blake918

My dogs, scenic drives, french horn, and most of my time is currently taken up by the kitchen/living room/dining room/office remodeling that is going on.

That's what always amazes me about the majority of Lexus owners....there is always some explanation to mitigate the problems. Something breaks on a GM or BMW, and the owner is likely to start www.ihatebmw.com, but with Lexus the owners seem to just shrug it off. What's even funnier is that if you come on some Lexus boards and complain about a brand new car that has serious problems that the dealer won't fix, you will get labled as a loud mouth whiner. Now that's loyalty.My worst has been my '94 ES300. It had countless electrical problems (I think almost every electrical componet under the hood that can fail did so.), and we got rid of it when the tranny failed at only 135k. My '95 LS with 293k miles has been pretty good to me. Noteable failures: ECM, starter, door handle, radio, radio lcd, egr pipe, brake master cylinder, etc. It still runs and drives very well, but it will be gone for a MB in the next couple years because I want something that has real head and legroom. The suspension componets and steering are getting tired, but I have no real complaints right now.

I've seen a lot of GM trucks with one burnt drl too. LOL That's not GM quality, that's Sylvania quality (or whoever they buy their bulbs from.). As for the motorcyclists, they reap what they sow. I am always so tempted to open my door when I see one of them come flying between two cars in bumper to bumper traffic. :chairshot: Sounds like it's time to check again because Lexus is not the only one (or even the majority) to have drls. And, I'd agree with that estimate.

I'll bet your highway gas milage suffered. You may not have noticed it yet, but it did. There is a reason that Lexi have one of the lowest COD measurements out there in the production car world and that air damn is certainly part of it.It hasn't. I keep track of every tank of gas, and the mileage hasn't changed at all. It's still 25.5-26mpg (the fluctuation comes from left lane bandits that cause me to cancel the cruise.) on a tank of 99% hwy miles just like it was with the cover on there. My city mileage is also just as low as it was before. The shield has been gone for almost a year now (which is about 25,000 miles for me), and my gas mileage hasn't changed yet--and it will not until a maintinance item wears out or gets dirty. The temp needle is still in the same position, and the car is still just as quiet as it was before. All of that in mind, the reason for putting it on in the first place for any reason other than cosmetics is beyond me. Maybe they noted a difference in the lab, but out here in the real world, it hasn't changed my car one single bit.

That sounds like a really good deal considering the low miles. If you really want seat heaters, have an upsolstery shop install some for you. Also, spend $500 on a Garmin nav to use when you are headed somewhere that is unfamiliar--they work great.

I think DRLs are a pointless "safety" feature (if some low watt light bulbs are going to help you see a 2 ton block of steel moving at you on the road, then, you should be in your opthamologist's office instead of sitting behind the wheel of a car.), but I don't think I'd go out of my way to disable them. Remember those GM tv commercials when they first started with the drls? "Hey buddy your lights are on!!!!!" LOL How so? Considering that hundreds of cars now have drls. Also, if it takes 30 seconds for your lights to cut on, you should have the light sensor adjusted to be more sensitive.

It takes about $65 to fill the LS in Louisiana (Shell 93 is about $3.3/gallon). I thought that was bad until my dad sent me to fill his Suburban; it took $120. LOL Yeah, the heaviest LS400 weighs less than 3800 which is very light considering the size of the car.

It's not important at all. I've had mine off for almost a year with no change in performance. Plus, oil changes are no longer a PITA.

They are very reliable, but as with any car, they do have certain trouble spots that you will have to keep up with. Worn suspension and steering parts are the biggest trouble area that you will deal with on a LS400, and the parts aren't cheap. Also, make sure you skim this thread (if you haven't already): http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...99&hl=jerksAnyone can change the oil on the LS400. I usually do mine myself for $30 in my driveway. The 90k at the dealer is usually around $1500, but if you find a good independent Lexus/Toyota guy, he will likely be able to do the job for around $700-$1000....a far cry from what you will pay to have a timing belt changed on a 4 cyl Accord. The Accord or Camry is certainly the more sensible choice, but the LS is bigger, looks better, drives better, built better, and has more power!! Sure, LS parts are far more expensive than the Accord/Camry, it burns a lot of premium fuel, but does an Accord have power headrest adjusters??? LOL B) I don't think you'll regret purchasing one. My '95 has 292,000 miles and is as reliable as the day is long. If it just had more front seat legroom, I'd say it's a perfect car.

You're probably right, it has been a while since I've stipped down my interior. I think the 3 minutes spent removing 5 14mm bolts will make life a lot easier when working on/accessing the amp....I guess that's all I'm getting at! LOL

You need to remove the seat and air vent trim piece, and you'll see it. ;) A pic.... (yes, that is a before picture of my carpet.)

Bigste, welcome to the club! If you are looking for brand new headlights, I'd check with: http://www.newlexusparts.com and http://www.lexus-parts.com. For used, try ebay or http://www.car-parts.com.

That doesn't surprise me much. I've never considered Lexus parts cheap....at all. The only part that I bought for the Lexus and thought it was surprisingly cheap was the gauge cluster lens for $20. Yesterday, I changed the O2 sensor in my Buick for $20...now that's cheap! That's because I already moved it! ;)

You take the philosophy of treat a hot girl like dirt, and she'll stick to you like mud a bit far....I like it!!!

Wow, that's very nice! The E39 is one of those cars that doesn't seem to age (especially the refreshed years).

The repair manual says to check the sensor (should have 2-3 ohms of resistance at 70* F), its wiring, or the ecm. ;)

I think the problem is that the part is hard to find. I searched for a lcd when mine was going out, but I couldn't find anything which is why I had Mikado do it. At any rate, $150 (+ shipping) is a very fair price to have the lcd replaced.

I've never heard of any fix for this other than replacing the LCD or getting another stereo. I may be wrong too! LOL ;) I don't know what you mean by the cluster panel...

I know a 3.0 I6 engine will fit.... http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread...highlight=turbo

You need to replace the LCD. I had mine replaced by Mikado in San Francisco, California. It's been a while, but I think it was like $150 for the job (plus probably another $60 for overnight shipping to and fro.), and they replaced the backlighting for free. Turn around time is nil--no more than an hour in my case. Here's the contact info that I used from k9crew: My before and after:

I just pulled the 'woofer cover on my car to see how it differs from the '91 in the link, and it looks like you are going to have to pull the back seat. The back two bolts are perfectly located, but the front two are the ones that will likely cause you to have to take the back seat out since they are covered by the back dash. It's more of a pain in the !Removed!, but I don't see it taking too much time.

Very well said, Steve! ;) Lexus is definitely kicking back and relaxing while everyone else is stepping up their game. Never ever have we heard the word "buyback" in the same sentence as Lexus until the ES350 came out. If Lexus's No.1, diehard fan, Consumer Reports, bumped them from the top, they've got some issues to address. LOL It's to get skeptical people in to look at the cars....more smart marketing from Hyundai. Warranty length is in no way indicative of quality...

There are a lot of things....led tail lights, second row side air bags, rain sensing wipers (deicing feature), active head restraints, power folding mirrors with turn signals, power rear sunshade, power adjustable pedals, power tilt/tele steering wheel, a much better warranty, and I'm sure there are more that I over looked.I think is a very nice looking dash.It's much more grown up looking than the Camry's dash.

Do you know if the crank seal has ever been changed? When mine was leaking, it would drizzle down the crossmember, and the fan would blow it all over the oil pan. I thought one of my oil pans was leaking, but I sat under the car while it was running, and I saw what was happening.

If you don't want to do an oem retrofit, aftermarket heaters aren't very expensive (~$150), and I don't think it would be too expensive to have them installed by an unpholstery shop. I have two spare plugs behind my ashtray that align perfectly with where the heated seat buttons go, and I can't help but wonder if these cars are prewired for heated seats. In Louisiana, seat heaters aren't that important, but I'm still curious...