TexasComputerMan

I have a 2008 ES350 Ultra with Nav. I also have a Garmin unit. Each tells me different things. The Lexus Nav system gives me a running list of upcoming exits (On highways) and what amenities are available at each exit. I like that, the Garmin unit shows a different map and includes the speed limit and what my speed is. (My speed is black when I am at or less than the speed limit, but turns red when I go over the limit. I like that also. So I use both.

Here is a pic of the ES300 CD Player mounted in the trunk of my SC400;

I have a 1994 ES300 CD player with the full brackets. I bought it because it is plug compatible with the SC400 sound system. I bought two of them and they both work in an sc400. However, I do not have the SC400 any longer and this has been setting in my utility room for a couple of years. This is PICKUP only. I will not ship. I Wil trash it if no one wants it. I will sell for $75.00 firm PM me if interested TexasComputerMan I am in Arlington, Texas

I do not usually comment on other people's postings. We each have our own opinions but I noticed a pattern in some of the newer postings. These are from some current threads and are all by a mr JohnD38: JOHND38: 30000 Mile Service Lexus is a Very Poorly "designed" car, made for people, who barely know how to operate. Real POS!! Get rid of it as fast as you can & go to Toyota or Hyundai. Bumpy Shift From Park To Reverse Just POOR Quality & no engineering! Designed by marketing & shoe sales For Those That Want To Change Their Oil Diy On Es350 What a *BLEEP* Poor design!!! Extremely Bad!!! Extremely Poor Gas Mileage (2007 Es350) 2009 350 has Very Poor mileage too. Only about 24 mpg & dealer says that's normal. Real POS!!! POOR!!!! My Lexus Won't Unlock Very Poorly designed car! Needs Keys!!!!! Bunch of dumbass designers at Lexus. Black mark on Toyota name & reputation. Consumer Reports Reliability Rankings Must have gotten a good payoff to rate this POS highly! Worst car ever! Horrible Seats? Totally agree! Hot, Uncomfortable, Poor seats!! Might as well sit on a wooden stadium bleacher seat. POOR!!!! Cleaning Leather Seats Don't clean them. Let them wear out & replace with Good Seats - Cloth. Leather's Hot & Uncomfortable, so why keep them. Marketing has people fooled into believing that they are luxurious. They are CRAP Lexus Es 350 Parchment Interiors Leather is Hot & Uncomfortable, so why bother? Sooner it is worn out the better. One wonders why he keeps his ES350 if he hates them so much. I have two (2) 2008 ES350's. One a Maroon ultra that I bought on 5/8/2009, it had 24000 miles on it (Now it has 44000 miles) and it has become my highway/travel car. I have traveled literally around the whole USA in this car. These trips have been my retirement trips and this car has performed very well. The only thing that I have needed to do to it is to replace the front rotors and pads. Oh, I also put an Ipod adapter in it. This has been a superior car and because of how good it has been, I bought a second 2008 Es350: It is Gold and I bought it on 4/12/2011. It had 9000 miles on it (It now has 16000 miles). It is a basic model and I use it as a daily driver. I also put new rotors and pads on this car. Also, I put in an Ipod adapter. I am sure that everybody's experience an be different, but if I despised a car as bad as JohnD38, I would get rid of it. In fact, I did just that. I, foolishly bought a 2010 Honda Accord. After driving about 1000 miles, I realized that I just hated that car, so I traded it in on the Gold ES350.

I would like to share my leather seat problem with you all. My 2008 ES350 Ultra has a parchment interior and I noticed that there was a drop of oil on the passenger seat. I left it alone for several months because I was afraid that if I tried to clean it up, it would just spread and smear and look worse than just that one small drop. But, it drove me crazy. I wanted to cleaned up, so I tried Meguiar's One Step Leather care. I was super careful to just touch the drop with a cloth containing the cleaner. I did NOT rub the spot. I dabbed it carefully. Surprise, Surprise, after the second dab, the spot was gone. I do not know if you will get as good a result, but it is worth a try. Particularly if you are as careful as I was. B-T-W, I bought the Meguiars at Walmart.

Yes, that is a tricky button to find. Try this: Sit in the drivers seat in a normal position. Put your hand on your right leg/knee. slide your hand to the dash and follow the curve of the dash downwards. Keep sliding forward underneath the dash you will find two buttons. One to reset the tire pressure check and one for the AFS light. That sounds stupid, but this way works.

I own two 2008 ES350's. A gold one that is a basic model and is my daily driver. And a Maroon ultra with everything except ML audio. It has the premium audio. I knew that there would be a difference in cost between the Lexus and Toyota service. What I found was eye opening. I took the Maroon one in to Lexus for it's 40,000 mile checkup and oil change. It cost me $284.60. Then I took the Gold one in to Toyota for its 15,000 (Yes Fifteen thousand) mile checkup and oil change. The work that both service departments was nearly identical. The Toyota did a 32 point inspection and cost me $0.00. (Yes, nothing) The Lexus dealer charged me $146.03 for a 16 point inspection. Toyota gave a detailed check list, while Lexus gave me a printed list of the checks that the mechanic should have done. (I have No reason to doubt the mechanic) I had both cars changed over to the synthetic oil, the tires rotated, a new cabin filter but did not get an Air cleaner. I have K & N Filters in both. The final totals are: Lexus = $284.60 Toyota = $123.10. I believe that the service was nearly identical at both dealerships. Think that I will be taking both cars to Toyota from now on.

I have now burned my third tank of regular gasoline in my 2008 ES350. So far, I cannot tell the difference, except the cost of the fillup. The car is running perfectly and my gasoline mileage is the same as when I was using High test. I do not see a difference in performance either. There must be some, but I cannot detect it. I will keep you all up to date as the months rollby.

My dice duo (Silverline) unit has been in for 7 months and is working just fine. I have tried all 'dip' switch' settings and like the MP3 the best. That is dip 1 (Left) off (up) and dip 2 (Right) on (down). the Manual says that this setting is for late model navigation units. My ES350 is NOT a nav unit, but this setting works the best. Also tried Sat settings and the text on my radio would flicker all of the time. Very distracting. The CD changer setting also works ok. B-T-W, I have a 2008 ES350 w/o Nav and a base radio with a sat button. (Don't have a sat radio setup) I can recommend this Ipod integration. I like it a lot.

I have hesitated to jump in here, but I just want to tell you of my experience. I bought a 2008 Lexus ES350 Ultra two years ago. It has been my travel car. That car and I had been literally all over the US. It has always had a slight shimmy at 65-75 mph for that whole time. However on a driving trip to Florida and after a very hard brake effort. (A Nut cut me off at 70 mph) I realized that the shimmy was much worse. I called my buddy who is a mechanic and asked him for his opinion. He thoght that it was warped front rotors. OK, I had never heard of that. When I got back home, my buddy checked the rotors and they were warped. He had to take it into his garage to prove that but I know and trust him. He suggested that I buy after market rotors and get ceramic pads. I did that and it totally cured my problem. We now believe that the rotors had been mildly warped by the first owner. Now at Any speed it is super smooth. You may have a completly different problem, but it might be worth taking your Lexus to a shop and having them check the rotors.

This was my choice and it works with All of my Ipods. Including a Nano. http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=69428

I just put these on my 2008 ES350 and they are super so far. I have a close friend that did the install for me for free, so the cost below is all that I paid. My Order: Part #: CE117.44083 2008 Lexus ES350 Centric Brake Hardware Kit Brake Hardware Kit ES350 Centric Qty: 1.00 Price: $ 7.67 Part #: P15K186 2008 Lexus ES350 Powerstop Brake Disc and Pad Kit Brake Disc and Pad Kit ES350 Powerstop (Ceramic pads) Qty: 1.00 Price: $ 225.75 Sub Total: $233.42 Shipping: $17.78 Handling: $4.27 Tax: $0.00 Core: $0.00 Discount: $0.00 Total: $255.47 I got them from: www.carparts.com THey have been on for week and totally solved the high speed shudderung that I got when braking.

I got back into my Lexus to route the Dice cable into the glove box. I had to take out the cabin filter and found a small opening on the extreme left of the glove box. (Almost hiddened by the Cabin filter cover)I threaded a stiff wire from the glove box down to the area where the Dice cable came from the headunit (Had to take off the passenger kick panel , the triangle one, to see into this area). When I got the wire down there, I wrapped it aropund the Dice plug and GENTLY pulled it up to the glove box. You have to jiggle it a few times to get it through. During this process, when I plugged back into my Ipod, I noticed the the Dip switch settings were in fact both OFF. That is the CD Changer setting and is working OK.

I bought the new Dice SilverLine DUO Ipod Adapter for my ES350. My Lexus is a 2008 Lexus ES350 without Nav and with the standard radio. (with sat & text buttons) I printed and followed dreyfus' (from Club Lexus forums) Nav/audio head unit removal steps. Everything went well except I managed to overlook step 5 showing that the left triangle trim piece on the drivers side also needed to be removed. When I had everything else taken out, the head unit would not budge. I realized that there must be a bolt on the left side. Taking that out did it. Hooking up the Dice splitter cable was a snap and the whole thing went back together very easily. I set up the dice unit as an MP3 player. (Dip switches = left off, right on). I tried to use it as a Sat setup but it had problems, so I reset it to MP3. It works Perfectly, including showing the song title on the radio's display. A Great Thanks go to dreyfus for the incredible pictures that made this install very easy. Scary, but easy. If you have the nerve, look at this link to see the removal steps. http://www.clublexus.com/forums/es350/234398-nav-audio-head-unit-removal-steps.html

In several places, there has been an ongoing debate about what octane we should be using in our ES350's. Mine is a 2008 ES350 ultra. I decided to look at the engine specs for my ES350 and compare them to the same year Camry engine specs. My owners manual says that my ES350 should use 91 octane gasoline. But, the comparable Camry model with what seems to be the same engine says that they can use 87 octane gasoline. So here is my research: Camry: 2011 Technical Specs Standard Engine 3.5L V6 Standard Transmission 6 Speed Automatic Cylinders 6 Horsepower @RPM 268@6200 Fuel Economy Cty/Hwy 19/27 Combined Fuel Economy 22 EPA Class Mid-Size Number of Valves 24 Torque @RPM N/A Fuel Type System Gas Engine / Sequential Electronic Fuel Injected, Sequential Port Fuel Injected Sequential, Multi-Port Fuel Injected Turbo (Yes/No) No Overdrive Transmission Yes Battery Output N/A Compression 10.8:1 Displacement 3458/211 Bore X Stroke 3.70x3.27 5-speed ECT-i automatic transmission w/OD Type: 6-speed automatic Ratios: 3.30, 1.90, 1.42, 1.00, 0.71, 0.61 Final Drive: 3.69 ES350: 2008 Technical specs Standard Engine 3.5L V6 Standard Transmission 6 Speed Automatic Cylinders 6 Horsepower @RPM 272@6200 Fuel Economy Cty/Hwy 19/27 Combined Fuel Economy 22 EPA Class Mid-Size Number of Valves 24 Torque @RPM N/A Fuel Type System Gas Engine / Sequential Electronic Fuel Injected, Sequential Port Fuel Injected Sequential, Multi-Port Fuel Injected Turbo (Yes/No) No Overdrive Transmission Yes Battery Output N/A Compression 10.8:1 Displacement 3441/210 Bore X Stroke 3.70x3.27 6-speed automatic electronically controlled transmission w/intelligence (ECT-i)-inc: sequential-shift Type: 6-speed automatic Ratios: 3.30, 1.90, 1.42, 1.00, 0.71, 0.61 Final Drive: 3.69 The only difference seems to be in the displacement calculations. Please note that the compression ratio is identical. I have always thought that a 10.something compression ratio would require high octane gasoline. I have Not decided to switch to regular (87 octane) yet, but I am mixing 1/2 tank of 87 Octane with 1/2 tank of 93 octane (=90 octane). What are your thiughts and/or comments?????

Sorry that I took so long to post this. Been very busy since I got back. Went from Arlington, Texas to El paso. Stayed there a couple of days visiting my sister, then went to Tombstone Arizona, next to the Saguro national park and on to the Colossal Cave. Then up to the Grand canyon (siouth rim) and on to the Meteor Crater. Next I went to The Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert. (They are in one park). Had a great time and here are my gasoline stats: My trip to Arizona and New Mexico 9/27/2010 – 10/05/2010 Date............Gallons.Miles...MPG......Octane..Station.........Cost per Gallon 9/27/2010.......6.422...134.0...20.87......93....Costco...............2.740 9/28/2010.......8.842...237.1...26.82......93....RaceTrack............2.739 9/28/2010.......7.841...216.9...27.66......91....Stripes..............2.879 9/28/2010.......8.618...261.7...30.37......93....Chevron..............3.200 9/30/2010.......7.726...224.8...29.10......91....Valero...............2.889 9/30/2010.......6.639...235.3...35.44......91....Wilcox Truck Plaza...2.899 10/1/2010.......6.782...195.5...28.83......91....Costco Tuscon........2.639 10/2/2010.......8.034...228.1...28.39......91....Express Gas..........2.849 10/2/2010.......8.750...286.8...32.78......91....SHELL................3.169 10/3/2010.......8.119...258.0...31.78......91....Express Gas..........2.999 10/3/2010.......7.947...244.1...30.72......90....Phillips 66..........2.959 10/5/2010.......6.764...188.8...27.91......90....E-Z Mart.............2.739 10/5/2010.......9.681...324.7...33.54......93....Sams Club………………………………2.699 Average 29.55 Stayed with premium the whole trip because some octane levels were very low. Still very happy with the car. (2008 Lexus ES350 Ultra)

\You are correct. That column shoud be MPG (LOL). The way I calculated these figures was very simple. The day I started I filled my gasoline tank to full amd zeroed trip meter A. At 1/2 tank down, I filled up and wrote the miles traveled from Trip meter A on the gasoline receipt and re-zeroed trip meter A. Then when i stopped for the evening, I used an electronic spreadsheet to calculate the MPG. Very simple and was able to keep a running total. While not scientific, It gives a good general idea of what my mileage was. Keep in mind that I stopped a number of times in places like Williamsburg Va. I used the car in those local area a lot and that lowered my mileage for those tanks full. I am impressed with this car as a true highway machine and it is running at 1800 rpm at 65 miles per hour. (Just loafing).

I have returned home from my second retirement trip. I left Arlington, Texas and went to Vicksburg, Mi, Memphis, Tenn, Williamsburg Va, Richmond Va, Gettysburg Pa, Bangor Maine, Muncie Indiana and then home. With many stops along the way. It was mainly a tour of Civil War battlefields. My car is 2008 ES350 (Ultra) and I could not be more pleased. Highway comfort was superb and gadolime mileage was stunning. (I did put a set of Michelins on in Tenn, see http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=63588 (page #2)) I just wanted to share the gadoline mileage with you all: DATE GALLONS MILES GPM 8/28/2010.......8.872...243.00...27.39 8/29/2010.......7.388...203.00...27.48 8/30/2010.......8.844...241.00...27.25 8/30/2010.......8.604...246.70...28.67 8/30/2010.......9.284...277.90...29.93 9/01/2010.......8.356...214.00...25.61 9/01/2010.......8.655...280.10...32.36 9/02/2010.......8.419...208.80...24.80 9/03/2010.......7.981...210.10...26.33 9/04/2010.......7.916...210.80...26.63 9/05/2010.......7.925...273.53...34.51 9/06/2010.......8.615...251.50...29.19 9/08/2010.......7.803...205.90...26.39 9/11/2010.......8.676...219.90...25.35 9/11/2010.......8.789...273.00...31.06 9/12/2009.......7.514...230.80...30.72 9/12/2010.......7.699...257.60...33.46 9/13/2010.......9.778...290.20...29.70 9/15/2010.......8.566...247.00...28.83 9/15/2010.......9.023...306.40...33.96 9/16/2010.......5.531...154.60...27.95 9/16/2010.......7.396...201.40...27.23 For a Luxury car like this one, this kind of mileage is just great!

I know that there are many posts and threads about tires for the ES350. But, just wanted to add my two cents worth. I have a 2008 ES350 ultra (Maroon) and am on an extended retirement road trip. I live in Arlington, Texas and am, today, in Bangor Maine with my daughter and her family. So far I have put 2500 miles on my car. On the third day of my trip while I was in Lebanon, Tenn, I had a set of 4 Michelin Primacy MXM4's put on. They were a bit pricey, but what a difference. I just love these tires and would recommend them to any ES350 owner. B-T-W, they have a 50,000 mile warranty. Also, I did get the $70.00 rebate.

I want to answer some of the question s that 69HEMI-R/T asked. I was totally stunned at the Grand Canyon. Even the pictures that I took do not begin to show the breath-taking vista that you see. Your first view is particurlarly stunning. However, I really enjoyed each park for different reasons. Yellowstone has some great water falls. Old Faithful was a disapointment to me. But the number of geyser's is great and interesting. The Custer State Park had Buffalo and I was trapped by them for about 15 minutes as they crossed the road in front of me. We had to stop to let that happen. Boy! An Old Male Buffalo that lead the group and checked us out is Gigantic! I went to MT Rushmore and have to say that they have created an amazing monument. I went from Mt Rushmore to Custer State Park via the Iron Mountain Road. That was thrilling. It is a Very small road and passing cars coming from the opposite direction is a real 'trip'. And in two places, you drove through a one-car-at-a-time tunnel through the rock. Fun! I then went to the Little Big Horn to see Custer's last battle ground. While I am not a Military genius, even I could see what an idiot Custer was. He split up his whole command into small groups and they were slaughtered by the indians. As you go over the battleground you can see where small groups of soldiers were killed all by themselves. I stopped at the Devil's tower on the way to the Little Big Horn. It was interesting. While I went to a number of other places also, the next great one was the Arches National Park. It was stunning. The drive from Durango to Silverton started out beautifully, but it was a long way and all up and down, up and down mountians. I got tired of that. I will be going back to the Grand Canyon to stay a few days and take a number of the excursions. And then on to Yosemite. But enough for now. If you can do some of these parks, please do. They are all terrific.

I retired on 7/31/2009 and decided to take a trip to many of the National parks that I have always wanted to see, I did not go there to do all of the activities that these places offer, just to see and experience the sights that are there. Here is the trip list: 1) Rocky Mountain Natl Park Colorado 2) Crazy Horse Monument South Dakota 3) Mount Rushmore South Dakota 4) Iron Mountain Road South Dakota 5) Custer State Park South Dakota 6) Devil’s Tower Wyoming 7) Montana Mountains Montana 8) Yellowstone Wyoming 9) Zion National Park Utah 10) Grand Canyon Utah/Arizona (N. Rim) 11) Arches Natl Park Utah 12) Durango/Silverton Colorado The important part that I want to share is the gasoline mileage that I experienced. I have a 2008 ES350 Ultra edition. Here are my stats: ES350 – Gasoline Mileage on latest Trip DATE GALLONS MILEAGE GPM 8/23/2009 8.501 263.9 31.04 8/24/2009 6.257 179.8 28.74 8/24/2009 8.187 247.9 30.28 8/25/2009 10.457 296.9 28.39 8/25/2009 10.680 307.6 28.80 8/26/2009 6.610 171.9 26.01 8/27/2009 7.080 211.5 29.87 8/28/2009 7.517 194.6 25.89 8/28/2009 6.995 215.6 30.82 8/29/2009 9.229 286.6 31.05 8/30/2009 9.716 312.1 32.12 9/1/2009 6.917 202.8 29.32 9/1/2009 8.244 263.0 31.90 9/2/2009 13.743 420.2 30.58 9/3/2009 7.882 205.7 26.10 9/4/2009 8.016 231.3 28.85 9/4/2009 7.774 225.6 29.02 9/5/2009 7.541 236.3 31.34 9/5/2009 6.742 233.5 34.63 9/6/2009 7.174 210.1 29.29 Totals 165.262 4916.9 29.75 I like what this car did.

Too often, I have read posts that complain about the dealer and how they were treated. I wanted to share my experience with Lexus-Parts.com. I have been having trouble with my Navigation system in my 2008 ES350 (Ultra edition). It sends me to wrong addresses and my dealer has no solution. I decided to try upgrading to a newer version of the DVD. I have 7.1 right now. I ordered the 8.1 DVD from Lexus-Parts.com, and expected to get the DVD this week. I just got a call from the dealer and they asked me if I would be willing to wait until Sept 1, 2009. If so, they would send me version 9.1 at the Same cost. Please note that they called me, I did not call them. (Good customer service) Here are the specifications of my order: Thank you for your recent order from Lexus-Parts.com. Below, please find the details of your order: 55817-LX Product #:PT219-GEN2345-09, 2008 DVD Navigation System Update Data Ver 09.1 (size: Generation 5), Quantity:1, Price:$199.00, Item Total:$199.00 Sub-Total:$199.00 Shipping: $6.82 Tax:$16.42 Total:$222.24 For support or questions, email lexusparts@sewell.com. Note that the price is $222.24, a much better price that I thought. B-T-W, this dealer is Sewel Lexus in Dallas. :D

You might be having a Fuel Pump ECM problem. I got a used one from a 1995 sc400 (Wrecked) for $50.00. The symptoms are that you can be on the highway running at speed and the engine just shuts off. Pull over to the side and wait a minute or so and it starts up and runs just fine. One time after stopping at a store it just would not start when I came out (It cranked OK, but not start) I waited a couple of minutes and it started OK. <_<

This is very common indeed. Do some searching and you'll find what you need. I wonder if you are having a 'plug' problem? Have you taken your cluster out? If so, check the seating of the three plugs in the back. That would be a quick fix. If not. then you may need to take it out and check ther seating/tightness of the guage mounting screws. Read this link to see what I am describing. http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214801 Be sure to read the entire link. Toward the bottom I added some additionasl info. B-T-W, my cluster has been working perfectly for months now.

I am looking for the same thing; either the sun visor or rear view mirror. Was there just a two wire connection? Did your old mirror have wires; mine does. Did you use the harness that came with the mirror? bruce Hi Bruce, I wanted to use the original mirror's wire, but you need a switched 12V and I couldn't find one there. I like the Mirror idea. But, I imbeded one in my visor. Look at this link: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...amp;hl=homelink