Anyone have a clue as to what the problem is on my parents ES300 (year 2000)?
We looked the car over pretty well and we are sure a bulb isn't burned out, but one of
the turn signals blinks very fast.....way faster than when the vehicle was new. A friends
ES does the same thing. Just wondered if anyone had any suggestions, you hate taking
the car into the shop for stuff like that.

 

Over the past 4 years or so I have owned the car I have witnessed the same problem several times but with no real cause. The problem appeared on its own and left the same way. When mine were blinking fast, everything still worked. hmm I dunno

 

just wondering...did you check the fronts as well?

if one goes out...doesnt matter where...that same side will blink fast

 

are you absolutely sure the bulb isn't out? When mine went out it would blink fast but a lot dimmer than normal. As a temporary fix, The Lexus mechanic actually told me to slap (im serious) my headlight to see if that would fix the problem. I did and it started blinking brighter, and at a normal rate again. Still had to get the bulb changed eventually though since it would go back to blinking fast again.

 

The front turn signal problem in the '97-'01 ES is usually attributed to dirty contacts in the bulb socket. This obviously requires you to remove the turn signal bulb in order to access the socket area. The corner lamp in a '97-'01 ES can be removed separately from the rest of the headlamp housing, and is pretty easy to do.

You can also take a look at the attached PDF document (requires Acrobat Reader) regarding the problem with the ES front turn signals for additional info. Hope this helps out

 

I fixed this problem on my wife's 94 ES by cleaning all the contact points involving the bulb and bulb holder.

After the bulbholder is removed from the car, remove the bulb from the bulbholder. Clean off the three points where the bulb contacts the bulbholder. There should be two in the bottom of the bulbholder and one on the side. Also, slightly bend the contact points up so there is a tighter connection between the bulb and bulbholder.

On my wife's 94, there were also three contact points on the outside of the bulbholder where it connects with the car's electrical system. These were about 90 degrees apart and are on the surface where the bulbholder contacts the auto body. I cleaned these three points with a nail file.