Originally Posted by Jodwin

Hey guys, First off let me say I am very excited to be apart of this forum I have been looking at quite a few Lexus forums and I chose this one because it seems like the people involved on this site are here to help.....


Now I just bought my first Lexus last Saturday 8-1-09 I am very excited about the car and everyone I have spoken to has recommended this car and said they are outstanding vehicles.

My car is a 1994 ES300 Champagne Color, It has 123,000 miles on it and is just in amazing condition I am extremely excited to start doing some things to this car. I paid $3k out the door for the car and once I get it detailed and tinted I am going to post some pictures and start interacting with you guys a lot because I really would like to learn a lot about Lexus in general.

Here are my issues and what I would like to do to the car. First problem I Would like to address is the fact that the steering wheel when straight is in between 12 and 1 oclock so slightly to the right and the car does pull to the right. The dealer I bought the car from said he has already had it checked out and it is either just an alignment or a tie rod??? So I am very interested to see what you guys have to say as to what the problem is and what I should look for and what type of questions to ask.

My other issue is the needles on the speedometer/odometer/gas/engine heat showing if the engine is hot or cold the only one that lights up is the Hot and Cold showing the heat of the engine, What do I need to do to fix this issue it is driving me nuts?!?!?!? Where should I take that to get it fixed and also what websites do you guys recommend and not recommend to buy parts off of? I usually buy all my car parts online because its more cost effective. Another thing I noticed is that right when I start the car and it is running the speedometer doesnt move and sits at zero, after driving the car for about 5 minutes it finally kicks in and registers and tells me how fast the car is going, I did not notice that before I paid for the car and right now its not bothering me because I have noticed that it is tracking the mileage correctly so it just seems like maybe a fuse is blown?!?!?!?!? I would really like to get all of this fixed ASAP and I plan on doing that this weekend but I Really would like to hear what you guys have to say about this because I am sure some of you have had the same issues.

Lastly, Now that I own the car I have to assume that whoever owned the car did not do the regular maintenance, What would you guys recommend getting done to the car mechanicly to ensure that its getting all the proper treatments to try and prevent any future mechanical issues??? I have heard mixed opinions on getting a transmission flush.... What do you guys have to say and what are your recommendations?!?!?!?!

I REALLY APPRECIATE ANY FEEDBACK I REALLY LIKE THIS CAR AND PLAN TO TAKE VERY VERY GOOD CARE OF THIS CAR....

Originally Posted by Lexusfreak

Welcome to CL Jodwin & congrats on your purchase. Looking forward to those pics. Another excellent site is www.lexusownersclub.com just so you know.

Do you have the owners manual? If not E-bay is a good place to look for one or you can contact Lexus.com directly.....they might send you one for free & you can register your car with them at the same time.....it might be possible to get some of the service history too. The owners manual will be able to help with some of your questions I'm sure.

How do the tires look overall & are they matching? Air pressure correct? I always get a 4 wheel alignment when installing new rubber. I would take the car to a trusted mechanic & get him / her to go over the car with a fine tooth comb.....should run about an hour or so labor. Get the timing belt inspected as well.

I usually change all fluids right away too...especially the oil & tranny fluid (I think yours takes tranny fluid for the power steering btw). I use nothing but Amsoil synthetics & filters....the Amsoil tranny fluid makes a huge difference in shift quality & I go with the 'drain & fills' not a complete flush....if you do 2 - 3 of those over the next few months, you should pretty much get all the old fluid out. Get several drain plug gaskets for both the oil & tranny plugs....or consider one of these in place of your oil plug...

http://www.fumotousa.com/

Engine coolant I would use OE Toyota....I think you can get it in pre-mixed 50/50 jugs & a bottle of Redline Water Wetter works well....just pour it in the recovery tank after the flush. More info here...

http://www.redlineoil.com/products_coolant.asp

Perhaps a new thermostat & rad cap.

As for sites to buy online, I recommend these...

http://sewellpartsonline.com/

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...82&catalogid=0 (this is a Lexus dealer in Florida)

http://www.lexuspartsmall.com/

http://www.lexuspartsonline.com/

Hope this helps & good Luck!

Originally Posted by Lexusfreak

Welcome to CL Jodwin & congrats on your purchase. Looking forward to those pics. Another excellent site is www.lexusownersclub.com just so you know.

Do you have the owners manual? If not E-bay is a good place to look for one or you can contact Lexus.com directly.....they might send you one for free & you can register your car with them at the same time.....it might be possible to get some of the service history too. The owners manual will be able to help with some of your questions I'm sure.

As for this yes I do have the owners manual.... So that is not a problem.

How do the tires look overall & are they matching? Air pressure correct? I always get a 4 wheel alignment when installing new rubber. I would take the car to a trusted mechanic & get him / her to go over the car with a fine tooth comb.....should run about an hour or so labor. Get the timing belt inspected as well.

Interesting you should ask, As a matter of fact the second day I had the car I took it to my buddy who knows a whole hell of a lot more about cars than I do, He has a lot of good connections but he is not a certified mechanic, Anyways he was taking a look at the car and said we need to fill the air up in you tires you right rear tire looks low so we started filling the tires up with air when we got the the final tire which was low the valve stem popped right off which in return the tire went flat so we put the full size spare on there and I immediately just went to Tire Kingdom to get all of the valve stems replaced and get my factory rim put back on instead of the all black ugly rim. So the front 2 tires i would say have 6-8 months left on them they are in good shape, now my back 2 tires are different brands same size so tomorrow morning i am going to have the car aligned and probably have the original tire that was on the car put back on because it was the same brand as the left rear tire, all in all 2 front tires are the same brand the back 2 right now are different but after tomorrow i plan on having the old tire put back on to the rim because i want the rear 2 tires to be the same until its time to replace all 4 because right now the tires are in good enough shape.

I usually change all fluids right away too...especially the oil & tranny fluid (I think yours takes tranny fluid for the power steering btw). I use nothing but Amsoil synthetics & filters....the Amsoil tranny fluid makes a huge difference in shift quality & I go with the 'drain & fills' not a complete flush....if you do 2 - 3 of those over the next few months, you should pretty much get all the old fluid out. Get several drain plug gaskets for both the oil & tranny plugs....or consider one of these in place of your oil plug...

This is where I am a little bit confused, explain to me the benefit of draining the tranny 2-3 times over just getting the tranny flushed??? Again I am not a mechanic so this may be a dumb question but I would really like to start learning the ins and outs of things like this..... So explain to me what you mean, Also my guy said 100% he would use Amsoil and only Amsoil. So I am glad we are on the same page as far as that goes. I really appreciate your reply and help you seem like you really know a lot about these cars so I appreciate you sharing your knowledge with me.

http://www.fumotousa.com/

Engine coolant I would use OE Toyota....I think you can get it in pre-mixed 50/50 jugs & a bottle of Redline Water Wetter works well....just pour it in the recovery tank after the flush. More info here...

http://www.redlineoil.com/products_coolant.asp

Perhaps a new thermostat & rad cap.

As for sites to buy online, I recommend these...

http://sewellpartsonline.com/

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...82&catalogid=0 (this is a Lexus dealer in Florida)

http://www.lexuspartsmall.com/

http://www.lexuspartsonline.com/

Hope this helps & good Luck!

Originally Posted by angmedic91

A big thanks Lexusfreak. This is very use and helpful information to the new people on here to others looking for more information.......

Originally Posted by Jodwin

Do you guys know of a website where I can find my exact part #'s for certain parts for my car? For instance I would like to get the plastic ac vent in the middle which is above my head unit, I cannot find a part # anywhere and I am sure there has to be a site that gives you all of that info.... Big thanks to all of you.