The *completed* ES300 Project (thewizard's new car)

[thewizard16]

Doesn't sound too bad - seems like everything is diagnosed and not too difficult to fix (in theory)

It's just $$$$, which is the main annoyance/problem. The ABS sensor/warning issue is the thing that isn't diagnosed and is still a total unknown as far as part and cost goes, but shouldn't be too complicated once the problem is localized.

[CJ]

Mine is fine.

[thewizard16]

Mine is fine.

Several of these problems shouldn't be as big an issue on your car. Mine spent most of its life in New York, thus more rust than typical. It sat in storage for over a year without moving, thus more issues with things being improperly maintained/lubrication having settled/dried out/etc. and causing bearing issues and so on. The only major problem I would expect yours might have if you do the strut job is the possibility of damaging one of those ABS sensors when removing the old struts or trying to get the new ones into place. I would think, provided your car is a Texas native, that your job would be a lot easier than this one was due to the several hours you would save in not dealing with rusted/seized/snapped bolts.

[Rupert]

Moral: Owning old cars is for the birds.

Man, you have no idea.

[thewizard16]

All weird noises resolved with the replacement of the rear calipers and new sway bar bushings. AC compressor is being put on hold for the moment since it's $$$ and is still working fine at the moment, but the car is going to the dealership tomorrow to try and track down what the heck is going on with the ABS sensors or module since the regular mechanic couldn't get it sorted out. Crossing my fingers it's just a single wheel sensor and I can be done with this annoyance.

[thewizard16]

Dealer was unable to provide any new information. The car wouldn't generate any active codes at all today on the drives to and from the dealership, they couldn't get the lights to come on when they drove it (regardless of speed/distance/time on the road), and it didn't do it at all this evening running errands. Even made the ABS kick in at decent speed and no lights came on. All the old stored codes don't really help narrow down the problem and could be from multiple past occurrences, "sympathetic" codes to the actual error, or from any issues with power supply to the ABS module that they just fixed at my regular shop. So basically I still have no idea which sensor is causing the problem (if that is the source) or if the problem will come back. I don't like unanswered questions. But I do hope it doesn't come back (as much as I doubt that)...

[thewizard16]

Not surprisingly the light came back on the day I posted that. What was surprising is that after all the brake work, resetting the units, etc. it was only throwing 4 codes and none of them were speed sensor related. The shop that originally looked at it (my normal place) continued on their theory that it was either a power issue to the module or the module itself was failing and went back to work with the multimeter. They replaced all the ground points to the ABS module they could find with the wiring diagram, replaced the negative battery terminal, and were still getting funky values but not consistently. They decided to look for other power source issues and sure enough, discovered the alternator had failing diodes. This ticked me off a little, because the alternator was replaced in October, but apparently the replacement unit was failing. Apparently the problem wasn't yet severe enough to trip the charging system warning light (and the battery was still charging adequately), but they were able to find numerous incidents in their articles of the ABS warning light being the only symptom of a failing alternator. Something about the ABS module being extremely voltage sensitive and the little spikes/drops caused by the bad diodes making it think it was getting bad data and tripping codes, etc. Interestingly it was all with Denso ABS modules in a pretty specific year range... Apparently they like their power clean and steady with no funny business. I'm sure that's a terrible explanation, but it's been a few days and I've forgotten much of the explanation. So the alternator was replaced (under warranty) and it has now been three days with no ABS light coming on. I'm cautiously optimistic that it will not return this time.

[Rupert]

Fuckin' computers, man.

[thewizard16]

I finally got around to trying to take pictures of the ambient lighting. My camera isn't really good enough to pull this off, but I tried.

Ambient lighting on the console with everything on (as it would be when driving):

I have it set to green and mid brightness in this picture, which is one of my favorite settings, but you can pick from 18 different colors and 5 different brightness levels for solid color lighting on it. The RGB controller is mounted in the top of that little pocket that opens below the mirror controls that I see people keep chapstick and such in. I don't know what that pocket is for and never use it, so I decided it was a good place to hide the controller.

The map pockets are lit as well:




This is how it looks with everything off and a bit longer exposure, so it looks a little artificially bright in this picture, but it at least gives you an idea of how it looks (in green anyway):


It's actually really nice at night and is pretty subtle unless you turn it up to a bright level, which I think defeats the whole purpose of ambient lighting. It was complicated to install since I wanted it totally hidden and didn't want it lighting up the actual top of the dash, just the console and dash below eye level while driving. I used multiple layers of what is basically wax paper to soften the light coming from the LED hidden behind the rear view mirror and built a focusing ring out of some very small plastic plumbing parts. Once I got the light level and area of lighting I wanted I painted it the same color as the bracket the mirror is mounted on and you would never notice it unless you were specifically looking for it. I painted everything but the actual light emitting part of the LED itself on all the others to match whatever trim they were on, and placed them in a way that you can't possibly see the LEDs themselves while sitting in the car. You actually have to open the door and put your head in the map pocket to see those LEDs and they are aimed so that the light reflects away from your eyes instead of up at your face. I also put one in the center console storage area so you can see things in there or see to plug something into the power port/USB/AUX in at night without turning on the map light. It was a bitch to wire and took a lot of trial and error (and several broken expensive SMD RGB LEDs) to get the locations and light distribution right, but I think it turned out well. If you don't like ambient lighting, I have it set to where it doesn't come on with automatic headlight mode, only when you actually have the stalk set to headlights on manually, so it's still optional. Definitely one of my more interesting projects to attempt.

For anyone interested, I have a video that I put together for my uncle (who is a car and electronics buff) showing and briefly explaining what I did with the install. It's a couple minutes, but it shows some more colors and how things are set up:
99 ES300 Ambient Lighting