What Parts On Ucf20 Are Shared With A Toyota?

amcdonal86 · January 28, 2009

What parts on the UCF20 are shared with a Toyota that is sold in North America? My friend keeps trying to convince me that the LS400 is not a distinct car, but a car made of parts grabbed from the standard Toyota bucket!! I like to think the the build quality and the R&D for the LS400 is much better than that of a standard Toyota.

I am fully aware that the car was sold as the Toyota Celsior in Japan.

1990LS400 · January 28, 2009

There are likely a number of minor shared components but they are difficult to identify and are often part of a larger component. For example, connectors on wiring harnesses (e.g. horn) are sometimes the same. The main parts guy in the nearest Toyota dealer has tried with little success to find commonality between Lexus LS parts and Toyota parts. Oil filters, some bulbs and some drive train components are, of course, the same on Toyota and Lexus cars. Likely some of the relays are the same ... I remember that a particular Toyota Supra used the same horn relay as one of our LS400s. Oh... I think the same old style mechanical odometers were used on Toyota and Lexus vehicles before they switched to digital ones.

We have had a 1998 Toyota Camry parked in the garage by our 1990 and 2000 LS400s since the Camry was new. I've tried but have not found components common between the Camry and the LS cars. Wait ... there is one part I remember -- the engine oil plug gasket!

Toyota sells an absolutely amazing number of variations of visually similar cars around the world. You would be surprised at many parts from the U.K. and European market 97 LS400 would not work on your U.S. spec car.

If you want to try to find similarities between Toyota and Lexus parts, spend some time here: http://www.toyodiy.com/

jainla · January 28, 2009

In my digging around I found out that some of the connectors and fasteners are the same; as they are across many car brands (for a while Mercedes had the same knob for headlights and for some seat adjustments; odd). The fuses and bulbs, small consumables like that are likely similar.

To my knowledge the LS platform is unique to that car. That caused a big problem during the first recall in 1989 because most of the parts were made exclusively for the LS. However aside from that I doubt there's much similarity with Toyota branded cars in the US; there isn't a car of similar size sold here that would make sense to share parts with.

The drivetrain is probably where most of the parts commonality would be; the transmission may be shared with or related to some of the Toyota trucks, and the engine is related to the 4.7L engine in the Tundra/Sequoia.

I think the 4.0 and 4.3L engines were sold in one of the Crown Majesta variants in Japan.

I've had the chance to drive the last 3 Camry generations and pretty much every Lexus model on the market on the last couple years and in my mind the LS still stands head and shoulders above every Toyota and Lexus product; the interior fitments; the quality of the construction, the quietness and solidity of the ride. It's also made at Tahara which I think now is pretty much restricted to making Lexus cars; also Toyota has more stringent requirements for parts suppliers (number of defects, longevity) for Lexus parts vs. Toyota parts.