Intro/Build Thread
 

Hello ClubLexus. New member here. I just traded a scooter for a 1993 ES300. It has 185k miles. I pretty much just drove it from the trade into my garage and started tearing into to asses all that needs to be done.

I'm a Toyota fanatic (I drive a 1997 4Runner) and love working on these things... I probably got the poop end of the trade, but I have a few reasons why I took it anyway:

1. Its an automatic. I have pretty bad back problems and my clutch on the 4runner is pretty hard. It hurts to drive the thing but I just can't get rid of her. I figure I can have the Lexus as my commuter and the 4Runner for wheeling and weekend fun.

2. Like I said, I really enjoy working on Toyotas and cars in general. I love the fact that I don't have to put it back together before I go to work the next morning. I can start longer jobs midweek if I want and continue the next day.

The car is far from perfect... I have some work ahead of me. Here's the list I made myself of things to do with quick estimates (just estimates of the first parts I saw when looking them up, i haven't really looked into performance parts yet):

Junkyard List:

Front door handles $$20
Top engine cover with screws
Heater Control $20
Heater Seat Switch $5
Driver Door Panel $15

Work To Be Done:

Valve Cover Gaskets, Spark Plug Tube Seals $32
Spark Plugs
Change Oil $20
Spark Plug Wires $40

Diagnose Suspension – The suspension made noises going over bumps. I found that the lower spring isolator was worn and the spring is making contact with the perch. This may be the source of the sounds.
- Front & Rear Shocks $70 each
- Top Mounts $45 each
- Bumper and Bellows $20 each
- Lower Spring Isolator $20

Diagnose rear driver side sound – Found out this was something within the brakes… I’ll touch on this later.
Diagnose Engine Tick – There’s a tick you can hear from underneath the car that kinda sounds like the tick you hear from heat shields and other metals cooling when you shut off the car. It doesn’t have a rhythm to it… Just a random tick every few seconds.
Hood Shocks : $35 pr
Clean Throttle Body - Done

The first thing I did was take out some of the plugs to see if they need changing... They had a lot of white buildup on them so I opted for a change. So there I go, learning as I go. First thing that was weird to me was the air-flow sensor... It doesn't look like the one on my truck and I can't see a contact that I clean with MAF Cleaner... We'll figure that out later.

Then, I realize I have to take the plenum off to get to the rear 3 plugs. Yes... I know there's ways to get to them with extensions, flex joints, blah blah blah but after I removed the throttle body I was like "what the heck" and just kept on removing bolts.

So here I go taking off the plugs… I pull #1 and there’s a bit of oil on the lead. I put my plug socket and extension into #3 to pull out the plug and notice something strange in there… I pull it out and the whole socket and some of the extension is full of oil!

So valve cover gaskets and spark plug tube seals get added to the list. I proceed to start taking off the valve cover – what a PITA with that harness in the way. After an hour or so of working slow (I’m teaching my gf a thing or two about working on her car, an Avelon), the valve cover comes off. I quickly notice that I’m not the first to break into this engine. There was RTV all around the gasket and tube seals and noticed more on the #3 tube. I’m thinking they did the valve cover gasket job to try and remedy this issue… The seal did look a little torn tho.

A question for you guys: Is there another seal at the bottom of the tube that I need to change? Maybe that is where the oil is coming in. I don’t want to put it back together and have the same issue.

Also, is there other seals and gaskets I should change while I’m in there?
Anyways… I’d like to hear your feedback. I know I will get asked to post pictures.
Since I drove it into the garage and started taking it apart, the pictures will be kind of crappy but whatever… I’ll post better ones later.

Here’s some of the exterior… Crappy pics, yes I know
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...-32-19_253.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...1-32-48_35.jpg

I know we like to compare how clean it is under the valve cover…
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...-30-28_876.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...-30-40_750.jpg

I tried the best I could to get a shot inside the tube… Its kinda hard to see but its only the tip of the spark plug you can see. The rest is submerged. I left the plug in so I can try to get the oil out first.
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...-31-44_562.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...-31-31_729.jpg

Here’s the cover and misc engine pics
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...-35-07_536.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...-34-57_229.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...1-31-59_98.jpg

Hey welcome to CL...nice trade? lol...nice pick up. I'm attaching a link with a lot of useful information for the ES. It's also in the STICKY top of the forum.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es3...me-inside.html

GL, keep us posted

steve

Welcome to the Club.

Thanks guys... I'm having a hard time figuring out this tube seal thing... its unclear as if there is a seal that I need to change UNDER the spark plug tube. I think they had this issue and tried to fix it by doing the valve cover gasket job but may not been aware of another seal. Does anybody have any info on this?

nobody has been in my situation? I need some advice please

The spark plug tube itself is threaded into the cylinder head, they do sometimes leak. To repair, you have to remove the tubes with large channel lock pliers, or a strap wrench (the kind you use on an oil filter) can also work. You then clean up the threads and re-seal with RTV.

Onto the noise in the rear brakes
 

I took apart the rear brakes that were making noise and learned that the noise had something to do with the emergency brake shoes. The noise is somewhat of a grinding noise while the wheel is moving. The noise exists on both rear wheels but is worse on the driver side.

I took the calipers off to try and eliminate the actual brakes as the culprit... Spun the wheel and got the same noise. I was only able to spin the wheel without noise once i took the shoes off. The shoes seem to not have much pad on them, i'm not sure if this is normal or not since its only an e brake.

Can someone touch on this? The rotors do seem a bit rusted, but not on the areas that make contact with the pads or shoes. Is there maybe a way to adjust them? Will i need to replace the shoes and rotors? I'm about to order the parts from rock auto, but I don't want to order them if it won't fix the issue. I can't tell exactly where its coming from since its coming from under the rotor and only makes noise while the rotor is on.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

They make noise when the rotor is on because the parking brake shoes are rubbing against the inside of the rotor. There should be a star wheel to adjust the parking brakes. There should be a slight drag.

i'm about to give up on this car
 

Alright guys... i've about had it with this car. after finding more and more things wrong with it. after i finally put everything back together... out of nowhere i start seeing white smoke and what i think is water coming out of the exhaust. i took this video to show what's happening. its pretty bad:


i'm pretty positive its water. doesn't smell like anything. i'm just weighing out what my options are. i may just sell it as a mechanics special.

when i was doing the other work to it, i broke these parts... i was able to replace the brown one for $1 at the junkyard. could the blue one being broken be causing this?:

http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...-56-44_237.jpg

i think its weird that this just started out of nowhere. i haven't driven the car much since i got it and it wasn't doing this when i got it. i really want to find something that i did wrong that's causing this. any ideas?

Don't worry about those vsvs too much, one is for ACIS and one for Evap, none of which is critical. Both systems are deleted on my car. The white smoke is more serious though, most likely a blown headgasket