Toysrme

Toyota warrenties the Lexus v6 engines for life against sludge damage. As long as you prove you have "attempted" to maintain the vehicle. Prove you've changed the oil in the last 7 months, or 10,000 miles. The OEM recommended interval is normally 4,500 miles for bad conditions. 7,500 miles for normal use. Oil changing is easy. Take the cap off take the plug off out pours 4.5 quarts for a 3vz-fe, or 5 quarts for a 1mz-fe. Then take the filter off. Stick your finger in a new quart of oil and rub the rubber O-Ring on the new oil filter to lube it so it seals. Screw the new filter on hand tight, then turn another 3/4 turn Put a cleaned drain plug back on (Not too tight, just enough to snug it!) In goes 4.5-5 quarts. An oil filter wrench helps (strap kind) so does one of the big $2.50 plastic drain pans at parts stores. Synthetic fluids are the best... Use those. I love maintinance. It's fun. Get's you involved, tons cheaper, and the car's stay on the road longer. I've seen dealers (not just Lexus, but commonly that type of dealer) try to charge, $70-$100usd for an oil change that only changed 5-6 quarts!? You can change your own oil for the cost of fluid, and a $2.50-$4.00 Toyota filter, depending on which of the two you buy! The only downside is time... If you don't want to spend the time doing it, that's your call. You're also set up to do more frequent maintinance than someone waiting until they feel like going in somewhere. Most importantly better quality work, and parts are done by home mechanics. Just this past Tuesday my Toyota tech best friend was telling me some idiot went a put transmission fluid into a new master cylinder down at his dealer. You're much better off all around to do any work you can yourself. It simply get's done at a much higher quality, with less chance of something absolutely retarded happening. $10-20 Haynes manual (for a Camry) is the best thing you can buy. For anyone with a 97-01 ES (or a 94-95 1mz-fe) would find the complete gen4 Toyota Camry repair manual handy. It use to be in the FAQ for the Camry on Toyota Nation. Keep in mind the 1mz intakes changed in '97, and the ES 300 got vvt-i, when the Camry didn't until after. Otherwise... Same stuff! The A/C stays untouched until there is an actual problem. Normally the refridgerant leaks out at some point. It can be refilled. I've done the Freon in this old ES, and I did R134a in my old Corolla. Boils down to buying a small amount of the gas, and one of the little kits. Check the pressure on the low pressure hose. if it's low, you add if not, it's fine. ;) Good advice on the tires. Get the water pump & timing belt put on anywhere. I've personally had bad luck with the OEM Toyota timing belt on my engine after I ported & polished the heads. (I blew a head gasket). Let's see! Here's a new OEM Toyota belt that failed in under 20 miles. It split at over 140mph. (Was testing the new work I had done at the time) needless to say... The engine ran like a dog, but I did get back home. Timing was correct... And this Delco belt ran for roughly ten min, then snapped in half... I got fed up with all of it... Bought the Goodyear part and it's been great for a few thousand miles. The cost was $25 for the Goodyear, $33 for the Delco, and $45 for the Toyota OEM part... I wasn't about to spend $45 for more failing Toyota belts when I could spend half the cost to have someone else's fail!

Gen2 Camry / ES 250 Bolt pattern: 5 x 100 Offset: +38mm Gen 3 - 4 Camry (92-01 ES) 5 x 114.3 Offset: +38mm Gen5 Camry / 02 + ES Bolt pattern: 5 x 114.3 Offset: +50mm All the wheels can swap on the Camry platform. Provided they're the same bolt pattern. (Or you add a spacer for the newest ones going backwards)

That's A-OK 91L3xus. Same gearing in your transmission & differential as used in all Toyta family transaxle v6's from 1988-2001.

Probably around ten horsepower if you nailed it. Maybe more or less. Next tackle the ignition timing. You'll need to get your hands on a timing light. If you've got the $$$ to put upfront, you can borrow them from auto-parts stores like Autozone.

What he told you, A highlander alt is a 130amp unit vs the 80amp's typically installed across Toyota's car line.

At Westwood, it's a chain store down here. I remember napa being the highest, then tied with autozone was all the Part's America stores (O'riley's, and Advanced a few other chain names).

I replaced mine from the Westwood part. It cost roughly $50-60 with the core returned.

I replaced my 1993's radiator a few years ago also. It was the same deal. You can snap the black plastic "cover" off if you want. Then you can take the actual cap off. It is a working radiator cap hidden under the plastic cover. The spec on it is 13.5psi to 17.8psi The cap on the engine is 12.1psi to 16.4psi 1mz-fe's, depending on installation apploication, have either just a 12.1-16.4, or the 13.5-17.8 cap installed on their radiator.

Get the car running and warmed up, then check the level. It's hard to fill them cold. You can give up, but give it a chance ;)

The inside of a never cleaned 1mz-fe's upper intake, and ACIS flap (the varriable intake portion) I still say if he cleans all the carbon out, it probably will get better, if not go away.

While chatting, we quickly found he didn't have ATF even reading on the dip stick Because the gearing is partially enganging, the transmission is somewhat rotoating. It's 100% slipping, but it's still turning. (The speed sensor is located in the front part of the transmission which always rotates with the torque convertor output shaft when it's engaged into a drive combination. As the tranasmission slips, the speed of the slipping is registered.) It'll be interesting to see if any of the clutches totally wore themselves out. If it drives normally, I would flush the fluid out, clean the particles out of the pan & have the filter changed. Easier would be to drain the pan and refill, then drive around (to circulate the fluid) Repeate again to change the majority of the fluid, three times to change most of it.

1) No, you don't have to remove it at all. 2) Just pull the EFI fuse out. That way you don't loose radio or clock presets. 3) The only thing we're cutting is the plastic top of the box. After the factory finishes assembling, and calibrating the unit, they use a silicon glue to hold the plastic top on. Slice the glue off all around and pry the top off. It's not adversly affected when you take it off. It simply covers electronics from the elements. Glue it back on when you've finished, or tape it, whatever you want to do to seal it back. ;)

btw. 158hp @ 5800 rpm 152 lb-ft @ 4600rpm I personally wouldn't down your ES250, or sell it short... The fact that they tend to have 2800lb curb weights goes a long way to off-setting the sub 160hp v6. *Especially* when you consider it can make around 170 horsepower before a dime is spent on actual performance upgrades. Which happens to put the ES 250 right behind the rare 92-93 E153 manual transmission for fastest 1/4 mile time stock. Even without mods, as long as it is in good shape, they run the 1/4 mile in the same time frame as the newer ones, if not maybe a hair quicker.

I'll try to take it in baby steps, don't worry... We'll (Myself and Sean) have all of you turbo'ed, or at least think you could do it with some help by the end of summer! (hahahaha). No fear... That's the key. Other than touching something HOT, sticking a finger in a moving belt, or dropping a wrench between the battery posts (creating a ball of white hot plasma as it explodes and the wrench tries to arc weld itself to the vaporizing terminals...) It's just a 2800-3400lb of stuff that can't hurt you, and more than likely you won't break it if you don't cut things, or hit something really, really hard! Hahahaha all of that's a joke, but don't do any of it... Also understand. Anything that sounds complicated is typically easy one you actually sit down and do it, and anything that sounds easy (like removing an exhaust bolt...) always winds up being total PITA. *********************************************** This is actually much less complicated than I am going to make it seem... The action of resetting the ECU, cutting a lid off, turning a wheel two or three clicks.(That's the short version The stock engines, even in modified run extremely rich. As in mid to low 12's rich. Peak torque is normally achieved around 13.2-high 12's at most. Now. My engine is a 3vz-fe, but it's the same basic design, so just ignore any minor differences. You see my airbox. Right behind it is the Air-Flow meter. An Air-Flow Meter (aka Vane-Flap) is nothing more than a glorified rheostat made from a lever that is connected to a flap. The flap covers the entire intake. (See how it's shut with no airflow?) A spring holds the flap shut. As more and more air is sucked through the engine, the flap opens wider. The flap is connected to a rheostat. As it opens and closes, a voltage that is supplied by the ECU is modified. The ECU combines this voltage (showing how MUCH air is entering) with the air temperature (taken from a sensor mounted separately in the housing) to find the total mass of the air entering the car. The more tension on the flap -> the less the flap opens -> the less air the ECU thinks is entering the engine - > the less fuel it decides to inject and vice-versa Start out buy removing the battery, or opening the fuse box by the battery and removing the EFI fuse. This will force the ECU to reset, and relearn. (A side note... Despite what people seem to say constantly on other forums, the actual ECU clears codes and resets faster than you can physically pull the EFI fuse completely out, and stick it back in. There is no need to wait 5 min, let alone the hour, or overnight answer sometimes giving) Cut the silicon glue that holds the black plastic top off with a sharp knife. Remember, no fear! Peel the black plastic top off the housing. The inside looks like so: See the big cog that goes around under the electronics? There is a spring that is wound up that holds tension on the cog. This is what keeps pressure on the flap. In our case, we want to tighten the cog to lean the mixture so: About tuning: Mark where you start out with something permanent like paint / nail polish / sharpie. I would suggest not exceeding three teeth to start out with. Two teeth tighter would probably be a good starting point. It's fine to leave it with the top off while you test it. I would definitely re-seal it after you get it set like you want it to keep moisture out... About tuning: Everyone stock, or near stock should be leaning the mixture. (tighter) By that I mean if you don't have something fairly substantial adding power along the lines of ported and polished heads, mild force induction, or a small shot of n2o, you don't need to add fuel.

I wouldn't post it if it didn't work. Wether, or not anyone believes any of it... Yes, it makes a huge differance in transmission feeling. You can really fine tune when the transmission shifts, and how hard with the cable. Factory is about the middle. Around 1/4 of the way to the pink side is about right on most of these transmissions to give a fairly sporty feel that you wouldn't think the car even had. Go all the way if you're just wanting to play around. The worst thing that can happen is that every now and again the factory will isntall a cable that is short. You tighten it down all the way, and the throttle can't open 100%. (Tug the other cable, the one I circled in red in the first post. It should open all the way)

Oooooh kay. I miss understood you. You mean you put it in gear, and the car doesn't move period. not just the speedo doing crazy things. Forget the sensor. The transmission is slipping, the clutches / band for the first ratio are destroyed/worn, or there is insuffescient fluid/pressure to engage the clutches. Start off by checking the fluid.

I think you've nailed it. A bad road speed sensor.

You're right. The ECU's assume the driver is in the car until his door has been open and shut. Turn the key off and take it out, there is still power to some accessories (locks, windows, sometimes sunroof) until the driver's door has opened. The other doors don't count.

I don't care if anything is bashed or tried to be discredited, or not. If I cared, I would have left them on Toyota Nation, where 99.5% of ES 300 owners would never see them. If someone doesn't like them, that's fine. However I do agree. Saying the car is not performance oriented, and that the idea should be completely thrown out the window bothers me. Especially when everyone and their brother does some type of intake, and exhaust modification in the search of that performance. I digress, that's a totally seperate topic. Yes, the higher pressure will create slightly higher temperature. In the same since, a faster shift is less wear on the clutch packs, and less heat is created in the process. It more than likely off-sets and negative. There isn't a large amount changed, The maximum line pressure the transmission sees is not changed. A full-fledged valve-body upgrade will raise line presure enough to warrent an auxillary cooler, or replacement of the stock cooler. Honstely, adding a cooler is a good Idea anyways. 90% of transmission failures are due to bad fluid. The fluid's life span is halved every time it exceeds it's service life. There isn't much to it. You'll spill a few quarts of fluid, but consists of nothing more than some transmission oil hose, a cooler, and some zipties (for anyone that can't find a place to bolt one up, or weld). All-up cost is less than $30. Most of the time, you can go to a pick-a-part type salvage / junk yard and simply ask for a transmission cooler. Many times other people have pulled things like turbo's, intercoolers, transmission coolers and that sort of hardware all-ready, but changed their minds.

More throttle pedal for the transmission to shift, when it does so, it tends to do so very slowly. You would think that would give a very smooth shift. The opposite happens. It clunks into gear.

Not entirely... The benifits of water injection are vast. I can think of a good number of small, interesting projects worthy of someone trying. If nothing else than for people to play around with their car, and learn with. None of which need forced induction as a requirement.

Eh, it's not a bad idea for anyone that is always stuck in traffic, or in a very hot climate. The engine bay air exits at the firewall, at the bottom of the car.

I've yet to see a problem. If you look enough online, and can find someone very technically inclined (I ran across a chemist talking about it at some point) Anything gasoline safe, winds up being acetone safe. It's a very low concentration. A few oz per 10 gallons. 512-1 at least, 250-1 at most.

There was also the original A540-F with no electronics what-so ever! :) I would doubt that caused the transmission to die. This has been used for more than a decade on about everything Toyota has produced, with no ill-affects cropping up. 90% of the transmissions sold in the last 20 years use the same thing. I've never heard anyone say they tightened the cable, and the transmission died because of it. The only problem's I've ever ran across is when people tighten it, expecting it to take the place of a full transmission rebuild. It's is an adjustment, it does not equal a valve body upgrade.

No the stock o2 sensors in my car are heated lambda sensors (1 volt). over the years Toyota went to newer sensors, on a 3.3 volt scale, that are... IMHO 95% as accurate as a true 5 volt wideband sensor. The vF data Toyota outputs is a 5 volt scale. It's our link to what the ECU is actually tuning. Ever heard people (wrongly at times) say that an ECU can tune for roughly a 20% change from what it's programmed to expect? The vF voltage shows you what the ECU is having to do to th A/F ratio. You, owning an OBD-II ECU, can simply buy one of the programs for somthing like a Palm Pilot, and not just scan codes, but see all of the ECU's data, just like a tehc can. *Very* handy information to know if you're doing anything perofrmance related.