bartkat

Before cars had catalytic converters and knock sensors and such, but leaded gas became unavailable, cars used to knock terribly on regular gas. But that was many years ago. The transition to emissions controls and unleaded gas was pretty rough for 2 or 3 years there.

I suppose you could call the lounge on a cruise ship in a storm, a "sway bar". :D

I'm not going to buy into those "harm" arguments against using normal premium fuel. The higher octane will fool the knock sensor and the ECU will then allow more ignition timing advance, thus a slight improvement in performance. Using premium pump gas certainly isn't going to cause piniging. If anything, regular gas is going to be on the edge of pinging or pre-ignition knock under high heat and high load conditions. The fuel spec calling for 91 octane simply means that's the minimum octane. The car is set up to run on that because, like in Califorina, 91 octane is the maximum available. However, in many place you have the choice of 87, 89, and 93 (or 94) octane gas. With that range of choices, the premium 93 or 94 is the only way to go. Running premium won't pay back in cost via much increased gas mileage, but it's not going to hurt your engine. Sure, you could hurt an engine by running avgas or race gas, but we don't usually see that at the pumps.

Thanks, PS: If your car has sway bars the creaking could be coming from dried out bushings. An easy fix for that is to remove the bushings and apply some marine grease and then put the bushings back on. This seems to have worked for lots of IS300 owners, anyway.

Premium gas here is either 93 or 94 octane. I've noted that when I am traveling and have only the choice of 91 octane, the car doesn't have as much pep. It doesn't knock, but seems a little down on power. Some areas also have the reformulated (oxygenated?) gas. The car doesn't like it as well either.

Sruts are a combination of shock absorbers and their supporting suspension parts. They are often used to save space and weight in comparison to separate assemblies. Some struts can be rebuilt. However they are more expensive to replace than just shocks. Shocks themselves operate as hydraulic dampers. As the piston is forced up or down, valves limit the flow of oil to reduce rebound and compression rates. They basically dampen out the movement of the car on it's springs. Modern shocks are pressurized with inert gas such as nitrogen. The nitrogen prevents the oil from foaming, and this helps the shocks function properly under adverse conditions. The piston shaft moves in rubber seals. It's these seals that can dry out or get damaged, allowing some of the oil to leak out, thus causing the shocks to lose some of their dapening capacity.

http://www.autoshop-online.com/cchtml/tire...re.wr.prob.html

Cupping can be caused by an unbalanced tire condition, faulty wheel bearings, loose parts, fatigued springs or weak shock absorbers. Check the condition of the shock by forcefully bouncing the front end of the car several times and releasing it on the down stroke. Failure of the vehicle to settle after two strokes suggests worn shocks or struts. http://www.autoshop-online.com/cchtml/tire...re.wr.prob.html

I paid around $5 each for Toyota filters from Concelli parts online. Got the Japanese made ones. The US ones are a little cheaper.

This may sound silly but I don't see much reason to leave the lights in auto mode all the time.

I ran K&N air filter for 100,000 miles in my Firebird.. But now that I have the Lexus I got the TRD filter, which is basically the same idea, but is a Toyota part.

I have a 2002 that I bought used in May. I studied up on cars of similar power and size and having had the car awhile now, I would not hesitate to buy one again. However, you might not like the gas mileage. At best the highway mileage is going to be 25 to 26 MPG and you'll have to use premium fuel. I think it's worth it, but that would depend on your idea of good mileage.

I think this has to do with emissions, etc. There may be a slight positive pressure on the tank to help with preventing fumes from going to atmosphere. So if you start the engine with the filler cap off, some gas could slosh out. Once you have the cap on, it's supposedly a closed system. Also, since the tank isn't vented to atmosphere, it's harder to really fill them up. The gas flows more slowly into the tank. If you bounce the car a little and wait a few seconcs, you can get more than a gallon in after the pump shuts off on automatic. They put up the sign "do not top off" to help them comply with EPA. They don't want to take the rap for you running over the tank and spilling gas. Older cars vented the tank to open air, and also vented the crank case fumes to the air. Some cars later on, maybe even now, had the gas tank vented to a little canister of activted charcoal, that was supposed to soak up the bad fumes.

There is a tolerance range in the camber spec. I'd have them align it at the end of the spec for the least amount of negative camber. While the springs will cause some excess negative camber, the IS300 has enough alignment range to adjust for that. I've also read that this inside treadwear is a pretty common problem on IS300. However, 3000 miles is pretty low, so there may be some other suspension problems. Others have mentioned that they got free replacement tires if the tires wore out prior to 12,000 miles. If the L-tuned suspensio was dealer installed, then they should stand good for that. There is a copy of the alignment specs at the following link. http://www.is300.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13347925

I thought your question was answered rather well.

Suff grows on the condenser. They sell stuff to clean it with at most parts stores.

Touchlless car was is ok, but I would never go though one with brushes or those felt flapper things.

Try this link. You can change the year and model or brand of car. http://www.alldata.com/TSB/31/02310815.html

I don't think theres an O2 sensor on the intake. You have a mass air flow sensor just after the filter. There's also an air temperture sensor near that. What sort of chip do you have?

Terry towells maybe best for drying. If there are any dirt particles, they get caught in the nap and not scratch your car. I also use a sponge with a terry outside for the soaping.

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/gallery/IS/Gold_Wax_4

It's not that hard just for a common wax job. Just get some good wax. I like Mcguiar's Gold Class. Wash the car and dry it well. Park inside or in the shade. With the Mcquair's Gold you can put a thin coat of wax on the entire car, use the pad that comes with it. Use a rotating motion to apply. Wait till the wax dries, maybe 30 minutes to an hour. Then take clean white terry towells and remove the wax. Then take another clean towell and just lightly wipe the car down, and you're alll done. Or if you want more, wait a couple days and apply another coat. Other waxes you take off while still wet. Just follow the directions on the one you get. You should be able to do the whole job with one or two hours of total working time.

Rotate the tires front to rear every 5000 miles?

Most tire squeek in those garages with smooth finished floors. Try just sitting in there for awhile and listen during a busy time. You'll hear all kinds of tire screeching and howling.

The term would be "turning the rotors". Anyone who installs brakes should have a machine to do that.