K9crew

The LCD was definitely acting up before the collision but thanks for the suggestion though!! :)

I called Mikado today and spoke with Sammy ... he was very helpful and very pleasant to talk to. He's going to fix my LCD on the factory head unit for $150 if I pay for shipping both ways (Xmas special he said!). I think that's a good deal since he promises a one day turnaround and he told me that the replacement LCD will last as long if not longer than the OEM one. Things are looking up! :)

99, Thanks for the encouragement ... :) ... now and before I bought my '99 LS. I still love the car depsite the awful dents on the left side. I had an appointment at the body shop this morning and the good news is that they're going to replace the rear door with a new one since it's more than 65% damaged. They'll paint the new door and bake it in an oven at or near factory temps so the paint should be close to original. Here's a picture of my car after the accident. ] :(

First I followed the instructions here ... http://carstereohelp.com/stereoremovalLexu...xusSC300Str.htm ... then I removed the volume-A/C control from the center console trim ring by removing three screws from the backside of the trim ring. Next step is to pry off the back plate of the voume control, then remove six small screws that hold in the green circuit board and rheostats shown in the picture above. Finally, pry the three retaining "clips" away from the white rheostat housing and you'll end up with the pieces shown in the picture. :)

Well, I didn't think about ordering and replacing the isolators (thick black rubber pads) that go between the top of the spring and the upper mounting plate. The two rear isolators/boots were torn ... at least the corrugated part that shields the shock was torn. I'm going to order them tomorrow and then reinstall everything with the new isolators. Hopefully this will eliminate the knocking noise that I'm getting. I've uploaded a bunch of photos to my server but they are about 400Kb each. Once I've installed the new isolators next week I'll resize the images and put together a "HOW TO". If anyone with a fast connection wants to check out the photos before that they can click on the link below. Tokico shocks and Eibach springs :)

I've tried to find the name of the member to thank who suggested taking apart the volume control and cleaning it. I followed their advice and now the volume control knob works fine. Here's a bad picture of the volume control in pieces during cleaning. I cleaned the dark circular paths on the green part of the rheostat and I used a pencil eraser to clean the contact tips of the six "fingers" on the black ring. I made sure all the contacts were the same distance away from the ring (same plane) since they weren't after disassembly. :)

I installed the shocks and springs yesterday and will post some pictures soon. I want to figure out the source of a knocking noise that I'm getting from the front before I put together a HOW TO. :)

My '98 Jeep Wrangler has a plastic plug/cap that snaps into the cigarette lighter socket. I'll check when I get home tonight to see if it fits the SC400 lighter socket. If it fits you can pick one up or order one from the Jeep dealer. :)

Tinting here in Hawaii is a must and I've been very happy with Formula One films on my vehicles over the past five years. Here'a a link to their web page ... you can find dealers that install F1 there. http://www.formulaone.com/ :)

This might be promising .... $190 to fix a bunch of problems including a malfunctioning LCD. http://carstereohelp.com/lexus.htm I'll contact this company as well. :)

I'm going to give Mikado a call (1-888-9-MIKADO) on Friday to ask them about repairing the head unit LCD as they've done on earlier temp/time displays ... http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...hl=lcd+repaired I'll contact Lexus as well to see how much a new head unit costs. Another option is to install an aftermarket head unit but interfacing it with the stock amp, CD changer etc would be a PITA or impossible. Having the display repaired will probably be the most cost effective solution. This LCD fiasco is unacceptable for a $60K car!! I bought a '99 thinking that Lexus would have solved the problem by now ... they sure fooled me!!

Thanks for the kind words guys. I was contacted by the idiot's insurance company this morning (Geico) and it turns out that he does have a valid insurance policy but the card that he presented to the police officers had expired. Geico said that he admitted to making a right turn from the middle lane and that it was his fault completely so they're going to cover all costs including my $250 deductible. I have an appointment at the body shop on Monday and they've indicated that they can probably fix my car during the second week of January. In the meantime I'm driving my Jeep since my LS is too humiliated to be seen in public! :( Thanks again and Merry Christmas! :)

What a week and it's only Tuesday!! Yesterday I noticed the disk and track numbers in the head unit LCD starting to act up with some of the horizontal lines not showing up for 10 minutes or so. The second digit in the track display is still acting weird. I have the Premium sound system (not the Nakamichi). This morning on my way to work an idiot in a Mazda van made a right turn from the middle lane as I was almost level with his rear bumper in the right lane. I was doing 30mph or so as I approached the intersection, the light had just turned green and there were no cars in the right lane but this moron (who was stopped) decided to turn right rather than go straight. I might have avoided a collision if there hadn't been a vehicle stopped at the intersection on the cross street. Anyway I tried to steer away from the van then cut back to the left to avoid the other vehicle. Once the dust had settled my driver door, passenger door and rear fender were caved in ..... aarrghhhh!!! I drove 2500 miles from Houston to San Francisco a couple of weeks ago without incident (a cracked windshield from a rock in Arizona excluded) and yet after only 10 days in Hawaii some 65 year old Hawaiian without insurance or registration fux up a pristine car!! You guys on the mainland don't know how lucky you are. One day of driving in Hawaii would drive you nuts ... if it's not people driving the same speed across all three lanes or people making turns without indicating or ..... the list is endless. The price of paradise is getting WAY too high!!! Sorry to go on ... it hasn't been a good day!! :(

Scott, I'm fairly sure that it's heat shield related since I have the same noise on my '99 and had the same noise on my '95 SC400. I haven't managed to crawl under the LS yet but when I looked under the SC I noticed one of the heat shield clamps was very loose. The nut and threads were badly corroded so I replaced the clamp with a 2" stainless steel hose clamp and the noise immediately went away. Your description is exactly what I'm now experiencing in my LS. I if go over a speed bump and accelerate slowly to about 10mph the noise is very obvious. It does it when the engine and exhaust are hot and not when cold which makes sense since the clamp expands when hot - obviously the exhaust expands as well but not as much as the clamp. :)

Mobil1 comes in 0W-20, 0W-30, 0W-40, 5W-30, 10W-30 and 15W-50. Here in Hawaii the temperatures range from high 60's to high 80's so 10W-30 is a good choice. The viscosity range is less than 0W-40 so there are fewer polymers in the oil which is a good thing. Where do you live? What temperature variations do you see where you are? The mileage on your car is less of a consideration than the climate that you live in since 100K doesn't qualify as a high mileage engine unless you have to add a quart of oil every 1000 miles and you're blowing blue smoke!! For mainland driving Bruelee's 0W-40 oil seems to be a good all weather choice. :)

My '95 and '99 400's have compression ratios in excess of 10:1 so you may want to stay away from "neat" 89!! :)

Why not fill up your tank with both ... half 89 and half 93?!! You'll save some money that way. :) You don't want to put in straight 89 though since with these high compression engines you could do some damage when/if the fuel pre-ignites. :)

Shocks came today, springs will be here tomorrow via UPS, spring compressor has been dusted off, batteries in the digital camera are charged ... I'll be doing the swap on the 26th and will post a link to the pictures that night. I've read the front and rear suspension sections in the shop manual and the rear looks to be very easy, the front is a little more involved but straightforward enough. My friend has a lift at his shop that I can use so that should speed things up! :)

O.K. I'll take detailed photos of one side (front and back). :)

I've ordered Eibach springs and Tokico shocks for my '95 SC and plan to install them next week. I usually take digital photos of my automotive projects and was wondering if detailed photos would be useful. If a collection of photos is already available or no one expresses any interest I'll just take some general photos that'll provide an overview of the swap. :)

AWJ, Don't worry about it ... even the experts make mistakes. I personally intalled 4.57 gears in my Wrangler (front and back) and it's got way more power off the line compared to the factory 3.07 gears but now I wish I had a 6-speed manual instead of the AX-15 that's in there. The Dana 30 and 35 diffs require 350 lb-ft of torque on the pinion nut in order to crush the collar (required to set the bearing pre-load to about 15 lb-in). I haven't worked on a Lexus diff yet but the high torque required may be for the same reason. If you're really good you could check the pinion bearing pre-load while tightening the pinion nut with an impact .... :)

I managed to contact the original owner who told me that he bought the rims at the dealership when he bought the car in '99. The dealership charged something like $450 per wheel!! The dealership in Plano, TX told me that the rims are Vogue rims. When I called Vogue they told me they don't make rims ... they're merely a reseller of Prime rims. The dealership must have made a killing that day!!

sk, since my '99 LS only had one owner before me and that person paid close to $60K for the car I would have thought that they'd spend at least $1.5K on a set of rims! Well, I shouldn't be too hard on them since they did take the car in for service every 5k miles! Any thoughts on 17" vs. 18" rims ... anyone? :)

jzz, thanks ... I'll keep on looking!! :)

cpr_carpenter, I bought a '99 LS400 recently and I have to say it's an excellent, feature-packed car. It does need better springs and shocks since the ride's a little "floaty" and the steering somewhat "vague", but I have no doubt that 18" rims, low profile tires, Eibach springs and KYB or Tokico shocks would make this an AWESOME car. I bought my LS from Expo Motorcars in Houston and they have another '99 for sale just like mine. Here's a link if you're interested. The reserve price is usually about $500 under the "Buy Now" price. '99 LS400 with Buy Now price of $23,985 :)