KY350

Analogue calipers are fine. I replaced the front rotors on my other car and while at the mechanics shop, I measured the rotor thickness at various parts. My measurements were almost always 22.4mm and I got the odd 22.5mm measurement. So a 0.1mm (??? inches) I could not notice any problems through the brake pedal. If the difference was 0.3mm or greater then I'd consider skimming the rotor to obtain a consistant width. BTW, does anyone know what the width is of a new 91 LS400 rotor is and also what thickness the rotor is considered out of spec?

I know a fellow Aussie owner who put a cat back on his LS. According to him, it freed up an additional 30kW at the rear wheels (seems like a rediculously high power gain, but he may have had a previous problem with the exhaust that reduced power). The car is quite loud now at idle and under load - ie does not sound like a Lexus, rather, it sounds like a hard hitting V8. So if noise is not an issue this may be the exhaust for you. Let me know if you are interested and I'll find out which brand cat back he used. Michael

Check the level of the power steering fluid in the reservior first. If low top up and drive the car to feel any improvement in steering. If the fluid level is ok, check the colour of the fluid. If it is a nice clear red colour (like red wine on your finger), then the fluid is newish and fine. If it has a brown tinge to it, then its time for a flush and refill. Once flushed / refilled drive the car to see if the steering feel is improved. If not, then progress to cleaning of the solenoid filter. Before removing the solenoid filter, just check the thin nut for any marks to indicate a previous attempt at cleaning the solenoid filter. Reinsert and test drive. If steering is still heavy and you did see marks on the solenoid filter nut, then perhaps the prior owner replaced the solenoid filter with the wrong type. If that is the case, you should contact Lexus and ask which solenoid filter was used in the manufacture of your year model LS and purchase the correct one if different from your current one. Do a search on solenoid filters as another member had this problem where his car had a type F filter which resulted in heavy steering, but should have had a type E filter - a change of filter worked for him. If none of the above solve the heavy sterring, then it may be time to take it to a mechanic. Good luck. Michael

Wow that is a big repair job. WRT brake shimmy, check you brake fluid level first. If this is ok, check the pads for wear / even wear. Check both sides of your rotors to ensure they are free of any brake dust deposits. This is common with cars that see high brake temps such as when on a race track. If there are any deposits, some very hard braking may knock them off. Alternatively, you could use some wet and dry to clear these spots. If you have a set of digital calipers, run some thickness measurements over different parts of the rotor and see if there is a big discrepancy in readings. If there is, then you may need to get the rotors skimmed at a good brake shop. Cannot help with the other items though. Best of luck. Michael

Thanks all for the advise. I still wasn't able to get to the side !Removed!, so I decided to take it to a mechanic to flush. He simply disconnected the heater hose pipe located near the firewall and attached a garden hose to one end and flushed the old coolant (mostly water seeing that I had drained most of the old coolant out before) untill clear water ran out of the other end. Then it was a matter of reconnecting the heater hose and adding approximately 5L of 100% concentrate coolant. Run the car for 5 - 10 min etc - job was done $35 later. Although it was not a lot of money, next time i'll flush it this way and save my $35. I hope this helps others who cannot get to the side !Removed! easily. BTW, I rang a Lexus dealer and spoke with one of the service techs who was very helpfull. He advised that they also flush the coolant via the heater hose. Seeing that I also asked him about the diff oil, he advise that neither the 400's or 430's have a limited slip diff, becasue they use elctronics to apply braking when tyre slip is detected (where traction control is fitted - all Australian LS's). Cheers Michael

I tried the 12" socket extension and it barely makes it to the side drain bolts. The bigger problem with the side drain points is that I cannot get the 3/8 tubing up to connect to the plug because my hands don't fit through the small gaps. WRT disconnecting other bits to create better access, I don't want to go removing suspension / driveline and exhaust items because I have never done it before and it would take me ages to do without a hoist or helper.

Today I attempted to do a coolant flush as per this tutorial: http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/cooling/coolant.html I was not able to attach the clear plastic hoses to the left and right drain !Removed! as I simply could not get my hands nor tools to these parts due to limited space. So I simply drained the fluid using just the front drain !Removed!. This stopped draining once about 4L (4 quarts) had drained from the system. This seemed to be a small amount of fluid as the coolant system takes 10.8L (2.8 gallons). Anyhow, at this point I added the radiator flush treatment and filled the system with water. Then I ran the car and heater as instructed and drained out the fluid. Again I got about 4L out. Then I added water and drained it again. I was expecting to see clear water come out at this stage, but the fluid was still draining red. So I added water again and drained. Fluid this time still drained red. So I filled it with water again and drained it once more - still red. Now I have filled the system once more with water and before I start draining, I thought I'd ask you folk if I am doing something wrong, as I appear to be draining and filling only 4-5L at a time and cant seem to get totally rid of the old red coolant / flush treatment coloring. Can someone suggest what I should do other than take it to a mechanic? Thanks Michael

OK I finally got the security procedure sorted. I went through my owners manual again, looking up radio in the index. This lead me to pg74 of the owners manual. At the very end of this section, there is one line that say Anti theft system pg85. Low and behold everything I was after was on pg 85 and beyond. Just a clarification for anyone else that may find themselves in my predicament in the future, the owners manual states to press the "1" button while holding down the top of the "Tune / Seek" button. It is important to get the order correct - that is press the "Tune / Seek" button first and then press the "1" button. TexusLexus94 stated it correctly: "Press the "1" button while pressing the upper side of the TUNE SEEK button in", but I still read it incorrectly and pressed 1 and then the Tune / Seek buttons. Anyhow its all ok now. TexusLexus94 - I owe you a drink or two, so if you're ever in Sydney again, send me a PM and we can meet up. As you no doubt found out when travelling in Australia, we love any excuse for a cold drink - especially in the oppressive heat (37degC today with high humidity). BTW - I've never posted my email address on the net, but still get aboiut a dozen spam mails a day - very frustrating. Thanks for your help. Michael

Thanks for the response TexasLexus94 and Shadow. My car is an Australian market 1991 model. I have been through every page of the owners manual and there is nothing in there re the radio security code. We probably get a different manual to the US manual, although I cannot understand why. So, if the procedure is different to press 1 and SEEK / SCAN, would you kindly outline the procedure as I do not have it.

My battery failed about 2 weeks ago so I replaced it with a new one. Problem is that once the original battery was disconnected, I had to enter a security code to get the radio working again. Now I've had this car for just over a year and I contacted the previous owner and found out what the security code was. He told me it was 3 digits and starts with a 9. However, there is no 9 on the radio panel (goes up to six). So I rang Lexus and they told me that you can toggle up to 9 somehow. But the Lexus service person could not remeber the correct procedure to tell me over the phone to clear the security code. Worse still, there is nothing in my owners manual detailing which buttons to press to be able to enter the security code. The radio display reads "SEC" when I turn the ignition on, irrespective of whether the radio is set to the on or off position (which I cannot tell). So I did a search assuming that this has happened to others. I found a thread where one respondend indicated that I need to press the "1" and the top of the "SEEK / SCAN" buttons simultaneously in order to get the "---" so I can input the code. I tried this but pressing the "1" and the top of the "SEEK / SCAN" buttons did nothing - the radio still displays the SEC message. I was hoping to avoid a trip to the Lexus dealer and ask if can someone give me a step by step instruction on how I can clear the "SEC" display and enter the radio security code. Also, please confirm if it is possible to have the number 9 in the security code. Perhaps I should just disconnect the battery again and try the press the "1" and the top of the "SEEK / SCAN" procedure once more. I might try this as a last resort before going to Lexus.

Turning the steering wheel uses power and subsequently causes the revs to rise. I've never watched the tacho closely enough to see how much of an increase occurs, but 100rpm sounds normal to me. This should be happening all the time and I suspect that you may have never realised it previously. Everything sounds normal to me.

RX = Harrier

Wilfred - if its pinging caused by using unleaded fuel instead of PULP, then a tank of PULP should fix it. I'm also in Aust and we may not get as good fuel as the Japanese or even the Americans, but our fuel quality is not so poor that it would produce pinging. Your owners manual states to use either 95 RON or 98RON fuel as a minimum depending on the age of your LS. For some reason, you descided to use regular unleaded petrol. Why??? The 4 major fuel companies all have 98RON fuel available now and have all had 95RON for over a decade. Even our remote country towns carry 95RON fuel, so try using the recommended fuel to see if your problem disappears. If you use a couple of tanks of PULP and the problem persists, then I'm guessing your problem is not related to low octane fuel.

Might have to try that also POS.

Nothing like a sleeper in my opinion.

Seems as though this problem occurs to the older cars, which is to be expected. Army - as you said, heat and humidity would cause the glue to deteriorate over time. We get very high humidity in Sydney in the summer months. Funily enough, I pushed the roof lining up to try and restick the sticky velcro back onto the brakest and it has now held for 2 days. But the rattles are still there - damn. I may have to pull the lining down a little and use gaffer tape to stick the wires to the roof to stop the rattles. The wiring for the phone antena runs under the roof lining to the middle of the rear window and I suspect that this is the cause of the rattle. If i can get the rattle fixed this way and the velcro holds (doubtful) I will be one very happy camper. I'll let you know how I go.

I've heard of this product via this forum previously, so it must be good. I've never heard of this product in Australia, so I'll have to do a google search to find out if I can buy it locally. Thanks.

Hi folks - I've noticed that the roof lining on my 91 LS has unglued (is there such a word?) from the roof. I have attempted to fix this problem myself twice now and have failed. The roof lining that has become unglued, runs allong the length of the top of the rear view window. The lining is normally held in place by glue to 4 inverted T brackets. I tried to reglue the lining to the brackets using liquid nails and some hardback books wedged between the top of the back seat and the roof lining to hold the lining up while the glue dried. Unfortunately, the liquid nails did not hold. Next I bought some sticky velcro and stuck the male part onto the bracket and the female part onto the lining and then pushed the two parts together so the velcro would stick. This worked but only for about 1 day and the next day, the weight of the roof lining pulled the sticky end of the male velcro portions off the brakets So still no permanent fix. Whats most irritating about the whole thing is not that the lining has droped about 1 inch, but the fact that there is a loud rattling noise coming from above the roof lining whenever I go over a bump. I hate rattles and want to get this fixed. I'm open to your suggestions, before I resort to taking the car to someone to repair the trim.

RFeldes - If I understand you correctly, you're saying that my seals are firm and therefore not contorting enough to provide a good seal to prevent water penetration and silicone spray should soften them up for a better seal? I do not recall the seals being firm, but I will check tomorrow when it is light outside. Maybe a full replacement of seals will be necessary - i'll speak to my mechanic about this next service. Thank you for your response. It's nice to be reassured that the seals can be replaced if need be. KY

No matter how much the Japanese may supervise the build quality in China, a new Lexus from China will not be built to the exacting standards that they are built in Japan. No doubt the built quality in China will improve over the years, but it will take 5-10 years to rival Japanese quality. Just look at some of the electronics that are coming out of Korea. All fairly well made to rival the best of the Japanese electronics brands today, but 10years ago, Korea were exporting junk.

I washed the car today and noticed condensation build up on the rear left window. Now I suspect that my problem may be that the seals are not working properly. They do however look fine? Is it possible to replace the seals around the doors?

VB - where do I start looking for a heater core leak?

Well its summer here in Sydney at the moment and that means hot and humid days and occasional thunder storms. My car is almost always parked in a garage when not being driven, except for last week when I picked the car up from the panel beaters. It was a very hot day and we had a massive downpoor, so when I went to pick up the car which was parked out in the rain, all the windows were covered in condensation. It took about 6-7min of driving with the AC on high to get rid of most of the condensation. Then a few days later, my sister in law whom I lent the car to told me that the car had a condensation problem after another storm, while parked outside. She also said that the rear left passanger mat had a lot of moisture on the plastic underside. All the other mats were dry? I am wondering what cause the massive condensation build up? Perhaps it has to do with the mats which I washed approximately 2 weeks ago. I let them dry for 2 days before puting them back in the car. They felt dry to touch at the time. Perhaps they were not completely dry and had retained some moisture and are the reason for the condensation? But why would only one mat have moisture on the plastic backing and not all mats if the mats are the cause of the condensation. Or is there some other cause for the condensation? Has anyone else had any similar experience?

If the Trac fuse is blown, then wouldn't the Trac off light come on in the dash immediately, even after the battery was disconected? I suspect that it would not take days before coming on if the fuse was blown. But check the fuse anyway.

I have this problem with my 91 LS. IIRC, my error codes were 51 and 55 and the knock sensor need to be replaced according to my mechanic (he use to own and race an LS400 and currently has an SC430, so he knows what he's talking about). The knock sensor is located in the middle of the V in the engine, so there is a fair amount of work to do to get to it. Because of that, I have not replaced mine. I just turn off the engine while sitting at a set of traffic lights and restart and the CEL lights dissappear and TRAC works. I will get the knock sensor replaced only when there is a real need to open up the engine for any other problem that may arrise in the future. Even with TRAC not operational, I don't believe that my LS has sufficient power to spin the wheels too easily in the dry - but definately want TRAC on in the wet.