lexus082

I'm looking for the factory steering wheel cover that came on many sc's. Its black leather and I've seen it on other sc's, but its not in my lexus parts catalog. I've never seen any being sold on ebay (new or used). For now I want the same thing, mine's cracking so I want to replace it. Is this a Lexus part from the factory?

Diagnostic port sitting on top of the engine. You'll find those pins there.

There's only a couple of places that can repair it. But they would have to swap needles and the it wouldn't be quite the same as from the factory. I've read good and bad posts about lextech.org or you can get a new one from the dealer for $500+

Was there or is there presently a check engine light on?

Usually it has been related to something metal falling down into the cig lighter such as a coin or something.

I had a little trouble getting that to fit around the ball joint to remove. I have used those on the front suspension with no problems. I was able to get it loose today with a bigger hammer (4lb). I was so relieved. But while I was in the process of removing the speed sensor it didn't come out in one piece so I have to get a new speed sensor. Hopefully, I will be able to drive the car without that right rear abs wheel sensor. Sucks it broke I guess after 12 or 13 years it gets seized in there. Thanks for all your help. Speed sensors dont seem to be too extremely high on this car thank god. Any other time I break something its a two hundred dollar part. Update: I drove my car and the wheel bearing I installed is great. I put up with driving the car with a bad wheel bearing for six months. The only reason why it took me so long is b/c I found it very difficult to remove one the the lower control arm ball joints. My only issue now is that the speed sensor was damaged while removing it. I found two used speed sensors on ebay for $18 shipped. So I guess I'll just have to drive the car with the traction lights on and the abs light on until I receive the sensors I bought. Originally I was quoted $500 parts and labor to replace each rear wheel bearing including an alignment. Can't wait to replace the rear bearings with new bearings and then a new rear suspension also.

Thanks. I am trying to do this without having the special service tools.

I am attempting to replace the right rear hub assy. that houses the wheel bearing. The only thing preventing me from doing it is that I can not seem to be able to remove the ball joint on the lower rear control arm thats closest to the rear of the car. I was able to get the upper and one of the lower ball joints off, but not the other lower rear ball joint. Its *BLEEP*ing me off. I've tried using the pickle fork with no luck and there's not enough room for a pitman arm remover. I tried to hit the outside of the knuckle with a hammer hoping the ball joint would seperate but no luck so far and this is my third attempt to replace the wheel bearing/hub assy for a used one I bought months ago. Any advice?

Do a search and you will find the info you need to fix this problem.

You would have to replace many things. The throttle body is different on sc's equipped with traction control. The traction control ecu, the engine wire harness and many others. I don't think it would be worth it in my opinion. It would cost quite a bit.

It takes less than five minutes to remove and install the mass air flow sensor. Forget about the dealer for now. Try cleaning it with mass air flow sensor cleaner and let dry completely. Then re-install. If that doesn't work I think you can buy one from advance auto parts for around $50 or so. Or you can find one used on ebay. I had mine go bad on my sc400 and it seems to be a common sensor that goes bad.

Its suppose to flash so you can read the code. The first set of flashes will be the first digit of the code then there will be a slight pause and it will flash the second digit of the code. For instance code 35: flash.flash.flash..(pause) flash.flash.flash.flash.flash and then it will repeat this code unless there is another code stored it will begin flashing the second if one exists.

You can use a paper clip and jump pins "FP" and "b+" on the diagnostic port located on the front top right side of the engine.

Have you fixed your problem by replacing this valve? Not sure what little hose you are referring to. Is there just one bvsv valve to inspect? Where does the BVSV valve mount to the engine? Thanks

Could the ecu be receiving a untrue reading from a sensor causing this low idle speed. Nothing else was done to the car other than the starter being replaced. Not sure if its related to that or not. Maybe a sensor that is going bad but not bad enough yet to trigger the check engine light? My tach needle goes all the way down to the first mark on the tach which I think is 250 rpms. Thats what it idles at when warm and in park. Could this be related to the fuel system? Or could worn or old plugs, rotors & caps cause a low idle speed? I've cleaned the throttle body, swapped MAF sensors, adjusted tps, cleaned IACV. Still no luck.

Tried adjusting the tps and turned it maybe a mm clockwise and then the idle speed went to 900 rpms. Then I turned it back slightly and it idle went back down to 500 rpms. I couldn't get anything in between that. It idled too low or too high. When it was idling at 900 rpms I turned on the a/c and the idle went down to 750 rpms. I had the same result when adjusting the tps on the other throttle body I had on the car just a few weeks ago. So I still have a low idle of around 500 rpms which then falls even lower after sitting at a traffic light. The engine hasn't stalled yet, but the car shakes due to the low idle speed.

If I remember correctly, I think I may have used a socket and a hammer to get them out. Just make sure you put them in correctly.

I'm not sure I understand your reply, but when I turn on the headlights its doesn't help the low idle speed. When it starts to shake at a stop I turn the a/c on which seems to help a little.

When I first turn over the engine (cold) the rpms go up above 1,000 for a split second and then they come down to 750rpms and remain at 750 rpms until the engine begins to warm up. Then the rpms drop to about 400 then after a few more seconds they drop even lower down to 200 rpms. The car shakes when they get real low, but it doesn't stall out. So far I have...completely cleaned the throttle body, cleaned the iacv, swapped mass air flow sensors and still have a low idle.

I cleaned my IACV and thats not it. I still have a very low idle causing the car to shake. Idle speed once warmed up, seems to be around 200-300 rpms.

Well I cleaned out the IAC valve and it didn't help solve the low idle issue. It looks like its idling around 200 rpms or so. once it warms up to the normal operating temp. I didn't have a low idle before Toyota changed out the starter. So it's hard to tell if something went wrong with the car on its own for the two days it was at Toyota or if the Toyota mechanic messup something while changing the starter. I guess I could adjust that screw on the throttle body to let that throttle plate stay open a little more. Thats probably not the correct way to fix this, but not sure what to do now. The throttle body I picked up was from an sc with 70,000 miles so the tps sensor most likely hasn't needed to be adjusted and would leave me to believe its still calibrated from the factory.

I wasn't too surprised that my trac light hasn't been on since I have swapped throttle bodies. So the high idle is gone and the trac light went off. And just last night it seems that the traction control system is working just fine. And Lexus said it would be $2300 to fix this. Still not sure what traction control motor they were talking about. So other than the low idle speed everything is working and driving like its supposed to and I saved $2300.

If you are like many and add an aftermarket head unit to your sc300/sc400 then you may run into the problem of not knowing how to wire up the antenna in order to make it go up and down when the radio is turned on/off. Hopefully this will save you alot of time searching online. I have the nakamichi stereo. I am not for sure if its the same for all sc300/sc400's with the Pioneer stock unit, but it probably is. In order to wire up the factory antenna to your aftermarket head unit you need to find the Pink/Green wire and the Pink/Blue wire on the factory harness that plugs into the back of the stock head unit. Then you need to connect both of these wire to the antenna output on your aftermarket head unit's wire harness. Then solder/tape all three wires together 12V antenna + Pink/Green + Pink/Blue = Working factory antenna with aftermarket head unit. Good Luck. I think I've explained this well enough so you won't get confused..

I talked to the ups mechanic at work and he said to check/clean the IACV. He explained to me that if it was gunked up it wouldn't allow as much air to pass through it, therefore causing the low idle speed. And then if the valve was working as it should it may not thow a CEL. So its believed that if I clean the valve it may open up the air passage way a little more which would allow more air in and then the computer would increase fuel, which in turn would increase the idle speed. Hopefully up to the normal idle speed

I totally agree with you. It didn't make any sense to me to replace the throttle body, but then again I'm not a Lexus tech. Or a Lexus dealer trying to make as much money as possible, even if it means replacing good working parts with new ones for $800 or so. I talked to the ups mechanic at work and he said to check/clean the IACV. He explained to me that if it was gunked up it wouldn't allow as much air to pass through it, therefore causing the low idle speed. And then if the valve was working as it should it may not thow a CEL. So its believed that if I clean the valve it may open up the air passage way a little more which would allow more air in and then the computer would increase fuel, which in turn would increase the idle speed. Hopefully up to the normal idle speed