gurubaba

Hi, My 99 ES300 with about 72K miles on it had the Oil pressure light show up. The long and short of it is that the dealer diagonized a gelling problem and is fixing the car as Lexus per warranty. My concern is that will this problem reoccur, with the routine 3-4K oil changes I do. I am not sure if they (can) fix anything that would change any existing internal engineering, for this problem to go away. I assume they are just replacing the worn out internal engine parts, which does not fix the original cause. So I am concerend that this will just reoccur in a few more years, and I won't have any warranty to back me up that time. Am I correct in my rational? Any comments, thoughts or feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guru

Thanks Bender for the tip on the trunk lockout button. I was cleaning my car and must have accidently pushed on that button. Cheers. GuruBaba

Hi, I have a 99 ES300 and here is the history of my o2 sensor replacements May 2004 - O2 sensor bank1 sensor 1 (rear sensor) October 2005 - O2 sensor bank1 sensor1 (rear sensor) January 2006 - 02 sensor bank2 (near radiator) April 2006 - car at dealership, said o2 sensor bad and wil replace it under warranty. The service consultant tells me that the mechanic has done a thorugh check and could not determine why I am getting this repeated O2 sensor failure. I have read some of the online threads here some of them allude to possibly a cracked exhaust manifold. I would have expected the mechanics at the Lexus dealership to figure something out, since they had every opportunity to identify problems for getting more revenue. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Guru

Hi, I have a 1999 ES300, Just brought it back from the dealer after they replaced transmission gasket & fluid. When the car is absolutely cold parked outside in 40F for 3 hours the Trans fluid level is slightly above the highest notch (2nd notch) beyond the HOT mark. I took my car back to the Lexus dealer telling them that the fuild was over filled, they did not agree and my Service Consultant told me that this is what it is supposed to be as per Lexus recommendations. I also called Lexus Customer Service to inquire about Lexus recommendations on the Trans fluis level as I did not find one in the owners manual. They noted my concern and said that the dealer has trained technicians who are supposed to follow service procedures and whatever they did should be OK. Can anyone tell me what is the correct trans fluid level supposed to be? IS their any literature that I can take to the dealership that supports this? Finally If I were to DIY how should I go about correcting this myself? Any help in this would be greatly appreciated. Thank You gurubaba

My 99ES300 w 39,000miles gives about 22mpg hwy and 20mpg city+hwy I think it is low.....I did check the air filter which looks good....I am thinking of taking it to the dealer and getting some engine sensor diagnostics done.......another thought is to use some sort of fule injector cleaning additive.......any suggestions? Thanks

I have seen this same thing on my 99ES300 as well....surprisingly the check engine and trac off lights went"off" automatically after driving about 50miles or so....although one thing that bothers me is that I do not get good mileage....about 22mpg hwy....i have heard people getting up to 26mpg.

I have seen a website http://www.streetkeys.com that says they will do Lexus transponder type keys. I don't have any experience with them. If anyone has used this site do post your feedback. GuruBaba

Hi, The dealer replaced the car stereo on my 99 ES300 and after driving about 3 miles the check engine light and TRAC OFF light came ON. The dealer is refusing to acknowledge that this is some screw up on their part with the wiring install they did for the stereo. I found out how to reset the lights in the uk lexus forum (by disconnecting the battery for a few minutes). That worked so far, after driving about 70miles the lights have not come on again. I am concerened that by reseting the warning lights I may have side stepped or overridden the indicators so as to not display the problem and I am driving the car assuming all's well meanwhile the problem still lurkes beneath. Would the indicator lights come ON if the problem still exists? Kindly help if you have any idea or information. Thanks

See this NHTSA site for poeple with similar problems. I do recall reading about this.... http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/problems/

Dear h_shresta, This has happen to me on my prior vehicle a Toyota Camry. In layman's terms your transmission band is burned up. You will have to get your transmission rebuilt or have the warranty replacement. One of the things that may explain this is that such failures can be a side effect of a minor event, when ignored (or unaware of) in the long run. The transmission only kicks into Overdrive or 4th gear (the highest gear for your car) only when the engine temepature is above a certain threshold. When your thermostat goes bad in such a way that it is stuck in open then as the result the engine takes a wee bit longer to warm up abovethe threshold level and so when you drive short distances in cold weather you are esentially driving in low gears ....do this daily and over several months or perhaps a year or two you will have burnt your transmission. Ofcourse there could be other reasons for a transmission to burn up, but this is one way of doing it as well. Good Luck. Do keep your eye on how long it takes your car to get up to normal operating temperature.