ArmyofOne

JPI is a great place to get your work done. he is doing most of the work on my ES250, and it wont be long before she points straight and true. (rack and pinion finally went). i drive 80 miles round trip to have my car serviced there. he is doing well over $2,000 worth of work (IMO), and the total should come in at just over $1,000. but ill take a $900 something dollar savings any day! Let it be known i HIGHLY reccomend JP Importz. Blake918 will say the same. he drove 400 miles ONE WAY to have his car serviced there. He gives you a free loaner car, all that he asks is that yuou return it to him with a full tank of gas, and that camry he has gets like 34MPG... not a bad deal if you ask me. B)

For the Record, JPI reccomends you NEVER flush ANY Lexus Transmission or Transaxle. Only drain and fills.

a 98 should have a liftime warranty (or at least a good length one, 10 years or so) against corrosion...take it to your dealer...

That sucks, my concorde is said to hav this issue too, but i have Mobil1 Super Syn (soon to be valvoline Max life synth) and a rigorous 5,000 mile schedule...I am ok, i pull the pan once or twice a year and check everything anyways. Chalk one up for domestics!!! Notice ford never has had this issue...but they have had a whole slew of others. PM me if you want the details on those...like why so many 3.0L Duratech V6's (mazda6, jag Xtype, escape, freestyle, 500, taurus, Lincoln LS and a few other models) are extremely prone to spinning rod bearings on #'s 1, 4, and 5 cyliners.

who said you had to repaint? do what i suggested, it will take you 20 mins...max.

easier way. i did this on my contour: Sand spot to metal with dremel rotary tool. BE CAREFUL. do not exceed much beyond 1mm past the blemish, then, dab with rubbing achohol on a q-tip and apply touch up paint in layers as described above. problem will never recur, the rust isint just sealed up, its gone completely. on my contour, the rust was on the bottom corners of the rear doors.

where do you get external tranny filters and where do you mount it? ← sorry to bring up an old thread, but did you ever fix this?? there is something called a Kick-Down cable that comes loose and needs adjustmetn every so often. ic ant tell you much othert than that. PM JPI, he should be able to help.

Good job jzz30! I took a quick look under the hood and the fitting is like new again, incredible! This was a tough problem and the guy that worked on my car was really good. The total damage was $307....it would have been more but the guy that called me messed up with his estimate a bit so he took off some labor costs. Got a free car wash coupon too and my car is in desperate need of one, that's worth ten bucks. Anyway, I think this was a pretty good deal considering it was a tough problem to diagnose. Once it warms up here and I can work on my car again I'll probably replace the RH coil just as a preventive measure. Caps and rotors have been on my to do list for a while and those will get done too, I already have those parts. Thanks to all that helped with ideas, you guys are great, one of you was even right! B) ← ah, well, cant win em all... :D however, i would liek to point out had you rove it very long/far with the coil out, it would have plugged at least 1 cat, maybe all. it was running wayy rich, since only 1 bank of cylinders was firing, the other 4 were totally dead, yet still getting fuel. ok ok, you are right, im trying to justify my loss. LOL. Glad you fixed it. and while logic would dictate that you would replace the other coil soon, i wouldnt unless it goes too. Coils are one of those things, they either work or not. so replacing it wont nessecarily help keep you out of trouble, if its working, my reccomendation is to leave it alone until it goes... Ignition systems are finicky creatures. everything has to be right, from the timing to the spark.

try dumping a small but of rubbing alchohol into the hosuing (remvoe the bulb. pour in hole) and let it sit overnight...

nology is good...

i rounded up allmy invoices: ~350 for the Driveaxles Parts and labor (parts aftermarket, labor only ran $275 ) $340 for brakes rack and pinion will run:$1,162.98 Misclaneous other stuff: $75 $1927.98 so far. ← and the car is at JP Importz for the week. Dont forget my stickers jason!

when the cats go, you cant just replace them, o2 sensors and other things have to be replaced too, usually. as for the above issue, have you tried disconnecting the battery to let the ecu reset?

← my condolences and prayers VBdenny. i know exactly how tough it is to lose someone close in a car accident, and i hated it. i hated the person that caused it. but i forgave them. people do not understand the effects a car wreck has on the human body. when you are doing 20 and you collide with an object thats stationary, even at that low of a speed, tremendous stress is put on the body. thats why i hate seening people driving like idiots when they are ont eh strrets (parking lots and tracks are one thing, a neighborhood or freeway is another). i had an airbag blow up in my face, and it changed my entire outlook on how i drove. it also changed my outlook on life. many many people, sadly, will not understnad it, until an airbag blows up in their face.

yeah i dont liek that either, becuase if it doesnt fire the first time, you cant immediately re crank...have to wait a few seconds...

you are correct VBDenny. the film is applied to the inside of thje glas, and it does scratch rather easily. and i dont think his car is waxed much, hios paint isnt really in all that great of shape on that side either, the passeger side has all new paint though, due to the accident...

It's been sitting there and was perfect before your vacation, but for you to be able to determine that there was a problem, you had to start the car right? A bad timing belt tensioner could lead to a timing belt skipping or tooth. I'm not saying that this is your situation but there's always that chance. Hey Army, how are you SO sure his cats are gone? Even if he has what you call the "china cat" syndrome, don't you think it's important that he figures out why his car is running so rich that it overheated his cats? It would be a bttch to burn up new cats. ← i have seen this many many many many times, mor etimes than i have fingers and toes, and every time it was clogged cats.

i rounded up allmy invoices: ~350 for the Driveaxles Parts and labor (parts aftermarket, labor only ran $275 ) $340 for brakes rack and pinion will run:$1,162.98 Misclaneous other stuff: $75 $1927.98 so far.

they are clogged, make no mistake. and a catback system wont help. LOL. its his cat thats clogged. where ar eyou located? ill talk to my guy and see what i can do about getting you one/two discounted...PM me. also, check here: www.newlexusparts.com www.discounttoyotaparts.com they are msot definately clogged. i would say you have what is known as the "china cat" syndrome, the car has been running rich for a long time, the material inside the catalytic converter (the honeycomb brick if you will) is breaking down. look at your tailpipes, do they have little pieces of charcaol looking stiff in them> thats definately what it is if so, but depedning on the system, these chunks dont make it all the way out, instead they sit, usually at a bend in the exhaust, and collect, until they clog the exhaust. try starting the car, and unscrewing the oil cap. if you get excess pressure, thats probaby what it is. unscreing the oil cap really si the only way to releaive excess pressure inside the engine without creating a mess. it may slosh a little oil at you though. although i drove 10 miles with my cap off one time...didnt spil a drop. whatever you do, avoind driving the car, if the cats are clogged, and you drive them that way, you can get backfiring if the pressure builds enough. and thats not good, ESPECIALLY on an engine with EFI. a custom bent, true dual at an exhast shop could run you as little as $350, not including the mufflers and cats.

thats what i told him, there is no such thing as 11%. the only way to get it is to tint over factory, or double layer the film (not adviseable) blake, when you come back to ft. worth to see me again, ihave a friend who does window tint, has his own shop and everything (i was handing cardsout at the meet). he will do your tint 20% front and 5% rear. then you can say the car was tinted out of state...and prove it.

i had Nokian Hakkapalita (studded vrsion) on my contour fro 4 years when i lived in alaska, never gave me any issues at all. excellent dry wet and even ice handling.

[country song]"All my Lexus' live in Texas"... :whistles: [/country] LOL, sorry. seriously, i never knew they would be so good at biuilding stuff, howcome stuff from china always comes off ascheap? i have alot of things from china that have broken and if this is the case, there are alot of disgraced people and family names in china from my household alone LOL. but i guess it has something to do with their morals or whatever..

my friends eclips did this same thing and it turned out to be a bad EGR valve.

I drove to Toyota of Irving today, and recieved this when i got there: on the way home, i stopped at TurnTech Suspension and Handling Systems (local shop, new), and picked up these: New Tie Rod Ends at a cost of only $17.99 a piece. they have a lifetime warranty. Much thanks to Giovanni (El Gato) for helping to make this possible. the reality of it was, that money was so tight, i didnt see myself being able to keep the car too much longer, it was costing me way too much money. but with the help of him and a close friend, i got the parts i need at a fantastic price. I acually walked out the door having paid less than the promised price of $505 for everything: total bill for all except 1 Ball joint (had to wait till tomorrow) comes to $437.72. not bad eh? oh and, check the new sig!

engine rebuilds are nto easy, by any means, btu they are overrated. in my opinion, they arent as difficult as some mechanics make them out to be. the hardest part i woudl say, is putting it all back together. and with a few manuals and a person or 2 who have done it before, you shoudl be able to do it yourself for under 1G. an engine instaqll here will run between 800-1500 depending on who you use, its nto that difficult to take a motor out and put another one in. if you knwowhat you are doing, and have the toold, it can be done in less than a day. however, maybe not with a LS400 V8, those are BIG motors.

clogged/plugged catalytic converter(s)...also could be a head gasket.