capnfred

Good Job, always look for easy stuff first, and remember to shut off the wireless door system if your going to leave the car for an extended time. It will save your battery.... Capn

First thing to do is pull the codes, its really very easy, take a paper clib, bend it into a u, and put one end in tei and the other end in E1 on the diagnostic connector under the hood. It is a black rectangular box that says diagnostic on it. Turn on the key, and count the flashes on the Check engine light. As for the key, try wiggling the steering wheel.... good luck capn

I have to bk up the post re: Scanlon Lexus Ft. Myers. When I first got my ES-300, it was in need of lots of TLC, I had no experience with Lexus, and had not found LOC yet. I asked the service manager if I could talk to a mech. They were very helpful, the guys at the parts desk were equally helpful, they printed parts breakdowns, and other info. If I had to take it to a shop, I don't think I would hesitate taking it to Scanlon. capn

wow, did you measure the voltage on the battery, check the connectors, check the connectors ....... mine did the same thing, it was not the actual batter connector, but where the wires attached to bttery connector...there was a little bit of corrosion on them......that solved the problem, also Lexus says that if you leave the car unused, turn off the wireless door system to keep from killing the battery..... its right in the OM...good luck Capn

The local junk yard here has some, I pulled mine from a Camry, will be happy to get one for you, email me if interested, I am in SW Fla. how about you. Are you sure it is bad, mine had broken wires in the cable, someone probably hung the weight of the suspension on it and stretched it, I was able to splice the broken wires and all is well, but I would like to replace it for longevity purposes. They have lots os parts and are selling them really cheap!, i got a radio and amp for 50, a cluster for 65, a full set of leather seats for 200 etc etc.......

Do you have the FSM, or ALLDATA, they will point you in the right direction, you may be able to access ALLDATA at your public Library, good luck with it. Capn

I used a pair of paint can openers as hooks to pull it really hard, when you put it back together put a dab of grease on the tabs, the next time it will come off easier, I had the same problem, silly little car lit.... checked all the bulbs, could not find out what was causing it, totally spaced the third eye...LOL

I get an consistent code 14 on my 93 ES, according to the FSM its caused by a signal from the igniter not getting to the ECU, before I go into the ecu swap, I already changed the Igniter, does anyone have any advice other than take it to dealer....thats not goanna happen... I am under the opinion that as long as things are put together as the engineers designed them they will work, (spent close to 40 years in the electronics industry as a technician)....I am hoping that someone has had a similar experience. The car was purchased from a private owner that only had it short time, but had major prolems so he sold it cheap..... I got it for 800.00, and hae slowly been finding and fixing many prolems. After replacing all the bulbs in the cluster, I found that I had many faults, CEL, Airbag, ABS, and the pesky rear light fault.... the ABS turns out to be a bad wheel sensor, (fixed), the Airbag was caused by someone starting the engine with the Cluster removed... code 41, have to reset it.... the last thing other than the rear light is the CEL, also there was an idling problem, which I think I have taken care of by cleaning all the components in the intake system.... IACV, TPS, EGR, etc..... anyone have any advice..... Capn Just a quick update, the CEL went out when I repaired the hose from the cam cover to the intake hose....mmmm what does this have to do with the igniter..... anyway will drive the car for a bit and see what happens... capn

My 93 ES had a similar problem, after cleaning the TPS, the IACV, and EGR valve assy it now idles nice and smooth......I am getting a CEL with a code 14, replaced the igniter with one from a junkyard, code is still there...the TPS and IACV cleaning had no effect, but the EGR valve did the trick, when I removed the dashpot black powder (carbon) fell out, anyway after re-assmebling the egr, the idle is nice and smooth. Hope this helps Capn

You have to do the wire dance, the procedure is posted here on the web, do a search on the forum, but first pull the code for the Airbag, it is probally a 41, then you hae to reset the fault, and see if it returns. Code 41 means that you had an error... could be any number of things... do a search on airag and get a cup of coffee or whatever is your beverage of choice and read.... its very enlightening... one of the fixes that has lots of attention are the cables under the passenger seat, again read the posts.... vellllly interesting .....hope this helps... Capn

Well I now know the IACV on ES-300 is totally different than on your cars, Mine appears to be much simpler, and therefore easier to maintain, anyway I took it all apart, cleaned it till it shined, then re-assemled evrything. Did not see any big changes, so then I tackled the TPS, it too was a bit dirty ut everything moved, but I cleaned it too. Still no big difference in idling. I was doing it step by step to determine which component has the greatest effect, finally I pulled the EGR Valve assy. VOILA, finally something concrete, when I removed the dashpot, lots of powdered carbon fell out, maybe as much as a Tsp. After re-assembly, I had to re-adjust the idle speed, now when it idles it is nice and smooth, the speed is the same whether it is in gear, nuetral, AC on or off........so by the process of elimination the EGR Valve was the culprit. Time will tell I guess, this is on a vintage ES with 180k on the clock. If there are any ES-300 owners that would like to see a step by step, I will post one, its pretty easy, nothing really tricky about it....the only part that was the least bit difficult was the hose removal. on the ES the IACV is wide open, easy to get to, and easy to clean. Capn

I have a similar problem, I am going to first inspect all the components to see if there is something disconnected, there is a very detailed procedure for diagnosing the srs. This is on a used car that I am slowly getting back on the step. Today I finally got the instrument cluster working correctly. The previous owner/s had disabled the CEL, Airbag, and ABS light by smashing them, then putting them back in the cluster. So now I have full functionality, and three fault displays... oh well, guess I gotta pull some codes and diagnose what is wrong. So if you have an FSM, (see the sticky), follow the procedures, from what I read tonite, (96 pages) a solid light means a mal. has occured and an error has been stored. You can clear the error code and see what happens, but with a potentional problem in the srs, I would like to know what the code is.....visions of driving down the hiway with the aibag deploying unexpectedly makes me kinda nervous....as does the Idea that it may not deploy when needed. When I bought the car I used carfax to check for any issues, none reported... but as I have been restoring the car, I have not only found lots of really shoddy workmanship, but deciet and evidence of parts being changed, lots of yellow paint on things like struts, suspension parts, etc etc... for the uninitiated yellow paint is what the junk yards use to mark things they have sold........sooooooooooooo I will keep all infomed as to what I find out. If you don't feel comfortable diagnosing the srs, print out the fsm, give it to your competent wrench and let him do it.....guess I will be having some fun tomorrow.... lets see, CEL, Airbag, and ABS...oh yeah the rear light sensor is set also....btw the car drives really nice..... but I want to get the faults cleared before I give it my GF to drive..... Capn

I had a similar problem on my 93 ES, has something to do with the transmission/ignition lock interlock system. If the system does not regognize that the trany is indeed in park, it will not let the the key turn past accesory. This problem surfaced when I had the driveshafts disconnected for service. Try this, with the engine off (key turned to accesory) put the shift lever in park, then softly rock the car back and forth against the park lock see if it frees up the lock. If that doesnt work, then you have a problem in the interlock system, there is a solenoid that has to be energized to pull the key out....if you have an FSM it should help you ... let me know how this works..... Capn

I have a 93 ES300 with an OEM radio, Pioneer 6801 on the cassete door, is it subject to LCD failure also, one other question, were all the ES300 wired for the CD changer, I am hoping so, I have the radio with the CD changer connector, and the CD changer I pulled out of a Junker, to be on the safe side I have the connectors from the dash harrnes and the ones in the trunk. The OEM radio works fine, and I am hoping not to have to run a cable for the CD changer... Thanks for any assistance. Capn

Good morning, if you download the FSM, there is a good picture in there, or go to Alldata, there are many checkballs in the transmissioin.....if you don't have any luck I will see if I can upload a copy of the pic to you..... capn

I want to put my 2 cents in, I have been reading the posts regarding the lighting issues on the Lexus Marque, is there something I am missing here, we are talking about changing lite bulbs, albiet, little bitty ones, but still they are just light bulbs. There are good tutorials on how to change out the bulbs, either with incandescent ones or with leds.... I know lexus inc. charges high for parts and labor, afterall it is a Luxury Automoblie... bit 10.00 for a bulb you can buy for less than a 1.00 is rediculous. I have only been working on my lexus a short time, but remember, its still just a Toyota, I don't recall which post I read with the non Lexus/Toyota part numbers for the bulbs, but I know it is there somewhere, I did a search of the forum and came up with 26 pages of posts talking about intrument lighting issues.... great reading..... if you can handle a screwdriver (carefully) then you can change out the bulbs.... one of the tricks we used in the navy, (spent 20 plus years working on military electronics) was to use a pencil eraser to clean the contacts on ckt boards....use it gingerly, then clean the surface with alchohol, do the same thing to the little contacts on the bulb holder, ( the little plastic thingy the bulb plugs into.... and away you go....anyway I will get down off my soapbox now...... Capn

Do you know where I can find out the type of bulb to use for the instruments, I have some that have blown out, any assist is appreciated

Great Post, I have just gotten a well used 93 es300 with 180k on the clock. I am suffering from intermittent idling problems, so I am guessing I have an IACV cleaning in my immediate future, the previous owners had many things on the car misadjusted to compensate for other problems, I am slowly but surely finding them and getting them right, (the way the engineers designed it). I will use your post as a guide and when finished If I find any areas to critique I will. I have been wrenching for 50 plus years.... started out pretty young....anyway I am looking forward to getting it right, it appears to be a great car.... the previous owner was a very young man and he was fortunate that the car did not kill him.... so many problems with suspension and steering. Anyway thanks again.. sounds like the cats meow! (grin) Capn

hey I can help you with this, I have been working with electronics for 40 plus years, its not difficult to do, all you need to do is remove the passenger seat, then using the wiring diagram that you have in the fsm or from alldata, on the amp there are two connectors, one is from the radio, the other is to the speakers.... all you do is take the left and right audio output from the radio and connect it to the appropriate speakers, the audio system is basically front rear, left and right, there is one set of wires that feed the front left, the front right, and a separate set that connect the rear left and rear right.... any questions feel free to email me at capnfred57@yahoo.com, I just rewired my 93 es300 audio system so I am very familiar with it.... if you still have the mouning hardware from the oem radio I am very interested in that, also the trim piece that goes between the radio and cup holder..... anyway give me a buzz.... Capn

I have been reading this topic interestedly, first of all I have a 93 ES-300 which the previous owner/owners butchered the audio system, if you want to bypass the the amp all you have to do is jump from the input to the output of the amp, the factory radio is wired to the amp, the speakers are wired from the amp, get the FSM, find out which connector pins are the inputs and which are the outputs, its not difficult at all.... I had to reconect the wires that the preious owner cut both at the amp and at the door connectors in the kickpanels....In the process I had to learn the lexus wiring system and the FSM, both of which are great..I would think from a technical viewpoint that taking the amplified output of the headunit and feeding it into the amplifier input would overdrive the amp....which would cause distortion and poor sound quality.....lastly the built in cell phone has a relay located by the antenna in the trunck which allowed the drivers door speaker to be used for the hands free... when you talked it energized the relay which muted the speaker, if you leave it alone the speakers should be fine as it was only designed to mute when you used the cell phone.....anyway I rewired my car so the oem radio works like the engineers designed it to, as an aside I am looking for the mounting hardware from the oem radio that attaches it to the hvac module, also the trim panel that goes between the bottom of the radio and the top of cup holder, as the previous butcher destroyed them in the process of installing a kmart radio into a nice sound system... I also have a good power antenna that I am going to sell.... if anyone here is interested let me know. thanks Capn

Do you have an Advance Auto parts store, or Autozone store by you, if so they have a cooling system pressure tester, with the engine cold, use the pressure tester to see if you have a leakdown proplem. If the system is intact, then it should hold pressure for some time.... unfortunately you said that you have white smoke........ good indiction of a blown head gasket, good way to tell is run a compression test......if you have a blown gasket then the affected syl. will have little or no compression.... I beieve the FSM says 178 psi is normal.....I would do the compression test first..... that will preclude the possibility of forcing coolant into the blown cylinder.... any questions you can email me..... I don't have any experince with the lexus/toyota, as my previous experience with the Camry was superp, over 300K miles with little or none corrective maintenence required. However I have been sucessfully wrenching for close to 50 years....good luck,,, I just got a 93 es300, so I am learning about them... LOL

here are some pics of the areas in question, the first one shows a bracket just to the right of the vbank cover, it looks like something goes there, any Ideas. the other one shows the empty bracket, just below and to the left of the air cleaner, any helop is appreciated. Thanks capn

good idea, will do that tomorrow...... maybe I can find someone here that has one I can look at..... thanks

This may be a no brainer for someone, if not then its off to the dealer.... I recently purchased a used 93 ES300, there appears to be something missing in the vacuum system, I have two hoses that are paired together, and have a two semicurclar plastic clips on the assembly, one end goes to the vacuum manifold on the right side of the engine (air intake side) the other end right now goes nowhere, I have carefully looked for any widgits with hoses missing and in the examination process I noticed just below and aft of the cruise control servo a mounting bracket with nothing in it. The bracket is approimately 2 inches in diameter and made of plastic, obviously something goes there that is not there... any help is appreciated. capn

Thanks for the help, thats what I figured, but with parts as expensive as they are I did not want to break something I will try the paint can opener will let you know later how it works. Thanks again..... Capn