Lexusfreak

Sounds good JPI! Keep us posted B) I've also contacted the head guy in charge of the engineering department at Lexus Canada. I've asked him to explain this problem from all angles & have asked for specifics & have also forwarded him mburns info from the link he posted yesterday (the stuff with the Lexus U.S.A. letterhead and such) and I will keep everyone who is intrested what he has to say about everything. Good to see you back JPI :)

Pretty impressive test results! B) I must say one can't ignore the fact that Mobil 1 synthetic held it's own very well overall :D

Understood steviej! B) & thanks for the link 99ls! I wonder if any "independent" firm, company or person have done this kind of thing that perhaps don't necessaraly "favour" and one brand of synthetic oil over another so that the test results aren't too biased. Anybody? Thanks again gents! :D

Just courious if anybody knows if there are any tests that are available to compare the different brands of Synthetic oil out there? Not "dino" oil but specifically Synthetics (all major brands), Mobil 1, Amsoil, Red Line, Royal Purple, Castrol Syntec, Valvoline, Quaker State & the like. I wonder if anybody has info on test results Not opinions but actual proven facts with data & if so please post the link(s). Thought it would be intresting to see which brands come out on top. B) Or do tests for that not exist? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Many thanks Paul, were looking forward to the trip /honeymoon :D Can't think of too many other cars that would be nicer to take than the ES. Good news is It's still under factory warranty (for another 3k miles) & I have the "Lexus" extended warranty too good till 112k miles should there be any problems with anything. I've changed all the fluids (as well as a complete tune up at that the Lexus dealer paid for) when I purchased her & just have to change the oil a few days before we go. I'm confident she will run like a top while were there. B) I hope JPI didn't abandon the thread either, he gives very good advice to a lot of the members here & I like hearing what he has to say.

Either DIY if you have the means (make sure you have the bills of all fluids purchased just in case ;) or find a good reliable independent machanic that you trust......I will not take my car to some place where teenage highschool kids still wet behind the ears and allow them to touch any car of mine (let alone a Lexus!). Just my 2 cents. I'm very carful of whom I let work on my vehicle even for basic stuff. B)

I use nothing but Sunoco Ultra 94 as well BCS, sorry to hear your station(s) no longer supply that octane grade (I wonder why though? ) When I travel to the U.S. I always use either Sunoco or Citgo 93 I find is a good quality fuel. Not sure about the "106" octane stuff from a mom & pop gas station.....if it sounds too good to be true then.......

Sounds good mburn B) I look forward to hearing your tests results. When did you get your 98 ES exactly & what was the milage again when purchased & what is it now? Just courious on some of the backround info. BTW, I contacted the service department of a Lexus dealer here in Toronto, they told me that as long as the oil is changed regularly, there shouldn't be any issues with engine gelling according to them (however the guy responded with "my engine gel concern on my RX 300, I clearly stated in my e-mail that I drove a 2001 ES 300! :chairshot: ). Go figure lol You can't get good help these day's it seems. They told me there were no TSB's or recalls to report either. Keep me posted B)

Try an auto wreckers / salvage yard also. Welcome to the club! B)

Post some pics after the meet steviej, I'd love to see them! B) Have fun everyone!! :D

Thanks monarch. The Corolla is built right here in Ontario BTW :D I'm of the opinion as well that as long as regular maintenance has been performed (IE: oil & filter changes) at the correct intervals that owner should be OK regardless if oil changes are dino or synthetic. I guess I'm trying to figure out one important question: - Since the Canadian Lexus / Toyota owners manual is slightly different than our American friends (6 months or 5,000 miles in Canada vs. 6 Months or 7,500 miles in the U.S. for normal intervals), having said that, I wonder how many Canadian Toyota / Lexus vehicles are effected with this problem with the 3.0L V6 or 2.2L 4 cyl? Can Lexus U.S.A. provide that information? So far the customer service rep I spoke with at Lexus Canada head office didn't have the slightest idea of what I was talking about.:chairshot:

Did you purchase your ES brand new steviej?

I hear ya lxs, the Lexus dealers here in the Toronto area charge usually between $95 & $110 labour per hour (cdn dollars). The thing is I have non of the symptoms that other owners describe that's why I'm leaning towards being confident that my ES is OK. Still, I'm getting married on May the 8th & driving down to Florida (in the Lexus) for my honeymoon (Kissimmee, Marathon Fla keys & St. Pete's beach). The car is still under full factory warranty & I've put an extended "Lexus" warranty as well that is covered anywhere in North America, I just hope I don't experence any problems related to this over that period as I'll be p ed! to say the least. I'm changing the oil the 1st or 2nd of May (Mobil 1 5w30 with the Mobil 1 oil filter) before we go. I should be fine. ;) The dealers should inspect all these vehicles (Toyota & Lexus) for free should a customer be concerned about it. What's involved in the inspection anyways? Do they just look under the oil cap, stick a lighted camera into the crankcase or what?

I don't disagree with your statement monarch, but after reading the website that mburn has posted it would appear quite a few owners that have changed their oil on a "fairly regular" basis are having this problem bigtime. Not sure what to say about this issue I guess the best thing would be to take my ES to the Lexus dealer and let them tell me one way or the other if my engine has it, but I don't think it does looking at the service history of the previous owner who leased the car.

Thanks mb, our owners manuals differ slightly with the milage aspect of things (the 6 month interval is the same however with a MAX of 5k miles but nothing mentioned for 4 months). As I mentioned they (Toyota / Lexus Canada) considers all service conditions "severe" as I mentioned but it's noted what you also said that it varies from different regions around the globe. :) I haven't seen anything either that proves a "short drains" do anything harmful. Thanks for the website, I read that Toyota / Lexus modified the 3.0L V6 made after July 2001 (according to the factory sticker on the door, mine was built in September of 2000). Getting a little nervous here....lol

Just pop in a CD or cassette if the reception get a bit staticy lol. :)

Well I might floor the members here but this is NO joke! My sister runs a charity called P.A.W.S. (there is a website for her organization) which stands for People's Animal Welfare Society. She rescues stray & abandoned animals (mainly cats), we have 49 cats at my place now (fairly large house that is spotless I might ad lol ), and a German Shephard. Only about 8 of the cats (and the dog) are ours, the rest of them are up for adoption. They are all fixed and all have current shot & medical records up to date. If there is a breed of cat that we don't have, the breed dosen't exist! lol B) We have dsh (domestic short hair), dlh (donestic long hair), Persian, Siamese, Hymalyian, Russian & British Blue, Turkish Angora & pretty much everything in between! I'm just going to leave it at: My Finance & I can't wait to purchase our own home in the next 6 months or so! lol :o :whistles: Please don't ask me for all their names lmao! & I'd take up rest of the room on this site if I had to post pics. ;) What can I say? We love animals but even I think that this is a bit nut's! but the house is spotless thanks to Mom! :)

Is it just the one window? Sounds like t could be several things: Power window motor, switch or the wiring.

I look forward to hearing from the engineers as well & this is a pretty good thread with good points brought up by many. :) All I can say in closing is my 01' ES has about 45,000 miles on her, not burning any oil, she get's fantastic gas milage (dealer did a complete tune up when I took delivery back at the end of January), no unusual smoke coming out the exhaust, extremely happy with the power, performance & she purrs like a kitten! :D I checked with Lexus head office and no outstanding recalls or TSB's on my VIN & I have e-mailed my dealer to varify the TSB concern for varification. I'm pretty confident that everything is fine with my 3.0L V6. Hopfully JPI can share what he knows after he speaks with an engineer or perhaps someone from this club should contact Lexus head office in the U.S. and get them to issue a statement outlining everything in writing for us owners perhaps clearing up this matter once & for all? :whistles: Final thing, the "average" milage one puts on a vehicle is between 12k - 15k miles per year, JPI suggests ( & as in at least my owners manual) to change your oil after a MAX of 5k miles....I'm not a math major here but a MAX of 3 oil changes a year I feel is very reasonable in my eyes & is not a waste of money.......as oil (especially conventional oil) not only breaks down & get's contaminated with milage, but with time as well (a max of 6 months in between intervals again according to my owners manual). Seems more than reasonable to me. B) JPI is right on the point "if people don't change their oil evey 5k, they don't deserve to drive a Lexus". One spends the kind of money for a car like that & they can't spend an extra $20 - $30 for oil changes? That makes no sense at all. :chairshot: Good thread everyone! :)

So far no problems with the metalized tint on my ES with radio reception. I only have a small bubble on my rear passenger window that the tint shop said should go away in time (been almost 3 weeks & it won't cure). I've tried to "press" the tint but that has done no good....I'm going to take the car back to the tint place next week to get corrected as it has a lifetime warranty.

I can't speak for everybody, however all I know is Lexus recommends that Canadian owners follow the "severe service" maintenance procedures which means MAXIMUM milage between oil changes not exceed 5k miles (8,000kms). I understand about the "legal" side of things from the Automakers standpoint, which is fine & dandy they have an obligation to their customers as there are hundreds of thousands of these engines (if not millions) in service around the world. What would be intresting to know is the following: - How many engines had to be worked on because of this problem? - Are we talking 50% of all owners? - What is the reason why ALL the engines aren't effected? (I'm very courious to the answer to this question if all "reasonable evidence of regular maintenance is performed") If all the engines have been made the same way, aren't all the engines in fact "bad" as you put it? - What will Toyota/Lexus do exactly to fix the problem(s) & how does the company prevent this from re-occuring again once the repair(s) is completed? or what specific recommendations do they suggest for future maintenance procedures? so the company & customers aren't going in circles every few years. - If this is such a bad engine with perhaps a severe design flaw, why is there not a major recall and they can repair everybody's engine? They are a multi-billion dollar company aren't they? or perhaps they just might end up recalling them all in the future? I don't want you to get the impression that I'm attacking you either mb, it just seems that some points don't add up. Any chance of you (or someone else) posting these "legal" documents on here might be of some help is all. I never said I was an expert, I'm by no means a master mechanic or anything but JPI does give some good insight to assist other owners by letting them know some hard facts since he is pretty much on the "front lines" seeing this problem happen a lot more than is probobly necessary. & if it means an extra couple of oil changes a year rather than having my entire engine disassembled to prevent the problem from happening in the first place (and all the aggravation that goes along with it) I can live with that. He gives some valuable advice in my opinion, and that should be taken into consideration is all I'm saying as I have not received one these "legal documents" from Toyota / Lexus and I have registered all my information with the Canadian head office. B) Just my two cents.

If regular maintenance has been performed since the vehicle was new & one drives the vehicle "normal", does not abuse it, & is not noticing any irregular or unusual shift noises, regular maintenance is all that is needed......taking all kinds of things apart in that case is overkill. If the tranny has not been maintained correctly & there is an obvious problem I would agree to go that route. Yes you can tell a fair bit if there are a significant amount of metal shavings caught in the filter mesh screen as well. A "properly" maintained transmission & engine for that matter should last the life of the car whether that be 150,000 - 500,000 miles or more without any major breakdowns, overhauls and the like. Only routine fluid & filter changes (in the case of the transmission.....clean the mesh screen filter from time to time) are needed. B)

I put a quality (made by Sun Guard) "metalized" window tint on my 01 ES and have not had any problems with radio reception on AM or FM bands. I've heard some people that have had problems with this type of tint as well as the antenna is in the back window, but if it's professionally installed not may problems exist. I've heard stories that the actual installer "cut" one or more of the lines on the back window when shaping the tint to the window, effecting radio & rear window deforster performance but that's about it. If that happens, they are responsible to take off the tint (big job & pain in the ) repair the problem & re-tint the window.

tundra makes a good point. It wouldn't hurt to take the car to a good transmission shop (or two) and get another opinion.

I agree with JPI, I've always changed my oil & filter between the 3 - 5k intervals (every 3 months) & have never had any engine problems. I don't expect to have any if I continue that trend. I feel it's a small price to pay to avoid very expensive problems in the long run. JPI should know as he's the expert. B)