blake918

I think we can all think of a few people who have had their cars ruined by Firestone, Speedy, etc. Jason got a LS400 for pretty cheap when firestone didn't put the drain plug back in to the car when the PO had the oil changed there. I couldn't imagine trying to keep up with DFW traffic without any oil! LOL As much as I despise changing the oil in the LS400 (with the covers and mindless filter location), I'll always do it. Recently, I was in a bit of a "kosher-dill" and needed tires immediately. WalMart was my only choice at the time. As it turns out, they did an excellent job, much to my suprise. $9 a tire for lifetime wheel balance/rotation/road hazzard....that's too cheap! LOL I'm glad they are taking care of the mess they created, Chris!

Hmmmm, interesting! Everything I've read here and CL suggests that the "norm" for the coolant gauge is the third marking. I ran Toyota red for a while--noticed the same performance as the green that was in there before. Not to mention, the green is way cheaper! For some reason unknown to me, paying $20 for a gallon of Toyota coolant just "grinds my gears." <_<

The coolant you used probably isn't the problem. My car runs just dandily on green Prestone coolant for the past 120k+ miles with no temperature issues whatsoever. My needle always stays on the third bar.

I guess it comes with the territory! How many times did I steam it?? It's a secrect! :whistles:

I've never heard of removing the p/s pump to change the TB; I've changed the TB in my '95 twice w/o removing the p/s pump. However, I did need to unbolt the alternator and slide it aside to gain access to some nuts or bolts. I guess some years are different from others....

Yikes, did the pot just call the kettle black?? LOL At any rate, someone started a collection for me when I was younger to surgically remove the pole that's stuck in my !Removed!. Do let me know if you want to donate (it is tax deductible! ;) )! A few more years, I'll be there....damn HMO let me high and dry! Look who showed up!!!

Ohhh, I was gonna say, I sure hope the new ones aren't as bad as mine!

Why's that? Some poor clown paid $20,000 to put 22,000 miles on that car....that's lousey. I'm sure it still looks/smells/drives just like new; plus, it still has the factory warranty. I'll probably never buy a new car. I'll probably lease one some day just to have had something new, but I'll gladly let someone else take that first plummet on depreciation....buy it from them, extend the warranty, and their is a good buy! Blow me down, Lexus clear coated a black car!!!! :o :o :D

You don't have to explain that one to me--it's soft, delicate, and has no clear on it, say no more! LOL If you go with mercury, it needs to have black interior though! The black one does have a great price, and you'd get to drive it all the way back to MD, that would be a fun trip! Very true! Not to bash MB, but I was browsing mbworld, and it seems aweful common for the airmatic to go on S classes that are 5 years old and younger. Someone said the repairs cost close to $10k. :o

I liked the first one better...black/black and UL!!! B) Small car lots like that scare me half to death, and I'd pass on that one because of that alone. Cars that are on those kinds of lots are usually there for a reason. Get one from Lexus dealer or an individual. So, yeah you should, but just not this one!

They are bad I agree, luckily Lexus vastly improved them with later designs. Cans of soda are about all they're good for. That's no improvement, mine can hold 12oz cans too and most 1/2 liter bottles. They actually hold what they can quite well; I just wish they were larger! I want it to hold those half gallon cups from Burger King and such! LOL Have you ever seen the cup holders in a V-Dub Touraeg? It comes out of the top of the upper console and can hold anthing your local 711 can dish out. I love the Germans, everything is big-big cupholders, big interiors, big price tags, and big problems--big repair costs! haha

I know, it ruined my day when I saw that! It was more of shock than anything else. I'd like to have my upholstry guy take a look at it, but I'm far away from him right now, and I have trust issues with who works on my car LOL, so I guess I'll try to band-aid it for now until I can have him take a look at it. Alternatively, I hope I can find something at that yard SD mentioned. On a better note, I got my wired mod in, and it sounds great! It's wierd. The sound was great before, but the mod added that last but most important 10% to it, and it's almost cd quality to me! I'm proud of myself for taking the time to run the antenna out to the trunk too. It was a true pain in the !Removed!, but I think it'll be well worth it. Thanks! ;)

Wow, great response SD!! Here's a pic: . It's right above the 2 ac vents in the center of the dash. They are just flesh wounds, all of the material underneath is still intact. Ideally, I'd like to pick up that one at Langleys and install it when I have the time, and just for the time being put some filler in there so that it doesn't spread any further.

What grinds my gears with the design of the car: the worst excuse of cup holders I've come across, no head or legroom, the climate control computer bases its actions too heavily on the outside temp, finicky heater, and some simple maintinance things are overly complicated (like changing the oil), etc.

Hey Sapper, where is that '95 at? Does it still have a tranny in it?

I doubt it. I just put new cam and crank seals in my car since the old ones were leaking so badly (probably for at least the past 50k miles). My timing belt was completely dry, but various brackets and componets that I thought were painted black were actually silver! LOL As the leaks progress, expect a big stain in your garage and the underside of the car gets coated in oil...especially when your crank seal starts to leak since the fan will blow it all around underneath the car. I'm so glad I have new seals in there now!

The programming differences are pretty much it. If you like Howard Stern and football, you are going to require Sirius while XM covers basball. I'm not a sports or Howard Stern fan, so I just picked at random (ended up with XM). If you like the dirty talk shows, XM has Opie and Anthony who are pretty good at what they do! LOL I was told that Sirius has one more satellite over XM. Even driving in the rural parts of LA and MS, I've never had a reception problem with XM (antenna placement is crutial).

I noticed two very small cracks in my dash yesterday. Wouldn't you know it's in a very visible area of the dash above the center air vents. I think I'm going to get some of Leatherique's crack filler since they list it as one of the product's usages. Anyone else have a cracked dash? Is this going to spread like wildfire? Any other repair suggestions? I was stunned by how thin the vynl is that they use on the dash--literally paper thin. That in mind, I guess it's not to suprising that it cracked after 10 years of not being garaged.

The last time I was putting my spare on I notcied the insulator looked really beat up. I'm going to change my struts soon, are the insulators worth replacing "while I'm in there?"

I though the OEM method was done by adding a control box to the nav screen, and it should play through the car speakers and display the Sirius info on the nav screen? It sounds like they added an aftermarket tuner to your car which isn't bad, but I'd bet the OE setup is better. I have XM, and I'll never go back to regular radio! I don't really even listen to my iPod anymore. The hardwire kit for mine will be here today; it sounds pretty good with the wireless mod, but I hear this is even better!

19/28 according to the EPA for a 6 cyl, '94. The V8 cars are only slightly lower at 17/25. It sounds like your friend needs a tune up, or stop flooring it from every red light!

Exactly! Our Suburban was about 99% trouble free during the first 40k miles--the dealer replaced one squeaky drive belt, and that's it! But 40k-115k, that was rough since some mechanical parts started failing: alternator, water pumps, and serious transmission issues (we are on number 3 right now. It's starting to shift like crap again which means it's about to break for a 4th time.). We went through a few water pumps and alternators in a short time, but after that, she's been well behaved other than the tranny issues. I looked at a Buick Lucerne the other day. I was completely stunned by the material quality since it was pretty darn good! It's a really comfortable car too (excellent seats and dimensions)! It's a shame that the car looks so good from the front and side but has an ugly rear end. I think I could get over the rear if I had one with the Northstar system! lol I know a few people with TrailBlazers who have had very few problems. I think they are supposed to be pretty good trucks (I think I would have gone with the Buick variant since you can get it with the small block with out having to get the extended wheelbase!! B) )....not as good as an Explorer though! GMs are all about luck, so I hope she ended up with a good one!

Wouldn't it be nice if it worked out that way! LOL Thanks Chip!

I think you just spray it with some choke/carb cleaner.

The brakes certainly sound like a possibility too! It's easy to tell if the strut rods are bad because you can make them clunk on demand (just slam on the brakes when you are going more than 5mph, and if they are bad, they will make a loud clunk. Or you can get under the car and inspect them.).