Archie

========================================================= Different ideas on whats required for different folks I guess. Getting all the top end accessories is a bit of a loss when the car is sold and I draw the line somewhere. Never finance, pay cash and plan for resale are all good advice. Chrome wheels, wax , nitrogen in the tires etc were all tossed at me. One thing,for sure, I didn't want is the Nav system. Bought a portable Garmin for 1/10 the price that can be used in all our cars as needed. Never have to worry about failure or updates and it can be programmed on the fly or in a Motel room when traveling. Can you imagine a 10-15 year old Nav system? Baddd. One of these upcoming years I will have to get a hearing aid as the years catch up. I would surmise that the new generation of HA's will someday have Blue Tooth with MP3 and car radios will be totally out. That would be totally cool. It's illegal for the driver to use head phones for safety reasons but a HA could pick up outside sounds as well as music at the same time. The Lexus is so sound isolated that it is hard to hear a siren etc with the radio turned up. It would be nice to have a sound pickup that would recognize a siren or horn and sound a loud alarm in the car. I still think Toyota sucks with their philosophy on Radios. Do you know of any other car that has the radio built in so you cannot swap out the unit ? Being an engineer I considered pulling out the radio and rebuilding the internals. Not at all hard but just not important to me at this time. I wonder who makes this beast and if schematics are available. Would be great fun to look at it.

I am a real newby. 1st Lexus just on Monday. It's a 2008 LS460 without the Mark Levinson sound system. The CD player is 1990's in my opinion. It does not 'read' CD info. I also find the SAT radio drops the signal pretty often. FM reception is excellent. Shame the 'standard' audio is relatively poor for such a flagship car. I am a Mercedes S class convert & even the standard Bose they fit is really good. ============================================================ I totally agree. The AM in out LS400 never did work from day one. Complaint went no where. Non Levinson LS460 audio is just so so. AM does work a bit. The stock radio in our Highlander sounds just as good if not better. I didn't find the very expensive Levinson worth the money however. Japan must be sound deaf or trying to force an upgrade. You can't retrofit a new unit either. On trips for us the passenger uses a Boise Noise Cancellation system with an ipod anyway so who cares. I have never been in a car that had good sound, its a very poor environment for good audio. If you have not tried the Boise NC you have no idea what you are missing in a car. Even in a Lexus the background noise at speed is to much for my music ears. I just don't get it? A car that costs this much still using CD's? MP3 would have been much more up to date me thinks.

As a customer and owner of a new LS460 I guess Lexus has a right to call me. I fell for this on our last Lexus. Some one calls representing them selves as Lexus. Dealer of Corporate I don't know. Then they want 4 minutes of your time for a survey. Makes one feel special?. Not me and it's a pita. They called many times then I had a big problem with service at dealer. I got charged for wheel alignments I never got. Ruined a set of tires over a years time. I caught them cold because the last time I took the car in for the alignment I marked the suspensions parts. Inspected after the so call alignment and sure enough never touched. So sure enough Lexus calls and goes through the phony survey bit again. This time I not only told them about the alignment rip off but the fact that the bathroom was dirty and they had no towels. Never heard a thing from them again. So much forr their sales/marketing survey tactics. We've had our new LS460 for some time now. No really awful problems like wind noise etc. I don't like the seats and the tire pressure thingey is about 3 lbs off on one wheel. Dealer says tough, as to be expected. Nice car and I'm glad we bought it but just typical car service. So here comes the Lexus telemarketer bothering us at a bad time as usual. "Can I have 4 minutes of your time for a "he says. Nope says I, put my name on your do not call list. End of call, no apology for the disturbance. I noted the time and date of the call and If they call again it goes to our states attorney general. Ever get calls from these guys and what to you do?

Our new LS 460 -08 doesn't have the wind noise problem. However I totally agree however with the fix quoted here. That spot is the noisy spot in any car for air leaks. Any air leak there is BAD!. " The proper glue for that fix is Marine Goop" available at any store like WalMart etc. It will stick to plastic and paint. Silicon rubber won't hold long term to plastic, don't use it. If you have a noisy leak get a DB meter from Radio Shack. Cheap and you can trace the noise, compare it to other or latter model cars and prove to the dealer you have a problem. I can't believe Toyota/.Lexus would ignore such a problem but so typical of the car industry. Every time I buy a new car I sweat the first month. If you get a lemon God help you because the dealer will just yawn. Change of make here but We also have a Toyota Highlander. Lots of miles and zero problems. Never been back to the dealer,ever. Our son bought one a year latter and the heater control goes out just past 50K , just out of warranty. $800 bucks they want. So they cut him some slack cut it to gulp $400.. So 20K miles latter out it goes again. Want $800 again and no slack. So I take a look at it. The knob is loose. Removed the knob and pot and a wire is broke off due to the pull of the pot on the wire when rotated. So I just solder the wire back on, zero cost , put some LockTite on the knob assembly and problem fixed. Large company bureaucracies have zero common sense and there is no sense fighting them. That's just the way life is. Highlander or Lexus same deal. Find the noise with a meter and fix it your self or live with it.

I think that conversion is for Air Suspensions. Air sucks as a suspension medium imho. Never could figure out why anyone would want one. Stay away from it is my opinion. Our old steel spring LS 400 plowed like a pig on tight curves. The front outside wheel took all the load resulting in really bad understeer which I hate. I bought a rear swaybar from Swaybars.com and it cured the problem with no effect on the ride. It kept the car flat in turns and had much better handling with no down side. Our new LS460 is much better balanced but still has a bit of understeer and lean in high speed tight turns. Understeer is where you have to keep turning the wheel in as you go though a turn. Car manufactures like it because if you enter a turn way to fast the car just plows straight off the road leaving huge skid marks and you can't sue them. Race car guys like oversteer because the front end that guides the car though the turn stays put but the rear end slides out a bit. Sometimes if overdone a reverse lock is needed to correct. Not for the public in general. But to much understeer sucks and adding a bigger diameter bar to the rear does wonders for fast turns. I'm waiting to get more time on the car before messing with it. It's no BMW in corners but still has a high G loads. I've done this trick to almost all cars I've owned.

We had our new LS 460 for a couple of months . Very nice. On a trip we drove though WY ,dead flat and no wind so I took a pic of the dash. 1800 RPM, 78MPH and 35.3 MPG!!. That's a nice. Pics a bit rough but at 80 I didn't take time to get a could shot. I found gas millage a lot depending on where you buy the gas. 10% ethanol knocks off about 10% or more mpg. Our government burns food to give us rotten alternate fuel. The state we live in grows corn and they mandated it. Now a few of the politicians are saying whoops. A bit late fellows. They have built Ethanol plants are over the place and are now having a ground water supply problem. I've also tried using lower grade and cheaper gas like Reg. Didn't work. Gas millage dropped so low it cost more per mile then the Prem you are told to use. On our trip the free 5000 mile warranty oil change came up so we stopped at the Lexus Dealer in Col Springs. Good service and nice folks. Only thing I don't like about the car is the seats. Poor Lumbar support and the base seat is only 11.5" wide. Our Highlander has more comfortable seats. I have seen notes about wind noise on last years 460. So I rolled down the window at 80MPH. Uh, don't try this at home. Talk about noise and the window would not reseal until I slowed way down to about 50. Thin all was fine again. Super quiet and the best touring car we have ever owned. So far zero defects.

We bought a new LS 460 from a dealer two months ago. It had only a couple of add on items like the auto door closing thingy. I hate to slam car doors. This thing is way cool. You only have to get it close to closing then it grabs it and closes very nicely. Same deal on trunk. The trunk has a button for closing it also. The GPS package is a rip. We bought a Garmin 350 from Amazon for $250 and can transfer it from car to car. % years from now it will be tottaly outdated and $250 is no big deal. If your built in GPS ever craps out good luck on repaires!!!. We waited for the 008's. Never buy a first year car. If I had it to over again I would get the Consumer Reports invoice sheet and buy off the web or at least do a price check. I think we got a good a good deal but really don't know since I had only the window invoice sheet to work from. I asked 10% off invoice and they had a cow which was to be expected. Back and forth and we stood up to leave 2 times. They gave 9% off sticker invoice but sucker punched us by hiding a additional $500 in the write up. Total price was just over 60K with out tax. Trick on buying a car is the right to walk. Standing up scares the !$ out of them. They figure to close over 40- 60% when you sit down to talk. Don't get emotionally attached. If you walk I guarantee they will call you back in a couple of days. Several years ago I bought a Highlander. The dealer wouldn't budge so I drove a few miles and got my deal. When the first guy called me up I laughed in his face. Sold our old LS 400 for $3000 more then they offered us.

======================================================== I agree the car is a lot nicer then the LS400 we owned. My wife claims the older one had better visability. Just nit picking here. I'm about 6' and 190 lbs. Have a bad back, but that's not unusual. I took some measurements. The LS460 seat is about 20W overall. The center portion is only about 11" wide with the boosters about 4.5" wide on each side. The seat has a taper so the dim are at the back -center. Our Highlander seat is 21" wide and the center part is 12" wide. That 1" extra makes or breaks the deal. I can drive the Highlander all day with no back ache. not so with the 460. The boosters are about 1" higher in the 460 also. I don't think anyone but a child has a rear only 11 wide. What were they thinking?

We just bought a new 460. The front driver seat has an adjustment that allows the seat bottom to slide in and out. This is supposed to fit the length of your legs better. It leaves a gap at junction where the bottom seat fits the upright back. This results in an unsupported space at your lower back and a back ache. Normal seats that are fixed usually have the bottom cushion curve up into the back. The seat has heaters and AC built in but is very uncomfortable. The sides also have huge bosters on the edges compared to our older LS 400. These dig in to the sides of your hips. Almost like sitting on top of a U shaped seat with no bottom. Most uncomfortable. I asked the dealer if they had any complaints and got the usual Toyota stare. Duh. Has anyone added Memory foam or a fix to this problem? I saw a note about a rough ride complaint by some owners. Our 460 is a lot tighter then our LS400. Thats ok with us, handles a lot better. Dealer did make a comment that the tires make a big difference in ride. They are low profile and large diameter and that is just looking for ride problems. Maybe hot looking but a poor design imho for a lux car.. The seat thing has to be fixed but since it has air bags built in I don't know where to start.

How do you get to the light bulbs in a 95 LS 400 headlights? No access from engine compartment that I can see.

Lexus has invested a lot of money in developing and rolling out their new styling theme and tying each model into that theme. The LS buyer (and the Lexus buyer in general) is very conservative, I think if you made the LS "stand out" they'd loose customers. The new LS is certainly the biggest departure from the previous LS designs ever. You mean for $30,000 less than the competition? I think you're overthinking things here lol. The LS has ALWAYS been good on gas for its size. In fact, I believe its the only big V8 sedan in its power class that doesn't pay a gas guzzler tax. The LS430 gets better mileage than my V6 ES now! AND they're offering the first hybrid premium luxury sedan ever. As for being a social pariah, who cares? Personally I never cared about driving an SUV nor do I really think its a "social pariah". You might get a sneer from some tree hugging granola eating wacko in a Honda Insight, but who cares what they think and 95% of people dont care.

Try this, it may or may not work but did for me. Get the aluminum brake anti squeak spray at any auto store . Spray the rotor(S) both sides. You probally will have to jack the car up and pull a wheel. Spray costs about $3.00 as I remember. If you don't work on cars your self any brake shop can do this. Will charge you $25-$50. I had an oil change place change my pads and spray the rotors. No turning required. El Cheapo here. I furnished the OEM pads and they did the labor. Nothing to it. Ran under a $100. Parts is parts, just cause it's a Lexus doesn't mean it requires special aircraft skills. Keep away from the Lexus service if at all posible. The dealer is history for me. RIP.

Got a brochure today in the mail. New 460. I saw it last year and typical Toyota. Very conservative and follows the general styling theme for the whole sedan line. If I had my choice I wish they would pick up on the Italians like Maserati and make the 460 stand out from the rest of the line. Toyota seems to like the Germans with rounded edges. I would think for this kind of money you should see one coming from a mile off. Just in case you haven't seen the web site check out www.ls.lexus.com/newls We keep think about getting one but the the gas thing gets to me. Premium gas is brutal. It has an 8 speed transmission which should help on the highway. There is the social conscience thing working here also. Is it right to drive a huge, heavy car in todays world? It's possible big expensive cars will be a social pariah like the Hummer in a few years. Maybe I'll wait a while.

How to you get the plastic cover off to get at the tail light? Or can you replace the tail lights from inside the trunk? LS 400 1995 Thanks

Sounds like an "urban folk lore" story to me. But you did list your address so I suppose it's true. Unreal and you have my sympathy. I can't believe how people buy insurance, but I got scammed a long time ago and wised up. Best thing that can happen to anyone is to get burnt on a small $ amount and find out how the system works. A fool learns by his mistakes, a wise man learns from others mistakes. Check out www.badfaithinsurance.org What I don't get is I've shown this to several friends and the typical response is "gee I never had any problems with xxx." Duh, go figure. I have had good luck with Consumer Reports. What they recommend I buy including my insurance provider.

Well smarty here bought a new battery for it. Nada. Next try is to park my Highlander next to it, rev it up and try a jump start. The higher voltage from the alternator might help. Uh, one guy who posted says he stays at the Holiday Inn says put it in first gear and rock it. Hmmm, I think my leg was just pulled. On the other hand, a cliff is only 200 feet from here. A very strong push sounds very good right now.

Now I've gone and done it. The starter was acting up and I was warned that I could get stranded. Well it happened but in our garage not out on the street, so I won that one. Problem- solenoid pulls in, but starter won't crank the engine. Did the usual checks so I know it's the starter not the battery etc. I bet this is a very tough question. Are there any really smart mechanics out there? How can I get just one more start out of this LS 400 ? I hate to have it flat towed 60 miles.

Better believe what these post say. Owning a Lexus takes a lot of reserve $. Not a bash , but just the way it is. From what I have heard Euro cars take even more $. Try a Merc or Porsche, gulp, major money here. We have had a Lexus 400 for 10 years now. You name it and It's been fixed at Doctor prices. Only 78K, one owner miles too. My wife loves it . I don't. On your car the front suspension is shot. Needs struts, bushings and shocks. Count on $1100 +. Next the timing belt at $1200. Then the starter at $800 +. Next the alternator at $600 +. etc. including the seat heaters. I think the low volume luxury cars don't have the engineering hours in them the high volume cars have. The dealer has to make money and with low volume cars failures are a + to the agency. We owned a Camry wagon, 100K +, zero repairs. The phone rang off the hook when we sold it. I now have a Highlander, 50K miles. Not one repair every. My son's Highlander burnt out the heater control. $800. I had him call Toyota. They cut him some slack at $400. Very good attitude. Right now our 1995 Lexus 400 sits dead in the garage with a bad starter. I have to get it flat towed about 60 miles to the dealer. Over a $1000 repair. We were going to get a new Lexus last fall but found out generation 3 is next year so decided to wait. Just for fun I called the Lexus hot line 800 255 3987 to see if I could get a break on the $ since it's a very low millage car dispite being 10 years old. Talk about hostility, I haven't got a response from a mfg, like that since I talked to Ford 20 years ago. I think they just lost a customer for ever! Ford sure did. Nice line of luxury cars, but you will pay and pay for the privilege. Of course the above is just my opinion. I'm sure some people have had a perfect car.

Thanks to Larry D in my alternator post I got a second opinion on my alternator. Sears checked my DieHard and alternator at NC and said every thing is fine. I kept checking because the car won't crank at times. But it will crank when I charge it. So the next agency who specializes in Lexus repairs ( not a Lexus dealer) charges me $37 and says the Alternator is NG. $500 + for a fix. So Larry says try again, so I take it to a very small shop near home and he tests and says the alternator is fine but I have a drain on the battery. Charged me $6.00 so I gave him $10 as a tip. First time I heard that. So I drove it home and put an amp meter on it. Hmmm, traced the leak back to the CD player who seems to work overtime and drains the battery at night. Or so I think right now. I disconnected it so we will see. Stay tuned.

I had my LS400, 1990 with 80K miles checked by the dealer. It has a bad alternator. Car runs find for a week after charging then won't crank. After a fresh charge everything is fine. Had the battery and stuff checked at Sears (Diehard) and they said alternator is OK. Hmmm, Based on the recharging trick I tend to think it's the alternator. Dealer says $500 +. A post states that a leaky PS pump can spray the Alternator. I haven't checked for oil yet. The post also says pull the radiator to get to it. A very big job. Is this the only way to get to it? A rebuild shop locally says they will rebuild for $100 but they don't pull them. Any comments?

Can you check an alternator with a simple voltmeter? Any other tests?

I was going to replace the LS400 this year but found out that a new Generation 3 LS is out next year. Never buy the last year in production. Depreciation will kill you. First year in production isn't so hot either. Bugs you know. The new Generation 3 LS is a killer in looks. Body designed in Calif. by the new Toyota styling studio instead of in Japan by nerd Engineers. They are also going to offer a hybrid. And wait there's more!!! The LB model has a stretched wheel base like the big Mercedes. I'm going to black out the windows and pretend I'm somebody. Might get me a midget to carry my brief case and maybe a Ho.

I replaced my stock rubber bushings with race type polyurethane bushings. Sorry, it's been so long ago I can't remember the source. At the same time I replaced the swaybar. Increased the diameter by 3/16". Now it corners like A BMW instead of a Buick. The poly bushings along will sure help cornering.

Anybody know a good source for a discount starter solenoid for a LS400 ? The dealer wears a black mask when I ask him for parts prices.

My 95 LS 400 has decided it doesn't want to crank over. You have to rock the ignition key several times and then it will start up. The solenoid pulls in each time but the starter won't turn over. I tried a new battery but didn't fix the problem. I also cleaned the battery contacts etc. Other then a bad starter got any ideas?