mburnickas

I would use the search function on the forum since there is LOTS of good info. Your oil drain interval is integral to the oil you use. You can go from 3,000 miles drain to up to 20K if you wanted. I do about 4 to 4.3X longer then you do. Most times the 45, 60, 30 etc are a ripoff if you know some basic car stuff. Having to paying Lexus to rotate your tires, or put blades on wipers, or check this and that is nuts. The major ones are the timing belt, water pump, tranny, pulleys, tensioner, thermostat, seals, plugs etc. Yes 90K is it since you have an VVTi engine which menas if the belts break, you have MAJOR issues.

That's news to me! No Lexus factory alarms ever had glass break detection. <_< ← I agee. That is a new one.

First off yellow oil? Never heard of that and also 7K miles on a dino oil? Talk about solids in the oil...I would LOVE to see an oil test done with walmat oil with 7K miles. Watch out since you do have a 98 with the famous engine issues.

give it a few hours to post. Some of the other guys know LOTS!!!!!!

Welcome to LOC! :) Here is a link with the codes. I can help you more then that, but others can help more. Looks to be a EVAP issue. Cheap gas cap first (easy). Could be other things like charcoal canister etc. http://www.troublecodes.net/Lexus/[/ This might help http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...880&hl=PO440url]

I would personally select AC, Pure One, Mobil, Baldwin (or Amsoil) or Fleetguard before Wix but that again is me. Nothing wrong with Wix though. I know about 5 years ago (maybe longer) Amsoil had to re-do there oil filters since Mobil was catching up to them. Oil filters will have different shells, different media inside, anti-drain back vlve, spring different and oil relieve valve. Maybe even different sealing gaskets. Most times these filters are tested per SAE HS806 (efficiency/capacity).

I think you do the samething for balljoints?

I wanted one (when I got the letter/form) till I looked at the APR (12.XX%)? Too high for me. Then again I have no CC bills so why get one. I have a 5.5% fixed card for emergencies and that is still too high.

P.S. I did search this topic as well. Nothing came up. Sorry if this was already posted. I converted my 98 ES to hids and I never even use my High’s anymore. The yellow sucks and the lows work great. Unless the body is the same, I think you are out of luck on the parts (OEM). I would just do the normal lows and call it a day. I am putting HIDS on my motorcycle next!

Anyone ever use this stuff in the Lexus? I know some people who have and they love it. Going to convert my Kubota tractor (BX22) and my Suzuki GSX-R1100 to it. It has lots of benefits despite the high initial cost. Trying to find if anyone here has used it in there Lexus. Just wondered. http://www.engineice.cc/ yes it is silicate and phos free....

All I am saying is that I have never seen varnish on any engine of mine or family's. If you have varnish you have neglected the engine in some form (mostly oil, duration or low add pkg oil being used). If you use a better oil, you will have LESS or NO oxidation happening when the oil is to hot and vaporizing leaving varnish behind. So if you have varnish, this is the starting of deposits/sludge. Also if you have varnish I would test the oil for oxidation/nitration. They will be high. Persoanlly I would use a better oil or shorten the intervals you are doing now down some; since they are too long. Hence, more oil changes. In a group 4 or 5 you should never see varnish. In a synthetic oil ,for example a group 3, you will have varnish quicker then a 4 or 5. ← There is a long discussion about this topic. Mike was kind enough to get the oil sample test for us. Changing the valve covers alone won't fix it. JP Importz ← I would have to agree since you (not you) are still not fixing the problem.

Pre-1999 are NON-INTERFERENCE 1999 - 2005 are INTERFERENCE Like mburn eluded to earlier, an easy way to remember is: VVTi stands for Variable Valve Timing with intelligence. I always remember it as Variable Valve Timing with INTERFERENCE. VVTi was introduced with the 1999 model year. steviej ← I rememebr reading YOUR post a long time ago and that is all I remember!!!! I could never remember what the I stood for!

I thought starting in 99 (VVT-i technology=variable valve timing w/INTERFERENCE) which became an interference engine. I am not starting a debate here or heated debate etc, but an engine that is going on seven years old is mainstream here. (over 50%) In the older engines (1mz-fe 94' to 98') are are non-interference but are about the same years in service. I also thought based on the norm on here (LOC) that 90K was the service for the ES300 (for this year in question); based on my findings using the search functionally. Just some FYI if nothing else.

That is one of the reasons why I bought a scanner off ebay. Brand new for around $400: http://buy1.snapon.com/products/diagnostic...=EESC307A&qty=1 Once you get these there is no going to autozone, no pulling fuses, no guessing and you can do lots more then code reading. So far it has come in handy on several of my familys cars. Plus the info is priceless.

All I am saying is that I have never seen varnish on any engine of mine or family's. If you have varnish you have neglected the engine in some form (mostly oil, duration or low add pkg oil being used). If you use a better oil, you will have LESS or NO oxidation happening when the oil is to hot and vaporizing leaving varnish behind. So if you have varnish, this is the starting of deposits/sludge. Also if you have varnish I would test the oil for oxidation/nitration. They will be high. Persoanlly I would use a better oil or shorten the intervals you are doing now down some; since they are too long. Hence, more oil changes. In a group 4 or 5 you should never see varnish. In a synthetic oil ,for example a group 3, you will have varnish quicker then a 4 or 5.

stuck caliper?

Varish man...Cheap oil and lots of heat.

I disagree somewhat since even Lexus sent out documents saying the mileage you posted is incorrect. There is no time or mileage interval on any docs here (for the sludge engines). But keep using a dino (any) oil here. Also it anyone THINKS they have a sludge issue there is a simple way to test (as I have posted for years on). Spend the $30 for an oil test and look at the results. To close, if you have a sludge issue and clean the covers, you are not fixing the problem. It WILL happen again unless you change something.

the gas cap should hiss when you unscrew it. The seal is like $3.00 online. The Canister does not look hard to remove. It is like a fuel filter i my eyes.

Maybe I am wrong here but I thought in the USA this item has to be replaced free since it is for Calif Env laws (per feds). I think they have 8 years and like a "billions" miles. I know there is something that lists like 15 diff things that have to be placed if they fail. I also know Lexus sent me a letter on it.

I agree that at “sometime” they will leak (valve covers) but as the old saying goes “if it is not broke….”. With that very same logic I would need to replace 90% of the car. There is a fine line in the sand for preventative maintenance and it for the owner it needs to be drawn. I do not know where a dyno test came into the picture but again most times an owner will not remove the intake, let alone clean it; me included. Again most owners of these cars will not even change a tire. Not throwing stones at the LOC people but in general here. I use a fuel cleaner once per month (every 5 tanks to keep all the good stuff clean). Again, if an EGR breaks ($141 new), my time to remove and clean it is worth more then just replacing it. So again, not worth my time to clean it.

valve covers, why? If they are not leaking leave it alone. Also why "hand clean" the intake? There is again no, need unless you are having performance issues. ← there is no such thing as a life time fule filter.especially if you live in ithe USA with all the crappy fule they have. any filter will get issus with water rust or other contaminate's in the fule. the further you are from the pipline and refinery the wors the fule. if you dont chang the filter you can see problems with luging when you let off the gas poor fule mil and lack of performance ← Do a search since this topic has come up before and the outcome was....it is a lifetime filter.

That is great you looked for Toyota Service at Toyota Nation here. This is LOC right? First off I do not use Autozone or any “hodge-podge” parts here. Some people like $0.99 parts in there car or homemade things on them. If I was 20 I would love that but I am not a teenager and have a family here. I am not going to have my wife and child traveling down the road with a $10 Timing Belt from “joe blow's” shop here or a auto parts store. If I wanted cheap then I would have shopped at Wal-mart for my parts! If I wanted a cheap car I would have not purchsed a Lexus. The best is the “A local mobile mechanic” or the AutoZone parts quotes here from people. You get what you pay for in life. You will learn... I also do not know why you are so stuck on a head gasket here. The topic was on “water pump & TB right? If you think all dealers pay the same you are flat out wrong. Any dealer will tell you that and I know 2 personally and many family and friends own garages. Not ONE pays the same for one item. I even priced out tires. If they did I would have gotten parts from them. They are all different and labor is integral to what region you are in. I called 3 Lexus dealers and I talked two 2 Toyota. Both of them are integral to their own Lexus dealership and the prices are the same in BOTH places. I called Toyota at Balise and Hoffman (CT) (all same day) and the prices where flat out almost the same. The parts are about 10% delta at Balise. Again, down in Alabama things are cheaper. Come up here and see how things are. I think I might be correct SINCE I LIVE HERE. I pay 110 an hour? Really apparently you know all the stuff I had done and the time it took. I also know all about the “book rates”. Most shop rates are different then what you stated. Even motorcycle dealers are different then what you stated. Next all parts are not the same; even my garages friends/owners will tell you that! Even Saber/Monarch will tell you that, big time! Even in college in my engineering class you learn that and at my job you learn that. Example, saying all parts are the same is as bad as saying all engine oils are the same! :chairshot: This belief does not go far in the real world. Buy a house and see how far this attitude works with the GC or builder. LOL….I know what parts cost!……Not gonna last long and the person will laugh his behind off. Not joking either.. Same with my tractor and I know several owners (all go riding) and 4 of them all have DIFFERENT invoices from the manufacture. Again different areas, get different rates, how many buying at once, deals etc. To close the price I paid is cheap since again it is about $0.29 a day since new till now. It is only $740, out the door for all the work I had done and that is less money then my battery packs for my R/c heli!!!!!! Again cheap price to pay for service, loaner warranty on the service. Do I like spending $$$ no, but I am not nickel-and-dime important things in my life either. Plus $740 is a drop in the bucket here. Not breaking the bank here or causing the mortage to be late.

Just keep an eye on it for a few days. I only say this is that if the engine is bad the engine clean sometimes lossens up pieces and plugs up passages. I do not recommand it for this reasons. I would also drain this oil sooner then normal also.

That is great they used threaded holes for that long and I am sure these holes (threaded) at not to be used to pry of metal parts that are together by dis-similar metals, rust etc. It is weird that cars used tapped holes "for 40 years per Monach/Saber etc) but they are to NOT be used in commerial and military apps since they are not good by design and testing shows it. For me, why not spend the $0.0005 on a helicoil and call it a day? I guess I would never make a good car enginner.... The point I am trying to make is that I would not rely on tapped hole to pry something apart. You are just asking to strip the threads, big time. Moach it has nothing to do with Ohio or MA as our profile states. It is common (basic) design here. It is more variables then "snowy winters here".