ArmyofOne

oh yeah, i forgot that one...thanks SK. im new to the whole sludge issue, as i am new to toyota/lexus and have never seen it on any other make/model with any frequency, but giving the benefit of the doubt, i would certianly like to think that this particular owner didnt let his oil level get too low, or over-rev his/her motor.

I always hear everybody mentioning Amsoil oil whenever motor oil topics come up...but I never hear any mentioning of the 100% Synthetic motor oils like RedLine...Is Amsoil 100% Synthetic like Red Line... I also notice that the Amsoil website never compares Red Line motor oil in thier tests?...Why is that?.... ← Mobil 1 Supersyn is a 100% synthetic formula... also from the same site: ^that last one is just some interesting info i found. now if mobil 1 is not a Fully Syhtetic motor oil, why are they saying it is?

Craig: My '94 with 112K can get up to 60 in about 8+ seconds from a standing start and engine at idle, visually judging my watch. Have you run a compression test on either bank? If all fails, put the unit on a chassis dyno and see if you are in the ball park with torque and hp production. I think the losses through engine attachments, transmission, diff and tires should soak up about 20% of engine output, but it should give you concrete indication that something is amiss. Mick ← his engine is running smooth, no reason for a compression test just yet. craig: the fuel line varnish can be cleaned, but if its bad enough, the entire fuel system has to be replaced. lines, hoses, tank, injectors, everything. run a high concentration (probably 2 bottles) of Chevron with Techron fuel system cleaner, and a tank of Sheel V-Power Gasoline (if its available in canada yet). you will pay between $2.00 and $2.50 a gallon US for this gas, but it is EXCELLENT gas. i dont think you are to the point of having to replakce the gas tank and the lines, maybe the hoses to the fuel rail or the rail itself are clogged with varnish, but the double dose of techron with the V-power shoudl clear it right up...if the V-power isnst available near you, thats ok, Chevron Premium will work too. let me know if this works. if the pressure test doesnt reveal anything, this is the next option. if that doenst work, pull out a spark plug and lkook at the top of the cylinder, see if theyre is alot of carbon caked on the top of the piston. if there is, i have an at home remedy for cleaning that. on a side note, could it just be that you are used to the NSX??? you have an NSX...so therfore, you suck...LOL B)

roland, as muchas i would love your car, i have to look for something when i get back. if you still have it in july of next year, we can talk. i had more fo a wild hari up my !Removed! that day. i really cant get a different car because i cant store a car while im gone...no room...parking is an issue here. so i will be sticking with the ES and lookig for a GS when i return from ADR.

dont have to remove the inner panels on mine. i can take mine off and take them to a shop to have them painted...in about 15 minutes they canbe fof the car. there are 2 little plughs that cover the scres on the bottom of the driver and passenger doors, and the rest is held on by double sided tape and clips.

wasnt tryingto make you feel stupid, just clarifying...my apologies if i came off any other way. a spun bearing can only be caused by a few things, oil starvation, a foregin object or material in the oil system (such as sand, as seen in the later model Ford 3.0L Duratech V6's built at the Windsor, Ohio plant.)or the piston striking something (i.e, timing chain/belt broken, piston hit head and supn bearing.) i would say the probability is that oil sludge caused your issue.

None of thats going to work because none of those steps are abrasive. Polishing a car is like sanding, in order to get the right surface you have to switch to finer and finer abrasives. Rubbing compounds and wetsanding have their place but they always leave marring behind that needs to be followed up with finer abrasives. ← well heres after i hit the rubbing compund with polishing compound and then a few coats of NXT... help... so what other kind of abrasive should i use, i also have it on the roof and the hood in places too, but the hood i did right. it came out ok. did i maybe push or rub too hard here?

it is virtually impossible to roll back a digital odobeter on the LS400/430 and later model ES's...IIRC only 1 company can alter the mileage onthese. run a carfax and call Lexus.

yes, i forgot that... DO change that. im sorry i am so adamant about that, but that, coupled with tranny fluid changes are the 2 MOST overlooked maint. items by the average consumer. ill just put this in my sig: thats what caused my $200-$2500 worth of oil leaks...

1 & 2 are easy: 1. bad coil, if its random, it almost has to be a coil, since random means little/no discrenable pattern. 2. Bad plug/wire in cylinder one. could also be a bad coil...but not likely that a bad coil will cause only 1 misfire.

to check for cludge, open the oil cap and shine a flashlight inside the valve cover...is it brown and sludgy? if so thats your problem. **DISCLAIMER** this method doesnt always work, it only allows you to see a small part of the engine...

on the es300, it is on the right hand side, sticking out of the rear valve cover, it will have a hose that runs fgrom it to the intake maifold (the throttle body actually) i believe.

true, but as i said thats not the only reason i woudl choose that one. the comfort and styling are a major factor on that car, i just dont like how the infinity looks, or the avalon either. they do drive similar to me, i have driven both many many times. i have stepped out of the SVT, Directly into the jag. and driven them back to back. they fell different, but respond the same, its kind of hard to tell the difference though if you arent looking for it. also hard to explain. the jag has the creature comforts, the heated seats and all of that, but the SVT doesnt. the biggest difference has to be the AWD though. i have also driven a Mondeo ST220 and an Xtype back to back...THEY feel VERY similar. i suppose i did use the wrong car for the analysis. in fact, stepping out of the ST220 and into the X-type, the only performace and handling differences i noticed were theslightly stiffer shifter fel in the jag and the icreased road noise in the mondeo. its all in how you look at it. thats my opinion. im not representing it as fact. they just felt very similar to me, and ithat particular platform holds a special place in my heart.

did the mechanic replace the camshaft and cranksaft seals when he did the timing belt? i dont think her problem is the rear main seal...

the rear main seal is the seal between the trasnmission and the engine. its the Main seal on the beack of the engine. your oil leak is on the wrong side of the motor to be a rear main seal leak. they leak from the left side. on a RWD car, the seal is in the rear of the motor, on out cars,since the engine is side-to-side mounted, its on the left. on my engine, from the right side is the cmashaft and crankshaft seals. these shoudlbe done with the timing belt change. also the oil pump seal on mine is leaking. any one of these could be your issue. is your car smoking from the engine bay??

First off, any dealer that says your tie rods melted and you need a new engine is completely reatarded, since they have absolutely ntohing to do with one another and your tie rods cant "melt", as they are part of the steering system. However, i will assume the dealer said "rods" and you thought tie rods when you were typing, so here goes... The rods in your engine are called Piston Connecting rods. They connect the Piston to the Crankshaft. Every part inside of an engine needs oil to keep heat and friction levels down. The oil pressure light comes on to signify low oil pressure, you shouldnt drive any farther, or you risk damaging your engine, same as with the low oil level light. Conrods cannot MELT in an engine such as this. The engine would have to run with no oil for many hours, by which point it would have been long seized. You can, however, melt the Rod Bearings. If one of them spins for lack of lubrication, it will knock, and cause a dead cylinder. The crankshaft will spin, but the piston wont move, and the rod will "knock" on the crank every time it comes around a revolution. If the bearing melted and seized, then it Broke the conrod, whioch produces the same result, a cylinder that doesnt work. As a result, you crank is scored, and your cylinder walls have scores in them as well. Both of these conditions mean engine out and rebuild time.

i cant see the vid! can someone convert to wmvformat plz?? or even quicktime? EDIT: NVM i figured it out... ok, i noticed your ECT is on, try turning that off and see how it feels...any change? you said something about throttle body cleaning. take off your airbox and look at the throttle body. pull on the trhottle cable and look to see if your butterfly is opening all the way... i know its clean, btu maybe the cable has stretched. i have never heard of it happening on toyotas, but fords dothis frequently. mine old ranger needed a new accelerator cable at around 650,000 miles. also, you said something about old gas. old gas will do this, and if your fuel lines have varnish in them, that could very well be the problem. if its possible to "pressure test" this fuel system, by all means, have that done, cause i can garuntee one thing...i can beat you in my 1990 ES250, which has almost twice the miles and a massive set of oil leaks.

yes the factory one does last that long, but i wouldnt try to make an aftermarket one last that long, even an OEM replacement from lexus/toyota. the one from the factory will alst 80K, but not much longer than that.

now you tell me, i just took some rubbing compound to mine becuase i had some stubborn windshield washer fluid stains. its been about amonth, and i have had to rewax the area at least 3 times, it startes turning a cloudy white, so i wash it and stick another coat of wax on it, and it looks good...for a day or 2. WTF was i thinking? i tried everything though, i tried vinegar, WD-40, buffing, nothing worked, i even tried a claybar. finally i just gave in. it does look OK, as long as i keep it waxed. i usually dont like rubbing compounds as they are VERY harsh, its as bad as wetsanding...no wait...wet sanding is actually better... as for paints being of better quality, its not only that. modern paints have clearcoats, ESPECIALLY the metallic paints.

their similarities are more than just skin deep. ;) they share thesame subframe, engine layout, chassis components. many of the parts will fit in a contour SVT. they are both CDW-27 based cars. their are more similarites than most people think, but outwardly, yes, you would never know it. :D

NO NO NO NO. my God man, its a $6 part, just change the thing. your local mechanic will charge you $6 and $15 for labor if you dont want to do it yourself. if you clean it, it will not work as long, you will be pulling it apart in 10,000 miles to clean it again...if you change it, you are good to go for at least 40K. my motor had 138,000 miles on the factory PCV valve. when i changed it, it broke in half. when PCV valves clog up, the excess pressure built up inside the crankcase has nowhere to go except out the seals...AKA OIL LEAKS. the PCV valve stands for Positive Crankcase Ventilation. Basically it takes excess pressure fromt he crankcase and puts it back into the intake system, where the air/oil combination is then re-combusted...DO NOT let your PCV valve clog, my engine now has over $2,000 worth of oil leaks because some insolent boob thought he never needed to change his either. my money is really really tight rigth now, and even I would pay the $6 for the PCV valve... just replace it and be doen worrying for another 40-50,000 miles. also, you have to realize, if it is the factory PCV valve in your engine, its probably to far gone after 100K plus to just clean.... as for which brand, any EXCEPT fram will do. i wouldnt trust a fram as far as i could throwit, or in this case, drop it.

ATTENTION ALL MEMBERS (YES, ALL ARE WELCOME) There is a Clublexus Meet scheduled for Saturday, December 18th. discuss a start time amongst yourselves, somewhere around noon would be good though. Meet Details: Where: River Legacy WEST Park, on the corner of Greenoaks Blvd and Cooper st, North of I-30. When: Saturday Decmber 18th, 2004. Time: 12 noon (tentative) i will edit start time accordingly, as people post their opinions on the start time. as of right now it is 12 noon. that can change if its noot a good time, so its not set in stone. post here to RSVP. 1. ArmyofOne 2. 1QWKLEX EDIT: turns out that its not a good day for me, but i can stil make it, i have to drop a friend off at DFW around 430pm, so i will have to come out there for a few hours, then go drop him off, then come back. EDIT # 2: 1qwklex cant make it, hes leaving for cali that day...so... 1. ArmyofOne (Josh) 2. JPI (Jason) add to the list! all peeps are welcome if you are in driving distance!

i have heard horror stories about "over-waxing" but i can assure you that they are flashoods on todays paints. if your car was made after 1980, its fine to wax it once a day if you want to! i used ot have that kind of time, and my contour saw a coat of wax 2 times a month. but the lex sees it 1 time a month if its lucky. it sees a carwash about the same interval. i have a really dark color, so its best to keep it waxed. if youhave champagne or white, you can let it go longer than you can with my Black Jade Metallic or SW03ES's Burgundy (not sure of the color ATM).

the Jaguar X-type, simply for its roots in the car that i truly love...the ford contour. there are other reasons i woudl choose this car, but the main one is that its just liek driving a contour SVT, except with AWD and about 50 More HP.

if this is one of those additives which are supposed to stop leaks...STAY FAR AWAY. thopse additives adhere to all the gaskets, they dont pick and choose only the ones with the leaks. this can cause excessive oil blow-by (clogged PCV valve), massive oil leaks, or worse, piston ring and valve stem seal wear.