blake918

Mine is 1461, joined May '03.

I've only seen them in pictures, but I never liked any red LS400s or burgundy LS430s. Red just doesn't seem to suit the LS, imo. The two tone red first gen LS's with matching red interior is probably the worst color combo.

I can tell you that the Toyota Long Life coolant is ridiculously expensive if you don't buy it online. I just paid $37 with tax at a Toyota dealer for a 3.78 liter jug (supply and demand, ya know). :o Carson sells it for about 1/2 that price. Here's the part number: 00272-1LLAC-01 I'm not sure what the difference is between the Toyota coolant and green Prestone is, but my former '95 ran green coolant for more than 100k miles, and it was perfectly fine, as it should be since the manual states that any ethylene glycol based coolant is acceptable. For my car, it's 11 liters, and I'd bet it's the same for 95-97 too. I'll attach a photo of the directions listed on the bottle....

I agree..... http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...&hl=jerking

What he said. Closed.

Thanks, I'm soooo happy that it's fixed! :D I was shocked that it was steering related because I never felt anything through the steering wheel when it would make the creaking/popping noise....I guess that means my rack grommets are still in tip top shape! LOL

It's on the pump. When they break, they will leak p/s fluid on the alternator and/or allow p/s fluid in to the intake and you will see smoke coming out of the exhaust on hard acceleration. I found that changing mine gave some unexpected benefits that I talk about in this thread:http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=52085 I bought it for my '99 LS, but they are the same for 95-00 LS400s (might fit the SC400 as well), as I put the same one in my '95 LS.

The power steering control valve is brand new and never used. Lexus Part Number: 17630-16040. I was going to install it in my car, but I couldn't get the old one out and had to have Lexus do it. They don't take outside parts, so that is why I'm selling this one. I bought it from Sewell in January 2009. Asking $70 shipped to the lower 48 states.

I have the Lexus factory repair manuals that I bought for my 1995 LS400 for sale. I bought them brand new in 2004, and I no longer need them because I have a different model year now. They are used and show some wear (several soiled/stained pages), but they are still in good shape, and the binding is tight. Asking $65 shipped to the lower 48 states.

Irontoad told me there aren't any filters associated with the OCV for my '99, but there are other threads that say there are filters. I wonder who's correct...

I wish mine had customization like that. I really wish I could turn the screen saver off, which is a Bluetooth "B" that bounces around the screen. Perhaps I'd find something if I Googled it later. I was glad that I didn't have to record any voice tags since the iPhone doesn't do that on its own. I wish I had thought about extending the mic cord. I probably would have needed a min. of two more feet. But the spot I put it in isn't bad since one of the heads of the mic still will peek out even with the visor down... I was going to use my really old iPod, but that one is so old that it was back when they were only Mac compatable and used Firewire instead of USB! I was shocked that the different percentages blend as well as they do. You almost can't even tell.

Haha I did that too! It sounded perfect. I guess I'd just like to be on the other end and to have the full effect. I don't know anything about stereos, so I don't know what line level outputs are, but since no one makes an adapter harness for my old car, I went with the external ISO speaker to avoid tapping the stereo wiring harness. I can tell you that this thing came with A LOT of wires. I ended up clipping some of them to get them out of the way (I'm not installing this thing in another car, anyway). Did you have any problems with wire length with your 3200 like I did? My mic was way too short, and the mute and power wires were probably 18" which is waaaaaay too short. Does the lady in your Parrot have a British accent too?I really do like browsing my music from the Parrot's screen. The iPod/USB/Stereo input cable is in the lower console; that's the one cable/wire that they made a good length. I'm thinking about relegating my iPod shuffle to car duty, so that I can leave it in the lower console and not have to plug and unplug all the time. The the control box is sitting below the carpet at the transmission tunnel--the same spot as Jim's if you've seen his pictures before. It's so awesome to connect to the carphone with the phone still in my pocket! How about a pretty white iPhone to match the LS, Jim??

Ok, I think the problem is solved. My power steering control valve was leaking pretty badly. I bought the valve from Sewell, and I was going to change it myself, since it was a piece of cake (took 5 minutes) when I did it in my '95, the '99 should be easy too, right? Wrong. The power steering pump is a different design, and it it a very tight fit down there. We tried a number of times to get the valve off, and it just wouldn't budge. I can only assume that some clown glued it in with the world's strongest loctite or something. I suck it up, and I call Lexus of Shreveport-Bossier City, a small but wonderful dealership (maybe the best of the 3 dealers in Louisiana), and they pencil me in. I was tired of messing with it, and I was tired of wondering when the special day going to come when the p/s fluid dripped down to the right spot to fry the alternator. I can only assume that Murphy's Law would apply when it would fail. I went in on Friday, and they changed out the valve for me, for a small fortune of course (you know the drill, list price for parts + 110/hr = $465). They told me that they had to remove the p/s pump, and put it in a vise to really wrench on the valve to get it to break free, which didn't surprise me since it wouldn't budge when I tried to remove it myself. They assured me that the threads on the p/s pump were unharmed. They cleaned out the pump, put a fresh valve in, and sent me on my way. I leave, and I make a series of tight turns, and the noise in the video is strangely absent. Saturday, I drive some more, make more tight turns, and no noise, same goes for Sunday. I think I can say that it's cured since I used to be able to make it produce the sound on demand. I'd love to know how changing the power steering control valve and cleaning out the p/s pump fixed this strange noise. Maybe the rack wasn't getting enough fluid and something was binding up. This added bonus almost makes the bill they stuck me with bearable! In trying to cure this noise (obviously, I thought it was suspension related), I replaced: Lower ball joints and tie rod ends = fail. Replaced strut rod bushings = fail, but it did improve drivability. Replaced upper control arm = fail. Replaced p/s control valve and cleaned pump = problem solved! :D :D

Hey ... some people think my Nokia "eye-phone" is pretty cool! Nicely done! So after we subtract out the scotch tape and printer supplies, are we looking at 35 "eye-phones" instead of 40? lol I had a good laugh at that one!

Cool! I didn't know I was one of the first! This kit has more features than I thought I wanted, but I like being able to plug my phone in to the cable to listen to podcasts (and not have to burn them on to cd's or go through the tape adaptor). I'm going to see some family members with 3G phones next week, so I'll post back about how that works out. According to Parrot, it should work for the 3G too. I'll try to avoid upgrading the firmware on my phone and Parrot since I hear that it can cause trouble. It's probably more of a fault with Apple since they do screwy things with the Bluetooth.I haven't had any trouble with the voice commands. I just tried a few, and it understood each of them without any trouble at all. I had to read the Parrot forum to find out how to sync the remote to the system since the instruction book was wrong. You'd think someone would check these things before printing. I hope I can get someone to go drive my car and call me so that I can hear how it sounds. I took it as a great compliment to the Parrot when I was talking to Jim and he asked if I had made it home yet....all the while I had been home for at least 10 minutes! :D I can tell you that Blake's voice through his new Parrot handsfree kit was crystal clear when he called me while driving on the highway in what he said were windy / noisy conditions. I actually couldn't tell when he stopped using the Parrot handsfree and went to talking directly on his iPhone. Now ... if I can only get Blake to buy that Bury activeBase and activeCradle for the iPhone I found on eBay. Blake ... spend mo' money! ;) jainla, this is the Bury System 9 you told me about that charges a Bluetooth phone, has available interchangeable snap-in phone cradles, and an external antenna connection. The activeBase on eBay is $73.49 and all the System 9 snap-in cradles are $64 each. You're right too about the Bury System 9 being the same product sold as an option in Europe and the U.K. by Toyota and Lexus dealers with Toyota and Lexus logos. You are evil! The new smell hasn't worn off the Parrot, and I've barely had it wired up and muted for a day, and you're trying to get me to buy another carphone! In the past two weeks I've spent more money on this car than I care to remember. I think it's time for you to upgrade those prehistoric phones you have! The 3G is only $200! I know that will get you something like 40 Nokias, but it's time to get some modern technology! hahaI forgot to tell you that your first and last names sound great in the British accent that the Parrot lady speaks with! LOL I wonder if they all have British accents?

I LOVE this forum. My VSC backlight just died. It was heartbreaking until I found this thread. The 7219 bulb (272-1092) is a perfect match for the bulb that came out of my '99. $1.79 + tax has to be the cheapest repair job I've ever done.

If you take care of things to begin with, there isn't anything to do before you leave other than filling-up the tank and cd changer. I put a quick 1200 unplanned miles on mine last weekend, and the car and I loved it! Also, I think you'll be fine with the electricals. I used to have a 3 in 1 that I'd put in the front cig lighter that would power my radar, GPS, and sat radio, and it never caused any trouble. Spreading the electronics out to the various power points should be even better. You'll see that the 22.5 gallon tank is superb for road trips. I haven't taken my '99 on a road trip yet, but I'd base food/fuel/restroom stops on my '95's 500+ mile cruising range--let's hope you don't have someone in the car that has to go to the restroom every hour! It's tough to drive for 7-8 hours straight, but it's quite exciting when you see 5xx on the trip odometer!

Some other shots... Paired up and ready to go Charging Contacts (of course you click the letter, and it brings you to those contacts starting with that letter) Playing some Dallas Wind Symphony Got my windows tinted the other day to the maximum legal limit: 40/20/10 (^It's a parking permit, not a bumper sticker)

I finally bit the bullet and installed a bluetooth car phone. I was tentative about buying one since I've heard mixed reviews on the Apple forums about which ones work, which ones don't, problems after firmware updates, etc., etc. I saw that Parrot advertised the MKi9100 to work with my iPhone's software version, so I figured I'd give it a try. The car kit was about $200 from Amazon, and the ISO speaker was $36 from Crutchfield. It took about 2.5 hours to get everything installed. Having installed a Nokia carphone in my '95, I pretty much duplicated the install for my '99. I was sorely disappointed that many of the wires on the Parrot's wiring harness were too short to make it to the desired location, such as the mic cable, mute wire, and the always hot power wire. I relocated the mic to a different location than I originally wanted, and I'll extend the power and mute wires later. As of now, I don't have auto muting, and I had to connect the switched and always hot wires together in order to get the car phone working until I get around to extending those wires. I was not even remotely interested in tapping my car's stereo wiring harness to play the calls through the door speakers, so I bought the ISO speaker from Crutchfield. It plugged right in to the Parrot's wiring harness without any trouble. The wireless remote that controls the system is not shown, but it will be attached to the dash, left of the steering wheel. The 9100 connects and syncs with my old (back when not everyone and their grandmother had one) iPhone with 2.2.1 software. It synced and it downloaded all of my contacts without any issue. It automatically reconnects without any problems either. It also connects to my iPhone with the included cable and plays the music I have through the speaker. It would be a neat feature (it also has a stereo input and a USB port) if I had the 9100 wired to the car speakers. The cable does charge my iPhone which is nice, and I might use it on occasion to listen to a podcast or something. Some pics before, during, and after the install: The control box is pretty small: Test... Mic The speaker is attached to the fuse box cover

Even after the seafoam flush and cleaning the oil control valve, I was still getting a very intermittent CEL for the OCVs. I flushed the oil once more using Amsoil's engine flush, and I replaced both OCVs. The OCVs have a new part number, and I did notice some design differences between the old and the new. I changed both OCVs in less than 30 minutes. I did have to unbolt the throttle body to get the rightside OCV in; the left side is an easy fit. The only difference in the two parts is that the wiring harness is at a different angle on each side. This is what Irontoad quoted me: L/s camshaft timing oil control valve 15340-0F010---$89.14 R/s camshaft timing oil control valve 15330-0F010---$89.14 I ordered them from Park Place instead since they have free shipping on orders over $100, so they were about $15 cheaper than at Irontoad.

I love the new TL; I'd pick it out of the cars you are considering. I like that it actually stands out from the crowd. Acura does not lock out the nav when the car starts moving (at least they don't on the new MDX) which will be a nice change over your Lexus. I'd drive the new Maxima and Lincoln MKS too; they are both great looking FWD cars.

I've finally had the misfortune of driving one of these little RX350 loaners. My biggest complaint is the seating position; it's absolutely horrible. It's too high (the little bit of hair that I have rubbed on the roof the entire time), and there isn't enough legroom. Obviously, it's designed for someone 5'5" instead of 6'5". There was a wind noise problem at >60mph, and a lot of the cheap dash materials (the door panels too) would creak when you touch them. The seatbelt reminder is probably the most irritating of any of the ones I've ever come across (sorry, I'm not going to buckle to move the car around the driveway). It turned tight, was fairly peppy, has good cup holders, the rain sensing wipers were neat-o, and the illuminated door sills were cool. Having driven my parent's '08 MDX a number of times, I couldn't see myself picking the RX over the MDX. It was a strange color too. Kind of green, kind of beige, kind of a bunch of colors mixed together....

There is nothing wrong with your car; current = your mpg updated every 2 seconds. As long as your tank average and average aren't jumping around, your car is fine.

I think you bring up a good point about how refined the LS is. It seems that traction is what differentiates between the tires since I've yet to have a set that didn't ride smoothly and quietly. I never compared the sound readings with a decibel meter, but to my ear, I couldn't hear any difference between the Michelins and the BFGs. My '99 LS came with Uniroyal Tiger Paw tires (the receipt in the glove box showed they were $95/each...jeez). I was a little surprised to see them on the car, but they ride smoothly and quietly. They don't have very much traction though (it seems most noticeable on dry pavement); it doesn't take much to get vsc to kick in.The Traction TAs I had were only good for 118mph (what is that T?). Some posters were saying that the car wouldn't handle the same, ride the same, etc. It handled and rode the exact same. I chose the lower speed rating since the treadwear rating was higher than the other speed ratings, but it still had the same load rating as the other speed ratings (I would have never considered them if they were a safety risk). I'm not sure which exact ones I had; I didn't know some were different from others (aside from the dimensions or speed ratings). I'd guess these are the ones I had (I wish they were $83 when I bought them though! I think I paid $90 or $95.): http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?ti...;speed_rating=T

I had Traction TAs on my former '95 LS, and I loved them. I found them better than the over-rated Michelin MXV4 tires I drove on for something like 50,000 miles. The BFGs were just as quiet and smooth as the Michelins, but the BFGs had vastly superior wet traction and were much cheaper, of course. When I sold the car, the tires had 45,000 miles on them, and they still looked like new. I'll probably buy them again when my current LS needs tires.