All; I'm a new owner of a 2005 ES 330, bought after two owners and 160K miles (i.e., just broken in!). Where's the best place to ask specific questions about how to bring it from "good" to "great" condition/maintenance? Also, there's a couple of features on the car that I don't understand, and the owner's manual is no help. Thanx in advance!

 

Change all your fluids. Brake, Coolant, power steering. Do a transmission drain and fill. Use OEM fluid for all fluid changes. Power steering and transmission take the same fluid.

When was the timing belt done? Use the AISAN timing belt kit ....BUT ...use OEM for the belt. use OEM for the belt. use OEM for belt. use OEM for the belt. Got it?

 

Thank you! Did I hear you say to use an OEM belt? Lol. It's too late, replaced with a Gates kit 8K miles ago. All fluids look beautiful, but will get a rotation going. Specific question. To the right of and below the steering column. there is a space for a switch for traction control. There is no switch, but a wire connector behind it with a resistor across the terminals? And, on the underside of the dash right there is a dial potentiometer, obviously factory-installed. What does that do? No description in owner's manual, no obvious effect on anything.Thanks again.

 

Some models had the switch, others don't. It's just a placeholder. The resistor is just a dummy plug

The dial- I think someone else said it was the volume control for beep your car makes when you lock the doors.

Aisin is the OEM supplier for the toyota/lexus timing belt kit. If you start to hear noise that sounds like a bad pulley, it's probably the belt. I had this issue and I had to replace the sprockets and use an OEM belt. You can actually clean the sprockets but I went ahead and replaced them. There were a bunch of YT videos of people who used a non OEM belt and started to hear terrible noises. I changed mine to OEM and never heard the noise again- had to pay for labor again

That's why I typed it 4 times- you don't want to do this job twice

see here:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...elt-noise.html

 

First I've heard that the AISAN belt shouldn't be used... Who makes the OEM part as I'm pretty sure toyota/lexus doesn't actually produce timing belts

 

The AISIN kit comes with a Mitsuboshi belt. Not sure who makes the OEM belt for Toyota.

The cam sprockets can also cause noise if they are not cleaned/replaced before changing the belt. In my case, I changed both the belt and sprockets and never had an issue again. Thanks @LEX2K2

 

Thanks, Y'all! One other thing: When I start the car cold (not real cold, I'm here in FL), it goes to about 2K RPM, then settles down to regular idle in about a minute. Is this normal?

 

Yes....my 2007 es350 does the same.