os2

AFAIK you can get BG44 injector/carbon cleaner from some Toyota dealerships, it's presumably based on the same detergent as Techron. BG is even more concentrated. I've used Techron at least four times already. Before I started using it couple of injectors were so clogged they made loud ticking sounds, but after second flush ticking is gone.

I've been filling up my '96 ES with Costco regular for years, good thing it's right on my way to work. Regular is as good as any other brand. Costco premium is a different story, all my cars that required premium did not like it, so for premium I stop by Exxon. I don't know i Costco regular has enough additives to clean injectors and carbon builup, so I just pour a bottle of Techron injector cleaner into a gas tank before every other oil change just for a piece of mind.

I'm thinking about replacing my old worn out seats with a set of newer ones off ebay taken off some 99 or newer ES. Since mine has a purple interior I would not even bother matching colors since they stopped making purple seats in 97. I guess tan/beige ones which are relatively easy to come across will match/contrast well my brown (kinda chocolate) dash/panels.

At least would front fit with some minor drilling in the seat rails?

I assume rear seat foam back might require some extra fabrication...

Also was driver seat memory an option or standard on 97-02 ES?

thanks

I bought a manual on CD a year ago, it is a bunch of pdf files (about 40MB total)

I turned out to be absolutely identical (test and pictures) to '98 Mitchell OnDemand manual. Not as good as latest OnDemand 5 but worth 15-20 bucks, has all the right pics, torque specs and wiring diagrams.

Ok, coming down the home stretch. Had the car checked out at A+ Japanese Auto Repair today, which seems to me an excellent place. 780 Industrial Road, San Carlos, CA 94070

They basically concluded that a major service was due (my summary). The car has 87k miles, and it looks like maybe the 60k service was done, maybe not. There are no stickers for a new timing belt, so assuming for now that maybe it hasn't been replaced yet.

I'll go through the FAQ and look for info. But I have a couple of questions first:

- Power Steering Pump. Is it somewhat normal for them to leak? Is this a common problem? Looks like ours is. Is it hard to replace? And about what should one run and who sells them? (assuming that toyota will be expensive)

- How tough is the timing belt? I can do stuff like that, but if it involves special tools, I'd rather not make the investment. Is there a sheet on this site describing the procedure?

- Same question for the drive belts -- are they easy to do?

- Plugs. Are they tough to replace? Or is most of the cost in the plug? I have a buddy with a superbird (supercharged thunderbird) and even though he's a darned good mechanic he's prefers to have the shop do this job (I think maybe it was actually wires...?) cuz it's a toughie.

- I guess I asked about the headlight cover already. :( Anybody have a cheap source?

BTW, I am a mechanic, so I'm sure I can do this stuff. But I'm a lazy mechanic ;) and I'd rather hand something off to a pro if ultimately it's cheaper (timewise) for them to pull off.

Thanks!

Fred

theres a used ps pump 4sale on ebay right now for $40 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...ssPageName=WDVW

new from internet should be ~ $160-180, Toyota just rebrands them and sells for more

timing belt is not tough really, with average mechanical skills it took me one

Saturday to to id for the 1MZ-FE engine (including reading the factory manual

and ride to Sears to get some sockets) you'll need 10/12/14/17/19/22 sockets

you would need some tool to hold camshaft sprockets to loosen and tighten the bolt, vise or press to compress the tensioner. I made this tool in half an hour out of stuff you can get in home depot. to remove a crankshaft pulley

you'll need to remove small metal cover on remove one of six torque converter bolts and put long M8 bolt into it's place to prevent crankshaft from turning

having inch/lb torque wrench is highly advised, since engine block is aluminum

you don't want to strip a thread...

with timing belt removed it's a snap to replace ps pump. Also white at it replace

coolant pump just as a precaution because if it's ball bearing seizes timing belt goes kaboom and valves meet the pistons :(

drive belts are real easy and cheap

good Bando belts are $ 10-12a piece on intenet and it takes less than an hour to change them, to replace ps pump belt front passenge wheel and plastic cover better be removed.

plugs - Denso iridium IK20 are the best money can buy period

I got mine on sparkplugs.com

http://www.sparkplugs.com/cart.asp?manID=3...Denso%20Iridium

rear three plugs are _real_ pain in the a55 to get to, you can have iridiums

installed in rear, thay are good for 100k and cheaper NGKs or whatever on a front

cylinders since they are really easy to replace and that can be done more often

wires are cheap, like 40 bucks for 3 wires (since your's is 94-96 it's distributorless engine)

congrats on purchase , I've got a '96, same rose/taupe color.

color is awesome, like nothing else, glowing at night and changes color like chameleon. also this color shows less dirt/dust than others ;)

Hi Folks,

Just looked at a couple of es-300s, and I have a couple of questions:

- Is it "normal" to hear a bit of belt/bearing noise from the right front of the car as you drive? Kind of a whispy, metallic sound -- nothing really bad, but it's there. I ask because I've heard it on 2 of the cars now. Might even be power steering or alternator bearings or belt.

----------------

mine make this noise too, after replacing the belts it's not

that loud as it used to be nut it's mostly caused by

ball bearings. power steering pump and air cond. compressor in my case. use a stetoscope or use metal pipe/rod between a pump body and your ear, you'll hear clearly where it's coming from

- Do most of the cars have some oil on the frame rails on either side of the motor? Again, not bad, but enough to make things wet. Is there any typical place it's coming from?

-----------------------

mine did have from leaking power steering pump and rear valve cover gasket. I rebuilt the pump, replaced the gasket and degreased lower frame rails to see if there are still leaks, still dry and clean so far.

- One of the cars we looked at was having motor mounts replaced -- is that typical? It had a "klunk" when changing from park to drive, and they said they had one more motor mount to replace. (Back I believe)

-----------------

clunk is mostly caused by torn dog bone bushings (stabilizer bar between right strut mount and the engine)

$70 bucks to replace

- How about cracked headlight covers (glass) -- is that pretty common? Are they expensive to replace? (same with tail lights)

----------------

if it's a web like tiny cracks it's some clearcoat lacquer that cracked. I baked the head light in 250F for 10 minutes, separate cover from the headlight and polished inside and outside with autoglym pastic polish and dremel tool.

put new silicone, backed and it's shiny and new again

We're down to 2 nice cars, both around 80k miles, both a little pricey at almost $10k, but both straight, clean, very nice machines. And I guess we could negotiate down from there.

Thanks,

Fred

see my responses above

I also fill and drained automatic transmission 4 times with Mobil 1 synthetic ATF to get as much old fluid out as I could. Shifts are silk smooth now even if I floor it.

Also pressed all new polyurethane bushing into front control arms.

Installed rebuit alternator. Washed throttle body and intake with O2 sensor safe cleaner, put new air filter. It turned out the there was no air conditioner filter installer so I cleaned all the trash out of the filter slot - leaves, bugs and put a new one in.

Will change fuel filter and probably recharge air conditioner soon...

Hi,

It's my wife's daily driver, she put an average 50-100 miles a day (real estate agent;) We've been getting sick of squeaks, clunks in suspension, engine noise and last year car developed some oil leaks, so I took it as project to make it feel and perform "like new" again :)

again it's a '96 es bought five years ago with 50k _cheap_ on famous pennsilvania auctions. I've changes synthetic oil every 3k mils, for everything else brought it to

the cheap shops. Car has been absolutely reliable on numerous cross country trips, never let us down.

I've used to work on and modify cars myself (subaru RS, S2000 and my current daily driver - Lancer Evolution) but never worked on 3l v6 toyotas. So I got Mithchell manual (really good), put the car on a jackstands and started assessing damages...

It turned out that

rear valve cover gasket leaked (a lot)

front valve cover gasket leaked (moderately)

both outer CV boots were badly torn with almost all grease dried out, but no clicking noise while turning yet

alternator whining (bad bearing) and not giving enough current

power steering fuel pump leaked

some dirty muggy green stuff in a coolant system (not Toyota red definitely)

leaking rear camshaft oil seal

really low automatic transmission level (barely up to cold mark even after a long drive) but no metal particles on a magnets at all

front camshaft position sensor gasket leaked

both front ball joints were shot

all front/rear sway bar bushings cracked

all four front rear sway bar links (with 2 ball joints each) no good

all front control arm bushings cracked

dog bone (engine control rod between right strut mount and an engine) bushings torn

after removing both valve covers and dropping the oil pan

there were a lot of sludge (not in valve areas though, thanks to synthetics). looks

like before 50k previuos owner really neglected oil changes :(

How much did it cost -

parts (bought on internet, most were original Toyota OEM, some were 3-4 times cheaper that Lexus dealer charged for the same p/n) prices are approximate in USD

2 valve gover gaskets - $22

camshaft oil seal - $9

new gasket kit for power steering pump - $30

timig belt kit (belt and belt cover sticky foam gaskets) - $50

new dog bone - $75 from Lexus dealer

new water pump with new gasket - $205

four new KYB GR2 struts with boots and four KYB strut mounts - $500

new four rubber inserts (between spring and strut) - from Lexus dealer $90

two new front ball joints - $78 each

two front / two rear sway bar bushings - $40

two front / two rear sway bar links (same p/n as 96 canry xle) - $295 from Toyota dealer

Toyota silicone sealant - $5

oil pickup gasket - $6

automatic transmission gasket - $30

new drain/fill gaskets (differential, tranny, oil pan) - $5

Fluids - case (6qt) of mobil 1 synthetics 5w30 - $25

two cases (12gt) of mobil synthetic ATF Dexron-III - $80

2 gallons of Toyota red concentrated coolant - $25

10gal barrel of parts cleaner - $30

new Nippon Denso plugs - $70

new power steering and alternator belts - $30

2 rebuilt CV axles (Lobro, german company does OEM for Porsches) - $150 each, $90 would be refunded as soon as I return my old ones (really time saver instead of fixing CV myself)

Extra tools - I already got plenty of them but needed spring compressor, some extra sockets, ratchets, pry bars, plyers, towels, gloves - about $450 - but most of is an investment, next time will not have to spend

I also decided to do something in a stopping power department and got

front/rear KVR carbon pads (they bite, do not dust, but squeak sometimes under hard braking) - $180

KVR cross drilled cadmium plated rotors - $330

and my favorite part that I put an all cars - goodridge stanless steel brake lines - another $100

and 2extra qts of Motul 5.1 brake fluid - $15

It took me almost 2 weeks total to do the work - lazily after work.

before starting I flushed that nasty green coolant out with flush kit and running water on a running engine until it came up clean, then flushed with distilled water twice.

Also did valve adjustment - 3 out of six were out of specs - bought shims from Lexus dealer.

Soaked an cleaned valve covers, oil pump, pan and pickup mesh grill from sludge

Rebuilt power steering pump with new gaskets, put new water pumb, put all

new belts, all new gaskets all around. Washed everything with an engine degreaser

put all new fluids in

Engine did not start initially, I was like WTF is going on, took a battery out of the EVO and it worked from jumstart, what a releif ;)

Took her for a ride and heat trated new pads and rotors, let her stand overnight,

next day - final ride. Boy oh boy, what a difference it made. Apart from torn driver seat, chiiped winshield and hood, it now has that tight new car feeling.

Engine whispers, can barely hear it, all suspension rattles/squeaks/clunks

are gone. And when I say gone I absolutely mean it.

So after spnding almost 2.5 grands and 2 weeks we've got literally a new car.

I'm really amazed how much of a beating and neglect can Lexus take and still reward you after you take care of it.

thanks everyone

Hi all,

I was replacing timig belt and power steering pump and removed two hoses from power steering fluid reservoir to have more space working on the belt. I forgot to label them and now not sure which one goes where (one goes to power steering pump while another one to the metal pipe)

I've got 96 ES300, coolant reservoir has four hoses connected to it - 2 thicker ones wrapped into some plastic tape that I removed and 2 thinner pipes that I did not touch. Looking at the neighbors 96 Camry XLE V6 with the same engine didn't help much since Camry's reservoir has only 2 hoses, not 4.

Please someone open the hood and let me know, thanks!