ArmyofOne

by droning, do you mean a hum? or something that sounds liek a low bassline on a subwoofer? my car ahs that low bassline sound, and it turns out i have a leak in my flexpipe thats causing it.

which head would that be? :D mine is real wood also, 1990 ES250. even the lowest end cars from lexus have the details. :)

The aftermarket pump i will be putting on my lexus has a Lifetime warranty.

They don't know how it makes that much hp though...still a bit of a secret!! Yep...the pool was definantly kick !Removed! with all of the rocks and jacuzzi!! B) ← ← no party, just showing him the concorde(has seen the stuff she has. and hes the only one who will, at least till the warranty is up LOL), and my home. not much to see. 3500 sq ft, 5 bdr, 2.5 bath, 2 car garage, pool. he is the only one outside my family who i wont be hosting any large meets, my dad would have a cow. but i may get you blake and myself to gether to come out fro a few brewskies. just not at mardi gras, i gots company. :D

The mechanic i go to ( you all know him) prefers a lexus power steering pump becuase he has seen Aftermarket ones fail after as little as 1,000 miles. i myself do not have the $450 to spend on a lexus power steering pump, $450 will buy me 6 aftermarket power steering pumps, so even if i have to replace one a year, i still am dead even for 6 years. ← Well, that's true if you don't have any labor costs. AND if your down time isn't important to you. AND if you don't mind being stuck in the middle of nowhere and having to get the car towed in when the pump fails. The decision obviously depends on your personal situation, but I would never install a rebuilt pump - for exactly the reason your mechanic is stating. ← i refurbish things for a living. i can tell you from personal experience that all refurbished items go through STRICT Final Quality Audits, some standards even more strict than the ones for New items. i have no problem with rebuilt anything. a rebuilt motor will run just as long as a new one, and in some cases, longer. i had an aftermarket power steering pump on my ranger (see sig). it was remaned. lasted 100,000 miles (till i sold it) and it was still going strong. its a matter fo personal prefernce honsetly. oh, and you need to get some muscles dude! if you cant get a car with no power steering to a mechanic, you need to hit the bowflex! i drove my contour with no power steering (i disabled it for a mod) for a year. the only thing it might do is prematurely wear a rack and pinion. but not one time. you dont have ato get a car with no power steering towed. i drive a 68 Charger R/T without power steering all the time.

well the paved parts are ususally flat and long straightaways, so you can run as fast as you want, i dont recall ever seeing a cop out there, speed limits are posted (only place in the US) at 80 MPH. if you exceed that, you do so at your own risk, knowing it could be days, or even weeks before anyone reaches you. you also have to remember that unless you are a semi, or 4x4 with tire chains, these roads are impassable from Nov-April. the gravel can still be covered at a seady pace of 65 or so, you just have to make sure everything is still tight when you stop for the night and if its not, tighten er up! we had an exhaust hanger shake loose on our truck. that was about it. semis are everywhere. you dont reeally have as much of an issue though becuase they tend to stay off of the road until night time (which in the summer, the sun doesnt go down until around 1:30am and then rises again at 245am or so) but they are on the road at around 8 PM and off again by 8 AM every morning for the most part. you see the occaisional semi during the day though. OH, take an extra air filter too. you will go through at least one on the gravel roads. the dust plumes behind cars can sometimes be over 100 feet long.

The mechanic i go to ( you all know him) prefers a lexus power steering pump becuase he has seen Aftermarket ones fail after as little as 1,000 miles. i myself do not have the $450 to spend on a lexus power steering pump, $450 will buy me 6 aftermarket power steering pumps, so even if i have to replace one a year, i still am dead even for 6 years. i have a set of rebuilt driveaxles that have been installed for over 1,000 miles and have given me zero issues. remanufacturerd parts go through the same quality standards (sometimes more strict ones) as new parts. so i have no issue with rebuilt parts.

yeah, i already checked the rack itself, i tghtened everything i could, its too far gone. it seems like those bolts coming loose were the beginning of the issue, then the problem went unrepaired for a few years, and the bolts being loose resulted in the rack wearing prematurely. every mechanic i have talked to (including my own father) has said that part of 100K service on most cars includes the tightneing fo certian steering components and suspension components. apparently this wasnt done. now, how much longer can i drive on this thing before it breaks?

areas of gravel can stretch for over 50 miles. 50 miles...of gravel roads...and washboards. for the most part the road is excellent, but between the contsrtuction and just plain gravel road it is about 75 % paved (quite smoothly) and 25% unpaved (kind of rough). those gas prices will get you every time. you will break a windsheild too, the only reason i didnt is becuas ei was behid a Big !Removed! ram with an 18' slide-in camper over the !Removed! end of it, but my mom took one in the concorde (she was in front) ...flew from a semi that was going opposite way.

what did you think? i have one (a 2002 Limited) with a few goodies under the hood. drives pretty good. B)

Oh well... maybe in the future a dash will turn up. That's the spirit! I plan to do the same thing with my ES. ← its driving really good, the engine accelerates smoothly. you can feel the tranny shift smoothly, no slipage whatsoever. my current issue right now is the rack and pinion (see thread not far from this one). then i will fix the oil leaks, then maybe the dash when i get the car painted/paint it myself. eventually, she will be completely resotred.

yup, when i first spotted it. no dice :( looks liek i am doomed to a cracked dash. i am going to make this car hold to gether for 5 more eyars,if i have to psuh it around! :D

*bump* :whistles: :D

← also put it in your signature like mine at the bottom of your posts. :)

thats a good question. i think his shop rate is $70 an hour. so the most he could charge you additionally is $70. that is strange. i will talk to him. are you in any hurry? or can this wait for a bit, im going out there to get mine fixed in a week or so probably. if it cant wait i can call him. oh wait, did he say labor? that might be the price of the wires! $90 is about right for lexus plug wires. PM me and tell me dd you ask him the same thing you just asked me: "why are you charging me labor if you are rigth there?" sometimes people forget things or they just dont click, it happens. if you PM me and tell me how you responded over the phone, i can help you further.

he can make all the panic stops he wants, he just has to pump the brakes manually. i personally cannot stand ABS. i hate it with a passion. i like pumping my brakes, i drove a contour for a few years with now ABS on ice (in alaska), and i didnt have a single problem.

the lexus dealer (Park Place Motorcars) wants $750 for the dash and $500 to install... i looked at 10 junkyards today, the only 3 ES250's i saw, one was the wrong color, one had a dash worse than mine, and one was missing its dash. 10 junkyards, 3 ES250's...and they were all 3 in the same yard. i did get a few good parts though, heater blower resistors (my low and low/med are out. med/high and high still work), new window switches (only $10! lexus wants like 100 something for new ones), right hand mirror glass and a power steering pump which i will be installing ASAP. total spent, $110. the power steering pump was $75.

The Rack and Pinion on my 1990 ES250 is about to snap i fear :cries: , its gotten to the point where the car experiences wheel hop when braking fairly hard (pedal about halfway down) . If you jack the car up, you can wiggle the front wheels laterally about 1/2 an inch :o :o . This is whats causing the clunk. Also, the steering wheel doesnt return to center when completeing a turn, the steering wheel will sit at nearly a 45 degree angle when going straight unless at freeway speeds, then it is level. The direction of the angle depends on the last direction turned (if you turn left, the wheel will angle toward the drivers side, if you turn right the wheel will angle toward the pass. side) If you hit a bump with one wheel and not the other, with the car at speeds greater than 35 MPH, the steering wheel will slack for a split second, then return to its previous position. This has gone on long enough, its beginning to get dangerous. The other day on the freeway, I went to take an interchange curve at about 50, I began turning the wheel to the left, but the car wasnt turning. The car didnt respond until the steering wheel was HALFWAY through a full rotation...that's rediculous. The movement in the column is smooth, its the rack and pinion below it that appears to be the problem. If this sounds like something else, then please tell me what you think it might be. Jason at JPImportz quoted me $297 to remove and install a new Rack and pinion in my 1990 ES250+$59 for an alignment, and $270 for the part. Comes all in all to $650 for R&R of Rack and Pinion. This is an incredible deal. A local shop around the corner had quoted me $1300 to do this a few months ago, a shop who i now know is notorious for ripping people off. Another (privately owned) shop quoted me $750 parts and labor. They had Jason beat on the labor by $50 or so, but not on the parts. :) My point is this: While you may have to pay a little more, its worth it with JP Importz. You get excellent service, a loaner car, and repairs you can rely on. Snd when its all said and done, in the unlikely event something didnt go right with the repair, you know Jason will make it right. So dont hesitate to drive a few miles and pay a little more, you will be nothing but pleased with the service. now to the real point of this thread: What else goes along with this repair? The R&P has been pretty badly worn for about 10,000 miles. I have had the car for 4,000. The previous owner told me it only needed brakes , my lawyer threatended to sue for not disclosing this severe saftey issue (which it turned out he knew about). I recieved a refund of $1800 and some change (after having paid $2,000 for the car). But thats another story. Question is, how many other things have been affected by this? and how many things should i be replacing while he is in there? After P&L on the rack and pinion, i will have about $300 left to play with, is that enough to install new ball joints, wheel bearings and control arm bushings?

here are pix of the dash and its crack and warpage. warpage: Crack: a bigger version of the one above for you, so you can see better (56k: get a sandwich): http://lexuslovers.com/gallery/albums/Lexi/DCP02279.jpg Again a larger version of the one above (56k, grab a cold brewsky) http://lexuslovers.com/gallery/albums/Lexi/DCP02278.jpg and another large one (56k, get some ice for your modems!): http://lexuslovers.com/gallery/albums/Lexi/DCP02277.jpg well? its also seriously warped along the part above the instrument cluster, but you cant make this out in the photos due to the sunlight... as you can see the crack has been filled in with emoxy to keep it from spreading, but...i need to cover it (probably only temporarily) beacuse it looks horrible! the guy who did it didnt charge me anything, aand it wont get any worse so i dont care if its there, except it looks bad, its not like it can look any worse than a 9 inch long crack in your dash (thats how long it was by the time i got it filled, every time i would turn a corner, it would split a little farther )

a car w/o leather in TX is a blessing, my contour had it (i swapped ina set of seats from a higher model) and i CURSED EVERY HOT DAY.

no, my ineterior is gray and black: :D and other than the dash, it is in nearly PERFECT condition.

does it smell like burning rubber?

might want to consider the 4 hr drive to JP Imports for the valve covers, he will probably do them for around $300 or so, not sure. tank of gas there and a tank of gas back, you just saved yourself ~$200. Jason is located in Garland (just north of Dallas) here is his website: www.jpimportz.org Address: 3521 Security St. Suite 101, Garland, Texas 75042 Hours: M-F 8am - 6pm, Sat. 9am - 3pm Store Line: 214.221.3135 Direct Email: jpimportz@yahoo.com

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Product...modelId-1001413 With the recent crack in my dashboard, i have decided i need to either get a new dash, or cover the current one. That said, i went to an upholstery shop and one of the guys put some epoxy in the crack to keep it from spreading further. Now it just doesnt look so good. i was thinkong of one of those, in black. any comments?

when we were coming down here, it cost me over $100 to fill up my contour once, just on the other side fo the canadian border (and it was in USD too!) my dads truck (the dodge at the time) cost over $350. it was rediculous. and yes, you had better have extra gas and extra tires as well as a first aid kit, tools and a tire repair kit. we went through 2 tires on each car. the road is horrible!