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I was also sold this "invisible" ad on! Only to be told by the dealership "after" that it's not adjustable. So basically it's just a dimly lit thin strip! This should be included. Lexus could and should've done better!

Hi. Some friends of mine suggested that I should post this here for more people to see. Hopefully it'll help people for years to come. You will need: About 50 bucks budget for the balljoint rod and the pipe clamp. Height sensor with bracket. 10mm wrench Washers that fit 10mm/M6 bolts. 10mm/M6 nuts Some smaller (8mm wrench) I own a 2001 LS430. The height sensor control arm's slider has rusted and become damaged over the last 19 or so years. The ball joint rod to the height sensor has also seized too. The height adjustment rod there in the red was seized, and the height slider in the blue was badly corroded and broken off. Rather than buy an entire control arm (green) this is an alterative method to repair it The arm is ~26mm in diameter. Buy yourself one of these pipe clamps in 26mm diameter. Or make one. Shouldn't be expensive. The hole needs to fit a M6/10mm bolt. Grind off the remnants of that slider from the control arm, and slide the pipe clamp over, and put your 10mm/M6 bolt and nut through and secure it in place where the slider used to be. Rather than using the control arm as a slider, we can instead use a sliding ball joint rod such as this one; This is a 220 320 00 32 from Mercedes - a height adjustment rod with a 8mm locking and a 10mm/M6 ball joint bolt. You can pick one up off eBay for cheap. Or find some other M6/10mm adjustable ball joint rod. Look at the diagram and try to imagine it in your head. This is what your bracket and rod/clamps should look like. One day I might snap a picture of what my repair looks like, but I hope you can make out what I mean via the diagram. This repair should be very easy. Maybe some sanding/grinding and surface preperation. The clamp will hold on tight and is easy to replace. The adjustable link rod will last longer and allow for easy adjustment, and less risk of corrosion damage. Hope this helps. This is a fairly easy job and took me less than 2 or so hours to do.

Did I mention this?..... I don't like the fact that our governments plan to force us to buy EVs. I wouldn't mind having one, as we already have solar panels and don't pay for electricity, but I think we should be able to choose what we drive (within reason).

At the part store they run a load test on the battery that mimics a big draw. If it holds up to a certain voltage it means the battery itself is not weakened yet. As the battery ages it will weaken as in not be able to supply a given amount of cold cranking amps. When its cold the oil thickens some thereby making the engine have to work harder to rotate. Hence the term "cold" cranking amps. I'd say you should investigate why the check engine lamp is lighting up. It could be a sign of what is taking place to cause your car to struggle to crank over. The part store can often "read the code" and determine why the CEL is lighting. My gut tells me your voltage regulator in the alternator is hit and miss. A long time ago that was a little box on the fire wall or fender. These days they are inside of the alternator. It determines how much electricity goes to the engine to keep it running and to the battery to charge it. It only has to be off by a little to keep the engine running but not have extra to charge the battery. Another issue could be a parasitic drain. An out of the ordinary draw on the battery when the car isn't running. In my 04 GS 300 for example the CD changer kept trying to change discs and the seat memory kept activating. Now I could not hear the disc changer nor was the seat memory moving the seat, but they were drawing on the system leading to a weak or dead battery if I didn't drive the car every day. Yet another issue may be short trips don't allow the battery to charge enough. Example; start the car, drive to a store 10 minutes away, finish there, start car and drive 10 minutes to another store. Never giving the engine a good 30-45 minutes to charge the battery back up to the voltage used to start the car can also lead to the hard to crank or dead battery issue. Hope you find it soon and it's a cheap and easy fix.

No reason to upgrade, Those stock wheels are Classic on the SC 😉

But you love the Covid virus? 🙄

I just installed the rr racing supercharger. It’s the only way to go bud

That one is my son's new puppy. Her brother came home with me Chocolate lab mom, stranger in the night dad Yesterday they played all afternoon.

Purchase has been made!...I could not turn down the deal I got & the actual ES...2020 ES 350 'premium' with only 11k miles in Nebula Grey Pearl (windows are already tinted)....over 2 years of full factory warranty remaining; 1 owner, full service history & Lexus CPO. Our 'premium package' in Canada is equipped quite differently than our friends south of the border....with more features / standard equipment. Originally I wanted the UL package....but in these parts, they are very rare (I reached out to 17 Lexus dealers in a 400 mile radius of me...the UL units that are available are 5 to 6 k more & only about 20% are actually at Lexus dealers...the premium pkg checks 95% of the boxes I was looking for....as the expression goes 'don't look a gift horse in the mouth'. I literally have a 6 minute drive to work... I pick the car up this Saturday.

I like it when I'm trimming a rose bush, grab one to place in a jar and while heading indoors the Mrs arrives from work so I hand her the rose. Or when I come from work and the dog greets me at the door, tail all wagging-like. And the parrot says "welcome home"…… Or when a nice breeze blows just as the grass cut chore is over and the Mrs brings out a tall glass of ice cold spring water. Or when a new baseball cap fits my noggin just right without adjusting it. Or I step on the bathroom scale expecting to have gained weight but the scale shows I actually lost a little. Or when my son and I went to do the first start after an engine swap, expecting a hard to start issue but ole bessy fires right up. Or when the lawnmover starts first pull……again. Or helping out old people. Or thanking a soldier/veteran. Or tipping the person at the toll booth. Yes I stop and pay in cash so I can do that. Or when the voicemail on your phone was not a robo-call and instead was a friend telling you "hello, here's my new phone number" Or when you sneeze and a perfect stranger says "bless you". Life is short. But smiling makes you live longer. Trouble with being dead is it lasts so long.

The cost of dental work, especially deep cleaning by laser and periodontal surgery, but also including implants.

That's the view when I pull into the driveway after work. Unseen in the photo is the dog wagging his tail "it's that guy, he's back, yay!!"

Update: I think I have got it after all the work, time, and money spent. I started checking again I found an unbelievable vacuum leak around lower intake manifold. replace gasket today runs great thanks for all of the support. something that simple fix. when the engine was swap the starter was replaced. The gasket moved or something apparently cause a vacuum leak. I had no idea a vacuum leak could cause random misfires. I was sure it was an ignition problem.

Hi all, I believe I have posted here before a long time ago with my old LS430 LEX, I now have a 2007 LS460L with 110K on it now. I have owned it for a few years now, since 65K miles, and recently I started having acceleration/hesitation problems. I did alot of research, and didn't find very many good answers. I did have the transmission and engine ECU update flashed, with some improvement, but after that didn't solve the problem, I was convinced it was the cylinder head replacement deal, which was way out of my budget with 5 kids....and I thought it was ridiculous that a flagship sedan would need that kind of serious motor work with just 100K on it. Anyway, my mechanic suggested BG 44K fuel system cleaner, NOT available at places like autozone. He sells it for $28 per can, but I found on Ebay for $16.75 and up with free ship. First and foremost, I ALWAYS used quality, premium gas (Shell V-Power or QT), and Techron additive from time to time, so I was super unconvinced about his recommendation. I had even listed my LS for sale, again, convinced that the motor had cylinder issues after reading blogs about LS460 acceleration issues. Also, for the record, I have NO affiliation with BG or anything like that. THIS STUFF WORKS! It truly fixed my hesitation problems, completely. I am no longer selling the car, and am happy again, as it accelerates like it is supposed to. Feel free to read many other peoples reviews on this stuff, its amazing and really seems to work. After i drove it to wrok (25 miles one way) I thought i felt a difference, by the drive home, I KNEW I felt the difference, after the full tank, i was truly smiling. I have ordered 4 more cans for my other vehicles and boat, and suggested it to my friend with a ISF, my brother with an SC430, and my buddy with a Vette. I guess these LS460 cars are just picky after a while and maybe the injectors get gummed up? I don't pretend to be a mechanic, again this was suggested by my Lexus mechanic, After alot of depressing research with no real answer, just wanted to share my experience with any other LS460 owners, as it is a beautiful car, and I was disappointed in what I was thinking the problems I had. It was the best $17 I have recently spent, and if you are having similar weak/lack of acceleration or hesitation issues, i would say TRY IT for less than $20. I believe you can go to BG's site and find a local dealer, again, not autozone or O'Reilly or anything like that, says professional use only lol. Also, need a funnel, comes in a coke can basically. Just my 2 cents, hoping to help out any other LS460 owners out there depressed about their car, it seems most people just said they'd trade it in and buy a new one, but I'm not that rich :)

My Daily 😀

The Lexus brand cell phone that was a dealer installed option lowered the HVAC fan speed and muted the audio system while a call was in progress. I even connected an aftermarket Nokia CARK-91 phone system I installed in my second (2000) LS400 to mute the audio system but I didn't bother to connect it to lower the HVAC fan speed. Even when a Lexus phone system was never installed, corrosion of the factory installed cell phone harness in the trunk can cause HVAC and audio system issues.

20 years ago I swapped a domain name for a Lexus. The love affair started and I am now on my 10th Lexus

And Because We All Love Pictures 🙂

My Lexus is my weekend car. My daily is my 2009 Mazda 3i.

I like being alive !!!

Do like Eric Burdon - paint it black

So for the RX350h, 91 octane or higher is recommended, but 87 is considered to be the minimum value. The RX500h requires a minimum octane of 91, which is the highest octane in CA and some other states like Arizona. The AKI numbers given by auto manufacturers is the average of the Research Octane Number (RON) and the Motor Octane Number (MON)which is (R+M)/2

Much less likely to get shot due to reaching in glove box

I figured it out! Apparently the car was reading the old sensors (some still had battery life) which were downstairs in the basement on the opposite end of the house. I had no idea they could transmit that far. I disposed of the old sensors and the problem is gone.

I don't like hurricanes when the roof is coming off the house but the sky sure is pretty after it's gone.

A vehicle with salvage/rebuilt title has historically been valued at 50-60% of a "clean" title vehicle of same or similar make, model, trim level, and mileage. Based upon my conversation with a very experienced auto body shop technician, try to stay with those vehicles that had rear damage, not front with air bag deployment. The "before" repair photos can be very helpful. If possible, take it to an auto body shop for inspection. I bought a 2008 Mazda MX5 PRHT, back in 2012. It was a salvage vehicle with slight front and mostly rear damage. It had 42,000 miles on it and it has been almost bulletproof for all these years. One suspension component had to be replaced but everything else was fine. Check with your insurance company to see what value they would place on your possible purchase.

I've been researching car wraps for a while, possibly for a future body color swap when I eventually get a new car. Apparently, wraps last about 3 years because if a wrap is left on too long, it may be very difficult to remove it. This is true with many types of tapes, even those with very weak adhesion. So before you have a wrap done, I suggest discussing this with the "wrapper".

But then again, the RZ 450e with a 0-60 of 5.2 sec. would be great for mountain climbing, but the rumored range of only 225 miles and an out-the-door loaded price north of 70K would qualify it as a novelty. But, then, there’s a lot of money floating around California, where Lexus would be pushing / sending expensive electrics anyway.

It helps to have a part number in hand. Here's the parts for under the engine: https://parts.lexusofroseville.com/a/Lexus_2000_LS-400/_65510_6731402/SUSPENSION-CROSSMEMBER--UNDER-COVER/431420-5102.html And the HVAC ducts: https://parts.lexusofroseville.com/a/Lexus_2000_LS-400/_72801_6723079/HEATING--AIR-CONDITIONING---CONTROL--AIR-DUCT/431420-8715.html

I've posted this link, quite a few times within the last few years. Should You Get an Extended Warranty for Your Car? - Consumer Reports Essentially, if you insist on buying a known unreliable brand (like Tesla, Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Alfa Romeo, Jeep, Chevrolet, Ford, etc), then an extended warranty may be a good idea. Better yet, skip buying a vehicle from one of the aforementioned companies, altogether. I went through the same type of sales pitches you did when my daughter was buying her first new car, a Subaru. Your intuition is right in that if the salesperson is pushing hard to get you to sign, then the dealership profit margin is almost definitely very high, due to infrequent use of the policy by the consumer. I advised her to keep saying no. One of my sisters recently bought a used Lexus and the sales/finance person did the same thing. She called me and of course, I told her that she should pass. You did the right thing.

My God, how old are you, 90?😏

I don't like when I pour cereal into a bowl at midnight and discover the milk went sour. Dratz!!

The upcoming Lotus Emira, McLaren 570S Spider, Mazda MX5, sparkling red wine, lobster ravioli, hot air balloon rides, helping kids to learn math and english......I could go on and on. Trevor, based upon the part of the world you live in, it doesn't surprise me that you like beer. (although probably not Guiness Stout, eh?) 😃 I do enjoy an occasional draft from one of many breweries in this area.

The ls400 is a great car, I daily a 1997. That being said, the cars are getting pretty old at this point and are going to need some regular work that would be needed for any car that’s 20+ years old. If you can’t do the work yourself it’s probably not worth driving a car this old. If I didn’t do all my own work on my LS I would probably be close to 8k in the hole at this point between timing belt, water pump, trans and motor mounts, rack, little things, etc. I’ve spent about 1k on the car total for parts.

...talk about waiting until the last minute!😏

I agree gamalot. I have family who get their bamboo toilet paper delivered cross country via fossil fuel powered truck. As I type this it is highly likely that every room in their house has a light turned on. They come to my house and comment how hot it is in summer or cold it is in winter. They arrive in three compact hybrids instead of one sedan. They live by the ocean and complain the sea is rising. They fertilize their landscaped lawns then complain about plastic straws polluting streams. They moved away from areas run by high tax and spend politicians then vote for high tax and spend politicians in their community. I grew up when air conditioned cars were for the neighbor who had loot. Back then they had little wings you could dial in to circulate air throught the car so the vinyl seats weren't so uncomfy.

That's a great idea! If they are made of polyethylene or polypropylene, you can pour some acetone or cleaning alcohol in one if doing touchup cleaning. I use small cups to clean out glass eye droppers that I use to add dyes to my castings. These type of plastics are very chemical resistant so they can be helpful in may ways.

If all these codes appeared at the same time it would seem they have a common cause such as a bad connection in the coil harness or the fuel injection harness. Ignition coils are a common problem with this generation RX but they would fail individually. Fuel pressure is another common source that would cause multiple misfires simultaneously. Here is a link which discusses the P0300 code for your Lexus and that might help. https://www.autocodes.com/p0300_lexus.html#disq I also would not discount the camshaft position sensors or the crankshaft position sensors as they can also create havoc with the engine control system. Given the age of the vehicle and the mileage you should think carefully before throwing a lot of money at the vehicle in search of the cause and then the repair. Good luck.

I'm sure a lot of us have heard about Matt Farah's legendary million mile Lexus, but have you heard of the 1,400 Mile 2005 Lexus LS430? Well, it's in the Philippines, and probably one of the lowest mileage examples in the world. See it here on my YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/aDijYmBzzhI https://youtu.be/aDijYmBzzhI

Have you tried alternating (on/off) the "auto" feature? Does it affect the heat? When was the last time your heating system coil was flushed? There is a temperature control valve also. If you don't want to go to a Lexus dealer, find a good local independent mechanic.

Starting in 2006 they went to the 6 speed transmission! Just sayin!

Several Toyota models (e.g. Highlander, Sienna) used the same brake system that the 2010-2015 Lexus RX used - rotors, pads, everything. I don't remember about the RX but I do remember there being a service campaign that addressed brake disc warping and vibration on the generation 3 Sienna. I have a 2014 Sienna but mine never developed the problems. I did modify components under the vehicle that directed brake cooling airflow per the service bulletin "just in case". I've wondered why I've never had the problems reported by many others especially since my Sienna Limited is heavier than any Highlander or RX and likely stresses the brakes more. One reason might be because I've paid extremely close attention to lug nut torque. Uneven and/or over torquing lug nuts is a known common cause of brake rotor warping. The correct lug nut torque on the RX, Highlander, Sienna and most other vehicles manufactured by Toyota is only 76 ft. lbs. An air wrench should never be used to tighten these lug nuts and they should always be tightened with a manual torque wrench. I've had both Lexus and Toyota dealers tighten lug nuts to over 200 ft. lbs. on too many occasions. One service manager swore that his mechanics never used air wrenches on lug nuts but I then watched as one of his mechanics had to use an air wrench to remove the lug nuts that one of his mechanics had just over-tightened. I've learned to always check lug nut torque with my own torque wrench after someone else messes with my wheels. If I hadn't done that, I wouldn't have been able to change a flat tire on one trip. So ... my 2014 Sienna that has the same brake system as the 2012 RX and is on the original brake rotors and pads front and back at 94,xxx miles. Based on the wear rate, I'll have the original front and rear pads replaced at the same time and the original rotors turned at a little over 110,000 miles when the pads will by then be worn down to the 1 mm minimum specification. Yes, only 1 millimeter of pad thickness is the minimum specification for most Lexus and Toyota vehicles. 1 mm looks scary to the uninformed which is why so many people get scammed into premature brake work. On Lexus vehicles that have electronic brake pad were sensors, the low pad warning in the instrument cluster starts when a brake pad is worn down to about 1.5 mm. My recommendation is to buy a torque wrench if you don't already have one and check and re-torque lug nuts after each time someone removes and re-installs your wheels.

Did something today...

The general rule is that if a repair or repairs within a short period of time are equal to or greater than 50% of the value of the car, then it may be time to buy a replacement vehicle.

Hello Everyone, I know IACV has been a huge topic on the forum and I have found various pictures in the RX forum and ES forum on the idle air control valve (IACV) or as others call it the idle speed control valve (ISC). However, I have not found a "step by step" posting to date which definitively shows how to clean this thing so that my car stops giving me idling problems. Symptoms I have had included: - low and rough idling that would cause the car engine to start shaking after starting the car - this eventually got worse to the point that when I start my car, it would not idle unless I gave it gas - idling problems for me tended to occur more often after my engine was warm or had been sitting in the sun I hope these series of postings help you fellow LOC members out there. You've certainly helped me in the past so here's my two cents at this common problem. Additionally, the instructions I give are the way in which I have cleaned it myself. As you go about and attempt this, you may find better ways to do so. Please add and refine my instructions/terminology as needed. I am not a professional. I've only changed my oil, air filters, and conducted minor maintenance previously. The bottom line is that if you have the right tools, you should be able to do this. This discovery/ cleaning took me about 2 hours to do cause I ran into problems and there were major steps left out in previous postings that I’ve encountered read. The next time I do this, I believe I can get this done in about an hour or less. Tools Needed: 1) Tightly fitting Philips Screw Driver 2) Carb cleaner that is O2 sensor safe (I've seen CRC. I used Valvoline Carb Cleaner) 3) Locking Grip Pliers (definitely helped me remove the factory tight screws) 4) Small brush for cleaning 5) Towels for cleaning 6) Pliers (help removed brackets holding the hoses) 7) Latex gloves helps with limit the messiness. * I used the same gasket and did not replace it. No problems found. 1) Remove the hose that comes from the engine/motor that connects to the air intake hoses.( Hose is below in red – we’ll refer to this as Hose A) When you pull back the rubber hose covering, you will see that a metal bracket is holding the hose pretty tightly in place. Use the pliers to clasps the two metal pieces together to loosen the bracket and pull the hose loose. You can also do this by hand if it’s easier for you. 2) Upon removing the hose, you will want to remove the two air intake hoses. Loosen the three screws above in green and remove the hose. Below is a picture of the intake hoses removed. 3)After removing the intake hoses, I opened the lid to the air filter and moved this to the side of the car to create more working room. I believe there are two clips on the right holding the lid in place. Just pop the two clips and move the cover to the side. I also took out the air filter and temporarily moved this to the side. 4)After removing the intake hose, the throttle body/IACV/black electric coil is revealed. At this point, I removed the black electric wire from the black coil. Once the electric wire is removed you can remove the black coil from the IACV by removing the two screws. Note, the screws are factory tight so use a tight fitting screw driver to remove the screws. One of my screws was partially stripped from the dealership’s work, so I had to resort to my locking grip pliers which helped out tremendously. After removing the two screws, the black electric piece pops right off. When the black electrical coil is removed from the IACV, it exposes a small pencil sized metal stud. You will also notice a washer that sits on this stud. Don’t lose this washer. Take it and put it aside so it doesn’t fall off when you continue on in the next steps. 5)Additionally, I removed the hose coming out of the IACV. We’ll call this Hose B. This hose can be removed in the same manner by clamping the bracket and pulling the hose out. You will see that the hose is removed below. Below are pictures of before and after. 6)Here is where the fun begins. I initially attempted to remove the four screws attached to the IACV at this point, but found that after an hour, this would be nearly impossible to remove considering the location of the screws were in an extremely tight spot. The only way I would be able to remove the IACV is to remove right throttle body. Not as tough as it sounds. Three screws need to be removed to accomplish this. Again, be careful when removing the screws. Also you will see I removed another electric plug and I also cut a tie wrap. Once you complete these steps, the throttle body/ IACV comes out pretty easily. Note when you remove the throttle body, there will be one LAST hose connected to the IACV. Be careful when you remove this hose as radiator fluid may spill. Some of my fluid spilled out so I just refilled my coolant after I was done. 7)Below is a picture of the bottom view of the IACV. You now can EASILY remove the four screws connecting the IACV to the throttle body . In the picture below, I have already removed one of the screws. Once the four screws are removed the IACV and throttle body separate. Now you can clean both of them with your carb cleaner, brush, towels, cotton swabs etc…. Picture here is before I the cleaning with all the muck inside Pictures after I cleaned the IACV and throttle body This last picture is the post throttle body cleaning 8) Once you are done cleaning, just put back the throttle body/iacv the same way you took it off, and put everything back in reverse order. Ensure the gasket is in place. Also, ensure you put the washer back on the electric coil. Make sure you place hose A & B back and ensure the electric plugs are back in their original position. Once these things are in place, then it's all about putting the air filter/hoses back and you are good to go. If you have lost any coolant, make sure you refill it to a safe level. After completing this cleaning, my car starts up without any problem and idles as if I just purchased the car brand new. Replacing this at a dealership would have costed me $300-400 easily. Let me know if you have any questions. Cheers (Also, I tried to post these as separate replys, but the software combined all my replies into a single reply and did not keep them separated) *Edited the posting to have the pictures follow step by step in sequential order*

Hi Nathan. I apologize for not connecting with you sooner. I am always amazed at the depth of friendship and caring that can be built with someone you have never met nor never knew what they looked like. The LOC is a place where those who enjoy their hobby can find others who like swapping stories with like minded friends. Landar was a great part of the LOC and was a great source of Lexus info and technical help. Thank you for letting us share your journey. Paul

Hey guys i made a small video on how to replace the plastic coolant tees that get brittle with age and can crack / leak / break / leave you stranded. Its a fairly straight forward process, everything is covered in the video from tools to parts. If you have any questions let me know. Parts needed for this job: (1) Gallon of coolant - PN# 00272-1LLAC-01 (2) Coolant Tees - PN# 87248-60460 Optional, highly recommended parts for this job: (1) Coolant hose - PN# 87245-6A220 (1) Coolant hose - PN# 87245-6A210 (1) Coolant hose - PN# 87245-6A190 (1) Coolant hose - PN# 87245-6A180 (1) Coolant hose - PN# 87245-6A800 (1) Coolant hose - PN# 99556-20155

Fixed!! This is the Idler Pulley which is only attached to the front of the water pump. This water pump is driven by an internal idler pulley that operates from the timing belt. The Pulley was $80.00 at Lexus dealer, and I changed along with new serpentine belt. Took all of 10-15 minutes. Thanks for all who helped!!