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Going through this thread there are some truly awesome looking cars here! I really don't see many nice Lexuses around where I am...I mean, modded or older Lexuses that have been meticulously cared for. Great thread.
After discovering a weird rusted out taillight housing, I went to the salvage yard and replaced the entire taillight, the power antenna that was broken off and the two front tires. She's coming together, slowly but surely....
My 2011 ES got the full treatment. Well, not the full treatment. Seems the service guy suggested several off schedule treatments including a trans service (thought these were lifetime fluids?) and a nice chemical treatment to clean out carbon from the FI system. I declined both.
Hmmm.
Also, added a read deck spoiler (OEM). Looks very nice indeed.
PS-They also gave me a POS Hyundai loaner. What a piece of crap.
So, while my son was driving home from school in December, the engine in his 2000 ES300 decided to let go. Over the course of the last 4 weeks, we did a complete engine swap, replaced all four struts and put on a new hood. Going to recharge the AC system tomorrow and send him back to school. Should be good for another couple of years.
My 2011 ES got the full treatment. Well, not the full treatment. Seems the service guy suggested several off schedule treatments including a trans service (thought these were lifetime fluids?) and a nice chemical treatment to clean out carbon from the FI system. I declined both.
Hmmm.
Also, added a read deck spoiler (OEM). Looks very nice indeed.
PS-They also gave me a POS Hyundai loaner. What a piece of crap.
It's a pain... aka NOT DIY -friendly, but get the trans fluid done... DRAIN & FILL.
Nothing lasts forever, unless it's a diamond. First thing I did on my Camry when I got it.
I just bought my 2002 ES300 a month ago with 151K miles on it. I did the following as of today: new engine oil using Mobile 1 5w-30 Extended Performance, new air filter, new cabinet air filter, new windshield wipers Bosch ICON, only Octane 93 gas for the last three fill-ups. I notice that I got around 28.5 MPG driving 95 % freeway. Is it a good sign about the 151K miles engine? Thank you for any advice.
NOTE! These are labeled as the short blade keys. I received the long blade one. Hardly worth the hassle for me to send them back because the long blade ones work perfectly fine. If you want the standard 37mm blades, find a different seller because these are not 37mm...closer to 47mm.
That said, they seem decent quality as if they'll last about as long as the originals. For $9 a pair I really cannot complain. They even came with screwdrivers.
I got them cut at a local hardware store for just over $5 per key. Yup, five measly dollars. I also replaced the batteries while I had the transponder out (CR/DL2016 type). $9 for the pair of batteries. All told, it was just a little over $30 to have two keys with new batteries in the remote. Not bad. The hardware store is Mansfield Supply in Mansfield, CT. Bar none, the best hardware store I've ever been in.
I also glued a broken cupholder arm back together. Ugly, but it should do. I think it originally broke because the hinge started binding up. When you push the cupholder into the console, it folds the arms up. The arms are held in with a shouldered screw, and the arm actually rotates about that shoulder. I thought the screw was too tight at first, but I tried loosening it and it didn't get any better...turns out, for whatever reason, the arm itself was binding against the screw. I took the thing apart and lightly filed out the hole in the arm. Put everything back together, set the tension *just right* with the screw, and the thing moves like butter now. It's glued on with gorilla glue epoxy. Doesn't seem like it's going to go anywhere. Again...ugly, but functional...
Cleaned the throttle body and put in a AEM dry air filter. Surprised how dirty the filter has gotten in 30k miles. Not sure if made a difference, but I guess well see. Also changed the power steering fluid in the reservoir twice with some ATF I had laying around.
Post up what you've done to your ES today- or yesterday, or recently... Easy way to organize thoughts, as opposed to many twitter-like threads!
Recently;
Monroe quickstruts
ALL the bushings
Air filter/cabin filter
Put on my winters
New brake pads
Ordered new accessory belt, fuel filter, spak plugs
Detailed yesterday only to have rain/sleet and snow ruin it
Any issues with your quick struts? Mine started squeaking after a month.
'05 Es330. Replaced the hood latch cable. The housing frayed and broke. I purchased a new OEM cable off eBay, part # 5363033120. It's not too terrible to replace. I pulled the front plastic shroud between the bumper beam and radiator support, entire hood latch assembly, bumper, left headlight, and left fender. I don't believe you need to remove the outer fender; I think just removing the inner fender liner will work, but I had no flat space left to jack up the car so I just removed the outer fender.
One tip I have for seating the rubber boot into the hole in the firewall. I tried mashing it in with my fingers for about 10 minutes. Couldn't get it. I figured that Lexus must have a special tool to install them, so I thought about what that tool might look like. Well what I came up with was a 10mm box wrench. Slide it over the end of the cable and all the way down to the boot. It fits very snug so I applied some brake caliper grease to the boot. Use the wrench to push the boot into the hole (from the outside in) and it will snap in smoothly and evenly. It took me 30 seconds to do.
So I went the Amazon route and gave the Metra kit a go. Not what I would call ideal, but for $30 you get you you pay for, right? Ironicly the one most annoying thing about the kit is that the radio mounts to the frame, and then the cover just clicks on over that. Which would be fine accept for the fact that if you mount the tray that comes with it, the way it's supposed to be mounted (there are special slots to line it up) the radio sticks out too far and the plate will not seat right. It's not as visible here, but the top of the cover is actually not seated all the way to the dash. (I think if you had a full height unit in there you could tweak the depth and it would be fine) The color was not as far off as folks where griping about. I may get motivated and cut out some custom metal brackets to replace the crappy plastic ones that came with it.
I also did the Universal Steering Wheel Control. I'm not sure why the instructions just 'strongly suggest' grounding the one pin to the frame, it just does not work otherwise. Seems the bottom left mounting screw actually grounds quite nicely. I still need to find a real connector for that, I kind of 'MacGyvered' the connection currently, but it works as advertised. Is it cheaper than using the nav panel? Yup. Does it look cheaper than using the nav panel? Yup. Still it works.
01-13-16, 03:17 PM
It's not as visible here, but the top of the cover is actually not seated all the way to the dash. (I think if you had a full height unit in there you could tweak the depth and it would be fine) The color was not as far off as folks where griping about. I may get motivated and cut out some custom metal brackets to replace the crappy plastic ones that came with it. 
