jbeidl

There would be a lot of parts required to add this feature. In addition to the 5 wheel sensors/transmitters there are a Tire Pressure Warning Receiver, a Tire Pressure Warning ECU and several switches. There are possibly additional items needed. I have no idea if the required cables for these additional devices are in your vehicle or will have to be added. You will also need the help of a Lexus or Toyota dealer as a Techstream tool is required for setup.

I would check with your local dealers to see if they have ever done this and have a list of all of the required components.

Good luck,

John

John, just for clarification, you do not have the NAV? How was reassembly? Did the parts just come back together without much tweaking, bending, forcing?

That is correct, I DO NOT have the NAV.

I purchased some plastic trim removal tools at Harbor Freight (believe it or not, none of the Auto Parts stores had these tools - they sent me to Harbor Freight).

The scary part was taking parts off, I was always waiting for something to break, but nothing did. I did follow all of the instructions including putting tape on the dash.

Reassembly was much easier, it probably took less than 15 minutes to put all of the parts back.

John

I installed the PT545-00082 today. It took about 3 hours, it would take me about 1 hour less if I had to do it again.

I used the ES350 install instructions available on TIS.

There is a section in the instructions that instructs you to remove the lower cover under the glove box. My car does not have this cover. I think it is part of the front passenger side knee airbag assembly on my car.

The instruction do not tell you to remove the two connectors on the glove box and the clip that retains the cable. This is necessary if you want to drill the hole in the glove box in your workshop. It was a lot easier to do at my workbench.

When I got to the section where the upper console trim is to be removed, I wasted some time. You cannot get the trim piece removed with the shift lever in park (unless you want to scratch something). I had to reconnect the battery so I could shift into Neutral with the Emergency Brake on and then disconnect the battery again. I did not want to use the emergency procedure described in the Owners Manual. The instructions should have included placing the car in Neutral before disconnecting the battery. The instructions do have you set the parking brake.

The remainder of the instructions were fine.

I have not used the unit much but I did test with our 2 iPods to make sure they worked.

I also verified that the steering wheel controls worked.

I did see the limit of 100 items mentioned in other posts, however, it does not limit you to 100 items. I have several hundred albums on my iPod and when I incremented from album 100 to 101 the display went from 100 to 001, however, it was actually displaying album 101. This happened at every 100th album.

The other limitation is the amount of text that can be displayed. This is not a limit of the ipod adapter, but the Multi-Display. This text limit may not exist it you have the NAV installed - I don't know.

Overall I am happy with the device and it will allow us to listen to music we like while on trips.

John

Hi,

My ES350 comes without tires pressure, can I install it easy if I bought it from ebay?

Thanks

Regards

Before you go further, make sure the the tire pressure warning system will provide what you are wanting.

The system in the ES350 does not display tire pressure by tire location. It only turns on a dash light if one of the 5 tires is low, it is up to you to determine which one.

This is our second Lexus ES, but the first one with a tire pressure warning system. Overall we like the new ES, but I have two disappointments with it, the TPWS being one of them and setting of customer customization options being the others.

My other two vehicles are from GM (Silverado and Corvette) and both of those vehicles display the pressure for each tire by name. Also, all of the customer customization options can be set for the Driver Information Center (DIC), no need to make an appointment with the dealer.

John

John - Thanks again for the reply. I too don't care about the satellite hookup and is why I'm not interested in the other non-Toyota parts which provide the dual capability. I did find another site (ToyotaPartsCheap.com) that had the part for $196.80 (20% off MSRP) but I'll check with your guy to see if shipping is cheaper.

Before I do make a purchase I'm actually going to wait a bit as I haven't yet received the car (next week) and, to be honest, I'd like to wait and hear about your thoughts on its functionality once you've installed. Once you've received it and installed (when do you think that will be?) please come back and post your thoughts for everyone. Good luck and enjoy!

The price you found is what I paid. I did find it a few dollars cheaper at a dealer in NC but bottom line price was higher when shipping and taxes were added.

The one I ordered arrived yesterday. I don't know when I will get to install it. I want to reserve the better part of a day just in case. It is going in my wife's car so it depends on both of our schedules (she does not like to drive the Silverado [way too big for her] and she does not drive my Corvette [she is afraid to scratch it]).

I just glanced at the owners manual and did not see anything about limitations on number of songs displayed, but that does not mean there are no limits. I don't think it will make a difference to my wife as she has a 8G device. I have a 60G that has about 4000 songs. We would only use mine if we used the car for a trip.

John

By the way...a few new points on this iPod connector thing. First the total cost of the Toyota part (PT545-00082) and installation by my dealer is out of whack if you ask me. The want $595. My search of prices for the part indicate I can get it for as low as $219 (including shipping) on the net. I understand the dealer is looking to make a profit on the part but geeze. They inidicated the price is basically $300 for the part (MSRP is $249 by the way) and three hours labor is about $100/hr for a total of $595.

I checked with my Toyota dealer (I also own a Sequoia) and they indicated they would install for $200. So a little bargain shopping and labor shopping I think will pay off. To a point that SW03ES posted in another thread I don't think there's any issue with a Toyota (or another independent mechanic/shop like STS, etc.) doing maintenance or accessories installation. (anyone care to confirm that assumption?!)

Item two relates to this part's functionality. Through other research on the net I've seen people post is that this accessory is greater than sliced bread and others have posted it has limited functionality in terms of showing all the playlists or all the songs on the iPod. For example I think I read it will only show 100 songs on the iPod. Can anyone confirm?

For those of you who've installed this in your ES 350, please share some specifics about your experiences and what the NAV screen will show from your iPod, AND, please also tell us what kinds of things you can do from your steering wheel. I know I'm not the only one reading this thread who's interested in this functionality.

Thanks!

I think the hours quoted for the install are probably reasonable, lots of dis-assembly and reassembly. I am sure you can find places that are much less than $100/hr. Since a scan tool is not required anyone can do the install. I plan doing my own install. You can purchase the Lexus unit for under $200 (without shipping), see

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...erryb@safro.com. That is where I got mine.

I can't tell you anything about operation as I have not installed it yet - maybe someone that has one installed can chime in here.

I think some of the non Lexus units may have more capability, I don't know for sure. I know some of them allow both an iPod and Satellite radio to be installed, the Lexus unit does not. This is not important to me, I have two GM vehicles with XM radios and I don't have them enabled. Way overpriced subscriptions and poor audio quality (very limited dynamic range), at least with the GM units.

John

Last week I had a loaner car with satellite radio, when I returned the car I inquired about the activation of the satellite radio. The dealership told me it would be $500 for the parts and $200+ for installation. They did not mention a monthly charge.

Is this standard? It sounds a little pricy to me since my car has a satellite radio button, which I assumed meant the service just needed to be activated?

Any insight would be appreciated.

Unless your purchased a Satellite Radio option when you got the car, you do not have a Satellite Radio - just the selection button on your radio. I think you can get XM or Sirius. The two companies have now merged and I believe new radios are being designed so that users can receive signals from both satellites. I believe that XM is $12.95 a month with a quarterly subscription. I have XM receivers in my two GM vehicles (Silverado and Corvette) and neither of them are activated. I don't care for the sound quality of the GM XM receivers - no dynamic range. I don't know if it is the GM receiver problem or excessive compression by XM (maybe a combination of both).

I just ordered the Lexus iPod adapter (which connects where the satellite radio normally connects) so my wife can listen to music she likes with good quality (the Lexus is my wife's car).

What is your opinion of the satellite radio sound quality in the loaner you had? Was it XM or Sirius?

John

Thanks for the feedback. I had a follow-up question that your explanation brings to mind. When I sell/trade this car in the future and get another Lexus, will I be able to take this $200-$300 part with me or is it going to be a pain ($$) to remove it?

Thanks.

It will be just as much work to remove as it was to install and you will have to deal with the 1 1/8" hole drilled in the glove box. Also, unless you plan to sell the car in a year or so it will probably not be compatible with your newer Lexus. The life span of technology is quite short in these modern times. It is also possible that the iPod interface will be a standard feature on cars in the future.

Enjoy your new ride.

John

Thanks guys for the extra clarification on the $5 vs. $300 part. On the $300 part does anyone know if it has to be installed or is it just plug & play on both ends and the rest of the cable assembly just remains in the glove compartment or do the Lexus guys need to install to, 1: hide the cable assembly and, 2: make it operational?

Thanks again.

The Lexus part does not have to be dealer installed, a scan tool is NOT required for setup. However, it is not a 5 minute job. Parts of the center console, dash and glove box need to be removed and a 1 1/8" hole drilled in the glove box (for the iPod cable and grommet). I suspect that the non-Lexus adapters require the same amount of work.

John

Guys - I have to admit now I'm confused. The first few posts on this thread described a $5 part you could purchase at Radio Shack versus the $200-$300 part on the Lexus site (referenced above) as well as the Toyota site. So what am I missing? Is the cheap connection just to connect the iPod to play music through the system but this option would not have control through the NAV screen or steering wheel and the more expensive one does have all those features? If so, that would explain it. If the $5 part allows for the same capabilities then that's where I missed something through the posts.

Could anyone clarify the differences in parts? I'm picking up my new ES350/UL with Nav/Levinson in a week and certainly want to take full advantage of all bells/whistles in this car with my iPOD. So which choice is it...Door #1 ($5 part) or Door #2 ($200-$300 part)?

Thanks for the advice!

The $5 cable just connects the audio from the headphone jack on the iPod to the car audio system. You have to use the iPod controls to select playlist etc.

The $200+ adapters connect to the large connector on the bottom of the iPod and let you control the iPod from the radio and/or steering wheel controls. Also iPod information is display on the car audio system display. The Lexus unit conflicts with the Satellite radio so you can only have iPod or Satellite radio but not both. Some of the non-Lexus adapters allow the use of both satellite radio and an iPod.

I have not seen any of these devices in person. I have a Lexus unit in transit and it should arrive some time this week.

John

What if my Mark Levinson stereo already has satellite connected? Can I still use the IPOD interface? Can I install this myself?

My understanding is that it plugs into the same connector used for the satellite radio. You can have satellite or iPod, not both.

John

First post on this forum.

We recently traded my wife's 2001 ES300 (36K miles) for a 2008 ES350. I normally purchase service (repair) manuals for each new vehicle. I have been been looking for the manuals for this ES350 and I have been getting prices close to $700 for the 5 volume set (4 repair, 1 electrical). The set I purchased for the 2001 was about $300 but it only had 3 volumes total and I though that those were really over priced.

Does anyone know of a source for the repairs manuals at a more reasonable price?

I just received the 4 volume set for my 2008 Silverado LTZ (9" high stack) and they were only $135. I understand this is a Lexus and not a Chevy but $700 seems way out of line.

My wife really liked the 01 and it was hard to convince her to switch. So far (less than 100 miles) she is happy with the ES350 - drives better than her 01 and has noticeably more power.

My only complaint is the Bluetooth voice recognition system. No matter how I say "Add Entry" to the phone book, 95% of the time it wants to "Delete Entry".

John