lsunur

I Just bought a 99 Lexus ES300 117k miles with a price under $9000 as my first car. I am the third owner. The first owner run 107k miles and the second one run 10k miles. The car like new and runs smoothly. Every thing is good except the cooling effect.

I searched both this forum and the lexusownersclub and feel I need to do something below:

1. Changing timing belt and water pump (maybe include cam& crank seels, coolant O-ring, timing belt tensioner and pulley). I lived in Rochester, NY. After got hte advice of my friends, I found that one garrage named Integarity need $500 for TB and water pump, the dealer Dorschel need $700 for the same thing. There are other garrages, Mac's II and Nakis here. Which one Do you feel I need to go, the dealer or a cheaper garage?

2. I want to Change the oil and fluid. Can I do it myself? I am a greenhand.

3. I want to replace 4 tires. Lexusfreak recommend Falken ZE 512. I can get 4 such tires(205/65/15 94H) online (http://www.vulcantire.com/ze512_60_t.htm) with $41 each and mount them in a garrage. The fee is about $50 for mount. I found these tires need $66 each in Sears. Does this price include mount and alignment? Can I mount them myself?

4. Do I need to repair the A/C? I can open the moonroof to cool down.

Thanks for your help.

Lexusfreak

Go with either the Falkens or Goodyear Triple Treads ls Best you can get in a stock size for your ES. Did you get service records (all oil changes?) for the car? or service history? Be careful of the engine gelling problems.

miltonlin

1. Another option maybe a toyota dealer - should charge less than a lexus dealer. The 1MZFE engine is the same as in the later model camrys and siennas. I would stick with the OEM parts that you could buy yourself, so matter where you go, you can be assured of quality parts.

2. You could change the oil if you have changed oil in other cars before. The trickiest part is getting at the oil filter without burning yourself on the exhaust mainfold. You could change it when its cold, but oil is better changed while it's not cold.

3. Tire shopping. Some dealers include the tire disposal, mounting and balancing, lifetime rotation, hazard, etc. It is important to get the out the door pricing and pay for what you want and not pay for what you don't want. I know of no place that will give you an alignment, but they should check the alignment free.
DO NOT MOUNT THE RUBBER TIRES ONTO THE WHEELS yourself. Physically putting the tire onto the wheel requires some tools, and you don't have the balancing equipment to balance them. If you are talking about putting the tire/wheel onto the car, be sure to torque the nuts to spec. with a torque wrench. Should be about 78.

4. What is wrong with the A/C? I'd get an estimate. If I was sweating in the car in 95 degree weather , it would surely bother me.

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I agree with Lexusfreak about getting the maintenance records. If there are none for particular items (such as coolant change, transmission service, iridium spark plugs (manual says 90K), I would do those also. You are probably close to wearing your suspension components (struts, strut mounts) also if this was not changed. Depends on the driving conditions too. This is hard for you to tell, unless very obvious.

Don't forget the battery. Should come with a date code stamp on it. If it looks like the original panasonic one, I'd change that out too (easy to do) Of course, you could always do a manual inspection of items.

Then there is the well publicized oil gelling issue. The moral of which is change your oil regularily and often. I change oil very 5K with Mobil1. I think 7.5K is stretching it.

Good luck with your new car. I love the previous generation 97-01 ES300s. I too have a 99 ES300 and I am very satisfied with it. It is a fine piece of engineering, rides very smooth, good power, and suprisingly nimble (with good performance tires).

lsunur

Thanks for the advice.

For the A/C, I think I was strict with it. I test it again. It still work. My friend told me that it need 5 mins to cool down in normal cars. Sorry for the wrong info.

The previous owner does not have a complete maintanence records. The battery and the wiper are new. Oil was changed before 3500miles. No other information.