turboomni

No problem ,,,I appreciate your reply and thoughts. I agree I feel the ls400 has better looks too.

Thanks for the reply,,I am guessing its a typo ,,that you mean the 430 is a better car in every way compared to the ls 400 correct??

Thankyou so much Cliff for your thoughts. I do appreciate it. It seems I have to make a decsision whether to invest in the 400 or let her go. The 430 did seem very nice though.

I presently own a 1997 LS 400. She has about 200,000 miles and is showing symptoms of aging. I still love the car but it has an input shaft seal in the tranny I believe is leaking which is slow but there and an exhaust leak before the cat I believe that shows a code for the cats. Both I feel can be dealt with. I drove today a 2002 LS 430 with 75,000 miles on it and it was very nice . Just wondering if any of you have owned both the LS 400 and a 430 if you could comment. I always wished I could have bought a 99 or 2000 LS 400 for the small HP increase and the 5 speed auto. Any comments would be great.

Thx for the reply landar. I just needed to know how much to generally expect and I will measure as you said and replace.

I just did the Addco rear swaybar only on my 97 and it made a big difference.

Hey Guys. I had a service on my 1997 LS400 tranny with a filter change but no flush. Just dropped the pan. I would like to at every oil change pull the trans plug and drain the pan and and top it off. I read somewhere either in the owners manual or maybe read it on my CD of the factory manual how much fluid to expect to drain with this method ,,but I cant find it. The trans fluid is 11 dollars a quart so I would like to know how much to buy! Thanks

The car looks real nice and Billy you look great too!!!!

I own a 1997 ls400. It was quiet when I bought it and about 6 months later I heard a valve noise that would be noticeable at start up and then go away when warmed up. After awhile it took longer to go away. Then it was consistent in varying degrees which *BLEEP*ed me off. I researched valve adjustment and realised it is all done with shims and such which I would guess is very time consuming especially if you have 32 valves to check......I then made another discovery from this forum I believe. It could be the EGR pipe which is on the back of the block. I got my stethoscope [heater hose] and while running listened and the sound and when in the back of the block I heard it loud and clear the valve noise. Got a mirror and realised it [egr tube ] was cracked. I am not up to such a task of replacing this anymore and my starter went out. While the starter was replaced I had him replace the egr tube and the problem was/is gone. It also cured a vacume leak a rather big one but I really didnt notice a rough running engine,,,,but when I got it back it was as smoooth as silk and quiet. I hear this is a common [egr pipe] problem especially on high milage cars with worn engine mounts. I had the mounts replaced too. It may not be your problem but I would suggest checking the egr pipe before you dig in any further. It is also a real pain in the @ss to replace all 4 bolts. The manual states to remove the tranny to replace this tube....it can be done in other ways, much cheaper,,you need an inovative mechanic.

It could be swaybar bushings. Mine squeek after a car wash. Humid weather sometimes does it for me. Factory replacement bushings or Moog are rather cheap. Since yours are original you may want to change them anyway but why not when it is doing it shoot some WD40 on them real good and see if it goes away ,,that way you'll know it was them or not. I bought Energy suspension urathane bushings but havent installed them yet and they have grease fittings to boot.

Just to try it I removed the back mufflers [pretty easy to do] and drove it around awhile with the exhaust open in front of the rear axle. I liked the sound alot and even exiting unde the car it was not noisy inside the car. I went to a exhaust shop and asked them to make up some pipes to the rear. He installed it and then I got DRONE at around 1800 rpm's. The car was great at all other rpm's. I think it was because he went to 2 1/4 inch pipe...I'm not sure. I think if he stayed at 1 5/8 or so it may not have done this. It was bad enough for me to put the stock pipes back on. You get any drone on your setup>???

Did I say I was driving my daughter's Jeep grand Cherokee instead?? ,,Yup I did ..I hate it but it is better than my 400. 4.7 v8 ,,gas hog pig American car,,but it has 4 wheel drive. I went to a Lexus dealer and had it washed for free and parked it. It will hit the upper 40's in temp this week and maybe I will dig the beauty out!

I live in the North East USA and as of Jan 3 2011 my Lexus 1997 LS400 has been under snow and shall stay that way as far as I am concerned. I can't imagine driving this thing in this snow even with the stock type tires. I am driving now my daughter's Jeep Grand Cherokee which I hate but it does get me around!! I am looking forward to cruising around in my hopefully still rust free LS400 in the spring. Hang in there you guys!

Maybe a engine or transmission mount. They tend to go at over 100,000 miles.

I would try asking the question on Clublexus.com as they seem to me more into over boosting the volume so you can hear it even if you're going 80 + mph with all the windows down and yet you feel you are center stage.

Hand wash for free? Wow. The under body wash is very important. And a free lunch? Beware. No such thing. :whistles: ;) Lol..yes I know there's no such thing. Funny thing is I see all these very rich people going for the free food just like us poorer folk do. Then drive off with a free lunch in their gut in a brand new Lexus.!!!

Good tip! I registered and found out a few more things that were recently done that were not on the printout I was given when I bought the car.

Billy's advice is dead on pay cash. Micah Berry's advice is dead on too,get some documentation on the service it's had. Both cars would need a new timing belt/water pump at 90 K and pretty soon at 170 K . Each needing a new one every 90,000 miles. The few other things are a starter especially on the car with 170,000 K miles and the standard power steering pump. This is also assuming the transmission was serviced according to lexus as well as the differential ,power steering flush ,brake fluid flush etc. You won't know any of that without a history of the service already done. This is the only reason i bought my 97 Lexus as it was serviced at Lexus from day one. I was also given a 14 page printout from Lexus of what and when service was done from day one. My car has 150,000 miles and has needed a new starter [big job] and now needs motor mounts and within a year a new power steering pump. These seem to be the most common items at this age /mileage on these cars. many front end parts were changed ,,lower ball joints etc by the previous owner. If all was equal between the 95 and 99 cars I would prefer the 99 ,,not because it is newer but it has I believe variable valve timing and a 5th gear which I hear has more authority at launch if needed. I love my 4 speed 97 though..

Thanks for the reply and the link guys. I was suspecting underneath the rear wheel well plastic would be prime areas for rust. S I will takle that first. As of now there is no visible rust and I would like to keep it that way. I bought my 97 at a Lexus dealership as a buddy was a salesman there. The car was going off to auction but they let me buy it,all lexus serviced with all documentation. But another benefit is I can have it hand washed there as many times as I want for free. So I hope that will help too here in the North East salt belt. Hell if I get there just before noon they provide a free lunch !!!LOL!

Where are the areas to watch for rust on specifically 1997 era LS 400's? I know to keep the drains on the bottom of the doors clean and I actually have on other cars spray WD 40 on a regular basis and never had rusted out doors. I am worried about the plastic fender trim that are screwed to the rear fender . Should i remove and clean or oil this area? Inner rear fenders a rust problem on this car ,or anywhere else? My car is rust free and I want to keep it that way. Any info would be great. Thanks

LOL Killer you must be an animal driving that thing!! So it was your grinding that weakened the bracket? Good move on the welding,,any good welder could do that instead of replacing the whole unit . I wish I could weld.

so I take it that the doors are welded shut too?

You are not asking a dumb question at all J-teck. Although I don't have an answer for you or any experience with Lexus speedometers I would do a search here and see what comes up. There are people [i think in Texas even ] that repair speedometers for Lexus cars and if you send your unit in thay could tell you if the speedometer is the real problem or not. What do you mean the rpm is 500 lower ,,at idle it reads 0 rpm's?/ And mpg is 10 mpg lower than what? Let us know more details . Do a search and see,,, if the answer you need does not come up ask here again till someone with real info can help you and not answer your question with another question. That is of NO HELP when a member that acts like he knows something on the subject just asks you another question to stump you even more. That is BS . That to me is a crappy way of helping someone,,especially a new member,,never mind he is 15 years old. Good Grief Do a search first and if you have more questions ask here again and hopefully someone with knowledge on the subject will actually give you some info. I know they are out there . Good Luck Buddy