igbeserk

My 95 es300 broke down last night on the expressway. It wouldn't accelerate past 40 and smoke started appearing from under the car. Then the car just kept losing speed while I was trying to make it to the shoulder. the Tachometer would move but of course speedometer wasn't. police came then tow truck came and when the car was hoisted up it looked like tranny fluid was leaking. checked this morning to see and there's no tranny fluid in the car anymore. I'm guessing the tranny is done for? or maybe just a pan leak or something and adding fluid again and stopping the leak it should be ok? any help would be appreciated.

water pump, timing belt. should be looked at and possibly replaced if need be. but that's going to run you a bit but do both at the same time don't put one off since they're both in the same area. don't want to get charged a lot to go to the same section twice.

yep clean the throttle body and make sure it opens all the way. that can cause performance issues.

you should be able to go to autozone and have them reset it for you with their OBDII scanner.

it probably is just the fuses though it depends on the type of car and how it's made. I know i had to replace my fuses before when i plugged in one of those lighter port outlets. and basically i couldn't use the radio and i believe the air conditioning because it was all on one fuse. i replaced the fuse and it was working fine, but yea hopefully it's just the fuses. Hope this helps.

thanks for responding boar. what i'm trying to figure out though is the part where you said you called a Lexus dealer and they told you you'd have to open the engine to see if the timing belt was bad or not so how could midas know if it needs to be replaced? that sounds like some shadiness right there.

yea 0171 can be the Mass Airflow Sensor. Sometimes all you would need to do is clean it. it's fairly easy to do and fairly easy to access really. since it's connected to the air intake tube (where the air filter goes). you should get some MAF cleaner from autozone. try YouTubing if possible to find it or just get a haynes toyota manual from autozone. they're good even if you might only need to use it a few times. hopefully just cleaning it helps.

i'm no car expert. but when you say opening the engine do you mean taking it apart or looking under the hood? because if yo got your oil changed they have to add more oil by opening the hood. and your timing belt can be seen it's to the side of your engine and your water pump should be right next to it encased in a big plastic like case. so they can look to see if it's worn or torn because it's visible when you open the hood. and yes that can be a problem if it goes. usually when you get your timing belt changed you should do the water pump also. that's part of a major tune up i believe. $1100 is crazy though but that's because it's a commercial place. Local mechanics will probably try to charge you around 300 - 700. I hope someone else responds to this thread so i can make sure i'm right on this. but they shouldn't need to look in the engine. your timing belt is attached to your alternator and when you pop open the hood. you can see those clear as day.

It could possibly be one of the two speed sensors you have in your tranny. You need to go to autozone or somewhere that can read the code off for you. Your car should have an OBDII scanner port. At the fuse box below your steering wheel on the left. If your car is doing that jerking with the o/d flashing. then Leave it off for now you don't want to cause any damage or anymore damage. But yes could be your tranny, could be the two sensos on your tranny could be not enough power meaning that you might need a new battery. Go to a tranny shop or get a OBDII scanner or take it to somewhere that has it. Read the codes from it they'll better assist you.

fixed the throttle body valve. it was the bottom chord the one that when you hit the gas the car pulls on to open it. for some reason it wasn't calibrated to the right position for it to open all the way. so i loosened the bolts around it and pushed it back until the valve opened all the way then i tightened it there. Car picks up like crazy now. getting to 80-100 with ease. hopefully it helps on the mpg it seems like it might have. but yea. at least that's one less issue.

When I was taking apart parts of the engine to get to the knock sensor, me and my friend took a look at the throttle body it doesn't seem to open all the way it at most opens diagonally instead to the full horizontal. Then again i'm not sure if it's supposed to open all the way but from seeing other cars I believe it should. How could i resolve this issue? would i need to tighten something around there so the valve could open all the way? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you for your time.

All right put the Knock sensor in today man that was a pain. Glad i brought my camera to take pictures so i could remember the placement. Took us about 5 hours to replace it. Started up the car still error code p0325 :-/ which is either the knock sensor or wire. so i don't know. the wire seemed ok but it's just one wire anyway since the manifold is supposed to be grounded. So i don't know what to do anymore, tired of this I replace parts and problems still occur. any help would be appreciated. i'm down to 1 code now but i'm sure the O2 sensor code will reappear in a few days like always when i erase the error codes. the new knock sensor is on the right side of the last picture. it's odd the old one is kind of bent and the new one is straight. are they made bent by toyta for those models? because the other knock sensor seemed to be bent also.

i usually get duralast golds for my cars. from autozone. usually reasonable in price. i put in new brakes around august of last year. and i !Removed! this vehicle. still good.

sounds like either your motor mount or your tranny. I get a slight thump sometimes with my car. usually when it gets real bad i check out my motor mount in the front and that came somewhat loose. tighten it and it works better. mine happens in the lowest gear like when i'm at a stop sign and about to pick up speed. it doesn't happen all the time or if i let my car warm up properly it doesn't happen. but yea get your motor mount checked out first might need to be replaced or tightened more likely tightened. If not could have to do with your tranny slipping maybe if so get it checked out at a tranny specialist.

why don't you try going to an actual transmission specialist that would probably be the easiest for you if you're struggling to try and get codes. and if you're having o/d flickering THEN TURN OFF THE OVERDRIVE. that's what i did on my car when it gave me that issue. it's really not that scary if you just disable it. but yes get that transmission checked out or try o/d on with ect power on and see if that helps. if it does might be that you need a new battery. but yea i'm just going by my experiences with this issue. hope this helps.

that could possibly be a transmission issue that you're experiencing. mine did the o/d flashing and took it to a mechanic seems like my 4th gear was almost about done. i would recommend you turn o/d off and take it to a transmission specialist so they can make sure your tranny is fine first. if the tranny is fine then i wouldn't know what else would be the issue. actually did you try hitting the ect power button with the o/d on? at times i did that and it didn't flicker. it's really not recommended to keep it on if you get the flickering cuz then your car will kick into o/d and then kick out and kick back into it and i'm pretty sure that's not good for your car. also what model car do you have? my experience is on my 95 lexus es300. i don't know how these newer or older es300's handle this issue. well hope i helped in some way. Most transmission places should be able to check the tranny for free for you. if there's a cottman transmission where you are try them. I just hope they're more helpful with you than the one around where I live.

very informative, i would also have to buy the strut mounts wouldn't i? since i'm doing the whole replacement. I followed what one person said to on your thread about amazoning the part but neither shows up for me :-( i feel like the 95 es300's are cursed. even searching through ebay. 95 is hardly an option to select when you're refining your search but still most parts fit 92-96 anyway. just very discouraging.

cool yea i'd love to do it myself saves me 200 bucks (for both rear and front). it doesn't seem fairly hard just time consumption I suppose. I was told that i'd have tow orry about balancing it so it'd be better if i just took it to a mechanic. but that didn't make much sense to me. so yea i'll buy those two front ones, I gotta find rear ones can't seem to find quick strut monroes for the rear, and thanks for the help. if you could give me any tips on doing it myself or maybe some pics it would all be great. :)

that's cool i prefer a smoother ride. and quieter if possible. I clicked the link the one you showed me didn't seem to be for my model but i found two for my model but it's weird. one says front driver side other says front passenger? i thought there was no placement issue. like one for front would work on either or, or one for rear will work on either side. could it be because of the abs? and yea i'm guessing that's the full assembly all ready good to go.

well of course make sure the engine has low miles if possible but will probably cost you more. just look for signs of good condition. those engines should have a VIN on them you might be able to carfax them and see the history behind the car but of course you want to see what's been done to the engine. there's always ebay with reasonable prices like 600-900 but something that big over the internet i'd look locally first if anything you know. hope this somewhat helps. had my engine replaced last year. i don't know the miles on it but its working so much better than the previous engine that was in there. just be cautious.

Hey I'm trying to replace all 4 of my shocks and struts I get a rattling noise when i'm driving and I've been reading places and it seems like new shocks and struts would help resolve that. Plus they never have been changed and they look old and need of change anyway. I'm not trying to spend a ton of money on them but at the same time i'm not trying to be cheap about it. Does anyone have any recommendations on what shocks/struts to get? like which make would be better? and Could i mix and match like say kyb shocks and non kyb strut mounts? any help would be much appreciated it. My mechanic recommended i switch out the whole assembly since it's fairly old. what would the whole assembly be? the shocks/struts, coils, strut mounts correct? well any help would be gladly appreciated and thank you for your time.

i don't think so? i've only had the car for about a year used. didn't get any carfax info. i know my shocks/struts need to be replaced. that's about it.

i've had the abs lights forever. on my 95 lexus. where are the sensors located? i want to try and clean mine.

The day after I put in the O2 sensor the error code for it came back. Finally managed to get around to buying a knock sensor won a new one supposedly denso on ebay. shipped out yesterday hoping to get it in before saturday and put it in saturday morning. I hope replacing that gets rid of the check engine light all together. then gotta do the shocks the exhaust the abs light and the airbag light issues bah lol

I had that issue myself I had two that went out. The wires came up fine just the socket itself so yea i guessed the fuse that's attached to the socket. since i had two i took the old one and cut off the connector piece that connects to the car and I went to autozone and found a socket for cheap and I didn't solder i just used the twist tie cone things. and I made the cable longer and extended it out. because the location of the socket can be a pain when you're trying to charge something and hold cups.