EPayne42

Hello,

This is my first post at Club Lexus and I'm excited to hear from the members. I just purchased a 1999 ES300 for my son and it has its share of issues. I'm a former ASE tech (some 20 years ago) and still have skills and tools. I've done pretty much every job on car from tune-ups to engine and trans swaps, so labor intensive work doesn't worry me. I'm willing to put some decent money into getting the car back to tip-top shape because we didn't pay much to acquire it.

HERE'S THE VITALS:
1999 ES300
200K mi
Clean Carfax report, 1 owner that seemed to keep it dealer maintained until about a year or so ago. No accidents, Body & interior are CLEAN

PROBLEMS:
Steering is vague to say the least. I haven't looked under the car yet, but I'd say the front suspension is shot and needs to be replaced. What's worrisome is the car is all over the place when driving. With the car parked, you can move the wheel a good bit back and forth and the front wheels stay put, not responding to the steering wheel.

CEL throwing codes P0300, P0301, P0303, P0305, & P1349. I did some research and have some ideas of what to attack 1st, but would like to hear from others.

The car ran fine, and shifted through all gears smoothly while on the cold side, but after driving for about 20 minutes it began to act as if the transmission is slipping. The car would fade almost like shutting off, then pop back to life. I would suspect a slipping trans, but 1) the car doesn't rev wildly as it would during a slip, 2) I'd suspect a bad trans would be evident from start up. I have some ideas on this one after researching, but again would like to hear from the members especially if you've had a similar situation.

This aside, the car is PERFECT ...lol!

I know I'm looking at some bucks for parts, but am hoping I'm not going to be swapping and engine or trans any time soon.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

1999 was the first year of VVTi and P1349 is the error code for bank 1.
http://engine-codes.com/p1349_toyota.html

Regarding the steering, it could very well be your steering rack, so I would get under there and start pulling and pushing.

EPayne42

Yep...they're not too pricey, but of course there's all the time spent lying on your back in the driveway. Have you ever done this job?

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

No, but I can tell that a steering rack job is very intensive and requires a lot of time and labor. I would recommend reconditioning everything in its path, if it's really the culprit.

Look into cleaning/replacing the VVTi solenoid. Somebody else just recently had the exact same misfiring issue as you.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Here is the other thread that may help you

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es3...ce-please.html

EPayne42

Thanks MrBooby for your help. MUCH appreciated.

Here's an update on what I've done thus far;

The entire front suspension was pretty much gone. The steering rack was leaking also (and most critical) the bushing for the driver side mount was gone (not there, missing). This allowed the entire rack to move when the wheel was turned! I replaced the rack. Surprisingly this was a pretty easy job. LOTS of room around the rack and this made the job go very smooth. The new rack obviously came with new inner tie rods. I added new outer ends. I also replaced the sway bar bushings and sway bar end links. Both were shot. Next, I replaced both half axles. Both had torn boots and were well past their expected life. I had no issues with the passenger side axle and the dreaded bearing that some times freezes to the mount. My axle slipped out with no issue. The lower control arms were decent so I did not swap them, but will do them in a couple weeks when I get some more money. The lower ball joints were gone and I replaced them. The car is now turning as it should. Everything is nice and tight, but have noticed the Lexus has a rather soft ride (soft steering, soft ride, soft brakes ...is this the character of the car?) I normally drive German cars.

Tonight I'm going over the engine work. I ordered both OCV's/TTVi's. The package should arrive today. I'll swap them out and change the oil (using Mobil 1 5w-30). Will replace the valve cover gaskets, spark plugs, air filter, and fuel filter. I also noticed a cracked hose. I believe it's the PCV hose (runs from intake manifold to throttle body. I ordered one at the Stealer and will pick it up today. Will also replace the oil pan gasket. Also the hood struts are shot. I ordered them as well. Will flush & fill the coolant. Then I'll bleed the brake system with some new DOT 3. Currently the brake fluid looks like coffee...gotta go.

Future plans (in 2 weeks or so): I'm going to replace the timing belt, water pump, camshaft seals, Transmission filter & fluid, and then move to the rear suspension and swap all linkage. Any advice on the rear suspension?

I'll post a pick of the car soon. It's improved dramatically since the suspension work. I'm anticipating the engine work will make it run even better. I gave it a deep clean & polish too. Started with Mothers California Gold Clay Bar. It's a black car and that bar treatment really cleaned up the (very neglected) paint. Then I gave it a machine buff/polish. Last was a hiqh quality wax. It's a sweet ride.

speedkar9

Wow you've put in a lot of work into an old car.

How long did the front end steering rack job take you?

Were the struts blown too?

Generally these cars ride very soft, they're tuned more for comfort than performance, especially if you compare them to German cars.

EPayne42

I concur with you sir, I did indeed spend a good bit on an old car. The purchase price was $2K (negotiated down from asking price of $2900). So far, I've spend about $500 in new parts. I'll be dropping another $350 in a week (new battery, lower control arms, trans filter & fluid). So there's two ways to look at this, on one side I now have a car that I know is near tip-top shape. On the flip side, I could have bought a car in "better" condition (but still could have ended up with repairs). I prefer knowing everything has been done. This is my son's car and he'll be using it to scoot around at college. If we had to pay someone to do all of this work, obviously it wouldn't be worth it.

The steering rack was a piece of cake IMO. I've worked on Swedish and German cars extensively and this Toyota/Lexus vehicle is FAR easier to work on. I absolutely love it thus far. I popped the rack out in about 20-30mins tops. There's ample space to maneuver around the rack. It really only required some basic tools. The biggest pain was lining up the passenger side mounting bracket on the rack with the subframe mounting bracket. I had to shift the bracket on the rack about 1/4 inch to get it lined up. Also, putting the steering shaft u-joint back on the top of rack took some encouraging. I made sure to start with this before bolting the rack down. It was much easier to get things line up with the rack loose.

The struts are fine. They "look" recently replaced. They passed the bounce test with flying colors. With that said, I'll probably swap them some time in 2015 just for peace of mind.

The ES300 is a nice ride, I want one for myself!

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Wow impressive work, it sounds almost like my car when I first purchased it. Luckily, I didn't have as much trouble with the suspension/drivetrain.

To answer your question, the rear suspension is very simple. Mine only needed the rear sway bar links, but yours may need everything.

Definitely post pictures. I never started a Build Thread, when I first got the car, because I didn't feel it was worth showing in its beat up state, but now that it's fully restored, I wish I had.

EPayne42

Thanks bro ...your car looks amazing. I'd like to do the build thread. I have some time off this with the new year holiday. Will take pics.

I'll start pricing the rear suspension components. Once I go under there, I'm the "might-as-well" type of guy. I'll just swap it all and avoid having to go back for awhile.

My VVTi sensors DID NOT show up last night. I paid for 1 day delivery. Guess the holiday traffic slowed down FedEx. They should be delivered tonight according to the tracking. I'm very anxious to get this job done and finish up the top side work. My goal is to have everything done by the weekend and then allow my son to start driving it regularly before he takes it back to college later next month. Obviously I want to make sure nothing else needs to be done before he rolls off.

I also tried to upgrade his radio from the 3.1 gen to 3.2 gen. He liked the wood grain on the 3.2's. The swap was a fail. One of the connections are different on the back of the 3.2 gen radio. I then tried to swap the face off the 3.2 to the 3.1 and the wiring is slightly different inside (LCD wires). No luck there. Next I tried to move the display board from the 3.1 and mount it to the 3.2 face. The bolt locations differ slightly among other slight internal variations. My last attempt will be to put together a wiring adapter using a connector from a salvage car and an aftermarket radio adapter. I don't want to cut any wires in his car, so I'm going to attempt to build an adapter that will plug into the factory 3.1 gen plug and convert to the 3.2 plug. It seems it should be an easy match up of wires, but the colors vary from 3.1 to 3.2. I need a wiring diagram for both cars in order to map the connections. FUN.

EPayne42

Forgot to mention regarding the attempted radio swap, we also installed a 3.2 gen climate control box. It has wood grain and the LCD looked a bit nicer. That was an easy swap because the connections are the same. The box only cost $20 at the local U-Pull-It parts yard.

OceanView

Glad to hear you got most of it fixed.
These cars show how cars can be simple, reliable and relatively easy to work on.
The Germans could learn a few things from Toyota/Lexus.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

I could have told you about the connector differences, haha. I went through that research when I was working on repairing my radio light. Luckily, it seems like you know a lot more about cars than I do. Good luck with the retrofit and POST PICTURES!