Lex3486

Yeah man, I'd think it'd be hard to let go after all that! Sounds like you got her shaped up finally.

How many miles does the car have? I might be interested in the transmission...SK, or anyone else who knows, a 94, even though it's a 1MZ rather than a 3VZ, still has the A540E tranny, right?

How about this question; has anyone ever put LED bulbs in the running lights? I wonder how bright they'd be then...I want those suckers to be as bright as I can possibly get em and those dinky bulbs in there now just aren't cuttin it. The car just looks so AWESOME at night with just those on; just barely lights up the headlights...how cool. MAN I love this car haha

Yeah, I didn't mean to waste anyone's time with that comment about the peformance and the sunroof. Just tryin to have some fun. Seriously though, I would try Mungrin's suggestion. I'm 5'7" so this isn't an issue for me. The SC is the perfect size for me. The thing I like most about it is how stretched out I can be and still reach the pedals and steering wheel, thanks to the telescoping (this is my first car with telescoping steering, and automatic nonetheless! MAN how cool) I feel so cramped up in my ES now...

In what year were the front cornering lamps changed out for fog lamps on the SC3/4? Has anyone ever made the swap? Is it hard?

My car (92 SC300 w/132k, auto) is really sluggish when cold. I know that this is somewhat to be expected, but it seems a little too much on my car. Any ideas how I could possibly improve this?

I've got an annoying squeak; sounds like nails on a chalkboard when I go over rough pavement. Could this be my problem?

"As far as the performance of the SC400 I would say it is meager at best when compared to the German cars I own." Well yeah, the M3 is an amazing car! As for your seat issue, open the sunroof. :P

But isn't it the same on the second gen. also?

Does removing the cats and leaving the rest stock gain you any HP/sound any different (for better or for worse)?

So obviously this is a common problem haha Glad to see my car is normal. What about cracks on the door panels? Any takers on that one and how to fix them?

DUDE! WHERE'D YOU FIND THAT SHIRT? I HAVE TO HAVE ONE! lol

About those headers...yeah, let's talk about those...

Or would it be clear, clear orange? I can't remember on the 97...

Hey, that might be cool anyway; that way, you'd have clear, orange, clear...hmm...would that look good? I have clear, red, clear (mine's a 93 so it's got the reflector wedged in between) and it looks s*x-xy haha

Wow, so I guess they did come with them after all. That's comforting. That car you pictured looks to be the exact car, only reverse the colors; dark on top, light on bottom. It's no doubt a beautiful ride; perhaps the best color for that bodystyle, IMO. It's so dark it almost looks black. Reminds me of my baby...it's been so long...(I'm referring to my busted ES300...)

SK!! I wish I had known that you had all those problems!! Mine did the EXACT same thing, and we, as you, replaced the external filter and did a drain/fill with new fluid and got a few hundred miles outta it again. It was when the car refused to move at all from a dead stop that we decided to seek professional help. So anyway, it's interesting to hear that you had those problems and managed to work through them. Makes me wonder if I could have saved myself HOW MUCH time and trouble, and not to mention MONEY. And yes, I truly think that the most recent mishap was more than likely due to a malfunctioning solenoid; it had all the symptoms, and then the O/D light was the icing on the cake. I guess the timing, being that it was roughly 100 miles away from no-warranty, we decided it best to have them run through it and do whatever they thought good since we still have it under warranty. It's going on 3 weeks now, and still no word. We do know they've ordered parts, but the person who is currently working on it is new and didn't know exactly what they'd ordered. Oh goodie, can't wait to see what the noob will do for us...should be interesting. It's a sad thing though, because I'm 90% sure that my ES is being sold as soon as we get it back and I always loved that car so much...it's just been *BLEEP*ized now and I'm afraid of it.

At first sounded alot like a cracked intake...but I guess not since it fades away. One thing you might wanna try; probably won't do anything, but it's worth a shot and it only takes 1 minute tops. Check the clamps on the intake boot. One time after servicing mine, it drove funny and I'd had problems with this boot before. I dreaded looking but soon discovered that I'd neglected to tighten one of the clamps. Like I said, it's a long shot, but it's worth the second to check.

Yeah, I think I was gettin about 28 at best last summer on the highway, about 75-80, windows down and A/C off. If I try real hard and drive grandpa-style, I've gotten as much as 335 miles/tank, city and highway combined, but normally I'll get right at 300 or so. Just depends on how frisky I feel in the city haha. The SC gets 330 easy though. I'm likin that.

But for the most part, the FM modulated CD changers are not half bad ( I have one in my ES with the stock head unit). One thing about the ES's stereo setup though is that it only goes into full-fidelity when you play a cassette or have the stock CD changer; my mom's 96 has the factory changer and it's louder than mine, but far as clarity goes, no complaints from me. Mine's an Alpine BTW but it came out before the days of MP3's...

Man, y'all are crazy I love it. Well, here's my 2c, and it's pretty relevant to the conversation (or at least one of the many that are currently underway in this "topic") Since the apparent eternal demise of my 93 ES's transmission, I've been driving our 92 SC300. Now, I know that no one claims the SC300 to be "fast", but I feel that it more than likely is certainly quicker than any generation ES, save maybe the later models with VVT-i and upwards of 200hp. So basically I'm saying 97 and younger, I've probably got you in my SC. ANYway, the other day coming off the interstate, I pulled up next to a WRX at the light and needed in his lane to turn, so soon as the light turned, I jetted off about 3/4 throttle and got in front of him. Well, this made him mad and so he assumed I wanted to race him..so I figured I'd give him a run, so I fishtail it onto a sidestreet full throttle, me in front, him behind, and for a second he was behind me, but then he blew by like I was nothing and casually merged into my lane. So, there's your proof from a dead stop; a WRX HAS to be faster than ANY ES from a dead stop. I have another experience though that goes to show that interstate and drag racing are two TOTALLY different judgements of a car's speed. On my way home the other day, I ran across an old friend who hasn't seen me since I got my SC; we used to race all the time in my ES just to see how many car lengths he could beat me by He drives a 1998 Mustang GT with exhaust and a cold air. SO, he didn't recognize me in my new red SC, so I get up next to him, probably doin about 70, and try and get his attention...it wasn't working, so at that point, I decided to roll on, so I floored it at 70 and I hear him kick down a gear (it's a 5 speed, mine's an auto) and we're racing. Well, I look over to my mirror anticipating seeing him gaining on me, but much to my surprise, he's still where he was when he downshifted and we're holding steady. We roll on up to probably 100 and then I decide that's enough, and let him by. I was amazed; I called him and told him that was me and he was pretty surprised too; I believe his words were "wow man, that thing is pretty quick" Now, keep in mind, this is in a SC300 that has been beaten by a V6 Eclipse, and beaten pretty good too, but on the interstate against a Stang GT, victory. I dunno how hard he was trying, but I do know that he likes to show that thing off, so I doubt he was givin me any slack. Anyway, just thought I'd share my experiences. I still get kicks outta beatin the crap outta alot of 4bangers with !Removed! cans in my ES300 although watch out-some of those guys are packin heat! You never know what might be under that thing's hood; you may be in for a rude awakening! B)

I ran across an ad for a 2000 ES300 in the paper at my local Toyota Pre-Owned center and they are asking 17,990 for it and it's got, I can't remember exactly, but somewhere around 75-80k miles. The thing is, they accidentally ran it in the paper as 14,700 so they said they'd honor that price for us since it's what was printed. Do you guys think this is the deal of a lifetime? Seems pretty good to me...the car is flawless from what I can tell. There's just one thing; it's got the 97-99 5 spoke wheels on it instead of the 6-spoke wheels most 00-01 models have. Am I just not knowledgeable enough about the later year ES300s or is that strange? I don't think I've ever seen a 2000 or 2001 with those wheels. Makes me think maybe something is up...it has new Michelin HydroEdge tires though B) We're considering trading our gas hog Land Cruiser in on it, but they're gonna low ball us with the trade-in value; about half of what it's worth retail...

You are talkin about family here man...he worked there, so I figure he MIGHT know what he's talkin about. All that aside, I didn't see any long-term benefits of it myself; in fact, I'm pretty sure that I've never known of anyone who it actually fixed anything for them, but whatever. If his O/D light came on, that means there was an electrical failure of some sort, which he can check the diagnostic code for and find what went wrong. It's been my experience though that if the light quits coming on and you go to try and check the code, it reads normal if the light is no longer on...that's what mine did anyway. Those *BLEEP*s that have my car don't know that though, so they're replacing God knows what when in fact, it's probably just a solenoid that went bad. It's not so far outta the question in my opinion that a solenoid failed, seeing how it IS a used part that they put in there to begin with...I hate that shop, I wanna blow it and everyone in it up. Any takers on that?

Same here...

Ya know, I had a cousin who worked at a lube shop and he said that he wouldn't recommend flushing the transmission on just any car b/c the pressure is so high that he's seen it cause further transmission problems from forcing such high pressure through the components. As a person who has had to deal with A LOT of *BLEEP* transmission-wise in an ES300, I really wonder if it's a good idea to suggest it to people who are obviously about to face some major problems? It seems to me like a purely temporary fix, b/c I know from experience that the VERY first time that my transmission quit, I replaced the fluid and filter and it drove again for maybe a few hundred miles before giving up again...