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bplaney

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Everything posted by bplaney

  1. Can you elaborate? would new bushings not have come with the replacement part(s)? from what I've read through, I don't want to mess with the upper ball joints. If you are talking about control arm bushings, can those be done without messing with the upper ball joints?
  2. In the next couple days I'll be replacing both lower ball joints on my '99 GS300. I have a second car, so I can do this somewhat leisurely. Is there a particular brand/kind of torque wrench I should use for the parts of this procedure that require one? Also, there has been a kind of burning rubber smell coming from the front after short trips - could that be wheel bearings needing a regrease? Besides checking brake pads and replacing them if necessary, what other maintenance can I do with the front wheels off that is good to "just do" at this mileage interval?
  3. Then I guess mine is broken - because it does absolutely nothing.
  4. My rear view mirror has a button on it in the place where on other cars there is a button that tilts the mirror up so that you can dim the bright lights of those behind you. I have never been able to figure out what THIS button does - it certainly makes no difference to the mirror angle when I press it, but I do see some sort of tiny dot light blink on the mirror frame when I press it. Can anyone explain?
  5. I actually started this topic way back when and never followed through getting the link to the PDF. Can you email me at: bplaney@sbcglobal.net. Thanks!
  6. OK, getting back to my original post - the price of these things - what on earth is the technical justification for O2 sensors costing so much? are they any more complicated than so many other commodity parts to manufacture? a PCV valve is cheap, but from a manufacturing standpoint, is it that much less difficult to manufacture?
  7. I just bought new lower ball joints and the lowest I could find on the web was about $62/each. I don't know where you got them for $40!
  8. I can't believe how much a full set of new O2 sensors costs. Is it possible to rejuvenate my existing ones? do they "wear out" by getting gunked up?
  9. If it is the catalytic converter, how would you actually check it without removing it?
  10. My '99 GS300 has 108k miles on it now... I also have a 2001 Honda Odyssey with a 3.5 liter V6. THAT car barely cracks 2200 RPM at 75 mph. My GS300 (running on premium gas) is about 3200 RPM at the same speed. It is almost as if I don't have a final gear to shift into (whatever number that may be). My gas mileage generally sucks. In town - about 14-15 mpg... If I burn a tank exclusively on the highway - I'm lucky to hit 21 mpg. What could be wrong?
  11. I'm all for trying this; however, how does a presumably clogged fuel filter help the car consume too much (rather than too little) fuel?
  12. OK, my gas mileage truly sucks now. 14 mpg, and it dropped off quite suddenly. We're almost not driving the Lexus at all. We plan to take care of the full range of tuneup items in a few months, but I just want to know which item is the most likely candidate for killing our mileage and maybe I can fix this item myself now. The car has 101,000 miles. To my eye the first spark plug looks like it has life left. The tires are properly inflated. What's the most likely culprit, or is this even answerable? thanks!
  13. None of these high-mileage Lexii are even scratching the surface of what Irv Gordon has accomplished with his 1966 Volvo P1800 - over 2.6 MILLION miles, and still going strong. 300,000 miles in his world is just breaking it in. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvo_P1800#R...ng_Volvo_driver
  14. YES!!! Thanks for confirming what common sense allowed me to suspect. Big picture: I am in 1000% agreement with you on the forces that would have us fork over unnecessary money to feed the beast. The turmoil we see in our economy right now is, in my opinion, the tip of a mountainous iceberg that is starting to finally come into focus for the general, non-contemplative population. That iceberg is the percentage of our economy which is total nonsense. And it is a BIG chunk of our economy. We have so completely succumbed to marketing forces, which have played on envy, fear, vanity and general laziness to sell us all sorts of crap we don't need. And now that the economy depends on sales of such crap, and we are starting to realize that we don't really need this crap, massive pain is forthcoming. I just wish I could pocket the monetary value of, for example, the unconsumed coffee that gets poured out each morning across the country. I'd be richer than Bill Gates in short order.
  15. Good for you! at least you know they are attracted to you for your personality and intelligence, thanks to your ingenious method for screening women. Yes, those are the ones that fill the coffers of lawyers specializing in family law. Your game goes up and so does theirs.
  16. with OEM Toyota glass and Lexus-approved installation methods? lexus approved installation methods for a freakin windshield? lollll what do u think u drive a rolls royce? what they wash their hands with holy water before working on your car Not important? please see the fifth post under: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=26988 I will quote it here: Not important, the methods?
  17. with OEM Toyota glass and Lexus-approved installation methods?
  18. Suddenly my windshield has a crack, and there's no sign of having been hit by a rock. It runs 14.5" diagonal, starting from the lower driver's-side corner and running right through my registration and inspection stickers. My insurance only kicks in after $500. I am quoted $254 plus tax for an aftermarket replacement. I only drove the car 5k miles last year. 1. I don't need to inspect it until September (would it fail from a crack this long?) 2. I don't see it growing due to the light usage. 3. I would prefer to wait on this repair, just put $1000 into fixing the AC leak. Should I only accept the Lexus OEM part in this case? Is this something I can do myself if I can locate a windshield, or is this too tricky and potentially dangerous to do without proper training? thanks.
  19. I had my Sirius satellite radio removed (it was on the car when I bought it) during an A/C repair in-dash. The service tech got rid of it for me, but left the antenna attached to a wire that comes out of the trunk. I would like to get rid of this wire and antenna completely, not just cut it off. Anyone know where this wire is likely to run to and through?
  20. Is there a way to tell if you have your original factory O2 sensors still in place? (for example, are they marked like I heard that spark plugs were marked)... I don't know if mine have ever been replaced. I am the third owner of a GS that has just a bit more than 101k miles on it. If the carbon buildup can be removed (with some kind of solvent), would that extend their life, or is this even worth doing?
  21. I have read here about people replacing their O2 sensors, which I think are severally installed in the exhaust manifold, if I remember correctly. Can someone tell me what part of an oxygen sensor wears out? is it electronic (a capacitor???) is it the degradation of some piece of rubber? what is the nature of the failure of this part? thanks.
  22. FIXED! I disconnected the car battery, thinking it might reset the car's computer (I read that somewhere) and this morning the memory buttons were working again. I had to re-program all the radio presets, but in the process I learned what the PSCAN button does (jumps through all your presets). Since I had the battery disconnected, I cleaned the terminals and connectors and applied anti-corrosion compound to them. Now to figure out if there's any chance in hell that I could replace my rear main seal myself.
  23. think some1 did a post on this same thing within the last month or so........check the archives! brian I am searching the archives like a madman, I cannot find this issue discussed with a resolution. Maybe I'm not using the right search phrase?
  24. I can only adjust my driver's seat with the switch between the seat side and the door. The switch sticks in the forward position, meaning I have to slide it backwards (not just let it go) to stop the forward motion of the seat. The steering wheel and driver's mirror both adjust fine. Neither memory switch works at this time. Not even a beep. If the driver's seat adjustment portion of the full routine is faulty, will the entire routine be aborted? How can I troubleshoot this? Can this possibly be a fuse?
  25. OK, now the problem is full-blown. I can only adjust the seat with the switch between the driver's seat side and the door. The switch still sticks, meaning I have to slide it backwards (not just let it go) to stop the forward motion of the seat. The steering wheel and driver's mirror work fine. The memory switches NO LONGER WORK. The don't even beep. Question: are the memory switches faulty, or are they behaving this way because the seat adjustment switch is faulty? Can this possibly be a fuse?
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