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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.

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 to check when hot and one has gone through all the gears and back in park, Engine off and wait a couple minutes to settle :)

I like being alive !!!

I found several potential causes:

The spec sheet that Lexus of Birmingham gave me for the ES300h shows these two add-ons: WOOD TRIM WITH AMBIENT LIGHTING $740. ILLUMINATED DOOR SILLS $400 Can you possibly imagine the sheer excitement as I finally got it home in the garage and hit the automatic garage door opener, and then in the dark, I see this pale blue strip highlighting the edge of the dash? And I only paid $740 bucks plus an additional 4% sales tax? Followed by the thrill of opening the door and seeing a crummy advertisement projected onto my garage floor ("Lexus of Birmingham") for $416. what a RUSH!!

Fixed! Put the transmission in neutral, took off the bolts and rotated the driveshaft. Tightened everything down and drove it and it was connected back the right way. Thank you to everyone for your help!

Hi all, been the better part of a year since I had reason to pop onto the forums. This post isn't looking for help, but instead offering some friendly advice on doing this job in a different way than the service manual describes (especially for those with back issues like me, because this way, the alternator comes out the top). I recently had my alternator drop out on my '98 LS400 (1UZFE VVT motor), and although I have the service manual, I decided to follow a different path with removing my alternator, because the service manual calls for complete removal of the power steering pump, which I found unnecessary. Instead, I followed the following steps (photos to come at a later date to make it easier to follow along) Tools you'll need- One each 10, 12, and 14mm wrench and socket. (One stubby ratchet or short 12mm wrench will come in handy, but isn't absolutely necessary) also a few extensions. Optional but recommended- One fan clutch removal tool. I have found that this style works best. https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/product/22983568 If you don't use a specialty tool like this, you will need a second 12mm wrench. Also recommended is a flex-head ratchet 1. Disconnect negative cable from battery and set away from the terminal to prevent accidentally shorting your electrical system later. 2. Remove all intake ducting, up to the throttle body. There are several vacuum lines attached, as well as a PCC hose. There are also a few 10mm bolts securing the intake. 3. Remove the cooling fan and fan clutch. There are four 12mm nuts holding the fan clutch on the pulley, and this is where you will use the removal tool (if you have it) to make your life easier. You can get away without a specialty tool with loosening each nut by tightening another, and on the last nut, using the box end of a wrench to gain some leverage on a stud where the nut has already been removed. You can pull the fan clutch out the top without removing anything else, just be careful not to hit into the radiator and damage any fins. 4. Remove the serpentine/drive belt. A 14mm wrench on the tensioner, and to loosen the tensioner, you rotate it in the counterclockwise direction. Slip the belt off the idler pulley, and after releasing the tensioner, you can remove the belt. 5. Loosen your power steering pump and reservoir- three 10mm bolts secure the reservoir, and three 14mm nuts and bolts secure the pump. Two fasteners are hidden on the bottom side of the passenger side cylinder head, right towards the front. A flex head ratchet works wonders here, otherwise you'll need extensions to get them from underneath the vehicle. You'll be able to use a ratchet on all these bolts, but not the 14mm nut securing the pump from the front, because it's blocked by the power steering pulley. You will NOT need to remove any hoses, but you will need to flex the reservoir around a bit to shift the whole assembly forward a few inches. 6. Now that the power steering pump is out of the way (it doesn't need to go far, not even off the stud it's mounted on) this is where you'll break out your stubby ratchet/12mm wrench. It's a bit of a tight squeeze, but you should be able to reach down from the top and pull off the rubber boot covering the alternator lug and loosen the 12mm nut securing the charging cable. 7. Once the charging cable is off, remove the bolt and nut securing the alternator to the block (both are 14mm). Now you can shift the alternator forward and access the wiring plug in the back. It's a standard pinch-and-pull removal, but mine, with 25 years of age and gunk, was stuck on pretty well. The last thing to remove is a wiring loom bracket for the oxygen sensor plug. This can come off with some persuasion, but it's ultimately easier to cut the electrical tape securing the wire to the bracket and removing the bracket once the alternator has been removed. 8. Remove the alternator! With the power steering pump shifted forward, you will be able to pull the alternator forward and off the stud, then straight up and out the top, without spilling a drop of fluids. Re-installation steps and torque values will be added to this post at the same time photos are.

If you fail to timely replace your timing belt and water pump your engine could suffer catastrophic damage. Do it. Do it now. My mechanic charged $475 today for labor to replace the timing belt and water pump on my LS 400 with 174K miles. My AISN brand kit cost $189 from Sumit plus antifreeze and liquid gasket for a total of $300 for parts. The Stealership will rob you blind. I saw that my belt was cracked and my pump’s weep hole was crusty from leaking. It looks like I was a whisker away from shredding my motor. I’m glad I did it now and avoided killing my Lexus.

I recently posted a question asking advice on replacing the rear hatch handle on my 2000 RX300. To those of you who responded or read the post, I thank you. I finished replacing the broken handle this morning. Here are the directions in case you have this problem. Since the rear hatch would not open, the repairs were initiated from inside the vehicle. Remove the privacy shield over the rear luggage area and fold down the seats. Pull the carpeted panel off the lower hatch (held in place by 5 nylon fasteners). Working from the lower corners of the carpeted panel worked well. Pull the top plastic panel off the hatch (held in place by 12 nylon fasteners). Again, working from the lower corners worked well. Put both panels out of the vehicle to give you more room to work I continued to work from inside the vehicle, but if you prefer, you could pull the hatch release mechanism at this point to open the hatch and work on the replacement while standing. Next, remove the two bolts (10 mm) holding the rear hatch key lock in place using care not to drop the bolts inside the hatch. No need to release any of the wiring for the lock. Dealerships refer to the painted panel above the license plate which the lock fits into on the outside of the hatch door as a garnish. I was told the garnish is frequently broken in the process of removing it and the part costs $218.00 to replace. In my experience, it is difficult to imagine this garnish would ever be broken unless the person doing the repair is extremely rough and impatient. Next, remove the three (10 mm) nuts holding the garnish in place. One of these nuts in partially hidden behind the rear wiper assembly, but can be removed using an open end wrench without removing the windshield wiper mechanism. You will notice two white nylon clips which also hold the garnish in place. By compressing the "wings" of these clips with a flat blade screwdriver and pushing the clops out, the garnish will come free. You might consider asking a person to hold the garnish from outside the vehicle as it falls free. There is a license plate lamp wire attached to the garnish, so it will not fall to the ground, but rather dangle by this wire. Now that the garnish is free, turn it over and remove the two rubber washers holding the door lock to the garnish. The replacement part is #69023-48010 and cost me $84.50 with tax. Check a couple dealerships ... another wanted $101.20 for the same part. Put the new door handle in place and begin to reverse your process to complete your job. Took me about an hour and a half to complete the repair, including running to pick up the new part. Hope this is helpful to some of you in the future. I am certain the repair is similar on all older model RX's and maybe even the newer ones. Didn't tear apart my 2005 RX to compare.

My goodness. Haven't read all the back and forth, but 50 years plus of being a mechanic means you should RUN, or have it towed asap from the current shop. Reasons: No car in the history of the planet has 3 coils go bad all at once. Not possible to diagnose injectors unless they are pulled and flow tested. Head gasket problems are relatively easy to diagnose on the V6. Since head gaskets don't blow simultaneously, unless you SERIOUSLY overheated the old girl, the sparkplugs on either bank will be utterly absolutely clean, cleaner than the other bank. Really, the best way to QUICKLY check a bad head gasket is to smell the exhaust. A sweet smell, obvious as hell. Timing problems, more than likely. Car can easily be saved with a competent mechanic. Don't be afraid to pull out of the shop -- money spent is money gone. Which is why is use YELP, etc. Good luck.

...looks familiar.

USNews claims the Lexus RX provides 18.4 cubic feet of room behind the second-row seats and 56.3 cubic feet with the second row folded down. Unlike the 3-row model which keyesLexus.com shows that for the RX350L, with all rows in an upright position, it has 7.5 cubic feet of cargo room. Folding down the third row increases the SUV's cargo room to 23 cubic feet. Congrats, Mike! If your dealer is like mine - they put your Lexus in a special delivery showroom with lots of lights. Then they bring you in to inspect the 350.

Before pulling the bulbs, you should look for a change in voltage on the meter with and without the lights/audio on. If fact, what I typically do when performing a quick test, observe the meter as you switch each component on...one by one. If the brake lights are showing a large dip on the meter or with everything on together you are dropping below 13 volts...you have a problem. It's rare, but you could have a bulb that's not lighting up and instead shorting out. If the charging system stays above 13.5 under full load than I'm leaning towards a problem with the wires coming from the battery or loose/corroded battery terminal. Most of the situations that I've worked on where there seems to be an electrical demon and all the tests are good...It's usually something like a poor body ground.

Exactly, Dave! The technology and geo-politics are changing so fast that you really want to slow down and ask the what-ifs. And with all the extra weight in the various plug-ins, tires will wear faster and generate more heat. Can't forget the Ford Exploder that kept blowing out tires because Ford and Firestone could not settle on a reasonable weight limit for the specified tire (depending on which side you talk to, of course). Engineers are only human...

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.

No idea the sticker price but I'd say "if ya gotta ask ya probably can't afford it"…… I typically wait for cars to become old enough to fall into my price range but I doubt I'll live long enough for one of the LES cars 💀

There's a bleed location just by the firewall at the top of the engine (at least on mine, I'm unsure about yours); pop the cap off of it and see if the fitting spurts fluid and no bubbles with the car running. If it has bubbles or no coolant comes out, bleed the air from the system. LS400s tend to like being bled parked on an incline (front end higher than the rear). My car also has bleeding instructions printed on the coolant reservoir, check yours and see if it details the procedure. After that, check the heater control valve- it should remain closed until the engine nears or reaches operating temperature, and then the cable will open the valve. If the valve is broken, it's a fairly quick fix, but if the cable doesn't operate, you'll have a bigger issue, as the cable is either broken or the electronic controls are not operating. If you need help locating either the bleeder or the valve, send a couple pictures / a video and I'll try and point them out. I'm more familiar with the 1UZ-FE VVT engine setup, as that's what's in my car, so if you happen to have the same engine, I can be more clear

Welcome to the Lexus Owners Club Events forum section Its been a while since this section has seen the light of day, so thought it was time to revive it now that we have freedom of movement pretty much in most parts of the free-world. Got an event planned or just want to share one you are attending? Feel free to post up any national or local events relating to Lexus or even just events that will host Lexus cars amongst others. (please note: the Moderation Team reserve the right to remove any content that goes against Lexus Owners Club rules at any time)

Lexus, Boating, Cooking, Gardening, Beaches etc...

For Myself it was upgrading from a 1996 Toyota Camry to a 1998 GS 300...Loved the car so much I bought a LS460. I drove the GS for 21 years as a daily driver, The car was sold locally and is still on the road today, Got To Love Lexus ! What is your Story ?

If it still drives take it to a shop and pay the $125 diagnose fee. That'll save you a ton of aggrevation and quite possibly money too. I've swapped motors and rebuilt cars stem to stern but when I can't figure something out mine goes to a place who can. It could be as simple as a vacuum leak, valves out of adjustment or something the monitor can find. They have machines now that can tell you all kinds of things you'd never find at home. My mechanic was working on a van that kept running hot and the machine discovered the engine was low on motor oil.

New lenses will always look better than a polishing job. However, you may want to research what is required to replace yours. Some swap efforts are not very easy. I used a Meguiar's headlight lens polishing kit. To me it had the right "ingredients".

Hey bykfixer, thanks for the input. Ken

The 4th of July is upon us once again. While most folks frolic about on the 4th doing the typical American thing……you know, drink beer, eat too much, get sun burned and watch fireworks, one of my coworkers has set out for New York. He is a young engineer from Afghanistan who helped the US forces rebuild stuff over there after things got destroyed after 911. At first he said it was not so bad. But at one point his life was threatened by hostile forces for siding with what he says they call "the great Satan". He said members of his family were brutally killed in order to teach him a lesson. The US government gave him the opportunity to bring his wife and kids to America. So this 4th of July he, his wife and children are going to travel to New York to witness the statue of Liberty. He told me that after being in America some 4 years his wife no longer fears running over explosive devices or being hit by sniper fire and wants to travel to "the big apple" he said in broken English. I will raise a toast of apple juice this year to him and folks like him who truely know life under tyranny. I hope everybody reading this enjoys the 4th this year now that the pesky virus seems to be largely under control. I'll stay home and help keep a labrador calm who gets nervous when the fireworks explode. He's 11 this year so he doesn't have that many more days left and I sure don't want him spending any of them in panic mode. I'll hook him up with a hot dog off the grill while we sit out back and watch a small bonfire. Happy 4th everybody.

I am having a difficult time wrapping my head around any All Electric cars. I get the feeling we are being duped into the belief that electricity is a cleaner and cheaper source of energy. I do of course get the concept but I also must look at the entire picture of where and how electricity is produced, transported and stored which brings us to the actual cost. IMO solar is a wonderful source but not yet up to the full time task where geographical and weather conditions come into play. Wind is also wonderful however when we consider all the costs to build from scratch, erect and maintain windmills it becomes just as costly or more costly than the fossil fuels required to build them. I am no expert here but I have read numerous accounts stating that windmills so far cannot produce enough energy to cover the return of investment over their lifetime. Both sources have their advantages and disadvantages, cleaner in some ways but often more costly when we look at the total picture of initial cost Vs return. An All Electric vehicle will not work here where I live with the high cost of electricity from the power company to my home. Replacing batteries in such vehicles is another daunting thought when they have reached their life expectancy. I think we seem to forget that all manufactured goods, no matter what, cars, computers, gadgets and just about everything else all begin in the ground and must be mined, transported, milled and smelted and this all takes fossil fuels and electricity at every step. Folks here are highly against windmills, solar farms, pipelines, electric transmission lines, cellular towers, and nuclear power generation plants. The complain about the rivers being dammed for Hydro power generation and in the very same breath they complain about high costs of energy, lack of cell service and internet connectivity for all their gadgets. I get the feeling those who are narrow minded expect all this stuff to simply fall from the sky. I have a continual and ongoing debate with a buddy who is an absolute climate activist, the type who thinks cows should be eliminated and all energy should be from renewable sources while he does drive a Prius he also wants milk in his coffee, Leather seats in his cars and SUVs and steak on his table. All electric vehicles are for sure coming along but they are a long way from refined enough to have one parked and plugged up in my driveway. I believe about 75% of all electricity is produced by fossil fuels at present and we have a long way to go for us to rely on other sources before we leave the oil, coal and gas in the ground.

problem solved after 3 weeks of on and off diagnostic. it was the crank sensor that failed and this was very difficult problem to diagnose because the crank sensor did work " to a degree ". previous owner sold me this car for 1200 with only 89k miles because 4 or 5 shops that she took this ES300 to couldn't figure out the problem including 2 Lexus dealerships and 1 of them even suggested a new/rebuild motor because they thought somehow, the compression loss after engine warm up while running. I've been turning wrench as a master tech since 2001 and never encountered this problem before. not sure as to unique problem, only for Toyota or not but it was hard problem for sure. if you want details of how and what way the sensor failed or any questions about leading up to my findings, let me know.

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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.

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.

I was tired of looking at the yellow, hazy headlights, so I decided to do something about them today...

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!!