Scott Gordon

I used clear GE silicon calk little dab between cup holder and frame it sits in. Looks normal except you can't use cup holder

for how many years

Wish I could, but heck I'm lucky I got the post on lol. It is an easy fix.

Well save your self a bundle ($400.00 part plus labor) with this fix. w Where front window trim seperates at point where top and "a pillar: side of trim meet (top right corner if driver side, left corner if passenger side). roll down window and pull the window gasket away from top of window and side nearest door openingA pollar side. With the window gasket away from the top and side of the window you will see a pop rivet and screws fastening the trim to the top of the door frame. remove the pop rivet (drill out) and one screw this will allow you to place a piece of wood or other object between the door frame and trim at the point where the trim began to seperates from the door frame (there will likely be a bit of a crease at that point) now use the piece of wood as a fulcrum(between the topof the frame and trim) to bent the trim reasonable stright so that it now will lay flat to the door frame. Get a lenght of two way auto tape, easy to work with, as opposed to glue or other runny stickey stuff, and run that tape down the inside between the a piller side trim and door frame ie. so that it is sandwiched between the side exterior door trim thats the widest part of the trim and door frame. Squeeze the trim to the door frame. replace the screw and pop rivent(or use small screw in place of rivet, and reattach the window gasket and your done. Takes all of 20 min to do.now it may not look like a brand new piece (95%) but you saved about $595.00 in parts and labor. not a bad compromise. Scott

glad you got the cause a hinge who would have thought

I know this is almost a year later but i wanted to put the solution in for someons future refrence I want to post the cheapest fix for this problem but it will be a compromise as it a repair to the existing part rather then a new part for $400 plus instilation.A friend is a auto body expert and he fix the problem in 10 min. the fix pull loose ruber window gasket and you will see a rivet and screw afixing the trim . drill out the rivet 9you should but do not have to reattach with new rivet. Now bend the top of the frame so as to remove the upward pressure from the corner where the side and top rails of the windowmeet (only visable flaw is crease where you do this. Now get automotive two way tape and run it down the side of the frame (the thickest part ) and press until fram is reatached reinstall gasket and it will be good as new. Scott

I cannot answer your question but get the sc300 you can mod that countless ways and get from 225 to 900 rwh depending on your mods. plus the sc300 is built better and looks sharper.

If you have been reading the forum lately you know I bought a 1998 sc300,and so far only a water leak to contend with. The car is dark green and was in an accident as the passenger side paint is a bit lighter and orange pealy then the driver side. I called one body shop and they gave me a price of $3,500 to paint and clear coat the car the same color. stating that that price would be this low because they would not have to take off any parts like the doors, hoods etc. in essence just paint the car as it stands. A diffrent color would have them take the car apart to paint it I did not persue that cost as I was still in amazement that they wanted $3500. well I can live with the current paint job but I wonder what others might have paid. As an aside I looked for other threads but to tell you he truth when I type in a "key word" you get nothing relivent I must be doing something wrong or the site needs a better search tool. Has anyone had their sc300 painted and what did it cost. It would be interesting and helpful to see the range of prices. thanks Scott

Sounds like your onto something. two storms and driving in the rain interior stillbone dry so I guess I got the cause . I'll check my drain plgs on the under floor boards next time I put car up on lift. Hope ypu fixgets it done.

OK well its raining finally and I get to see what my interventions have accomplished. 8 hours of rain and so far water is kept out of the car, so success(cross fingers) will be credited to drain hole cleaning( weed wacker nylon does the trick) and silicon calk(GE II clear in/outdoor silicon) over holes under around etc, door gaskets. As an aside I put piece of paper between sun roof and car body and went around circumfrence of sunroof to get a handle on space that water has to enter. then got the bright idea to use thin window gasket ( used for house windows) around the circumfrence of sunroof to seal the gap it worked fantastic no water coud get in at all.BUT I could not open the sunroof it was locked shut, lucky for me I could pull the gasket out (glue on gasket back had not yet hardened) otherwise the sunroof would be inoperative. If it does ever leak I might seal it perminently. I hope this success is perminent.

An update on leak so I take sc300 to my machanic to blow out the drain holes with compressed air but he checked with a buddy in auto body business who advised against this as it could detach the hoses. Ok so I set up visit to auto body guy but in between I have this idea I get heavey gauge weedwacker nylon and snake it down the drain holes no obstruction. then I got another bright idea and get a straw tape a funnel to one end and the other end fits by the way perfectly in the drain hole and proceed to pour copiouse amounts of water down the funnel with no apparent leak or at least no outward signs of a leak. Then I blast the car for 2 min. of hard hose action, that in the past got me a little niagra in the car, so far so good. Well I'm gonna wait for a storm as I can't believe this is the end of it, but at least it appears I had some positive effecthopefully tangable rather then psychological. 3500 miles and this is the only issue so far, bought a small tarp to cover sun/moon roof (no garage) just in case. stay tunned. I got a bad feeling this is going to cost me since if the leak reappears its not from ther drain holes then its gotta be from the window itself Anyone know of a what it would cost to pull the moonroof ? regards Scott

Hi Folks, First thanks Cruz for responding to my request, I did find those holes (old eyes young heart) Well one more time with the hose and leak is not coming from door gasket it now appears if its from sunroof. I am going to get drain holes cleared with a shot of compressed air.

thought I had it figured out using the hose and going over door gasket I thought it was coming in where windshield meets car body and door gasket . Gave it a dose of calk and no leak with light watering but when I turned up the volunm it came in again . So off to get the pros to take a look at auto glass place. stay tuned.

hi I purchased from private party a 1998 sc300 with 48000 mi for $13500 a couple of months ago, so your deal looks unbelievablygood .Do what others suggest prior to purchase and figure on spending some bucks on repairs. First off after purchase change all fluids tranny,diffrential, power steering, brake,coolant and oil. Good luck Scott

Hi sc owners, Well I am 3,000 miles into ownership of a 1998sc300 (50,000mi) and only issue so far is this water leak. During rainy days car's rug is saturated with water on both passenger and driver sides. water appears to be coming in at about dashboard air vent height where the door meets the car body. The car was run through car fax and dealer inspection and no indication of accident or flood damage was noted. My guess is water after hitting the roof runs off and is channeled by the door's black rubber gasket towards the front of the car where the door slopes down towards the front quarter pannels. Has anyone else experenced this problem? how did you fix it ? Is their another way water can get into the car and end up soaking the floor rug other then by a falty gasket ? nothing else gets wet but the rug. Also is there any electrical wiring that can get messed up that runs under the rug? Your advise/help is needed. Thanks Scott

You can buy soft scrub at any target or food chain its all around just do not use the one with bleach

I have a 1993 GS300 with 137000 miles on the OD. this car has some common issues like dull headlights and dirty stiffing leather seats. So like any new used lexus owner I reserched the posts here at the lexus club. Someone mentioned soft scrub as a way to clean leather I checked the soft scrub web site and they do not recommend this product for leather. Hey the leather seats in my Gs300 were old,and somewhat soiled so I took a chance and used it. This is what happened, it took off the dirt it also took of some dye and in so doing the leather became softer.it was easy to use no hard scrubing is needed. I believe the leather became softer when some of the dye or what ever was put on the seat to cover the leather was removed in total or in part. Don't get me wrong there is plenty of dye left on the seats its like pealing a layer off an onion still pleanty of layers left. I Imediately cleaned and and conditioned seats with Lexol. I then used soft scrub on my front lights and it took off all the grim that casused the headlights to get cloudy. I am pondering weather or not I need to seal the headlight glass but have done nothing like that yet. As an aside I spattered some soft scrub on my carpet and it made a light spot on the carpet. This scoft scrub is strong mojo and should be used only when less intrusive methods of cleaning do not work. But know this stuff works. anyone else out there ever use this stuff ? what was your experence. Scott

Hi, I had read in this forum that some folks use soft scrub lemon,I did not use the one with bleach in it, to clean the leather. I used lexol products which I find are good but do not do much in the way of getting out stains or ground in dirt. I tried soft scrub even though their web site said it should not be used for cleaning leather. I used it to clean my 1993 gs 300 seats I used old white socks and can report that this stuff really works in getting the dirt out, judgeing from the residue on the socks it also appears that it takes a good bit of the stain out of or off of the surface of the leather as well. The amount of stain/dye removed was not noticable in that you could not tell from looking at the seat that it lost some stain/dye, but you couldsure see it on the socks. I followed up the soft scrub with a a lexol cleaner and then lexol leather conditioner in my hope that what ever good stuff the soft scrub removed from the leather the lexol would replace. So baring any down the road results like the leather falling apart from the use of soft scrub I would say this stuff does clean really well and soften the leather ( my guess, by removing hardened/stiff dye stain from the leather) but I do not know if I would use it to often rather use it as a one time cleaner, followed up with a good amount of leather conditioner. Has anyone used soft scrub and what were your impressions? Have you found anyway to remove old ground in dirt that would do less harm then soft scrub?

GOOD LUCK with your new purchase

Thank you to those of you that took the time to give me advise about steps to take to help assure a purchase of a good conditioned used SC. following your advice I got the car fax and dealer inspection. The car needed rear breaks and a serpintine belt. I bouth the sc300 for $13,000.00 with 48,200 miles on the odometer. I am the third owner. As soon as I bought the car I had the repairs noted above made and also had all fluids and filters cleaned or replaced ( power steering ,break, trans, diffrential, and oil). The car has a spoiler,mag wheels,heated seats,12 cd player,sun roof and is dark green. The interior after I gave it some tlc with lexol products looks new, the extrior has a few small paint issues, three quarter size scratchmarks like fingernail someone put on the paint trying to remove tar or sap. I have driven it about 1500 miles so far 600 of which was in one trip through snow, sleet, rain. but also had oppertunity on this trip when conditions permitted up to 110mph on the PA turnpike and NY thruway. So far so good. This car gives me the ballance of handling, and luxury that I was looking for. Well my fingers are still crossed Scott

Hi just bought a 1998 SC300 for $13,500.00 it has 48,000 miles on it. Carfax showed two previous owners and no issues. I purchased it from the second owner. I had the Lexus dealer check it out prior to purchase. The Dealer indicated the car needed rear breaks and a serpentine(sp?) belt. I had my local master mechanic replace the breaks and rear rotors ($87 each rotor) I for got what the breaks cost but total job was $287.00 and the serpentine belt was under $50.00 no instillation charged. While there I had him flush the tranny clean the screen and magnet and put in toyota type t4 fluid I bought the t4 fluid(about $4 a quart) he charged me $50 to flush and clean the screen, and magnet, he charged me $9.00 for the cleaner. He replaced the diffrential fluid with mobil 1 75/90weight I bought the fluid he flushed the diffrential and put in the two quarts of the mobil 1 around $15.00 for fluid $25.00 to install new fluid. He flushed the power steering and replaced with power steering fluid, and cleaned both screens (in pump and sensor) $75.00, he replaced break fluid $70.00 and coolent $50.00. This was done on his time off the books. Laddy did I tell you I am Scotish. I detailed the interior myself using Lexol cleaner and conditioner on the leather $8.00 each bottle. I used scotch gard cleaner on spots on the head liner cost -0-. meguire vinyl conditioner/cleaner another $8.00. I will clean the rugs(look clean) in the spring and replace the floor mats. I will replace the timing belt at 60,000 mi. Scott

First to the folks that responded thanks for doing so. I called 3 lexus dealers all use toyota type 4 tanny fluid in sc300 even though manual calls for dexron. So I put it in my sc300. I went with mobil 1 75-90 gear oil in the differential it was convienent amsoil I could not locate. while picking up my t4 from the toyota dealer the salesman who owns a gs300 and supra had extra toyota 80-140 gear oil at $24.00 a quart I took a pass on it but htought I let you all know it was out there. powers steering fluid I left up to my mechanic to use what he wanted he has worked on my 1993 gs 300 and did a flush 30,000 miles ago and what ever he used worked well. Same with brake fluid. i get the sc300 back today and plan to take a long hard ride :D

Headliners: Require special care and attention, as cloth type headliners are assembled with foam backing and usually glued to a fibre roof panel. If the headliner becomes wet, it can cause the head liner to delaminate and fall down. An interior cleaner (303 TM Fabric & Vinyl Cleaner) should be used. Spray onto a terry towel and wipe very gently Do not spray products directly onto head lining. Wipe lightly making sure not to leave headliner wet. Inspect and re-clean as necessary. It is better to clean twice, rather than to allow the head liner to get too wet. An alcohol based aerosol glass cleaner may also work for this operation because of its quick evaporation. Vinyl headliners should be cleaned the same way Methodology ·Lightly brush the headliner with a natural-latex sponge or a horsehair brush, they have very soft bristles that are gentle and is specially made for headliners or leather surfaces, this will loosen dust / dirt and make vacuuming easier (for very light dust or lint use a rolling lint brush) ·Do not use a stiff brush as you may snag or tear the headliner material ·Lightly vacuum the headliner to remove loose dust ·Spray 303 CM Cleaner & Spot Remover on to a 100% cotton terry towel ·Cleaning the headliner a quarter section at a time, use very light and even pressure on the towel to work the cleaner into the fabric. Do not saturate the material or use much pressure on the towel ·Use a fresh, clean damp, 100% cotton terry towel to remove the soil / dirt ·Frequently rinse the towel in clean warm water to ensure all dirt I soil is removed ·If the vehicle is fitted with a sunroof, open it a couple of inches, as dust builds up at the front edge. Clean this area before closing the sunroof and proceeding to the rear of the sunroof. JonM ← togwt, thank you this is what I was looking for outstanding Scott

Hellow fellow Lexus owners, I recently purchased a 1998 sc300 and would like to clean the interior fabric ceiling liner its not to bad but lets face it the car is not new. I had called a couple of detail shops in the area and they would not touch it stating fabric could tear or sag. I also went through the archives here and was suprised that I could not find a prior post on this topic. So I would appreciate anyone who has done this successfully to help with suggested product(s) and technique to follow. thanks for your help Scott Did Find one archive responce under headliner woolite any other options on chemicals to use?

hi I own a 1993 gs300 and have 136000mi only issues slow(maybe 1/4qt. every 3000mi) oil leak rear main gasket. Also they are crap in the snow. otherwise outstanding value.way better then camry ← I have to agree. I have a 95 GS and they suck in the snow. I do have a few issues with mine that can easily be resolved with a good technician and some serious coin. ← I also own a 1993gs300 and also have he rear main leak i got the car 50000miles ago and had one thing go wrong ,front axel $600. As far as I am concerned the 93 gs is by far a better vehicle then a newer toyota they are not in the same league.better style more power more of every thing. Having said that a honda accord is by far a better car then a toyota camary.