DBrucher

97 ES300: The last time I changed my brake pads was more than a full year ago, I'm sure, but the issue I'm having has finally driven me batty. The last set of pads I bought were ceramic. They came with little aluminum clips that slide over the notch in the caliper and hold the brake pads steady. BOTH sets (all 4 pads) in the back squealed because of the little buggers, so I re-did the whole job, took them out, and discarded. I don't know if it was my rotors being slightly warped or what, but after taking the little clips out, no more squeaks. I know what you're thinking, but it's not the 'When your brake pad gets THIS short, it's supposed to squeal' thing; it's not. I left the clips in on the front, though because I had no problem up there. So for the past year or so I've heard a small 'clink' when applying the brakes - I know what it is, it's the pads clinking metal on metal while the car rolls forward (same in reverse). Now I want that noise to stop. Sorry for the long rant, but basically my question is this: What are those little aluminum clips called, and you think I can get some without having to buy another set of pads? I stopped in Schucks and sounded like a lunatic not knowing exactly how to explain. I had them pull a set of pads but, of course, those didn't require them. Ideas? Thanks, guys.

I had the exact same experience: burned the tires (accidently) in the rain, and sent her into a jerky fit. Ran the codes and got the exact same ones you did. Replaced the EGR sensor - ~$50 bucks - and all was well. The EGR Sensor could possibly be the EASIEST piece to replace, cereal. It's right on top of the engine and is held on by 3 nuts. The wire connector is even easier. It's this little guy right there {Attached Picture}. It was suggested that I replace the entire EGR manifold itself, but I didn't want to drop 350 altogether. Good luck.

A typical place for the box to be mounted is on the inside of the firewall, on the left side, tucked up underneath the dash near your left foot (if you were driving). You can always trace the antenna receiver box wires by pulling up the trim a little on the ceiling and going from there in case it's elsewhere. It's probably zip-tied up there somewhere near the brake pedal.

Does anybody need the driver's side master window switch for a 97-99 ES300? The story goes: Passenger window would go down, not up. Replaced the entire switch with another Toyota part, works like a champ. So I easily took this switch apart, cleaned all the black carbon? deposits off all the contacts, hooked it back up, works just fine. I don't need it anymore, though. I'll stick to my replacement part. I could slang it on E-bay and maybe make a few bucks, but then I thought 'Why not keep it in the family?" :D Let me know if anybody's interested. Better than blowing the 115 bucks like I almost did! DBrucher@yahoo.com

Excellent question. I'd like to know the same for my 97 ES300. Does this happen to anyone else: When the gas light does come on, it comes on VERY slowly, like a 30 second yawn. And it usually disappears, too before YAWNING back awake. I rarely let the light come on nowadays, though because I get *BLEEP*ed when I watch myself drop ~70 bones to fill up!

Haha, I know, I know. It just seems very minor. If I had a legit answer, I'd gladly contribute. I'll shutup now.

Step 1: Buy a watch. Boom.

Mine threw the same codes at one point. No lag in the engine or any impairments, just the Check Engine & Trac lights were on. I figured I'd solve one problem at a time and began with the EGR Sensor - about 55 bucks online. Basically it's the easiest thing in the world to replace (3 screws and a clip at the very top of the engine) and lo and behold, that was what was crapping out. Problem solved; haven't had any complaints from the car ever since. It was recommended by some of my top professionals (some grease monkeys I knew in high school) that I should've replaced the whole EGR, but I took that off, too and didn't see a reason to drop another few hundred to replace it. Hope your story pans out as well as mine did.

Yeah, I was looking for a sweet spot on the front myself, but ended up jacking one side at a time and supporting the frame with 2 jack-stands. Minor inconvenience, but a lot safer!

Yeah, that sounds about right; maybe a little high. I'd probably shop online, though to save some dough. Mine are about 80 bucks for the cheap-o's, like $150 and up for OEM (Times FOUR!)

I don't know what you're talking about, dude.

I might add I put in a new battery in the past month or so and made a jump from 500 to 730!! Cold Cranking Amps. I was impressed. Not that that has much/anything to do with after the car is started, just thought I'd add.

Any time I use something electrical, everything else suffers: Say I'm driving down a dark road and apply the brakes hard enough for ABS to kick in; I notice the headlights dim a little bit. Actually, everything does including the brightness of the dash lights. Only for a second, though. Same thing with if Traction Control kicks in - everything kind of dims. Could this be a grounding issue or a sign my alternator is crap? I've read some posts that say there are different alternators and some put out more juice, but would it be better to start off getting a high performance grounding kit? I also read that the reason the seat heaters are sub-par is because of the same 'alternator not powerful enough' deal. What do you guys think?

I do the cheap-o way to disable them and just run parking lights sometimes (97 ES300): Before turning the key, turn on the parking lights. Then push the parking brake until it JUST BARELY makes it to the first 'click'. Then turn the car on. If I get it just right, the red "BRAKE" light doesn't turn on in the dash. Any farther and it would. And the parking brake cable itself doesn't actually make the pad touch the rotor until about the 3rd 'click'. I don't feel like messing with fuses and wires and junk, I can live with the Jerry-rigged system.

Mine did that once, but it was on ice. I came around a corner and sped up too fast so my tires spun and my traction control came on. It flashed a few times to get its bearings down and then the car kind of started to sputter. I was like "What's goin on here" I looked down and my Check Engine and Trac lights were on (and stayed on). Read the code real fast and it turned out to be a faulty EGR sensor. 30 dollar fix; never happened again. Then again, it could be a million different things other than that. That's just my story.

I'd imagine you'd want to lubricate where the squeel was coming from. If it's coming from the fan, juice up the point of contact. I'd spray some belt dressing all around the serpentine just to make sure that wasn't it.

Lube it up! Spray some white grease in there or somethin.

Mine's kind of the same way (97 ES300). I don't usually open the trunk with the key, but when I do it sometimes takes a little effort. I figured - lately - maybe the lock had frozen. But if you kind of jimmy the key a little bit and line up all the tumblers (Or whatever's in there), it slides open without resistance. Hope yours is the same way. Not a big enough problem for me to fix. Maybe the key is just VERY finely worn from it being...Oh, eleven years old.

Screwdriver. *Pop*

Mine squeaks like that all the time and sounds like a Wookie. I noticed it first when I Armor-All'ed the pis s out of everything on the dash (including a shot on the steering wheel's base). Plus I live in Anchorage and the temperature is well below 80 this time of year. To fix it, I'd probably just floss a shop towel on every angle of where it makes contact. I find it amusing during slow, sharp turns in parking garages, haha.

I agree, the oil filter (although in a convenient spot) is at a ridiculous angle. I'm not 100% where you guys' is, but mine's front and center, right underneath half of the exhaust manifold pointing about 30 degrees upward - 97 ES300. Well, a slight upward angle doesn't mean I'm not going to drip oil all over the place. I just go for it and sop up what I can after it's all done...Then smoke down the highway for about 10 miles, haha.

Cheapest premium in Anchorage is 2.64. Lowest 89 in town is about 2.45 - Give or take a nickel.

I JB-Welded my key that busted and then sanded it down to match the black color. Looks great. Glad it was my spare!

Mine does the same kind of whine, but I only notice it during startup/warmup. I actually listen for it to know if my auto-start works in the AM (I park around the corner).

Mine were a pain, too. I found that seating the lights in the housing first was the best plan of action. Then you affix the wires to the bulb. For one side, I used some long-neck needle nose pliers to get the plug seated properly. And then, after that, properly aiming the lights? Forget about it. That was a knuckle-buster, too. '97 ES300