ArmyofOne

I have a car phone in my arm rest. Does anyone else have it, and if so, have you activated it? Its old so I am guessing an analog signal with Verizon would work.

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call the company whose name is heatstamped on the phone (SBC...aka southwestern bell is mine)

i have one thats a motorola. if you want, i can give you all the # for suctomer service. i work in the iDEN dept. which is miles away from Analog...but, the CSC (customer service center) can tell you which companies still carry that service.

and FWIW, hit zero to make a call with a credit card #

and you can tap your new phone into the hadnsfree...it takes a little work.

I have 1998 ES300 with 86000 miles. Just wondering what is the best engine oil available for winters and summers. I live in NC, it snows here rarely may be few times in an year. I don't drive hard, need some expert opinion for high mileage engine like mine and city driving. Had some bad experience in the past with mitsubishi so little paranoid this time. So far I have used Castrol GTX 10W30 after 63K miles. As always all the replies are highly appreciated.

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MOBIL 1 5W30 Full Synthetic.

Nice Car!

I just sold my Ford Contour and bought a 94 ES 300, lol about ditching your  contour for a lexus...

So what if it is an older model...I took mine to the dealership on Monday to get the oil changed and see if I could get a copy of the maintenance history (11 pages...almost all PM! only major probs were dead batteries (2) and a leaking transmission pan @ 60k!)...there must have been 35 cars there for service that morining, and mine was the oldest one there!  It was funny though b/c everybody thought that I was the original owner and kept asking me questions about how well it was holding up and how great it still looks LOL....

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what kind of contour? SE? GL? was it the 4 cylinder or V6? manual? Auto?

i know alot (and i do mean ALOT) about those cars. i also know the cheif of R&D at ford who designed the CDW-27 platform. that platform is now used on the following cars:

Jaguar X type

Mazda 6

Ford Escape

Ford Escort ZX2

Mercury Cougar

Mercury Mystique

Lincoln LS

and of course, the ford contour :P

and i had no intention of getting rid of it, i still dont. i didnt ditch it. i think i will save up the $850 and have the core supports pulled back into place, then start replacing the little *BLEEP* as i have time.

BTW, my contour now runs fine, apparently the fuel sutoff switch was activated when i wrecked, it didnt get any gas LOL.

I also own an ES250...like stated above...if it fits a '91 Camry it will fit your Lexus...

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wrong, fenders, hood, trunk, doors, headlights, tailinghts, interior ar similar but not the same.

engine wise, buy it for a camry if you have to replace it. cheaper. most engien aprts for a 88-91 cam will fit it.

the interiors are very similar, the extereiors, well, you cant bold up gen II camry fenders to a lexus ES250...wont work.

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I was talking engine wise...he was asking about performance mods...

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ok, i was just clarifying...but for a clarification, the typing sure does suck

there are CAI's Brake Upgrades, suspension components, there are engine swap options too. personally though, i didnt buy it because it was fast, i bought it because it was a cruiser. if i want to go fast, i hop in my dad and i's charger and go.

You are breaking new gound for this fourm and an ES250 as no one seems to be on here who works on the first gens.

I would read the write up i made in the tutorial section to replace brakes on later ES's it may be the same or atleast very similar.

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That is true...I am still considerably new to this forum but when I first came here earlier this year and did a search on ES250 always came up empty....

I have changed the rear disk brakes on my ES250 it is a very very simple task...just make sure you don't forget to remove the clips from your old brake pads and put them on the new pads...

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i ran out of time and took it to a shop. they pulled the front wheels off and the rotors looked like mirrors. they werre glazed so bad it was not even funny. the pads still had 95% pad. but i had my pedal to the floor and it was still taking me 100 yards ro so to stop from 40 mph. it got dangerous so i took it in.

the rears are glazed and cracked. so another $300 for those to.

total bill for front only came to $339.12.

that aint nothing, they want $356 to change my spark plugs.

Some pads just plain squeal more than others. Typically the harder the pad the longer it will last, but the louder it will be. Nothing wrong with organic pads.

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ceramic pads are loud. thats pretty much all there is to it. they dont squeak, but i cna hear mine scrape the rotor. ceramic pads are very hard, leave very little dust, can stand extreme heat (NASCAR uses them on thier brakes) and will eat a regular rotor alive. i hope you have a high performance rotor. standard steel/iron ones will glaze over pretty fast (5 stops max) with ceramic pads on them...typically lexus uses a better quality rotor though, so i think you should be fine.

also, the are ventialted, so this helps.

I say broke!

Paint it......paint it......paint it...... ;)

LOL

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I found out that the body shop can paint the black parts of the car(since the two tone is still nice) for about $2k--sooo tempting, but I'm going to think about it some more before I rush into anything. I'm afraid that the the freshly painted door is not going to look right with the rest of the chipped up car, so that really makes me want to repaint.

Sorry to hear about your incident as well. 

I think going with one colour all the way is nice.

BTW have you talked to the insurance company to see how much they're offering to fix the problem? 

I also think repainting the entire car would be better, since the good painter will extend the painting scheme to an area where no one will notice the paint difference.  This is one of the reasons why insurance companies don't like to deal with body shops any more.

The $3-5k Price is mostly related to removing and repairing any physical damage to the body, and removing individual parts so that the painters can spray without covering up.

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I haven't spoken with the insurance company yet; I'm waiting to get all of her insurance info(it'll happen...she's a friend). Thanks for your concern.

ayway, sorry to threadjack...

did you get your lex fixed?

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Don't be sorry...I love off topic discussions! ;) I also agree that maintinance is the key to a long lasting car.

I've been busy with school, so I haven't taken any steps to get the car fixed yet. Today, I payed the body shop a visit. I found out that I have $1,390 of damage. Tomorrow, I'll start with the insurance and getting a rental car setup for the repair dates.

I'll keep yall posted

Edit: Forgot to mention $475 for a new door(the owner of the shop agreed that the door was curling at the seam, so I need a new one.) + $915 in labor.

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O/T: the contour wouldnt start because the Emergency fuel pump shut off had activated. runs fine now! :D

on topic: DAYUM! thats alot of moula. go ahead for $2K more and pop for the repaint, ESPECIALLY if you intend to keep the car for another 5+ years.

and as long as insurance is paying let them do EVERYTHING, but if you were going out of pocket, iwoudl say hang the door yourself, thats the easiest thing in the world to do.

are they going to replace the "door skin", or the whole door?

Texas just made it illegal last year to have a license plate frame (or any other object) that blocks any portion of your license plate...The cops love this law b/c almost every vehicle on the road has one and it gives them easy PC to pull you over.

I've always thought that license plates on the front of vehicles are ugly...especially when the vehicle was not designed to have one (and you have to add a kit to install it).

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yes, that law is BS, and i have gotten ticketed for it twice...spendy..$150 a piece.

never seen this happen without some sort of impact and haven't heard of it on this forum or CL in the 2 years I have been on.

This is not to say that it couldn't happen.

steviej

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Mine is a '96. The owner of a '95 told me he replaced three moonroofs on his. Needless to say, after seeing the lady with hers broken, I became worried. There was no rock chip on mine and the fracture started on the very edge and with a month or two went all the way across.

It doesn't leak (thankfully), 'cuz it's $1300 to replace.

I love the car; I'm glad your replies indicate it's a rare thing.

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very odd...cold weather climate??? i can see how heat rises, so if you run around with your heater on and its -30 windchill outside but 80 in the car...maybe.

I would also check all of the vacum hoses including the one from the airbox to the air intake, a split will cause the stalling symptons mentioned.

I thought that the 1993 ES300 had a crank trigger rather than a conventional distributor and rotor?

Annie Oakley Doakley

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that was 1994 IIRC.

since the paint on my lexus es250 is not what you woudl call "Stunning" i was thinking about repainting it myself. actually, my dad told me that he would do it while i was away on active duty rotation. and he said any color i wanted.

i was thinking a Silver Metallic would go nice with the 2 tone dark grey panels...thoughts??

if somebody could photoshop thiscolor :

onto this car, but leave the lower door panels the same (and the bumpers too):

thanks.

Woooh, that's a lot of duckets for a paint job! I'm still impressed that you got 385k out of that car, and she even ran after the wreck!

oops, meant 3,400, i was typing in the dark.

but yes it was still going to be expensive, but i inteneded to keep the car for many years. it too was a collectors item in my book, a true "drivers car" without all of the creature comforts, it had purley the love of the "sport" if you will. with 277,000 miles on the motor i still ran a 15.7 in the quarter with:

-Magnecore 8.5MM high conductivity spark plug wires

-Centerforce clutch and fidanza flywheel with over 100K on them

-K&N air filter and optimized Throttle body.

i attribute the motors long life to one thing MAINTENANCE. if you play/drive hard, maintain hard, its simple.

and yes, she ran after the wreck. i had to drive off off to the side of the road with power steering fluid and coolant going everywhere. she probably would have gotten me home, i was tempted when i found out how much the tow was gonna be ($185, for 3.5 miles...the truck driver was on rotation and i let the PD call him) to just take off the hood, leave it there and drive home letting the motor get cooled off via air and sorting out the mess later, but i figured that since he was here, might as well.

however, i did go out to start it the other day to drive her aroudn the block (mius power steering) and she started, ran fine for a second then sputtered and died. then she cranked but would not start. its not getting any gas...not sure why.,. i think i pinched a fuel line somewheres.

BTW, i bypassed the power steering pump, all i did was buy a serp belt for a car w/out a/c and bypassed the p/s pump instead of the A/C compressor, worked liek a champ!

she is still very much a part of my life. but for what it will cost to fix, i think i just havbe to cut my losses. i can buy 2 more of them and some goodies too for whatit will cost ($4,300 in damage, before paint, fixed with used parts).

ayway, sorry to threadjack...

did you get your lex fixed?

cause i can get the tint at cost, and my comfort is worth the $75.

the brakes were something that had to be done, the car was taking almost 300 feet to stop for a redlight from 45. the rotors looked like mirrors they were so glazed.

I also own an ES250...like stated above...if it fits a '91 Camry it will fit your Lexus...

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wrong, fenders, hood, trunk, doors, headlights, tailinghts, interior ar similar but not the same.

engine wise, buy it for a camry if you have to replace it. cheaper. most engien aprts for a 88-91 cam will fit it.

the interiors are very similar, the extereiors, well, you cant bold up gen II camry fenders to a lexus ES250...wont work.

I had to jump start it today (i left my headlights on, not an easy task when you have auto-off headlights) for about 4 hours. I came out on my lunch break to start my car, nothing...not even a set of dashboard lights greeted me. I called my friend over to give me a jump (1998 dodge avenger).When left her car running while i hooked up the jumper cables...i got in and turned the key...still nothing...this battery is was DEAD. I let it charge for about 5 minutes and tried again; it cranked, fired, but did not start. I did this 2 more times. On the 3rd try, it started, but being the dumb*BLEEP* i am, i shut off the key (still don’t know what i was thinking) and when i tried to recrank, it just cranked over, fired and then died. Repeated 2 more times, this time with the gas pedal on the floor. Finally it fired, and i didn’t shut it off. Let it run for a good 10 minutes...after the first 45 seconds or so, the idle started jumping around, and then dropped from 900 down to about 450. It hovered at 450, engine barely clinging to life. I kept my foot planted on the gas, around 3,000 RPM for about 3 minutes (no worse than highway driving) and when I let it back down, it stalled. I re cranked, and it started right up, but then continued its goofiness with its idle. I dropped it into neutral, and that made it even worse. I dropped it into drive, and it jumped back up to 900-920 and ran smooth as a baby’s !Removed!…ok WTF??

I shut it off and went back inside to do some work, all the while running the probable causes in my head, alternator, battery, fuse, IAC valve, Distributor, Plug wires, even fuel pump.

On my way home, I have the batt/alt checked at AutoZone, everything looks normal, but the battery is low.

I drove it home and checked the plugs on bank one, sure enough, they are coated in brownish tan powder…fried…I take it up to city garage, and they tell me its $120 for a spark plug change!!! (I don’t want to mess with it because the rear bank is a PITA!)

I only have $45 I can spend. The dud hooked me up with free diagnostic test, ran a compression check on the front 3 cylinders. The first time around, all were low. #1 was at 40 PSI the first time around. #2, and 3 were between 110-125. Then they did another compression check, and they were all 140-150. Good news….

Anyway, long story short, it looks like I need plugs and wires, bad thing is, I just paid $339.00 for brake rotors and pads on the front yesterday, cause my s rotors were glazed and cracked. The dammed things looked like cracked mirror, they were so shiny. No wonder I had to put the brake pedal on the floor for 100 feet to get to a stop…

so, i hope you have better luck with yours, than i am having with mine. the previous owner of mine didnt know *BLEEP* about maintianing his vehicle...it had tranny fluid in it that was 100,000 miles old when i got it.

mine still needs alot of work. good luck to you, and if you have any issues, with the amount of work i am doing on this car, i can be of some help i am sure. the garages i take it to (excpet for the oen for plugs) are letting me do most of the work, so i am learning about this car...quite a bit.

EDIT: Update, car runs fine, apaprently i erased all the data in the ECU/PCM when the batt went kaput. runs great now.

Brakes are now fine too. i cant help but love this car. i love thew looks i get, i love the amenities, but more importantly, it is an extension of myself and as such, will be suited to my taste.

next week is a pwr steering belt (the one thats on there is so dryrotted i can see through it!), $60 P&L. then Spark Plugs, then window tint. the plugs are old and worn, but they are nto the issue with my stalling out, as i said earlier, the PCM didnt have time to relearn itself before i took it to my mechanic LOL. really the only reason i go to these palces is to have access to tools cause i dont have access to a lift from my home.

maybe ill keep her for a while after all. she hasnt left me stranded yet, except by reason of my own stupidity.

you could probably get that at a wreck yard from a V6 Camry and save over $500... that's what I would do...

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yeah, but then i still have to install it. removing the steering rack is a !Removed! on most cars, i can only imagine that on this one, the motor has to be pulled.

i dont want to do that.

f*** this. i only need the car till february. im going to have the rear brakes done the same way as the front, and just drive the thing (i may get window tint).

thats it other than oil changes/maintenance and i may or may not get the timing belt replaced along with the WP and Cam/Crank seals.

i cant justify putting anymore than i have to into this car. i have nobody to blame but myself, the previous owner told me what was going on, and that he didnt knwo what it was (i myslef thought it just eneded struts and a front ent alignment). i had it inspected by lexus, they didnt find anything other than worn tie rod bushings and worn struts. no biggie, i can do thise, but a steering rack??? what a PITA.

i could/would do it, but this is currently my only vehicle, if i did it myself (with the limited acess i have to a lift) it would take me weeks.

in august of next year, when i come back from Active Duty Rotation, i will buy a mid 90's LS400 or something.

also, willa rack froma camry fit?

All front end parts from a 1990 Camry are interchangeable on your Lexus.

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thats what i figured. :whistles:

thanks.

Sorry, I disagree with this statement:

also, the timing belt can be judged by looking at it.

"Belt inspection is not a reliable method of determining when to change the belt."

Even if a belt looks good after the time a manufacturer states to change it, the plasticisers have dried up making the belt somewhat brittle. I wouldn't take the chance of it happening. ;)

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if the belt moves freely (you can expand it with you hand by pushing down on the space between the cams) for less than an inch, and she has no rubber particles (black dust) coming off of the belt (getting on her fingertips), then she is fine for a little while. i didnt sya indefinately. i said check it. its possible to push it to right at the limit.

when it snaps, the only thing she will be out is a car for a few days while its being repaired + tow fees. granted, its better to fix it before it happnes, but if she doenst have the money, then she doenst have the money. the belt on htese cars wont break anything, the eingine will just stall cause it cant keep its timing. the way the heads are desdigned prevents the pistons from hitting the valves (on older engines, timing belt breaks=Pistons hit the valves and put hols in the piston/bend the valves=new engine). these engines are non interference, meaning it is next to impossible to have a problem if the belt breaks. aside from that, wiring harness repairs are usually PROHIBITIVELY expensive due to the IMMENSE labor required to trace and isolate all the wires.

Shirley, have them do the Timing belt AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. thats all i was saying. i only threw out the visual check as a last resort. if you can do it now, dont wait. if you can actually see cracks in the timing belt, get it done now. if not, you are ok to wait for a little longer, dont wait long.

bottom line, get it done as soon as it is possibel to do so.

i was just told when i had my brakes done ($339, for new front rotors and pads, the old rotors were glazed and cracked) that my steering rack is worn out. i was told this isnt the fault of anybody, its just something that wears out. has vey little to do with maintenance. i was told, rough estimate comes to $1400 Parts and labor.

is this a hard job? i have never done one, on any car, let alone a toyota. i have done engine swaps before, and had to move the rack, but at the same time, i never had to REMOVE it from the suspension setup completly, i just drop the subframe and the suspension together, leaving the rack where it is.

part from toyota is somewhere around $900...im thinking i better get rid of this POS while i still can.

meantime, it effects my alignment, the tires wear unevenly, and it is whats causing my transmission to do weird things (i.e. harsh disengagement of the TQ converter), its going to make my bearings, struts, CV joints, and ball joints go bad if i dont fix it.

unfortunately, i just dont have the $$$$ to do it.

also, the power steering belt is shot, its so dryrotted you can see through it thats $60, that i have to spend next week.

BTW, when that rack goes, i will have no steering...

anybody knwo where i can get this done cheaper? also, willa rack froma camry fit?

1990 Lexus ES250, 2.5L 2mz-Fe, 140,000 miles.

Hi, 'Army of One',

Thanks a million for your long and very educated reply to my post. The mechanic called me late today to tell me that he had found the basic problem which was:

(of all crazy things) mice had been nesting somewhere in the engine area of my car and had chewed many of the wires! We live in a kind of rural area with lots of trees and fields around us. The mechanic said they found lots of mouse droppings and acorns from the oak trees which are all over the place. In addition to that, they said the rotor cap was shot, air filter and fuel filter needed replacing, spark plugs needed, and I forget what else. It all got very confusing. Oh, they recommended an oil change, too. They said the job would run $500.00 so I could do nothing but ok it. Have no idea if that's good or bad, but I was between a rock and a hard place. So, that's my sad story and I'm stuck with it.

They also told me that the valve gasket covers need replacing, due to oil leaking, to the tune of another $185.00. I said to hold off on that for now for monetary reasons. Besides, I have no idea if that is a fair price for that or not, so I will do a little checking before I have it done. I live in the San Fernando Valley of southern California and prices are not cheap here. They also recommended that I have the timing belt changed even tho it looks alright for now. When I told them that Lexus said 90,000 miles on that, the mechanic said that I shouldn't be going by only the mileage but, also, the age of the car. Do you feel that is true? If they do that job, I think he said it would be $435.00. I had called a few places on the timing belt and got prices anywhere from $285.00 to $700.00! What a huge range!

Anyway, thanks again for all your help. Any more advice regarding the other items I mentioned will be greatly appreciated. You are a great guy!

Shirley

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those prices seem well in line.

dont always go the cheapest, but maybet the next one up. (cheap is uslally cheap for a reason. ;) ) there are sometimes garages that will tell you $385.00, until theyget in there and find out what a PITA it is to fix, then they raise the price. you go in with $385 inyou pocket, and they do the work, and after the car is fixed they tell you it will be $450. dont let them do this to you. if the garage hasnt been in business for at least 3 years, and you dont know them well, dont do it.

90% of the time, its better to have your regular mechanic do all of the work, even if you have to pay a little more. he knows the car well.

also, the timing belt can be judged by looking at it.

1. remove the cover

2. mark middle of visible part of belt with a sharpie.

3. look at the visible part of the belt. if you see any fraying/chunks taken out of it/dryrot or stress cracks, have it replaced. if you dont proceed to next step:

4. have a friend turn the ignition over for a split second, enough top move the belt about 1 revolution, and look again.

repeat step 4, until you reach the mark you put on the belt.

if you dont see anything, you are ok more than likely, for a few thousand more miles. i woudl check it every time you change your oil. but i have seen toyota timing belts last over 100K (even mine is at 140,000 and doesnt look too bad)

A few months ago a small crack appeared on the edge of my moonroof, and now has traveled across the entire glass.  The other day I saw a lady driving an es300 with her moonroff tilted and it was cracked. I talked to an ex-es300 owner and he said it was common... Has anyone else experienced this?  Is there anything I can do to minimize the chance of it happening again?

Thanks!

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i can only see it happening in 2 instances.

1. a rock chip that spread due to the flex of the glass as the body twists through turns

2. an accident thatwas severe enough to bend the unibody, they had it straightened and just didnt bother with a new sunroof glass panel.

its not a common thing that i have ever heard of, on ANY car.

i have some skins for this type of board on my own board (see my sig) matt, you can have the java code for it if you want...you have a PM.

Oh, no you're not nuts. I got an estimate to get my car painted, and I was given a $3k number! He said the bulk of that is labor time removing/installing the two tone panels. I dunno if I'd pay $3500-$5k for a paint job though. That's kinda steep. The guy that told me $3k for my LS painted our Cobra, and I don't know how much better it could get. The paint is beautiful, and  it is smother than a baby's !Removed!. lol It is perfect. There's not a chance that Bondo is going anywhere near my Lexus...ever!!  :)

good man, no bondo! BONDO BAD!!!

i was given an estimate of $4,400 To repaint my Ford Contour in Mocha Frost Metallic ( the color it was before). i was considering it, until i realized the paint wasnt all that bad...then i wrecked it before i could reconsider.

heh, mine will stay working for 2 or 3 times of deactivation/reactivation, after the 4th time, it usually gives me the bliking light and then doesnt work anymore, i think its a short in the stalk.

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The car doesn't like you to turn it on and off. It's trying to tell you something. :D

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heh, mine will stay working for 2 or 3 times of deactivation/reactivation, after the 4th time, it usually gives me the bliking light and then doesnt work anymore, i think its a short in the stalk.