BoaR

yes, that depends and yes. :D

:( First day I get the car, park it to run to the store and someone keys my back light. Few days later someone scratches the hell out of my trunk (looks like someone dragged grocery bags over it...as if they unloaded their car onto my trunk, then parked, then took the liberty of dragging the bags off into thier house...) I just went out and someone ripped the trunk emblem right off during the night :cries: Whats funny is Im near a grade school, none of the other cars are damaged from any of the thousands of kids that pass by all day... but I have a feeling its some effin old man that "yelled" at me for moving his recycling bin to the side as i was passing to load stuff into the car one day. came out screaming his head off not to move his bin and refused to listen to reason, and told me to park somewhere else to load up my car bah. I find it funny that thousands of kids going by, I park on either side of the street and nothing happens... soon as im close to this guys house (now that I think about it) something happens to my damn lexus Needless to say, im parked very far away from this frigger now and waiting on the replacement part from the dealership (-35 bucks). the guy even said that he gets a lot of calls for the logo's, because people always have them torn off bah. So little love for our poor lexus' such jealousy ! :(

Well honestly for that price I would jump on it. really no matter what the "problem" its a steal at that price. If the car was totally broken and you were going to junk it for parts - individual part sales will total more than his asking price IMO. I just bought my 95 es300 about a month ago give or take. it has 200k on it and is in "perfect" condition. no rust, no dents etc.. few very very minor BS things like a little rip in the passenger seat and the guage needles burnt out, but thats such small issues that it was neglectable. I paid 3k for the car. (I live in canada btw, so market values should be the same, but might be different for down south). Just to give you an idea for mine above. My friend has a 92 es300 approx 200k on it also, he bought it about 4 months ago. paid about 2.5k for it. His problems? note that he "knew" about the problems on purchase. engine gasket was leaking, and there was a little issue with the coolant dripping. tho he isnt sure where. (his timing belt needs to be changed too but thats a always issue so not gonna count that). Other than that the car runs perfectly with that many miles. While visiting some we came across es300's from the 92-95 age, with over 450k on the meter. the interior was shredded to hell and looked like crap, dings all over but the actual car ran just fine. It makes me happy to know that with a little care I can have a car that will easily top 450k for milage and still run great. As for your car, the interior looks great, no lobster knife fights on the seats to tear them haha, and the pics dont really show the exterior very well (the wheels tho SUCK big time lol they look sooo bad) but overall its not banged up to hell. If the guy has service records, check the timing belt first to see if it was changed. if not its gonna be due soon (250 bucks), also if the engine was "really" changed and for what reason. maybe the belt was done with the swap. was it titles accidented btw? might be the reason for the sales low ball price. But if that all checks out, I would jump on the car. the "overheating" issue isnt that harsh as my friends car strongly suggests. original engine that is only starting to have a gasket leak at 200k that actually runs great even tho it needs to be addressed, shows that if your engine was changed, and there is only 70k on the car (no rollbacks), you are set for a long time by buying it ! that "issue" isnt as horrid as most lead on to believe. Also note that up here in quebec, our winters are brutal. we get our share of mild ones, but in the last 17 years dating back to the 92 lexus - we have had some very impressive harsh climat and tons of snow the car has to put up with. and ours aredoing just fine with high milage. Down where you are I doubt that -40 winters and 10 feet of snow are standard ;) your car looks good - go get it ! B)

I never took the volts from the needles themselves sadly. More problematic were the backlighting cluster. For the needles, even low volt LED's will work it seems, its really not a huge issue. The biggest problem you will have stringing LEDs together will be the weight. The needles (this part I did) weight nothing. literally. On a ounce & gram digital scale, they didnt even trigger the scale at all. I tested a goose feather beside them which actually weighed more than the needles. and yes, i was astonished. After your needle mods (use the DYI thread on this) I weighed them again - same. weighed nothing. so this way the balance isnt off. I skipped the part of using 2x ohm resistors, and stuck with one centered in the needle instead. with a modified simple red LED at the tip. + to - etc etc.. You already opened the needles so you know how little room you have inside. jamming strings in there is tough, getting it to also weigh nothing will be difficult. =/ leds can take a beating, be run at lower voltages etc... my red tip one was kinda like the silly crap round ones you can get at radio shack. just I didnt get them there, but a proper circuit store. I believe they only carry 12v ones now that I think about it. considering his ultra bright white ones were 12v and he said when I asked, "the leds are 12v like normal ones" . so im going to make a pretty good guess that its "not" 12v pumping into the needles, as that would make them hot (you know there isnt much room in there at all. that side plastic touches everything) but a lower voltage. my setup mod as it is goes like "rated" 12v red round led, 1x 330ohm resistor and a tad of 30 guage wire going + - on the leads. works fine and I can see the red tips juuust fine. no strain nothing agasint the white backlighting. It's bright but I doubt its sucking 12v. note that solder and wire throws a bit of resistance too, so thats why I figured I could get away with only 1 resistor in there. hope that helps ! and good luck making a string... pics please if you rig that up and its the same weight. I feel the pain of working in that TINY space... and would like to see how you fair ! ^_^

Ermm dude. First there is a thread on the needle repair already... and secondly 300 bucks charge for a repair that costs $2.99 total ? thats low.... real low. <_< edit: I should read dates on threads.... this one was zombified

Just wanted to chime in real quick because I saw some fuss about window cleaning ;) oh and for my dash (to not hijack the thread haha) I have a pack of Meguiars Quick Interior Detailer wipes in the glovebox. quick painless and they honestly are a great product ^^ For the windows I actually use a glass cleaner called "Bon Ami Glass Cleaner" Up here in canada I can find it easily in 99% of any supermarket or chain store, I would be surprised if down south of the line you guys were not able to get some either. Red/white spray can btw, I know windex was trying to hijack the product for a while and their stuff is garbage... get the original - its cheaper anyways! Its a thick foam type glass cleaner - DONT spray it IN the car !!!!! I take a soft terry cloth and spray some on (not thick thick but thick) away from the car and then go to work on the windows inside/out sunroof glass etc... saying this stuff is incredible is a complete understatement. I started using it on my house windows years ago and have never ever bought another glass cleaner since then. thats why I reached for it for the car windows too. boy do they look good ! Forget the sprays, windex, 10 buck a can window cleaner etc... get a can of this, 3-4 bucks in the store and enjoy the "daaaammmn" coming out of your mouth as you step back and take a look at the great work it does :P I'll buy the can off you if you dont like it. I promise thats how good it is :D

there can literally be a thousand different types of "glow" guages. which were you talking about? link or photo maybe ?

perfect, now I know at least the general area where to look. tomorrow during the day I'll check, thanks !

heh, if you dont get it to the shop in time ? Oh suddenly just no steering at all while your going 120 on the highway. choice is yours :P

Always something eh ? Ok so when I bought the car, I found a little remote with 2 buttons just tossed into the glovebox. With no regard for my own saftey I pressed the buttons on said remote (bomb anyone? lol) and nothing happened. having no time to deal with that back in the glovebox it went. Fast forward to today. im looking at everything again. I'm 99% sure its for a remote starter. just above the rearview mirror is one of those little square boxes stuck to the windshield with 2 mini-wire metal needles sticking out towards the sides. I popped the little remote to check the batteries....all the contacts are coroded inside...nice.. <_< Being a complete idiot when it comes to remote starters, I have no idea where to start looking as to the brand,make, etc of this car starter. NOR the location of where they are normally installed to get a name of the company or something to get a replacement. Ideas? Thanks

well its a yes and no answer. the oem ones pretty much are, if you DIY led's you need to get the proper voltage ones. hence my post of that info here. Im up in canada, hate paypal with a passion and dislike waiting for anything. If I cant buy it locally and need to wait - there is a good chance I will jerry rig something instead. "IE: totally impatient" So ordering those LED's to test was a no-go for me. would take forever + an eternity to get them shipped up here from wherever they are. in the states it might go lot quicker. Lots of folks here ahve done the needle and backlight fix with the LED's from the other thread, and they seem to work fine. either they got really lucky or those ultra bright LED's are actually 14v and not 12. I never ordered any, nor could i find anyone locally that even sold those types of LED's. I need my dashboard, and my lights so I just popped in oem replacement bulbs for now. still looks great, nice and bright no fading etc. just they arent led's ;)

hehe was 2 posts below this one actually -> http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=51118 all in all you can use whatever led/lights/bulbs you want, high low bright dim whatever. but for the backlighting you MUST have 14v and 3w going into them. for the needles I actually couldnt find mini led's locally, so I just bashed up some diode-type red leds (the kind that look all cheap and oval shaped meh) I figured that it wouldnt matter because the needle is being blacked out anyways. shaved the sides down to the width of the needle, and made sure my resistors were centered for the most part. Aside from that I used the needle DIY fix thread for all the other specs. the resistors etc all the same. works fine even with those cheapo types I used. the tip is just as bright and looks just as good. oh the weight of the needle didnt even register on my ounce digital scale.... it was that light. I was actually shocked that it didnt even pick the needle up. so weigh your needles before/after. some people have had balance issues (not many tho - probably just a real heavy hand at soldering) so mine weigh'd 0 in and 0 out. good to go ;) EDIT: in case you meant the actualy diy needle fix thread, that you couldnt find its here -> http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=217411 EDIT again: just realised that you meant the voltages coming off the needles themselves. Im not sure if someone multimetered this before, i completely forgot to myself =/ the dealership guy said the only thing that was not 12v in the cluster was the backlighting (8 green cap twists) the rest was 100% 12v. so the diodes I used were the ghetto kind, but still 12v rated.

was it just the needle lights that went out, or the entire cluster lights? if it was the needles, before putting them back in did you do the 9v battery test ? if yes and they worked, did you have the polarity - + correct? Im presuming that you did the DIY mod yourself. if someone did it for you go ahve them fix it back up. if it was yourself, my $$ is on incorrect LED voltages and insta poof burn once the cars electricial system kicked in. (see my info led thread why) good luck repairing the problem! @jtsosie - check for the needle fix thread. yes you can just rip out the innard needle leds and drop your own in. that thread has all the info. make sure you get the correct voltages !

its the cluster not the entire car lights rated like that. while I was talking to the parts guy (at the actualy lexus repair/dealership err "garage") we were verifying and the rest of the lights for the seatbelt, engine check etc lights are 12v - not 14. only those friggin backlighting 8 (should have green base twist tabs) are 14v 3w. As for where locally, I did the smart way. called the lexus dealership, asked for the parts department, and then asked for the replacement bulbs for the 95 es300. the part number in the DIY thread is correct btw. dont have it on hand but it was 118 something .. the guy found the exact lights in 2 seconds with that number. btw i did note that the "new" bulbs he gave me HAD the 14v 3w printed on the mini blue "boot" cover. as the old ones didnt. Sorry to hear about those needles. the dealership guy showed me a dead one and what it would take to get it off. you literally will gouge a massive hole in the backplate plastic or shatter the needle and the very thin metal coil strip trying to remove the needles. In one move he did both right in front of me to show the force needed to pop those needles off. the guage was wreaked.. so dont try for our year of car !!!! 1995 is a no-no haha. you can only do the rpm/speedo long needles. not the short ones. I would just junkyard some spare ones. takes 2 min to replace your old ones and you can test them right in the junkyard for "working" led's with a 9v battery and 2 wires (same way you test the diy mod b4 reinstalling) so dont forget your battery when hunting :)

Long story short I was working on my needles & cluster backlighting (using that sticked thread on the subject) decided to be intelligent and buy some LED whites and jerry rig them in according to the specs in said thread. When I put everything back in the LED's instantly blew. Out the cluster comes again I test my 12v lights and what do you know. all dead... I called to verify the prob, it seems the thread info is a little bit off for total DYI not using those part #'s. The voltage on those bulbs are not 12v but rather 14v and 3watts. I double verified by calling the dealership and cross ref'ing the part # with my multimeter readings. It was confirmed by the repair center, make sure for the backlighting (the 8 bulbs) if you will do it all yourself by finding LED's locally to get 14v 3watt ones. (can be ultra bright or standard leds) It's only 5 bucks lost total for the led's I blew up, but bah its very annoying having to take the cluster apart again, resetting the needles etc etc... Save yourselves some time and just get the right parts in the first place OR you are most certainly ABLE to use any friggin LED you want - as long as it classes 14v 3w. :P Oh and on a '95 es300 you cannot remove the temp/gas needles. I literally tried everything and while at the dealership he verified and they are 1 piece units. scrapyard scrounging time if you have this model and they are busted =/ (quote of 235$ each replacement..ouch) The other 2 came out in spades. the DYI needle fix was great. Both mods are really not that hard in "work" terms. more annoying than anything if its your first time. Just set aside a day and you are gold. B)

thanks I'll check that out. I was really wondering how the people added the sub by drawing off just the oem speakers, but I guess they are so happy about their new car sound that they dont have time to reply ;) All good, was trying to avoid adding another amp in the car, oh well !

hmm nobody has any ideas concerning this? I know more than a few people have modded the sub in such a fashion, common guys speak up please ! :)

lol then you dont have one. unless its in the glovebox, but I doubt it. Looks like you need to call around a few scrapyards to pull one out of a junker =/

Ok, I just got a '95 ES300, read 9 pages of speaker searching the other day and did some mods to the factory sound system. (replaced the rear speakers with proper ohm/watt 3 ways) While reading I came across more than a few people adding subs and pulling off the rear channels instead of adding tons of wiring, extra amps etc keeping everything really close to stock as possible and giving just that little bit of extra "je ne sait quoi" to the overall sound. I was wondering how this was accomplished, as nobody went into great detail. Note that I do not want to add in aftermarket anywhere especially not the HU, really want to keep everything looking as stock as possible (as with my new speakers. you cannot even tell they were changed). also note that in the 95 es the sub was not included... was only dash, front and 2 on the rear paneling for speakers. Also the stock amp in here has no sub outputs. (bah) I did some googling and nothing really revealing about this process came up. To run a "proper" sub (presuming from reading that it will either be 2-4ohm and max 40w rms 8" sub) off the rear channels what would be required? Would you just hook the sub up directly to the rear speaker wires? or run some wires spliced at the AMP rear output level to the back where the sub is ? for the "stock" subs that came with certain years of the lexus, was there a solo line to power the sub? or would it suck juice from the channels directly? It's annoying that my year didnt come with a sub, so the manuals are kinda lacking....Some information please! Thanks.

As a matter of fact I was shopping around for window tinting.... but at 300 bucks locally so far, nice hit to the pocketbook. going to have to wait. The interior is actually -exactly- the same color as the exterior. I really dont think that was standard, but no complaints. I would love to have black but we cant have it all eh ? I'll jump over to the dealership during the week to see if they can figure it out for the paint. I think that is the correct color tho, best be safe than sorry.

Pikkies as promised I love how there is no multi color trim or skirt i guess, on it. its all one solid color. With that being said im trying to match that color. its not grey, its not purple... its a light mix of the two... You can see right near the hood logo there is a few white spots that need touching up. already im getting annoyed by it and ive not even had the car a week Door paint code says its 928, web says that code is for "Amethyst Mist Metallic Clearcoat" this correct? Also I note that its a metallic paint... so im gonna guess its gonna be a %^& to touch up properly ? If someone can let me know, thanks! (oh also these sticks I presume would cost 5-6 bucks at any lexus dealership ?)

Hey, thanks for the grats ! Ya, im just getting the part list together to work on the needles this coming weekend. I actually just did a rear speaker swap to get those paper ones outta there and it sounds goooood. (9 pages of search results reading before running out to get them. god so much info on this forum hehe) Nice 3-ways using the correct ohm/watts were golden. Just fluke chance that the mega labour day sales + in store rebates netted me just the right speakers... for 12 bucks a pair instead of like 80 ha! :P I'm trying to keep everything as stock "looking" as possible. The class is just too nice to mess with. so no aftermarket HU etc... as the rule goes: KISS (keep it simple stupid) ! The needles need to be done, along with the backlighting thats a given. later on down the road I'll toss in some HID's. My friend just had his done yesterday on his '92 and daaaamn it looks good. He managed to find a deal locally that for 200 bucks you would get 4300's installed and the light casing machine buffed on the outside to remove the yellow & restore factory clarity. its as if the car had everything replaced. looks top notch ! I'll be taking pics after, I want to try and figure out what paint code they used on the car to get a touch up stick. its not grey, nor charcol, but a sort of in between purple charcol. weird... I'll post pics and the door code after to see if anyone can help. Also with that paint stick... the car's paint is obviously faded a bit.. the stick will probably be a different tone. any way of mixing in a bit of lighter grey to make it "like" faded when touching up ? Thanks and happy to be here.... B)

Thanks hehe Im pretty sure there isnt a 95 one from the looks of it. I ahve the PDF versions of the 93/97 I think I'll just root around in those.

Well here we are, got the keys and am now a owner of a Lexus '95 ES300 and in friggin near perfect condition. Im so happy right now. haha I was reading pretty much from page one of this forum until about page 45 or so, and well, you guys are experts ! I'm going to need to whip up a set of those DIY needles as all but one are dead here, also probably going to swap in some HID lights. Doesnt seem to hard at all from what I've been reading. I did have a few real quick questions tho, if you may ;) First mainly being I am having trouble locating the break down manual (service manual I guess?) for the 95... seems the years jump 93 to 97 in the manuals. is it a safe bet that the 97 manual will be pretty much the same as the 95 ? for wiring (I am having thoughts of swapping those 2 rear speakers) etc... Or if someone knows where to obtain (ie:download) the 95 manual it would be much appreciated. I have the basic one that comes with the car explaining the functions etc... I think from reading there should bea total car head to toe book too. thats the one im looking for. Anyways, hi all and yay for me ! :D