thombiz

Update: Turns out there is more information required. To get tires to balance properly, you have to know if the wheels are lug centric or hub centric. Lug centric wheels (like the ones on my Tundra) center the wheel on the axle shaft based on tightening the lug nuts. As the nuts tighten, they precisely center the wheel. To properly balance lug centric wheels the tech must attach the wheel to a lug adapter then mount that onto the balancing machine. Hub centric wheels use a flange on the axle and a recess in the wheel to center the wheel on the axle. The hub transfers the weight and stresses of the vehicle to the wheel . The lug nuts just hold the wheel tight against the axle seat. With this kind of wheel, the tech should use a cone to center the wheel on the balancing machine. Too often, the tech will get in a hurry and not make this correction. He will automatically mount the wheel on the balance machine using the cone adapter. Outcome: the tires on lug centric wheels will almost always be just a little out of balance. :o Hope this helps. ;)

I second the suggestion to go to a different shop. Only 1 time in 10 attempts has Discount Tire here in Corpus Christi been able to perfectly balance my tires, and that was on a brand new set of Michelins for my Tundra. :cries: Somebody needs to show the techs how to calibrate those Hunter machines.

I'm facing the same dilema with our "new to us" GS300. We've had the car only a few days and find the previous owner's Michelin Pilot XGT V4 tires to be way toooooo noisy on rough roads. They are smooth riding, positive steering, perfectly balanced, and as near as I can tell, perfectly round, but oh my the noise on rough surfaces. Our driving style is similar to yours and I put Yokohama Avid Touring tires on our SC300 and I have to say they were great! They were very round (as opposed to slightly out of round), held a balance well, wore evenly, were good in the handling dry and wet department, were comfortable riding and QUIET! The Pilot XGT V4's appear to have about 2/3 tread remaining, but I am seriously considering taking them off the GS300 and putting on some Yokohama's. Check out www.tirerack.com for product reviews and tests for numerous tire models. I'd like to hear what you choose.

I'm currently in the market for a GS but it must be a light color as it gets hot as hell here in south Texas. If I found a car similar to yours in white, with similar mileage and items needing fixing, I wouldn't be willing to pay more for it than your dealer offered. The big marks against it in my book are the mileage, creases in the seat, cracked headlight, body work, and tires. I could easily see it costing $4000 more to correct the dings, bobo's and needs. Then you'd have $24k in a car with 80,000 miles on it. It would be better to spend $30,000 and get a near perfect car with 40,000 miles on it. This is not a flame on your car, because it could very well last another 200,000 miles! This is just a perspective from a buyers point of view.

I took my SC300 in and had the Toyota mechanics check the timing this past October. It was about 5 degrees too advanced. Timing that is too advanced could give an indication by making a knock sound at "cold start" start up. Otherwise it could manifest itself in requiring numerous rotations to start instead of just a couple. Part of the issue is the timing of the spray from the fuel injector coupled with the ignition timing. If the timing of the fuel injector is early, you could get pre-ignition which would be evident by backfiring into the intake manifold and the throttle body during startup. From what I read above, most of this you have already figured out. If it is as you say, everything is running pretty well, then it makes sense the timing marks aren't in the correct position. That is where I would start verification. Hope this helps.

Just to add a note: the bolts mounting the seat back to the body are located at the bottom of the seat back. After removing the bolts, lift the seat back vertically to get it to come free. When re-installing the seat back, firmly push it down vertically, then install the bolts. If you don't push it down firmly enough, it will rattle. Be carefull when you push it down to avoid pushing on the stitched area as UV weakens the threads and it is easy to split the stitching. You already know why I know this!

:P The car is my wife's car and it has 106,000 miles on it and it has one of the engines which sounds like the lifters have gone flat when you start it up in the morning. The problem now includes a slight miss until the engine is completely warm. I'm tiring of trying to solve the problem and so a low mileage engine is starting to look like an answer. As much as the twin turbo's would be fun, and my wife would get a kick out of them, at 62 I feel I should restrict her fun to Geritol spiked with a little brandy!

Anyone swapped a normally aspirated 2JZ-GE engine into a US spec SC300. I've read about some extra requirements for the twin turbos, but I'm only interested in a non-turbo swap. I read something on the Supra site about the Japan spec using position sensor instead of MAF. Anyone know for sure? Thanks in advance. What I would like to do is pull my SC300 engine and replace it with a good, low mileage engine.

I haven't heard of strut bolt looseness, but I did have a rattle in the vicinity of the rear wheel well. Turned out, the rear seat back was not seated down far enough to keep the mount from rattling. I removed the seat bottom, loosened the bolt holding the seat back then pushed the seatback down firmly and retightened the holding bolt. I then reinstalled the seat bottom. Voila......rattle gone!

My first recommendation would be to have the timing checked and reset. Sounds like it is advancing too far during the cold start sequence.

It is easy to tell if it is the drive shaft! Put the car on a hoist. remove the rear wheels/tires, with someone in the drivers seat, start the motor, put the vehicle in drive and spin the axles to the problem speed. If it is a drive shaft, you be able to feel it, and you will be able to see it from below. With that you will either know it was the tires or the drive shaft. :P By putting one wheel on at a time and spinning it that tire, you may be able to tell which wheels are out of balance. You may also consider having the tires balanced on a Hunter 9700 Road Force measuring balancing machine. The road force balancing machine measures stiff spots in the tires which can make them feel out of balance. For more info on the 9700 do a Google search. Enjoy!

I've had the same problem with our '95 SC 300 since we purchased it Margate Lexus with 64k on it. See: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...wtopic=8030&hl= The engine had just had the Bilstein Flush when I purchased it and for a short time, I thought the flush had damaged the engine. The engine now has 106k on it. I've since tried another engine flush thinking it would help if the noise was caused by sticking valves. The flush didn't help. I've had the valve lash checked and even purchased one of the valve lifters and cut it in half to make sure it wasn't a hydraulic valve lifter with seals subject to leaking (it was solid). The most recent effort was to have the timing checked and reset. Turns out the timing was out of spec, advanced about 5 degrees. The reason I thought of timing was if the timing was too advanced on a cold start startup, the ignition would go off way before the piston was reaching top dead center thus causing the knocking sound. As I understand it, on a cold start, the ignition is told to advance by the control module, and the flow from the injectors is increased (unless there is a cold start injector present). This creates the optimum cold start environment. As soon as the the engine starts, the control module reads the various sensors then takes command of and re-adjusts the timing, then slowly leans out the flow of the injectors as the engine warms. I asked the tech to check how much the computer was advancing the ignition but he didn't have a way to check it. I think it may still be over advancing the ignition on a cold start startup. With the timing reset, the cold start startup has much less knock, but there is still some knock and a very slight miss until the engine warms. I'm almost to the point where I'm ready to put another engine in or have mine rebuilt. I've even been watching Ebay for a replacement engine.

We got the car back yesterday after having the valves adjusted. Guess what! All the valve lashes were within spec! :o Yep! Intake and Exhaust. It did rattle a bit again today when I first started up. Only thing left has to be sticky valves! I'm not sure what the top end flush by Toyota entaled, but I may try Amsoils foaming upper engine cleaner in the next couple days. If that doesn't work, it must be normal and nothing to worry about.

So.....Inquiring minds want to know? Yesterday, I ordered a valve lifter part #13751-74020 from Toyota. It arrived today and I got it home and tried to cut it in half with a hacksaw. It was hardened steel and the hacksaw just bounced off of it. Where a hacksaw failed, a bench grinder did the trick, exposing the cross section of the valve lifter. It is one solid machined piece, no hydraulics to it. No matter which way it turned out, its good to know the truth. That means AWJ was correct that the valve needed to be adjusted. I've made an appointment for Monday morning to have that done at Import Auto Service here in Corpus Christi.

I called the Service Manager at Northpark Lexus in San Antonio and presented the problem to him. He wasn't 100 percent sure, but thought the valve lifter was one solid piece. He referred me to Craig at Auto Import Service (361) 855-6421 here in Corpus Christi. He thought Craig was a up to speed on the Lexus's and would be able to get things corrected. I called Craig and made an appointment for this afternoon to drop off the car so it can set overnight at their shop. I'll keep posted the results as they come in. Craig quoted me a price of about $365 to adjust the valves which seems more than reasonable to me.