total1

These directions are EXCELLENT! :D I did this in my garage so light wasn't as complete as being outside in the sun. I put a flashlight between the anti-freeze reservoir and the engine and pointed the flashlight at the area in which I was working. I used a Sylvania H7-ST bulb I purchased at a local Wal-Mart for my 1997 ES300. 1) Step 3: I just wiggled my connector a little and pulled it away from the 'bulb-connector' which is what you see in Step 4. 2) Step 7: Relative to the bulb 'boot', I left mine 'attached' at the top so as to just reseat it once I was finished. 3) Step 8+: The hardest part of this whole operation was reseating the clip as that took about 60% of my actual time. The clip that you need to seat is the looped end so you don't need to reseat the whole clip portion under the 'J' loop. I had to put my hand behind the plastic fill entrance for the windshield washing solution in order to get the clip to work. 4) Step 9 & 10: I'd add at the end that the bulb is 'keyed' relative to its placement. There's not an actual 'key indicator' but you need to notice how the bulb is positioned when you remove the bulb with its rear-end attachment. Putting the bulb in 'upside-down' will shine the light UP and not down. 5) Step 11 & 12: The boot just pushes back into its place. Make sure it fits in by pushing all around the boot until it's snug in its housing. HTH, :)

'97 ES300 I have a truck light bulb that is toast and I need to replace it. It's the Koita 12v 3W bulb that most auto parts stores state I should use the 194 or 194LL but that's not even close. 1) Where can I find the replacement bulb for the trunk? It looks like a fuse but it's a bulb? Some of my radio lights are out. I can take the radio out via the snap-in portions above the radio and below the AC area and then remove the bolts retaining the radio to the vehicle and then the bolts retaining the radio and AC unit in their respective housing. 2) My question is: How can I replace the light bulbs in the radio? Such as the light bulbs behind the '1' and '2', the knobs, the "AM" and "FM", the up/down signal searches etc.? Thanks!

Wow I have a 97 es300 that I purchased in 2003 with 50K. I now have 145K on it. Had to replace strut mounts which dealer paid for as part of extended warranty. I do maintenance religiously including tran oil, coolant, tuneups etc. Runs like a charm and because it is garaged it is in good shape. The question is regarding the timing belt. Mine was changed at 75K. do I change it at 150? I was planning to do so. I love the car and want to drive as long as possible. Any suggestions from mechanics or folks in the know? Knik :) I've gone 110K+ on my '98; 100K+ on my '97 and I haven't changed the timing belt on my other (3rd) ES300 which I just bought w/ 67K miles - now at 70K. Timing belts on ES300 can adjust via tension, so I'm told. So, although not a must, you need to get it done. I'd go 100K+ before changing a belt without any major issues. Get it done by a good Toyota (not necessarily Lexu$) dealership. I currently own 3 ES300's: '98 with 125K; one '97 with 171K and one '97 just bot w/ 70K. All run great and I use Mobil1 Extended Performance (15K) oil with the Mobil1 Extended Oil filter and keep the oil in the engine 10K+ miles. GLCs!

The problem is solved! Evidently the driver's side door rear door was ajar and I wasn't aware of it so my focus was on the driver's door. I did find out one thing: By removing the bolt on the driver's side plunger automatically disengages the door light on the door. Once the bolt was placed back in to the rubber housing the door light came back on. So, evidently, the bolt is a ground to the light or the display light.

1997 ES300 168.5K miles In today's "frozen tundra" of the north, my driver's door was frozen shut so I entered the car from the passenger side and started the engine. Eseentially, I pushed the driver's door open, got in and drove to work. During the time to work the dash light for the 'open door sensor' came on and off a little. After about 4-5 miles of 40 mph driving/10 minutes, I stopped at a light to open/close the driver's door only to have the light display as 'on' continually thereafter. So, I left my Lexus in the parking lot with the dashboard light on and attempted to lock the car via the remote lock unit. The car gave the typical 'not all doors are locked' sound for a couple of seconds. So I drove home for lunch and pushed the door plunger in and released it. The light on the door goes out when I depress the plunger but the dashboard door light continues to stay on. I still get the sound that 'not all doors are locked'. Anyone have an idea on how to address this without a big expense? I may take the plunger off tonight once I return home and keep my ES300 in the garage. [i actually have three ES300's]. Is this just a matter of thawing out? TIA Total1

1997 ES300; 153K; great condition, too!; Mobil-1 synthetic oil ea 10K+ miles; Mobil-1 premium synthetic oil filter Some of my panel lights are out. This is the 'radio/AC/heater' panel in the center of the front dashboard. I have two (2) lights that are out. These are the far lower left panel button lights. If I remember correctly, these are the AUTO and OFF buttons. Are these lights part of the panel and hence I need to pay big $$$ to fix two (2) lights? Or, are these just simple light bulbs that need to be replaced? If light bulbs, what's the level of difficulty, if you know?

1997 and 1996 ES300 I've taken the trunk inside cover off to replace the brake lightbulbs that have just gone out. These are the bulbs to the upper right and upper left as you look at the rear of the ES300 (just to the upper left and right of the license plate). I've taken the lower right and lower left bulbs out (GE7440's) and the far left and far right bulbs out (W5W). I can't seem to find out how to get to the UPPER bulbs. I've replaced the 7440s and W5Ws in hopes that I would solve the problem but none of it worked. 1) Do I have a deeper issue than lightbulbs being out? 2) How do I get to the light bulbs? Take the assembly out with an open end wrench or what? How many nuts to remove then? TIA but I'm kinda lost here!!! TIA Oops... Make that a 1997 AND 1998 rather than a '96. Can't type this AM!

According to the dealership's response: "Steering rack is leaking slightly" The leak just started about 4 weeks ago and it drips about an amount equal to the size of the US nickel on the garage floor. I've been under the car and there's some 'blow-back' from around the transmission area to the metal supports under the driver's seat. Hence, it appears that the leak gets worse when the steering fluid's temperature increases. I think I was told that the temp gets to 1200 degrees Fahrenheit. FWIW, I drive about 15-17K a year but in the past several months except for about 3 150-mile local round trips and one trip of 400 miles total, everything has been to/from the office at 10mi/direction. At $350-ish, I'd probably do something to correct it but at $900 it would seem to be about 1/6th the value of the vehicle even with it being in 'good' shape. Maybe I should come to 'chadmg7' location? :-) Midwest or south or ...? ALL ideas appreciated!! Tom

97 ES300 148K I've just returned from the local Toyota dealer who works on my 97 ES300 for a review of my small 'nickel-sized' per day power steering drip-leak. He's indicating that it'll cost $900-ish to repair 'properly' but, since he's a friend of mine he commented that it might be beneficial to look into an aftermarket 'leak-stop' solution at an AutoZone/PepBoys etc. place. He still emphasized that to do it properly would be best. Is this common for a 148K ES300? Has anyone any experience with this approach of a solution to stop leaks in the power steering area of an ES300? Also, any aftermarket, non-Lexus/non-Toyota solutions? Also, salvage/junk yard solutions here? Other ideas appreciated! What's the risk involved here in doing this with a 'stop-leak' vs the 'proper' way? $900 = ouch! TiA!!! Tom

1) My wife is in our '97 ES300 and I lock the car from the outside via the remote control. Then she wants to get out of the car. Whenever she attempts to manually unlock the car herself while sitting in the passenger seat, the car's horn-blowing alarm system goes off. Is this normal and how can this be disabled or whatever? How can she get out of the car without this occurring? Why does the '97 ES300 do this? The situation occurred when I just 'ran into the office to get a paper' and then got detained while she was outside one evening during the summer. She couldn't get out because everytime she tried to unlock the ES300 it would automatically re-lock itself. 2) We had our two-car garage door open one evening recently with both our '97 and '97 ES300's in the garage. It was about 70-degrees that evening. My daughter had just driven the '98 and, she said, locked it. My '97 was unlocked. All of a sudden while we were all in the house (about 90 minutes+ later and around 10PM), the '98's security alarm system starts going off. I ran out to the garage about 1 minute into the horn-blowing (I initially thought it was a neighbor's vehicle). I did not notice anyone or anything (or animal) nearby. ANY ideas of why the '98 would all of a sudden start it's alarm blowing security system? I've checked the car and I can't see any place of forced entry or attempted entry. What would have caused the alarm system to start? TIA!!

I'll second, third and fourth the local Toyota dealership. They won't do warranty work - unless you want to pay for it - but they're a lot less expensive and, IMHO, a lot more, well, what's the PC word for believable! ? :-) :) Also, I have '97 ES300 with the front brakes from a local "brake-shop" type dealership (I think it was Monroe Muffler). Make sure that the brakes will actually stand the heat of a "Lexus-type" brake. What I mean is that initially they put on some types of brakes that couldn't stand the high temperatures encountered during braking. Subsequently, they had to replace these brakes (fronts) with a better quality (right type?) of secondary market Lexus brake. I've taken my other Lexus (98 ES300) to the Toyota dealership and had them do a brake job also. Difference in price was, in the end, negligible. The difference being my 97 ES300 has a very slight connect/release sound when I brake and the 98 ES300 has no sound. Whether this difference is due to installer or whatever, I don't know. [My wife drives the 97 once in a while and she never comments on the 'noise' as it's very, very slight.] But I do know that given another 50K+ miles, I'll take my 97 ES300 to my local Toyota dealership for the brake job - they DID do the rears recently at 140Kish. Oh, I've purchased 2+ Camry's from this dealership. After all, the 97-01 ES300 model is essentially a 'luxury Camry' - same transmission too!

THanks for your help! It's done and we can now 'see' better! :0

1998 Lexus ES300 Passenger side low-beam headlight out I'm needing to replace the low beam passenger light bulb on my 1998 ES300. In looking at the housing it appears that I might need to 'peel' or 'twist' something but I don't want to mess things up. I've removed the connector to the lightbult but the housing is still in place. The Lexus Owner's manual says to return the vehicle for Lexus dealer servicing. That's a fat chance so can anyone provide some guidance here? TIA, Tom

You might be right. Here's the situation that I have though. My dash yellow light out indicator is on and the passenger side light on the trunk is not lighting. [flashers work, turn signal works] So, I took out the 7440, single filament bulb, and replaced it with a new one and I still did not have a light. I've also replaced the bulbs from my 98 to my 97 and I still have the light out indicator. I took out the 7440 bulb and I still had the light out situation. I think that the bulb I'm taking out is not the bulb I need to take out in all reality. The bulb I need to take out is just to the upper right of the rear license plate on the trunk. Maybe I need glasses? :0 Visually, once 'in' the trunk the bulb I need to take out 'seems' more to the center of the trunk. Thanks, again!

I need to replace my trunk tail light (bulb #7443-two filament). It's the TOP light on the trunk lid for the '97 and '98 ES300's. I can't figure out how to even get to the light from under the trunk lid. I can see the #7440 (single filament) and the small light bulb next to it but where is the other light bulb? There's 3 light bulbs, if I'm correct and I can't find the #7443 (two filament rather than one). Where it is and maybe how to replace it would be helpful. The other bulbs just twist counterclockwise and pull out the housing and then pull the bulb out. TIA, Tom

I've got a 98 ES300 w/ 77K miles that I recently purchased from a private owner. It runs fine but when opening the trunk from the push-button on the dash, the trunk lid opens very hard. Here's what happens: Upon pressing the trunklid open button on the dashboard, the trunk opens the ENTIRE way with a vengeance. My other ES300, as 97, just pops the trunk and then patiently waits until I get to the trunk to lift it open. When I press the trunklid button on the 98 ES300 I typically dash out of the driver's seat and try to catch the trunk lid just before it hits it's most upright position. It stays at this position without any tension and it closes normally. It's just the 'ejection' that's pretty severe! Is this an easy fix and how can I get it fixed without spending big $$$? Can I fix it via a tune/tweek? TIA, Tom

I've owned a 97 ES300 about 4+ years. Bought it at 38K now with 118K. Previously, I owned 6 Camry's. Still have 2 of them. I had a 96 ES250 for about 2 months. Gave it back to the local dealer when it red-lighted on an 'oil' issue...twice! I've had a tremendous amount of problems with my 97 ES300. But I attribute this to the local dealership :-(. They can't seem to do anything right. They even quoted me a $4500 charge on a transmission 'job' that didn't need to be done [local Toyota dealership said it wasn't necessary]. That said, IF you purchase the ES make sure your local Toyota dealership can work on it. I have an excellent relationship with my Toyota dealership [who let's me talk with the mechanic] and one that's terrible with the Lexus dealership [who doesn't let me talk to the mechanic]. [The local dealership sold my ES300 to me as 'certified' but did not disclose to me at the time of the sale that the trunk had been repainted. Now, 'out of certified warranty', they claim that neither they nor Lexus can help. Arg :-( Where's responsibility here?!?] I now own a two-toned ES300! I wouldn't buy any 'certified' Lexus. If it's built good, you don't need to pay more $ just for someone to call it 'certified' without doing anything. [Yes, they do check the lights and turn signals to see if they work.] Bottomline is this: Lexus rides nice but make sure you have a 'friend' [non-Lexus dealership] to whom you can take the vehicle when you need help. I've had a lot of problems with my ES300 but I'm still open to purchasing another one but NOT at the local dealership. I'll go 2 hours out of town first! ES's are essentially 'beefed-up' Camry's but they're a little more $ to repair than a Camry or Avalon. Hope this helps and you don't think I'm "ranting"..... Cheers!

When I come to a gradual slowing down/stop from about 40-55 mph, I can feel the 97 ES300 downshift into gear around 15mph. Other shifting appears to be fine, it's just the downshift at 15 mph area. The ES300 was a certified pre-owned Lexus that I purchased from the local dealership in 2/2001 at 38K miles. I currently have 113K. What's the possible problem and how do I solve it? TIA, Tom