Lexus Repair: 1992 ES 300 Audio and Other Recommendations, hood latch, lexus dealer

Question
Hi Zak:

I have a 1992 Lexus ES 300. My father gave it to me as a gift (after leasing himself a new ES 330) and he bought the car new in March 1992. I know the whole history of the car and it has been well cared for so I am looking to hold on to it as long as it is reliable.

When my dad gave me the car (June 2004) it had 149K miles on it. The following work was done on it recently.

Around 147K: New timing belt, Transmission Serviced
Around 140K Miles: New tires, new brakes, new rotors, new motor mounts, new hood latch.
Around 130K: New Exhaust and spark plugs
Around 120K: New radiator

Last month the power window motor died which cost me $400 to fix. Now the audio system is dying. By dying I mean when I start the car the volume is fine, as I drive the car the volume fades and eventually I need to turn the volume all the way up to just barely hear anything while driving at highway speeds. Also, when I open the back doors, the courtesy light behind the sunroof no longer turns on (it turns on for the front doors). Do you think the power window dying, the audio volume fading (Does this sound like the amp needs to be replaced?), and the courtesy lights not turning on when I open the back doors are tied together? In other words, does this sound like a nasty electrical bug spreading or are these unrelated?

A new amp will cost me $200 from the lexus dealer. Does this sound reasonable? Are there simple troubleshooting things I can check to narrow it down to the amp? Also, the passenger side front main speaker (not tweeter) is rattling. Hopefully this will be fixed once the amp get replaced. The lexus dealer quoted me at $155 for ONE speaker. I found a used PAIR on ebay for $30 from a 96 es300. Will these fit in a 92?

Finally, I can afford a new car (Accord or Camry price range) but am happy with the luxury and power the Lexus STILL provides. Before pouring another few hundred dollars into a car that is not worth more than $3K for an accessory, I would like your opinion on the reliablity of the 92 ES 300. Do these cars really go upto 200K miles with minimum, engine/power train problems with regular maintenence? As you can see a lot of money for maintenence has been poured into the car, but the transmission does shift a bit roughly (for a Lexus) and I am guessing the suspension components can not last forever. If you were in my boat, would you dump the car because it probably won't last much more than a year or so or would you bank on Lexus reliability and drive the car upto 175K-200K miles expecting a few minor repairs along the way and avoid going into debt with a car loan even if you could afford to.

Thanks,

Mark

Answer
Hello, Yes the ES300 is a great car as long as you continue to service it per Lexus recommendations. Harsh shifting can be a sign of the start of a transmission problem so you may want to think about how much money to spend on other things. There are switches on the door frame area on both back doors, these switches can go bad and may be your problem. Amps do go bad and there is a really good chance that is what it is. The only good test for this is installing a new amp. You can get a new stereo installed with its own internal amp for about the same price.