DBrucher

Thanks for the reply. I was hoping somebody would have a similar story or an explanation. Or a quick fix, ideally. I tried messing with it and tried different combos of pressing the open and close buttons, but I got nothin'.

Hey guys, I know there are a ton of posts for people with sunroof issues, but I didn't quite find what I was looking for so here goes: 97 ES300, is it normal for the sunroof to have 3 'phases' or 'stages' of being open? If I hit the open button once (one touch), it opens to about half-wayish. Then I have to hit the button again to go to stage 2, then one more time for it to be fully open. Same happens when closing, too. Is that normal, or is there a reason for it to be 50%, 75%, 100% open? I would prefer it to just be one-touch all the way open, one hold-button close. I haven't tried normalizing it or whatever yet, so that might just be the issue. Any ideas? Thanks!

I was gonna say "Traction Control" light. Run a scan and see what codes show up.

Don't tell anyone...but I had to change one of my switches (passenger rear) out with a replacement. Funny thing is, it came from a friend's like 1995ish junker Toyota truck! Miracle it fit, but it works fine and looks identical.

To hear something? No. I suggest getting a quick 90 dollar tranny flush at a Jiffy Lube or similar. FLUSH, not drain. Similar story: Mine used to kind of POP into gear from park to reverse (or drive) but I'm sure it was because it was still on high-idle right when you start the car. 90 bones and 15 or so quarts of tranny fluid later and it smoothed itself out. 3rd to 4th gear is also much smoother.

Brake pads are pretty easy. Tire comes off, loosen the caliper, pop the pads out. Compress the caliper with a bigass C-clamp, put new pads in, tighten everything up, maybe throw in a bleed-sesh, and you're through. Of course these are the abbreviated instructions, but it's not too hard to figure out. Get a Chilton's. I have nothing special, just Raybestos ceramic pads to keep my wheels a little cleaner; like 50 bucks a set at Schucks/Auto Zone. I DID crack one of them once and had to replace, but it was kind of almost on purpose. I'd be interested in knowing what the best bang for your buck is, also. Oh, and wheel shake? I've almost ALWAYS found that your wheels need balancing if you steering wheel shakes at speed. If it shakes like mad at, say, 65 MPH, but stops if you go 75, go get a cheap balance job done. Your problem, however, sounds like warped rotors. Easy as brake pads to replace, just bring a mallet!

Yeah, headlights. My bubbles are pegged to one side (lights are pointed up a little), but the beams shine right where they're supposed to. Unless I'm just one of those d-bags whose lights are too high and blinds everybody. I hate those guys.

It blinks if it's malfunctioning? That's sweet. Maybe I'm just impressed with the little things, because I also enjoy when you 'lock out' everyone else's window, the dim lights in each door's switches go out. Ahhh, Simplicity.

Yep. Also, fuel filter(s). Follow the 90K scheduled maintenance and it should treat your car well for another 30K. Expensive, yes, but totally worth it.

I agree, the minor glare is normal. Either they did a crappy job of getting the liquid out around the defroster lines, or the juice might just be frozen or glazed in there. Way way back in the day, I got an old car tinted in the dead of winter. Had to park it outside for....ever after that and since the soapy residue froze in there, it never looked right after that. Hopefully you can park yours in a warm (or warmer) garage for a week or so and see if it thaws and evens itself out.

Yeah, good call. I was thinking of getting in there with some 99% rubbing alcohol and scraping them out because if the old bulbs were a little dirty, it's probably down in the socket, too, so that could be the culprit. Thanks for the advice. I'll give it a shot tonight and let you know how it fares.

Haha, yes, thank you for the suggestion. All lights work now and are brighter than they were (old ones were dirty/smudged/burnt kinda. But the dash warning remains.

Addition to this topic: The other day my "you have a light burnt out" warning came on. Guilty as charged - one of the rear lights was out. Temporarily fixed with a light tap to the tail and the warning on the dash went out when the bulb re-lit. So yesterday I replaced it for good - and its counterpart on the other side for good measure. Now the "You have a light burnt out" warning on the dash remains. Why? And how do I get it to go away? The bulbs I replaced were identical to the ones that were in there. Out of curiosity, I plugged a code reader in and told it to clear all codes...Didn't expect much, but it still didn't work. Anybody else have a similar story? 97 ES300 Thanks!

On my 97 ES300, I bought a sweet set of Bridgestone Potenza RE960 Pole Positions. They're the best tire I've ever had for any of my vehicles. They're sleek, they grip corners like nobody's business, work well in the rain, great wear protection, sexy tread pattern, they're awesome. Not sure if they'd fit on your IS rims, but I slapped them on the stocks and bought shiny new lugs - all 20 from dealership were like $160! For winter, I bought a set of steely black rims and some generic ice-fighting tires, ran about $450 altogether. Good luck in your endeavor.

Yeah, Stevie's right. The sensor (at least in mine) is super sensitive. If it's not at tip-top level, it lets you know with the BRAKE light. Also, you might want to double check that your E-Brake isn't engaged, even a little bit. If it still hasn't gone away after checking these areas, let the group know again and I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of it.

Wow, my car did the exact same thing last night. Didn't notice until I returned 10 or so mins later to find the lights still on. Good suggestion GJ, I'll keep a keen eye out for it now. Probably frozen.

Win some, you lose some.

That belt spins both so if one is seized(ing), other components won't work properly, either.

My money's on your alternator being shot. The loss of power while running would probably be because your alternator isn't producing enough juice to charge your battery. Then your battery going dead while trying to crank it for 15 mins isn't healthy. Chances are you'll probably have to replace your alternator and then it'd probably be wise to also replace the battery now that it's gone dead. Once your buddies jump your car (granted that it starts), you can test your alternator with a multimeter to see if it's giving off about 14ish Volts (which would charge the 12V battery while running). Another simpler, stupider test to perform to see if it is, in fact, your alternator, is get the car running for a few mins and then disconnect the negative terminal on the battery. If the car is running solely on the weak life of the battery, and it dies immediately, you can safely assume the alternator is toast.

No, but surprisingly, your picture has exactly what I'm talking about: Don't sue me, but I stole your picture and edited it back. See attached - red circles. THOSE little clips are what I removed and threw out. I'm sorry it's taken this long to explain, but thanks for sticking with the topic.

That looks good, man. My calipers are red and I sanded the shims down on the pads so they're shiny and reflective. I dig your rotors, though, those look good. I may have to sip off your Kool-Aid next spring... as for now, soon, none of my cosmetics will mean anything when I put my winter tires and rims on.

No, mine are shiny aluminum and have a notch where it connects to the side of the caliper and an opposite notch on the other side where the pad slides in. I wish I could show you guys, but alas, I threw them out. I guess I could take the front ones out...

Cool, thanks for the replies. Next pad change, I'll drop the extra coinage and get some better pads that actually fit correctly without supports.

Raybestos ceramic pads.

Cool, thanks for the reply. The people at Schucks kept thinking the same thing - the shims on the back, but those've never been a problem. I also goop the backs up where the caliper actually makes contact with the shims with what I call "!Removed! Juice" - works great. I might have to bite the bullet and just replace the pads once again to get those clips. If so, C'est la vie.