Yet Another Newbie With Ls400 Questions...

[corndog]

Hello folks,

I bought a beautiful Silvermist '90 ls400 with 217k on the clock. I just love the car, and refer to it as my "mistress", which gets me odd looks from my wife. It is in excellent condition for being 16 years old, it has the stock style chrome wheels. I paid 2800 for it. She passed smog no problem. It would be perfect except for several things:

lightly cracked seats (will fix later)

pass lock no worky (will fix soon)

leather worn on steering wheel/shift hande (will fix later)

quarter size ding on pass side door (probably never fix)

climate control display no worky (probably never fix)

missing keyless entry key (will fix soon)

missing owners manual (will fix soon)

rear tint bubbling (will fix soon)

Hmmm...that list looks longer on paper (or computer). I think the car has pretty typical options:

cd changer

traction control

heated seats

sunroof

No cell phone/Nakamichi/air ride

I love doing things on my own, and hate asking for help, but I could use a little if someone doesnt mind spending a minute. When I hit the door lock button inside the car, close the door, come back later and open it with the key, the friggen alarm goes off. I have to go unlock the passenger side to get the alarm to turn off, then all is good. Why does that happen?

I also must have keyless entry. I called Lexus of Sacramento and they want $100 for some eeprom, $250 for a single key, and a little over $100 labor to get it all working. $450 is way too much for that in my opinion. I could head down to Fry's and have an alarm with keyless entry installed for $150. But thats ghetto, I want the original Lexus equipment. Can someone please give some advice on how to save money on this?

Thanks in advance!

Mike

[corndog]

My apologies for not searching well enough. It sounds like the lock has an electrical device attached to it that may have some wires damaged.

[harjp]

I have the same year car as you. About 108K miles on it.

When I got the car, the keyless entry/alarm wasn't working. I put in an aftermarket alarm with remote start. Better setup than stock.

Had no sunroof, so I went with an ASI Moonroof.

Had the Pioneer cassette deck, which in the year 2003 proved useless. Found an audio installer who was able to make a very nice faceplate to surround an Alpine deck and also replaced the stock speakers and sub with Alpines. 500w amp in the trunk.

Tokico shocks, window tinting, 16" wheels and tires, K&N air filter, new exhaust, dual all the way

....it's a whole new car and I love it!

By the way, as far as dents and your quarter-sized ding go....

I dropped my dirt bike against the passenger car door a few months back and created a "karate chop" sized dent in the door. Really bummed me out.

Just last week, I came across a body shop that does "paintless dent removal". In my case, they "massaged" the dent out from behind the door panel. Came out looking like new and it cost only $75.

For your ding, there are suction approaches to pulling it out. Bet you could get rid of it for $50 or less.

[93ls400walt]

Check with a Lexus dealer. And search the forun for info on key repacement. It seemed that Lexus was offering a one time programed key/ecu replacement for free. Some folks said they had to be persistent to get this from the dealer. But in the end got it. Good luck.

[corndog]

harjp - That mileage is incredible. Its funny you mention your dirt bike, I sold my '02 yz426 in order to buy this car. I would be willing to add an aftermarket alarm, I just dont like the way they splice into the harness. This car is pretty complex, I would hate to have troubles a couple years down the road. You are a brave man to add a sunroof! It would be torture to watch them cut that hole. Your faceplate looks good. I will probably leave my stereo stock except the sub needs to be replaced. Im surprised how good it sounds for being so old even without the sub.

I read your dual exhaust thread, pretty sweet. If I were 10 years younger, that would be right up my alley. But im an old man now(31) and I just wanted a comfy family ride, this is definitly it. That ding I have is one of those small sharp ones that damaged the paint, its all good. The car is still beautiful. I will post a pic soon. Hey, is your climate control doing that black out thing? I can only read the time on mine if the agle is just right. I might have to fix that too. I wonder if anyone had tried to pull a part number off the LCD and see if digikey carries it?

walt - That would be the sweetest deal. Do you have any more info on that?

[93ls400walt]

Do a keyword search for: "cost of replacement keys " . Or go to screen/page 18 for the thread; cost of replacement keys.

Look at MMOZZAM and SWO3ES threads

[harjp]

harjp - That mileage is incredible. Its funny you mention your dirt bike, I sold my '02 yz426 in order to buy this car. I would be willing to add an aftermarket alarm, I just dont like the way they splice into the harness. This car is pretty complex, I would hate to have troubles a couple years down the road. You are a brave man to add a sunroof! It would be torture to watch them cut that hole. Your faceplate looks good. I will probably leave my stereo stock except the sub needs to be replaced. Im surprised how good it sounds for being so old even without the sub.

I read your dual exhaust thread, pretty sweet. If I were 10 years younger, that would be right up my alley. But im an old man now(31) and I just wanted a comfy family ride, this is definitly it. That ding I have is one of those small sharp ones that damaged the paint, its all good. The car is still beautiful. I will post a pic soon. Hey, is your climate control doing that black out thing? I can only read the time on mine if the agle is just right. I might have to fix that too. I wonder if anyone had tried to pull a part number off the LCD and see if digikey carries it?

walt - That would be the sweetest deal. Do you have any more info on that?

Hey, old man! I'm 46! And I ride a dirt bike. And I added a little rumble to my Lexus -- a very modest bit of rumble which I have to admit I really enjoy. My 16 y.o. son will too (when he returns from summer vacation).

Experienced alarm installers are generally very competent. They have to be. I like the remote start and the start kill functions especially.

You can replace the sub yourself following these instructions: http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/audio/subwoofer.html.

I have a replacement sub that is practically new. Bought it from Lexus before going to an aftermarket sub a couple of months later. You can have it for half of what I paid if you want. You'll have trouble finding an aftermarket sub that doesn't require additional amplification.

In any case, it's a great car. Enjoy!

[corndog]

Another question:

When you turn the key to the ON position, you can hear the fuel system doing its thing. When that happens, is it pouring fuel into the cylinders? What I really want to know is, if you keep turning the key to ON and OFF, could you flood it? I turned it ON a couple times while messing with some stuff, and then there was a little smoke coming out the tailpipe when it started. I would suspect the air control valve, but it doesnt normally smoke. Any thoughts?

[dfkd]

I dont think it's possible to flood a fuel injected car...

[nc211]

what you've probably done is not necessarly flooded the engine, but probably have put too much fuel in the injectors by resetting the fuel pump so many times with flipping it on and off. Mine will do this as well sometimes too when I do that. The reason why older german cars need to be driven is because their fuel system would actually allow fuel to drip into the engine as it sat. Japoneese cars will actually pull the fuel back a little when you turn it off, to prevent this drip. But when you turn it on, the pump pushes the fuel back to the injector with the anticipation of iginition. If you don't do the ignition phase, and keep pulling and pushing the fuel, you can throw off the balance a little for that ignition. Nothing major, and might require a few extra cranks to ignite, but doesn't do anything harmful. Just retards the starting a bit.

[corndog]

Well it looks like I was mistaken. The car smokes moderatly when started after its been sitting, and the power steering fluid is droppping. There is no fluid on the ground, the pump is a little grungy however. Luckily, the alternator looks bone dry. Im guessing its the typical air control valve problem. I looked in the two vacuum lines that connect to the intake manifold from the air control valve, they dont look oily, is that common? I expected to see some oil! I guess it will cost me $70 to find out for sure...

[Threadcutter]

corn:

I looked in the two vacuum lines that connect to the intake manifold from the air control valve, they dont look oily, is that common?

With the amount of vacuum they're subjected to, it doesn't suprise me.

I expected to see some oil! I guess it will cost me $70 to find out for sure...

Ahhh.......If only the rest of us could have gotten off so cheap!..............

It does sound an awful lot like the ACV though........

[corndog]

I have been meaning to add a picture or two...

http://corndoggy.chakra-jewellery.com/IMG_1892.JPG

http://corndoggy.chakra-jewellery.com/IMG_1893.JPG