lexusk8

All the meet info located here. There are going to be at least a couple hundred Bimmers, Lexus and Infiniti rides repping the tri-state area, as well as some from MA and PA. We did this meet last year, and that yielded hundreds of cars and a lot of fun from everyone who participated. We hope to achieve the same effect this year, and then some! :D I'll be organizing a caravan for particularly the CT and MA residents who will be driving down to the meet early Sunday morning, around 10AM, so if any of you are interested, please let me know via this thread or private message. Thanks! :)

It all depends on how often you turn on your A/C, but I wouldn't go overkill and replace it every year. Maybe once every 30K miles is good enough. And as far as I know, I've never heard of an "aftermarket" version of our A/C filter

Bren, the A/C filter is very easy to change, just like the air filter. Only problem is its location, which is the right of your gas pedal and behind some carpeting. Not a lot of room in there, but it can be done. No tools required, and you'll definitely need a flashlight for this job. If you have your owner's manual, the A/C filter install instructions are explicitly stated in there :)

Congrats on your mom's purchase. Everything about the car is immaculate, under the hood looks very clean, and she will especially appreciate the VVT-i engine (takes care of some of the acceleration troubles from the earlier ES).

You can also check out Xpel at http://www.xpel.com. There may be an Xpel dealer/installer in your area ;)

Like you Neil, my first Lexus was also a black '96 ES Coach Edition. Granted it was a hand-me-down, but perfect for me when I was in college 6-7 years ago. A lot of my college buddies called it the "pimp-mobile" and would always ask me for rides and favors. Ahhh, how I miss those college days! :D Before that, I had a '93 Nissan SE-V6 pick-up truck. That thing hauled !Removed!, and it was a nice pick-up to transport large and small items wherever I went.

Here's what I wrote up from one of my threads in ClubLexus for accessing the bulbs in the tailights of a '92-'96 ES: - The tools you need here are a set of needle nose pliers and an 8mm socket wrench (the long kind). Pop the trunk, and carefully pull up the plastic trunk sill that runs the width of your car (a little force is needed here). Use your nose pliers to pluck out the (4) plastic peg covers on the side trunk carpet covering, located behind the license plate area. Then pull down the carpet covering to reveal the skeletal frame of your tailights (if the trunk light plastic cover gets in the way, you can pop that out too). - Here, you'll see at least (7) 8mm size bolts (I can't remember the exact #). All of these bolts hold the tailights in place, and tailight removal is necessary in order to get to your license plate light bulbs. I believe you need to unscrew (4) of those bolts to remove the tailights, but unfortunately I don't remember exactly which ones, though the bolts should be symmetric on both tailights. Hopefully someone here in CL can help me out, but in the meantime, you can remove the bolts by trial-and-error. Sorry I can't be more specific. - After you remove the bolts, carefully pull the tailights away from the trunk area and place them on the bumper (with a cloth underneath to protect the bumper finish. You do not need to remove any wiring or cables). With the tailights out, you can easily see the bulbs you need to access. Remove the old ones out by untwisting from the socket. Now you need to wear rubber or latex gloves so that no oil or grease gets on the new bulbs. With your gloves on, place each of the new bulbs into its socket (you'll hear a click when it's locked in). - Reverse the previous steps here, and turn on your lights to see your new lights working. That's it.

I know we have some ES members here from New England, and I thought it'd be nice to have a gathering in time for the spring season (gotta love the warm weather coming back). Click on the following link for all the info: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=19517 Post up or send me a PM if you're interested :)

The following info is copied from the ClubLexus site. Hope you can make it to the meet :) ----------- Spring weather is approaching fast here in CT, so I thought it'd be a great time to organize a casual, informal meet for CL members and fellow Lexus owners, friends and enthusiasts. This is also a good time to reunite one another, get to know new owners and car fanatics, pass along helpful advice, mod secrets, stories and jokes. Are you all set and ready to go? :) Let's get to the details of the meet: When: Sunday, April 24th @ 2:00PM. Rain date on the following Sunday, May 1st. Where: At the large public parking lot behind the New Haven Lexus dealership (closed on Sundays). Exit 50 off of I-95 (dealership right off the highway, you can't miss it). Pull into the dealership to get to the lot. What's going down: Like I said, just an informal type of meet, so don't expect official sponsors, vendors and prizes at the meet :) (1) We first meet up at the lot near the Lexus dealership, get acquainted, then take some photos at the dealership, maybe near some new Lexus vehicles like the '06 GS (2) Then, at around 3:30 or so, we'll all take a drive up to and along the Berlin Turnpike (the 11-mile stretch along Rte. 15 between Meriden and Wethersfield). The BT is about a 20-25 min drive from the Lexus dealership. Many retail businesses and restaurants reside there. The turnpike is also an attractive spot for various car clubs to get together (usually on Friday and Sat nights). (3) On the Berlin Tpke, we can stop by Krispy Kreme for a quick coffee/doughnut break (go here for directions). After that, if some of us like to, there is an Advance Auto Parts store up the road to shop and get parts. I haven't thought about dinner options, but if you guys like to discuss about it, feel free to post up. Who's invited: Anyone who owns a Lexus or is interested in one :D Roll Call: Please post up your screen name, your car and location. 1) lexusk8 (ES300) - Danbury CT 2) Lexis11 (GS400) - MA 3) T.L.W. (GS400) - NJ 4) D2-AUTO (GS400) - Wallingford CT 5) ted920 (??) - CT 6) CTgs300 (GS300) - Wallingford CT 7) fireballs gs400 (GS400) - West Hartford CT Parts and things: If you would like to buy or sell off certain parts for your car, you're more than happy to do that. Just post up in this thread the specifics of your needs so everyone will have an idea. Also, this is not mandatory, but if you have spare product you like to give away (like extra bulbs and filters), please bring them along with you. Hope everyone's excited and able to come to this meet. It should be a nice one to start out for this year! -Doug

All the lights behind the A/C and stereo cluster units in '97-'01 ES are screwed-on bulbs, and easily replaceable when one or more burns out. The attached document tells you how to remove the stereo unit in your ES, obviously the 1st step before getting to the bulbs. If you need more info, let me know; I have plenty of experience with this DIY :D Lexus_2000_ES300_OEM_Radio_Removal.pdf

Changing the oil filter in the ES will create a mess almost every time unfortunately just because of its location. I usually place an oil catch pan directly underneath the filter, with newspaper also placed around the pan, and I usually remove the filter at a slow pace so that the old oil drips straight into the pan. Not a great technique, but works for me ;)

steviej, if the '05 grille fits with your car, you should go with the mod. It'll make the front of your '02 look different than the rest of the '02-'04 ones out there :D

2001 ES300 (mildly modded) - me future pre-owned and pre-Bangled BMW - wife :D 2003 Altima 3.5SE (heavily modded) - younger brother 2001 Sienna XLE (stock) - parents 1998 740iL (stock) - parents

Gut instinct tells me to open the hood and remove the headlamps first, the shield protector that covers the length of the front bumper, also the plastic shield underneath the front bumper, and various 10mm nuts that hold the front bumper into the body of the car, and out the bumper comes ;)

lexusk8 - who tinted your windows? ← Tint King (from Bridgeport CT, 203-384-2100). They did the whole job for $160, including lifetime warranty for whatever happens (i.e. peeling, cracking, bubbling).

I'm 29 and have owned a '01 ES for almost 2 years. Before that, I had owned a '96 Coach Edition ES ever since the last 2 years at my college. It's cool to receive compliments and wild favors from friends and colleagues regarding my ES, but it's a much better feeling when I do the car care and maintenance myself and implement modifications to the car. I like having a clean ride inside and out, and the ES is known to be one of the most reliable vehicles in the luxury auto industry. I'm loving every minute I step into my ES :D

I like the clean tint job. Not too dark and not too light, just around the medium, which is the way it should be ;) I also have 35% on all windows, and 20% on the rear. It goes very nicely with my black '01 :D

Just a suggestion. How about the 16" 9-spoke factory rims from the '02-'04 ES? Although the rim size is 16 x 6.5", it fits perfect with the '01 ES (I have them on mine, see pics in my gallery). Only thing is that the '01 lug nuts will stick out further. This can be easily remedied by purchasing lug nuts for the '02-'04 ES wheels.

I'm very much at the opposite end of the spectrum, hehe. 104,000 in my daily driven '01 ES. You guys need to take the ES out more often ;) :P

Congrats on picking up an ES. I notice in the last pic that the city light icon is shown in the instrument cluster, which actually doesn't show up in a US-sold ES. Is that a Canadian spec ES300? The leather seats look really nice and original for a '94! :D

Sorry to hear about the damages jahon. It sounds to me though that the woman has the right of way, and perhaps you didn't see her coming from the right hand side. Hate to say this, but you may be placed at fault with the accident according to police report and insurance :(

mb12345, I'm in Danbury, but work in Wilton (just a few miles north of Norwalk). Let me know about your service experience with Westport then :)

Is there any other decent place in the fairfield county CT where I could take my ES300 for servicing? cheap and honest ? ← Lexus of Greenwich is the only other dealership in Fairfield County. Although I've never taken my car there for maintenance, I have paid a visit for parts purchases and some quick maintenance advice from the service advisors. The nice thing about this dealership is that they are open M-F until 11PM (long enough to cater the hard-working crowd) :D ← Lexusk8: So which place do you go to for the servicing? I just bought a '97 ES300 and need to find a place where I can take it regularly, for preventive maintenance as well as for anything else that comes up. Your advice is appreciated. I live in lower Fairfield county. ← My preference for Lexus service: Lexus of Westport. Have gone there for service of my previous '96 ES and current '01 ES, did 2 separate 90K services w/out major problems or issues, and these guys really know what they are doing. I believe Westport has also extended their service hours to match with those from Greenwich, so you have flexibility when servicing at Westport :)

Is there any other decent place in the fairfield county CT where I could take my ES300 for servicing? cheap and honest ? ← Lexus of Greenwich is the only other dealership in Fairfield County. Although I've never taken my car there for maintenance, I have paid a visit for parts purchases and some quick maintenance advice from the service advisors. The nice thing about this dealership is that they are open M-F until 11PM (long enough to cater the hard-working crowd) :D

lexusk8- do you perform the work on your own car or do you take it to a shop. You don;t take it to the stealer ship do you? (lexus of westport) they drive your car down the block in fairfield to some other shop to change the oil. ← It's usually either my mechanic friend or I do most of the maintenance work on my car. I do the oil changes myself, it's a pretty simple DIY, and you save yourself money and time ;) But for the 90K package, I had to take it to the dealership (Westport). From my experience, I've had nothing but positive customer service with them, but of course I'm sure other customers have had some bad apples with them.