justind89

Ok, so my care has been dripping a bit of oil for a while now (main engine seal is going, but some seal rejuvinator/stop-leak stopped it leaking since i got it ~10 months ago) the last week or so it has been dripping oil in several areas, i stopped some of it by tightening the 18 bolts that hold the sump on, but i still have about 3-4 drops (appeared after a short drive) coming from the right side of the engine bay (this is a right hand drive car by the way) and this oil is clear and fresh looking, the main engine oil is a darker brown since i've done about 4000km on it (about 2500miles) since i last changed the oil. i also tested the fuel economy and i'm getting about 20L/100km (11.7MPG) which is ridiculous as when i first got the car i was getting about 12.5-13.5L/100km (18.8-17.4mpg). anyone have any ideas? the FSMs are useless for this since there is 23 different things that can cause poor fuel economy, and the oil leakage it doesnt help much with either. the oil leak is near the center (height wise) of the engine on the right side as i have seen smoke come out from here as the oil burnt up. any help would be much appreciated!

either way, your new head unit will put out more power than the factory amp. jst remove the amp and bypass it. the stock amp is ~60w (15wx4) 99% of head units are 50wx4 (200w) so your probably better off going with this, i can post pics and let you know how to do it since i just did it last weekend. email me.

EDIT: i cant figure out how to let it show emails in the user cp. so hitme up at justindray.89 (at) gmail (dot) com

ok, so i've found switched and unswitched power on the amplifier harnesses (problem is they are under the passenger seat) i suppose i can run the wires back up to the head unit from . but its still perplexing that there are no power lines in to the stock radio. i'm jsut going to cut the plug off and figure it out :)

no, they really havent changed much since then, thats exactly what i was going to do, i'm just testing through the oem plug atm, but i might check the wires that hook up to the stock amplifier. either way the stock stereo should have a switched and unswitched power. but none of them are lighting up my test light! touching it on the battery confirms the light is working fine. going to check the amplifier plugs now

sorry for being unclear, im a little tired as its past 2am here, but i meant a 12v test light. i can't find however the continuous power line straight to the battery or the ignition wire.

~115mph for me (185km/h) seemed to be about near the top of what my 93 es300 could handle, had 2 seperate es300s up to 185, drives so nicely at those speeds too. highest cornering was 170km/h (~106mph) squeeling the tires the whole way around the corner :)

Ok, so i'm trying to run wiring for my new head unit, but with a continuity checker (just one of those screwdriver lightbulb type things) it definetely works as when i touch the positive terminal it lights up, but when i try to check it against every single pin on the radio plugs none of them will light up with the ignition on or off. i don't see how this is possible as i'm sure the stock radio needs power since even lexus doesn't have radios that run off dreams and magic :)

ok, i ahve a 93 and had similar issues (but only 270k KMs) first thing to check is the front tapet covers, these can come loose and have a bit of oil leaking out of the seal, rear tapet covers can also get a little loose but your main problem is likely going to be the main engine seal. also check around your sump as mine got a dent in it from going over a large speed bump on the up ramp at my work's car park building :( (it's now leaking slightly)

now, mine is in pieces right now, so i can certainly tell you how to get every little piece off. but when you find the ignition power lead you have to tell me! i cant find mine... i checked all of them... :( ok, mainly to get out the radio follow this guide: http://www.carstereohelp.com/stereoremovalLexusES300StrR.htm it's fairly helpful, but, if your center vents have a switch on them (like mine) just be careful, he says you have to use a lot of force. this is just going to break it, be gentle and lever it off around all sides, it should come out easily. if you don't have a hand brake but have the foot e-brake just lever off the panel around the gear stick with a flat head screwdriver, it comes off much the same except you lever it from a side. hope this helps! (p.s. dont forget to pm me when you find the ignition power!)

I have read the tread about the aftermarket install and am ordering the parts. I downloaded the tech manual but I can find how to get the dash apart. Anyone have pics, diagrams, illustrations etc... about how to get it apart?

TIA,

leon

finally got it off! after 4 people helped me try, someone got it off. it does pull off and it feels like your going to break it the whole time. when i'm done i'm going to put up a big diy on installing a stereo in the 92-96 ones. with lots of pics :)

Hey guys, I've been trying for a few hours now to try and get the 3rd light off. My understanding from other posts on here is that it just needs to be pulled straight off, but i can't seem to do this and it feels like its going to break. Has anyone done this to their ES before?

also be wary of the cable you posted from autoware on ebay, they are fairly dodgy (been there done that with them)

i was going to get that pioner head unit the op posted. but it was rather hard finding a double-DIN dash kit in australia :( so i'm going to install an alpine ida-x200 in the next few weeks

its interesting that the lexus dealer laughed it off. its actaully all high end camrys (92-96) and all lexus es300s from the same year have the hydraulic fan. my pump and hoses both failed recently. wasn't too cheap to replace them

my girlfriend's es300 has the same issue but it refused to reverse up her driveway. it had very little power, normally 2k-2.5k rpm would go up quickly, i rev limited it and it could only hold its place on the hill. (not for long of course)

well, overheating and blowing steam out the exhaust, sounds more along the lines of a blown head gasket to me. check that your oil isn't murky or foamy. /cross fingers

I have a 93 es300 (in australia) and the faq sticky says that only 94+ has the volume control for the alarm beep (mine also has this) and that only 94+ has ambient temperature check (which mine has as well) and passenger airbag. If you don't believe me i can show pictures of manufacturing date on the chassis and the various things