jlcpo

first, i need to say thanks to all who helped me with my previous message. check engine light's gone, all we did is to replace fuel cap, it came on one more time, we had code reader plugged in and out, it showed p1153 but the light vanished 5 minutes after and did not come back in weeks. amen! but what i found inbetween is a useful website: http://www.diagnosticdialog.com/ this one has an interactive part that will describe a code for ANY car and ANY code, even those for internal use ones (like we had with p1153 ) autozone did diagnostics for free, i have no doubt most of them big autostores will do the same. also, should you ever consider buying chilton's suv repair manual 2003 ( i did because it claims to have 99 lexus rx 300 and my honda crv 2002 in it) - do not waste money, it's junk. fork for original manuals if you are like i am - addicted doityourselfer.

happy holidays to you all. another "out of course" question. we have 1153 code on our 99 rx300. check engine light comes and goes as it wishes. i found that 1153 is "air fuel sensor slow response, bank 2" which is - one of the oxygen sensors gone bad. question is - which one? which bank is one, which is 2? ox. sensors are $350 (internet) in exhaust manifold, five minutes to replace, i just need to know which one is it? please, email to jlcpo@msn.com thank you

dear mazz, any reputable financial advisor will tell you - do not buy extended warranties on anything. i know, it may sound funny - why financial advisors? - but ones that i trust talk about ANY expense, including purchasing car. we just bought 99 rx300, 40723 miles, and were offered extended warranty for $5000. that would bring the cost of the purchase to almost $30000, which is about the cost of a NEW venicle. so we declined. you still have 30000 miles to go on drivetrain. pull carfax report on your car, it will tell you exactly what you have left. but my suggestion will be like this: replace oil with RoyalPurple 5w30; replace transmission fluid (drain, refill with 3 quartes of fresh fluid, drive for 15 miles, drain, replace, drive, drain, replace, drive, drain, replace. it will take you about an hour and a half, will cost about 60 bucks, but you will have perfectly clean fluid inside. if lexus was dumb enough not to put drain plug into the pan, do it over 3 weekends as you'll have to lower the pan. stick new filter in there on the same occasionbut before the final refill); replace spark plugs; replace air filter, i have mine replaced with K&N on all my vehicles (4); buy a can of electrical greese and electrical connector cleaner in autosupply for some $10 total, locate any electrical hookup you can find on the engine and transmission, unhook, clean, greese, re-hook; change oil in rear transfer case if you have all wheel drive; possibly, replace spark plug wires; replace coolant; if you are into home mechanics, fork for repair manual for this car, some $80 i believe, and clean EGR valve and PCV valve. PCVs are so cheap it pays just to buy a new one. open moonroof and lubricate the outside rubber seal with the same electrical greese, thick layer, and run moonroof few times open/close. or vasiline, works as well, just that greese is much more durable. if you can not do it yourself, find a friend that can and buy him a nice dinner. you will total $200, will have car good to go for the next 50K miles easy, just do not drive it roughly, it's not Honda. will work as well as that $5000 extended warrenty. take half of the money you saved on warrenty and put it into your retirement fund. or all of it for the same cause. have fun and happy holidays. :D jlcpo@msn.com

hello everyone and happy holidays. well, we fixed the problem. i told my wife to a) add good quality fuel treatment to the tank, B) re-fuel up to the cap, make sure the cap clicks those famous THREE clicks, c) drive car for some 30 miles, d) shut it down and remove ECU fuse for 20 minutes. she did, and the light was there. so, she headed towards local AutoZone store (they have handheld codereaders and will check codes for free) and the light came off after some 2 minutes drive. restarted a few times after that, everything's fine, i figure, the salesman that did the "courtesy" full tank did not bother to really cranck those three clicks. light came up when tank became half - empty, probably sucked some air in - with obvious result. all's well that ends well.

we have emptied our account and purchased 99 RX300 for my wife. car has 40K miles on it. we bought it saturday, monday "check engine" light came up. car drove - since the time of purchase - for some 80 - 100 miles. last fueling was done by a salesperson at the dealership. basic warrenty expired. i test drove this car rigorously and could not determine any mulfunction. i drove it shortly saturday and sunday, it did fine (disregard lousy turning radius). i am working 300 miles away from my family and come see them only for weekend. i shall greatly appreciate suggestions re. what's going on. i am very good mechanic, but have to know what's wrong. we are not quite ready yet to start paying $700 per oxygen sensor at the dealership, if i can buy it for some $350 and install it myself. anyway, please, email me your suggestions to jlcpo@msn.com so i can come back home "well prepaired" before starting tearing vehicle apart. will greatly appreciate jlcpo