95LS400Bob

I'll ramble on a bit here about why I am trying a Lexus. And my point of view on some different cars. I've got 2 trucks and the Lexus. A 1999 Ford diesel F350 dually with 232,700 miles on it and never had a valve cover off. I have replaced only the steering stabilizer, tires and brakes. I knew the previous owner who put 200,000 on it when I bought it. In fact, I had done all his maintainace and repairs so I knew the truck. And I bought it cheap enough that should it have a major mechanical problem I would still be in it cheap. The other truck is a 91 Toyota pickup V-6 which I bought new in 1990. It's had brakes, tires, oil changes, 1 set of spark plugs and now at 144,000 miles, it would like to have a clutch. This is my 3rd Toyota pickup. the first one I bought had 100,000 when I bought it. I was so impressed by how good the truck was at 100,000 miles that I sold it to a friend when it got to 200,000 miles. He still has it and has only done minor repairs. The 2nd Toyota was a new 1984 I bought. My employees couldn't seem to hurt that one either and I sold it to buy the 1991. I am a mechanic or better described as fix anything from heavy equipment on down. Don't think that buying a mechanics truck that they are necessarily serviced on time. We mechanics are too busy fixing your stuff to work on ours. So you can see I am impressed with Toyota. Our passenger cars have always been Cadillacs because I like the comfort on road trips. But everybody is always saying to me that a Lexus Ls400 is the smoothest and quietest cars they have ever been in. So I have always had it in my mind to try one. I also always thought the BMW 740 series was a real nice car. But all I read was that they were not as quiet nor rode as nice as the Lexus and they used more fuel. So I passed on that. Since I can all my own repairs, it put me in a different spot than most people. I don't tie up much money in cars as anything on wheels is a poor investment. So I generally let someone else take the dive of depreciation and buy their car. The Toyota pickups were an exception because people with used ones to sell wanted near new price. We've only had the Lexus for a month. I have spent nearly all that time doing repairs. I bought the car cheap so no matter how it turns out satisfaction wise. But right now I have some mixed emotions about Lexus. Bear in mind I have fixed hundreds of cars and trucks and have probably had near 75 vehicles in my lifetime. So this is where I am coming from. It seems to me that this cars suspension system, motor mounts are a problem. I've never seen any cars I have worked on need these kinds of repairs we are doing on these cars. But I am "forgiving" Lexus because I feel these cars were made to be the quietest and smoothest on the road. And the soft rubber bushings in the suspension and motor mounts might just come with the territory of being the smoothest. Air suspension cars have been a problem since the 1958 Buick Roadmaster. Everyone including Lincoln has had air suspension problems. So Lexus is no different. Funny though...we have had air bag suspension on tractor trailer rigs for years and still do. And I don't remember any failures. We pay the price for parts for these Lexus cars. There is just not enough demand for the aftermarket to pick up on many items. I pity the guy who pays labor to replace parts. If that was my case, I would not buy a Lexus. I would buy a Toyota. The jury (mainly my wife) is still out on the Lexus Ls400. So far she likes it and all I do is work on it. ;) It's nearly done with everything the way it should be so I will pass my judgement soon.

I should have done pictures but I was just feeling my way through the job. Glad this is helping.

Here's what the old mounts looked like. One engine mount was barely hanging together and came right apart. I could twist the other one apart if I wanted to. The trans mount was fully seperated.

Best price I could find was Park Place Lexus. No tax and no shipping charges. But must be ordered over the internet for these prices: Part number 12361-50100 Engine mounts $91.67 each Part number 12371-50060 Trans mount $32.10 3 hours time but I bet I wasted an hour trying to figure out what was keeping the motor from going higher. Since the tranny mount is rubbery fragile...I did it last. It's a flimsy little thing. Didn't want to strain it at all. I did passenger side first because there was more room and it's always best when in unfamiliar territory to remove the item watching real close it's orientation. You have a heat shield to deal with that indexes on top the mount. What would I do different? #1. disconnect that power steering return hose. #2. Jack the motor up till you feel resistance....then loosen the crossmember and let it give you some more room. Even with that, it's a tight fit. 2 hours next time easy. #3. Do this with the motor cold. It takes a while for these things to cool down.

Best way I can describe what I did was to isolate the lights from where they were on the circuit board and the run in a new wire to operate all the bulbs. You have to break the leads in the circuit board to the lights by scratching across the path so there nothing can backfeed into the board. If you are going ot do this then I think I saved a copy of which leads on the board went to which lights. It takes a lot of time to trace the leads.

I thought I would post this while it is fresh in my mind on replacing the engine and trans mounts. Took about 3 hours. I could do it quicker next time. And these mounts are so soft..there will be a next time. Car supported. jack stands, battery cable disconected etc. Mounts are 17 mm nuts top and bottom. Remove the lower nuts. Passenger side (easier side): First remove the power steering return hose or the holdown 10mm clamp to body. You will be raising the engine to replace mounts and can break or damage the hose if you don't remove the holdown. I didn't. I hurt the hose (old hose was hard as a rock anyway). Power steering fluild dripping on you isn't fun. Learn from my mistakes. Remove all the air cleaner stuff while you are at it and to get to the hose holdown anyway. Now remove the top 17mm nut on the passenger side. Box end wrench. Shortest wrench you have. More feeling than seeing. Driver side: No access from the rear cause rack and pinion is in the way. No room..you gotta make some. 10mm wrench and remove the bolts holding the wiring loom that goes across the crossmember. With the same 10mm, remove the supports for the power steering hose. That lets the hose get out of the way. Now remove the oil filter. Unfasten the oil pressure sender wire clip. Now there is another wire loom in the way. Plastic clip carefully spread and free the loom. Then remove the bolt and bracket (12mm wrench). Now you have just enough room. But you should remove one more little wire loom clip right at the back of the A/c compressor. 14mm bolt..use 3/8" extention to get it. Finally remove the top 17mm nut on the motor mount. Now using a floor jack with a wide board across it..jack the motor up to get the mounts out. I found I could just barely get the mounts out...motor woulsn't go up any higher..never did see where was the holdup. But I got the old mounts out. I took the passenger side out first. It was broken at the top. But the new mount was not sagged like the old one so I couldn't just slide it in. I could get the bottom started..but the motor needed to be higher to get the top in. The mounts are indexed so they only go one way. Heat shield is important and must go back in place. Since the motor couldn't go up...that meant the crossmember had to come down...at least a little to give me room to get the mount in. So I loosened the crossmember (17MM deep socket) and let the crossmember lower enough to get the mount in. Then I did the driver side...had to lower the crossmember a little more. Soon as I had both mounts in place...then I tightened the crossmember back up. Then I started the 17mm nuts on top of both mounts..tightened just enough to hold the heat shields in place. Then I lowered the motor some and started the bottom nuts. Then lowered the engine completely and tightened the top mount nuts both sides. I left it like that and went to the tranny mount. Used the floor jack to support the transmission. removed the crossmember using 14 mm and 12 mm wrenches and replaced the broken mount. Moutn was so sagged and broken...I had to jack tranny up more to get the new mount in. Tightened everything and lowered the jack. Trans mount is a piece of cake. Then went back and tightened all the front mounts and replaced the oil filter and brackets and what not I had removed. Finally I went to the topside and replaced the power steering return hose I had damaged and refilled the power steering. But you won't have to do that because I typed these instruction. Vibrations are now gone. Driveline angle has been restored with engine and trans at the right heights.

Well, I have Pep boys tires. They were on the car when I got it. Something tells me they will be leaving shortly. :whistles: What tire did Lexus LS400's have on them original? Whatever that tire was...is what I want. Lexus would have been selective for the quietest tire with the smoothest ride.

Found this on Ebay. Might help you if you need air strut parts. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...&category=33590

The motor mounts fail. The strut support bushings fail. All of the rubber seems to have problems. There's been some dash and instrument light issues. You want a mechanic inspection on every piece of rubber in that car. Service records also. If not..assume everything is bad and will have to be replaced. And adjust the price accordingly. Example: 1995 Lexus I bought 150,000 miles. Lower ball joints bad Strut supports shot. Other bushings o.k. Front upper strut bumpers bad and causing clanking sounds. I replaced struts also. Motor mounts broken Trans mount broken. Hood supports (shocks) were bad. Tires balanced by Pep Boys (need I say more) Broken vacuum line causing check engine light. No lights in radio LCD or radio controls CD changer broken. Windshield badly pitted Power steering hose leaking Rack and pinion boot torn I paid $4700 for the car and now have $6200 in the car. Paying no labor (all work done myself) and buying parts as cheap as I can. I pity those who cannot do the work themselves for whatever reason. You can get upside down financially in one of these cars real quick. I figured a Lexus being the high line Toyota product that it is would be far superior to the Toyota's I have had in the past. My Toyota pickup has none of these problems the Lexus had. But I knew this when I bought the Lexus. Thanks to this forum. I wanted to try one anyway. Be sure to have the mechanical end checked. And it wouldn't be a bad idea to learn how to repair it. My 4 cents (used to be 2 cents but I am doubling my prices...just like Lexus). :D

Batterys today die strange deaths. Wasn't too many months ago the wife calls me and says the car (the caddy..not the Lexus) started fine, she went to the store and now she has no voltage..not even a dome light. Battery about a year old. Sudden death. That's the way they go.

Batterys: In days of old we used to buy a Sears Die Hard. We'd keep the Die Hard when we sold the car and put it in the next car. That was then. Today I find batterys go about 2 years regardless of what brand I have tried or spending the extra for the 5 year batterys. So now I buy all batterys at Walmart. The cheapest they have. They last as long as any and Walmarts are everywhere if one should fail "in the warranty" period. 'Course they don't. They fail just after. Another thing I have noticed with todays batterys is they seem to go out suddenly. Used to get kinda a warning that the battery was getting weak as in slower cranking. Today they go out like a light. One exception to all this has been the gel battery Optima. I have used them in race cars and drag boats but never in a daily driven vehicle. I know of 3 that are over 5 years old and not a problem. But they are about $150.

I would pull the alternator and take it to Napa or somewhere where they can test it. Probably has an internal regulator that has a problem.

It's not done yet but close. Here's our first Lexus we just bought. $4700 for a 1995. Got $6200 in it now. Bought a few bushings.

Yeah I saw it. Be the guinea and try it. :P I do know on a Ford Powerstroke a chip is really amazing.

I have a vibration around 2000 rpm in the 95 Lexus. I suspected mounts as this vibration was felt throughout the car. Checking the rear mount was easy. You can see it quite well and the rubber is seperated from the mount pad. So that needs replacing. But the motor mounts look fine from under the car. The mount is designed that should the rubber seperate the engine will be limited in how far it can move upward. I suspected the mounts might be sperated but at the top where you cannot see. So I took a floor jack with a large board across the top of it and placed the jack under the oil pan. Then I started to raise the jack slightly and Lo and Behold..the engine comes right up and the mounts are seperated right at the very top. So now I ordered motor mounts. Just a tip on how to check your motor mounts even if they look good from underneath. When mounts seperate or sag it affects driveline angle which is especially critical with center supported (carrier bearing) type drivelines. So if you have mystery vibrations, look to motor and trans mounts first.

I'd say vacuum leak. It's getting air somewhere to raise that idle speed.

Someone who has a parts list or manual, I need a part number or proper name description for the rubber coupler device between the driveshaft and transmission drive flange. May be called a driveshaft "bushing". It is a rubber type device. Item not shown and no exploded view at Park Place Lexus. And also if someone has it: Transmission mount part number for 95 LS400.

I haven't used the bushings but appreciate the tip. I read at the website about the bushings and one thing the article was saying was that we actually stress the new bushings we put in unless the chassis is loaded. Since I just did strut supports and also had both lower A arms off, I desided to see if this were true. I jacked up the car but put blocks under the wheels and let the car down on them. Bounced it a couple times and then loosened the strut supports and the lower A arms. You could see the bushings "relax" back to their normal "unloaded" status. Further inspection under the car revealed a tranny mount that has had it...and also a rubber driveline coupler rubber that is cracked. Seems it never ends.

Not sure on the 92 if they are the same bulbs. Do a search as I am sure someone has done one. On the 96, that will be the same dealio as mine. Sounds like you just have a couple bulbs burned out. I din't get under the buttons...but sure they are the same soldered in dealios. Easy to solder a new bulb in. Like I say...all my bulbs were good..just something in their circuit that kept everything from working on mine. I took a few pics of mine apart...might help you. You can see the backlight bulbs. The other bulbs are in the other face section of the radio shown in the background.

Trying to give back to this board as they have helped me in many ways. Helps if you have part numbers when trying to locate parts for the best price I've currently got the front end apart on the 95 and fixing whatever needed. Struts (non air ride) part # 48510-59086 has been replaced with part number 48510-59106. I paid $42.62 each Strut bar assembly one side 48660-40021 $91.94 Strut bar assembly one side 48670-40011 $91.94 Rack and pinion boot passenger side 45535-24040 $15.74 When the struts arrived and I went to put them in, both upper strut bumper bushings were cracked and torn up real bad. I had a tough time coming up with the part number but it is 4833150060 $23.47 each. Looking at how bad these were and how the front suspension is mainly supported and held in place by the lower strut support arms and bushings, I can see why the front end clunks and makes noises on these things. Since the lower strut support has such a hard job to do in keeping the lower arm from moving fore and aft, I removed the lower support arms and checked the bushings in them. They were in good shape. My front struts were actually fine with 150,000 on them. Lower ball joints have a little bit of play and will get replaced at a later date. Wife is in hurry to get the car on the road. Actually I would replace every bushing in the car if Lexus parts were not so hard to come by and expensive. So far I have bought parts from Park Place Lexus. By a few phone calls today, it seems that Bell Lexus in Phoenix is interested in selling parts and his prices were $75 each on the lower ball joints. My local dealer is not helpful at all and seems to mark up parts above list...plus he never has anything in stock. I think it would be helpful to all if we were to start a thread of part numbers for certain year cars. Much better to shop when you have a part number. Also helps in case a Toyota part will fit.

Pulled the front bumper to repaint it and noticed the headlights have little bubble levels on them. Before removing, noticed the drivers side was level but the other side nowhere near. Somebody with a manual..tell me if you just adjust them both level or what the deal is. Thanks.

Quote "But, couple of days ago, it started to make that "click" noise again when I try to start the engine. I had to twist my key 7-9 times to ignite" Check connections. Dead battery is a dead battery. Twisting the key 7 to 9 times and it starts indicates connections.

I have fixed all the lighting in the radio. I made a whole new circuit for it. I'm posting this so you know that 95's and up have the problem and it isn't just bulbs. It's a problem with the board. I did find one place on line that repaired the backlighting for $200. Bectha my circuit lasts longer than theirs did. Took a lot of time.

That helps a bunch. There's a local wrecking yard that has some Toyota Camrys. I can pick up a wheel and use that while they are chroming the one I have. Then I'll eventually find the right wheel for a spare. Thanks!

I have a 95 Ls400 that has the 10 slot Chrome wheels. 1 wheel is damaged beyond repair so we are presently using the unchrome spare. I have an outfit in California that will chrome my existing spare to match for $100. But I will still need a spare. So what wheels (years) will fit the 95 LS 400 model...regardless of style? Will the earliers LS400 wheels fit (for use as a spare?) Can't seem to find a 10 slot chrome wheel at a reasonable price so looking at this alternative.