudlnt trust it as far as i could throw my montitor.

it stopped keeping records on my contour after 1997...

Thanks for the replies. My wife said the seat belts locked tight. She said they were going around 50 mph, and had just merged into the left lane when it happened. I'll try to post the pictures...

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nope, missed the sensors. as i suspected.

you sensors are here:

the main force of the impact msised them.

it takes a good deal of force hitting those sensors to deploy the airbags. the sensors have to either be crushed, or ripped completely from the system. Nothing at all wrong with the SRS system here, simply the car you hit sat to low to hit the sensors with enough force to deploy them. be thankful...i have seen airbags come out so fast, the passenger side panel came up and hit the windsheild, and the airbag iteself bent the dash mounts so the cars dash couldnt be reinstalled correctly without a new firewall.

glad your wife and children are ok.

gotta applaud a man putting the effort into his motor

there are lads in the UK spend 3k on stupid looking over the top bodykits, spoilers the size of mid size car, undecar neons, LED washer lights etc.

This sounds like a much better investment

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oh and i forgot...

BIG

Thanks to Lexus Owners Club, Clublexus and LexusLovers.com

you are all fantastic, and i hope you will continue to be so, i aint done yet :)

BTW matt, my father got madd at me cause it seems like every other week i write another $1,000 check for car repairs.

I told him:

"Well, its better i spend it on thios than on somthing like drugs. Cars are my drugs. What can i say?"

His response:

he was OWN3D and he knew it LOL. I dont know why, but its something about preserving a piece of automotive history that i find fascinating. this car is #14 off of the factory line. thats EARLY. TRULY one of the first lexus' ever to set tire on earths streets. Thast something to be proud of in and of itself. Tahts my take on it anyway.

glad you approve amf...i have been catching much flak lately about spending so much on repairs, but the thing is, im really not spending that much. What woudl cost around $5,000 to do, im doing for under $3,000. yeah thats alot, but not when it will take care of nearly every mechancial problem on the list.

BIG thansk to my parts guy and Giovanni for hooking me up with OEM parts for cheap!

We have a 1997 LX450, with about 128K mi. Yesterday, my wife rear-ended a large pickup on the interstate, (she was the rear car of a 4- car pileup as the front car slammed on his brakes). My wife and the 2 kids in the back are ok (Thank God), just sore, but we are all amazed that the airbags FAILED to deploy. This wreck destroyed the bumper, grill, pushed the radiator into the cooling fan, and slightly crumpled the hood and both fenders. We purchased the Lexus in 2002, with 91,000 mi. on it, with no signs of any previous accident. When this is all repaired, how can we be sure the airbag system is repaired or in working condition?

Thanks, Drew

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if the truck she hit, didnt hit the airbag sensors, they wont deploy. these are usually behind the grille, mounted to the core supports for the radiator....im not sure why yours didnt go off.

have any pix of the damage?

consider yourself lucky they didnt, a new dash woudl be required for the passenger side and they arent cheap, probably about $1800 in your case, maybe more.

Well guys, its time for another restoration update. Jason (JP Importz) has been doing a fabulous job with my car, and hes even letting me help. I went through and made a list yesterday of all the things wrong with the car that i will adressbeforee i consider the restoration complete:

*=done

**=in the shop for it now

Mechanics:

Cam seals**

Crank seals**

Front main seal**

Oil Pump seal**

Valve cover gaskets**

Distributor seals**

Spark plug seals**

Timing belt**

Water pump**

Rear main seal

Power steering pump (still working, but leaky)

High Pressure Power Steering Hoses

Shocks/Struts/Springs (lowering when i do it)

Rear Brakes

Front Brakes*

Rack and pinion*

Ball joints*

Tie Rod Ends*

CV joints and driveaxles*

Tranny filter and 4 fluid changes*

Spark plugs*

Spark plug wires*

Motorvac*

Fuel Filter

Motor and tranny mounts

Preventative:

Fuel Pump

Radiator hoses

Radiator

Cosmetics:

Dashboard replacement

Front Bumper (fubared in an accident, made even worse on the way to jasons shop on friday when i got clipped on the freeway and the dude kept going...no damage to the body, only more done to the bumper)

Reattach Body Cladding (coimin off the doors, the sticky tape is old/clips broken)

Paint

Center console replacement

Minor Annoyances(bottom of list)

Fabric on sunroof panel redone

Door lock on drivers side rear doesnt work with the rest of the auto locks

New hood (dent in mine)

New headlights (housings are old and one has condensation in it, so i figure why not)

Hole in Pipe before catalytic converter (purposely drilled there by previous owner to get it to pass emissions)

Short in front right foglight

Mirror glass on passengerside missing ($37.00 ill get there when i get there LOL)

so thats what i have done so far and what my plans are for the rest of this project. after i get her back to like new condition, i plan some mods:

Header back exhaust system with dual 2.5inch slanted chrome tips coming out of the rear of the car, one on either side.

Port and polish on heads

HID Headlight conversion

Window tint

Rims and tires

Stereo

thats about it. I will have pix of the progress for you on friday when i pick up my car from jasons shop. he will take a few photos of the inside of the engine for me.

a few pix of the car:

Ok, enough whoring my ride for now.

I know you all must think im crazy spending this much on this car, but as rare as it is, and as nice as it is, i just cant see letting her end her days in a junkyard. that a lousy way to die, sitting there, rotting. So i am going to restore it, and hopfully pass it on to my children eventually (when i have them.)

I will say this much though, coming across OEM parts has been difficult. As rare and as old as this car is, its impossible to come across NEW OEM parts. Most are refurbished. There are maintenance items, oil filters and timing belts and such that i can still find. However, things like the rack and pinion, you can forget it. I had to wait a week to have it rushed from california. It was the only one anywhere NEAR here at the time.

there are however, and abundance of camry V6 parts. unfortunately, many parts, such as the rack and pinion, are not interchangeable. the camry's turning radius is alot smaller than mine. the ES250 has a 36.1ft full circle turning radius.

anyway, thats the digs, what do you think?

I'm the original owner of a '92 ES 300 5-speed with 167 K.  It's fully loaded (as much as it could be in '92) with leather, moonroof, CD etc.  I've taken great care of it and only needed to replace the clutch once (at 136K)!  When I went to the dealer to put a deposit on the upcoming RX400h, and told them about my car, they acted like they've never even heard of it! 

I know Lexus stopped making 5 speeds a while ago, but is this car that unusual?

Do you think I'll have any trouble selling it when my hybrid comes in?

Anyone have any idea what I should be asking for it?

Thanks.

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this could very well be one of the most sought after ES's out there...period. i WISH mine was a stick.

I hate my automatic.

the car is that unusual, dont sell it unless you have to. if you do have to, someone here or at http://www.clublexus.com will buy it from you.

i checked the oil it was full, so i dont think im burning oil , im thinking about switching, just let me know if u need a diff oil filter, or you use the regular oil filter

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you have a PM.

i dont think i burn that much oil, i just checked it, i have a nother question,    on cars like ours armyof one, is better to switch to a synthetic oil, like mobil 1 , and if you do switch to a synthetic, do you need a special synthetic oil filter, my engine has 119,000 miles, 14 yrs old, should i stay regular oil, or switch to synthetic oil, let me know .

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already bruning oil, i wouldnt switch.

if you werent burning oil i would say defiantely.

but i dont get into these kinds of discussions, becuase they get heated and then there are "differences of opinions". if you want more info, email or PM me.

Naa I doubt that, HID bulbs run MUCH MUCH cooler than standard bulbs.

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are they? i didnt know this...