blake918

The 1991 has the sunroof ;) ! I see what you're saying though-it's hidden very well! Roy, I was thinking the samething about the timing belt! It's definantly time! I just talked to my upholsterer, and he said no more than $500 to redo the driver's seat and make a new cover for the console! I'm bringing my dad to come look at the car on Saturday(!), and if he likes it, I'll become one of you guys! The car is mechanically top notch, and it won't take much to fix the leather, so that's good. I have a good feeling about this one and am keeping my fingers crossed! I'll definantly keep yall posted on my "quest to LS" !

Take a trip down here and let Mr. Alden work on your seats! . I don't think you have to redye the seats after using Leatherique. I know Tbow just used it on his LS, so we'll wait for him or Steve to chime in!

Take a trip down here and let Mr. Alden work on your seats! . I don't think you have to redye the seats after using Leatherique. I know Tbow just used it on his LS, so we'll wait for him or Steve to chime in!

This is soo true! I think I've found the replacement for my ES. It's a 1995 LS400...such a beautiful design(!!); it's a doctor's car that he used to travel between LA and MS on a regular basis, so the car has 225k miles with about 90% of them being hwy! You guys are probably freaking just like a lot of people when I told them about the mileage, but the 4.0 has no valve clatter whatsoever unlike the several first generation cars that I've looked at with 100k less miles! I think I'm going to get a compression test done before we sign the papers. Do yall know if Lexus's inspection covers the engine compression?? It's got a gorgeous black finish with tan interior. I'll need to get the driver's seat reupholstered but that's ok because I know an outstanding upholsterer(see my redone seats in the link in my sig!). The car drives 100%...the engine and tranny are soooo nice, and she's riding on brand new Michelins. She does have a few little quirks: 1) the drivers seat and both armrests(door and console) need reupholstering, the stereo LCD numbers are just about all gone, the drivers door will need new weather stripping, and the hood support struts are dead(what a shock!). The current owner kept up with maintinance pretty well; I think he said he had the power steering system redone recently and a few other things along with regular oil changes and a timing belt replacement at 110k. He has the recipts for everything, so I'm sure there's a lot more to find out! He's asking $6000, but I think we can talk him into $5500! One 'real' problem he told me about is he had it detailed and they shorted someing out in the power outlet in the ashtray. He said that also knocked out the A/C and ambient temp. The best part is he's going to reapair it all before we finalize the deal. Any commentary???......

I didn't mean anything bad by it being odd; I guess I was thinking more of rare! I actually really liking the color! BTW, do you know what this color is called? Blue? Gray? Yep...it has the trac system and heated seats which I like! Being used to my front wheel drive, the knowing the trac is there is good if I ever press the gas to hard in the rain! Thanks for everything guys...keep it comming!

Yeah, I was thinking about offering him $5k-$5.5k. The car is very solid with no squeaks/rattles, and despite the valve clatter, the car runs and shifts perfectly. I truley have never seen a cleaner engine compartment ever! The car has a the timing belt/water pump done, and I wish I would have gotten the VIN to call up my dealer for more info. The leather is as hard as rock, but I don't think it's anything a bottle of Leatherique can't handle! I talked to JPI on AIM, and he said a valve adjustment would be $300-$400 which is a lot lower than I thought!...right on the money Roy! ;) I just noticed in the pic that you can see the dead rpm gauge...the needle is pointing straight down! Yall know what causes this?

I found a '91 LS that I really liked today. It's this odd ball blue exterior with blue interior which I really like!...never seen 1 like this before! She has 160kmiles with a asking price of $6500. The only flaws that I could find were valve clatter, a dead rpm gauge, and of course the common dead lcd on the climate control. For the valve clatter...how much would it cost to get all 32 of these puppies adjusted/shimmed? Any ideas on why the tachmeter would be dead?? All other instruments work fine. Please shrare any/all thoughts! Here's a pic; it's always good to carry a digi cam!:

Here's a pic of my silverstars: Rob, I want to see a pic of your car with the highbeams on...you got them at AutoZone right?? SK has some pics of his lights in the gallery I think?...I'll look later.

I remember a few people told me to unplug my battery to clear the cel when I was having trouble with my car, but the light just came right back. This is probably one of the most worthless things you can do because resetting the cel isn't going to make the problem go away!...it just turns off the light for a short amount of time. Our cars are very smart :D ...when I replaced my intake hose that had several holes in it I forgot to plug the maf sensor back in. The car started, but it was very rough, so I turned it off. The cel came on, but within 5-10 miles of driving the car recognized that the problem was no more, and it turned off the cel on its own! Good luck Stevie...I hope they get it right on the first try!

Sorry for my misunderstanding . It just kinda came across that way, but I was wrong!

The first half where you talk about what years for engine and tranny are junk and which years aren't. Thanks

Hmm, if the light on the cluster came on and the doors still locked back, I'd bet that their is a problem elsewhere. You sure that the light came on when you had the door open??? This is kinda weird <_< ! Try it again and let us know how it turns out.

Is the open door light on in the gauge cluster?

Benchi, disregard a certain rude post :chairshot: ! Welcome to the club :D ! Like Stevie said, check newlexusparts...they are always mcuh cheaper than your neighborhood dealer! What are you looking to do??...replace a dead changer or add a changer to a car that doesn't have one??? CD changer at newlexusparts.com...WOW 1k...I hope you don't have Nakamichi!! Maybe pioneersbuy can help you.

Steve, I completely agree with you about each person's shift logic. I can make my '94 shift like a dream, or it can shift poorly...I've learned over time in the car how to get around this. In stop-and-go traffic it will lurch foward when I step on the gas a half a second after I let off the brake....I guess it's deciding whether or not it needs to down shift. Solution: I just wait a second before pressing the gas, and the car doesn't jump....it just makes life easier ;) . Roy (it's good to see you over here ;) ), the powertrain in my '94 is simply outstanding! I haven't ridden or driven a car that came close...except for maybe a '93 LS I test drove and my neighbors GS430 (I've driven a few expensive cars...MB, a few Lincolns, several high end Ford SUVs, Nissans...they just are no match! IMO Chevy probably has the worst powertrain ex. our Suburban; the tranny is horrible and you can literaly feel the engine rumbling under your feet...punching the accelerator is a nightmare for your neck as well as an unexpected rebuild at 60k miles:(I've ridden in an 03 Tahoe and the engine and tranny could easily be mistaken for those in our 99 Suburban). Ford's are getting better to me. The LSV8(very fun car!) & 03 TC(most comfortable I've ever been in!) as well as the New Expeditions and F150's that I drove were all reasonably smooth and quiet(for a domestics!)...good job Bill Jr.!)! The engine(in the ES) is silent around town, but when you punch it, the sound is just gorgeous B) . Also, I love punching it to feel how transparent the tranny is...downshifting to second can't even be detected unless you watch the tach soar to 6k rpms! I'm not at all worried about sludge because I visit Bohn Toyota every 4k miles for fresh oil and filter! I expect the wheels to fall off of the ES before the engine ever skips a beat! Here's as much of a Timeline as I could think of: In 94, Lexus introduced the 1mzfe(3.0 24v V6) with aluminium heads(vs. iron in 92-3) and a new 4spd tranny...both are revised versions from the 92's-93's; 95-98(redesign in '97), I think little intake tweaks and such were made here and there that uped the fuel economy. Somewhere along the way the hp jumped from 185 in '92 to 188('94) to 200(97?), and then to 210(? in '02?)?? I believe in '99 VVt-i was added; the ES has a redesign in '02 with the same(or similar?) engine as in '99 ,but the new 5spd tranny came into being with the infamous hesitation problem; in '04 the ES330 was introduced with a revised 5spd and a larger 225hp 3.3V6, but I think the few 330 owners say the hesitation problem still exists. I hope you can make sense of all of this! Sk, I'm a little confused with your post...can you please explain?I finally put the squakers in; they sound great...thanks! :D

Nahh, this shouldn't happen. The sensors on your rear doors are probably frozen which is telling the car that it is still closed up. Does the door ajar light come on when you open the rear door? If it does, then you've probably got an elecrical glitch somewhere, but if it doesn't look here...I had to clean my sensors on my back doors a while back. It takes all of 5 minutes and a few shots of WD40: How to free the rear door sensors. Good luck!

That's 1 fine machine, Roy :D !!!

I've been shopping around for a wiper motor for my '94. Newlexusparts.com wants $230, but I found one at a Toyota website for $144! Are the ES and Camry motors the same?? The only thing that could be different is that the ES wipers hide under the hood when they are off...I dunno about the Camry <_< .

Welcome to the club Joe :D ! About the trunk...is the switch on in the glovebox? This a common problem for many people when they first get their ES. When it's cold outside and you have the heat on, the climate control will wait for the engine temp to get to a decent temperature so that it doesn't blast you with cold air when it's 40deg. outside. You can see if the climate control computer is detecting any problems by holding recirculate and auto, and then turn the key at while holding those buttons. The climate control will flash and beep and show you a code if any. It should not blow out cold air all of the time especially if you have it set on heat! I have no clue about the seats :( .

Ya know, I watched the entire half time show, and I didn't see jack !

Here's a new theory...a common thread between all of the inceidents (when the battery light came) is the winshield wipers. My wipers really suck because they are extremely s-l-o-w. I turned on the wipers and noticed that the little wiper motor flinches with every wipe, and I noticed that the little motor gets really hot while the wipers wipe at an irregular speed on all modes(hi, low, intermit.). Is it possible that the old, tired wiper motor is trying to pull in extra volatge to keep the wipers moving?...which would then cause the alternator to bog down and kill the car? What do yall think??...I'm open for just about any suggestions at this point! Is it hard to change the wiper motor???

Yikes under 25deg. you should come down here for Mardi Gras(hmm, LOC Mardi Gras meet down here???)...by that time(a few weeks) it should be up in the 70's! My dad just got back from Chicago and he said he froze his a#s off in the -1 degree temps. This is the same alternator; we haven't really worried about it too much lately because the car has been behaving well...until tonight. I'd like to try and find a way around an oem alternator because I don't want to spend $4-$500(which is steep for my teenaged pocket book!) on an alternator on a car that I don't plan on keeping for much longer(I've been eyeing some 97 ES's...I love that style). I guess I'll have to run(mapquest says 8.5-9 hour run...let's see if I can make that 7...I might need someone to come get me out of jail though...j/k!) over to JPI's garage if I can't ever solve this one!

The suspension clunk...I want to say this is related to a broken bushing or mount or something like that?? My rear suspenion does this too, but it's only when I pull into the driveway, so I can live with this. If the clunk is just comming from the front, I dunno why you'd need to change all 4 struts unless the car bottoms out a lot. I don't think you got ripped off with your breaks. When were your rear pads last changed? The rear pads usually last about twice as long as the fronts. I know what you mean about that squeal...it's like a really high pitched squeal for the first few seconds you press the breaks at a low speed. I think this has something to do with a shim on the break pads or something(?) or maybe it is just wearing off the rust...my car makes this squeal as well as my friends V6 Camry, and I think I've read about this in the LS forum also...nothing out of the ordinary.

Yep...I do too! There's no reason to pay twice as much at a Lexus dealership for the same service. I love Bohn Brothers Toyota...they treat me well and their service is pretty good, and if the job is over $300, they give me a loaner on the house. They do all of my oil changes for $25 a change in less than 30min or it's free vs. $60 or $80 at Lexus. Find a Toyota dealer you like and go for it.

Welcome to the club Webster :D ! What color is your '96...any pics?? Steer clear of the Lexus dealer in Birmingham because the guy you talked to must be brain dead if he said you don't have a timing belt! Your '96 most definantly HAS a timing belt. Stand beside your passenger side fender, and you'll see a black cover that says 1MZFE, and behind that cover is the timing belt...heck their might even be a sticker that says when it was last changed. Lexus recommends changing it at 60k or 90k I can't remember, but some people have made it to 120k. When/if the belt pops, your car will probably just breakdown because our 3.0's without VVT-i are non interference engines. Look to pay $500-$1000 to get the belt, tensioners, and water pump replaced. My Lexus dealer quoted me $850 to replace those three things, and my neighborhood Toyota dealer told me $215 to replace the belt only...not too bad! Always check with a local Toyota dealer because they are usually cheaper; just tell them that you have an ES that has the same eng and tranny as the V6 Camry(they don't always know this).