felixcat

umm...it seems there is only 14 miles on the odo, am I right?

Just wonder given the bad economy environment this year， is it possible to get a IS250 under the invoice price in Texas? (I know some ppl can easily do this in California)

I don't like the short headrest in my 96 ES, and want to replace them with the tall-shape ones such as in the latest Lexus models. So will the headrest in other models or years will also fit for my 96?

My car is a 96 ES. In the maintenance manual, it states that the transmission and differential are separate units, so I suppose the transmission case and differential case are two closed systems, which means the ATF of differential will not flow into the transmission case, and the same for the ATF in transmission case. But today when I went to my mechanic for a complete transmission + differential fluid flush. The mechanic removed both the drain plugs of the transmission and differential. After that, he wanted to refill the differential case first. He poured some qts of ATF into the differential's fill hole, expecting the overfill extra fluid will come out from the fill hole -- but to our surprise nothing came out! So my mechanic checked the transmission case and found the extra ATF has already flowed into there, which means the differential and transmission are connected, and each other's ATF are exchangeable. This seems somewhat confilcting with the maintenance manual. So is there anything worng with my car or it is normal?

Will changing the spark plug wires help improving performance and also mpg? My car has 140k on the meter and the wires are original.

Thanks! Now I have another question: is there a filter in the auto transmission for the 96 ES? Last time I went to the dealership, asked for a transmission filter change but they said there is no such filter for this model year (only some magnetic attached on the oil pan). But today I checked the catalogue and found there is Automatic transaxle Filter for 95-98 ES with MSRP $32.58, so which one is correct?

Today I looked up a Lexus parts website and saw there is Denso made ACC Cabin Filter for 96 ES. But I also remembered my mechanic told me several times that 96 ES doesn't has the cabin filter equipped, and the air blew from the vent is directly taken from outside without filtering. So I am quite confused whether my 96 ES has such filter?

TJ, I have mine changed before. My Lexus mechanic told me that the top mount of the hood support is designed to be irremovable (or very very hard to pop off) once it is popped in, so the only safe way to remove the whole support is unscrewing the ball mount from the hood.

Yes, my 96 also showed this symptom in the past. One day I decided to deal with it: I used my hands to 'shake' the seat surface (it is where you will sit on) left and right repeatedly (but not so hard to destroy the seat), now this 'clunking' sound seem to has gone. I don't know whether it will appear again or not, but at least, this method works so far. My guess is that there is a spring under the seat got 'old' for the long time, and my shake 'woke it up'

Thank you! Do you have an idea that normally how much will valve adjustment cost? Should I go to Toyota or Lexus dealer for this service, or I can go to some autocare shop like Firestone, Midas etc?

**I have posted this thread in clublexus.com and I want more advice and opinions so here it is. After the car is started, I noticed there are not so big but easy to notice 'ticking' sound coming out from my 96 ES300's engine compartment (while open the hood and facing the engine, or sitting in the driver seat with door closed, I can NOT hear the ticking neither; I can only hear the ticking while standing beside the front wheels and it is quite noticeable and loud). So I called my mechanic. Because he has just done some repair on my car and he remember the sound, he immediately concluded that this is caused by the engine's valve lifters (the so call 'valve clearance' problem), and he explain that he had repair many Toyota engines in his life，and such ticking sound is very common for an engine has such mileage (mine are 118k). He said this problem would not harm the engine much, plus if I want this to be fixed, the cost will be expensive and not many autoshop can perform the repair well enough, so he did not suggest me to touch it (he said he can do it well but it will cost quite many hours of labour), so he let me just live with it. This mechanic is my good friend and he has nearly 30 years experiences of reparing engines, especially for Toyotas, Hondas and Nissians, so I trust what he said. Now here comes the point: he also told me if I really mind such ticking sound, I can use an oil additive which brand name is 'Restore' (http://www.restoreusa.com/), he said this will work on the problem, although can not completely solve it. So I want to give a try, with the bottom line 'it should not do any harm to the engine'. I have done some research on the internet and knew some engine oil additive will harm the engine and accelerate the wear of the components, some other just make no effect. So my questions are: 1. Is there anyone has the experience of using this 'Restore' brand product? Any comments? 2. Does it require the mechanic with very experienced technique to perfome the repair well? 3. If I want get problem fixed within a reasonalbe cost, could someone recommend a repair shop in Houston (cauz I'm in Houston)? Thanks.