Pete Zaria

I'm no mechanic but it sounds to me as if part or all of the steering linkage is broken. You're probably going to end up fixing / replacing most of the steering system and rack. Part #: W0133-1793950 (Google it) May also need a steering damper and various suspension parts. Peace, Pete Zaria.

I'm opposed to a V8 for gas mileage reasons. At low boost, a 2JZ-GTE should still manage 20+ mpg on the highway. I can handle that. Thanks for the suggestion though. By the way, I realized that the Turbo Package I mentioned from Supra Store is a turbo UPGRADE package for an engine already with turbos, and the 2JZ-GTE I listed is the engine only, no turbos included. So I'd need to fork over some more cash on that. I still think it's doable within a roughly 20k budget, and I hope to start on this project as soon as funding allows. Any other input, anyone? Peace, Pete Zaria.

Just my two cents here man... If you want to build an SC300 drift car... Don't start with a 195k-mile beat up old thing with a serious steering rack problem. The engine will probably blow a couple of rods as soon as you crank up the boost. Unless you're ready to do an engine (and maybe tranny) swap, new steering rack, suspension, etc... I'd pass on this car. If you're going to rebuild it anyway, then what do the problems matter? Peace, Pete Zaria.

OK, since I didn't get any replies I went and did some research... Here's my "quick and dirty" SC300 2JZ-GTE shopping list. Base Car: Mid-to-late 1990s Lexus SC300. With approx. 120k miles, these seem to go for around $5,000 on eBay in decent shape. Engine: 2JZ-GTE, less than 40k miles, rebuilt - $2,245 - SupraStore.com Turbo kit: - $1,700, SupraStore.com Greddy T61 single-turbo setup w/ manifold and headers 12"x24"x3" aluminum intercooler 64mm Ti-Al wastegate Stainless steel downpipe & dump tube Ti-Al 50mm blow-off valve 4" stainless intake Turbo oil return system Boost controller Underdrive pulleys: $370 This kit is rated for 460 rear wheel horsepower on premium pump gas at 17 psi of boost. Performance ECU & wiring harness: HKS Performance, $1,039 Transmission: 6-speed '98 Supra tranny, rebuilt - $1500 - Everdrive Performance clutch, flywheel, throw out bearings, pressure plates, slave cylinder & shifter: $2200 from Exedy Racing Limited Slip Diff: $919, SupraStore.com Rear Axle, CV joints: $190 Suspension: HKS HiperMax Coilover kit - $1,997 Brakes: Brembo Gran Turismo 4-piston, cross-drilled Big Brake kit: $2,781 Seats & Harnesses: Sparco adjustable buckets & harnesses - $1,200 QTP 3" Electric Exhaust Cutout Kit: $314 O2 sensor simulators: $80 Total: $19,835 I'm sure something will go wrong at some point and I'll end up going over budget... but I think it's possible. I hope to start on this project early next year, or sooner if budget allows. Any input, anyone? Peace, Pete Zaria.

There are too many possible causes of this to list... We need a better description of the problem. Also, does the Check Engine Light come on? Here are my first thoughts on potential problems: 1) Clogged fuel filter or clogged fuel injectors.? 2) Bad gas is also possible - filled up at any "discount" gas stations lately? I had some similar problems after burning Arco gas for awhile - Shell and Chevron only for me now. 3) Dirty air filter or mass airflow sensor? 4) Ignition problem of some sort? - although this would probably throw an error code and thus turn on the dreaded check engine light. 5) Electrical / ECU / anti theft system issue maybe? 6) Thermostat problem? Give us more info to work with. Best of luck. Peace, Pete Zaria.

Congrats - had a chance to see how they handle in the rain yet? :-p Peace, Pete Zaria.

Intro: I love my ES300, don't get me wrong ... but I keep catching myself dreaming for something manual-transmission and rear-wheel-drive. My first thought is: SC300. Kelly Blue Book lists the value of my ES300 at $11k, let's be reasonable and say I get $10k for it. Thanks to a recent promotion, I could stand to throw in some cash for a project car - $5k wouldn't hurt too bad, and $10k would be the max I could foresee dumping into the project in the near future, giving me a hopeful budget of $15k and a max budget of $20k. My question is this: Do you think I could reasonably find a 97+ SC300 frame/body/shell/interior, with enough left over to overhaul and build a 2JZ-GTE, within this budget? My objectives are: 1) Obviously, manual transmission, RWD, and 2JZ-GTE block. I'm not looking to build a 1,000-HP beast here, but putting 400 down to the back wheels sounds delightful. More would be nice if it's within budget. However, I want to run on premium pump gas. 2) Daily-driver reliability. I don't want to push the hardware harder than it's "comfortable" with. If I do this build, I'll be intending to keep it for a long time, so I want it to last. This may mean having to "over-build" some aspects of the drivetrain...? 3) Super "clean" look (almost "sleeper" clean) - this means I either need to find an SC300 in good aesthetic shape, or budget in some money for body work and paint. I'd much prefer black. I already have rims & rubber, which will save a few bucks. 4) A nice, but not competition-level sound system. I'm a bit of a music snob, not looking to set of car alarms - I figure $1500 for a stereo system would probably fill the need. Am I being too optimistic to think a car like this is within a $20k max budget, or do you think it can be done? Thanks for any opinions. It will be a few months before I could start this project, I'm just doing the preliminary research. Thanks again. Peace, Pete Zaria.

I also have a '99 ES300. And coincidently I'm having trans problems (at 73k miles). First things first, if that hose looks burnt or damaged I'd go ahead and replace it - they're not very expensive. Put hose clamps on both sides to make sure it doesn't happen again. How's the coolant looking? Dirty? Get that hose replaced and the coolant topped off, then charge up the battery and start it. The fact that it tried to crank... then got weaker... then cranked once... then nothing, sounds to me like the battery just died. So charge it up and try again with the hose and coolant installed. Is your Check Engine light on? Have you tried a diagnostic tool to scan for error codes? Most auto parts stores (Schucks, PartsAmerica, etc...) will do this free if you can get it there. Let us know how it goes. Peace, Pete Zaria.

Background: I have a '99 Lexus ES300 with a 1MZFE VVT-I engine, the same as the '99 Camry V6. I have approximately 73,000 miles on the car. I have not done very many modifications. A custom air intake, Brembo Big Brake kit, one-inch-drop lowering springs, 17" rims & Falken tires, and took off the Lexus badges. I'm an avid do-it-your-self'er and weekend mechanic. I've taken good care of this car since I've owned it (since about 40k miles), having done oil changes every 3500 miles and following the other maintenance procedures as laid out in the shop & Chilton's manuals at recommended intervals. I'm 3k behind on changing the spark plugs though. I drained and filled the transmission a little under 1,000 miles ago using Valvoline MaxLife (DEXIII/TypeT). There were no metal shavings in the drain plug or fluid that I could see. The fluid was a little dirty, but was a healthy color and did not smell funny. The Problem: I've been getting the check engine light occasionally. It happened twice before I drained/filled the fluid, but is more frequent now. My OBD2 reader says it's code P0770, which traces to the Torque Converter Lockup Solenoid if my research is correct. The car is shifting smoothly through all gears, including overdrive. I have not seen or experienced any lockup problems. I clear the code, and it comes back - Usually a few days later, once or twice it's come back within a few hours. It's happened maybe 8 or 9 times total. My Questions: Before I freak out and take it to a transmission shop, is there anything I can do myself? Should I drain/fill the transmission several times in an attempt to flush it? I've read on some forums that this vehicle does not have a filter in the transmission pan. I have not dropped the pan before. If there is a filter in there, I'll be glad to replace it. THANKS FOR YOUR TIME! Peace, Pete Zaria.

Come on guys, 35 views and a full day later and no replies? I reset the ECU again and the codes have stayed off for about ~35 miles now. I suspect they'll come back. I'm taking it to the tranny shop and paying $100 for the diagnostics tomorrow unless anyone can give me some input... Please? Peace, Pete Zaria.

Car: '99 Lexus ES300, 1MZFE VVT-i, 72xxx miles. Problem: VSC and VSC Off "idiot lights" come on, sometimes with Check Engine light, sometimes without. Disconnecting battery for 10 minutes clears codes for a few days, then they return. P0770 seems to relate to the Torque Converter Lockup Solenoid or Shift Solenoid E. My vehicle is shifting fine - I do not notice any hard shifts or lock-up problems. Overdrive works fine. I flushed my transmission fluid (with the recommended stuff) less than 1,000 miles ago. No metal shavings in the drain plug, and it wasn't very dirty. Local tranny shop wants $100 to tell me what's wrong, $300-something if I need a new solenoid. I'm a pretty competent do-it-yourselfer and would like to check this out myself if possible. Any input? Thanks a ton. Peace, Pete Zaria.

1) Have the tires rotated, and the current rear ones re-balanced by a different shop. See if the erratic handling changes or vanishes. 2) Check for diamond frame - I don't think that's what you're looking at here, but you should eliminate this. Measure (with a regular measuring tape) from the exact center of the left rear wheel to the exact center of the left front wheel, and repeat the measurement on the right side. If one side is longer than the other, you've got problems. My 97 Ford Exploder currently has that problem. DAMN American cars. 3) Check out your steering column, steering rack, and damper. I don't know how these could cause your problem, but you've already eliminated most of my guesses. 4) Have it re-aligned by a different (better) shop, one that uses a new, modern laser alignment machine. Just my ideas. Peace, Pete Zaria.

It could be a number of things. At best, a power steering hose got disconnected. At worst, something in your front suspension is throughly buggered up. Without a diagnosis of the problem I really don't know what to tell you. Have a few different shops look at it and see who'll offer you the best price. Post the description of the problem here and we'll see what we can do. Make sure there's still fluid in the power steering reservoir. Any weird noises? Peace, Pete Zaria.

I assume you want an answer to your question(am I missing something?). 1. Jacking up a car the size of the RX-350 four times and working on 18" wheels is both arduous and, in your driveway, potentially dangerous. If you decide to work the spare into the rotation, hauling the spare out from under is a no fun job. 2. Some people who have given oil change guidance in another thread have recommended raising the front of the car higher than the back; this might require purchasing jack stands, and then trusting them. In any event, it would seem necessary to slide under the car. I am too old to slide under the car. 3. You must take the used oil, 5 or more quarts, and transport it to an oil recycling point. This is potentially somewhat messy. 4. I won't even go in to the brake checking issue. I can make enough money in an hour at my job to hire someone who's job it is to change oil and rotate tires and check brakes, and still have a little money left over. The person who I am hiring to do this work is grateful; he needs to do this work so that he can support his family and pay me. I must agree with others in this thread that what you get for your $200 for the 10,000 mile check makes it a bit pricey. It would seem possible that the Lexus folks could find some other more acceptable way of !Removed! us. I suppose the "time is money" argument is valid. I make between $45 and $65 per hour, so to me, it's worth it to do as much of my own auto work as possible and save the money. If you're in a higher tax bracket, having someone else do your auto work for you probably makes much more sense. I will politely disagree with you about the "danger" and effort to rotate tires on an SUV. My second vehicle is a (gasp) 97 Ford Explorer, I've rotated it's tires many times. I have two, 2-ton hydraulic floor jacks (which cost me $20 each) and four steel jack stands rated for 4,000 pounds each (I have no problem trusting them). Getting both ends of the Explorer up and rotating the 4 tires front-to-back (as I usually do) takes about 45 minutes. 15 minutes longer if you don't have an air wrench. Yes, working under a car isn't much fun, but you really only need to spend a collective total of about 3 minutes down there... one to pull the drain plug, and two more to re-install the drain plug and change the filter. You made valid points and I didn't mean to offend you or provoke a sharp response (note my comment, "Forgive me for being naive, but..."). I think what it comes down to is how valuable your time is and how much you mind getting your hands dirty. I was just saying that I'd never pay someone $200+ to do what I could do in less than an hour. Peace, Pete Zaria.

Forgive me for being naive, but... Why would you even pay someone to change your oil and filter, rotate the tires and check your brakes, let alone $200+? I can do all of that in my driveway in well under an hour.... And for under $20. Am I missing something? :P Peace, Pete Zaria.

It's definately a matter of opinion, but I'll NEVER use pads with a long warranty. Disc brakes are a very simple system: The rotors turn at the same speed as the wheels, and when you step on the brake pedal, hydraulic pressure "squeezes" the pads against the rotors. Friction. Well, with two objects rubbing against eachother at a high rate of speed and pressure, SOMETHING is going to wear out eventually. Right? I'd rather wear out my pads than my rotors. Thus, I use a soft-ish ceramic compound pad, similar to the OEM pads. I bought a nice set of Brembo slotted brake rotors. Pads are a lot cheaper than a new set of rotors, or even resurfacing rotors... so I'll keep buying cheap-ish pads, and make my Brembo rotors last forever :) Peace, Pete Zaria.

2JZ all the way. I've seen 2JZ's with stock internals push over 800 horsepower without blowing a rod or piston ring or anything... Let's see any other engine on Earth (save a Nissan RB20, also an inline-6) do that. If it wasn't insanely expensive, I'd love to do a rear-wheel-drive swap and drop a 2JZ in my ES, but that'll never happen. Next car maybe. Just my two cents.

As to HOW air got into the system, I won't venture a guess. If it's leaked fluid it's been extremely little (I keep a pretty good eye on my car's fluids, or so I'd like to think). Could be just a "time" thing. I don't think it was even related to my airbox mod I mentioned above. To bleed the lines, I followed the shop manual procedure, which is just filling the reservoir (with the reservoir intake tube plugged) and starting the engine for a few seconds, until the fluid level drops, and then shutting it off before the reservoir empties. Then add more fluid and repeat until the fluid is coming out the intake hose without air bubbles in it, hook up the hose and top off the reservoir. Then start up the engine, put the car in neutral (parking brake on), rev up to 2500-3000 rpm and turn the wheel all the way from lock to lock 10 times (to take advantage of the self-bleeding system). So far so good! Peace, Pete Zaria.

Vehicle: '99 Lexus ES300 Coach Edition Mileage: 70,500 Engine: 3.0L V6 DOHC VVT-i 1MZFE # of Owners: 2 Price paid: $11,500 @ 45k miles Length of ownership: 2.5 years Age & Insurance: Mid-20s, $145 per month, no tickets/points Modifications: 17" Konig 5-spoke alloy rims & Falken 235/50/17 all weather tires Brembo Front Brake Kit w/ Slotted Rotors 1" drop front and back Eibach springs (I'd go lower but I live on a dirt road). Modified air box (additional 2" cold air intake pipe) and K&N filter SilverStar headlights (HID's hopefully to come) Removed badges and fake chrome & painted grille black Planned Modifications: Pillar-mount oil pressure & battery gauges. Upgrade radar detector to Passport 8500 series with ZR3 laser shifter kit. 35% tint on all windows as legal. Upgrade stereo system. Nothing extravagant, hopefully a 10" sub and some quality door speakers with a nice deck. HID headlights Electric exhaust cutout right before the cat. Just for sound and fun at the flick of a switch. Problems to date: Starter failed at 65k miles. $150 for part, installed myself. Mass airflow sensor failed at 68k miles, $80 to replace, installed myself. One coilpack failed around 67-68k miles and was causing a missfire - $60, installed myself. The car hasn't held alignment particularly well - I've had to realign twice a year or so. This could be due to my "spirited" driving style. There's a short somewhere in the stereo, and occasionally the stereo will turn off momentarily during hard cornering. Air in the power steering lines was causing a nasty noise - bled the lines, problem solved - Sadly, it took longer to isolate the problem than it did to solve it. I use regular (non-synthetic) 10W30 oil and change it every 3500 miles, and rotate my tires every 3rd oil change. I try to do as much preventative maintenance as possible to avoid costly repairs. It's been a great car to me so far, despite some "spirited" driving and a few trips to the track. Peace, Pete Zaria.

Ah, good news! I bled the air from the power steering lines today and the noise seems to have gone away. I'll report back if I have further problems. Thanks for your time. Peace, Pete Zaria.

I have a '99 ES300 with the 3.0L V6 DOHC VVT-i, 1MZFE. Just hit 70k miles. Car is stock except for 17" 5-spoke rims, 1" drop springs, and Brembo big-brake kit. I just modified my air box. I carefully cut a 2" hole in the bottom of the air box (under the filter, as it should be) and ran a short length (1.5 feet or so max) of 2" flex tubing from this hole in the bottom of the air box to directly behind the drivers-side headlight, next to the stock air intake (just to add more intake volume). I did a nice job on that part, it's airtight and looks/sounds good. Now when I turn the steering wheel more than about 25-30 degrees either direction, the power steering pump makes a "wuussshhh" noise - the power steering pump just seems to be louder in general than it did before I modified the air box. I checked all of the hoses and connections near the air box where I was working, and I can't find any loose connections or anything that looks like I may have bumped it. However, the power steering seems to WORK just fine - no slop in the steering, it doesn't take any more effort than normal to move the wheel, etc... Can anyone give me any ideas why modifying my air box would make the power steering pump louder, or what I may have accidentally bumped/tweaked? Thanks a bunch. Peace, Pete Zaria.

Hey, check out what I just got on eBay for $130 with shipping :D http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...em=130033816756 The seller has 4 more of them, too... :) Thanks for your input guys. Any suggestions on brake pads to go with them? I've heard good things about Hawk Performance pads... Peace, Pete Zaria.

@TheTallGuy, Thanks for your input, and you might be right - with new rotors and pads, it may stop in a distance I can deal with. I was reading the shop manual for my car last night and realized that switching the rotors and pads really isn't that huge a job, and one that I could probably undertake myself in an afternoon (I don't have a lift but i have four, 2-ton floor jacks and jack stands). What do you guys think of these parts? Rotors: I'd like these ones: http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail....037&PTSet=A But can afford these: http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail....221&PTSet=A These pads: http://www.partsamerica.com/productdetail....219&PTSet=A I'll be keeping the stock calipers and lines (though I might get some red caliper paint... :) ) Think those parts will work? See any reason I can't do this job myself? I'm no mechanic but I'm pretty technically competent and I have the service manual, so... Peace, Pete Zaria.

Before going much farther I'd try just leaving the battery unplugged overnight and trying again. This has solved several computer-related problems for me in the past. Other than that, for an issue like this I think you'll probably need to consult an expert. Peace, Pete Zaria.

I have a '99 ES300 (premium package) with about 65k miles. I'm it's second owner, it's been well taken care of. The guys at my local shop told me today, after an oil change, that I *really* need new front brakes (He said 3,000 more miles on em and I'll be doing rotor damage). They want around $400 to replace the rotors and pads (since the rotors are kind of warped anyway). I'm thinking, if I have to put money into the brakes anyway, why not upgrade? Can anyone recommend a Brembo or Wilwood (or other big-name brake brand) kit for this car, or give me your experience with upgrading the brake system? Thanks a bunch. Peace, Pete Zaria.