jragosta

Forgetting that $3K for a tranny seems absurd... does anyone have any thoughts on what might be wrong with the car? What's the best cure? I've always driven manuals, so i know little about troubleshooting automatics.

You're right-that does sound like a lot for a transmission - particularly when the car's 10 years old.

I agree with the previous poster - in a sense. If you need a new transmission, I wouldn't cut corners since you'll probably want it to last _another_ 150,000 miles.

Still, given that kind of expense, it might be worth a trip to your local budget transmission shop. Perhaps there are some adjustments that can be made to make the current transmission work a little better for a while. If they have a relatively inexpensive repair to recommend, it's worth considering (particularly if you can get a money back guarantee) After all, even if they mess it up, you haven't lost anything but their charge. You're going to replace the transmission, anway.

If you can find a good one in a salvage yard for a low enough price, it might also be worth considering - since most reputable salvage yards will provide a guarantee. Again, it would have to be _very_ low for me to take this option.

I'd say the chances are slim. I've only owned a Lexus for a week, so I'm not an expert on those, but my experience with other cars is that once the transmission gets that bad, it's probably shot.

Good luck.

Here's a new one on me. I hope some of you guys might have some insight.

I have a 1996 ES300 that came with AM/FM, cassette and 6CD changer. About 6 months ago I replaced the factory installed CD changer with a Pioneer model that was compatible. Everything has been just fine for the past 6 months...and I don't believe the CD changer is part of the problem, but I want you to have all the information.

2 days ago, the sound on my stereo started cutting on and off. The stereo, otherwise, remains on. I began noticing that the sound would turn off when I put my foot on the gas and accelerated. If I put my foot on the brake, the sound would turn back on. If I am coasting, the sound will generally stay on....although the sound appears to be a little weaker than when I have my foot on the brake. If I have the car on Cruise Control, the sound will generally stay on. If I come to a complete stop, the sound will turn off...but after a few seconds sometimes it will turn back on.

There has been no unusual trauma to the stereo or its components. I don't blast my stereo. I did take it in to car stereo shop yesterday and watched him test the connections and make sure there were no shorts in the system. Beyond that, they had no clue what going on (and then, in true audio shop fashion, they attemtped to sell me a new stereo).

Any clue as to what is going on? Has this happened to anyone else? Suggestions?

Just an uneducated layman's guess: perhaps one of the stereo wires has worked loose. Check all the connections.

I've never, ever gotten a ticket.

However, I've always wished I could receive a refund at the end of the year for all the insurance payments I've made if I end up never filing a claim :)

Dare to dream...

Unfortunately (or fortunately), that's not the way it works. If the insurance companies had to refund the money of everyone who hadn't filed a claim, there wouldn't be any money to pay the claims that were filed.

It's a statistical science. Your odds (based on honestly providing your information) of having an accident are determined. Based on that, you pay a premium. Over the course of a year, the total premiums collected should cover the total claims plus a reasonable profit for the insurance companies (in reality, the premiums don't quite cover the claims. The companies really make their profit from investments). Similarly, the premiums collected from 'bad' drivers should, in sum, cover the claims from 'bad' drivers. The premiums collected from 'good' drivers should cover the claims from 'good' drivers.

Any one driver will pay more or less in premium than they receive in claims. The aggregate should be even.

Well, not even 2 weeks after I bought it, my 1997 ES 300 won't start. Was running fine up until now.

When I try to start it, I get a machine gun like clicking. Engine doesn't catch. Is this a starter issue? Any ideas from folks on solutions or things I can try? After all the adventures with my Mazda 626, I bought the Lex for reliability. Geesh.

Anyone with suggestions or ideas? I'm not a mechanic but it'd be good to know what I might be up against.

Thanks in advance!

Does it start when you jump the battery? If so, it's probably as simple as a bad battery. Other possibilities are bad alternator or bad solenoid.

I'd try jumping it first. Then, drive it to a shop - they'll run a routine charging/battery test that will tell you exactly what the problem is.

If it's on the original battery, that wouldn't be at all unlikely after 7 years.

Ok, I get the picture. But is it a bad idea to use parts other than OEM? I'd like to get performance rotors and pads.

I'm not an expert, but I would think it's simply a matter of convincing yourself that the replacements are OEM quality or better. If BillyBob's Brakes and Convenience Store says that they have generic parts that will work, I'd be skeptical. If you're dealing with a reputable shop whose work you trust, I wouldn't personally be too concerned.

If you're really paranoid, you might want to stick with OEM. On the other hand, if you've done work with the people before and have found that their parts are high quality, go ahead, particularly if they're using a recognized national brand.

If you mention the specific brand of performance brake rotors, perhaps someone here has had experience with them.

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

How long can I let it go without doing permanent damage to the car?

Depends on whether you need to use your brakes or not.

Personally, I don't mess around with bad brakes. If it's that bad, I'd get them fixed. If money's tight, go to Midas and just have them resurface the rotors (although I've never been able to resurface rotors more than once - and sometimes not even that, so you might need new ones, anyway).

Granted, a catastrophic brake failure is unlikely. It's more likely to just continue getting worse bit by bit. But I'm paranoid when it comes to brakes. Maybe from my college days when I had a 64 Corvair and didn't have the money to get the brakes fixed - and they failed me when I needed them. Inches from a disaster..........

Let's say, some one does lie abt any of the previous points, in order to get themselves cheaper insurance...

That is part of the contract that they are entering into. The contract, for insurance, based on their history.

Now, If that person has an accident, and has lied in their contract about said history, their coverage would surely be void.

What's that about cheaters never prospering?

In principle, you're right.

In practice, insurance companies generally don't want to look like the bad guy, so they will accept all sorts of cheating. If you get caught cheating when you have an accident, they _might_ cancel your policy, but they'd still pay the claim. But they're probably not going to find out. They're no more likely to check your history when you file a claim then when you apply for the policy.

I read of one case where an insurance agent suspected that someone was planning to commit fraud (the person wanted zero deductible for vandalism on a 10 year old car), so they took a picture of the car and its tires at the time the policy was issued. The car's tires were completely bald and the car was significantly damaged. Sure enough, a few weeks later, the insured filed a claim - saying that their car was vandalized. The company was told that the agent suspected fraud and was even given copies of the pictures. The company's response was that it was too much trouble to fight the claim (as well as bad PR), so they paid it.

The bottom line is that the system works on trust. When people violate that trust, the honest people pay for it.

My new ES-330 shows a lot of dirt behind the wheels. I can't imagine how it's going to look when it gets really muddy around here.

Do Lexus dealers stock mud flaps? What about the body colored mud guards? How will they look next to the new car?

Thanks. :o

here i go!! :D

first off i think her info was helpfull!what are you jragosta a insurence agent?who gives a rats butt if someone says they have a college degree to save a few bucks on insurence if they could!i think its stupid to call someone a crook or a thief for that!

hell if i could of saved a few dollars on insurence by saying i graduated college then i sure would!hows that affecting other insurence policy holders pockets?its not at all!dont you realize how much money they have anyway?if they could give you a better deal by saying a few of them things she mentioned then they could afford it and it aint coming out of anyones pockets or is it stealing!just my 2 sense about it take it or leave it.

No, I'm not an insurance agent.

The fact is that what you're proposing is lying and cheating. The reason I get upset about it is that I'm paying for part of your insurance. I used to live in Philadelphia and the state insurance commission estimated that my insurance rates were about 50% higher than they should be - mostly because of people lying about what they owe.

You owe the insurance company a certain amount based on your situation. That amount is determined by your risk of loss. When you lie about your situation, you're not paying what you owe them - and the rates for everyone go up.

By your logic, there's nothing wrong with robbing a bank as long as you don't get caught. Sorry, but some of us beliieve in being honest.

Not to mention, of course, that what you're suggesting is a felony in most states.

if find it interesting

thanks for the details

i just think of it as information to understand how you are rated

she never said go and do it

it is up to you so don't knock her for helping someone understand where they are getting extra billed for

Actually, she _did_ suggest lying to your insurer.

That's a felony in most states.

Sorry, but I can't justify lying and stealing - even if it does save a few dollars. Nor do I think that the Lexus group moderators will want their group to be associated with crooks and thieves. :chairshot:

Thanks for encouraging people to steal.

Insurance companies rate people on the probability of loss. By lying to an insurance company (which is what you're suggesting), you're stealing from the company and the other policy holders.

What you're suggesting is illegal and unethical. :chairshot:

I'm not at all knowledgeable about audio so I suppose what you're saying could be correct.

I've just always heard from people in the business, reviewers and such that while the factory systems in the Lexus (the Nakamichi and the Mark Levinson) are without a doubt the best stock systems out there, the aftermarket holds even better components.

You're probably right. The raw components you can get from third parties are probably better. But the key is getting componentst that MATCH the car. Trying to do that on your own is very different than Mark Levinson doing that with a trained staff, knowing that they'll selll 100,000 systems.

With audio, it's often not the best components that win. It's the components that are best tuned to match the platform. No one can do that better than the manufacturer (in general).

Years ago I worked on the sound system for "Studio 54" in New York City. We did acoustic voicing of that sound system using calibrated microphones and test instruments to get the best sound in this disco installation. It's too complicated to tell you exactly what this procedure entailed, but it was very complex.

My friends who are accomplished Audio technicians(engineers) did similar testing on my '03 ES and found that we couldn't tweak the ML sound system much more than was done by the people that did this originally when designing this sound system. Frequency Response was pretty flat. Distortion figures were also very low. All and all this ML system would not be so "easily" improved. If you're technically minded I could give you all the figures of our findings. ;)

That was my understanding, as well. You can buy a third party system that's as loud as the Mark Levinson system for less money. You can also buy one with better specs _on paper_ than the Mark Levinson system. But the advantage of this type of high end system sold with the car is that it's tweaked so that the system adapts to weaknesses in the car's interior, resulting in a completely flat sound curve. You would have a hard time doing that with a single third party system.

That's not to say that it couldn't be done - maybe even for less than the ML system (although I don't know that), but it would not be easy. Any car has specific audio characteristics and the builtin-in ML system has been designed to correct them. The same is true of any high end system in a nice quality car.

Having said that, very few people are going to be able to tell the difference between a Mark Levinson system and another quality high end system that's been installed by reputable people. So go ahead and buy a third party system - just make sure that the people who do it know what they're doing. That's my plan, anyway.

Looks like I'm the first. B)

I picked up my new ES330 two days ago. I used carbargains.com to get $1,000 off the price (although it cost me $198). I then told the dealer that they were offering me a $3,000 discount on the Infiniti G35, so he took another $450 off. I felt that $1450 discount was pretty good when I got the first one in town and he knew how badly I wanted it. Final price was about $1000 less than a comparably equipped '03.

You might save yourself $200 by calling your dealer's sales manager and say you want the negotiated Car Bargains price. He knows that if you spend $200 he has to give it to you, so he might give it to you without paying the money.

Anyway, I got the Alabaster with light gray interior. Premium package (which isn't much more than CD changer and a few minor bells and whistles). I wanted the navigation, but couldn't convince my wife to let me spend the extra money - particularly since you need to buy Mark Levinson with Navigation unless you want a 4 month wait for a special ordered vehicle.

Anyway, initial impressions are very, very favorable. It feels a bit more peppy than the 300, but I'm not really the person to ask since I haven't driven it very hard. That is especially true of a brand new car. In normal driving, however, it has plenty of power and I'm quite happy. Noise level is essentially unchanged from the '03 (which means very quiet).

Fuel mileage on the highway is a bit better than I expected - about 31 mpg according to the computer, but I haven't really gone far so that may be a fluke.

I miss having radio controls on the wheel (like my old Acura TL), but otherwise love the car. All I can say is that I really liked the Acura and my older Mazda 929, but this is the first car I've really loved.

For the question that many of you are asking, I haven't noticed any transmission issues or lag. You may not want to put too much stock into that since I didn't notice any with the '03 models I drove either (3 different cars).

Interestingly, I received an email today from HQ that we are now going to extend company cars to 5 years and 100,000 miles. The old rule was 4 years and 72,000 miles (whichever comes first). If my car had arrived 2 days later, I'd still be driving the TL for another year. Thank goodness the cars arrived early (the dealer originally said October).

All I can say is that it's a great car and I'd recommend one to anyone.

On an 03 you'd loose probably 7k at least, on an 02 probably 10k.

Yes, the Mark Levinson is an amazing stock stereo. STOCK stereo...

I'm not really into car audio, but I do know that probably foir $1,000 or so you could have a stereo shop replace the amp, speakers etc in your car to aftermarket ones that will make it sound better than the Levinson.

That's the way I'd go. For $1-2 K, you can get an awesome sounding stereo that will be close to the Mark Levinson in most ways. Trading your car in would cost you much, much more.

Just picked up my '04 today. Absolutely incredible car. Runs great and gorgeous (alabaster with light graphite interior). I drove a dozen or so cars and nothing comes close. I hadn't drive the '04 before today, but it lives up to its promise. A little gutsier than the '03 and a few nice touches (two tone carpet mats, for example).

Well done, Lexus.

President of a small company that makes a safety product called rupture disks (which are used to relieve pressure in enclosed containers. Next time your local chemical or pharmaceutical plant does NOT blow up, you might have us to thank.

Like me and a lot of others your driving style and the shifting dynamics of the transmission mesh just fine.

Like Alan though I'm skepitical that the new gear ratios will fix the issue.

I never claimed that the new gear ratios would fix the problem. My point is that if the gear ratios are different, they've done more to the transmission than just change the software.

I say this because we're expecting a price hike for the ES330 of possibly $5,000, and as you can see almost nothing is new.

Fortunately, your guess missed the mark.

My new 04 cost over $1000 LESS than a comparable 03 would have cost.

In 2002 when Lexus released their newest generation model they called it, "Electronically Controlled Transmission with intelligence (ECT-i)" This is exactly what they call the '04 transmission. The change in gear ratios(wider ratios) is because of the increased HP. I have a feeling, and I hope that I'm wrong, is the newest transmission will exhibit the same idiosyncrasies as the previous models. Only time will tell. <_<

You're right that only time will tell, but you can't merely wave away the wider gear raitios and say that it's the same transmission just because they call them both ECT-i. Clearly, some major changes have been made - that's my only point. Someone said that they hadn't changed anything but only added the electronic fix. That statement is definitely wrong. You can't change the gear ratios with an electronic fix.

There have definitely been significant changes in this model. No one (outside of Lexus) knows whether it will fix the problem yet or not, but I don't like people throwing around comments that Lexus hasn't changed anything when they clearly have.

I'll know on Wednesday, but I never noticed it on any of the 03 models I drove, so that probably doesn't say much.

For what it's worth, the 04 model does have a redesigned transmission. Lexus claims that it has wider ratios, improved hydraulics, and so on. Looks like a major transmission redesign.

I'll find out next week. My new 330 will be here Tuesday.