Lex3486

Until you mentioned not gettin spark, I was gonna suggest the air intake hose, as these are a common cause of heartburn with the ES300 and I'm sure the same could happen to an ES250. This is because they'll often times develop a hole, usually in one of the expansion areas, that is behind the MAF sensor, causing un-metered air to enter and confuse the ECU and thus either not running at all, or running poorly to say the least. However, I don't think I've ever heard of this being the cause of the car not starting at all...it usually causes the car to die immediately after startup or upon acceleration. About the fuel rail "hissing"; I know that the only time mine ever did that-and do keep in mind that my car is a 300, but an engine is an engine-was right after I'd replaced head gaskets and I failed to get an injector seated well, causing it to actually spray fuel atop the heads and make all sorts of mess, not to mention causing the car to not wanna start...oh, and a gas odor that you could smell a mile away. You could check your cold start injector too, just as a precaution. Be careful if you do though because that thing squirts like you wouldn't believe-I left mine off accidentally when I was putting my engine back together and I swear that SOB got 10 feet of distance across my garage! Yeah, mine was obviously working Most of all, good luck to ya and keep us informed! Hope I've been of some help somehow... ;)

EXCELLENT color, very rare and very desireable if you ask me. I see you settled with the 95-96. Good choice, although there are things I think me and everyone else like about the 92-94, but really, what it boils down to is that the 95-96 are just better cars, and not really that much different anyhow. Only to us hardcore Lexus people , or freaks, whichever you think sounds better :P

Not neccesarily dead on topic, but thought I'd share. My whole family and some of my extended family (thanks to us) are die-hard Toyota fans. Probably reason being is my dad's 88 Supra. He bought this car with around 120k miles and drove it till it had over 280k I believe (somewhere up there) and never did anything to the car except replace the clutch (normal on any 5 speed that old) and head gaskets (a very common Supra and, as I've learned, ES300 problem). Oh, and the plastic radiator, but that was as a result of the head gaskets. So yeah, thanks to that wonderful machine, we're fans for life, just recently turned Lexus fans for life. It's like Toyota's build quality and reliability with the fit and finish you can only find in a Lexus. Does life get any better? I submit that it does not! B) Here's our list of Toyotas from past & present -82(?) Celica Supra -85 Supra M/T -88 Supra M/T -92 Lexus ES300 -93 Lexus ES300 -96 Lexus ES300 -92 Land Cruiser (the last 3 we currently own) and here's the ones my relatives own(ed) thanks to our good experience (most switched over from Fords and Dodges, the latter of which my family did as well) -96 Avalon -92 Land Cruiser -97 Land Cruiser -00 ES300 -97 Sienna And every one of these cars was bought pre-owned, except the Avalon, and my 93 ES is the only one that's ever given us any problems to speak of (tranny) Best of luck to ya! Hope you have as much as we have!

I second 3ztwint's opinion.

I woulda tried replacing the mast first before I went off buying a new motor and all...usually it's just the mast that breaks, and they only cost like $15 from Pep Boys. :whistles:

SO ANYhow, back to the topic of the post...PFunk, waddya think? You gonna buy one or what?

Mine's black, not red. Maybe yours faded :)

I can't even picture what you're talkin about. You mean like a chrome eyelid?

Head gaskets, the occasional crack in the top of the radiator, CV boots, valve cover gaskets (oily smell, nothing more; doesn't hurt performance any) and it seems that occasionally there's a couple out there with transmisison issues, so beware. It would appear that my car, a 93, was one of those. <_< Although there are some problems occasionally, in my case, the car has always at least gotten me home if there was something wrong with it. I've never been stranded. Other than that, one of the best cars out on the road in all respects-balance between performance, ride quality, build quality, reliability, and just darn good looks! Very high feature content for 12 year old cars too. I'd reccommend one to anyone. B)

Did the 95 engine come with the ECU? What about the A/C system?

Jules-leave it man, it looks awesome. Kudos to you! I like how you cut out for the foglights. If I woulda spent more time with mine I would've liked it enough to keep it, but it was sorta sloppy so I got tired of it. As for the chrome tape, I bought mine at Advance Auto parts. I'm pretty sure most any car part place carries it. Maybe even Wal-Mart, if you have those in Wisconsin ;) It takes some practice to make it look good, but it can be done. PS electro-I love the LX450, especially in white or black. You've got a nice collection from the sounds of it! B)

I used the chrome tape for door handles, grille and an LS400 style stripe down the side. I like it... Guess whoever told you it looks like siht must not...

My car is clean isn't it? B) I wash it every week but really it came to me that way; it's got like 2 dime size dents on the whole car...period. Like 3 scratches and no bug and stone chips at all on the front bumper, and yes, the headlights look brand new (I think they are; I'm pretty sure my car's been involved in some sorta very light front end accident b/c the hood doesn't line up perfectly Lexuslike, but it's really hard to notice) Alright, I'll stick with the chrome. But let's not knock the mesh too much-I'm sure jules is very proud of his/her car and righfully so; I can tell they spent more time on theirs than I did on mine and it shows. It's just a difference in personal preference. All my friends LOVED mine when I did it, and I've had quite a few requests to put it back how it was, but I like the chrome better myself. I feel it much better fits the car, given the rest of my chrome trim (door handles, side striping, used to be inside which I've since stripped also). The chrome grille was hard; I used, very meticulously, that chrome trim tape everyone talks about. It was a pain in the &#33;Removed&#33; and it's starting to come off in the corners. Need a more permanent solution...it gets the point across though

You should be able to clean em up pretty good without removing them; I polish mine all the time. I use Mother's brand chrome polish. Just a dab of that and some elbow grease and you should be lookin like new...that is unless you bought your car used and the dealer carelessly sprayed the tailpipes black; I've seen it happen before... B)

Hey and welcome to the club! I had the mesh at one time but dropped it in favor of the chrome grilles I kept seein around. Check it out; which one does everyone like more? I'm thinkin I'll put the mesh back in when I get my set of IS300 wheels which hopefully will be pretty soon.

Canadian models have daytime running lights, like all GM models do now. They also have headlight sprayers. If driving in the US with your parking lights on is illegal, then I'm breaking the law in 2 ways; one, I do that all the time, and 2, mine aren't orange-they're blue (or "super white" but that's a crock of siht-they're blue Hey...it's all about color coordination and my headlights are Silverstars. It's a Lexus, not a Geo..gotta match, it's to be expected :P )

Cool man. Never mentioned digits 1 and 2 though

I've heard that the seats aren't very supportive for manual driving (too slick to get any leverage on the clutch I guess...) but I'd still love to have one. Mine has cloth, so it'd be even better B) I've never seen a 5speed around here in our car ads, but if I ever come across one I'll be hard pressed not to buy it

Well my parents had a BMW R850R; totally sweet bike. At that point, I wanted to ride but my parents said it'd be a cold day in hell that I'd ever ride a motorcycle Then I found the Yamaha and I guess they didn't think there was a prayer of it ever running again (I had to push it home lol) so they let me buy it, and it all started there. They still won't let me get my license though; that's good I guess b/c I can't afford any nicer bikes and my XL250 only does like 65-70 tops, and even that fast is pretty scary on that bike I occasionally ride a bud's Kawasaki ZX6R. Just a 636cc but man I love it! I could easily get addicted to a streetbike hehe. B)

My tranny in my 93 quit in quite the same way, and it had dark colored fluid as well. Not good news, but thought I'd let you know since I have experience with this. <_<

To you LS and SC owners, you guys are aware that the ES is front wheel drive right? Anything that's clunking in back of your car could be a completely different story than on the ES's. Just makin sure. ;)

Hope you haven't gone home yet! Yes, that is what I mean. If you look back in there, you'll see a roundish black "hump" and inside that hump is a large nut; I believe this is attached to the actual strut. There may also be a few smaller nuts surrounding the black thing, but I can't remember. This "hump" is where the strut is mounted to the body though, and if it's not loose, then I doubt this is your problem. It could be that the bushing between that nut and the metalwork is worn out but in that case, you'd get a harsh "knock" every time the car hit a bump.

Yeah, I swear that my stock fogs aren't aimed right b/c you can see the yellow line WAY above the line of the headlights when you're on a straight stretch, and plus I've seen my car from up front and the fogs are definitely in your face as opposed to the Silverstars. I looked up under there though and don't see any adjustments...but when I pull it right up next to my garage door, they're aimed lower than the headlights. Doesn't make much sense to me, but whatever. I'm not the guy in front of me

Look "under" the seatbelts. There should be a thick black pad. Remove this pad and the bolts are under there. Good luck! And don't break any connectors back there on your trim panels or you'll have more annoying things to worry about! :whistles:

Sounds nice you two. I'm still runnin stock head unit but have upgraded 6x9's and an amp and subs in back; sounds good enough to me and still looks stock B) Mystic-just an observation but I noticed you said that all 6 speakers sound good. Did you bypass 2, not know there are 8 in your car, or was it just a typo?