From 4x4 to luxury

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 7:03 pm

Here's the tool but if the t-belt was changed, you're good 'till 180K miles.

http://www.amazon.com/Schley-SCH64300-T ... oyota+tool

Another item to check is the front upper control arm ball joints. A commonly worn part with higher mileage. From Lexus, they're about $550 per side but they can be found aftermarket for much less. Not sure yet how good the aftermarket ones are but I'm sure a couple guys at work have purchased them.

If you haven't seen this site, it's a popular Lexus site:
http://www.clublexus.com/forums/

eGoCeNTRoNiX · Post by **eGoCeNTRoNiX** » Thu Feb 28, 2013 8:30 am

EvilHorace wrote:Here's the tool but if the t-belt was changed, you're good 'till 180K miles.

http://www.amazon.com/Schley-SCH64300-T ... oyota+tool

Haha, I was thinking of a different tool..

Key Keeper · Post by **Key Keeper** » Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:38 pm

yeah Ive joined club lexus already. Theres a ton of DIY threads on there that caught my eye. I have a bad door lock actuator motor on the passenger front so going to try this one myself lol. Ive been running midgrade in it and it trips the check engine light with low catalyst eff. If I run prem in it, then the code doesnt pop up. Im going to put some new plugs in it this weekend. This guy did the bare minimum to the car from what I can see.

For the ball joints, the front end is super tight on this car but I'll keep an eye out.

Key Keeper · Post by **Key Keeper** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 1:18 pm

Well worked on the car a little this weekend while I was in Oklahoma. Car ran good all the way there. Check engine lamp came on about 3/4 way there and as expected bank 1 low catalyst eff.....Looks like a header with cats will be in the works. Im looking at the magnaflow assembly. I had to change the alternator on it as the voltage was really low and started tripping all kind of vsc and abs lights. I went ahead and replaced the front pads on the car since it had a tiny squeak and while I was there did a shake down on it and inspected the ball joints. Everything is tight and well lubed. Pads were ok but were about halfway through their life so changed them anyways. Replaced the air filter and cabin filter as well. Holy crap the cabin filter was NASTY! Now the AC/HEAT will dang near blow your hair out when turned all the way up. The guy had put a new Diehard battery in the car right before he sold it to me but like an idiot he took the 1" spacer off of the bottom of the battery so it sat too low and the hold down bolts ran out of threads....he put the battery hold down under the passenger seat. I cut out a piece of 3/4" birch plywood and put it under the battery so now its all tight. Some of the undercarriage plastic bolts were loose so tidied them up as well so no rattles. Changed out the plugs/boots/wires as well. Car runs/accelerates much smoother. I averaged 24mpg there and back. I let the better half drive from the Tx border to Walters OK and told her to use the cruse...she refused. At one point I asked her how fast we were going (I had already glanced at the speedo) and she realized she was cruising at 95mph...she used the cruise from then on. I drove all the way back. All in all Im pretty happy with the car. Hoping to order wheels/tires/front lip/rear lip/spoiler/header w-cats/vented rotors/struts/springs in the next couple weeks. Ive always hated the "ricer" crowd due to their loud fart can mufflers and totally ghetto mods. Seems for this car, there are only "serious" types of mods that actually look good and dont ruin the ride/look of the car.

darcy · Post by **darcy** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 4:55 pm

nice!

b-man1 · Post by **b-man1** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 5:03 pm

tastefully done mods look great on those cars. i don't ever do much other than medium tinting (legal limits) and different wheels/tires.

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 8:11 pm

The way we check the upper ball joints on those is to use a large channel locks and compress the upper control arm to the bottom part of the ball joint. If it moves 1/16" or more (up/dwn), it's on its way out. You'll see some movement there before it becomes blatantly obvious (excessive freeplay in wheels) or starts to clunk over bumps.

Seems for this car, there are only "serious" types of mods that actually look good and dont ruin the ride/look of the car

Oh no, our dealership is close to 'da hood' and you should see some ghetto GS rides we get occasionally, brought in by drug dealers. Huge gangsta wheels, custom paint jobs, custom interiors and sound systems yet mechanically in terrible condition.

Key Keeper · Post by **Key Keeper** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 9:45 am

LMAO. Yeah Im torn about the stereo system. There is a mod out there to put in an aux input or a wired blue tooth receiver. The factory pioneer radio has the LCD thats on its way out. I can buy the updated LCD/cable kit for it but Im thinking about just putting in a nice kenwood or alpine double din with touchscreen/nav. I looked into installing it and talk about a pain in the ***. Have to bypass the factory amp which I didnt want to do. I'd have to install a small amp and run the factory sub off it. Wish there was a way to hook a double din up the factory amp but the amp uses "bus +" "bus -" to communicate with the factory radio so its not just a simple low volt RCA signal. I may just order the LCD for the factory stereo and do the aux input hack to the CD changer harness. I never use CD's and....a freakin tape deck??? what was Lexus thinking??

For the wheels, Im thinking these in 18 x 9.5"

b-man1 · Post by **b-man1** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 6:38 pm

lol...those are almost exactly like what i put on my is350...mine are gunmetal color. 225/255 staggered.

Key Keeper · Post by **Key Keeper** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 9:16 am

Got a pic of them? I decided not to get the enkei's. Im not racing the dang car so a cheaper wheel will do just fine. I got a quote for 4 wheels and tires for $1,600. They are Avanti wheels and bridgstone tires. 275 45 18 in the back and 245 45 18 in the front.

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 8:22 pm

a freakin tape deck??? what was Lexus thinking??

Well, your car was made in '98/'99 and tapes were still used by some back then.

I never use CDs either anymore nor ever listen to public radio either. When I replace my existing units, they'll be for MP3s only, no cd player or radio.

You're lucky in that southern cars are usually rust free. You should see the 90s stuff we see in our area, not fun to work on.

b-man1 · Post by **b-man1** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 9:14 pm

EvilHorace wrote:Well, your car was made in '98/'99 and tapes were still used by some back then.

I never use CDs either anymore nor ever listen to public radio either. When I replace my existing units, they'll be for MP3s only, no cd player or radio.

You're lucky in that southern cars are usually rust free. You should see the 90s stuff we see in our area, not fun to work on.

my 07 is350 came with a tape deck/CD changer combo. lol

i'll try to snap a few pics of the wheels tomorrow for you. they are a knock-off brand (MB Wheels), but have held up extremely well. they are lighter than stock, look good, and were waaaaaaaaay cheaper. like $600 for all of them cheap. tires are michelin super sports (summer tire).

edit: these...

http://wheelsbymbmotoring.com/product.php?wheel=Weapon

got them at my local discount tire shop. i have the gunmetal color. i chose that as it goes with the tint and hides a lot of brake dust/dirt between washes.

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 10:17 pm

my 07 is350 came with a tape deck/CD changer combo. lol

Yeah, I think "Mr Lexus" is a tad out of touch with cassettes. I was using CDs in cars in the late '80s with a Sony Discman before eventually getting an in-dash cd player.

Key Keeper · Post by **Key Keeper** » Fri Mar 08, 2013 1:04 pm

All I would want is radio (FM only), NAV, aux, and bluetooth for calls....Im hell on CD's. They end in the garbage after riding with me for a week...

Currently, Im thinking Im going to order the LCD repair thing and then do the aux line in hack to the changer harness. I really want the dash to stay as factory as possible and match. The aftermarket double kind kits for the dash are black and shiny, but the AC controls are kinda metallic brown colored. Also the dash lights are the olive green color so it would be kind of hard to find a head unit short of a kenwood that would match the colors as well. I guess Im just too damn picky...

Key Keeper · Post by **Key Keeper** » Fri Mar 08, 2013 1:07 pm

Orderred this couple days ago...hoping for a little more power and no more annoying catalyst eff codes popping up. The o2 censors check out fine.