These Old Lexus Cars

[Meist21]

As a newer member I have made the following observation about this site. Many of the posts involve Gen I cars. I see a ton of posts regarding 90, 91, 92, 93, 94 LS 400s. From my avitar you can see that I own a 98 LS 400. While many of the posts I find contain great information they just don't seem to apply to the later years. Obviously many things on the car have changed through generations but I am wondering why I don't see more posts on 97-00 years? I know those are a couple of different generations but it seems like there are few posts concerning those years. Even people considering the purchase of a first time LS 400. They seem to look at the 90-94 years. Just a question and was wondering what everyone else thought. I have learned a great deal from this site and thank many of the people who regularly post. We DIYers need to learn from each other as much as possible. Just wanted to see what everyone else thought.... ;)

[99lsguy]

Meist,

All I do is Fluid/filter maintenace on my 99. (With OVERKILL I might add :D )

Oil changes, tranny, diffy, coolant, brake & p/s flush. I've written little MS word procedures w/photos of all except the p/s flush (K9crew has this one)

I'm going to do another P/S flush soon and maybe check that p/s solenoid screen that gets some press (in the Gen I's).

My LED's on the CD are on the blink though; the ones on the far right that show the min/sec's of each song as they're played. K9Crew has a thread & fix on that one too.........sent it to CA for a $150 fix, which he said is much better than the factory and should outlive the life of the car.

Bottom line...............any 10+year old car is going to have problems & increased maintenance. For us, we see the future demise of our beloved LS's ahead of time; through all these problem posts of the Gen I's.............

The car is well made and made to cuise acriss country. City driving is tough on all the suspension part, brakes, tires, p/s. Frequent engine startups sap the life out of the car.

An LS driven coast to coast for 8-12 years with 500k miles would have no more problems than average.......

the engine and the tranny are TUFF!

[jzz30]

adding to that there are far more first gens than any other becasue of the introductory price was so low and i believe it was sold for the longest time before a model change

[SW03ES]

Also keep in mind that its usually the people who purchase used that become enthusiasts, the third gen is still rather expensive...

[1990LS400]

The most obvious reason that you see more posts on the Gen I LS is that they are now 10 - 14 year old cars. While LS cars are very well made and reliable, no cars are bulletproof and there are more issues with Gen I cars now because they are older and usually have higher mileages. Electrical components are subject to corrosion and problems are more age-related than mileage-related. I kept my first LS for almost 14 years but found that few repair shops wanted to spend time tracing the occasional electrical problem. This forum was a great help in solving some of these electrical glitches.

If we keep our 98-00's long enough (my CPA wife tells me that I'm keeping mine until 2014!) and this forum continues to exist, you will see plenty of posts on these model years sometime in the future.

[Meist21]

Hey 99,

Do you have these posted somewhere? It would be good to have them around just in case. I have started a book on my LS and these would be great to have. By the way the side marker lamp mod is great. I get looks from other LS owners all the time. I should post the little tutorial I did on that one.

Meist

[98 LS]

........ By the way the side marker lamp mod is great.  I get looks from other LS owners all the time.  I should post the little tutorial I did on that one.

Meist

Meist21 ..........

That reminds me ......... what bulb and holder did you end up using? I have stayed with the one I originally installed but a slightly whiter bulb would be nice. I just haven't found the right socket for it. It has a "G4" base. Anybody know who carries sockets for these bulbs?

98LS

[Meist21]

I ended up using the wedge type socket. There are way more wedge type bulbs out there than there are the double pole type. I also ended up going with amber bulbs instead of white. My neighbor did the exact same mod on the exact same car and uses the white. I personally like the amber color. I simply use some 194 bulbs. If I want to switch it is pretty easy to do so. The holder is a socket holder from Autozone. It is a Ford socket. The assbly is made out of rubber. Since I already drilled the hole this particular one would not fit. I simply cut around it and put it inside the original socket listed for this mod. It works perfect......

[RCRFAN3]

I feel that the white looks much better than the amber! How do you like the new Bridgestones?

[Meist21]

So far so good. Need to take em out in this storm and really put them to the test. How can I get a garage like yours? Hey neighbor we got 1100 miles of racing today. Ready to suck down some cold ones and watch the race? Back home again in Indiana......................

[99lsguy]

Hey 99,

Do you have these posted somewhere? It would be good to have them around just in case. I have started a book on my LS and these would be great to have. By the way the side marker lamp mod is great. I get looks from other LS owners all the time. I should post the little tutorial I did on that one.

Meist

Sorry about the delay Meist,

My MS Documents are all 200-300 kb . They contain a line or two of explaination for each step of the procedure - along with a photo.

There is no way to upload them here on LOC.

I suppose I could break each file down into 3rds, and 4ths:

Oil change_one.doc

Oil_change_two.doc

etc, etc,.................

Maybe the higher powers could lift the 100k limit on these types of maintenance procedures........

[Meist21]

Hey 99,

If you want you could e-mail them to me. I have DSL and I don't think the size is a big issue. Thanks if you can..............

[99lsguy]

Hey 99,

If you want you could e-mail them to me. I have DSL and I don't think the size is a big issue. Thanks if you can..............

For sure!!

Send me a PM :D