Lex3486

Well got the rotors turned, new brake pads installed, and new tires put on. Drives just as good as my 93.....did

I'd like to do that but 1. my car's tranny is toasted, 2. my tires are really soft and it'd no doubt take a big toll on em, and 3. same thing as sk-need stiffer roll bars (stock suspension right now, but may change that in the future, if I keep my car)

Something else that I've noticed that I forgot to mention is that when I'm backing the car out after moving it forward or vice versa, I hear a sound that sounds like either a loose caliper or a disc with some play in it. I'm pretty sure that my 93 has done this too on occasion, and it sounds as if it's from the driver side. Common? Or somethin I should check on asap lol? Probably the second choice... :whistles:

Hey, bring it on I say! And while you're at it, make some of the mods work with the older 3.0s too while you're at it B) hehe. I know that's not gonna happen though... <_<

My mom's 96 ES appears to have either warped rotors or a bad set of tires, but I'm leaning towards rotors b/c the ride is perfect-the vibration is only when you hit the brakes. Is this a common problem for the 96 ES's?

This is pretty much off topic, but here goes anyway! I bought, off Tire Rack.com, a set of Yokohama ES100's. They're summer tires and they're v-rated and I love em! I don't think I've hydroplaned once on those puppies. Only problem is that they have a pretty short treadlife-320 I believe, but you really can't beat the grip and ride. I'm sure from the sounds of it though that most of y'all have to deal w/snow (something really rare in Knoxville, TN and when it does come, I have a Land Cruiser to back me up ;) ) Anyhow, my dad was lookin into gettin Turanzas for my moms' 96 ES. Anyone know how these do on the earlier models? Probably about the same as what y'all are sayin about them for the newer ones?

Right on; ES's are better than those juvenile Acuras Us ES owners are on a different level :P Man, I looked at an IS last night (I'd never had a chance to really check one out) I really wish I hadn't b/c now it's all I think about lol :)

Well it'd be a cold day in hades that I'd take it to Lexus-they'd charge more than the car's worth, would be my guess. There is only one independent Toyota shop around here and if I remember correctly, we called them and they told us that they don't actually rebuild the transmissions themselves, so...I'm trying to remain optimistic, but you have to admit that it's a little ridiculous b/c this has been goin on since right after new year's! Basically though, I have no choice but to let them take one last stab at it b/c it's not like I can just go get it and drive it back home...

1993 ES 300 3 owners, including myself, originally sold by my hometown's dealer, purchased in May of 2003 w/126k miles for $5700 "stripped" --i.e. no sunroof, no factory cd changer, no heated seats, no gold package, no chrome wheels, and most unbelievable of all NO LEATHER! I still love it though! Really nice black & gray striped interior, very sporty No problems whatsoever with the car for the first 4 months, but around September of 03 radiator split-don't recall repair cost (DIY; only cost parts cost) Then in December, realized that head gasket was blown. Fixed that for around $600 all told (gasket kit price, cylinder heads machined. once again, DIY) Now I'm struggling with the transmission and has so far costed me around $1200 to fix, but it's not really fixed just yet...seems at this point to be a neverending battle but I think that's just b/c of the mechanic, not the car. I love my car but lately haven't been able to enjoy it for all the trouble I've had out of it. Just my luck I guess. B)

Wonder why Lexus has never made a "sport" model of the ES... I mean, I know that they've covered the "sport-luxury" market corner more with the GS and the SC but why not offer a pepped-up ES like Acura has done with the TL Type S? Or like Mercedes with the AMG C class? (can't remember the name...C43 possibly?) The ES may not be the sportiest looking sedan Lexus makes, or not the newer generation models anyway, but I still think they might have mild success with a sportier ES. B) Just my two cents

Well, got some more news on my transmission. It's been at the shop from whence it was SUPPOSED to be repaired way back in January but hasn't managed to remain fixed for over a week since they first laid hands on it. We call in yesterday to check up on its status, and we're told that the owner of the shop has just walked out and quit the day before, and, as my luck would have it, my car is one of about a dozen in the garage torn all to hell-right in the middle of being rebuilt. So there's supposedly a new guy comin in to take the place over and he says he's gonna try his best to make this right for us, but we're pretty skeptical about it all now-especially the question of whether or not it'll be under any sort of warranty now or in the future, being that the shop that fixed it is pretty much gone under. I swear, this really is becoming the repair project from hell! I'm very very seriously considering selling the car whenever I get it back in good shape.

Hope that fixes it! Hope you don't find out that you've got a bad head gasket like I did! That was a trip tryin to figure that one out...runs like a top now though! ;)

Oh my bad; just noticed that color is on the top of the dash and doors still looks cheesy in my opinion though. I like the olden days of the ES with the same colored dash, doors and console, with different colored carpet, seats and door inserts. I just love the older ES's in general, but that's probably b/c I can't afford the newer ones

I love spoke wheels myself. These actually bring to mind late model Acura CL's; almost identical wheels. The dark color around the console would look better if that same color were found somewhere else inside, but it's not; looks like someone messed up the tan one and found a black one at a junkyard and just said "who'll notice anyhow?" I do like the color though, wood included. Gray wood is just not natural...I love it B)

Milk his insurance for all you can man. Back when we had the red ES, my mom got rearended one day. Our insurance company told us to take it to the local Mercedes-Benz dealership to have it appraised, as they're right nextdoor to the Lexus dealership but they have a full service body shop. It didn't look bad from outside, but there was some internal damage. Guy at the Benz shop estimated over 2k in repairs (factoring in NEW Lexus parts, labor, and a repainting of the WHOLE rear end, which was sorta overkill). What'd we do? Took the check for 2grand, called up a junkyard, found an identical car with a good rearend (better than ours was before), pulled ours off, pulled out the body (turned out to be very nominal damage inside), put it all back for under $300 and an afternoon workin on it. Spent the rest of the check payin off the loan ;) B) I know not everyone is this crafty, but it's worth gettin every dime you can if it's gonna make your car better. That's the way I see it anyway...

Well it may actually finally be fixed :D Got it back yesterday and so far no complaints. About time!

Sounds to me alot like a motor mount. My 93 did the same thing when I first got it and it progressively worsened till I fixed it. Then my tranny went out altogether, but I suppose that's a different story <_<

Depending on which one it is, they're pretty easy to do yourself. I'd say just about anyone could do it if it were the one on the front bay. Definitely not a $300 labor charge job.

Sounds pretty fishy to me...where does the line that keeps coming off connect to? And does your car run alright?

Our friends the Silverstars perhaps? :)

92-93 3VZ-FE transverse mounted 3.0 liter V6, 24 valve DOHC, steel block and aluminum heads, traditional distributor type ignition system, platinum spark plugs, 185hp (probably the most "raw" engine of the bunch, also tends to require most attention of all, but that can be blamed in part on age of cars w/this engine) 94-96 1MZ transverse mounted 3.0 liter V6, 24 valve DOHC, aluminum block and heads, upgraded ignition system to individual coils for each plug, dual tipped platinum spark plugs, 188hp (smoother and quiter than the 3MZ-FE, also less problems associated with this powerplant, seems marginally easier to work on too; not as cramped in engine bay, but still not easy by all means) 97-98, I'm not too familiar with, except that they're still 3.0 liters but I know that VVT-i came into the picture in 98 or 99 and that the 03-04 models, the 330's, have a 3.3 liter. Im sure there's others who can help with the newer ones. ;)

Wow, how bad is this tranny lag? I've never been fortunate enough to drive an ES that was any newer than a 96 so I've never experienced this but I hear y'all talk about it all the time. Is it really enough to make the car unsafe? Haha, know what? I'd settle for a lagging transmission right about now in my 93; it'd be alot better than what I've got now (one that doesn't shift at all lol) Still workin on that... <_<

I've got 2 10's in back and I haven't had too many rattles. The worst rattles appear to come from inside the bumper area, and the rear quarter panel where I mounted my amp to the trunk lining; the bolts I used to hold it in place to the lining vibrate up against the metal of the quarter panel, but I'm just too lazy to put some insulation in there; you can only hear it from outside anyway. Inside, my 6x9's used to rattle, but I took them out and put some foam weather stripping between the plastic mounts and the metal of the rear deck and they're good now. All things considered, the ES is a pretty solid car, that's why they're so quiet to begin with! Everything's tied down pretty good, so you shouldn't have too many problems with rattles. ;)

Well I would assume that if it were a speed sensor, that it would trigger the warning light. There is a pretty good possibility of it being the cable though...oh well, if it was, I may never know b/c the shop's pulling the whole tranny out again today and sorting back through it. It's now got a new valve body in it and that didn't fix it, so really there's not too many more components that they haven't replaced in there. Maybe they'll figure it out the third time they drop it <_< Seems to me like if you did this for a living, that you wouldn't have so much trouble fixing one...

Well today marks about a month that the shop has had my car. I'm beginning to possibly suspect that I may have a problem with the transmission ECU rather than the hardware in the transmission itself. Anyone had any experience with this?