I had a drive 1 and a drive 2 in my car. I never drove on them before but i was wondering what the f U CCC K are they for? I kinda have an idea that they are at diff rmps and they have different torques but how the hell r u supposed to tow anything on the es300? can anyone please explain to me when and why i should be using those different gears?

 

usually lower gears on automatics are for hills.
yeah, its not really to tow much of anything.
charley

 

I once knew someone with an ES down here and he was always using the lower gears on the hills here.

 

I agree with those that say the ES isn't really a performance car. However, I think the money spent on keeping it running as good as new is better than wasting it on cheezy interior/exterior mods. As long as inside and out are clean and stuff runs new, that's great. (Plus I wouldn't have the money to do otherwise). It's a Lexus, not a Honda Civic

 

can anyone tell me when to use overdrive! the button on the left of the shifter. what does it mean when itson or off and when should i have it on? ive had it on since i got the car and i didnt even know there was the button until a few days ago! lol

 

it locks you out of overdrive, (4th)
use it when you dont want 4th....

which is... never really

 

oh man pheonix! lol maybe im just really bad with cars but im starting from square one man! never had really a father figure or a big brother to helpme out . lol why would i want to or not want to use 4th? i thought my car is a 5 speed? hope u can help me out! lol sorry once again but u have no idea how much i appreciate your info! thanks again.

 

Your car is a 4 speed automatic.
4th drops the enigne speed under a 1:1 ratio to give you an advantageous cruise rpm... and llow speeds creater than about 115-120mph.

Loking yourself out of 4th will leave you in third, which would generally only be useful for some engine braking. It's also that much more heat dumping in the transmission fluid & a drop in economy from the rpm rise.

 

I'd definetly go for massive performance over everything else, but this car just popped up for me. Next year I'll upgrade to either a Supra or Soarer!

 

Hey pheonix. I read your post on exhausts above. Will a aftermarket y-pipe made by my local auto repair shop add any benefit? Im also looking into them redoing my exhaust with larger piping. I would assume the OEM stock exhaust on the 02-05 ES would be about 1.5" - 2" in diameter. Would you go with a 2.5 inch or 3inch diameter piping with a magnaflow hi-flow cat? My concern is too little back pressure sacraficing torque.

What would the benefit of a piggyback accomplish? would i be able to remap the ECU and Air/fuel ratio? maybe allow VVT-i to engage sooner?

THanks!

 

3 inch is ideal for turbo, not for N/A.

 

Backpressure is the devil. It is always bad. The larger the pipe, the lower the velocity. Peak torque happens around 240-260ft/s of exhaust flow (velocity). The larger the pipe, the more exhaust it takes to make that flow.
It simply shifts the powerband from fast low flow that chokes early, to faster flow later with less choke. when you go from small to large pipe.


2" primary pipes merged @ 2", thens tepped up immediately by a long transition into 3" would be the ideal. 2.5" is pretty much preffered. Not much to be had by going above 2.5" on a near-stock engine for alot of added cost over 2.5" pipe.

The stock exhaust steps up to 1.75" off the headers tos tart the y, then merges into 2.5" by the time it hits the main cat. It then steps back down to 2.25" from the exit of the main cat, to the muffler inlet. The actual cat-back exhaust is not particularly restrictive.
If your local muffler shop can ditch the cats for a high-flow cat, and actually build a correct merge. (Which would be atleast 6" long, not some stamped piece of **** that merges in 2".) Then yes, they can probably do a good job.
I preffer stainless, with high quality flex & cats b/c you don't get a "bees in a can" sound typical of cheaper products. Most places will use thin walled mild steel & cheaper flex. Some higher end places will do powder coated mild steel atleast.




PM me about y-pipes. I get in trouble when I talk about them alot & about making them b/c I do make them, but I'm too cheap to afford the vendor fees lol. (I think they should have a lower rate for members that do very little volume of anything, but they dont. Go figure.)

 

yea i was gona say the same thing phoenix but u beat me to it!

 

you can read the owner's manual

 

What about a TRD supercharger like the ones found on the Solara,I'm pretty sure those fit the ES300...As for me I'm leaving my ES300 stock from the engine,but I"m going to lower it and install some IS300 wheels,I'm going to leave the engine upgrading for my SC300(MT) and swap a 2JZ-GTE...