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  1. 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!
    4 points
  2. 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.
    3 points
  3. 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).
    3 points
  4. 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.
    3 points
  5. No reason to upgrade, Those stock wheels are Classic on the SC 😉
    3 points
  6. But you love the Covid virus? 🙄
    3 points
  7. I just installed the rr racing supercharger. It’s the only way to go bud
    3 points
  8. 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.
    3 points
  9. 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.
    3 points
  10. 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.
    3 points
  11. The cost of dental work, especially deep cleaning by laser and periodontal surgery, but also including implants.
    3 points
  12. 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!!"
    3 points
  13. 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.
    3 points
  14. 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.
    3 points
  15. 20 years ago I swapped a domain name for a Lexus. The love affair started and I am now on my 10th Lexus
    3 points
  16. My Lexus is my weekend car. My daily is my 2009 Mazda 3i.
    3 points
  17. Thanks for the advice it is much appreciated. Now that it has been bleed correctly. I now have power with no leaks.
    2 points
  18. I am an 2023 IS500 owner, for an almost $70,000 car, it does not have a place for your phone, Lexus did a very very poor job of not updating a 20 year old interior! I’m disappointed there’s no space for my sunglasses on the ceiling space, no wireless charger, wire coming from center storage, the speedometer display is so tiny, I had to take my eye off the road while driving. I’m totally disappointed with Lexus’s CHEAP DESIGNS! The ok thing is the V8 & the 1,800 watts stereo. Even the V8 @5.0 L. IS SLOW @ 4.4 Sec. (0-60mph)! 472 Horse Power should be under 3.5 sec., but Lexus blew it again with a slow 4.4 sec., not acceptable. I regret buying this new Lexus IS500, I should of buy a Mercedes AMG instead. The handling of the IS500 is barely sporty!!! Disappointing, Lexus did a lousy job of creating this new IS500!
    2 points
  19. re: 400h Thank you for your reply. I'll have to jack it up and check. I happen to have a new crush washer for the drain bolt. I hope I can use that one.
    2 points
  20. 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!
    2 points
  21. Hi everyone, I want to you my latest addition to my RX330. A custom design and fabricated prerunner bar with a skid plate. Going to add lights in the future.
    2 points
  22. 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
    2 points
  23. Much less likely to get shot due to reaching in glove box
    2 points
  24. I don't like hurricanes when the roof is coming off the house but the sky sure is pretty after it's gone.
    2 points
  25. 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.
    2 points
  26. I like giant Tonka toys
    2 points
  27. I like cherry Pepsi on occasion. That's about as close to whiskey as I'll go these days.
    2 points
  28. I like that it is Boating season here...Boat goes in next week 🙂
    2 points
  29. The cost of gas and food...Thanks o'biden
    2 points
  30. My company is Fuel Injector Specialists, located in Colorado. I own a 1990 LS400, and I"m not here trolling for injector business, but my advice (and experience) on these cars is this: The chance of you having 8 good injectors is just about nil. I've rebuilt plenty of these, and about 10 percent are not buildable -- the spray pattern goes sideways or they leak down. Denso from the factory. The quality of Bosch? Nope, but if you keep water out of the gas, the majority of the factory injectors will last forever, it's just that Bosch uses a higher quality rust resistant super hard stainless metal alloy. Bosch will not substitute for Denso, in this case. Alas. Rough Idle? One or two bad injectors. Same with hard start. Same with burned up catalytic convertors -- these cats will outlive the car, if they have the correct fuel ratio ahead of them. Pintle caps and seals and filters? All replaceable. Good injectors and these engines will purr. Factory shop manual (of which I just paid $350 for the complete paper set) infers that it is possible to pull these injectors with the intake on. Nonsense. Think ahead and buy the throttle body and upper plenum gasket from Rock Auto. You'll need both. As another hint, the bottom bolts on the throttle body are impossible to start without a flexible magnetic/grab hook retrieval tool. Invaluable. NAPA, $20. Best money you will ever spend. Eliminates many bad words. Put the head of the bolt on the tool, using only the magnetic function not the grab hook, then bend yourself way down to see the opening in the throttle body, insert the bolt, then slide the tool off at a 90 degree angle. Voila. You don't use this tool, and the bolt will drop into the valley. Ouch. Intake plenum off, but first, careful careful with all those hoses, and be even more careful with the hoses at the front EGR temp sensor, the one that has two plastic barbed outlets and screws in vertically into the cooling passage. Aw, forget it. These outlets all break. You will break yours. Remove the sensor (unobtainable now, and was $300 plus dollars anyway. What the?), go to Napa and buy some small plastic barbed tees, cut them to match the ones you broke off. If you can pull your broken originals out of the hoses, even better. Then, take some super glue, a powerful magnifier so you can see to match the broken edges up perfectly, and judiciously super glue the broken tee back onto the temp sensor. That means don't use so much super glue that you block the ports. You will check with a small drill bit when you are all finished anyway. That super glue's only function is to get the tee to stay on from whence it (they) departed. Not strong enough to be anything but a placement. Next, buy some J&B plastic mender epoxy. Squeeze out a small amount of this stuff from its double syringe, on a cardboard piece, and stir while counting slowly to 30. Daub this mixture onto the tee/sensor broken area, which you cleaned of course, covering all sides nicely, leaving the barb exposed. Set the sensor aside ( as mentioned, you pulled this sensor from the engine, right? 15/16 combo wrench. And drained the radiator to even make this possible? This only makes sense. Ahem. ) Set this sensor aside for 24 hours. In a warm room. Don't be tempted to readjust the tee outlets even slightly. That''s what the super glue was for. If you do, the epoxy strength will absolutely disappear. A day later this fitting will be bulletproof. Never seen an older LS where these aren't busted off. This sensor stops the EGR from working when the engine is cold, and lets vacuum pass when it's warm. Your engine needs this. The earth's atmosphere needs this. All of humanity needs this. You get the idea. Pull the intake. Put all those bolts in a container. They re-torque at 20 lbs or so. Not much. You set them somewhere under hood and they will fall off, never to be seen again. Passing children will learn new words. Now, you can easily reach the fuel rails. The supply line to the pressure regulator and the line itself has banjo bolts. Nice design, but each banjo bolt has a copper washer on top and bottom. Take a very deep breath, put on your glasses, and DON'T lose those copper washers. Factory shop manual insists you need to replace them. Not necessary. Available at NAPA if you do. The fuel rail holds the injectors in. The hardest part of injector service is removing the wiring clips from the injectors. The little tab pushes down, and the clip pulls off. Don't rush this step. Don't yank without being sure the clip is released. Push down, then pull up. If you successfully get all the clips off without breaking some you qualify for a trophy of some type. Perhaps an old bowling trophy, or a second place spelling ribbon, etc. Indeed, you are truly a master mechanic. Buy quality new injectors if you can, but you can't. Don't buy Ultra. Chinese garbage. Not worth the effort to toss in the recycle bin. Rock has rebuilds, but we kick back about 15% of them because they are defective, usually pattern problems. Or they leak down. Slow engine death. Perfect injectors and this old girl purrs. Oh yeah. There is a cold start injector at the bottom of the intake plenum. Unobtainable. We can clean and build them. If they're not rotted out. We are junkyard doggies. A proud thing. When the occasional first gen LS400 comes into the wrecking yards, we grab extra injectors, computer, complete padded dash and glove box door if possible (very rare), all the missing top engine shrouds, a mass air flow sensor, throttle position sensors (plural), door lock motors if needed, etc. Final note. Don't think you can upgrade from the Pioneer radio to the Nakamichi. Ain't like the Buick Riviera with Bose GOLD. All the good stuff is in the radio, not due to additional active amps in the door units. Nakamichi rear speaker is a monster, but needs its own amp in the back. Meaning the wiring harness. Meaning the wiring harness is completely different at the radio. Oh well. Life is too short. And Interior? Went with the Katzkin leather, $1000 plus. We shall see. Doesn't have that extra double pleat in the center, but we'll live with that.
    2 points
  31. Very nice! Is that a metal cup? You should also be able to find T-shirts with the Lexus logo. I have a Mazda one. There's a custom t-shirt store nearby. They can apply any kind of image to a shirt or shirts of your choice. I had them make a couple that are super-soft 100% cotton.
    2 points
  32. Lexus, Boating, Cooking, Gardening, Beaches etc...
    2 points
  33. Recently purchased a 2004 SC430 - black with saddle - 157k. Have wanted one since 2002 when I saw one in the showroom. Long story short, I located one in Texas and after speaking with the owner, decided it was a worth making a deal. While waiting for the car to arrive in Colorado, I signed up for Lexus Owners Club and read as much as I could about the strengths and weaknesses of the car. All I can say is LOC is a fantastic resource for any Lexus owner, but I found it particularly valuable for my newly acquired SC. So far, I have replaced front and rear shocks/struts, both upstream O2 sensors, front brakes and rotors. Within the next month I will replace water pump, tensioners and timing belt. (previous owner did it around 95k) All repairs have been done based on recommendations and information obtained from LOC forums. The suggestions for aftermarket parts were invaluable - as were the recommendations for OEM parts. Repairs were accomplished by a local independent Toyota mechanic I have known for awhile. Cosmetically - the car is in very nice condition. It was garaged most of the time and it shows. Bottom line is a HUGE thank you to all the other SC owners for sharing your knowledge and resources on this forum. Thanks to you, I am enjoying the hell out of this car and plan to have it for many years to come. Here's a photo:
    2 points
  34. Because LFA's are one hell of a car 🙂 And we love Lexus 😉
    2 points
  35. Hey bykfixer, thanks for the input. Ken
    2 points
  36. 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.
    2 points
  37. 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.
    2 points
  38. Since the beginning of ownership, 4 months ago, my Lexus has been showing lights on the dash for: VSC, have checked by dealer Check engine Traction control off I would scan my car with your normal scan tool and it would read "camshaft position A actuator circuit". I ended up replacing both the sensor and solenoid on bank A. Neither of those things fixed the issue. $700 later, I replaced the timing control motor. More power, no lights and no issues. Passed inspection.
    2 points
  39. I had always admired the Lexus way. You start out with a super reliable brand of automobile and add top of the line features that folks who don't need to ask "how much does it cost" go for and add sexy looks and you've got yourself a winner. Now for a guy like me who does have to ask "how much" the resale value held so well that they stayed beyond my price range for a long time. Long enough to forget about it actually. But my son bought a GS300 to turn into a left hand drive Aristo. First time I saw it I commented how that is one fine old car. Old I say because it was almost old enough to vote in the US. When he found a genuine Aristo in great shape for less than the cost to retrofit his GS he decided to sell it. All the kids wanted to low ball him or pay him $50 a month. The US gubment sent me a covid check and I figure my son is paying for it anyway so I signed it over to him and he in turn signed over the GS to me. Now it's got some goblins and gremlins but at 18 it's still a dam fine automobile. Will it be my last Lexus or first Lexus? Time will tell on that front. That largely depends on how quickly the money pit gets dug I suppose, because even though they hold up well, when things go bad the costs can pile up pretty quickly.
    2 points
  40. Hi, I figured it out. There are 3 connectors to the door ECU. The far right connector that is closest to the door latch was not snug. I believe this is what controlled the auto-up/down feature. I retraced my steps and with help of other's suggestions, I found the problem and the window works now. Thank you.
    2 points
  41. So it works! Swapped the old tranny back in. Turns out the ECU capacitors were the entire problem! Thank you all for your help and i hope this helps anyone else that has capacitors issues!
    2 points
  42. Good info here Same thing happened with my elder brothers 07 LS460L; solution was that the mechanic took out the latching machine out and aligned it and put it back again; then the trunk started to lock normally as it would do It is highly unlikely that the latch system will die; most likely it can be fixed
    2 points
  43. 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.
    2 points
  44. I have that level of tint on my 2002 ls430. The interior really does look pretty much new. It has 185k but looks like maybe 10k. It's a new car to me but the tint was on it when I bought it and I think it had to help keep it so nice.
    2 points
  45. New to foruM I’ve been off-roading my 99 Rx300 for some time. I have some mods and some other stuff
    2 points
  46. I was tired of looking at the yellow, hazy headlights, so I decided to do something about them today...
    2 points
  47. 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!!
    2 points
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