rotaryjohn

Installed a starter yesterday. less than 1.5 hours start to finish and very easily done.

Gerson

iTrader: (1)

Been awhile since I done updates on my ES300. Bought a pair of good 95-96 headlamps with the black chrome housings to replace my old chrome and busted headlamps from my local pick n pull. Thanks to my job's detail specialist he gave it a good polishing. Will install later today to see how it looks at night.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

You might need to keep polishing them periodically to retain the clarity, but they look great overall.

speedkar9

Also applying a wax with UV protection might help retain the clarity.

I use Meguiars Headlight Protectant:

http://www.meguiars.com/en/automotiv...ht-protectant/

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

I will be experimenting with this. The detail nerds on various forums report this as more of a 'fix' more than just a temporary relief... Some have reported well over a year lasting on one treatment!

After seeing this, I will gladly forget about Plast-x

Check it out, DIY for a few minutes to not worry about it.

speedkar9

I went to go check out a 1998 ES300 for a friend last night.

It was posted for $1200, but dropped to $1000, a little too good to be true with only 265K km (164 K miles).



The car was in good condition for its age, the interior clean, and the exterior in decent shape. There was the normal issues, such as wheel well rust, a noisy A/C compressor (still worked), both leaking oil from the valve cover gaskets, soft brakes and an exhaust leak.



The problem was with the owners.... it was a friend, selling it for a friend, selling it for a friend, and they wanted it to sell it right away, that day, not even wait a day for us to get some quotes on repair costs or insurance.

This raised a red flag for us and we turned it down, even after they called back with a $900 price.

Some things are just too good to be true . We'll keep looking.

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

^ not to mention the clearly undersized tires... These things are a done a dozen.

Come to ottawa, there's a millennium edition for ~2k lol

speedkar9

Yes I noticed, they were 215/55/15 instead of 215/65/15 (or what ever the 3ES usually comes with?). The date code was 10 years old, but at least the thread was decent and all tires matched.

Looking local for now, its either an ES300 or a Camry, what ever fits my friend's ~$2k budget....

jbl-1985

Yea too bad - sounds like they couldnt be trusted. IF and only IF the only issues were with the valve cover gaskets, brakes, and exhaust, then at least 2 out of those three are fairly easy DIY projects if you are so capable. But again when someone practically begs you to buy the car, you walk away...

Power6

It does have the AVS though! Of course the struts could be blown.

Rontgen

Everything is installed and it runs great. The timing belt swap wasn't too bad, although those damn water pump studs didn't want to come out without a fight.

speedkar9

Well if the ownership issue wasn't so screwed up, I'd have bought the car for myself (since I DIY everything) for $900. My friend who this was for isn't so DIY handy, so he'd have to spend a lot on labor in getting the car on the road.

Yes I noticed. There was some slight suspension noise coming from the right front on our brief test drive. I changed the setting from comfort to stiff, and didn't notice any difference immediately. Regardless, those would be replaced with regular struts at this age anyways.

How did you take out your water pump studs? Why did you have to, couldn't you have loosened the front cam gear, the (6?) bolts holding timing belt cover #3 onto the engine, and wiggled the cover upward to clear the water pump? I was able to do that without touching the studs on my 3MZ-FE.

1960vw

Cleaned abs sensors

PuReChaos

Washed the car and addressed an electrical issue thats prevented my illumination system from functioning properly (with headlights on absolutely no light inside the cabin).

speedkar9

After this long winter gave out to a gorgeous weekend, I washed and vacuumed my Lexus. I washed and scrubbed the carpet and rubber floor mats too.

Next is to degrease the engine bay from all that rust proofing oil, clay bar, touch-up and wax .