eli2k

Thanks for both replies. Is the dashboard material also leather? It feels like it. What about the sides of the door, because it's also feels like some sort of leather, unless its some other padded material? And are these products mentioned only available online, or are they usually stocked at local car-part stores? If not, maybe I can browse the store to see if any have SPF in them. The leather conditioner is applied after you have cleaned the leather, right? For the woolite mixture, what type of woolite is used, it looks like it is a laundry detergent?

I figure transmission fluid needs to be changed every 30000 miles. I don't drive that far each year (maybe 5000 miles), so it takes a long time to get up to 30000. I was at the car shop today, because I needed an oil change, and they said the transmission fluid was needing some changes because it was sorta seeping out onto some plate at the bottom of the car. Online some places say 30000 miles or 30 months. It has been around 3 years already, since the last change. I was hoping someone can clear it up. Second question - is there an air cabin filter in this car. If there is, where is it, and how do I change it? Third question - my gas pedal gets sticky, after I sit at a stop light for a few minutes. I've read online/here that it could be caused by residue build-up in the butterfly valve/throttle body. I asked the car shop today about, and they sorta looked at it and said there was some crud they cleared out, but the problem is still there (maybe it's less severe). What else can I do? I'd rather not do this myself, because if something breaks, I don't know how to get the car to a repair shop. Thanks, - Eli

The inside of my car is getting dusty (the dashboard, and stuff). I'm not very uber-hardcore about getting everything perfect cleaned, though. I went to the store to try to find cleaning products, but they had too many for too many different things. :P The car is 2001 ES300, I think the dashboard material is leather, the seats are leather, and the rest of the buttons/controls and stuff is plastic, and there is fake-wood trimming all over the place (part on the steering wheel). So I guess I wanted to ask what is a good way to clean everything inside (minus the floormat)? Do you have any recommended products I should pick up? For cleaning floormats, what does scotchguarding do? I've heard it often, but not sure how it exactly works. Thanks, - Eli

Thanks. So you all recommend a fix (at a shop), and not a complete replacement, right?

I was driving on the freeway today and some jerk threw out some heavy object that went smack into my face, but luckily the windshield was there to protect me from it (whew). Now there is a small fracture (kind of like two star-shaped cracks). They are about 1cm in diameter each, and they are 1cm diameter apart, connected. What's the best way to take care of this? I read online they have these windshield repair shops that can inject some sort of resin to fix it up. Besides that, the other options are 1) replace, 2) leave it alone. Thanks, - Eli

Do I have to disconnect the battery first? Or I can just clean it with everything connected?

Thanks; I found it on the mountguys store, too, for cheaper price than what TomTom sells it for.

Ooo, where do you get one of these? Is there a variant for a TomTom? How heavy does this thing weigh (just the bag thing).

Three questions - the first is if I park my car at night, then in the next day I want to start it, it is sort of harder to start up. If I leave the car for 30min and come back, the ignition is really fast, but in the other situation, it takes more 'time' that I have to turn the ignition before the car starts. Ideally it's maybe 500ms, but then the one that takes more time is maybe 2-3sec. Is this because the battery is going bad? I think one of the terminals is sort of collecting that crusty stuff, not sure if it is corrosion. I don't want to touch it in case it electrocutes me, so I'm not sure. Second question - if I leave my car parked overnight, the next day, once the car starts up, I wait maybe a minute, and get into Reverse and go back out, and then shift into Drive. When I shift into Drive, the car makes this loud jerk, which doesn't sound good. If I leave the car to warm up around 3-4min, however, then the problem goes away. I checked the transmission oil (I don't know if this has to do with the shifting), and it's fine, the other fluids are fine, too. I wanted to ask what was causing this, what I should check. Last question is, my uncle drove this car before, and usually when he stops at a long red light, he likes to shift the car into Neutral and told me it is fine. A friend told me if I leave the car in neutral it'll make something loose in the car. I assum Neutral makes the car work less. Does anyone do this when they reach a long stop? Is it bad for your car? Thanks! - Eli

Thank you for the heads up. I'm sorry your coolant ended up gelling, Luxucan, that must have been so frustrating. =/ Do only Toyota dealers sell the correct coolant? I can't drop by an Autozone to pick it up? - Eli

Hello - I just realized today that there are different types of antifreeze and you have to use the right one. The one in my car (2001 ES300) is red right now; I was always used to blue/green antifreeze in the past. I haven't added coolant to this car yet (handed over to me a few months ago), but I had a bottle of antifreeze with me, and it says I can mix it with any color antifreeze so it doesn't matter. I'm just wondering what is the difference between different antifreezes, and is it better to use a specific antifreeze, or what I have right now is fine. I don't know if mixing antifreeze around is good. Thanks, - Eli

Hello. This is concerning a 2001 ES300. It seems that whenever I drive around (eg on the freeway, especially), the steering wheel seems to be funny. If I take my hands off the steering wheel, the car is going to drift left. In order to have it stay centered so I don't run into another car, lol, I have to keep the steering wheel turned to the right. I think it has to be maybe 10-20 degrees off center to the right in order for the car to drive straight. I was wondering if this is something I need to get checked (well, I think I should, anyway), but is this an alignment problem, do you know what is the approximate cost I will need to get together for this? Thanks, - Eli

I was trying to use the AC the other day and then noticed that it did not turn on. Usually if I'm idle, and I switch on the AC, the engine RPM would change a bit, and I can hear some stuff going on in the car that signals the turning on of the AC. But now, if I press the AC button, the LED lights up, but nothing happens to the AC, so it keeps blowing warm air. This is on an ES300 1992. Before I take it to the shop later, I was hoping if anyone can come up with hypotheses of what might be wrong and if it's simple to fix. I've read in previous posts if the compressor goes out it's 1000-2000 right there. =/ Thanks, - Eli

Okay, I tried it and it works. :) The resultant error code seems to be 71, which corresponds to an EGR system malfunction, which I don't know what it is supposed to mean. I did a search on here, and I've seen several mentions of cleaning or replacing the EGR valve. I know someone who knows repairs cars, so would they know what to do if I told them that this error code is showing up? Thanks.

Well, I don't know where it is inside the car - near steering wheel, etc? Looks like I can just make a wire and just stick it in there and it stays in place, too?