Bykfixer

Sounds like it could a busted fan mount. Turn on the AC, which activates the fans and see if that causes it.

It's normal with modern engines with that many miles on it to bump the starter a few times to pump oil into the pistons. No reason to be alarmed. Brand new engine? That's a no no. If the gasoline had stabilizer in it just add fresh fuel. If it didn't or you don't know it would be best to remove the old fuel, but not required.

From what I've read the resale value of a Mercedes is really bad after year 3. Not so much for the Lexus. The Mercedes might only command 45% of its sticker price in year 4 where the Lexus over 70%.

I thought the same thing. I half expected to read "I test drove it and here's why I didn't buy it" .... or "I didn't even want to test drive the **** thing".

That's 9 years. That's about $167/ year figuring $1500 to do it. A $5000 engine would be $555/ year.

Folding paper maps. Some still use them. Perhaps to store the registration and proof of insurance,

https://www.roadkillcustoms.com/community/junk-yards-salvage-yards-auto-recyclers.asp this might help

How long since your last timing belt change?

One way I knew my motor was leaking was all that steam, and when I held the throttle a wet spot would appear. Like a 3 foot circle. When I flushed the radiator a bunch of what looked like glitter glue came out. After that a quart of coolant would just disappear from the radiator in about 30 minutes. I also figured out the hard to start thing was from all of the liquid in my exhaust. Yet nothing showed up in the oil or the coolant. Oh, and sometimes a bit of yellow goo on your oil filler cap is normal. Heating and cooling causes some condensation in the engine that runs short trips. But if you clean it off and it comes right back, chances are good you have coolant getting into your oil, even though the dipstick may look normal.

As the liquid warms it expands. I watched a video not long ago about a home hot water tank where the guy did a system bypass, added a balloon/overflow tank contraption to his system. The line pressure on his system began rising from the moment heat was added to the water in the tank. Line pressure of 60 psi went to over 155 psi in about 15 minutes. It had reached 80 psi in 5 minutes. That was heating 40 gallons of 70 degree water to 120 degrees. His balloon/overflow contraption was a 2 litre bottle. The expansion increased the volume to the point it filled the bottle. If the radiator was cold, say 70 degrees and your engine heated it to 210 that few gallons of coolant will definitely expand. But looking at the way the liquid was surging in the test vessel it appears there are either a lot of air bubbles surging or there is exhaust gases reaching the coolant tank (radiator), which might be why the former owner sold the car in the first place. I bought a car from an unscruplous seller with a head gasket leak. He had placed a product in the radiator called silver solder, which did actually seal it for a while. After about 5000 miles it showed up.

I don't like it when I buy a nice new jacket and suddenly an unexpected warm front means the jacket hangs in the closet.

I like the Cars music

It's your car, if you like those hub cap looking wheels, who cares what others think? Timing belt jobs on Yota engines are expensive. It takes even the most experienced mechanic several hours. Figuring $150-$200 and hour labor rate ($180/hr where I live) it doesn't take long to reach $1000+ but a new engine will cost a lot more than that if that 20 year old belt shreds.

The no heat thing sounds like a thermostat. If that thing fails it can cause excess pressure in the coolant system. Years ago I ignored one due to circumstances and one day the excess pressure blew the radiator cap off the radiator. Point being if you suspect it's that go ahead and remove it asap. The car will run ok without it for a couple of days. But replace it as it regulates the cooling system, particularly in summer.

The coolant system is sealed to such a degree that it builds up pressure when the liquid warms up. That pressure results in the liquid expanding somewhere or the system would pop over time. Hence the over flow tank. As the liquid cools and pressure receeds it should create a vacuum enough to provide suction enough to draw the expanded back into the radiator. Another thing is the radiator cap itself 'burps' at a given pressure. When it burps coolant can escape. Over time that can an issue if coolant has clogged the pressure escape area. Or if the cap is rated too high of a pressure that can also cause excess pressure. There is a high and low point in the resevior tank. When the system is cool like after sitting overnight, the coolant in the tank should be at the minimum mark. When the engine is warm the level will be higher. It may or may not reach the high mark. If the system is filling up the resevior past the high point and then the coolant is not vacuuming back into the radiator there is definitely an issue, but I'd start with the radiator cap. An improper working radiator cap can cause weird stuff to occur. If the engine had ever overheated a head gasket could be the culprit. It could be the mechanical thermostat in the system is stuck closed. That thing opens and closes based off of heat but as they age they came become inefficient, eventually to the point they fail to work at all.

Retired

I'd check the sensor the remote talks to.

Op requested this be closed as they have found the part. Glad to hear it isgt

How's the car doing @Glenn the Dad ?

After sitting for about a year with a dead battery I swapped in a new one recently. I took a red sharpie with me to the parts store and before loading it into the car I drove to acquire said battery colored the top of the + post red. When removing the dead battery from the car I colored a sizeable portion of the + terminal on the cable red. Note the little red cover can slide down the cable and be out of eyesight when hooking up the cable. I set the new battery into its hole and noticed right away the red top battery post was on the - side of the cavity. How did I know that? Well, because the terminal of the cable closest to the red post was not also red colored. Had I not colored it with a sharpie I may have hooked it up backwards too. Such an easy mistake to make that ends up causing lots of aggrevation swapping fuses after. I suppose I could say the so-called mod is those red colored areas on the battery to thwart accidental backward install.

It's a 2001 Honda Prelude. The lad my son bought it from hit an ice patch in his mountainous home area and wiped out the front end. His insurance totaled it. He bought it back and had the front end rebuilt. Soon after the head gasket blew and sprayed coolant all over the place. He paid to have the engine rebuilt but the shop used a conventional hone of the cylinder walls instead of the method for fiber reinforced cylinder walls. The rings would not seat. My son bought it for $800 from the poor guy who was happy to get that much. It ran and could pass a safety inspection. He bought an imported Japanese engine and we rebuilt that with the help of some really talented young Prelude fans. We pulled the bad motor out of the car and salvaged a lot of parts. The car sat a few months while my son saved up for the engine. Then one day he got word of a whole car like it at the local junkyard. We called our bosses and said "see you in a week" and set about stripping the junkyard car for 3 days. The one in the junkyard was in pretty good shape but had a bad motor. About $500 later we had about 50% of that junkyard car at his house. Once the motor arrived from Japan I restored the engine bay to look like new. Then we set out to restore the suspension. Again it was slow as he saved money for parts from Honda. Once the motor was rebuilt we slowly assembled the outter parts of the engine and eventually stuck it back in the engine bay. It took 3 months to go from rebuild to planting the engine then a month before starting it but on start up day it fired right up. No leaks, no drips, no issues. That was in 2014. 80,000+ miles later it still runs like new with only normal maintenance required. My son has slowly replaced nearly every part on the car stem to stern with parts from that junkyard car. It was his daily driver for the first few years but he since bought an Acura TLX AWD SH that I keep offering to buy. He did sell me the Lexus GS 300 he was turning into a left hand drive Aristo when he found a 93 Aristo. That's how I ended up here while looking to learn what kind of money pit I had acquired with an 18 year old car with 250k miles on it.

https://dardoor.com/product/2002-2005-lexus-is300-repair-manual/ worth its weight in gold Toyota does things differently than the US auto makers. Often you find yourself scratching your head but then the manual helps clarify the situation. https://www.lexuspartsnow.com/ good parts source too. Going behind others "improvements" at times is about as fun as a hemerhoid. Best of luck.

Sounds like driving a 1970's F-100 pickup truck. You just steered left a little, then right a little then left then right like an old John Deere tractor. If you do it right you get where you're going but if you just hold the wheel without doing the left/right/left thing you'll find yourself in a roadside ditch. But at least the brakes didn't join the fight without an invitation....

Each time I have tires replaced I do same Glenn. Have the suspension and steering parts checked to ensure my shiney new tires don't wear out premature. Whatever the cause was, it still freaks me out the car had a mind of its own to apply the brakes. I'd expect that from a horse but not an automobile. 🥴

Wow!! That is crazy!!! Glad you found the issue. The steering sensor being off causes brakes to self-engage? Never would have guessed that was the reason. What caused you to check the steering rack?