Dannymcenrow

I used to have a GEoMetro also. Brand new. I was younger then and I used to burn rubber with that thing. I had a Manual transmission one I used to screech the tires a lot. But then I got in an accident and totaled it and after that I got a 1989 Dodge Aries.

No my front speakers ARE working but My Nakamichi system played all 4 speakers in a way that it sounded like the 2 rear speakers in a surround sound system so something has messed up i a way that the audio doesn't play completely it only plays the suround sound system part of the audio and did that only with FM or CD. The tape deck played fine. Now the problem with my NEW ALpine system is the cd changer that it doesn't play cd's well it cuts in and out or stops playing. The install is fine the thing is I noticed a big drop in quality of allelectronics stuff since 2008 At home my blue ray player went out just after 1.5 years a chip onthe board has gone bad so it can't be repaired and my Sony tv also has a problem I have t change the optical block every year and everyone at work who buys new stuff get problems with them. There is something happening with Sony Sharp Toshiba and all these brands their quality went WAY DOWN. With Alpine it's the same thing. IT was a good quality brand but it's gone way down now look at the problems I have now. The alpine plays well but cds doesn't work

Hi all. Sorry to post in this forum but I asked in both the Audio Video Forum and then in the sc forum but I got no responce. First my car ha a Nakamchi system About 1.5 years ago it started sounding like a surround sound system with only theback speakers connected. I couldn't hear vocals or some instruments so the music sounded really weird so I decided to go or a new Stereo. I checked and it was like $1300 for a New Nakamichi Stereo. So I decided to go aftermarket. That was a BIG MISTAKE! I went with Alpine because I thought Alpine was a good quality brand. ButBoy was I WRONG. About 5 months ago the cd changer went out it had a strange problem it starts playing bt quits in midtrac and sometimes changing the track or CD will help but soetimes I almost get in an Accident because I'm playing with the radio to make itwork. Wel last month brought it to a guy I know who repairs CD players and he thought that a part in the spinning mechanism was bad and caused the cd to have a little play that caused the problem. He went and changed the part and viola it started working again. But that only lasted for a month then it went bad again. So now I want to sell the rest of the system really fast before they break. The whole system costed me $2400. That's with new Head unit new amps(2) and the cd changer. I want some money back out of it becaus it'sm a bad quality product fo to much money. But the thing is I don't have that kind of money to buy anew Lexus Stereo either. So Ithought if some of you know someone or a company that fixes Lexus Stereos If so I can sendmy Nakamichi system for repair an\d put itback in my car. It seems like I'm the only one who bought Alpine' crap because their is no Forumonline that helps you incase youhave trouble with your system and at work nobody even KNOWS sombody who has an Alpine SO now I'm stuck. Please help me. Because now I pulled the fuse so the rest of my system won't get used and burn but now I don't have any music in mycar and I don't like that

I know this is an issue with VW. At VW they recommend owners to use the whole range of Rpm from 2000 to 6000. Maybe it's true with Lexus also they say luxury engines are delicate engines tht requires a lot of babying but I don't know I think they don't know much about Luxury cars. But Lexus engines DO handle high rpms really well so maybe it's a good idea to step on the gas a little more. I don't drive hard but I step on the gas a lot more in my Lexus the I did in all my other cars that I previously owned and the Lexus is still in the best condition when compared to my other cars. At 141k still on the oem Tranny and engine and it's driving like new and still got A LOT OF POWER

Hi all. I'm having a huge problems here. Since I had my stock stereo's fail I went with an Alpine system that costed me $2400 for everything(head unit,amps and cd changer) Now 1.5 years later I'm only having problems with it. First about 6 months ago I started having problems with the cd changer. The thing wouldn't play or started playing but quits in the middle of a track or something like that. I posted a while back in the electronics forum about this but nobody knew the answer to how to fix this so I removed the changer and send it for repair. The repair cost was around $75 the guy told me that some kind of bearing in the changer hat sits where te cd spins went out and that caused the cd to move during playback and that's why it won't play well. Well ok got my cd changer back last month put it in the trunk and yes it played well. TILL YESTERDAY. It finished playing the cd and it had to change to the next cd but it wouldn't change. Went to the trunk to find out that this time there is a whole other problem. The changer won't open AT ALL it doesn't respond to any inputs from the headunit o it looks like the mainboard went south. I don't know what's up with electronics these days but I never saw that kind of crap quality electronics till 2008. My ps3 went out about 1.5 year after it was bought. My bluerayplayer too. My A/v receiver went out 3 days AFTER the warranty expired.Lets not even begin to talk with the issues I have with my Sony 60 inch tv. So no more aftermarket for me. I'm thinking I wanna go back to oem. The thing is I have 2 oems stereos sitting at home. Both of them lasted very long before going out but at least their cd changer is still perfect. One is the pioneer that came with my car. This one works well but the only problem it had was that it would play only thru one side and not the other side's speaker. The other one is a Nakimichi I bought used on;ine with a 12 cd changer. This one also works but it plays music like when you have a surround system wit only the 2 back speakers connected. Like I can't hear vocals but can hear some instruments and so. But money is to thight right now to buy a new Lexus system so0 I taught maybe one of you guys know were I can send the Nakimichi system in for repair. Because I actually want to like refurbish it before I install it but would like to know if one of you know a good place to Then I'll sell my crappy alpine system before the rest of it fails so I'll have more money to fix the rest of the car like climate control display,drivers seats and so on. And a help with the install would also help since I cut some wires while I was installing the Alpine and changed all the wires that goes to the trunk so I would like to know how to get back to stock. Please help me as this is very frustrating. We have to do something to stop these people from making crappy quality electronics and sell them so expensive.

No the thing is if you want a car that handles well in the snow Buy an Suv. I gave him a list of the most reliable and durable Suvs out there but I don't know if they all handle well in the snow but they'll surely handle way better then an sc400. Or u can try a four runner also. We have one at work as a company car it gets abused all the time but it never stalls it drives everyday. I drive it sometimes it has 224kmiles on it but its still reliable to keep up with all the work the dealership needs to do. And yeah Lexus is almost as reliable as a Cadillac at least MINE is. Because i know people with porshes and cars like that and they don't drive it daily because they're not reliable enough for everyday driving. But my Sc gets driven everyday its my only car and it has 141k miles on it and it handles th daily driving very well. THis car has NEVER stalled with me it's got some minor problems but even when I drive a lot it never gives me any trouble. It's the best car I've ever owned so I'll say it's Almost as reliable as a Cadillac But a Cadiilac is more reliable and Durable yeah I know my dad has a '69 El Dorado and it still in very good condition and drives very well.

Yeah the radios on these cars go bad especially if they are more then 10 years old. Mine had died too then I bought a used Nakimichi one and that one died too so then i decided to go aftermarket and I bought an Alpine system that costed me $2400 for the head unit with toughscreen display,2 amps and a cd changer. The cd changer went out a few months ago also and I had to send it in forrepair but now everything works perfectly again. But you can go for a lo of cheaper stereos look on e bay for cheap head unit that has toughscreens touchscreens are better ad the Nav too. I have Nav and an i Pod interface I can conrol my i Pod on my radio' toughscreens but unfortunatly my i pod died also.

Yeah the radios on these cars go bad especially if they are more then 10 years old. Mine had died too then I bought a used Nakimichi one and that one died too so then i decided to go aftermarket and I bought an Alpine system that costed me $2400 for the head unit with toughscreen display,2 amps and a cd changer. The cd changer went out a few months ago also and I had to send it in forrepair but now everything works perfectly again. But you can go for a lo of cheaper stereos look on e bay for cheap head unit that has toughscreens touchscreens are better ad the Nav too. I have Nav and an i Pod interface I can conrol my i Pod on my radio' toughscreens but unfortunatly my i pod died also.

I have the same problem. My fan always blows on high but the temp controls work ok everytime. But my display is out too so I'm gonna buy the whole new climate control unt. I know it's expensive but that's th only solution when these digital things starts to go bad.

I'm not trying to defend the dealership I'm just saying that because we sell Vw and the kind of people who buys these cars are mostly thug like people,young guys with bad attitude and things like that. Like 2 weeks ago we had to call the cops because a costumer wanted to hit the mechanic with a tire iron because he was told that he needed a new engine. A lot of our costumers are downright rude and aggresive and that's why sometimes we can't do our job properly and tell them the facts because we or our entire family risk of getting insulted or a dead thread. The way you're posting in this forum makes me think that you're an agressive guy and if you went with that attitude at the dealer maybe they saw something but they didn't want to tell you because they thought you problably would have told them that you'll kill their entire family. And no the potato thing is not like that. The thing is they told me to cover the exhaust with my hand firmly but then the other guys said like I have 2 exhaust and then he said well stick a potato in it to close it up. But I CAN reach them with my hand I think. The idea is to cover the exhaust firmly for a while with your engine running then removing your hands or whatever it is you're using to close the exhaust with. Now If you see smoke coming out of them that means that you're engine is burning oil and you're gonna have a problem soon. But anyways have a Happy new Year and I hope you'll have your car fixed. A bad tranny can happen to anyone I had a tranny go out on me once in a Dodge Intrepid at 125 k miles so it;s normal to have tranny problems at this kind of mileage. If you really love this car fix it if not you can buy a new or used one and maybe one that has more power like a Vw Passat CC or something like that those have stronger transmisions to handle all the hard driving like young people drive these days.

But that's true. There is an actuator in the door to lock and unlockit. That way so you can unlock it with a remote. And that can cost a lot of money. If they told you that there was a lot of stuff wrong with the car you should have listened. Because you chose to walk away because you we're angry at them for charging you that much but maybe they have seen a problem you didn't know about that could've prevented a lot of things. It's the same thing where I work. I don't work in the garage but most of the time when the mechanic tells the costumer that he spotted something wrong with the car the costumer thinks that the dealership is trying to rip him/her off and ignore it. And then when they get in trouble with the car they come back and then there's lot more that need to be fixed. Maybe these mechanics saw something wrong with your tranny but didn't want to tell you because maybe they thought you're gonna freak out at them but maybe that could have saved you a lot of money.

For reliabilty go with Cadillac. Or cars like the Mercury grand Marquis,Ford Crown Victoria these are really durable cars and are rear wheel drive too. Then there are cars that are really good for driving in this kind of weather like Ford F150's Ford Explorer Expedition and don't forget the LINCOLN NAVIGATOR. Foreign cars with that kind of mileage are gonna give you a lot of trouble scroll up and you're gonna find a thread with an Sc 300 that lost a tranny and an engine at 144k miles. They say that they go till 300k but that's not true I work at Vw and for Vw they say the same thing. That Vw is known for their reliability but they don't go past 150k without having mayor work done to them. The only cars in the world that can go over 200k without a lot of work are the ones that I mentioned above and some other American cars but you know in my opinion I think it's best to just keep your BMW. Because I mean if you can't buy the suspension parts you want that's not a reason to get rid of the car. All cars have their problems I would say keep the Bmw and live with it as it is right now.

Yeah because the previous owner problably had to rebuild everything around 150k miles but you don't know that. I bought my car from my sister that's how I know that no mayor work was done to this car but let's see. And to Lobotom I want to add that if you're doing the tranny it's a good Idea to do the engine as well because as I remember from back in the day when I was a carguy most people at that time that had their trannys fail they'll do their trannys and rebuild the engine. If the engine is really good then only do a soft rebuild like replacing gaskets,piston rings and some other small stuff if you suspect that it's about to go then do the complete things like Crankshaft resleeving and such. Back in my carguys days the guys had a way to tell by looking at the oil when day change it if the engine was about to go or if it could take on more miles they had a way like lookimg at the oil if it's burned or something like that but I tried it when working on my car but can't figure it out. My oil just looks like oil and I use syntetic and I think syntetic doesn't burn either because like back in the day when I had my classic cars(one El camino and 1 Chevy Malibu)I would fill it with oil then when i went to change the oil I check the dipstick and I find that the oil level had dropped. That's supposed to be Normal in high mileage cars but in my Lexus I change the oil then check it 3000 miles later before changing the oil and the level is exactly the same as 3000 miles before absolutely no oil lost I find that strange. But I think that's because I use synthetic because synthetic sticks on the metal parts of the engine that needs lubrication not the oil so it doesn't burn that's what I think. Or are newer cars different from the older classic maybe I have to look at other things. A guy at work told me to stick two potatos in the exhaust,start the car,let it run for a while then remove the potato if you see smoke coming from the tailpipe when you remove them that means that you're engine is already burning oil and that smoke will increase soon that it becomes visible soon when you drive. But anyway try these methods and please let me know because I have an SC400 and I'm getting nervous I'm thinking I'm gonna buy another car for like $1500 anything cheap and then rebuild my tranny really fast because I'm afraid one of these days the thing will explode and mess up my engine.

I am at 141 k so 3k lower then your mileage. On this forum they told me that these trannys can go till 300k but I knew that it's not true because most auto tranny's won't go that long exept in SOME american SUV's or trucks like F150 or something like that. Foreign cars are build to last in their countrys but in the U.S they use poor material to make the car cost less since the dollar is weaker. I know that I work at VW dealer. But the thing is have youtried to start it? Why not? Because that's what actually making me nervous because if a blown tranny would cause the engine to blow then I'll better stop driving my car till I can rebuild my tranny. Most tranny's die at around 150k miles even vw's ,mercedes and B.M.W so an auto tranny would never go a lot longer. But manual trannys can. But does your car still start? Is your engine blown? If your engine is still ok then I don't think you would be able to use a Supra tranny with that engine. Because many people think that the sc300 have the Supra engine but that's not true. The Sc300 has an engine that has the same SPECIFICATIONS as the Supra engine but it's not like they went into the Toyota plant took a Supra engine and dropped it in the car. It's an Engine especially build for the Sc300 it's the same for VW most people think that they use the same engine in an Audi as they do in a Vw and that an Audi is just Badge engineering but that's not true. So the Supra Tranny will probably not work. BUt if you swap the engine for an ACTUAL Supra engine THEN the tranny will work. But the car won't be the same. THe driving would probably be less smooth and less quit but more performing. If you wan't to do Turbowork then it's better if you go with that but otherwise you should buy the sc300 tranny or do a tranny rebuild. But in either way don't blame thedealership because at that kind of mileage it's very normal for auto trannys to fail!

I am at 141 k so 3k lower then your mileage. On this forum they told me that these trannys can go till 300k but I knew that it's not true because most auto tranny's won't go that long exept in SOME american SUV's or trucks like F150 or something like that. Foreign cars are build to last in their countrys but in the U.S they use poor material to make the car cost less since the dollar is weaker. I know that I work at VW dealer. But the thing is have youtried to start it? Why not? Because that's what actually making me nervous because if a blown tranny would cause the engine to blow then I'll better stop driving my car till I can rebuild my tranny. Most tranny's die at around 150k miles even vw's ,mercedes and B.M.W so an auto tranny would never go a lot longer. But manual trannys can. But does your car still start? Is your engine blown? If your engine is still ok then I don't think you would be able to use a Supra tranny with that engine. Because many people think that the sc300 have the Supra engine but that's not true. The Sc300 has an engine that has the same SPECIFICATIONS as the Supra engine but it's not like they went into the Toyota plant took a Supra engine and dropped it in the car. It's an Engine especially build for the Sc300 it's the same for VW most people think that they use the same engine in an Audi as they do in a Vw and that an Audi is just Badge engineering but that's not true. So the Supra Tranny will probably not work. BUt if you swap the engine for an ACTUAL Supra engine THEN the tranny will work. But the car won't be the same. THe driving would probably be less smooth and less quit but more performing. If you wan't to do Turbowork then it's better if you go with that but otherwise you should buy the sc300 tranny or do a tranny rebuild. But in either way don't blame thedealership because at that kind of mileage it's very normal for auto trannys to fail!

227k is ALOT of miles. But a faulty o2 sensor can't be the culprit for bad idling because I've had my 2 sensor that failed and the only thing they did was turning on my Check engine light. And are you the first owner of that car or did you buyit used? Because I want to know ith that kind of mileage if that car have had at least a soft tranny rebuild or how many headgaskets has been changed on it. And how do u drive? Slow,Normal,or fast? Because that's a LOT OF MILES!!!

What's the mileage of the car?

The thing is I where I work I happen to work with the kind of people who likes sportcars. And they all hate Lexus and Toyota. The Sc 400 does indeed look a little like a fast sportcars but it's still a slow car. If you come from a BMW you'll find that this car willbe very slow in performance. Bmw are more sporty then luxury. Lexus is more luxury and less sporty it's more for people like me who's almost in their 40's If you want a car you can mod Lexus is gonna be to expesive cause why buy n expensive car if you're gonna od it anyway? it's better to check out Honda and Acura or Subaru they are all performance cars. Vw's are good for modding too you can check out the Vw passat cc or the older ones like sciroco and cars like that or if you wan't luxury you can go with Audi. But an Sc is more like a classic 90's car then a sportcars it's more like a car to cruise in. I have mine as a famiy car it's a 2 door but it's still a good family car and i's reliable it's almostas reliabe as a Cadillac. It's not sportcar fast but fast enough for me I kind of have a heavy foot but I don't do doughnuts or burnouts or anything like that. Maybe this coming year I'm gonna get like a Chevy Malibu and give the Lexus a rest because it has one a lot for us this year. But I'll keep it till the engine dies and then I'll see what I'll do with it

May I ask why you bought this car? Because usually young people hate Lexus and Toyota a lot. People are going to give you a hard time just because of that car. I know that for sure because I work at a car dealership where most people are in their 20's and they all hate my car. Even the Vw certified mechanic there gave me wrong advice on maintenence for this car. You're an Ex honda guy. Why didn't you buy an ACURA. The tsx is nice. Audi's are nice too and VW's both the Passat and Jetta have small economical engine but they come with a turbo for good performance. The Passat cc is a good performance car. It has a lot of power. This car has been tested on the autobahn in Germany. It has a lot of power and handles extremely well. But what where you thinking when you bought that? Now people are gonna give you a hard time and the Lexus name is gonna be trashed a little more and you're gonna get rid of this car at least in 3 months or a shorter time period. Because you're a Honda guy and Honda guys hate Lexus. Again I'm asking. You're a Honda guy why didn't you buy an Acura?

I'm guessing u can't. Japanese cars in Japan use positive grounding American use Negative so it won't work. Another reason I know for sure it won't work is that the instrument cluster needs to work with your ecu and the soarer ecu is completely different. The soarers has a 2.5twin turbo engine so the ecu is completely different

Wow Nobody knows how to fix a laser in a cd changer. Damn I guess I'm screwed it's xm everyday for the rest of my life and that's not bad but the thing is I can't listen to my cd's anymore. Guess I'll have to live with it till this problems with electronics blow over. I have blue ray player Ps3 and an A?v receiver in the garage. Gone in just over a year of ownership!!

Hi all . Last year around february my Nakimichi system went out on me so I reaplaced it with an Alpine system that totaly costed around $2400. But I don't know what is happening with japanese electronics but since last year they started making really crappy quality things. All my home theater stuff I bought last year already went bad and after the warranty expired. And my car system too. You see first I started using my I pod since this deck had an I pod integration I used my I pod but it didn't connect true a mini plug jack but used like a usb iterface to play music and also control the i POD. Well about 6 month ago my i pod went out so I started playing cd's using the 6 disc changer. BUt now that went out also. At first it wouldn't play sometimes I had to make it change cd's so it would play but then it would play about 6 cd's perfectly well and then acting up again. But the problem progressed more and more till now it doesn't even play 1 complete track. Sometimes it plays but quits in midtrack and it even does that when the car is sitting still so it can't be something mechanical. So I'm guessing the laser is going out. Do any of you know how to reaplace the laser and what kind should I buy if I can buy Alpine's or from other manifacturers since I know Alpine products are really bad quality stuff right now. I want to fix it in a very cheep way. I tought about getting an i pod but the thing is since technology is so messed up these days I'm afraid of buying a new i pod to later find out that it won't work with my head unit. Do any of you have an alpine system and know of a cheeper way to fox this. Because I don't want to buy a whole new changer again for $300 to have it fail in less then a year.

Ok J wills your opinion I can actually trustbecause t's a real world experience. You have a car you drive it in the city and at 170 k miles you still have the sme transmission but I don't trust things like statistics or something that was said in a car commercial because I mean 300 k on the same tranny that cn't be real that only happens with Big pickup trucks Suv,s and other really strong cars that are build for towing climbing mountains and things like that. But I believe I don't have the drop the tranny now but I still want to know some hings. Like is any of you using trans coolers and what kind do work best on these type of cars? Andwhat exactly is Snake OIl is it something like Dura lube or Prolong or Slick 50 or something like that or what? And also how many modules does these cars have lie for lights a/c,wipers and things like that. And what factory made the automatic transmission for these cars? Because lkeway backthen i 1994 when this car was made either Gm owned Toyota r Toyota owne GM that's how te Toyota Corolla's wre made exactly like Geo Prizm's This mkig the car faisfe thing i really paying off! I changed my Fuel pump and the car got a lot more power now then itdid before

It has 139 k on the odo but that's the typical mileage that I see vw's trannys die with. I never did a complete flush but I do 2 drains and fills every oil change (3k miles) to try to make the tranny last longer. Some people told me that a tranny cooler might help. I wonder if anyone of you are using that and if it helps. One guy at work also told me to buy snake oil at autozone for the transmission and the engine. I wonder if these really make your car last longer. They said it will double the life of the tranny and engine but I mean if it's really true everybody would be using them and never haver to rebuild. And I don't think any trans will last for 300k exept maybe in big pickup trucks liek Ford F 150 and Chevy's. In the real world most trannys go till 150 k miles both domestic and foriegn cars. I speak of experience because I know a lot of people with foreign cars