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gold93gs300

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  • Lexus Model
    GS300

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  1. My 93 GS300 had wind noise caused by the black trim (window frames) at the back of the front doors coming loose. Both came loose almost at the same time. Someone on here said it was correctable by the dealer but they spent hundreds to get it done. That's too expensive, so being cheap, I glued the frames with some JB Weld epoxy and clamped them back down with a couple of Irwin Quick Grip clamps. Park car in secure area since you won't be locking the doors for awhile Turn your dome light off so you don't kill your battery with your door open all night. Pry frame apart a bit Spread a generous amount of JB Weld 2-part epoxy in there - enough to ooze out a bit Clamp frame back shut with Quick Grip soft clamps Wipe away any excess before it hardens This fix cured 90% of my window wind noise. gold93gs300
  2. I DOUBT IT'S YOUR MOTORS....SEE MY POSTS ON THIS TOPIC. MOST LIKELY A REGULATOR, DIRTY OR MELTED SWITCH. IT COULD COST YOU SEVERAL HUNDRED IF YOU PAY SOMEONE ELSE TO FIX THIS. REPLACING THE SWITCH WILL BE AT LEAST $75 JUST FOR THE PART. I BOUGHT MY CAR WITH 118K ON IT AND I'VE HAD TO REPLACE 3 SWITCHES AND 3 REGULATORS SO FAR. IF YOU'RE HANDY AT ALL, TRY TO DO IT YOURSELF. I TELL YOU HOW. SEARCH FOR WINDOW OR GOLD93GS300 - I EXPLAIN HOW TO CHANGE REGULATORS AND/OR SWITCHES IN TWO SEPARATE POSTS. DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL -- THIS IS JUST WHAT WORKED FOR ME.
  3. My windows have been a constant headache. Regulators and switches. I wrote a long story about how to change your regulator in another thread. Do a search on my name or on 'Window" HOW TO FIX WINDOW LIFT SWITCHES: Since my last post, I've figured out how to fix the @#$$%!! window switches on my GS 300 when they go out. This is not the kind of thing just everyone is going to want to try, but I'm sorta handy and I had 3 of them go out, so I decided to take a shot at it myself!!! The alternative was to just buy the switch for $75-$100. First, I bought some spare switches off eBay for cheap. The only one I couldn't get in 100% working condition was the master switch on the driver's door. It is also the most expensive, by far. My master switch panel could not lower the FR passenger window, but it could raise it. But it felt limp, as though something inside had snapped. The one I bought online had the same problem, but on the driver side front window (the seller stated this but I bought it anyway). Well, having the spare used master switch off eBay gave me the guts to take a chance at dissassembling a master switch, so I started by carefully tearing the used one apart -- maybe I could salvage a spare part that would fix my car's master switch problem. The heart of these switches is really two tiny gold-colored teeter-totter contacts; one for Window Goes Up and the other for Window Goes Down. Remove the switch from the car. It pries out fairly easily. Unscrew the 3 screws that hold the wood on. Unscrew every screw you see from the bottom of the white chassis. Should be seven of them holding the black plastic upper frame on. Remove all six switch covers so you can pull off the black plastic upper frame. The front two pull right off (Hint: On each window switch, pry the inboard ears off first, then the easy to get at outer ones.) Pry all four window switch covers off. Lift off the black plastic upper frame and set it aside. You should now see the green circuit card. You are almost home. You do NOT have to take the LED off for this next step. Locate the tab on the back of the switch housing and pry the outer shell away from of it with a tiny screwdriver. This is HARD so take your time. Just pry under the back of the switch housing, and pivot the top of the switch housing forward, leaving the LED connected. Yes, you are bending it. No, this doesn't hurt it. In the shallow plastic well where the contacts are housed, they each pivot, as I said, on a metal contact. They don't touch anything until you rock the teeter-totters forward or back. There are metallic contacts at the bottom of the teeter totter wells, and when you tilt the rocker switch, forward or backward, only one teeter-totter will touch a contact and turn on a motor.....while the other will do nothing. When I took my teeter-totter contacts out, they were all scorched and sooty. So were their contacts, so I cleaned the contacts with electrical cleaner and a Qtip and cleaned the teeter-totters with a Dremel mini-wire wheel (you could use steel wool). I must also tell you that when you move the switch, a pair of whitish colored vertical plastic fingers that normally rests on the middle of the teeter totters is being moved forward or backward slightly. This is what tilts both teeter totters either forward or backward. Well, when the switch overheats, one or both of these plastic white fingers can, and do, physically melt! Sometimes the teeter totter contacts just get corroded and pitted and covered in soot. Other times they get so hot they melt the plastic finger that tilts them. This is game over. This is the END of your switch, boys and girls. If you switch feels loose and floppy, it will probably never move that window again no matter how much you wiggle it. So I cleaned my contacts and replaced them, and then took the melted white piece out and swapped it for a good one from my used eBay switch. Also, I accidentally broke the plastic upper part of the switch (the black part you touch) the first time I was taking it open. These are VERY easy to snap. But I have several of them now, and ALL MY SWITCHES WORK!!
  4. I have a 93 GS 300 and the passenger side read window will not go up. I hear the motor working but windows doesn't move. I took off the door panel and found a half moon looking white plastic piese loose. The cable that moves the window is very loose. Has anyone ever had this problem before? If so is it a easy fix/cheap fix? ======================= This has been a repeated problem on my car. Unfortunately, it is not that cheap nor very easy to fix. If you hear the motor turning, don't buy a motor. All you need is the regulator. A regulator is not a motor nor a switch, but rather a track or guide that holds the window glass straight as the motor drive cable moves it up and down. You can see one here: http://car-computers.com/images/untitled.jpg That half moon white plastic piece (it looks like Teflon) is probably the only bad part on your regulator. It's the cable guide, and when it breaks, you are S.O.L. These @#$~!! things are always the part that was bad on all 3 of mine. That little white piece that you need is so simple, it should be sold separately, and should only cost about fifty cents, but they make you buy and change the entire regulator, which is the entire pot metal T-shaped bracket with a pulley on it and a cable routed around on it. #@%~!!! I'm afraid I have more bad news. I have bought 3 so far on my 93 GS300 at various dealers. These things cost $160-$200, so shop several dealers and ask for a discount. If you're patient and handy and methodical, you can replace this yourself. I'm getting good at it but it still takes me at least an hour. This is just from memory, so feel free to correct me, anybody. The only tools you really need are: A large Phillips screwdriver A small Phillips screwdriver A flat bladed screwdriver A putty knife A roll of masking tape A roll of strong duct tape Set of metric sockets and a ratchet drive with an extension The car keys 1) Gently pry the window switchplate out using a flat screwdriver between the "wood" and the armrest. Leave the wires connected and just set it back in the hole it came out of. 2) Unscrew the two large Phillips screws on the door skin. Look 1) under the handle, 2) under the switch panel you just took off. There's another little black on under a black pad at the edge of the door. Set these aside in a dish or in your footwell. 3) GENTLY pry the door skin off starting at the bottom. You have to overcome a bunch of clip fasteners all around the edge of the door. Must be about six of 'em! NOTE: You have to disconnect all the wiring harnesses and courtesy light connectors so that you can get the door skin off. You may want to keep that power window switchplate installed....or at least handy. You will need to operate the window once the regulator is replaced. 4) Soon the only thing holding the skin on will be the top lip. Wiggle and lift the skin and it will come right off in your hand. 5) I hate this next part: the dreaded tarry plastic. You have to peel back enough of this @&^#!! plastic to get inside the door to work. Peel it very slowly, tar and all, starting at the door jamb (not the hinge side) and toward the hinge. Try hard not to tear it. It is a vapor barrier to protect your door skin. Drape the loose plastic over the hinge area and using masking tape, FASTEN IT to something! If you don't, it will fall back down on you while you're busy. It will stick to itself and you will never ignore my advice again. NOTE: You'll have various wiring connectors getting in your way throughout this job. Just be patient and try to note which one goes to what. 6) Locate the little plated nuts holding the old regulator in. There are going to be 4-5 of them, 10mm or so. Remove these nuts. The regulator should now be quite loose. I think I had to remove my stereo speaker at this point also. Remove whatever it takes to get him loose. 7) I like to stick some duct tape on the glass and over the door frame to hold the glass from crashing down at this point when you unbolt it. Locate the two nuts holding the regulator to your glass. Remove these also. Your window glass will now be removable. Just grab it by the tape and lift it out of there any way you can and put it aside. 8) Right now it's time to get the motor power cable disconnected and pull the dead regulator out of there. Your new one better be identical. One dealer once gave me a RH one when I needed a LH one. GRR! The motor comes off with a few nuts. 9) Your new regulator will have a silver metal cover over a ~2 inch DIAM. Teflon pulley. You need to pry off this cover (by bending the tabs) and you'll see a square drive like a 3/4" ratchet could turn. Stick your motor drive to this new pulley and reconnect the motor to the regulator. 10) Now you are going to have a headache. You have to put the regulator in, connect the power, connect the window, etc, but the trick is going to be, you can tighten SOME of the nuts when the window is up, but you can only tighten OTHERS when the window is down. Thus you now need to hook that window switch back up and just let it hang there (while you run the glass up and down.) 11) Operate the window switch up and down as needed to give yourself access to tighten all the nuts. I recommend lightly replacing ALL the nuts first, before you tighten anything. Just don't forget to tighten them all though. 12) Replace the speaker, the plastic, etc. but make sure any cables that need to protrude out of the plastic do stick out, so you can hook up the door skin. 13) Hook up the door skin starting from the top; just bang it down with your hand. DO NOT FASTEN THE BOTTOM EDGE YET! You still have wires to hook up! 14) Connect up all the wires from the lights and switches and TEST THEM before you close up the patient! Turn on your key, and everything should work. Courtesy lights, stereo speakers, WINDOWS! Leave the window switchplate off for now. You'll see why soon. 15) Fasten the bottom edge of the door skin by just lining up those clips; once all are lined up, start tapping the door skin with the heel of your hand to pop them back in. The door looks "DONE" right now, but it's not. 16) Replace the giant Phillips screws that hold the door skin in. Also replace the little black one. Do NOT put the switchplate back in yet. 17) Test the window lift once again; if it works, NOW you can put the window switchplate back. 18) Windex your window, since it is covered with greasy fingerprints. I'm guessing you just saved about $100-$200 each time you do this yourself. And you will do it again....once one goes, they all start going.
  5. <<<Has anyone had issues with the alternator on a GS having decreased output due to oil leaking from above? It seems possible due to reduced cooling capacity, grime around the brushes, etc..My o-ring from my distributor is leaking, causing nasty buildup on my alternator. >>> I think my O-ring is leaking too. I smelled oil burn smell the other day (it's been getting worse) and when I looked under the hood there was black wetness near the distributor base. Haven't noticed an electrical or alternator issue yet though now I will be very watchful for this.
  6. I found a website on the internet that sold aftermarket trunk struts for the Lexus GS300. I am sorry I no longer have the information on the site or the seller, but they were under $50 a pair, as I recall. The brand/model name is Stabilus Lift-O-Mat. The website owner claimed they would fit, but the photos did not match my OEM struts, so I was concerned that they would not fit. Lexus model struts have a little right angle tab that holds one end in place, and the replacement models do not have this little tab. The seller assured me that they would still work and gave me written instructions as to exactly how they'd go in. He seemed very familiar with the operation and said he had sold many of them for my exact car with no complaints, so I trusted him. Turns out they worked just fine. Although the new struts do not have the same retention tab, they use a split ring system that is far cheaper and works just as well. That right angle tab just makes production easier during initial factory assembly. The new struts hold the trunk up just fine.
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