Lexucan

A vinyl top? I hope you jest :o

Yes, it was almost that much - about $18 (and change). Had I known ahead of time of the possible incompatibility issue, I would definitely have done a complete flush first, but at the time, I figured anti-freeze is anti-freeze... :(

I would agree with you about getting it replaced under warranty but for one concern. I've heard that this sort of repair (in the area of the dash especially) can lead to squeaks, creaks, and rattles occuring after the repairs are done. And although, as you say, the dealership has an obligation to "make it right", sometimes annoying rattles or other sounds can be very difficult to isolate and resolve. So, if the only problem at this point is a slight imperfection in the appearance of the dash, I would have second thoughts about letting them pull the whole dash apart and replace it. You have to weigh which is a worse annoyance - a few imperfections in the appearance, or the possibility of future knocks, rattles or squeaks that the dealership cannot seem to locate. That would drive me nuts a lot quicker than looking at a few bumps on the dash. ;)

This is true in some cases. It happened to me. :cries: When I bought my ES it had green anti-freeze in it. I had no idea how old it was or what brand it was so some months later I bought some Toyota red (not premixed) coolant from the local dealership, drained the green stuff out (unfortunately didn't do a complete flush) and then put in the red coolant. A day later I noticed the car was running hotter than normal so I opened the rad cap and had a look. The core was completely clogged up with ugly gunk. I ended up having to buy a new radiator as it was so plugged with the stuff it could not be flushed out. :(

Someone at Clublexus.com is selling parts for a '95 ES300. He listed the window switches at $10 each. I'm not positive about this, but it is very possible that the window switches for the 1995 model are exactly the same as those for the 1997 model. Here's the link: http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=368701

Taking the taillight assembly out is easy. Just pull back the trunk lining and there are four nuts to remove, then pull the entire assembly away from the car. It might stick a little as there are four long screws going through holes in the trunk sheet metal, but just wiggle the assembly a bit as you pull and it should come loose. I've done it many times to replace taillight bulbs. here is a photo showing where the nuts are located: If you find that your assembly is damaged, I very recently put an ad in the Clublexus.com classifieds forum for a 2nd generation left taillight assembly which should fit your car. Here is a link to the ad: http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=390204 It has a small chip in the plastic by the licence plate light, but it's very small and unnoticeable. (You'll see it in the pics of the assembly that I posted). The assembly does not leak at all. As for your CD changer problem, I have the same changer and it sometimes had a hard time reading discs (especially CD-Rs that I recorded myself) so I bought a CD player cleaning disc at Best-Buy and it did the trick. You just run the disc in the player for about a minute and it cleans the laser head inside the player. I think it cost about $15 for the cleaning disc. You should be able to find one at any place that sells stereo equipment, or maybe Radio Shack. Of course the audio guys you talked to would tell you your CD changer is hooped and that you should buy one of their expensive in-dash navi systems instead. They'll make a lot more commission on a new $1000 system than they will on a $15 CD cleaning disc! :chairshot: Hope this helps.

George meant the pinned thread at the top of the 92-06 ES250/300/330 forum page entitled "Merry Christmas! Factory Service Manuals" That thread will lead you to this site: http://www.phatg20.net/component/option,co...c,select/id,16/ where you can download the factory service manual for a '97 ES300.

Well I guess I'll let it go then :P Actually the sticker probably looks better (less conspicuous) where it is than stuck to the windshield or back window. Anyways, once again, your LS is CLEAN....with or without the parking permit attached!!

What a coincidence huh that your trunk switch stopped working after the shop took the door panel off. Oh no, it couldn't be related at all.:chairshot: I would pull the door panel off again and have a look at the switch module. You could have a short circuit in the wiring or a faulty switch, or perhaps the shop didn't reconnect the wiring harness properly.

I've heard some pretty positive things about www.leatherseats.com There are fairly regular group-buys from this company at the www.clublexus.com Lexus owners forum. A full set of new custom-fitted leather seat covers for a '94 ES would be ~ $800

Sweet! You've got like a two year history of your GX and 4Runner right here in one thread. Immaculate looking rides, as always.

Ditto to everyone else's comments. You've done a beautiful job of keeping that beautiful car looking...beautiful! My only criticism is the little rear bumper sticker. I HATE bumper stickers! LOL

If you only have to top the coolant up once a year, I'd say that is very normal. I wouldn't worry about a leak.

OD OFF means Overdrive Off. The overdrive setting is engaged and disengaged by pressing the button on the side of your gear shift. It definitely sounds to me too like you have an electrical issue.

I agree with your rant. And I'll add one more aspect to it. Letting a car sit idling for several minutes causes carbon deposits to build up in the engine which will result in performance problems. So, in addition to contributing to more air pollution, a remote starter is bad for your car's health. :(

I found out the hard way that mixing some ant-freezes can be a bad mistake. I had some green stuff in the car when I bought it, but decided to go with Toyota red (non-premixed). I drained out as much of the green as I could (should have had it flushed!) and added the red stuff. Whatever was left in the system of the green stuff mixed with the red and turned into a gel-like gunk! I ended up having to get the whole engine flushed afterall, and the radiator was so plugged with the s**t it couldn't be cleaned out so I had to get a new rad too. Costly mistake! :(

Yep, just ask Lexusfreak about his CPO Lexus ES330 purchase. He found all sorts of problems after delivery that SHOULD have been caught and FIXED during the CPO inspection...but weren't. :(

^^ I concur whole-heartedly!

^^ I agree 100% with blk_on_blk that an engine swap is the way to go. HERE is another reputable source for used engines from Japan - www.tigerjapanese.com I found out about them through the Lexus ES300 forums quite a while ago, and from what I've read, no one who has bought from them has been disappointed. In my opinion, if you are going to spend close to $2k just to replace the head gaskets, then why not spend about the same amount for a lower mileage engine? My service shop told me something that makes sense. He said doing a head gasket job on a high mileage engine will fix the head gasket leak but you still have a high mileage engine. And with new head gaskets installed, the compression will increase and this could potentially lead to extra stress on other parts of the old engine. :(

Each headlight assembly is attached by three bolts. If you lift the hood and look around the headlight assembly housing you'll see them going through plastic tabs on the housing. Once these bolts are removed, the whole headlight assembly can be pulled forward so that you can access the turn signal bulb. Once the bulb is changed, push the assembly back into position and reinsert and tighten the bolts.

LOL...practice makes perfect...LOL :) But you are right about the SMD LEDs being very small. I work with such tiny (and even tinier) devices all the time in my line of work (electronic design) which is why we have a high-powered microscope in our lab. But unless your eyes are very weak, a microscope should not be necessary for working with these LEDs. Steady hands are definitely helpful, and a simple magnifying glass will do fine for checking the quality of your work. :)

Thanks there, blk_on_blk! eternalcurry: As blk_on_blk stated, the original needles have a strip of surface-mount LEDs in them, not bulbs as such. Once they start to flicker, it means that they are on their way out. :( In my DIY I used one new red surface-mount LED per needle to illuminate the tip of the needle, since this is the only part of the needle that you need to see to accurately read your gauges. I think there is info on my DIY page about where you can obtain that type of LED. This is what they look like (but this is a deceptve photo...they are actually very tiny!) : To give you a better idea of their actual size, A life-size 0805 SMD LED would easily fit inside these two brackets [ ] And this is what it will look like when installed in the tip of the needle: For the backlighting of the gauges, I used eight (8) white/blue T5 wedge-based 5mm 12volt LEDs that have a flat top, not the type with a rounded or domed top. The ones with the flat top throw light to the sides as well as through the top and so are best for this application. They will look like this: I bought them from an ebay seller for about $8 for a set of ten of them. You'll find info on how to remove your instrument cluster and how to install the LEDs HERE. BTW, I plan to update the cluster disassembly info with photos etc. in the next few weeks. So, that's four (4) red surface-mount (SMD) LEDs to repair your needles Plus eight (8) 330 ohm resistors - two (2) per needle And eight (8) T5 wedge-based 12V flat-top LEDs for the gauge backlighting. And about the keys: that's a good question! <_< I have read on the forums that you can sometimes find keys with matching FCC ID numbers (it's printed on the plastic part of the key) on ebay. You have to find matching FCC numbers to be able to program the key to your car. Other than that alternative, I guess a Lexus dealership is the (expensive) way to go. Hope this info helps. If you need any further info, feel free to PM me.

Busoptr is right, the needles in most 2nd gen ES300s will sooner or later burn out. Two of the needles in my car were burnt out when I bought it three years ago. So I came up with a fix for it. You'll find it HERE If you're good with your hands, have a few dollars to spend on parts, and you own or can borrow the use of a soldering iron, it's pretty simple to do.

I have 4300k HIDs which are mostly white with a slight blueish tint. I think the contrasting yellow fogs (yes, they are the round factory ones) really look cool. I just replaced the bulbs in the fogs last week and cleaned up the lenses so they are brighter than they used to be. One thing I'd like to do soon too is wet-sand the outer plastic lenses as they have become quite pitted from years of tiny rock hits. That would increase their brightness even more. Here's a couple older pix: P.S. My sister used to live in Montreal. It's a beautiful city.

I'm not sure what part of the great white north you are from, but the part I'm from has plenty of fog...maybe cuz we're close to the water (as in Pacific Ocean) here. :P Anyways, as far as the colour goes, I prefer the look of yellow over white. It provides more contrast to the headlights, but I guess I could be a bit biased on the subject since mine came with yellow fogs.