cduluk

Does your Rx have nav? I can reset mine via the INFO screen...

This is what modifications are for. <_<

Any chance the car is still under warranty? If so it should be covered. If not, just buy another handle from ebay or parts.com. If it's chipped it'll only get worse.

When you say intermittently, do you mean it comes on for hours/days at a time but shuts off? Or does it seem to blink for seconds/minutes at a time and shut off? It could very well be a loose bulb or wire going to the tails... Has the car ever been in an accident of any kind? Look for paint differences etc... Lexus wiring uses very hard braided wire, and it's very easy for wires to get cracked/broken if handled too much. The only lights that work on that circuit are the 3rd brake lights in the rear window, the tail light bulbs (red only) and side markers. The back-up bulbs and directionals are not on the "bulb out" indicator circuit. I don't believe it applies for any lights in the front of the car either, but it may be different for the ES.

What part do you need exactly? I might have something laying around from prior headlight mods... Most Lexus headlight plugs/parts are common.

Personally i'd just yank them out with a good set of pliers and buy new tabs. Probably $10 from Lexus... Or, still yank them out with pliers and re-use them. Not worth trying to pop them out from inside the door panel. They will come out from the outside, it just takes some time.

I got mine from ebay. i got all 4 for less than $100...

Is it below the windshield wipers? It is on my RX400h... Although on my Rx300 it was from the gap between the drivers rear 1/4 and the rear bumper... Turn the car on and put the AC or heat on max fan speed. close the doors and get out. Walk around the car and listen for the fan. You should be able to find where it's drawing from... My guess is from the area below the wipers.

Those 96 headlights will not fit your 98 Es300. The only headlights that will fit your 98 are from the 97-01 Es300. For the 00-01 ES's Lexus did produce an OEM HID type headlight. Try to find a used set on ebay. Look closely and you will see the difference in the design of the reflectors. They should come with HID bulb, auto leveling motor (not sure if you can get that working) and HID ballast built in. Might need a little wiring to get it working on yours but the headlights will indeed fit with no mods to any tabs or anything. Here's one with HID: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/00-01-LEXUS-ES300-L-HEADLIGHT-W-HID-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQfitsZModelQ3aES300QQhashZitem4155cba320QQitemZ280612283168QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories and here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/00-01-LEXUS-ES300-ES-300-Headlight-head-light-HID-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem5196148ae6QQitemZ350410279654QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories Definitely the best way to go. Much better than just retro-ing a kit...

Yeah... i've been SO busy lately :( School takes up so much time!

That doesn't look too bad, just needs to be sanded, primed, base coated and cleared. Do you have an airbrush and air compressor? Preferable one large enough to spray this? You'd need the right paint and clear, and you'd need to remove the bumper to paint it. Unless you're planning on doing this again, it's probably not worth buying the materials and doing it yourself. It'll cost you $100 just for the paint... To have a shop do the repair, might run you in the $250-$500 range...

Back in 08 the Bel STi-R was about $600... Worth it though.

Hmm.. honestly i don't know of any shops or people that do this type of stuff, at least not without "already-built" systems. It's not really possible to build and sell pre-fab'd parts that one can install as most of the work requires drilling and complicated wiring... And there aren't (well, "weren't") any switches for the light additions i added, i just wired them up to go on with the factory lights. They even dimmed with the dimmer switch just like the rest.

All of the 04-09 Rx's with the tan interior have that light yellow birds eye maple trim, while all of the 04-09 Rx's with the gray or black interior have more of a brownish walnut trim. The pieces are identical minus the veneer used, so you could indeed swap them. As for the steering wheels, unfortunately the factory 04-09 Rx steering wheel is the only one that will fit, UNLESS you replace the airbag. If you replace the airbag, you can upgrade to the 05-06 ES330 wheel, which is identical to the 06-07 GS300/430/350/460/450h wheel (both have same airbag). You could also upgrade to the 08-11 GS350/460/450h wheel, which uses an even newer airbag. And... you could also use the wheel for the 07-11 ES350, but the airbag has a different pattern on it. But the wheel itself again is identical to that of the 08-11 GS. The Rx400h tan interior has black leather on the wheel, which is the same black shade for all the ones listed above. But if you're only interested in the wood color (not specifically the design of the wheel) then try to find another 04-09 Rx wheel from one of a gray or black interior. This will give you the walnut trim. Then try to find the rest of the walnut trim for the 04-09 Rx's with the gray or black interior. Good luck!

Awesome! :) You'll love the airbrush and that clear, it works so well! And the drill attachment should work fine for polishing- anything to mimic doing it by hand just a little faster will work. To remove the center console, on the bottom left and right there's a panel that can be removed using a flathead screwdriver (clips only). Then you'll see 3 10mm bolts holding the console to the bottom frame, on both sides. Then the console should be able to be lifted up. But there's a wire (with a ball on the end) that goes from the console to the frame of the car (controls something, forget what). Just unhook the wire from the frame. At this point you should be able to remove the console from the car. Then you can mask off and paint etc. Putting it back in the car's a bit of a challenge with the wire and all, but it's not that bad. And for the rear seat cup holder, if you open it, you'll see two screws on the bottom (i think?) just pop those out, and it should come right out (maybe with help from a flat-head, i don't remember exactly). As for the chrome sliver on the wood cupholder piece, i actually had to make my own and put it back on. Bought some chrome tape from autozone (comes in a roll, used for pinstripes etc) and cut out a piece the same size, and put it on the clear. It's not embossed under the clear, but it looks great :) Now that you've got the airbrush and hard clear, you can try painting the steering wheel too :) As soon as you've got it off the car, you're half-way there. I then tighten it in the vice (see it on my workshop), mask off the leather (which can take about a half hour, gotta get it perfect!) wetsand the clear and paint and clear. If you start in the morning, you can have it painted, baked and un-masked by the evening- might be best so you don't have to do without the car for long :) cduluk, I love the way you redid your 400h. I just bought a 2007 400h in Bamboo Pearl and tan/birdseye maple interior. The wood tone, especially of the steering wheel, is a mustard yellowy. I have seen this same interior with a more orange tone to the wood. If I wanted to tone the wood to a darker orange or orange-red what would you use? thanks, rich Hey sorry for the late reply, All of the 04-09 Rx's with the tan interior have the yellow/orange birds eye maple trim, however not all veneers are the same, and they all take the stains differently. That's why some are darker than others. After the wood makers produce several sets of wood pieces, Lexus makes sure each of the wood pieces in each car match each other, as most of the wood trim pieces are adjacent. If your wood trim is on the lighter side and you want it a bit darker, you can stain them to get pretty much any color/shade you want. You can't really sand the factory clear off, so you'd need more of a transparent "paint" like the type i used. I actually used stained glass paint which works VERY well. You could buy a few cans of orange and a few reds, and try mixing them (in a separate container) until you've got the desired shade (more of a brown) and airbrush it. over the trim pieces. Then follow by a clear just like i did. Just make sure to be careful when removing the pieces from the car, and make sure to wetsand the factory clear before painting (so it'll stick). Good luck!

Hmm... yeah they seem pretty rare on ebay. You may want to try http://car-part.com/ as it enables you to find parts from junkyards all across the US. Any 98-05 GS300/400/430 with factory HID are the same units.

i was thinking the same thing!

Apparently it would take too much time to go back and place them correctly.. I agree that's how it "should" be done though.

I can't believe silver sells at all, IMO it's the most boring color out there! Whenever i see a silver car on the road i have to squint to see if it's even been painted.

Also, the PDR people should be able to tell you right away if they can do it, even before they start. It would definitely be a better way to go than having a new hood installed and painted. <_<

PDR should be able to get that out just fine. As long as there's no paint chipped you'll never notice.

Look under the car... <_< but from the vin, 2WD should look like: 2T2GK31UX8C040465 AWD should look like: 2T2HK31UX8C074362

Does your GS have HID from the factory? Or were they added after market? D2R is the factory HID bulb "size". D2S "looks" the same (actually, the bulbs will still fit in a D2R housing) but there's a difference. D2R bulbs are designed for reflector housings, while D2S are designed for projector housings. 98-04 GS takes D2R. And D2C is a "weird" bulb size that isn't used in OEM vehicles. You need the factory HID headlights and ballasts. Try eBay.

It's probably a legal thing... It wouldn't be wise for Lexus to suggest customers try tampering with 100+ volts of energy coming from HID ballasts...

You mean the steering lock? I believe every car has this feature... If the car is OFF (with no power steering) trying to turn the wheel in either direction will cause it to lock. Just turn the wheel "while" turning the key and it should unlock... Unless i'm missing something?