steviej

go to www.kbb.com click on the section that helps you find the retail and private sale prices for a given vehicle. you will be asked to plug in your zip code as this effects price, your milage, options and condition of the car. After this information is entered, you can get a print out of the fair market value of the car. steviej

Judging by the note on the first page: NOTE: Improper installation of the air conditioning filter may cause damage to the HVAC blower unit. I can only guess that there must have been technicians and dealerships installing the filter incorrectly. TSB's are not just directed at the owner, they are introduced when there is any change in a procedure in the service bay. If the dealership runs their service areas like I have to run my laboratory, any procedure change is documented. In addition to the change, everyone that is qualified to perform said procedure is required to sign off that they have read and understood the procedural change. steviej

you would ask. I actually had the camera in the garage with me when I installed them. Got side tracked and forgot to take pictures. sorry. If you want a pic I can turn the wheel and snap a few this weekend. steviej

Changing the fog light bulbs is a piece of cake, swapping out the halogen bulbs for an HID set up is more involved. You DRLs are actually the high beam bulbs at 50% power. No matter what bulb you use for the high beam will be yellow on the DRL setting. There is a set up available that will convert your DRL to LED, unfortunately, you will lose the use of your high beams if you opt for this. steviej

HID will cost you some ducets to put in. A cheaper solution is to find some decent 9006 bulbs that have a Kelvin rating (K) above 4000. I have tried PIAA Xtreme White and Sylvania Super Stars which both are rated around 4100K and they were OK for whiteness. The PIAA GTX-Plasma were also ok, but I did not like the color they produced in the H3 version of the bulb on my 02 ES so I haven't tried them in the 9006 bulb on my GS. Currently I am running a pair of PIAA Spark Blue at 7500K and these have a definate bright white light with a blue hue, bluer than my stock HID bulbs and a little too blue for me. The next bulb I will try in the PIAA Intense White at 4800K which should put me in the middle. steviej

TSB stands for Technical Service Bulletin. These are service campaigns (notifications of new procedures, improved parts, fixes for common complaints or problems, etc) that should be covered under the full warranty. steviej

I am not surprised of the recommendation. Narrower tires are better in snow that the wider ones. Narrow tires will slice through snow better. The wider tires will try to ride up on the snow or plow thought. steviej

If the car is under warranty, the only thing that is not covered are brake pads, wiper blades and other routine maintenance items like cabin filters, air filters, oil and filter. 99/100 times the CEL is emissions related.....which is covered under warrantly. Autozone is a start, even if it is a generic scanner. All the CELs that I have had on both of my Lexi were successfully pulled by autozone. AND ITS FREE and harmless to have them pull it. Post up the code here, we will be able to get a start with that. steviej

something is draining the battery (parasitic) or the battery is not getting a good charge. Take it to Autozone and they will load test the charging system for free. steviej

funny, page 87 of my manual. written out plain as day. have you tried the search function? I just searched on "maintenance reset" and got 10 pages of threads. If your car uses a key to start: 1. With your car OFF, place your key in the ignition and turn to "On". Do not start the car. 2. Find the odometer button and press until it reads the total odometer setting, (not the Trip A or Trip B setting). 3. Turn the key to OFF. 4. Place your finger back on the odometer button, press and hold. At the same time, turn the key back to "On". 5. Hold the odometer button in until the MAINT REQD light goes out...should take about 8-10 seconds. If your car has a push button start mechanism. 1. DON'T step on the brake. 2. Make sure you odometer is displaying total miles (not trip A or B ). 3. Press and hold the reset button. 4. Simultaneously press the engine start key two times (DO NOT have your foot on the brake as you do not want to start the car). You will see the words Oil Maint. Reset. 5. Keep you finger on the reset button until these words go away. 6. Then take your finger off the button and press the engine start button one more time to put the ignition in the off position. With either method, when done start the car like you normally would to see if you reset was successful. steviej

Isn't your car still under warranty? If it is, why bother to hunt for the problem when the dealer could take care of it on his time and at no cost to you. Besides, a bazillion obscure issues can cause the VSC warning light to come on. Have the dealer "pull the codes" and zero in on the issue. and if your dealership is too far to drive to, any Autozone will pull the codes for free. Get the trouble code and post up here. We will then tell you where to start looking based on the code causing the idiot lights to come on. Too many codes and so few lights to indicate them. get them read. steviej

mine are very quiet. I am quite happy with them.

Costco should know what to do with the valves, it is a very common and recommended practice. If they have no idea what you are talking about then take you business elswhere. The alignment doesn't hurt, is good to do and for the price is worth the investment. My tire shop offers a free alignment check with the purchase of a new set of tires. If it is out of spec, then they will ask me if I want it done. If they do it, then it is $79.95 for all four tires. steviej

Actually, I have close to 2,000 miles on them. I absolutely love them and couldn't beat the price from TireRack.com. You don't need to buy anything else (just maybe some blue goo, aka: Permatex Brake Quiet). The pads come with a new shim attached. I removed them and reattached them with a thin coat of brake quiet to help reduce any squeal. The stock pads had two shims so I used the stock outer shim as the outer shim with the new pads (applying some brake quiet as well). The front brakes are a piece of cake. Two 14mm caliper pins/bolts and the caliper comes off the cradle. Loosen the brake bleed, compress the pistion, tighten the brake bleed, then remove the caliper and hang it up out of the way with a coat hanger or something. The old pads slip right out. Transfer the wear indicator to the new pads - - its just clips on. Insert the new pads into the slots, replace the caliper, relube the caliper slides on the pins, tighten and you are done. You don't even have to bleed since no air got in the system. The back brakes are even easier. The caliper doesn't have to be removed. Remove a transverse spring clip, then the two long spring clips (inside and outside). Remove the two pins and slide the pads out. Loosen the brake bleed, compress the caliper, tighten the brake bleed. Reattach the brake wear indicators to the new pads, slip them in, insert the two pins, and then the three spring clips. Done. There are two good pictorial threads in the 3rd gen. GS section on CL. Search overthere on my name and you will find them. On the brake bleed and pistion compression. I have made a handy device. Its a 6 inch length of tube that fits snuggly on the bleed screw. On the other end I put a one way check valve and then a 15 inch section of tubing off the other side of the valve. The valve is not absolutely necessary but helps. Just a lenght of tubing will work fine. At the other end of the tubing is a container to catch the old fluid that will come out. Open the bleed screw, and use a pry, large screw driver or reverse pliers (when you squeeze they open) to spread the old pads and thus compress the piston. With the bleed screw open, the old fluid is expressed out and the piston has less resistance and compresses very easily. Once compressed, close the bleed screw. The one way valve in the line or the fluid in the line will prevent air from going back into the caliper. The C-clamp is fine but since you are not undoing the brake line, it may be hard to get it on under the the wheel well and negotiate the strut. Just top off the reservoir when done. Three weeks after I put the pads in, I installed stainless steel brake lines. These helped reduce the spongy feeling the GS brake system has. This time the lines did come off, so a thorough bleeding of the brake system was in order. I actually evacuated the reservoir, added new fluid, and purged a complete resevoir of fluid through the brakes to get all the old fluid and air out once the new lines were on. The pads and stainless lines give me absolutely incredible response and great stopping power with minimal to no dust. steviej

dealerships usually have a universal key. Open the trunk and look around the tools for the jack and spare tire. My lock was attached to the lug wrench with a special zip tie. On my ES it was attached to the removable tool tray that sat in the spare tire. Look in you glove compartment, you should have gotten paperwork/documentation of the lock number so that you could order extra lock sockets. I always keep an extra in the tool cabinet in the garage. steviej

If you go to the 245/40-18 tire the speedometer will read 60mph however, the actual speed will be 62.2mph (3.7% faster). Reputable tire shops will not mount a different size tire if it changes the speedometer more than 2%. steviej

They are not run flat tires but they are an awesome tire. when you replace the tires, you do not need to replace the TPMS sensor. This sensor is incorporatated into the valve stem assembly and is attached to the rim. However, when you replace the tires, it is a good practice to replace the gromets and o-rings in the valve stem/TPMS. Any good tire shop will be able to do this. You do not need run flat tires for the TPMS system to work. I actually dumped my run farts last year for a set of the Pilot Sport A/S (on 18" rims for spring thru fall) and 17" Pilot Alpin PA3s strictly for winter use. steviej

pressing the start stop button once gets you to the ACC position. pressing is a second time gets you to the ON position. (you will know the ON position because all the idiot lights are lit.)

The lines are installed, the brakes have been bled and there is a definate improvement in the feel at the pedal. I would say a worthwhile investment. steviej

I am bored and wanted to mod something functional, so this Wednesday I am installing stainless steel brake lines on my 2006 GS300 AWD. Goodridge (G-Stop) has a nice affordable kit that is easy to install. I'll post some pics up later and let you know if they make a difference in the sort of soft stock feel of the GS brakes. steviej

the puddle lights cannot be used as signal. However, there are aftermarket covers for the mirrors that have signals in them. I think signals were incorporated in to the mirrors on the 2008 model year. steviej

A. try a sponge with warm soapy water. Then just a damp sponge to get the soap off. Then pledge to shine it up. B. I just use a micro-fiber cloth with a light spray of water (very light) C. I hate Amor-All, it dries stuff out. I leave this one to my detailer. D. Lexol or Surf City Leather treatment (has cocoa butter and aloe in it). E. Formula 409, Fantastic or Simple Green and lots of elbow grease and a scotch-birte pad works well. F. Take it to the dealership (doesn't have to be Lexus), ask for a cabin ionic deodorization treatment. Works great for cigarette, cigar and pet odors. steviej or do what I do. Pay $250 and take it to a professional detailer for "The Works"

Take it to a professional and see if they can be buffed out correctly. steviej. PS. what the hell is a Lexo-Flexo?

Corporate has agreed to replace the short engine block to solve the problem, but I'm not happy because when I try to resell this car, it'll have a stigma to it. What do you think I should ask them to do? wash the car when they finish the work. Enjoy your new engine. What stigma. So you got a leaky engine and they will replace it. You are ahead of the game. steviej

my sentiments exactly.