bartkat

There are many places to get those lights.

I wonder if that intake would work on IS300 or if they make one for it.

Contact Steve Ganz at Carson Toyota. Thay have TRD and lots of Lexus parts and at a discount. He probably has or can get the black pearl emelbems for you. Here's a link to their website. http://www.newtoyotaparts.com/

I don't think the swtiches come down, just the surrouding piece and the light lens. You pry at the back. Ths side away from the windshield. Yes, it will come loose at the back and swing down toward the windshield. Put the knife toward the middle of the rear section and just twist a little. You do't put the knife in very far, but it makes contact with an inch or so of the length of the bezel It should pop lloose pretty eaisily. What you are pulling down is actually a "surround" trim for the switches and light. The bulb is just held in by a little thin metal clip, once you get it open.

OK here's the deal. I found out how on another board, and sorry I didn't come back and answer my question. You have a bezel around the light lense. That bezel goes around the light and the sunroof switches. Just get a butter knife and get between the rear of that bezel and the headliner and twist the knife. The whole bezel should pop right off. Then you can access the bulb. I found a matching bulb at Auto Zone. Once you have the piece off you can see how it attaches. There are two little clips at the rear. If you are careful, the bezel will just swing down and stah hooked at the front. If it comes clear off, that's no problem, as it's easy to refasten by putting the front in first, and then snapping the rear back in place. Hope that's clear enough.

Sidewall bubbles are most often due to defective tires. If an inner ply breaks or separtes due to lost adhesion, air has gotten between the inner and outer plies and raises a bubble. On can often pierce the bubble and the tire still holds air. I believe that's a sure sign of a tire defect. I'd change suppliers and tire brand in this case. But, whoever you got the bad tires from should make it good.

After hearing rumors of a restyled IS300 and possibly a 3.3L V6 for it, I would wait and see how the 2005 model comes out if I could. I have a 2002 IS300 Eshift and I haven't run acrosss anything I think I would like better. I haven't driven the RS8, but I had two RX2's when they were new and they were great little cars. Some IS owners who have driven the RX8 have told me it didn't live up to their expectations, but that may be a matter of opinion. I understand that Mazda bought back some RX8's early on because they had overstated the horsepower in the intial offering. Some kept their cars and some didn't, but it's an indication that the company was willing to make things right. If the RX8 had been out when I got my car, it would have been on my top 3 list to look at. I know this doesn't answer your questions, but just a little info I have picked up. ;)

I believe that would be a no no, mr noob.

The cars don't come from the factory with spoilers. They are either put on by the dealer or aftermarket by the owner. Koni adjustable or Bilsein shocks should go well with those springs. The stock shocks are longer and don't dampen enough to handle the springs you have. Shorter, stiffer springs may also cause the stock shocks to fail. This may be the reason for the bouncing.

Rumor has it there will be a body style change and the engine replaced with a V6, maybe 3.3L. Don't know for sure about a drop top. Also some rumors of a IS430 similar to the project car seen recently at shows. Nothing really for sure though.

My 2002 IS300 Eshift gets 25-26 MPG on interstate trips. I get 20-22 in local driving. It's dropped off a bit in cooler weather for local.

What's the problem with the bump? It's in all the IS300's and lots of people have put subs in.

You have to be careful about Altezza body kits. The Altezza is not as wide as the IS300 and some of the front and rear parts don't fit correctly. The true JDM headlights are not HID as far as I know. I think they will fit, but you may end up with halogen bulbs.

I thought folding mirrors were standard equipment. My 2002 IS has them and I don't think it was an option. Have you tried folding your back?

I've heard of some cases where the ECU had to be reset to get the light to go out. Also, the new bulb should be the exact same wattage as the old one, to keep the light out.

Yes. It pays to have that knowledge. If you print out the page of TSB's and take it along, then you have a reference. If the dealer doesn't know about them, then they should find out.

Could be too much timing advance or some carbon buildup in the combustion chanbers. When you do the new distributor, you'll be setting the timing so that should tell you if it stops pinging. I think there are some fuel additives that might clean out some of the carbon, the injectors, etc. I'd try that too. The other possibilities that people are coming up with are far more serious and more expensive to fix, so I always try the cheaper and easier ones first.

Since it happens under load, it could be preignition knock.

What does it mean that a TSB has been issued. Does that mean they recognize the problem and they have a fix?? Yes it usually does. The dealer should be able to reference the TSB number and get the info on the recommended fix. Lexus issues the bulletins to all dealers, so they should be able to look them up. There also may be other TSB's since that site was updated. As an example there was a TSB on 2001 and early 2002 IS300's that pertained to a sluggish auto transmision shifit ing problem. The fix was a reflash of the ECU to an improved program. When mine was done they actually put a sticker on the underside of the hood with the TSB number and the date that it was done and the dealer who had done it. Lexus seems to be pretty good at documenting the problems and the fixes.

What is a "Lemon?" The American Heritage Dictionary defines a lemon as: "One that is or proves to be unsatisfactory…" (Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 2nd College Ed., © 1985). However, in an effort to further define such a broad term, the Lemon Law attempts to define certain situations which entitle consumers to their money back or a new vehicle. In a nutshell, any defect or nonconformity, or combination of defects, which is/are not repaired within a reasonable number of attempts or a reasonable amount of time, may entitle you to lemon law relief. Your vehicle does not have to be breaking down to be considered a lemon. In short, if you are aggravated enough to be reading this you may have a lemon. http://www.autofacts.ca/legalservices.htm

Civic with no problems? Honda transmission break down ALL THE TIME. May be you are lucky. www.jpimportz.org Please provide breakdown statistics for 98 through 2001 Civic with automatic transmission. thanks.

GX 470 Technical Service Bulletins. http://www.alldata.com/TSB/74/03740614.html

Disconnecting the negative battery terminal for about 10 minutes will usuallly reset everything. I had to do that when a light came on from having the gas filler cap off.

That's nice you got lucky with yours. However, if I can buy a $20,000 Firebird, and a $17,000 Civic and drive each for 90,000 miles with only oil changes and absolutely no failures of any kind, then one might expect to buy a $50,000 Lexus and not have such problems as have been mentioned.

You could run lower octane in a real pinch. But in the long run that will cause sludge, carbon build-up, poor performance, and lots of other problems. Those problems will cost you big $$ in the long run. I, personally wouldn't do it. The only alternative is to plan better and not drive as much, if you can't afford premium gas.