amanda

sure did. i guess i have to haul it to a mechanic to get it drained. you have to hoist the car to do it, right? could this cause the vibration attributed to my car?

i think the neck of my wash fluid reservoir must have a leak or something. is there a way to repair it without having to replace the whole thing? thanks again. -------------- actually, i just refilled it to see where the leak might be and it hasn't drained in an hour's time. could some of it have gotten sucked into the pump while i was driving around yesterday instead of leaking somewhere? i guess i will know tomorrow if it's just a very slow leak.

i got x-ray vision as a package deal with my es300. maybe that's why i had to shell out so much cash for it.

i am going down the list here. i can't seem to find the air filter. can someone clue me in a little bit? also, when i was checking the transmission fluid, i noticed that the engine would shift/spring up or down when shifting gears. does this mean mount troubles? the noise also seems to come mainly from the left side of the engine. i know some of you have recommended looking at the dog bone, but darned if am not totally car-ignorant. can you guys also clue me in on checking the dog bone? where is it exactly (i think it's to the left of the engine from the front of the car - where the pesky vibration comes from) and how do i know if it's bad or good? some people seem to think 52000 miles is about where the mounts start to act funny. if they are funny, i assume it's not a job for the clueless (e.g. me). so how much is a mechanic going to charge me for it and should i go only to a lexus dealer? on the other hand, i've read some postings indicating that the top mount is often bad (and relatively easy to change) but the bottom is not. is there a way to tell if i can just change the top myself without bothering the lower. and if i can change just the top, can i get the part only from a lexus/toyota dealer. thanks so much.

alright, everyone. i am slowly but surely making progress on this vibration business. i checked the tranmission fluid (thanks for all your help in helping me locate the darn dipstick). it read about an inch above hot. is that a problem? i can't be sure the transmission fluid is the correct type, though it looks and smells fine. but it does seem to read too high.

thank you. that's good news. did you already have scratches/hazing on your lenses? if so, does this plexus thing keep it clear for more than 6 months? i've heard that with everything else, it's repolish every 2-3 months. if i had just left it alone insted of nitpicking over couple of microscopic chips. thanks.

sorry to disrupt your thread, piranah. i have some questions regarding wind noise for skperformance, so please disregard my posting in realtion to the towing topic. skperformance -- i've found some threads regarding the wind noise trouble with your es300. i bought silicone dressing in a bottle instead of the tire endurance stuff for the rubber around my windows. do you think the tire endurance stuff is much different somehow from what i've purchased? also, you mentioned realigning the window yourself. can you give me some insight into how difficult this might be? thanks so much. i go nuts everytime i am on the highway and the wind starts rushing.

ok, i am back with more quandaries. after you've polished the headlight/foglight lens, what can you do to keep it from hazing. if i had known i was scratching off the protective coating, i would have just left them alone. what a dork i am. i really don't look forward to repolishing them every few months. aaaaaaaaaah! the auto supply store here says they can order me a film to put on top of it, but i wanted something more integral. if i seal it with that klasse stuff, would that keep it from getting scratched? probably a pipe dream. thanks for your help.

well, insurers apparently think women drive better than men do.

thanks for the quick reply. actually, the lens is a little rough around the edge and i wanted to polish it. is the procedure different for taking out the whole housing? i am almost impressed with this posting. i actually sound like i know what i am talking about, which i don't.

someone (who drove an explorer) thought my vibration could be from tranmission fluid. he claims he had the same problem, poured some ATF and problem solved. my problem, is, i can't find where the transmission fluid reservoir and the dipstick is on my car. a mechanic says that some newer cars have sealed tranmission that just gets replaced when it breaks. is this true? if not, where is that darn dipstick and reservoir? also, the battery indicator is pointing somewhere between get-serviced and everything-fine. it's a little closer to get-serviced. is that ok? while i am at it (to save from posting even more messages), the engine oil is a medium brown. is that ok too? i sure wish that darn greenwich lexus dealer would get its computer system up. i definitely do not want to take the car into the city. sorry i am so car ignorant and thank you.

hi, there. mcv. skperformance thought you might know how to get to the foglights in 2000 es300. please advise. i think i understand how to remove arch liner, then it's all mystery thereafter. thanks.

hey, you and i have the same birthday! and the lexus seats are hard! but i figured that had something to do with some safety feature or something. that's suprising to me that the oil could loosen the paint but the butter won't. why is that? also, i think i read some post somewhere by you that describes how to remove foglights. mine's a 2000, but maybe you could help anyway. right after "remove arch liner," i get totally lost.

when you use the oil, there's really no smell. i wasn't even aware that cocoa butter had a chocolatey scent. but then, i've had this oil for so long, maybe its fragrance has just dissipated.

shockingly, it turns out i was driving on a 13 psi tire. more shockingly, the 29 was actually 39. that's kind of dangerous, isn't it. i am keeping them all at 30 now.

i haven't ever owned a car and it's been like 10 years since i've really driven one. so you'll have to excuse my scrutinizing EVERYthing. i still think that engine drone/vibration at idle is a bit odd and the cabin should be quieter. thanks.

well, i am just a fountain of query. i also noticed yesterday that engine (i think) makes a soft "ting-ting-ting" sort of noise after i park and turn off ignition. this is so even if i've driven less than a mile. is this the so called engine pinging? is this ok? i am using premium gas, but i don't know about the previous owner. i imagine not. i've read in some post about timing. the tinging coupled with the vibration makes me wonder if this timing thing is my issue. i am planning to go to a mechanic or a lexus dealer pretty soon (greenwich lexus says their computer system has been down since the black out and can't schedule anything until the middle of next week). does anyone know if this timing (whatever it is) could be a source of my problem? oh, the vibration at idle seems (though not 100%) to be a little harder/louder when i run the AC. it's a tough call, though. thanks, everybody.

hi. i guess i am going to have to take the car in for a tune up and and all that jazz. can anyone recommend a good mechanic in the Westchester area in NY? thanks.

actually, it never even occured to me to use real cocoa butter. i just happened to have cocoa butter oil sitting in my medicine cabinet. in fact, i use it to clean/condition a leather loveseat too. i just figured leather needs to be oiled so it doesn't dry out and crack and body oil should suffice. after all, what is leather but a cured cow body covering (the poor cow -- i do love a good steak but i haven't eaten any meat other than fish in years). anyway, why is the oil harmful to the leather but not the cocoa butter? i am willing to go out and get a tub (this oil is by palmer too), but it sounds like it will be more work than rubbing on/off the oil. i've gotta tell you, i've used that body oil (or even just plain mineral oil -- but never edible oils as they break down and go rancid) trick for many years for all types of leather (address books, wallets, gloves...). it's never resulted in mold growth. plus, there's no odor to speak of, really. and if you have greasy finger marks, i don't think a mild woolite solution is going to work too well.

i didn't like them too much myself and signed up for the falken ziex 512's. they are coming next week. everything sounded great except that the falken's are H rated rather than V. but the V rated ones had a bit lower profile and smooth, comfortable ride is important to me. but if i really can't stand the H's, then i am going back to sears and swapping them out for the V's with the lower profile. chances are, a non-aggresive driver like me probably wouldn't notice the difference. as for the tire pressure, i just got an inexpensive digital tire gauge and the readings are 33, 29, 26 and 13. that 33 probably should be lowered a bit, but i think the darn valve stem on the 13 must be damaged. it just does not look 13. by the way, sears charges a small fortune on balancing and stem valves. the tires are at a great price, but they really whop you with the service charges. well, it's not a small fortune ($44 for balance and $12 for valve stems), but do i need to chuck my metal valve stems and get new ones? i imagine they are going to charge me for valve stem service even if i reuse the ones i already have. but it would be more in my character to reuse what i can.

well, i've got some good advice to begin my gum-shoe gig. thanks, but if anybody else has any other thoughts, please keep posting. oh, the car has 52000 miles on it now.

well, the thread isn't about bumpy rides, per se, but the original post mentioned something about the tires. my car, a 2000 which i recently purchased, does seem bumpier than i thought it would be. i've heard from other people that the potenzas ride kind of hard. they also seem quite noisy to me.

thanks, steve. do i have to take the car to a shop to get the windows aligned or is it something i can do myself? if i have to take it to a shop, do you have an idea about what it would cost?

i recently gave the car a thorough interior cleaning and used some cocoa butter mixture to clean the leather. it wasn't a special product made for car upholstery care but a cocoa butter enriched moiturizing oil -- ack! actually, it did a nice job and the steering wheel really drank it up. but i read today in the manual that oil stains can cause mold to grow on the leather surface. you can't even tell i've run the upholstery with oil at this point. i wiped off any excess and the leather seemed to appreciate it. am i being too liberal with my car care? thank you.

hi. i recently purchased a 2000 es300. it's been a good car, but i've noticed a couple of things regarding noise, which surprised me as i was expecting silence. maybe i was being unrealistic. in any case, when i come to a stop light, the engine(?) or some other mechanical part begins to purr/hum softly. i can hear the slight droning, kind of like engine revving and i think it gets slightly louder the longer i sit. i can also feel it in the steering wheel. as soon as i step off the brakes, even without touching the accelerator, the vibration stops. is this normal? the second item is the permeability of external noise into the cabin. i can hear stereos playing in neighboring cars and swishing noises from the windows when driving on the highway. i have closed the doors by pushing on the windows rather than the metal below and i don't know if it has contributed to the problem. does everyone else experience these things when they drive? if not, is there a way to readjust the parts/windows or do whatever else to make it quieter in the cabin? thank you.