codger

About a month ago I ran into a guy at the car wash was who was cleaning up his 99 ES. Noticed a "for sale" sign on side window. Since I already have low-mile 99 ES it interested me why he was selling his car. He had found another car and purchased it and didn't want two cars. I figured there may be other reasons because the car, though very straight, probably didn't see many garages. It had 192,000 + miles. Engine bay was pretty clean, upholstery used but not bad. We took it for a quick test drive and it handled fine, shifted just fine and had every bit of acceleration as my ES. He had some work repair sheets with him and I could see that he had spent quite a bit since he had purchased the car about 2 years earlier. New radiator, O2 sensor, Idle air control, air conditioner attention, regular service at a good garage and other minor fixes that he had taken care of.
Ended up giving him $1500 cash and have put another $1300 doing a timing belt, water pump change, replacing two motor mounts (I know, not a good sign) and valve cover gasket replacement.
(not cheap, either). Have a job in rural area with 30 to 40 miles of rough, dirt roads that I have been using the Lexus for. Since then, I've put a couple thousand miles on the car and it's been great.
Just an observation, though. During one stretch of rainy weather and very slick dirt roads, I noticed that the the car was really finding it difficulty with its traction as trac control tried to correct the sliding. I shut the control off and it was like driving another car with no problem. Later, tried shutting control off on rough paved roads while using cruise control and noticed that the slight surging that had been happening, immediately cleared up. Anybody else have had surging cruise speeds remedied by shutting trac off? Sorry, so long-winded.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Traction Control uses the throttle to correct any loss of traction, so it makes sense what you experienced. What kind of tires are on the car and what's the tread like?

codger

Thanks, Really don't know much about the trac operation and didn't know that throttle controlled it. You may have hit on something with the tires. They're some off-shoot brand, Definity, which I've never heard of. Also, though they have pretty good tread, they appear to be older. The guy I bought the car from only drove it about 2,000 miles in 3 years. Surprisingly, there is a new Goodyear Eagle spare. Might have to spring for three more.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Before you start using the spare tire, take a look at its manufactured date, it may be unsafe to use at this point.

davensd

I'd have to agree with MrBooby. Bad rubber will make things like the traction control act crazy. I suggest spending some cash and getting something higher rated for your driving environment.

codger

Thanks you guys with useful suggestions. Further inspection of the tires probably indicates that I need to get new rubber. Some other trac searches show that maybe it is best to disable trac control when in slick conditions, at least for uphill traction, and on slick, muddy roads.