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I second Ranjha's tirerack.com suggestion. I recently replaced the tires on our 05 ES330, which also uses 215/55-17 tires (non run-flat and also no TPMS). It also had the Toyo summer tires and they lasted 25,000 miles. I bought the Yokohoma S.drive tires from tirerack.com for about $565 for 4 tires including the shipping. I know a tire installer and had the tires mounted and balanced for $60. So my price was about half of what the dealer wants to charge you. I bought summer tires because the primary driver of the car preferred that and the car is in South Florida so cold and snow are non-issues. The tires are very nice and grippy; especially noticeable in wet weather. If you want longer tire life, I would go for an all-season grand touring type tire with a longer treadwear warranty. You can check tirerack's website for recommended installers if you don't have a tire shop that you know. Even if you go to a tire shop to buy tires, tirerack is good because then you have a price to compare what the shop is offering on the tires they sell. Some of the tire shops can order the tires for you from tirerack. I believe the installers get a slightly better price than what we can get.

reikiwes; I complained about a steering wheel squeak while our 03 ES 300 was under warranty. They sprayed a lubricant (I would try a white lithium grease) on the steering column where there is a rubber bushing. I believe they did this from inside the passenger compartment. Squeak has not come back. Good luck.

You will need to scrape off the old gasket and use a new gasket. I have never done this myself; I would refer to a repair manual or just have a mechanic do this for me.

Are you sure what you are seeing is sludge? On our 03 and 05 ES's, the baffle that obscures your view of the valvetrain underneath the oil cap has a black rough coating that could be confused with sludge. Just touch it when the engine is cold and you will notice that clean oil will stick to your finger. If this is keeping you up at night, have the front valve cover removed to get a good look inside.

Under the oil filler cap, there is a piece of metal that obstructs your view in to the valvetrain. The part that obstructs your view is covered with black coating that looks just like sludge in the 02-06 ES'. If you put your finger on that black coating on a cold engine, you should see clean oil (well, as clean as whatever is on the dipstick) stick to your finger. Don't take my word for it; open the oil cap on an 05 or 06 ES and you will see the same black coating. I would ask to have the front valve cover (shouldn't be too expensive) pulled off to get a good look if I wanted to see if the valvetrain is clean, merely varnished, or if there is sludge. The 1MZ-FE engines were supposedly revised starting in the 03 model year with an updated PCV system to reduce sludging. Good luck. I would advise you to test drive the car in slowing the car to nearly a stop (2 to 5 mph) and then accelerating and also coasting down (foot off the accelerator pedal) to 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 mph and then accelerating from each of those speeds to see how the transmission performs. We have an 03 and an 05 ES. I am not crazy about the transmission feel on either car, although I have adapted to the car.

Interesting, I looked around and you're right. The general consensus though is that the noise is coming from the direct injectors...which don't exist. Oh well, back to the drawing board. ------------------- I asked my Lexus dealer about this and they told me that this is because Lexus has changed the timing belt. The older lexus cars used timing belts that you had to change but the newer ones use a different material - more lasting but noiser... I have no idea but it seems to make sense... What your dealer is referring to is the engine in your car has a timing chain instead of a timing belt. Ask to listen to another ES to see if it sounds the same to you. Search other internet bulletin boards including Toyota boards for more info. You aren't the only one complaing of this.

We have an 03 ES300 and an 05 ES330. Both transmissions perform similarly. I drive the 03 and have adapted to the car, but that doesn't mean I like the transmission. If your wife already has her mind set on another car, you are probably sunk with a depreciation hit when you trade this car in sooner than later. Have her try driving the car around in 4th gear when around town instead of D to see if that is enough to pacify her. What is her specific complaint about the car?

mburnickas, I think SW03ES' point is that the sludge issue is affecting a small percentage of engines in 1997-2001 models. I haven't seen any online severe engine sludge reports in 2002 and beyond vehicles based on the modifications that Toyota/Lexus did. I do believe that the engine is still very hard on oil and I personally keep the oil change inverval relatively short on our 03 and 05 ES' (5 months and under 4k miles on conventional oil on the 05 ES and 6 months and 5 to 6k miles on synthetic on the 03). Here is the UOA I ran on the 03 a while back. http://theoildrop.server101.com/forums/sho...true#Post246465 I don't agree with SW03ES that Toyota's primary motivation to drop the 7.5k mile interval to 5k mile was to "help" dealer profits, especially when Honda is going the other way and extending their oil change intervals with no problems. Basically, the competition can claim lower operating costs. This is not to say that Honda or any other manufacturer has their own problems.

90LS400, so what did you decide to do? Here is a thread supporting SW03ES' viewpoint. http://theoildrop.server101.com/forums/sho...part=1&vc=1

90LS400, here is my advice. Take the car to your mechanic to look it over up on the lift and make sure the car has not been in any serious accidents and check the mechanical bits, suspension, and any leaks over for you/ the $100 - $150 you spend there is well worth it if it helps you pass on a car that you should pass on. If that goes well, negotiate with the dealer to have the front valve cover removed in your presence. You will then see clearly if the engine has had frequent oil changes because you will see no sludge (black goo), just some varnish at worst or a very clean engine at best. The area underneath the oil cap is covered with a black coating that looks like sludge, but is a sound deadening material. That area under the oil cap blocks your view inside, hence the suggestion to pull the front valve cover off. It may be an extra expense, but you will sleep better at night knowing you did your best due diligence. I would also suggest changing the PCV valve and hose. I think Toyota/Lexus is getting pretty much the rap they deserve. Notice that they have a 6 month/5,000 mile oil change interval on the later ES330's with the 3MZ-FE engine. The 6 month/ 7,500 mile oil change interval from the 02 and 03 cars with the 1MZ-FE engines was dropped. These engines are less tolerant of extending the oil change interval than others. There is a percentage of the population that is "forgetful" when it comes to oil changes, but there is no reason for me to believe that Toyota/Lexus owners are any different than the owners of cars from other manufacturers. If you say 5,000 miles for an oil change, then the forgetful/busy people may change it out at 7,500 miles. If you say, 7,500 miles, then it takes no great leap of imagination that some of these cars are going 9 to 12k miles, especially since a lot of people skip the time interval and go by mileage alone which may mean only one oil change a year.

You are correct, SW03ES. But what I am referring to is that I doubt that lease rates that work out to about a 4% APR are going to be available a year from now unless it is a subsidized manufacturer lease for vehicles that are harder to move. It will be interesting to see how this rate increase cycle works itself through our heavily credit dependent consumer economy. I can't see the manufacturers holding the line on passing along their higher credit costs indefinitely.

We are still not feeling the full effect of the Federal Reserves rate hikes, let alone any further rate increases forecast for this year. I think a lot of people are going to feel the sting of higher monthly payments or are going to have to lease a less expensive car when their current leases are up over the course of the next year.

If you have the time and inclination and you are a tightwad, you can cut a 3M Filtrete filter to size. It is very close in thickness, at least for the ES300, ES330 and IS300 we have. I suspect that the RX is the same or close. I bought the filter at home depot and was able to get several filters cut to size. I used masking tape on the cut edges. I am not going to even spend the $24 plus shipping irontoad price. $41 for the filter is pure pleasure --- for the dealership. If you are paying $200 for the 5000 mile service (glorified oil change) that the dealership does, then of course they throw in the cabin filter. Nothing wrong with that RX330, but for a tightwad like me, that is like scratching fingernails on a blackboard. I can do an oil change with Pennzoil Platinum synthetic oil ($19 at Wal-mart for the 5 quart jug), Purolator Premium filter ($1 after PepBoys rebate which I have stockpiled), 3M Filtrete filter for the cabin ( a few dollar depending on how many filters you are able to cut out of one of those); total cost to me is under $30. I could use the 5 quart Havoline jugs that WalMart sells for about $9 and I could cut the service cost to under $15. You can't get those screaming deals on filters anymore, but even irontoad sells the Denso oil filter for about $4.50 plus shipping.

I used Wrap-Fix self-fusing repair tape and plastic cement to repair an IS 300 key which had cracks on both sides. Can operate the buttons through the tape. Ugly, but it works.