I had a broken key shell too. I bought an aftermarket replacement from a dealer in San Antonio that stocked them. The electronics just transfer over, but you need to get the blade cut. The dealer can do this based off the VIN, once you show them proof that you own the car.

https://eternitykey.com/fitment-list/

Chip H.

 

As if I planed it this way, the replacement airsprings arrived today. Got the GX in the garage and proceeded to remove the driver side first. First tried the 1/4 inch spinkler hose to remove the airlines. Didnt work. Found a set of nice anodized fuel line tools which included a 1/4 inch size at Autozone. Paid the Autozone tax for the set $20. Bag came off in about 3 seconds. New bag in. No need to rehash. The top retaining clip is the worst part of the entire swap. Getting it back on is an exercise in cussing.

Passenger side seems to be where the issue was. When I crawled over there it was apparent someone had messed with it. The lower pin was not in the mount. It was barely even on the axle. Dropping the axle it fell out of the top mount. No retaining clip. Go figure. If they couldnt get the bottom in the hole I doubt they bothered trying to get the top in. HAd a bit more difficulty with the airline but it came off. New bag in place. No top clip so carefully held in place while my son jacked up the rear end to seat in the lower mount. I guess the clip really isnt structural. Just need to remember it isnt there if I unload the rear end.

Drive is so much better. I did find the new bags were 1 pound heavier than the old bags. The top band was different from driver to passenger. I suspect one side had been replaced. The passenger side rubber was completely cracked and broken down. Overall not a terrible job at all. Since my non OEM bags will likely fail Guess it wont be too bad doing it again

Key fob housing showed up, except it was only the back. Ebay seller being a bit misleading although my fault for not reading the ad completely. He/she showed a pic of the complete housing together. Buried in the description was they only were selling the back plate. Not one to **** on ebay sellers Ill eat the $6 I guess and keep it as a spare. Ordered another one, read the ad closely and will fix when it comes in.

 

New on the left. Drivers side on the right.

Oops. This wasn't an airbag.

Passenger on the left. Driver on the right.
pics from today. I forgot to shoot the scale but the old driver side weighed 4.4 pounds. New driver side weighed 5.4 pounds.

 

Yep - one of those looks pretty gone!

If you're looking for an interesting small-batch vodka, take a look at High Wire Distilling's "Hometown Vodka".

Chip H.

 

Let's just say these seatbelts could have stood on thier own. The backs were worse. No after pics yet but spent a good part of the day today cleaning. For the seatbelts I tried purple power 50:50 dilution in a spray bottle with a stiff plastic grout brush. Did ok. Had to make a bowl of purple power. Then placed the bowl in the seat which allowed enough of the belt to sit in the bowl and soak. Soaked 20-30 minutes per belt. Used a dollar store generic clip to keep the belts from retracting.


I'll let the seat belts speak for how the rest of the interior looked and smelled. And this wasn't even the worst. One of the back seat belts if you bent it would hold the bend. I can't describe how bad they were. I'll get some after pics when I get a chance.

Picked up a set of new Tacoma take off Firestone destination LE2 265/65/17 to get mounted for $300. Manufacture date of 3019 means they couldn't have been on the truck long. Seller said they were on less than 2 weeks. Hope to get them mounted later this week.

Next will be timing belt service. Any advice on the different kits? Seems they vary from $160 for the basic to $300 ish for the complete kit. Plan is to do the complete which includes can and crank seals if I recall. Any advice appreciated before I order.

 

What I did with some used belts I got for my Land Cruiser is with them removed from the truck completely, unwound the belt from the spool and held it out with a chip clip on the belt, and soaked them overnight in a solution of oxyclean, then rinsed thoroughly. Worked great!

 

I don't know about Lexus, but Honda had a lifetime warranty on safety equipment like the seatbelts. Not sure even Honda would cover "excessive dirt", but you might ask at the dealer if that's an option.

Chip H.

 

Bovineplan,
Congrats on the new purchase and welcome to the club!!!
I really enjoy your systematic approach to caring for a newly purchased used vehicle. Even more so I appreciate your attention to detail and your description of the work performed and overall progress. I have a talent for wit and a true car guy DIY skills. I can tell you're a great gearhead (especially seeing the mid-2000's 911 Turbo in your garage) which pretty much means you're an awesome guy. Thank you for your military service!

 

Thanks for the welcome. So far the feedback really helps. My car loyalty lies with GM but truthfully I have owned a bit of everything. First car was a 1964 falcon, and no I am not that old. The current stable:

2016 CTS-V. Our second V after our last 2013. Wife's DD.
2002 911 4S. Nice eye. We have had it since 2012. My sometimes DD. Not a turbo but from the angle it looks the same.
2013 GT500. Long story. Has 9k miles. Brother in law ordered it new but we have owned it longer than he did.
2017 Silverado. My other DD and tow vehicle.
1996 Caprice 9C1. I did heads, cam, exhaust, trans/rear end work. This is our cheap beater cop car/drag car. It's a hoot.
Now the Lexus which was "for my son" hahaha.

To keep everything in line I do 90% of the regular maintenance. Other than the Caprice everything is bone stock other than exhaust or aftermarket stereo. When I don't have time or experience I tend to find an expert except the Caprice. I don't mind tearing that up.

My only other Japanese car was a 2008 G35S. The rare manual transmission. That thing was a hoot. We sold it to buy our first V. Never had an issue with it. Wish I had it back.

Other cars over the years.
2000 Camaro SS manual -stock
1988 944S - mostly stock but set up for road racing.
2002 VW Passat GLX - maybe my favorite car ever.
2008 Avalanche. My favorite truck. Will gm make this again ever?
1995 Camaro v6. Good for what it was.
1996 Dodge neon. Yes I admit to owning a neon. It was a manual if that matters.
1977 Jeep Cherokee chief. Wish I had it back.
1977 k5 blazer 400 V8. Awesome for highschool.
1977 Camaro 305 v8. No brakes.
1989 Pontiac LeMans. Was there a worse LeMans?
1964 c10 283 3 speed on the tree.
1964 falcon. $400 from a IGA post it board. My first car. Primer orange.
Certainly others but I can't recall.

 

Looks like airbags for people I'm sure your walk will be softer and smoother after this and you won't feel the bumps

 

That is fantastic!
You have a great taste in cars!!!

In contrast, most of my experience has been with Japanese cars, not as eclectic as yours, but had a couple of Fords (first cars):
1987 Ford E-350 Econoline ex-police van with double Weber carbs (fast beast, 7mpg
1986 Ford F-250 Utility body city truck (first practice with dent pulling, bodywork, fiberglass patching of floorboard holes, bonds, rivets, primer......)
1991 Daihatsu Charade (aqua-green, 1L 3-cylinder, 5-speed manual 3-door hatch) - a rare car, but a total chick repellant
1993 Mazda MX-6 (2L 4-cylinder, 5 speed manual) - maroon sexy sporty coupe
1991 Mazda MX-5 Miata (auto, Borbet 5-spoke wheels) - saw & bought at a garage sale, owned for 6 months, sold for profit
1996 Mazda MX-6 GT(2.5L 6-cylinder, Auto) - beautiful midnight blue with tan leather, installed H&R springs and KYB shocks
1999 Chevy Tracker (2.0L 4-cylinder, 5-speed auto, RWD) - basically a Suzuki Vitara, badge engineering pioneer
1999 Honda Accord EX (2.3L 4-cylinder, Auto) - champaigne, blend into traffic highway cruiser
2005 Toyota Camry DX(2.4L 4-cylinder, Auto) - desert sand, even more bland than an Accord to blend into traffic commuter car
2006 Honda CR-V LX AWD (2.4L 4-cylinder - the only engine available, Auto) - owned it since new, still have it - it's a keeper!!!
2005 Lexus RX-330 AWD (silver California car) - couch on wheels
2009 Lexus GX 470 (silver, million-mile 2UZ motor) - daily driver
1997 Toyota Celica GT (black, 200k miles, 5-speed) - barn find, restoration project, sold to a 1990's Toyota Fan as crazy as me or even worse!

Max

 

Back with some updates. An expensive week/weekend.

First, tires. Found a new set of take offs from a 4Runner. Firestone destination LE2. Dot date 3019 so couldn't have been on his truck long. $300 for the set. Not great but not bad.

Discount tire for mounting. Our GX had tires put on in 2016. Was hoping they would find only the spare tpms wasn't responding. No such luck. Only one sensor responded to inquiry and was slow. Could have went without tpms but my son isn't mechanical (yet) and needs all the dummy lights. Also, when we did the airbags the dot date on the spare was from 2004. Factory original. And the bead was broken. Added a budget spare and total for tpms, mounting and spare was $486. Plus the $300 makes $786 for all 5 tires/tpms.



Keys. This is an ongoing project but I made some project. First, this is where I started.



You can see our fob and key are not together. The key is a dummy key which I assumed was an aftermarket. At the bottom is the kit I bought to build one OEM looking key. Projects have a funny way of going off the rails.

I tore apart the dummy key, found the security chip and separated all the plastic/rubber from the blade. Blade won't fit in the oem oem fob as it has a metal body on it.



To the left is all the pieces from tearing apart the old key. Plastic chip there in the center. Pieces of the old fob which were taped together. Used a hacksaw to saw the body off the blade. You can see the body at the top of the photo. The result is the single key fob you see there to right middle.

Interestingly, the chip does nothing. After discovering the chip I assumed we only had a valet. As my fob wouldn't work I taped the chip to the key. Then the GX wouldn't start. Holding the fob bear the ignition starts the car. Now I thought I needed both.

After mulling it over I tested out some things with the security light. Turned out when I inserted just the key, light blinks. When I insert key+chip light blinks. When I insert key+chip+fob light blinks. Key plus fob, light goes out immediately.

I can take some pics if anyone needs but the denso kit I bought comes with a plastic adapter to go over the blade. Bought a hack saw blade, proceeded to saw off the body leaving just the "shoulders" of the blade cut flush to the plastic adapter. Filed the sharp edges and fit like a glove. Drilled a hole in the blade for the screw and put it together. Looks factory.

Timing belt - talked to two local places with good reviews. One let me bring my own parts. $320 for labor for complete kit including cam and crank seals, upper/lower rad hoses, thermostat. Ordered this kit which looks all OEM parts. TKT-021. eBay $20 coupons and shipped to me right at $300. Plus $50 for rad hoses. Still coolant to buy. All in should be $800 ish. Scheduled to drop off Friday.

Seat belts- I never put up pics of the clean belts. Pics for attention. So much better. This is the same belt I pictured last time. Driver.

 

You had me at Daihatsu. And I thought the neon was bad.

 

Mine was just like this one....sexy!

Daihatsu = Toyota

 

Updates.

Keys. Bought two oem electronic fobs with new housings and uncut blades. Shipped 159.54. Programmed the fobs myself using instructions I found on the internet. Wasn't hard. $50 plus tax to have the keys cut.




Bought this on Amazon for $16.89. FICBOX OBD2 programmer for Lexus/Toyota. Didn't have high hopes. Using a combo of luck of various instructions for 4Runner programming it actually worked to program the security chip on our keys. Now we have 3 master fobs.

Did some black Friday shopping yesterday. Picked this up.


Bought the bumper.
$350 plus tax. About 40 minutes from the house so spent a bit on gas. They included mud flaps, the two wheel well liners and the reflectors for that price.


Not the best pic but installinstalled.

Didn't take long. Not sure why they use 6-8 different fasteners. Needed 12mm, 10mm, Phillips, T25 (or maybe t27) plus there are some odd fasteners in the wheel well liners. Trim tools helped. Got it all back installed. Bumper isn't perfect but for the price looks much better.

New shipping update on timing belt now Wednesday. Should go in for timing belt end of next week.