ModMan

This place is a good one for chip keys. The master key with remote transmitter was $100, and the generic master key without remote was $25. $45 more for somebody local to cut and program both keys. This was alot cheaper than going to the dealer. There are places that can reflash the your existing ECM if you have lost all of your keys. I found one online and the locksmith who did my keys knew of a local person who could flash it. The cost was in the $600+ range. I did not need the service but was just curious.

I had an intermittant trac light. I cleaned the throttle body and intake manifold 3 days ago and I have haven't seen the trac light on since, except for when the wheel is slipping on icy or wet roads. I took the throttle body and manifold housing off to clean the cold start valve. These were really gunked up from the EGR fumes. This effort fixed my 5 second cranking startups with a cold engine, which was the main reason for all of this work. I'm not sure if it fixed my trac light problem permanently, but it looks good so far. The engine idles slightly faster and accelerates much smoother. The throttle butterfly had not been cleaned for 191k miles and was pretty nasty. The pipe leading to the EGR valve inside the manifold was almost clogged completely up.

How long did it take you to get the cold start injector off? I started looking at doing it today but couldn't go through with it.

I had mine replaced my last summer for $200 installed. The independant shop used PPG glass. It looks fine. The glass must not cost much.

7/8" = 22.225 mm. 6 point socket would be no problem. 0.225mm on a bolt head this large is neglible.

I used a couple of quick connect terminals similar to this one installed on some small guage wire (18 - 22 AWG) to connect to the injector. The other end of each wire were soldered to the ends of a 1 1/2 volt flashlight battery (probably any AAA through D size would work). When you connect the second terminal to the injector you should hear a click. I then use some fuel line hose which fits snugly over the injector inlet, fill the hose up with solvent, and then use compressed air on the hose to move the solvent through the injector. The compressed air pressure should be low enough not to blow the hoses off. Repeat the procedure until you are satisfied with the spray pattern. Again, if you pull off a terminal while the injector is powered there will be a small arc (since V=L*di/dt) which could ignite any nearby solvent, so be sure your injector connections are secure. This procedure worked well on my BMW injectors and should work with the Lexus cold start injector. The factory manual shows a similar setup for testing the cold start injector, only Lexus calls out SST numbers for the injector/fuel line connectors, and then uses the 12 volt car battery to momentarily power the injector.

I have had the same problem with slow starting for the past year. The cold start module's (called the Start Injector Time Switch in the manual) resisitance should be 25 - 45 ohms below 59F and 65 -85 ohms above 86 F. This item is below the RH ignition coil next to the thermostat housing. My switch tested fine so my cold start injector is probably plugged. To remove the injector, the manual says to remove the air cleaner, AFM, throttle body, LH engine cover, disconnect ISC valve conn, cold start injector connector, VSV connectors for EGR and FPU, disconnect 18 hoses, remove EGR modulator and VCV, remove air pipe and vacuum pipe , disconnect #3 water bypass valve, remove accelerator cable bracket, disconnect cold start injector tube, disconnect EGR pipe, remove air intake chamber and finally the cold start injector. I was wondering why I haven't tackled this task sooner. Once I get the injector out I plan to clean it by running some solvent through while having the injector powered by a flashlight battery. The manual shows a test using the 12 volt car battery across the injector terminals but says to be quick. You need to be careful since there is a coil in the injector you can create an arc by opening the circuit which could ignite any spilled solvent.

I was hesitant to use the starter method until I read this post. If a Lexus starter/flywheel could withstand a locked bolt with an extra battery added for more current, I was willing to try it once on my engine. It took only a couple light bumps with the key to break the bolt loose on my LS400. I had also heard of using the starter method on the BMW M30 engines (3.3, 3.5 L) and they are torqued to 300 ft-lbs. These engines have a timing chain; the harmonic balancer must be removed to replace the front seal. I went by the book with this engine and made the tool to hold the M30 crank in place. It took a 4 foot cheater bar to break loose the M30 crank bolt. I have to agree the starter method doesn't sound near as elegant as "shove some towels between the belt and pullies so that it wont move then just have a breaker bar... ". Just kidding, I wish I had thought of it.

The threads are normal rotation. I changed my timing belt last week and used the starter to break loose the bolt (breaker bar impeded by the garage floor). Do a search on timing belt and you will find others who have used the starter method. You will also find one person who couldn't get his off with any method.

Since there was such an overwhelming positive response to my first post my wife and I drove the 225 miles to the DFW area with a check in hand and picked up this GS 300 today. It looked better than the eBay pictures and we couldn't find anything out of the ordinary wrong with it. I think a got a good deal on it but won't know for sure until I have a few thousand miles on it. I will need some recommendations for window tint color and suggestions for quieter tires, and later maybe some lighting upgrade suggestions. The car currently has Bridgestone Turanzas. Right now I trying to program the Homelink to work with my 24 year old garage door opener (not successful).

I was the winning bidder on this 2001 GS300 and now I need to decide whether to complete the transaction. My wife wanted a gold Lexus and this one looked pretty good. The car has had some body work (left rear impact) but it looks pretty good in the pictures. It has also been repossessed. The only other item of note in the description is the 1 speed transmission which I believe is a typo (I should have called but there was only 15 minutes left when I stumbled upon it). Is this a good deal for a high mileage 2001 GS300 with a checkered past? We currently have a 92 LS400 with about 190K miles which we bought with 104K miles and have had good luck with it.