jragosta

I don't think Lexus needs to put a specific warning on their engine. The owners manual specifies that only authorized spare parts are covered. If you put this filter in and mess up your sensor, they're certainly going to fall back on that clause.

Or any other car repair service you trust. Almost anyone will be less expensive than Lexus. The list of work to be done is included in the owners' manual or on Lexus' site. My personal view on things is that I go to third party shops for things like oil change, lubrication, and so on, but not for safety items like brakes (*) or for very technical items involving the computer or transmission. (*) I will sometimes even go as far as to have brake and suspension work done by a shop I really trust, but so many shops are hiring minimum wage teenagers to do much of their work that I'm not comfortable with it. Your mileage will, of course, vary with your own comfort level.

That could be true - I haven't checked. California is notoriously pro-consumer and anti-business. If you live there, you have a better chance of having this resolved in your favor than anywhere else I know of.

I'd stick with the stock plugs. They're good for 100 K miles - how much more do you want? You might get marginally greater performance from another plug, but probably not enough that you'd notice. Good luck.

I used to do R&D for a filtration company. I spent some time on K&N's web site a while back. Let's just say that they're practicing voodoo science. That's based on my PhD in Chemistry and years developing new filters to be used in extremely critical requirements - everything from engine prefiltration to pharmaceutical to nuclear applications. Personally, based on my professional filtration experience, I wouldn't buy them. Just like anything else, there may be some people who see a small benefit and others who see negatives. But based on the science, you have several competing outcomes: 1. It is quite possible that there is a tiny increase in HP. Their web site claims up to 4%. That's probably in the right range - especially 'up to'. Figure an average gain of half that - 2%. I doubt very much that anyone here without a dynamometer can see that. Heck, even if you have a dynamometer, you're going to have a hard time seeing it - since the margin of error is probably close to that. 2. Risk of damage. First, overoiling is going to cause you a mess - a fouled sensor for sure. Not to mention the risk of engine damage if these filters do not perform as promised. Based on the filtration curves they've claimed, I'm very skeptical of the ability of this filter to perform up to the stock filter's level of filtration. 3. At the very least, you've just voided your warranty. To me, it's just not worth it for the infinitesimal HP gains.

That's another misrepresentation from Lexus, then. If you're correct and the physical transmission on the 330 is the same as on the 02 and 03, I'm going to be very angry. I specifically asked about it and was told that the 04 had a completely new transmission.

You're contradicting yourself: "all Lexus transmissions behave that way as do all transmissions on BMWs etc" and "The hard shift at 35MPH is odd, I don't have that." Both statements can't be true. There are two possibilities: 1. The only widespread problem is the hesitation on downshift which is widely reported and which is widely believed to be related to drive by wire. My hard shift is a problem unique (or nearly so) to my car. or 2. There are two different problems. One related to DBW and the other related to transmission internals (probably programming). Franky, I don't know which of these is true - I just want my car fixed.

That's the standard story. I'm convinced that it's only partially the drive by wire. That one accounts for the hesitation when you take your foot off the gas and then try to accelerate. I have that problem and also a different one. If you start from a full stop and accelerate at moderate speed, there's a very hard shift at about 35 mph. Even my wife noticed it - and she doesn't notice much of anything. Well, she'd notice if a wheel fell off. Maybe. I can't see how drive by wire would explain a very hard shift on steady acceleration.

You'll probably need to see your dealer. The purpose of those codes is to prevent someone from stealing a stereo and then using it themselves. No one's supposed to give them out unless they can verify that the recipient is the legitimate owner.

Thanks. At 46, it's been a while since anyone called me 'young'. As for choice of cars, the GS is $6 K more than the ES - which put it outside my budget. Besides, I liked the ES. I shouldn't have to choose a more expensive car to get a transmission that works. The IS would probably be a better comparison for truly performance oriented drivers since it's in the same price range, but it's not just performance oriented drivers who see the problem. I don't consider myself a particularly aggressive driver and I see the problem. Any time that 10% of their customers are complaining about a problem, it's real. This crap you get from Lexus corporate ("We don't have any reason to believe that there's a problem with the ES300, although a few customers have expressed 'concerns'" is the quote I got several times) is nonsense. It's a very real problem and needs to be fixed.

Don't let optimism get in the way of making an [expensive] decision that needs to be completely rational. Is it possible for a Lexus to go 300K miles? Sure. But I wouldn't count on it - especially since you're buying an auction car with unknown history. Even planning on 200 K is a stretch - unless you're willing to spend a ton in maintenance. If I were buying a brand new one and planning to keep it until it died, I might use 200 K as my target (more likely, 150 K). NOT on a 10 year old one with unknown maintenance history.

For $10 K, I'd expect a car that's cleaner than you're describing. There shouldn't be oil hanging around and funny noises are a no-no. If you really have your heart set on spending that kind of money on a 10 year old car, I'd do one of two things. Offer the dealer $9 _IF HE GIVE YOU A GOOD WARRANTY_. Alternatively, offer him $8 or 8500 and buy your own extended warranty. There's no way in the world I'd even consider spending that kind of money on a car that old without some kind of warranty.

As I suggested above, file a complaint with NHTSA. If enough people do that, Lexus will be forced to fix the problem. There's always the 'sue them' route, but I don't like getting lawyers involved unless absolutely necessary. You may feel differently. I also have the same problem with my 2003 ES300. Has anyone tried the Lemon Law? I'm a Lexus fan, but this is hard to deal with. My life passes before me at least once a day as I push my foot down on a unresponsive pedal!!!! You could try Lemon Law, but my experience (at least in PA) was that this only got you any results if it was an incredibly obvious and terrible problem. I'm not sure that the transmission would cut it. File with NHTSA. Instructions are posted a few messages above.

Probably higher than that. Try the Edmunds site I listed above.

Let's use your numbers. He's looking at buying a car with 120 K. You say you know some that are past 200 K. Let's say that 200 K is a fair target (I would argue that it's way too high, but we'll use it for argument's sake). He's going to pay $8 K for a car like that (roughly). His depreciation will be $0.10 per mile. And that doesn't include the cost of any repairs, tires, brakes, etc. It also doesn't include resale value, but that's going to be pretty low by the time it hits 200 K miles. For comparison, you can probably lease a brand new Camry for $0.15 per mile. My wife is leasing a new Volvo V70 for under $0.20 per mile. As much as I like the Lexus, I personally can't see the value in that kind of deal - especially since you could get unlucky and only get 20 K miles out of it - or have to spend many thousands of dollars in repairs.

Another place to get used car prices is Edmunds. Some of the published numbers are largely fiction - often created to either bias negotiations in favor of either the buyer or seller. Edmunds claims that their numbers are based on actual car sales in a region. They offer adjustment by color, condition, mileage, options, etc. Beware, though-the condition adjustment is pretty substantial - and very subjective. My dealer tried to rate my last car 2 levels below where I had it rated. http://www.edmunds.com/apps/usedmatrix/Use...cnav.4.1.Lexus* As an example, a silver 1995 ES300 with 120,000 miles in 'clean' condition and leather seats have a private party price of $7,677 (will vary with zip code). I know that my opinion is outside the mainstream, but I'm not a big fan of buying expensive high mileage cars. How long do you expect this car to last? Perhaps 4 years? If you're going to buy a 9 year old car for $8 K and replace it every 4 years, you could lease a new car (not as nice as a Lexus, but not bad) for a similar amount of money. True, if you think you're going to get 7 or 8 years out of this car, it makes sense. But most people won't get that long out of a car that already has 120 K miles - even a Lexus. But that's just my opinion. Lots of people disagree with me. Good luck.

Wow! It must be nice to be able to do that work by yourself. I'm estimating that if I had to have the Lexus dealer do that work it would cost me somewhere around the GNP of Belgium.

I agree - but I'm not buying any more dark color cars. First, it's extremely hard to keep them clean. Second, I live in the South and they just get too hot. I only live about 5 miles from work, so I get to work (or home) before the car cools off.

My dealer told me a few weeks ago that it was a known problem - but that there was no fix. I contacted Lexus both my snail mail and email - and did get a call back both times. They insisted that there was no problem and that the car was operating 'as designed'. In the next breath, they told me that they would contact me if they had a fix for the 'concern'. They never explained why they were looking for a fix if there was no problem. In any event, I would encourage you to contact NHTSA and file a complaint. I posted the directions in the thread pinned at the top of this board. It's on the next to last page, near the bottom. I'll certainly be happy if they fix it. I love my ES330 except for the transmission.

Keep in mind two things: 1. The stock units have relatively how power rating. Make sure you choose speakers which are high efficiency - and the right impedence. 2. The speakers have been selected by Lexus to match the acoustics of the car. If you go into a stereo store and select speakers that sound great in the store, they may sound terrible in the car. Even if you can tweak it to sound right, you'll need specialized audio equipment to equalize the sound. I know it's not what you want to hear, but this type of upgrade is probably better left to the experts.

Sure, it's possible, but not very likely IMHO. In order to trash the tranny after only 77 K miles, you'd need to have a combinatino of extremely abusive use and complete neglect of maintenance. Granted, those two things often go together, so you can't rule it out. Of course, if you still have a warranty from the dealer where you bought the car, you should be covered. Even though most used car warranties aren't very comprehensive, most of them will cover any major transmission work. Since you've only owned it 3 weeks, I'd take it right back where you bought it and tell them you want it fixed or replaced with an equal or newer car. Good luck.

What's the maintenance history on the car? I wouldn't be surprised if you simply need a complete tune up. Make sure to check the fuel filter and PCV.

Just a guess, but it sounds like a plugged fuel filter. There are a number of other possible options (fuel pump could be failing, for example), but I'd bet that it's the filter. Fortunately, that's cheap to fix. Another thing to consider is debris in your gas tank. I'm not sure how you'd go about checking that or fixing it if it's the problem. Maybe there's a drain plug you can look for? On some cars, there's a screen on the fuel pump inlet. It's also possible that this is getting plugged up. I suspect you have to drain the tank and pull the fuel pump to check that. I'd go with the filter first and then start looking for debris in the tank or fuel pump screen. If that doesn't fix it, you're probably stuck with some more detailed (and expensive) diagnostics.

Why not just post your average numbers for the 3 octanes?

I don't know about your last choice. Even if you don't want to pay a dealer, wouldn't you be better off sanding off the old rust and spraying some Rustoleum on it (after taping off surrounding areas, of course). That would prevent more damage and wouldn't cost much. It would also probably look better than the rust. Just wondering.