Mister-Z

Got my '93 last year with supposedly 150k (odo. chip went out and was replaced, they said around 100k and it currently reads 50k. Looking over the records, I figure it probably has more like 180k) for $2600. I was quite suspicious with this price and had it checked out by some uber-certified mechanic who gave me a list of a few small-time problems. I had the tran and oil system flushed, aired up the tires, and that was that. Best car I've ever had :) The interior is kind of ugly, it was a family car and they didn't take care of the leather other than that, no complaints at all. I'm pretty sure the lady selling thought the car was getting ready to die, it sounded bad in reverse because she hadn't flushed the tranny in a billion years. I guess she was thought she was scamming me, dumping a problem car on me. She could've spent the same $300 I did and sold that car for at least $4500 in this city :) luckily for me, she didn't!

That does help, Toys. I should've searched harder, there are a lot of usefull threads with the right keywords. Thanks! I'll get that cleaned out and hopefully this will solve the problem. Seems likely enough :) *** Edit *** If a filthy IAC valve is the source of my car's trouble, why did it just start after the oil flush/new fuel filter? Is there a balance between the sludge in the engine and the filth in the IAC valve that got corrupted? Or is the IAC valve dirty because of the flush? *head's for the search*

All the weird stuff my car was doing has stopped with no explanation whatsoever My mechanic had it for two days, said he worked on it as best he could but couldn't figure it out. Suggested I take my car to someone who knows Lexus better than him, so I got in the car to take it over to the nearest Toyota dealership. Well, I turned the car on and this time it was idling so low I expected it to die. Right on top of the bottom line, probably 200rpm or so. It didn't die though, I got out and asked my mechanic again to make sure that it had kept acting crazy the whole time he'd had it and he said it had. Got back in and headed off. She drove normal, save for the low idle at the first couple of traffic lights. By the time I got to the dealership, though, it was actually idling close eough to normal that I decided to just see how it does the next couple of days. By the time I got home, it was idling right between 500 and 750 - just a hair under it's normal idle, which would make sense I think (hope) with the engine freshly cleaned out. A friend I was discussing the situation with, said that the flush-out stuff works by causing the engine to run real high so it'll burn out all the crud, and that if not thoroughly drained can cause the engine to act afool. Perhaps JL just half-assed the draining process and the left-over stuff just had to run it's course? * EDIT * Apparently not. Upon further driving, the problem came back for a while, then went away again. Can't say I'm terribly suprised - just terribly irritated. Hopefully I can find a good Toyota/Lexus mechanic who can figure this out.

SK - I'll definately ask my mechanic about that tommorow! SW - Yeah, that's definately the rule from now on. Live and learn!

I've been driving my recently acquired Es300 for a little over a month and it's been doing well so far. I flushed the trans fluid a couple of times, and some other basic repairs. There was some serious engine sludge, so I went by Jiffy-Lube to get it flushed out, and a new fuel filter as well. I've been concerned about the transmission the whole time, not because it exhibits any symptom's but just because it's an old car and such an expensive problem :-P so I pay attention and right up to the point that I parked it in that Jiffy Lube it has shifted smoothly and generally idle's at 750rpm. Well, they go to work on it and they took over an hour because they had a problem getting some bolt off the fuel filter so I'm already fairly irritated, but I'm patient and tolerated the situation. They finish up and I get in, start car. All is well . . . so I take it into the parking lot behind the JL and drive it around a little bit, notice quickly that it seems to be running just a little rough. When I come to a stop, I can feel the engine through the break pedal in a disconcerting way, but figure it might just be the engine adjusting to the new work. Drive a moment or two more, come to a stop, and put it in park. The car shoots up to 2000rpm, which it's never done before. I shifted through the gears a couple of times, then back into park. This time, the engine rev's up to 2k, then stops and drops back to 1k, then back up to 2k. And that's what it does now, in park or nuetral, just bounces around between 1k and 2k. Naturally, I go back to JL to see if they can exorcise whatever had possessed my car. They said 'probably a hose' - I called my mechanic and he said the same. They found a hose that was hooked up wrong, but fixing that did not solve anything. They went over all the hoses and the air filter and such, couldn't figure it out. The car was also shifting roughly for some reason - I could see the engine jumping around !! I believe my motor mounts are fine . . . After an hour and a half, I drove away with their phone # and the names of the managers - they said they'd pay for any damage they 'might' have caused I went straight to my mechanic to drop off my car. Oh, I wish that was the end of it. On the way over I was watching the RPM's, when stopped at a light in D it would idle a little over 1k, just enough over it's typical 750 to bug me. Then I realized something strange about the car's cruising speed - I slowed down to 30mph and took my foot off the pedals, and the car gradually sped back up to 40 mph I sped up to 45 and let up again, it slowed down to 40mph and the RPMs jumped up a bit and it held at 40mph. Naturally, I hit the off/cancel switches on my cruise control in case it'd been activated somehow, with no result. So I dropped the car off to my mechanic, who again went over the hoses and other such obvious possibilities, found nothing. He's had it since yesterday and says he still can't find anything, except perhaps that the Air Control Motor is shot - according the scanner (??) it was shutting off. This device apparently controls the idle speed via a vacuum in the air intake, so he's going to hold on to it another day and check it out some more. So, all was well until Jiffy Lube got done with my car. Did they screw something up, or did flushing out the engine sludge or the switching the fuel filter cause some dormant problem to wake up? Or did my transmission just pick the weirdest possible time to kick the bucket? One of the Jiffy-Lube guys kept saying his car did that occasionally in small spurts, because of some part "that's like a plate with a spring on it", but he couldn't remember the name <_< All I know at this point, is that Jiffy Lube is fired for the rest of eternity. Any idea's as to what could be causing my poor ES300's ailments would help a lot!!!

So, it's not looking like part of the transmission unless is this 'Check Valve' so far . . . that's comforting, to some degree at least B) I'll show it around and see if anybody has a clue, hopefully I'll figure out that it's something not terrible. As long as my transmission is not destroying itself because of a missing valve, it'll prolly be ok *knocks on wood* I appreciate the feedback Toys and Army, you guys are always very helpfull!

lol, Toysrme, I was hoping somebody would say that :P Any idea's where it could have come from?

So I had my 93' ES300 in getting a CV boot & trans pan gasket replaced. I bought the car about a month ago and aside from a few rather small quirks (for a 12 year old car at least) it's been treating me pretty well. When I came to pick the car up though, the mechanic handed me a small little metal piece that looks like part of some machinery, altho I have no idea what. He said that he found it in the transmission pan, altho there were no other metal scraps or anything like that. But this raises a very important question . . . wtf is this thing? My mechanic doesn't do transmission's unfortunately, and said he couldn't tell me if it's from the transmission or what. He recommended that I take it too a couple of trans. shops and ask what they think of it, which will probably be my next step after getting some feedback here B) anyway, I'm gonna post a picture of it at the bottom of this thread assuming I can do that right. Any clue as too what this might have broken off of or how it otherwise might have ended up in the trans pan is greatly appreciated! I had the transmission flushed right after I purchased the car, since there was no other metal in the pan is it possible that they screwed something up or dropped something in there? btw, the dime is just in there for size comparison :-P

well, I seem to have missed the boat :( the link just goes to a blank page with two broken images, I guess the hosting has bunked out. Did phatq20.net end up hosting that? Anywhere I could get ahold of a copy at this point? * * * EDIT * * * Never mind, the link seems to be working today :D

Congratulations, Lexucan :) I'm glad you found such an awsome deal. My interior is not so immaculate, small stuff tho still looks good for the most part. I drove an '88 Chevy Celebrity for 3 or 4 years (it was immaculate when I got it, and utterly worthless when I got rid of it for $25). After driving that car straight into the ground, I learned what it was like to roll in a total POS and what car care was worth. I bought a really nice '01 Mazda 626 and have driven it for a little over a year - and taken care of it!! I felt bad about ruining that first car and never intend to do so again. But in order to afford an apt/school, I need a cheaper car . . and along came the ES 300. I'll miss my mazda, but I'm feeling good about this ES B) cheers to the new owners of old cars!

You may remember me from last week, I posted for advice about wether or not I should buy this car and generally can't make a post less than four paragraphs long Well, after much toil and consideration I decided that it was probably about as good a deal on any Toyota that I was going to find around here in my price range (I'm sure monarch is rolling his eyes :P ). I bought it last night, just got the first of what will probably be much work done today. The car would groan a little in reverse, I figured it was probably the nasty transmission-sludge that the previous owner had left in the car. I had the trans. flushed and it now shifts very cleanly. That CV boot isn't making any noise yet, not that I'm going to waste any time on it but still a good thing. It runs very quietly, except for a slight rattling noise when between 1500 and 1750 rpm, the noise gets less noticable when the car is warmed up. The glove compartment was stuffed with records, so I've got a pretty good idea on what's been fixed lately and what's in need. I've got a pretty decent list of repairs to be done (wouldn't know these problems existed from the way it drives - glad I had it inspected!) but I think once they're done I'll have myself a pretty good car :D And if not, well, at least it tried B)

Well, let me clarify she's not exactly a 'little old lady' more like a just-getting-honest-old lady with grown up kids. She says her sister was the original owner - and according to carfax, it was originally purchased here in Tx and stayed mostly in one town, then came here so it seems plausible. I feel like a gimp, because I let the mechanic do all the looking for me. It's my third time buying a used car, first time not leaning on my parents doing it I didn't observe the odometer myself. I looked the car over, but skipped that very important detail. The mechanic mentioned it I believe, but he told me a lot of stuff in short order and once again I failed to observe the significance. I didn't realize that something was amiss with the odo. until I got home and started reading over that inspection record. * * * EDIT * * * As soon as I posted this thread, the seller called me back. She said that the ODO went out at about 100k, and the Lexus dealership put in a new chip and reset it back to zero - thus it now being 150k. She has the records for it as well, aparently. So . . . . WOOOOHOOO!!! I'm still not sure (told her I'd tell her tommorow), but the fact that it's not shady makes a world of difference and puts me back on the 'probably gonna go for it' side :) :) :)

The odo. thing is a real bummer. I feel good about the car otherwise, but a bum odo. and the seller never mentioned it? Shady doin's . . . *EDIT* - I did a carfax, it's last odo. reading was in '97, at 60,100 or so. Since it's electronic, could it have short circuited or something? Or is this almost definately tampering? If it once read 60k why would it now read 50k? Wtf? A mid 90's Camry or Corolla with only 60k on it would run at least $4,500 here :cries: I've been keeping an eye on the classifieds, local online listings, used dealerships for about a month now and I can say this with fair certainty. On the occasion that such a deal does surface it get's bought very quickly - lottery odd's of me finding such an ideal catch (not that I haven't been trying)! I read some of ArmyofOne's posts. Exactly what I'm trying to avoid! I wish I'd asked for a copy of the service records - they had quite a few - this person lives a little ways out of town and I can't just run over there. I need a better idea of what all they took care of with this car . . . but there's still the odo, casting doubt on the whole thing

Appreciate your words, everyone :) Nobody I talk to irl has much experience with Lexus, so this is very helpfull! Regarding the MILEAGE - Well, it was never stated that it's broken and I think my ignorance had the best of me there. On the diagnostic list is has the mileage written as 50,020 or so and a note that said 'Seller says 150k'. Neither the seller nor the mechanic mentioned the odo. to me, which I found odd when I noticed this note. So I assumed it was broken, until an hour or so a go when a friend of mine told me that old cars often roll over back to 0 after 100k. Does the '93 ES300 roll over at 100k? That would be very reassuring for me! Still kicking the idea around but I am leaning towards buying it B) I just don't think there's any car out there in my price range that isn't going to have similar issues. I'll definately let ya'll know if I join the club!

Toysrme, I was hoping you'd have an opinion :-) I figured I'd try to do some of the basic stuff myself but most will probably be by mechanic. The diagnostic fellow said that the engine ticks, but you can only hear it when you've got the hood up listening for it. Does this become problematic?

Well, they seem to have taken a bit better care than that. They had service records (some recent, some not), which I perused but didn't really study, for several things beyond the basic tune-up. The diagnostic guy told me that he had expected the transmission to slip during the test drive but it didn't, and it's just the front left axle that's leaking (well, that and the pan gasket). Do these problems really spell doom for the transmission? Gya, I wish I knew more about cars in general Are all those other things apt to fail because they're old, or do they have to do with the transmission?

Greetings, all you Lexus afficionado's! I've been lurking your forums for a week or two - ever since I began to consider this car seriously. I've been hunting for a cheap but reliable Honda/Toyota in the $2-3k range (I'm a poor !Removed!!) and ended up finding this 1993 ES300 offered by a private seller. It's estimated at 150k miles - the odometer apparently stopped working at 52k <_< but this old lady just doesn't seem like any of the shady car people I've encountered in my life so I'm not too worried about that. First, let me say thanks already because I've learned alot here and it's been a guiding force in my decision making process :D I've read the FAQ and done lots of searching, and am left with just a couple of questions unanswered. This car has a few cosmetic issues (mostly interior) and is mechanically fair. The asking price is $2750 - I'm thinking I can get it for $2600. I just saw it today and had these uber-certified 'Auto P.I.' guys run a 600-point check on it, and this guy was quite impressive. He went over for 45 minutes or so and then broke it down for me. Basically, the engine has been loved. On-the-spot oil changes, new air filter/timing belt (or is it chain?) etc. But the valve cover gasket is leaking a little oil (he gave it a '2' on a 1-10 scale) and the valves need re-adjusting anyway. Also, the transmission has been a bit neglected - the fluid was described as 'dark and burnt' and the left trans. axle & pan gasket are leaky. Other than that, it's rear brakes are due (front ones are new), needs a new CV boot, struts - but those apparently can wait a couplafew months. Also the washer resivior is rotted out - but I can wash my windows at a gas station B) I've already figured it a decent buy - at cost + repairs I'm paying about what I'd expect to pay for any Toyota of it's age, mileage and condition (at Toyota/Honda with 200k+ can go for $3-4k around here if it's in decent shape). BUT my city just instated emissions testings as part of inspection, and this car has not been inspected this year. Which brings us - finally (I'm a long-winded !Removed!!) - to the question: Will these transmission issues and/or the mild oil leak impair it's ability to pass emissions? I found a thread here that discusses the 93 ES300's ability to pass emissions, I know it should as long as things are kosher but I dunno if it's quite that kosher Any insight is greatly appreciated!