Leaderboard

Trevor, Thanks for the info. You were correct, I had not connected the temp sender wire. It is a bugger of a thing to locate and even more difficult to fit the connector when the entire loom is in situ. The sender unit is tucked in behind the plastic spark plug channel. Done now, so everything is fine. Thanks again, Alan.

A Lexus Field Tech Specialist made me aware of an aftermarket harness for LC500. Car Tunes in Largo, FL located the harness via a simple internet search and attached a standard front or rear camera. They did the installation for $600 total. The harness allows the camera to integrate with the stock display. When parking just push button on dash and front camera is on for 20 seconds. If you need more time, just push button again. Attached are pictures of camera in grill-(no cutting needed), picture of button and front camera view. Works like a charm-no longer stress parking. Also note carbon fiber wrap to door sills-looks great.

Was the valet key stolen when the car was parked where you frequently park it? If not, the thief might not find your car again. You might be able to have the all the keys "deleted" from the vehicle ECU memory and then have the keys you still have programmed back in. The thief would still be able to unlock and gain access to your car but the stolen valet key could not be used to start the engine. If that is not good enough, yes, you can have the service center replace and program new keys but there will be significant expense to change the door and trunk locks and the ignition switch. Insurance may cover much or all of the cost if you have it.

See if this one works Swigzy Car Cup Holder Expander Adapter with Adjustable Base - Rubber Tabs Securely Hold Large Water Bottles

as a NEW member, the FIRST thing you need to do is SEARCH other people's steering problems, this has been covered for years. there are even videos showing you how to fix it.. THEN if you dont understand, ask for help. a 5 cent garden hose washer will fix it (usually). see videos.. 2 screws to remove the covers, then 3 screws to remove the plate and you are looking at it.

I bought the Polk Audio DB840 8" replacement speaker that is named in youtube videos about replacing the Mark Levinson subwoofer. There is some discussion about replacing a Mark Levinson speaker with an aftermarket speaker. I went with the Polk($54.00) and it sounds fine. Does is sound as good? I couldn't say because before I replaced the ML blown subwoofer I didn't think to study up on the quality of the sound. I installed the Polk and it sounds fine, maybe great. That's very subjective. But it does sound like a high quality and working speaker system. Interesting comment is that the price of the Mark Levinson is in the design and not the hardware. Old ML speaker weighs much less than the Polk but does not seem to have any distinguishing or different features. Thus end that debate for me. Polk ($54.00 ) vs. ML(used -$300.00 - minimum) R&R pretty simple. if by the time you read this , youtube videos still around, they can walk you thru it. One video has you removing rubber ring around new Polk speaker, one has you keeping it. I kept it and modified plastic bracket that goes BELOW speaker and allows speaker to seat properly on car deck.. This is the bracket that screws onto your rear deck . I secured this bracket with 3 little screws drilled into the plastic. Don't let these screws be too long as they will hit metal rear decking of car. Otherwise any little screw will suffice. The other bracket that is attached to ML assembly is no longer needed. to restate: you throw away one of 2 ML brackets and use only the bracket which screws into car rear deck. drill new holes thur existing holes in Polk speaker and into plastic bracket to secure speaker to this bracket. I only used 3 screws. Like someone said this will only be critical if you roll the car. I don't know the electronics theory but I followed instructions for 'shorting' voice mail coil. Why do that , I don't know? Does it have to be done, I don't know either? Its simple though. Get some wire crimpers and connectors and some short speaker wire and get after it. It took me around 3 hours. if I knew what I was doing , under 2 easy . Seat removal is simple. However when you start removing and reinstalling trim which is seated with those plastic punch pins, It gets a little frustrating. It is of course not automatic that you can line up pins with holes in car's sheet metal.

I don't think the oil change or the sludge would be responsible for the engine cutting out. However, I would look for fault codes and also carry out grass roots diagnostics (checking battery terminals and battery condition and then carrying on through the car one step at a time). It's laborious but does throw up interesting faults that would otherwise go undetected. Check also the fuel quality and drain/refill if suspect

ok, I have a 99ls, bought in early 2010, I wrapped my alternator in a clorex bottle and it has been working for 7 years now

Hey guys, Im new here, my name is Blake and am looking for some advise for the following. My dad owns this 1998 GS400: He has been the owner since new, passed it along to my brother, who dropped it and put the wheels on it. And now its back in my fathers hands and he has been looking to do something with the interior. Mainly replace the front seats for lower milage units or something, but I was at the junk yard looking for some Audi gear, and stumbled across a 430 with near perfect black interior. I've always hated the GS steering wheel, because there is no wood grain on it, and the emblem is just plain. but the 430s steering wheel is beautiful on top of being black. I can acquire the entire interior for $375USD, pretty much anything that is black. I'm no stranger to interior swaps, steering wheels coding, motor pulls, etc, but mainly with Audis. I am aware that it will take a lot of time and patience and to spend this amount of effort like this on an old Lexus is not everyones cup of tea. But its always a good time bonding with the father. My questions are primarily the air bags. I read about the single stage vs dual stage. I am a little unfamiliar with the Lexus electronics. In the Audi world, guys simply wire up the high speed impact to the single stage signal. Not at all what I do, nor want to do here. Its been proven to work in Audis, but still not a risk I take with my Audis, nor my fathers car. I figure for the steering column, I will only be swapping the shrouds, and will still be left with the dilemma of single to dual. I would prefer to keep the from having to purchase a complete RX wheel and air bag which is almost the cost of the swap. Can the air bag covers be modified/swapped? What about the rest of the air bags, like the one in the dash, the seats, does anyone know if they are all compatible? Or is the whole 430 a completely different animal? Thanks guys!

Good to know about the key hole. I'll tap on it harder to try to secure it better too.

If you want to save $350 or more, you can also carefully remove the sensor, drill out a 1/16 through hole at the center of the rotary arm & stationary portion...then screw the rotary arm back in place with a tiny screw. I just finished this on mine & it works great. **Just make sure you have a low profile screw head so it doesn't bind into the silver sway arm. Also, you want to wallow out the rotary arm hole a little bigger than the screw - that way the screw only holds into the stationary sensor portion. You don't want the rotary arm engaged w/ the screw trying to turn it. I kept bumping the "trunk close" button when trying to pull away the trunk lid trim. If you remove the 2 top right fuses 10A & 5A in the left trunk fuse block, the trunk lights & trunk operation will stop while you work on the sensor.

I always apply some PTFE tape (plumbers use it for pipe joints) to the sump plug thread....never had a leak on anything ever since. This originally came about when I owned a Land Cruiser and the Toyota dealer asked whether I wanted the soft or hard compound seal for the plug. I foolishly chose the hard compound and leaked like a sieve. Someone suggested removing it and wrapping a couple of turns with PTFE and it worked a treat...nowadays I use it all the time on the 'belt & braces' principle.

That is crazy, the gasket is a crush aluminum washer. Oh well, we will see.

Have you checked that the plastic casing/cap on the filter housing aren't cracked?

Did they clean the area where is was originally leaking? Also did they clean the under panels? Maybe just more residual.

Going to pickup a 1995 sc300 5 speed in teal mist metallic this weekend.

Adding a backup camera to a 2001-2003 LS430 is rather involved. There is a post on ClubLexus on how to do it on an LS430 with the Mark Lev system but I don't know if would work for the standard nav system: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-3rd-gen-2001-2006/511807-how-to-ls430-mark-levinson-everything-w-pics-and-part-s.html#post5620270 If you can't see the attachments in that post, here is a direct link to the YouTube video about it:

I guess my issue is nothing with the brakes. Its a communication issue with the instrument cluster. Anyone know if I can get a junked cluster or need to deal with a dealership? either way everything is working fine which is good. so it is just a visible check engine light that bothers me.

Still a few of us around though I upgraded to a 430 then 460L I still have the 98 that stays parked most of the time.

dcfish? Whoa! That's a blast from the past. There have been people looking for you asking about navigation and audio systems. I still drop by this forum once a month or so and sometimes try to help. There's not much in the current Lexus lineup of interest to us. Somebody in Nebraska is driving the 2000 LS400 I sold in 2014 ... wish he would change the name/address associated with the car so Lexus wouldn't contact me about it. My daily driver is still the "Lexus of Minivans" - suits us perfectly for our lifestyle these days. Nice to hear from you!

The service consultant called and stated they got approval to replace both door actuators, which they had in stock, and he is finishing up the paperwork. I asked if I was going to have a problem with the rear and he said "they don't get cycled as much as the front." I told him I guess we will jump off that bridge if we get to it and he laughed. The Lexus gods were good to me.

Yup, just give them time. They'll break through the main market scene soon enough.

https://lexusenthusiast.com/2018/10/25/lexus-named-most-reliable-brand-in-annual-co Consumer Reports says no to MB and BMW!!! Paul

Thanks for the reply. I am having all looked at on Wednesday. I shared your thought on the issues. I appreciate it! Thanks again.

Thanks Trevor for your answer! I have visited Lexus dealer today to they check vibration. Luckily they had a time to check that out. They check balance (did not find anything). Also they make a wheel rotation. Thats all they did. The vibration is now much much lower. Now it feels more like light tingle what could be felt only on good new freeway asphalt. So I probably will wait little while if this gets worse or may be better. This sounds strange that vinbration was almost fixed by the wheel rotation...

Struts are discussed all the time, but my choice is KYB struts and OE mounts....Have put them on RX300 and RX400h and a GMC Yukon....Love these struts. the knock noise is probably broken mount, but could also be a damaged stabilizer bar mount....

Hi Trevor, Thanks. Here's a pic of my new pride and joy. I'm familiar with TRD, just not that particular website, so I was curious if anyone had any experience and could confirm it's not a place that's just going to steal my money 🙂 Thanks for the link to the UK site! Will check it out tonight. Chris

So got a reply, said any Toyota dealer can do lease work on a Lexus if no Lex dealer available. Now we know and knowledge is power! 🙂

My guess is a bad cell in the battery itself.

I have a 1999 GS-300 with 130,000 miles on it. Had lots of issues with the vehicle cranking over recently. Got into my car turned the ignition and click, nothing happened. Tried to crank the engine again and click! Nothing again...... My battery was my 1st thought but, my lights were bright and radio and fan were working right. So I saw a couple postings on the lexus owners club and thought I would tackle this job myself. This problem was intermittent, sometimes the car turned over and sometimes it didn't. Recently it would take me up to 10 minutes for the car to crank over and start, so I had to do something. I just finished up the job in about 2 hours (start to finish) and thought somebody might read this and make it useful. So here I go to try and tell you how to fix the starter problem and tell you what tools you'll need. Actually after doing the job it was well worth the effort. The problem turned out to be the "Copper Contacts inside the Starter Solenoid" with a total bill of $5.00 (yep I said Five Dollars if you do it yourself). Before you begin, locate your local Alternator/Starter Rebuilding Shop, you'll need them for the Copper Contacts that are located inside the Starter Solenoid ($5.Dollars) They sold them to me separately. Tools required: Patience, 10mm., 12mm.,14mm.,15mm,16mm socket, socket wrench, universal swivel socket attachment, (2) Extra Long Socket Extensions 12"inches each, 9/32"nds nut runner or socket. So here we go: Step by step 1st Things First - you'll need to disconnect your battery to the car both positive and negative leads. Pop your hood. You need a 10 mm. socket and socket wrench to disconnect the battery. (Remember, you'll lose all your settings on your radio, seat memory etc.... but worth it - and if you have any warning light on your dash, like check engine light they'll go off too after you disconnect and reconnect the battery.) The starter and solenoid are located on the driver side of the car engine. They are piggybacked next to each other in one unit. 2nd - you need to disconnect the transmission dip stick to move it out of your way to get the starter out. (You'll need a 12mm. socket with socket wrench) The bolt is located at the top of the dip stick that is attached to the engine. Feel free to pull the dip stick all the way out and put it in a safe place. You don't actually need to take the outside shell of the dip stick out all the way just pull it out about 4 inches and move it to the right or left, it's attached at the bottom by a rubber wire holding clamp. Just move it aside for now. 3rd - Disconnect the lead wires that are going to the starter, there are two - one is a black push connector that you must push the center button in to remove the wire connector as you pull the wire out, and the other is under the rubber black boot that is the power connection that is coming from your battery. Pull back the black rubber boot and expose the 12 mm. nut that must be removed to get the cable off the starter. You'll need a 12mm. socket and wrench to get this nut off. Once you remove the cable put the 12mm. nut back on the starter so it doen't get lost. 4th - Crawl under your vehicle and take your 14 mm. socket, socket wrench and swivel adapter with you with (2) Extra Long 12" inch extentions, you'll need the extra lengths to get the bolts to turn and free your rachet up to swing and loosen the 14mm. bolt heads. Don't take the bolts out all the way, leave them in housing as long as the starter is able to come out. The only reason I say this is because the starter will be easier to re-install once your done fixing it. Now, take your starter out from the bottom, it's a little tight but it will come out. 5th - Put your starter on a work bench or preferably a Vice to hold the starter in place so it won't fall. Locate the (3) 9/32" inch cover nuts and remove them with a 9/32" inch nut runner or socket. Take care not to lose the nuts. Remove the top cover of the solenoid. Once you remove the top cover you'll see the two copper contacts on opposite sides of the solenoid. Remove the center copper solenoid, be careful because at the bottom of the solenoid is a pointed tip with a long 3" spring that actually pushed the started gear out once powered on with your ignition key. Put this center solenoid off to the side with the 3" Spring. Now locate the two copper contacts on opposite sides of the solenoid housing (these are the contacts that need to be replaced.. these are the parts that are causing all your problems with your starter - all for $5 Bucks, notice how black and pitted the copper contacts are). At this point this is where I actually took my whole starter to a Alternator/Starter Rebuildng Shop in a plastic bag with the solenoid cover off and showed them the starter and contacts and they had them in stock. (The 2 Copper Contacts) were tiny copper 90 degree clips with a 1/4 Moon Shape to them, no larger than 1 1/2"inches and no bigger than a quarter. Once I got the Copper Contacts back home the fun started! I can't believe how little they were and how easy they were going to be replaced for just $5. Five bucks. This was going to save me a ton of money. Now this is where you'll need to take the (2) nuts off the one side of the solenoid, one nut (12 mm.) is where we originally removed the cable wire from the battery and there is another nut that holds the copper contact into place. I think this is a 15mm. socket (but don't quote me on this one - sorry I forgot what size it was), but remove this nut also, this is the last nut holding the copper contact into place. Once you remove the nut you'll be able to slide the copper contact out, but be careful not to lose the thin washer and small rubber O-Ring attached to the Copper Contact Post. One side of the contact is a Rectangular Copper Square attached to a Copper Post the Copper Contact actually slides over the post for mounting purposes. Take note how the contact is positioned because you'll have to re-install the NEW Copper Contact the same way. You can remove the contact now. Make sure you note what Copper Contact goes where, one is larger than the other. Replace the contact with the same NEW COPPER CONTACT and re-install the same way. Now on the opposite side, slide back the rubber boot that is covering the other contact post bolt and nuts. Be careful because their is another small washer and "O-Ring" on the other side too. Take care to remove the Copper Contacts the same way and install the other NEW COPPER CONTACT and re-install the same way. Re-assemble the Nuts in the same manner and tighten. Slide the boot cover back over the post and re-assemble putting the center solenoid back inside the housing, re-install the cover of the solenoid. Your starter solenoid is now complete. Re-assemble everything is reverse order and now your done. Hope this helps the Do-It-Yourself Guys. Any questions, feel free to comment me back. Hope I didn't miss anything.... Blaise

Oh wow! a fascinating country to visit....make sure you post up some photos, especially if you visit the Lexus factory

Nice! Thought maybe I should share some more recent pics of my RX, the bumper and skid plates are still a work in progress.

Now you can see how the wheel spacers will give you the extra tire clearance at the perch. I want to say with the 2" spacers on mine it puts the edge of the tire somewhere right at the outside edge of the perch. I could have fit larger tires but went smaller and should probably go to smaller spacers like 1" to 1.5" to fix the edge of my tire hitting the top of the fender when bottoming out.

Yeah, the very inside of the back tires will rub pretty easily on the spring perch if you're not careful with your tire size, especially with a more square tire tread. looks like your current tires are pretty rounded on the inside... the fronts can fit whatever pretty easily.

The rx400h has rear struts, the 450h has the spring and shocks

I think you're stuck with 235/65r17's as your biggest, I had the next gen 235/55r19's and they would sometimes rub going around corners. I can only fit 265/70r17 cause I put 2012 highlander rear struts in it. That leaves you just over 29".

The world of lifting RX vehicles is still pretty small so there aren't exactly any definitive guides but like any other strutted vehicle the same limitations in tire/wheel fitment would apply. The first limitation on my 300 was the rear spring perches because they are squattier than the fronts. Side clearance of the spring perch will limit how tall and wide of a tire you can fit without modification or for a certain offset/spacer. The next limitation for me was rubbing when turned full clock, not acceptable to me and I was able to fit mine with no rubbing. The taller and wider the tire the turning clearance is greatly reduced, its geometry but you can figure it out with a straight edge. Clock the wheels and take a straight edge across the inside sidewalls to the nearest obstruction and you can measure how much taller of a tire will fit without rubbing but leave some cushion. The closest point of the tire should be at the horizontal axis of the tire but make sure you look at fender clearances as well. Just take your time and measure everything until you are absolutely sure your fitment is what you want. You could also likely take it to a custom shop and they should be able to measure or use a jig to tell you what you can and can't fit. I would not recommend bringing the tire tread up past the bottom of the spring perch. If you do and you do not have ample clearances you can easily slash your sidewalls. If you are sticking with stock suspension the steering changes shouldn't be as drastic but just be ready for it to handle differently. I have not had to trim anything for mine and do not have anything rub except when I have 300-400 extra pounds in it and the suspension takes a really hard hit, mostly the rear where the outside tread just catches the lip of the fender. I need a little more travel or slightly stiffer springs in the rear. I think I am also running a larger wheel spacer than necessary (2"). Same thing for the front but don't hit the fender lip unless it is a really really hard suspension hit and I am turning. There is enough travel and clearance in the front if I am going straight over that really hard hit. I do not rub on the inside of the tire when turning but it is the outside front of the tire that hits the fender liner. That is only because it was a cheap aftermarket liner I was in a hurry to get in there to get some protection for my trans cooler before a trip. I had to cut the vents into the plastic and they puckered out into the wheel well so the tire catches them. I need to reinstall it so it fits correctly and likely make a little aluminum plate/grill for the vent slots so that doesn't happen. ***Edit- Brickwall says you have springs and shocks on the rear of yours and not a strut so that makes it a lot easier. You are then pretty much limited by the strut and turning clearance of the front then,

I will put an end to this mystery..... these are the trim finish panels that fit the "hole" in all 4 doors, you cant see them, but your fingers feel them when you use the opening to close the door.... they seem to fit 95-2000

Air is 80% Nitrogen.

Very nice!

bacosta007, Two possible problems come to mind. The head unit amplifier for those speaker channels has quit working, or ... the connector on the back of the head unit has come loose and is not making contact. If you are a DIYer with car tear down and audio experience, pull the head unit and disconnect the wiring harnesses to it (disconnect the battery first, after copying down the frequencies of all your radio presets). It might be just that simple to correct. If that doesn't correct the issue, check with a Lexus dealership to see if they have an exchange program for the head unit. Years ago (1986 I believe) I had a radio issue with my wife's Toyota Cressida. Toyota had and exchange program where you gave them the old radio to refurbish and they gave you a refurbished unit to replace it with for like $350 or so (long time ago and the details are fuzzy). Maybe Lexus has something similar? Worth checking. Good Luck!

http://www.lexomans.com/manguide-559.html

Update with a happy ending... So I posted this thread on many lexus blogs and several people responded that I should consider checking all the fuses. One thread suggested looking at the 30 amp AN1 fuse under the big cover in the engine area. That exact fuse was dead. I researched the circuit for that fuse and it controls the ignition including the spark plug coil. I replaced the AN1 fuse and the GX started right up but died in seconds and the fuse was blown again. It also sounded like I had a leaking exhaust manifold on the passenger side. I immediately noticed the spark plug #2 from the firewall on passenger side was coated in soot. I removed the 10mm bolt and pulled on the coil assembly and the top coil box broke away from the coil shaft connected with a tail of copper wire. I pulled on the wire and the rest of the coil shaft assembly came out including the spark plug. Thats right, the spark plug was not screwed in to the head. I replaced the coil pack with a NAPA part, added a new iridium plug, added another 30 amp fuse and it started right up and remained running. This fix ended up taking about 15 minutes and under $100, a big win win. But how in the hell did that plug get so loose. The odor I smelled was the exhaust melting the silicone boot and plastic housing. I ran codes and it came back as a spark plug coil. How awesome is it that I know not a lot about cars and a few hours on the internet and helpful suggestions from people all over got me back on the road - THANKS to all who helped.

Wow that Celsior is gorgous...

armcomdes, I haven't had to do this fix on any of our Lexus models , but had two Subaru's that did. The subies was a simple fix because of the shape of the shields, fitting close to the front resonator and covering part of the exhaust pipe as well. I simply put a larger exhaust clamp right around the heat shield at the pipe entering the resonator, and clamped the heat shield right to the resonator. Problem solved for the next 3 years until trade time. The ES muffler shields are different, much wider area coverage, and not as close to the muffler. A down and dirty fix would be to use plumber's strapping (comes in a roll with lots of holes in it. Cut off a section long enough to go between the trunk floor and the heat shield, and then down around the muffler and back up to the strap again. Pull it tight to force the heat shield to collapse onto the muffler, and tighten the ends together with a long bolt and nut. To keep it looking less obvious, position the strapping as far forward on the muffler as possible to do the job, but still not be seen from the rear of the car, if possible. The only other sure way to silence the rattle is a new heat shield and mounting bolts, because yours have rusted off. Good Luck!

I think it is pretty cheap when a corporation such as Toyota stops furnishing repair manuals. Once again big corporations don't care about us little people

Hello Lexus Forum, Recently I started to hear this high pitch noise coming from engine bay driver side and the car feels a bit sluggish. NO CODES or MIL light on dash. Car is a 2007 AWD and has 66K . Any input greatly appreciated.

I have a 2008 Lexus GX470 Blizzard Pearl and has been garage kept since my purchase in April 2008. I recently started having to park outside the garage for the past 2 years and now my paint is peeling everywhere. Is there nothing that can be done about this. My car is in excellent shape and has never been wrecked. It looks awful with the paint peeling off all over.