blake918

Get a Mac. I switched a year and a half ago from a Dell, and it has been heaven...it doesn't take 5 minutes to start, no freezes, build quality second to none, stylish designs, no more annual reformats, excellent battery life. etc. They are far more expensive than their PC competitors, though. My little Macbook is just fantastic; I'd buy it again today--I LOVE it. MS Office for Mac makes compatibility a non issue for me.

Thanks yall!! :D

How did I miss this one ??? :o :chairshot: Happiest of all Birthdays to blake918 :cheers:

Don't worry DC, you didn't miss anything. I don't have my b-day listed here; '93 pulled it from Facebook, I think.

A brand new one?

I only drove it 18 miles as of yet. It has been in the garage since I got it. I'm on vacation. :)

Yep, brand new. I thought that was a really low price, and then, I sat in one, and the price seemed commensurate with the crappy interior. I'd definitely pay the extra $ for the Civic's higher quality and bigger interior. Let us know how it does with mpg (my LS is supposed to get 23mpg on the hwy, what a joke. it gets 27 on a bad day.). I don't know how you could buy a car and go out of town. I guess it will make coming home a bit easier knowing there's a brand new car waiting for you!

I'm sure there is some difference in quality, but Lexus windshields cost a small fortune -- $1200+. My windshield will get replaced with an aftermarket one when it needs to be done, $1,200+ for a windshield is nuts. It's actually, $1,443 at Park Place, and I'm sure there's some extra shipping involved for something this size: http://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/ind...playCatalogid=0

Thanks guys!

Cool, Civics are great cars! Congrats! B) They are much nicer than the Corolla; the Corolla is much cheaper though (I've seen LEs on ebay for $14k, probably not that cheap anymore with the CARS program.). That's too bad about the Altima. They are nice, but I've never heard a good thing about a Nissan dealer. What kind of mileage are you seeing on the highway (75-80mph with the ac on)?

A great detail on one of the finest automobiles out there!

Sent this to you in the PM, but for anyone else:

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...mp;#entry365281

The connector in the 95-97 LS that has the mute pin has a total of three pins if I remember correctly. (Blake, if you see this please correct me.) Which is the mute pin can be determined by probing the connector pins with an unpowered grounded test light (or just a plain grounded wire) while the radio is playing. When the mute pin is touched, the radio will mute.

Like I need to correct the master! ;)

There are likely other parts of the OEM phone harness that could be used with an aftermarket kit but why bother. And there is nothing available to adapt the steering wheel phone control on an LS400 for an aftermarket phone kit -- trust me, looking for one almost became a career.

Quoted for truth. Get a Parrot or Motorola kit and forget about the Lexus system. I'd remove the transceiver before it dies and locks your a/c fan in on low speed.

I still want to know if I would be able to get a lot mor spin when the car was new or if this is normal. :D

In my LS experience, my cars' ability to chirp the tires is related to how old the tires are. I used to be able to make my '99 chirp the tire for bit with VSC turned off, but after I put new tires on, I can't make the tire chirp any more. It sounds like your car is performing just fine, and considering the low km's on your car, it's still got a lot of life left!

Changing the bulbs isn't going to make that big a difference. The DRLs are simply the high beams on low power, the reason they are yellowish is because they are depowered.

Especially because DRL's are regular halogen bulbs run on half the voltage. Silverstar's won't look any different than the standard DRL bulbs in DRL mode.

I'm glad yall posted this! I've always thought about changing my highbeams to get whiter DRLs, but now I know not to waste the time or money!

That pic is so awesome! B) It looks like something out of a magazine!

$10k for a '96 with 115k miles, is he serious? How about a LS that is 5 years newer and has fewer miles for $900 more? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2001-Lexus-...d=p4506.c0.m245

Rob, try this link -- click download the music at the lower left (it's free): http://www.toyota.com/prius-hybrid/commercial.html It's "Let Your Love Flow" sung by Petra Haden. It downloaded just fine on my computer...it's even free!

Nicely done Josh! I've washed my dad's GMC 2500 a couple times, so I know how much work it is to wash these beasts! V10? I don't know how someone could choose gas over diesel!!

Thanks yall!

No prob, keep us posted on this Jordan! I think I told you that my 420/430 would come every 3-4 months. I'd turn it off, and it'd be back in 3-4 months. Hopefully your fix lasts a bit longer!

Congrats! They are great cars! B) I would change the water pump, idler pulleys, tensioner, and crank seal while they have your car apart. I'll attach the PDF for the CBES options. My dealer only wanted $40 to change about 6 of them. My favorites are the one click to unlock all doors, one click for the trunk instead of press and hold, and they turned off the auto tilt and tele for the steering wheel.

CBES.pdf

sure I will go for 3200LS or the MKis.

I have the MKi9100 in my car, and it has been great. It has worked perfectly with all of my iPhones (including the current 3GS). One problem I (and I think JA did too) ran in to is that a lot of the wires on the Parrot are too short. I had to extend the mute, power, and switched power wires -- kind of disappointing on a high end car phone kit.

Why is it so expensive on the Lexus? I've had shops replace my timing belt/water pump on other vehicles for only $600 including parts.

The parts and labor are expensive. It's been many years since I've changed the LS's timing belt, but I recall the water pump, belt, idler pulleys, oil seals, tensioner, and coolant being in the $300 range when I changed mine in 2004 (I'm sure the parts have gone up since then). Then, it takes 7 or 8 hours to do the job if you've never done it before; someone who has done this before or does it on a regular basis can do it in 4 or 5 hours.

Interior...

My helper Maddie...

Well, she was supposed to help, but ended up falling asleep on the job...

Wow, the past 12 months and 25,000 miles have flown by. I wash it probably every week or so, but I am not as good about waxing it (maybe 2 or 3 times a year. I am hoping to turn over a new leaf!). I thought the paint was looking a little dull, so I ordered some Poorboys off of Amazon, and I spent the week end shining it up. I couldn't be happier with the results. Looks pretty good for 187k miles; it is aging incredibly gracefully. B)

Wash with DP Xtreme Foam -- foam gun -- Lambswool mitt

Poorboys EX-P Sealant (2 coats)

Poorboys Natty's Paste Wax (2 coats)

Megs Hot Shine on the tires

Invisible glass on the windows

The interior shots of the leather are from a few weeks ago when I did my last leatherique treatment -- this stuff is amazing.

The EXP and Natty's were great to work with. I got a little carried away with the first coat of EXP and put it on too thick, so it took some muscle to get off, and it dusted pretty badly. I learned from that mistake, and the second coat was much lighter, and it was very easy to get it off. I let the EXP sit on the car for 60 minutes before removing it, and I waited about 2 hours in between the first and second coats.

Natty's is the first paste wax I've used (I usually get liquids), and I liked it a lot. The solid paste made it easy to apply light coats. I let the first coat sit on the car for 30 or 45 minutes, and that was a mistake -- it was a little tough to get it off. The second coat, I applied it to the entire car, and I started removing the wax as soon as I finished with the application, and it was so easy to take off. The EXP and Natty's really make the paint look unreal, beautiful shine and the flake is really popping! B) (Yep, I removed the wax out of the crevices after seeing it in these pics! )

okay so ive read about the power steering leaking problem.

but is there a common place where the leak was found?

The air control valve for the PS pump can cause a number of different problems (leaks, noises, fluid consumption, etc.). It's cheap and easy to replace on the 95-97 too!

Turning off the tilt/telescope feature on a 95-up LS requires a handheld tester with the appropriate program card. Lexus dealers and some independent repair shops have the necessary equipment which, by the way, is quite expensive.

Heya Jim! I thought turning it off was only an option on the 98+ CBES equipped cars, and 95-97 you are just SOL for an easy way to turn it off?

Hey Jordan, I remember (it's a good thing I remember since the new search function is almost worthless! lol) reading this thread:

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...c=42632&hl=

It's two years old, so I'm sure he got his car back together, maybe try PMing Gumart for the outcome. He doesn't post much, but he still hangs around here, and if you can't catch him, I know Gumart and can get a hold of him for you.