nc211

Hahaha!!! Zoom Zoom... I love the fact that you've got the Volvo stop-light racing against Mustangs! Some how, I would think it safe to say, that you'll have the fastest minivan on the block someday! Funny tie in to volvo on the mazda, it's actually the same frame as the little volvo out there now, and i believe now the ford focus too. the frame realy makes the car. the ride is nice and tight, but not harsh.

Oddly enough, there isn't a mention about the tranny fluids in the manual, other than "check at 15k". It was the redish-pink color at new though. Which is pretty dramatic considering is was so dark I couldn't shine my big boat flash light through it. From what others have posted on the mazda site, the problem seems to be reduced noticably once you've cleared out the oem fluids and replaced it with some good stuff, which is why I caughed up the $80 on the M1 stuff. The drain n' fill proceedure on the car is actually easier than on the LS400. 3 quarts come out, exactly, and the pan is right next to the oil filter housing. So most guys are just doing a drain n' fill at oil change time, and reporting a constant red flow to the fluids. Some folks on the site report that they've never changed the fluid, with about 40-50k miles. So I'm not sure if it's bad or not. But mine, with 90% city driving, started to have a slite hint of a burnt smell, so I would figure those who haven't changed their fluid will probably start facing problems soon. Smooth, the guy who taught me how to do this, did it in his thread of adding a cooler to the system. I might give it a shot later on, after I've put some miles on the new fluid and can see how it's held up. The wife is starting to get a little worried that, and I quote, "you're not going to "lexus" that car are you? I can't handle that again." Hahaha... Little does she know....I'm too far gone to ever return to the Jiffy Lube service routine. Another little trick I learned: To save your floors from stains, go to lowes or home depot and buy one of those washing machine tubs, and use it as your base under your drain pans. It's pretty wide, easy to slide around, and will catch all spills/splats. Then wipe it up afterwards, and slide it behind a shelf/bench when done. Works great!

Thanks DC! It took about half a dozen to come up with the idea, which was a true "duh" moment for me. However, no beers during construction, as I like my fingers and respect the power of my table saw. That sucker doesn't forgive, and seeing as how it can rip some serious wood, would make short work of my fingers. But, it did take another 6 afterwards of sitting at my workbench, watching some tv and admiring my work! I have no fears now under the car, even ran over them a few times with the 4runner to test for strength and sliding. The mazda3forum.com site really is quite good, with lots of actual helpful diy stuff on there. This was the first time I'd cleared tranny fluid through a cooler line before, and the first time I've ever dropped a tranny pan "glad I did, it was some nasty stuff in there and on the magnet". With the info from that site, I wasn't that nervous and felt pretty good about it. The only painful part of the project was the cost of the M1 fluid, at about $7 a quart! I bought 11, plus some high temp seleant for the pan. All together, about an $85 project. But, what's $85 bucks for a car, right? Other tranny fluid was available at half the price, but the lexus spoiled me. It's all or nothing, top shelf or no shelf. Up next: trying to learn how to flush the tranny fluid in the 4runner. It's "sealed" with "lifetime" fluid. But, as any BMW owner or mechanic will tell you, ain't nothin' "lifetime", especially tranny fluid. From what I hear, that Toyota "WS" world standard fluid is expensive as heck. It should be an interesting process. The Mazda is like tinkering with a remote controlled car, in comparison to the tank-built 4runner.

Mazda "Ford" transmissions in the Mazda 3 are hard on the fluids. Several owners on the forum are reporting brownish fluids within 10k miles, and are switching out the oem with Mobile 1 full synthetic fluids. I did this yesterday, and you wouldn't believe how horrible the fluid was! It was black as midnight, and close to a burnt smell. Thought I'd throw some pictures up of the project. The difference between the old fluid and the new synthetic is astonishing! Unlocked the car's zoom zoom. Additionally, I've included pictures of my new ramps I made last weekend. I had those plastic Rhinos, but got sick and tired of them slinging across the garage floor when I backed down, slamming the car to the ground. The Lexus being rear wheel drive, would push them forward and made it very tricky to use. In fact, I simply quit using them altogether. They sucked. But these new ones, which cost $16 bucks, are nothing more than a 10 foot wood board at 2x10 measurements, cut down to sizes and connected with simple wood screws. They are perfect, don't slide one bit, easy to get up and down, and offer a lot of tire sitting space. They're not that heavy either.

It was all a scam, set up by the bookies in Vegas... that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it! B) :P I do agree though, Davidson would of been a lot of fun to watch win the tourney! Maybe someday my true team, UNC-Wonderful "Seahawks" will return to the mix.

What in the heck are you laughing at, Mr. 460 man! :P

JOSH: In the photo of your engine, what is that spark plug looking thing in the center by the grill? Is that your O2' sensor?

I'm sorry, Duke who? Wolfie where? The 6 questions still outstanding to thier existence in this century/millenium remain..who/what/when/where/why/how. Yes, the boys fell apart last night, and quite frankly didn't even show up in the first 10 minutes of play. Honestly, I don't know what happened, but KU simply whipped their butts! My hat goes off to Rock Chalk Jayhawk this year. They were impressive to watch, and hope they take the title tomorrow night. Maybe next year we'll have a few more teams to carry the state's basketball program in the tourney, and give the golden boys in CAROLINA blue a brake, for a change... Sure gets lonely at the top, all the time.. :D PS: anything tastes good with enough ranch dressing on it! Even deep fried crow! hahaha...

Looks great man! You and the Mrs will get tons of happy miles out of that car! My wife's very 1st car, a 90's-something honda civic coupe, is still driven everyday by her 6'3" dad, back and forth to work, 100 miles round trip. It has just about 300k miles on it, and keeps going and going and going. He has a Jag, about to get a bmw for his wife, and a truck, yet that honda is his favorite. You guys will enjoy the civic, for sure! As a fellow gear head, I will advise you to keep a cautionary eye on the tranny fluids. Although I've never actually seen a broken honda tranny "but have all heard about them", I know in my wife's last car, with was a 03' civic, the tranny dipstick would rattle itself loose, which could "and probably did" allow debrie to get in there. We traded it with 84k on the clock, not a lick of wax anywhere, a dent in the fender that required a new headlight, and about 2 inches of dust inside, for 9,800 bucks against the Mazda. If it weren't for the fact that the only cars my wife has ever had were Honda Civics, we very well might of ended up with one just like yours.

I doubt a lawsuit, but I would assume you would have some legal strength to throw their way. If anything, I would certainly write a letter to Toyota corporate explaining your situation with that dealership, and the fact that they refuse to offer you their services simply because you called Toyota Corporate first, before allowing them the opportunity to diagnoise your car. To me, that just says "because you won't let us rip you off with our games, we won't help you anymore". That place certainly deserves to have a point or two deducted from their overall Toyota score card. I'd send it certified mail too, so you'll have a signed receipt of delivery.

Sounds like a possible tranny mount. not a bad repair, and at those miles, i wouldn't be one bit suprised if it's due for replacement. Engine mounts might be getting there too, espeicially under those winter conditions up there. By the way, it's not the LS460, it's the 430. The 460 is the brand new one that came out last year. Or, time for a tranny fluid replacement at the dealer.

Oh my gosh, a house in Overland Park that actually looks unique!!! I use to live there, from 1989 to 1995, graduated from BVN, two years at KU, and on one horribly cold February morning in 1995 at KU, walked up the hill to be greeted by sub zero winds coming from the western side, turned around, walked back down the hill to my apartment on Tenn. street, called my folks to tell them "I'm done, transferring to Carolina in the fall", then called my cheating girlfriend and told her "we're done, I'm tranferring to Carolina in the fall, !Removed!", then called admissions and withdrew from all classes, and haven't looked back since. Admissions lady asked me why, and I said "two years of freezing my butt off, for a 2.9 gpa, just sucks. I'd have a 3.5 if I didn't skip so many classes due to this bitter cold." Granted, I'm from Alabama, so you can imagine the shock. I knew we had made a mistake when we moved there in December of 89' from B'ham. Left 65 degree weather, to be greated with -65 degree windchills. Yes, we have the extremes of hot and cold weather here in KC, but I have learned to live with it. Aside from that, I think life here is perfect and I don't think I will ever leave the area. When you say BVN, I assume you are referring to Blue Valley North High School? My neighborhood is directly east of there. Small world! My brother still lives there, and seems to like it. I like to visit, but after a week or two, i get an itch to come back to NC. If for anything, to stop being starred at due to my acent. Although, I must admit, it sure does play well with the ladies, or at least it did in my 20's. Hahha... Yep, BVN..Blue Valley North. We use to live down along 119th and Switzer, in Nottingham. Then moved to Leawood after I left home for school. Man, has that placed ever grown! I use to make it down 119th from Switzer to school in about 10 minutes, with just a couple stop lights.... now, well, you know the story. Is KenTacoHut still there at 119th & Metcalf? That was the hangout spot for us in highschool.

i didnt write off the brand, just the dealer... but check this out... so today i got a call from the corporate liason at my local toyota dealer...lets just say i am ashamed to say that these people are on the same planet as i am. she told me, that because i called corporate before i gave them an opportunity to correct the problem, that they are hereby voiding my toyota factory warranty and are refusing service to myself and my wife indefinately. Hows that for customer service? so its offical, even with 485 a month, im still have the civic...with a **** ton of extras... Josh, I surely hope, and strongly advise, that you review your warrantly documentation, and I hope you have copies of all the documents from when you purchased the car and warranty agreement. Look for anything that suggests the dealership has this authority to revoke your warranty. This smells like complete, total, and utter BULL SH*T on ALL levels! Just because you called the boss first, doesn't give them the authority to revoke something you've already paid for. I'm sorry, but that's simply unfair, and quite frankly, unconstitutional business practice. I would strongly advise you to review your documentation, call the manager and MAKE him/her point to exactly where in your contract that they have this authority under this situation. If they give you the run-around, call Toyota Corp., and tell them to point out exactly where in your documentation they can do this. Furthermore, advise that half-assed, over-paid, taco bell fry cook wanna-be, manager that you are addressing this issue with him as a last ditch effort before exercising your legal options. This isn't business practice towards you Josh. This is staight up, flat faced, theft of your dollars for that warranty, PERIOD. And THEY know it, but hoping you're too stupid or lazy to recognize it. Which, they're sadly mistaken. Short example: Friend of mine in the 80's had a oldsmobile cutlass coupe, bought by his dad from the local mitsubishi dealer. turns out, the car had been totalled in Mississippi a year earlier, of which they found out about. They asked the dealer to do one of the following options (a) refund the money, (b)replace the car © adjust the original purchase price to reflect the true condition of the car. The dealership told them to "p*ss off". Little did they know, his dad was an attorney. Long story short, my friend got a brand new fully loaded eclipse turbo, his dad got $650,000, and the dealership got their business license revoked from the state bureau of economic affairs. This took a whole 90 days to complete.

Bingo!

Oh my gosh, a house in Overland Park that actually looks unique!!! I use to live there, from 1989 to 1995, graduated from BVN, two years at KU, and on one horribly cold February morning in 1995 at KU, walked up the hill to be greeted by sub zero winds coming from the western side, turned around, walked back down the hill to my apartment on Tenn. street, called my folks to tell them "I'm done, transferring to Carolina in the fall", then called my cheating girlfriend and told her "we're done, I'm tranferring to Carolina in the fall, !Removed!", then called admissions and withdrew from all classes, and haven't looked back since. Admissions lady asked me why, and I said "two years of freezing my butt off, for a 2.9 gpa, just sucks. I'd have a 3.5 if I didn't skip so many classes due to this bitter cold." Granted, I'm from Alabama, so you can imagine the shock. I knew we had made a mistake when we moved there in December of 89' from B'ham. Left 65 degree weather, to be greated with -65 degree windchills.

I"m actually heading over there for the TSB issue on the Cats. Obviously, I didn't go there first, as it's a bit out of the way. But, hey, at least I could of gotten a free bobble-headed bouncing dog at the one I went to....I bet you can guess which one I'm referring too....

I agree with Lexusfreak. Although an extended warranty can save your butt sometimes, if you own a car known for major repairs. You, don't have one of those cars. Infact, you have one the best cars ever made now, and as long as you keep up with the normal fluid changes and such "which a warranty won't cover anyway", you really shouldn't have any problems with the car for several more years and MANY more miles. But, if you want to ease your mind, I ask if you're a member of a credit union anywhere? If so, I'd call them and see what they recommend. Or possibly your bank's autolending department. Going through a financial institution, especially if it's a local institution that prides itself on their community support, can add an additional layer of protection for you, if the actual warranty company goes down. Nobody likes to be told "you recommended these guys, and now I'm screwed over because of it".

Man, does this ever sound like a typical GM problem. You've got to admit, Toyotas in general aren't known for things like this, but GM is, and with the Matrix tied to the Vibe, something sounds fishy. Josh, have you called your local Pontiac dealer and ask one of their guys if they have problems with the Vibe like this? I'd be curious what their answer would be. I'm not sure who did what with the design of the car, but to give an example of how some of these "partnership" cars are done, our 07' Mazda 3 has nearly 100% Ford components, from the engine to the transmission. And, thanks to thier lack of true transmission coolers, the tranny fluids need to be changed about every 10k miles. Thankfully, it's easier than changing the oil. But, gives you an idea. Speaking of the Mazda 3, have you given them a look at all? I gotta tell you, I absolutely love ours and hope to have it for many years to come. I actually prefer to drive it over the 4runner, and is one of the reasons why I got rid of the LS "my wife hated driving the LS, and wouldn't give me the keys to the 3". You really do get a lot of bang for the buck! Leather, heated seats, automatic rain sensing wipers "that actually work great", triptronic gearbox, automatic audio leveler, i-pod input, satelite radio option, beautiful interior lighting, adjustable HIDs, computer, traction control, automatic a/c, quite a lot of room, etc... All for about $21k. Only complaint is the 17' stock tires "goodyears", with a 45 sidewall that is extremely stiff. On balcktop, it's quiet as a church mouse, but on concrete it's pretty loud. Fixable with tires though. We have 20k on it now, and have had zero problems. You can get them in the sedan "we have", or the 5 door. The MazdaSpeed isn't that much more either, and you go from about 160hp, to a turbo charged 260! And from what I've read on the mazda3forum.com, it's got some serious "rip your freakin' ears off" speed. I think they're about $23k, fully loaded. To add to your Toyota dealership horror stories, I'll add mine from last week, in an attempt to make you feel better. I had the 4runner in for an alignment, some additive for the rear differential "posilock clutches were chattering", and a general inspection. I also took in the TSB issued for the !Removed!-producting bad Cat's under load, which make your eyes water. That repair, at about $2,000, is covered under the 8 year/90k mile exhaust warranty. The dealer gave me the typical b/s excuse of "it's the gas, we can't authorize the repair", which is very typical lingo for "we won't do it, if we have to pay for it." That's not the funny part though. I took it back because the alignment wasn't done right, and to make a long story short, while sitting in the truck "it's a V8 with perm awd", I was asking questions about the diff lock button in conjunction to the 4H and 4L option switch "no 2H". In a nut shell, the idiot told me that it's actually a 2wheel drive truck until I engage the diff lock. That the 4H selector is a mistake from Toyota. While we were sitting there, on the side of the road, in loose gravel, I got mad that this moron was wasting my time. So, I decided to SLAM on the gas to make the rear wheels spin. Wouldn't you know it, they didn't spin at all, infact, the truck took off like a rocket, like an AWD rocket. I looked at this dude "who was white as a ghost by then", and said, you sure it's only 2wheeldrive? At that point, he said "do you have an owners manual?" I said "of course", he said "read it to figure out how to use it". At that point, I dropped him off back at the dealership, put in "n" for a second as he got of the truck, and revved it up for a few seconds, to make that entire delivery bay smell like one bigass stinkin' !Removed!, then tore out of there. Upon my call from the dealership for my satisfaction survey, I told them, and I quote, "you guys couldn't figure out what season it is, much less how to fix the cars you sell. I took it down to Midas for an alignment, and all is fine. Keep the $225, as it'll be the last money you ever get from me, my family, my friends, and anyone else I get to that is looking to buy a Toyota." I"m still waiting for my followup call from Toyota Corporate, as the girl promised would happen... not holding my breath on that one!

Here ya' go, amigo, this should take care of it for you. ;) 35.pdf 27.pdf 14.pdf 12.pdf 9.pdf 8.pdf

Damnit....that's TWICE I've been had! :chairshot: 1st one was an email requesting my presence in our home office "in cali" for three weeks in June...a few days after the delivery due date of our first child. In the words of Eric Cartmen....Screw you guys, I'm going home! :D

Even if this is true, I have a feeling Toyota will realize the consequences of American backlash, for mocking GM. This could actually play favoribly for GM, if they play their cards right. I know, as just one American, that I would be very upset with Toyota if this is true, and they're really going to make Oldsmobile named vehicles now. This is a cheap shot against GM, and if they're smart, will use it against Toyota in a very sucessful way. American's don't like to be slapped around, and this is just a cheap shot slap shot. For example, Bush once had a 93% approval rating following 9/11. If he can gather that kind of support, GM could do the same, just in a different way. In all honesty, if I could afford it, my twitchy driving 4runner would be traded for a new Tahoe in a millisecond, and someday just might.

oohryry, sorry man, I didn't get home until around 11:00 last night "business dinner", and was just wiped out tired. I forgot to post the pdf for you. I'll get it tonight, as I'll be home at a decent hour.

Oohryry, it's not hard amigo, not hard at all. Got to your local auto parts store and buy yourself a pitman tool to pop the upper balljoint out of the control arm. Do not use the fork tool, as it will completely destroy the rubber housing of the balljoint and put grease everywhere. The pitman simply locks on the back side of the balljoint and you turn the bolt of the pitman against the balljoint arm until it pops loose. It will POP too, loudly, so watch your fingers. From there, it's as simple as two more bolts at the bushing points. For me, I used a little liquid wrench, my normal socket set, and a hammer to pound on the wrench to bust them loose. Once it breaks free, just back out the bolts, take the arm out, and install the new one. Quite easy. I have the proceedure from the manual at home in pdf format. I'll post it up tonight for ya'. If my memory serves correct, I think the lbs' are in the 85-90 range on the bolts. You'll know the balljoint arm is seated when you can see the hole for the slider pin showing with about a 2-3mm space. PS: No replacement for just the balljoint on these, it's all or nothing for this series.

RX, you're killing me man! Hahaha I must admit, Davidson was a BLAST to watch, and of all the teams, if UNC has to lose, I too would of enjoyed watching Davidson do it. KU is going down, and UCLA will be too bloated with Tofu to keep up with the lean n' mean Tarheels! Hahaha....

The Lexus has been my only true-luxury car personally. But in my family tree, we have a few older ones "we all hate new car depreciation". We have an 85' MB 500sel with about 35k "i think, can't remember mileage very well". We also have a 73' Caddy full size monster with something like an 8.0 liter V8, glass packs, with about 20k miles "all original", my brother bought my dad's 94' Jag sedan with the 4.0 V6, has about 50k on it now, prestine condition. Have had a couple BMW's "530, 318ti, 325ci". Of all of them, the Lexus was the nicest in terms of driving/riding/mechanical/comfort. The Caddy however is by far the #1 gun slinger in the garage. The MB is pretty cool, an Italian import version, but not very comfortable and quite sparse on the options. The Jag is beautiful, but rides like a true led-sled and as tempermental as a high school cheerleader at prom "dated one, and only one, thank god." The BMW's were nightmares. The 530-in the winter the stick would freeze you into just 1st and 2nd gear, and in the summer the fuel lines always broke. The 318ti was a buzzy rattle bucket, the 325ci blew electronic modulators like Mel Gibson blew his career. And the mechanical top would almost always fail after a dozen operations. Furthermore, the gas peddle required about 20lb's of force and the harmonic balance of the exhaust note would make your ears hurt after a while.