Sluggo

You may have already heard of these, but many have not. GE Lighting developed the technology and either licensed or sold it to Toshiba for automotive applications. It's a (almost) drop-in replacement for standard H4 bulbs that offers about 80% higher light output with no increase in electrical current. I've installed them on two cars and am very happy with the results. Right now they're only licensed for use in Vipers, and the Dodge dealer gets $130 each, but there are people out there selling them for around $30. You have to trim one tab slightly to get them to fit, but other than that they're a drop-in replacement.

It's a simple circuit - I think a little beep on the horn might be best, as flashing the lights might be hard to spot in the daytime. I'll take a look at fabricating something. sluggo

Dang. It was a shot in the dark. I'm finding that background noise on AM goes away when I do that. I have a feeling it has something to do with the aging (drying out) of the electrolytic capacitors in the radio's power supply. When the voltage regulator has to pass more current to the seat motor, the 14.4V supply probably cleans up a bit. Best bet at this point is to take out the back seat and check for water damage to the connections on the floor. Water tends to collect there and mess things up, if it gets really deep. Soak up any water, blow-dry the connectors, then plug and unplug them several times to wipe away any surface contamination. luck, sluggo

This is going to sound wierd, but try something for me. Turn on your radio so it's making the noise you describe (maybe it's worse on AM stations?). Now move your seat rearward until it hits the stops. When it does stop, keep the switch pushed back, as if you wanted the seat to continue moving backward. Listen to the radio noise as you do this. Does it change in any way? sluggo

You can rebuild the calipers, no problem. Not sure if that will take care of the problem you have, though. There may be a problem in your proportioning valve - are both rear rotors rusty? If so, I find it hard to believe that both rear calipers would go out at the same time. I'd take a look at the entire braking system before paying for new calipers that you may not need. sluggo

I hear ya. I was at a local car stereo shop yesterday and saw an in-dash all-in-one unit that plays MP3 and Windows Media files. How handy would that be? Put 10 CD's on one disc and eliminate the need for a changer altogether. With a tuner, 4-channel amp, etc .. all for about 140 beans. Having a working 13-year-old changer is kind of a mixed blessing. I kinda wish it would just stop working altogether so I could upgrade, but it's not exactly in the budget at the moment. Sluggo ← I have searched for a complete replacement for the Lexus unit, but no one seems to have one. What was this unit you saw and was it a direct replacement. Thanks ← If it's me you're asking, the unit I saw happened to be a Pioneer. There are a lot that do this sort of thing ... but I think you're asking about a possible double-DIN drop-in replacement, which this was not. As far as I know, if you want to retain the stock look of the dash, then you're locked into the Lexus factory stuff. I could be wrong about that, though. My point about the Pioneer unit was not that it would work as a drop-in, but that the concept was a nice one, as it eliminates the need for keeping a 10+ year old changer working. Sorry for any confusion. sluggo

Sounds just like my situation. It's kinda strange the way it works .. if you pull back on a good switch just a bit too much, a piece of plastic in the switch (a stop, ironically) breaks off and the switch contacts are then misaligned. If you take the switch out and open it up, it's easy to see what the problem is and how to work around it. I wish I could be more specific, but it's been several years since I did this and memory fails. I do remember that I did it with nothing more than a flat-bladed screwdriver. When you're done, you'll find that the repaired switch has a slightly longer pull to it, but it works. I can't say why the passenger's button clicks but doesn't work. It may be that the detent is still in place but the actual switch is not being engaged . Once you open up the driver's side switch it will become clear. sluggo

Is the lamp front plastic nice and clear? I used some Meguiar's #17 plastic polish on the front of the lens and it cleared up all the yellowing and most all of the cloudiness. Not expensive, and it works great on CD's, too :) Another thing that may need cleaning is the refractor lens inside the housing, but I think getting to it requires dissassembly of housing, which looks like a real pain. I think the best way to check if you're getting all the light you're supposed to is to turn the lights on at night and look at them. Anyplace you see "flare" you have loss of light transmission. For example, if you can see the surface of the refractor all lit up, that's a problem. Similarly, if you can see the back and front surfaces of the plastic lens reflecting light, that's light that's not going down the road. The headlights will dim (slightly) when you hit the brakes because the voltage at the bulb drops (slightly) due to the added load of the brake lamps. It doesn't take much of a change at all for you too see the difference - a tenth of a volt is noticeable. sluggo

The switch on my 92 SC400 went bad at one point as well. Turned out to be a piece of broken plastic inside the switch. I was able to take the switch out and repair it. You might give it a try.

I've only had one experience with plumes of white smoke, and it was a cracked headgasket on a Mazda. The smoke would just pour out of the exhaust when the car was started after sitting for an hour or so, but less so when underway. Check the coolant overflow tank for any film, and (when cool) check the inside of the radiator cap and neck for any oily white snot. This indicates oil in the coolant. Also check the dipstick for anything out of the ordinary, like bad color or any foam which would indicate coolant in the oil. Burning oil is gray/black. Burning coolant is white/blue. The residue left on the muffler tips is a dead giveaway for color - just wipe it with a white cloth. If the engine ran fine otherwise and the performance seemed okay, then the line about the diesel is a steaming pile of pig flop. If he still insists that it was just diesel and insists that you perform to the contract (complete the sale), then he owes you for: 1. New fuel filter 2. New plugs 3. New injectors 4. New catalytic converter ... as he has damaged those items through negligence. If he balks at any of those, then you cancel the sales contract for non-performance, as he's trying to deliver you a car that is substantially different than the car that you put the deposit on. I'd take a very, very hard line with this guy. Car salesmen stay employed by "seeming nice", while selling anything they can to whoever they can. sluggo

I hear ya. I was at a local car stereo shop yesterday and saw an in-dash all-in-one unit that plays MP3 and Windows Media files. How handy would that be? Put 10 CD's on one disc and eliminate the need for a changer altogether. With a tuner, 4-channel amp, etc .. all for about 140 beans. Having a working 13-year-old changer is kind of a mixed blessing. I kinda wish it would just stop working altogether so I could upgrade, but it's not exactly in the budget at the moment. Sluggo

I had some luck today with a Pioneer 12-disc changer that had not worked in about 2 years. The problem was that after loading a magazine of discs, the unit would go though the magazine, index the loaded slots, and would often stop at one slot or another and the dash dispay would show "ERR". Or, if it did manage to load a disc and start playing, when I tried to change a disc it would often stop in the process and the display would show "OPEN". Either way, I had to open the changer, hit the reset button, and sometimes I had put a knife blade into the player and scootch a stuck disc back into the magazine. So I took the changer out and took off everything so I could see the loading mechanism. I wired in a 12V supply and faked the door and magazine switches. I saw how the magazine would push the disc into the pinch rollers, and then the disc would just stop there while the rollers still turned. The unit would then push the disc back into the magazine and retry two more times, then move onto the next slot. Sometimes it would load a disc from a slot, and sometimes it would fail to load the same disc from the same slot. Figuring the pinch rollers were dried up from time and temp, I used some Vinylex (Lexol's vinyl treatment) to clean the rollers. It took 15 minutes and 6 or 7 cotton swabs before I finally got a swab that came away clean. I added some more Vinylex to the clean rollers and waited a while, then went back and swabbed off the excess. Now when I tried loading discs they loaded every time, from every slot. I tried a couple of different discs, including bare CDR media and commercial CD's with lots of artwork. So I put it all back together and put it in the car with a full magazine. It worked perfectly. Every slot was read, and changing discs during play worked just fine. If you're having the same sort of problems I was having, you might give this a try. Luck - Sluggo

One of the rear speakers in my 92 400 went out recently, so I tore into it to see what's what. The two full range speakers in the back are 4" units from Pioneer. They look to have a reasonable build quality. They're mounted via self-tapping screws onto a polycarbonite ring/frame which is then mounted onto the rear deck with four 1/4" machine bolts (the deck is tapped). I kid you not. These things will not rattle, ever. I haven't decided if I'm going to just put in a pair of replacement 4" speakers or try something else. The cutouts will fit a pair of 5.25" speakers if you drill mounting holes. The mounting ring bolt holes look like they might be spaced for 6" drivers, but I'm not sure about that. If you did use a 6" speaker, there may be some issues with the size of the cutout, as it's not real big. A 5.25" unit that I tested sat right in place, but a 6" speaker with a fat frame (like Infinity Kappas) will require some cutting. I haven't measured the inputs to the Pioneer amp, but I'm guessing they use high-level signals. I know they don't use common ground, which is nice. It probably has custom filters and/or crossovers for the factory speakers, but again, I'm not sure. There is no passive crossover for the sub, so it's certainly in the amp. Replacing the factory amp with an aftermarket unit should be no problem. You should pick an amp that has variable crossovers built-in, since I'm not sure anyone knows what the factory crossover points are. Anyway, that's what I plan to do with mine, once I settle on a stereo speaker set for the rear deck - keep the factory amp in place for the front speakers, and drive the rears/sub from a 4 channel aftermarket amp running in 3 channel mode. I want to keep my head unit too. It would be nice t be able to play MP3 disks, but that pretty much means a complete swap on all the electronics (except the amp, which I'm doing anyway), and I don't spend THAT much time in my car. =) EDIT: according to this at LexusPros, the amp takes single-ended line level inputs, not speaker level inputs. the outputs make sense except for the subwoofer (BU?). I would assume that the sub is driven from a bridged output, but there's no sub+/sub- outputs. Curious.

1974 Chevy Vega. Wagon. Brown. Quite possibly the worst car ever made ("Fill it with oil and check the gas, wouldja?"), and an absolute chick repellent. things got better, though ... 1979 Mazda 626 5-speed (still no ponies, but handled nicely) 1982 Honda Prelude (another great handler) 1982 Honda CBX 1100 (fastest production bike of it's time) 1988 Acura Legend (classic shape, nice and quiet, still only 170 HP) 1992 SC400 (also test drove a Q45 (the one with the hood medallion that reminded my wife of Brooklyn)) 1991 BMW 325i ragtop (wifemobile, fun, spins up like a Cuisinart) 1991 BMW 850i (garage queen, weekend ride, geared too high) Hmm, my newest car is 13 years old. Wish I hated it so I could get that new G35, but it's still a great car. Woe, the luck. :)

Pulling the green fuse resets the engine ECU. The ECU for the auto transmission is on a different circuit. I'm not sure how effective resetting the engine ECU will be on a 300, but I would think whatever it does wouldn't depend on transmission type.

SWO3ES - Thanks, I didn't know that. Would it be safe to assume that most metallic paints are clear-coated and most solids are single stage? Or is it just a matter of the individual paint chemistry that determines whether clearcoat is called for?

The ECU is on a circuit fused by the green 10 Amp fuse which is third from the top. If you open up your fusebox and look inside the lid, there is a key to what fuse controls what. (fine print, be warned). Warm up the car fully (the procedure won't work if the car is cold) and park it somewhere where you can safely do some hard starts to 30-40 mph. Turn it off, open the fusebox, and remove the ECU fuse. Wait a minute or two, then put the fuse back in. When you start the car it may idle rough for a bit. No matter, just do 4-5 hard starts and stops with the overdrive off ... really trounce it. You don't need to go much faster than 35 or so (I didn't, anyway). Congratulations, you're done. :) I don't know if it works on ES models, but I suppose it's worth a try. I can't see it hurting anything. You're on your own finding the ECU fuse, though :(

I read on the PlanetSoarer site about how the ECU 'learns" the owner's preferred driving style and adjusts to that style. They describe how to force the ECU to re-learn by pulling the fuse that powers the ECU. Well, I did it, and I'm very happy with how it worked out. My automatic now shifts later, harder, and actually does a fair amount of engine braking. It also gets to wide-open throttle operation much faster. Feels like a different car. It kind of makes sense. When you first take delivery of your new SC, you're told not to accelerate hard and keep the revs low. The ECU learns this and thinks this how you drive.

Great news Rich, glad to hear it worked! And pour yourself one, it was you who noticed the transistor with the hole in it. As far as replacing it ... that may be another story. Typically these things do not just "blow", but are damaged due to something else being "wrong". You will want to confirm that whatever that channel was connected to is not damaged in some way. Measure the subwoofer with an Ohmmeter to make sure it's not shorted, or simply take it to a local car stereo shop and have them test it. If it measures okay (4-6 Ohms), then you could replace the broken device. Have a real repair shop do the work, as opposed to a stereo installer. If the sub measures less than 2 Ohms, it will cause problems. Get it replaced first, then test the new sub with the repaired amp. There's no way to repair a shorted loudspeaker - it would require a new voicecoil, and a new sub will be far cheaper than trying to fix the old one. If you need a new sub, I'm told this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ssPageName=WD1V is a drop-in replacement, but the mounting depth of 5.5" seems like it might be too much.

One of the stock rear deck 4" speakers has failed on my 92 SC4. When I took the speaker out, I noticed 4 holes conveniently place for what looks like 6.5" speaker mounts, but I'm not sure if center hole is big enough to mount a larger speaker. Has anyone upgraded their rear stereo pair with NO cutting/drilling? Or should I just replace the 4" unit with another 4-incher? Thanks =)

I would take the blown transistor out and plug the amp back in - you have nothing to lose but another fuse. Each channel's amplifier is isolated from the others, so the blown channel will definitely not work, but the others might. You don't have to unsloder the blown transistor, just cut the three leads (wires) which enter the body of the transistor. Lower impedance = fewer ohms = greater load on the amp. For instance, if you took out some 4 Ohm speakers and put in some 2 Ohm speakers, then the amp would have to deliver twice the current at the same volume control seting. The increased current means more heat in your amp and may mean an overloaded output transistor. Thus the hole.

I almost hesitate to post this in the light of all the high-tech methods listed above, but for a fast and thorough windshield cleaning I've always used a standard toothpaste (Crest, Colgate, etc) rubbed on with a synthetic sponge. Toothpastes are basically just polishing clays suspended in a water-soluable base (avoid the gels and bleaching products like Rembrandt, etc). They're also inexpensive, rinse clean, and leave your car smelling minty-fresh :) Just kidding about the smell, but seriously they do an excellent job of removing all manner of road film safely and quickly.

Back in the day, before every car had a clear coat applied at the factory, most automotive paints (without a regular waxing) would oxidize, dulling the finish on (particularly) red and silver cars. At the time that NuFinish came out, I found it to be the best affordable product out there (short of a professional buff job) for removing oxidized paint. It really worked very well. Now, though, I haven't been tempted to use it on any clear-coated car (basically anything made after 1990 or so). If it's main benefit is still just as an oxidation remover, it's simply not needed for 90% of the cars on the road. For the time spent, I think you'll get far more benefit from a good, pure wax like Zaino or similar.

The LCD panel on my 92 SC4 is completely illegible. The problem started out small, with just one corner being darkened, but now the bottom 80% of the display is completely shot. It's not a backlight problem, and the display lights up at night, but the nomenclature is completely obscured by the fault in the LCD. Is a full panel replacement the only solution? Or is there a way to just replace the LCD display?

My 92 SC4 has a problem after it rains - the driver's side seatbelt is getting wet INSIDE the rear side panel. I took the panel off today to see where the water was coming in and it looks like it might be coming in near the back of the rear window, then running forward along the inner panel support (metal part), then dripping onto the belt. The space directly over the belt retractor itself was dry and showed no signs of recent leakage. The water also collects under the rear seat, putting some electrical connections at risk. Anyone found a sure-fire fix to this problem? I hate the mildew smell the belt gets :(