Lex3486

Here's an easy way to test your motor mounts. Find a hill that you can park on without causing any sorta traffic problem (my slanted driveway works great for me), open your hood, get in the car, put it in drive and watch the engine from inside the car underneath the hood to see if it has alot of movement upon shifting. Some movement is to be expected, but I trust that you could tell if it seems excessive or not. Also watch the engine in the same manner when you shift the car into reverse, and when you pull forward on the hill some. If you have a motor mount problem, it should be obvious in how much the engine is allowed to flex. Usually a broken front motor mount will give you hard clunking upon acceleration from a dead stop as well as anytime you accelerate hard.

Also smell of your fluid; if it has a burnt odor, then you may be looking at a transmission problem. If you're somewhat of a do-it-yourselfer, you can drop the transmission pan and check the magnets in it for excessive metal flake buildup. These two things are usually indicators of a worn out transmission.

The ones I've priced were all outrageously expensive considering that it's just a puny stock amplifier; I'm talkin in excess of $150. Best deal I had the chance to take anyone up on was sk who offered to sell his for 50 bucks but I beat around the bush and he sold it. I'd ask around here though b/c alot of people have gutted their stock systems in favor of aftermarket components and they have amps sittin around collecting dust. Good luck man!

You're screwed lol. My rear speakers quit a long time ago (on account of a stupid mistake that I made). I just jerry-rigged the rear speakers to the front 6.5"ers and it works like a charm, except...they only reproduce bass b/c that's all the input that the front speakers get. It's probably an amp problem though.

The 94s are different from the 95-96's? Howso?

I've done this with my car and I've been extremely happy with the outcome. Only thing that isn't stock about my stereo system are the rear 6x9's (replaced them with 220watt Pioneer 3 ways) and with a little amp and sub action, it's a perfect sounding system IMO. There are a couple ways you could go about hookin it up too. I took the path of least resistance and ran the input for my amplifier in the trunk off of the rear speakers. I'm sure there are more "professional" ways to go about doing it, especially if an aftermarket head unit WERE used, but I didn't see the need to spend the money and lose the stock look when the sound was just as good IMO. Lemme know if you wanna know how to do it yourself, as I don't think that a stereo installation place would probably do it for you b/c they usually replace all the stock system b/c they believe that it'll mess it up otherwise and I suppose they don't wanna be held liable for that, but it's not difficult to do for the do it yourselfer. ;)

Sorry man, but you've bought a luxury car, not a sports car. If you've been here long, you'd know there's not much hope for the speed demon as far as the ES goes. Especially not the 2004's-not even a chance for the aftermarket to get to it yet

Uh...don't believe my car (93) has that...hmm

What my car? I've got it in the garage right now lol. I assume that's what you're talkin about...I'm not 100% happy with the repair this time (surprise surprise) but I guess we'll see if it holds out. It's just a little more jerky than it was the last couple times they rebuilt it...couldn't have had better timing on it though-got it back the morning of my senior prom. That's where I got the "back in black" deal b/c me and my date both wore black and we were in a black car B)

Sorry man, but I still don't believe the link works, or at least not for me... <_<

Well it would seem that I'm up for another round with my ES. This'll be about the fourth rebuild I've had with the transmission, so we'll see how it goes this time...the shop discovered that the differential was fried (?) and said that that could have possibly been the reason that it keeps breaking to begin with. Guess we'll find out soon enough!

Okay, ever since I first noticed that SC's exist, I've always been told that the 300 is the only one that came with a factory 5 speed manual transmission, but I've been told by 2 people now that the SC400 also had this option. I think this is total bs, so I've come to the experts to find out; tell me, is what I've thought all these years true, or am I gonna have to eat my words?

I can't sell my car, I love it too much :cries: (that was random, but it's true...)

THAT'S RIGHT! I DO REMEMBER READING SOMEWHERE ABOUT "THE BUTTON"! I bet that's what it is b/c I drove it with my dad and the old guy who owned it and I didn't wanna scare anyone but I was really curious as to what 250 V8 Lexus HP feels like, but I didn't "stomp" it so I guess that I didn't get that button goin right. Next time I drive one, I'll try it out. ;)

Well, lucky for me when I was having head gasket problems, all that was damaged by it was...well nothing! The head gaskets were blown but it didn't cause any other problems other than the cracked radiator top, so that's good in my opinion. The extra pressure didn't even break the 11 year old hoses!

Ah, I see what you're talkin about now. Sorry about that. To make up for my mistake, and to give me somethin to do for a couple minutes I did some research on eBay and I believe that the 99's have the same fog lights as your car. They changed them to the ones I believe you're looking for in 2000, and they don't look like they would fit in your car. Bummer though; they look alot better than the other ones IMO. :)

I own a 93 but know my Lexi...what are you talkin about lol? You mean the turn signals with the orange reflector on the sides? Are you looking for one without the orange reflector?

ECT power, as it's called, is common to almost all Toyota vehicles with automatic transmissions from the Supra (the first car I think they put it in) to the Lexus models, but I have noticed that they no longer use it.

SO the Lexus people are saying that the 93's have an overheating problem? Ya know, if that's true, it makes me wonder if when my head gaskets were acting up and the car was overheating, if the transmission was doing the same as a result of the radiator becoming too hot (the transmission cooler is integrated into the radiator) thus causing my initial transmission failure...and it also makes me wonder if the new radiator that I installed is really doing what it's supposed to for the transmission b/c I had my doubts as to its' quality to begin with (it's a plastic-topped one and we bought it b/c it was affordable, something I've found won't always cut it in a Lexus. Apparently the words affordable and Lexus do not ever go together when it comes to buying parts) I doubt that overheating would be the cause of my issues now though; I truly think that now it's just a matter of getting the stupid shop I've sold my soul to to fix my car the RIGHT way instead of the EASY, CHEAP and TIME EFFICIENT way (yet another group of words that don't cope well with the Lexus name) Hmm...the more I think about it, the more I come up with what could be causing my problem; the shop is using Advance Auto store brand transmission fluid (I know b/c I saw a huge case of it in their garage)...are all tranny fluids created equal (or equal enough to suit a Lexus anyway?...stupid picky cars :P )

This is all good advice. I've come to find that transmissions are very tricky. One thing that will always probably do you well though, is to just go easy on them. Drive hard, and you'll pay the price, like I am now

How much we talkin here? I just may be interested too if it turns out that I keep my ES.

Ah, sounds like someone has put a 92-94 stereo deck in your car. The older ones are indiglo lookin as opposed to the green of the 95-96. I dunno how to change the color, but just thought I'd offer a suggestion as to why they clash B)

Well that's all well and good, but let me tell you MY story. Many of you probably already know the most of it but there is one part that is very appropriate for what humminalong has to say. Way back in November or December, before I had replaced my head gaskets even, I was noticing transmission problems, i.e. slipping from a dead stop and just generally strange shifting behavior so I decided that soon I'd change out the fluid and filter b/c the fluid did look and smell burnt. Well, one day I pulled in my neighborhood and on my way to my house, it slipped instead of shifting into a gear and I had to push it home with our other Lexus (lol). So I get it home, drain the fluid (notice that there's a considerable amount of shavings on the magnets) and put a new filter in. I got away with that for a couple weeks and then it crapped out completely. Moral of the story here; if your early model ES is having transmission problems of any kind, chances are that you're not gonna get away with it for long. Sorry to ruin anyone's high hopes, but that's just been my experience. BTW, how many miles does your ES have on it humminalong?

I've done it on two ES's and no, there's no reason why you HAVE to. I suppose maybe your mechanic did, but I can't imagine why...

Well without riding in it and experiencing it, it's hard to say whether it's like mine or not but from the sounds of it it is worse than mine. However, I dunno if it's somethin you should worry about too much.