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esLexus

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Everything posted by esLexus

  1. I'm writing to thank all of you who have given me advice on the Lexus as I physically went to inspect the car today. First thing I noticed was that the interior was more worn than the picture. The phone antenna was snaped off as well. The rims were 16 inches (so all you lexus heads were right! ;p) and the front and rear tires were cheapo tires, as well as unmatched; fronts are smaller than the back. There were no spacers on the wheels tho. Under the hood, everything was pretty clean. There was an oil change as the color looked perfectly fine. Opened the cap and BAM, sludge, and quite a bit of it too! :( I reckon that it wasn't properly maintained for the sludge to wind up that high. The other fluids were also in need of change (they were all dark or at low levels). I thanked the seller for allowing me to look it over, told him about the problems and why I'm not buying the car. He accepted them and we went merrily on our ways. Thanks again for giving me a crash course on general maintence (pun, not intended) as there might have been a chance I would have bought this car and had headaches with future maintence. Back to the drawing board. ;)
  2. The base wheels were 16x6.5 but those particular SC300 wheels are 16x7. LOL! Seriously, I still find it amazing that all of you can tell the wheel size and what not just by looking at a picture.
  3. oh definitely no doubt... but i'm going to be sticking my finger inside of the engine to find out if there is any sludge <homer simpson voice> mmmm.... sludge.... </homer simpson voice> hopefully there isn't any... because if there is, i'm probably not going to buy it... especially reading adam's story above. i wonder if it's possible to flush it out... and how many flushes it would take if there is a little. guess we'll see... just got a -load of snow dumped here... so that killed my plans for going to the guy today.
  4. actually SC wheels are 16x6.5 (stock ones at least).
  5. yup, i understand that... and that's why i wonder why everybody is saying those are SC type wheels. i checked the stock ES and SC wheels and both do not look like the ones in the picture above. so i'm wondering how people can tell the wheels in the auction are SCs or not. after looking at all these wheels, now i understand why people want to steal other people's wheels (cause they are really expensive).
  6. checked on ebay and there doesn't seem to be many people selling their stock wheels. i checked the pictures again and those wheels don't seem to be stock lexus wheels (the L doesn't look like the lexus' L, looks aftermarket). looked through tirerack and saw a bunch of wheels. with varying offsets, anywheres between 35 to 42. is there a significant difference between offsets?
  7. Speaking of which, what is the normal wheel size on a 96 ES300? How much do wheels usually run (and I guess I multiple by 4)? Where's the best place to get wheels and what not? Thanks.
  8. i wonder how you guys can tell they are SC wheels or ES wheels or what not. so at the minimum, i'm going to have to buy new wheels before i drive this car home (since i live about maybe 20 miles away). from the description of the listing, it seems that those wheels might have been there for some time as well. how would i go about checking for damage? is the damage only on the rear struts (are there frontal ones)?
  9. Um, no lol. Try another Lexus dealer they're just being difficult. Try stopping in person... that's the nearest lexus dealer... not sure where else i can stop in. i guess it's time to call some other lexus dealers... what else can i say...
  10. gah! just called the lexus shop and they informed me that (1) they cannot give that information over the phone and (2) they need to see the registration as well. so it looks like i'm back to the drawing board as to finding out some history about the car before the actual purchase.
  11. i might have to agree with you on that as i got off the phone with the toyota shop and they sound like they are busy busy busy there. maybe it's because it's a monday, i'll give the lexus shop a ring.
  12. thanks for chiming in and giving me something to reference against. i wasn't aware that amaco is trustworthy in doing a rebuild of the tranny, first of all. can you inform me as to how much this entire process cost? (i'm aiming for worse case scenario). if what you say is true, i'm going to be in deep because nyc dips into sub 30 degree temperatures easily. speaking of which, did your engine have that oil sludge problem mentioned above as well?
  13. don't remind me... i'm not sure whether to laugh or cry reading what you just wrote. :-/ i'm going to call the local toyota dealship/shop and check the VIN number as advised above and hope he can tell me some stuff. i'm hoping toyota people are nicer to deal with than lexus people. and there's supposedly a 'limited 1month/1000mi warranty' as per eBay's listing. of course, i take that with a grain of salt.
  14. That's the thing, I'm not sure I can do that since I already hold the winning bid and the sale is AS-IS Final. In the beginning, I thought "ok cool, lexus = toyota luxury, should be very reliable." The more I read, the more this is becoming a pain in the butt honestly. :( And with that, maybe it's fitting to say "ignorance is bliss" at least until your timing belt comes off or tranny eats 3 quarts of oil in 300 miles or has molassis-like goo inside. :D
  15. I'm sorry to say, but as a first time owner of a car, I have no idea how to check the spacers and indicate premature wear on the hub/suspension! :( I was looking over the pictures again and the one with the tire seems to have a bit of rust on it, shouldn't I be concerned about that as well?
  16. Some other things you might want to check out. Make sure the oil was changed regularly. I just bought a 96 ES300 and it started smoking when it started up. They pulled the head cover off and there was sludge all inside as thick as molassis. Couldn't find that by just changing the oil (which they did previously), you have to get inside and see it. Like yours, there were no service records that the dealership could pull up on their database. Worse yet, this car only has 55,000 miles. Also, if you ever get a Check Engine light and they determine it is the Charcoal cannister, there is a new EPA recall out that the 95-96 falls under (within a certain VIN number) that will allow them to replace it at no charge. That will save you about 450.00 (if Lexus performs the work). Best of luck with your "new" car. :) I was doing some reading and research and found what you said to be true (http://www.autosafety.org/article.php?scid=&did=566) with most all lexus and toyota engines. Since you actually experienced that problem, you might want to sign your name on the petition here: http://www.petitiononline.com/TMC2003/petition.html and make your voice heard if it is engine failure. Is there a way for me to pull the head cover off and quickly check for sludge (what does sludge look like anyway?). Thanks for warning me about all of this.
  17. It's funny you should say that as I was trying to find a set of service manuals for this car. I've asked the dealer about it and he informed me that he might have them available. Unfortunately for eBay, all the service manuals are on a "convenient" CD in my year and make. I know that the 92-96 ES' are essentially the same. For example, would something like this work for me? Does anybody have any experience on the quality of those CD service manuals? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...item=2455731284 I've also read that you can get an owner's manual from lexus upon registration of the vehicle into their database.
  18. Before I say anything, I spent the last 2-3 hours sifting through this entire forum to look through all the topics. :D I saw a lot of topics, but not very many problems for the 96 models of ES300s. I guess no news is good news... I've recently won a bid on a 1996 Lexus ES 300. There are no service records, 119635 miles on the car, and sold at $5200 and change. According to the used car dealer, a timing belt has been changed, but he isn't sure at what mileage. >< He could just be saying this to make me feel comfortable. I called the Lexus dealership and they quoted a price of $1500 for a "60 point" (includes timing belt, flushing fluids, etc). If there's one thing I learned from reading all those topics, I'm also going to give a Toyota dealership a call and see if they do the same work. My question to the experts is, what should I be looking/checking for, when I go and inspect this car. Couple of things is to check the shocks, brakes (sputtering), error codes on the hvac, the speedometor light, oil fluid, brake fluid, etc. I'm not going to hand the money for the car if it's broke. Can you guys give me some more stuff for a checklist? For reference: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...item=2453977981 Thanks for all your help in advance and patience for a first time owner of a car.
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