nc211

Correction: Party at Rf's house! Sorry Blake, but the bug zapper feature pushed me over the edge... Leave it to Lexus to come up with everything.

Man, just wanted to say that I love you guys. And I'm not trying to get your bud light either. I wanted to say thanks to guys like RFelds, Blake918, Armyofone, SWO, SRK, SK, Thread, Bi-Col, CandaCraig, barkat and the rest of the crew here that are several dozen deep. We're good people, coming together to talk about everything from our shared love for a car(s), to...political garbage :whistles: ...of which I'm sure I've never uttered before myself :whistles: ... Anywho.... thanks guys and gals for spending your time here, and making this forum fun! :)

It goes with my avatar...it's all about strategery. hahahaha. Ok, I'm tired, long day and the fingers are numb. Time to go to bed. peace, love, and clean body...throttle body that is. ;-)

That's ok...I'll remember that in a few months during hurricane season, again. See if I ship my Honda generator to you.. Ohh, power push button...mmmmm...soooo nice. Did I mention that part about push button ignition? Ohh....soooo nice! Especially after the storm, when all the bees are *BLEEP*ed, and you're hungover from playing frisbee in the 150mph wind the night before. What's that Aunt B? You want to sit in the nice A/C? Oh, I'm soo sorry, Mr. Rf was a pooo pooo head and cost me a $2,500 MB super cruiser. Sooo sorry... hahaha PS: Party at Blake's house!

I agree. Although Rf sniffs too much kitty litter from time to time and is still suffering from the hurricane debries, he's right. Since it's a CPO, and you paid for that fact, take the car back to the dealership. I bet SRK is right, and I also think you might have a bad alternator. Question for the crew: Does the RX have the same positionairy problems of the power steering pump resivour as the LS400 does? Is it sitting right above the alternator?

Ohhhh....you dog.... ;) Hahaha

the reliability of the 4 speed.....does the same exact thing. The car will take "baby steps" until everything is warmed up. My office is at a top of a hill...I get in the car, start it up, and head home, the car will hold gears down that hill until it's warmed up. In fact, she won't kick into overdrive until the thermometer is close to the normal operating temperature. in short...you're car is fine....she's just warming up, like the guys said.

I agree, CPO due to the age is out of scope. However.....Rf is right....find a Lexus dealership that has a 2000 model for sale, pay the extra fund$. Here is what you do for a 2000 model. You show up at the dealership asking to see a CPO 2000 model. They tell you that (a) the one over there is "knowing it's not, as 1990 is right" thinking you'll sign the check before it's disclosed.....or...and this is the one you want to buy.....you buy from an HONEST dealership "like Johnson Lexus of Raleigh, plug plug...you bet...." and the salesman tells you the truth that the age is out of scope for CPO, but "that one over there" would be one if it were a 2001. So you look at that one, like it? Oh yeah, you'll LOVE IT. Then you make an offer for full window sticker offer, contingent upon 3 things...trust me, you'll be the winner here. 1) Since the dealership "feels" it should be a CPO; make them pony up to it with a 90 day-3,000k bumper-to-bumper warranty. 2) the 90k service is done for free, especially the water pump and timing belt "A MUST" 3) you make it clear to them that you understand it's a used car, and that you expect problems, even if it is a Lexus, and you're willing to pay the price to fix the components outside of their warranty. Are there problems with these cars? Yep....they're man made...can you find a perfect used LS400 out there? Nope....they're man made...Can you HAVE a perfect LS400? YEP!! You just have to understand the right questions to ask... Go buy one under those conditions and come back to here.....we'll save you Thousands of dollars in restoration charges. Mine is a 95. These boys here will tell you that I'm commited...if not that I SHOULD be commited for it. Come drive my car...you'll love it! By the way...that Benz is sweeeeeet!!! I want one. Thinking that might be my next project. Trying to decide between that, and a 850ci.....before kids show up and I'm doomed to a station wagon.. wait, didn't they make a M5 in the station wagon? Oh sweet Jesus, look out school bus driver.

...there is a brand new IS250 sitting in my driveway as a loaner...hell of a FUN CAR!! Michelin's are being installed, Continentals are being sent back. Sorry thread, had to do it.

You know I love ya' Rf, and so I feel it is my duty to make sure that you are happy, even if that means sacarficing my own happiness. So, therefore I offer you a solution to your " :( "....I'll trade ya'! That way, you get to have a beautiful, antique LS400, with a really cool Miami Vice car phone! "Tubbs, I need back up!...You're Busted Pal!" Heck, I'll even float the first 10 minutes of your favorite 1-900 number! I need to post up a picture of my black cat "Ace". Last checked at the vet, he was pushing 18 pounds. Every neighbor loves him, as you will usually see him starring at you and your family during dinner through your kitchen window. I'm the one who works 50 hours a week, yet he's the one who eats like a King....go figure that one? He may be fat, but he sure can pull in the chics! Or at least I faintly remember so, been engaged so freakin' long I've forgotten.

Bragger :P Well, I've got a really cool looking antique car phone in my arm rest...na-na-na-naaa hahaha...where's that Jaw's on Paws cat Rf?

Replacing those two items will help, but it won't get rid of it completely. All of us 95-97 guys have this same problem. Do a search on here and you'll see a lot of info about it. It's when the engine is cold right? The RPM's are high because "thanks to the EPA" the engine must idle higher at start up, to get up to temp quicker, which reduces pollution. It's just a characteristic of the car's age. Mine does it, Blake's does it...it's a strange thing. You can reduce it with new motor and tranny mounts, rear differential mounting bushing "look under it from the back..see the differential? See two round black pieces on the cross frame...that be them". I also recommend a tranny "drain and fill" on the fluid....you know to use ONLY Toyota Type IV fluid by now right? That you don't want to mess with. Don't take it to Jiffy-town and have them powerflush it. They don't use the right fluid, and will not accept yours. ahhh...the famous lurch. ... I tell ya' and I can't explain why, but I scrubbed out my throttle body and housing a few weeks ago, and it seemed to help quite a bit too.....it helped...it didn't get rid of it. Blake and I have chased that damn thing all over the place. He's convinced it's in the differential "normal wear and tear". I think it's in the driveshaft linkage connectors; slack created over the years. Elvis thinks it's something about some blue sweade shoes.....There's no tellin'. A good guy to PM would be Bi-col on this. I think he got his down to minimal standards. We all just usually let the car warm up.

Andrew Vlamos is the owner. Unless he has completed the project for second generation bushings, all of his are for the first generation models. I talked to Andrew about a year ago on when he would be ready to start selling the second generation bushings. He told me at that time he was "thinking about" developing them, but was not very optomistic. He has not updated his website to include the new bushings, so my opinion is that he has not developed them. When I spoke with him, he voiced his frustration with competing against the cheaper Daizen bushings, and made comments that he would not be willing to produce the second generation bushings without a large USA company to sponsor them "sell them on the shelf". So, I would be very curious where he is today?? If you find out, please post up the results! I waited for him to complete the second generation bushings for a few months, but then decided to just bite the bullet and go OEM for an additional $600.

I have a LS400. I recently went off of tirerack.com reviews and purchased a set of Continetal premiercontacts.....long story short...had one out of round...replaced it with new one......waiting for my Michelin MVX4's to arrive at the dealership so I can have them put on and these concrete tread continentals removed, returned and refunded.

I would pick the LS over the other cars too, for a couple reasons. 1) I'm biased. 2) The LS is no hotrod, which means it was probably not driven like one. It's a cruiser. The other cars you mentioned are set up to be more sporty in nature, handle turns better and so forth. You want to make sure the timing belt and waterpump has been replaced, at least twice with that amount of miles. The service interval for this is 90k miles. It's not a cheap service either. The 90k interval service is probably one of the most crucial services the LS has. Everything else is just fluids here, filters there, and maybe a cable adjustment or two. Nothing major. The history report will tell you this. I like the fact that this is a one owner car, and he's selling so he can buy a new one. That shows me that he has been through the repairs, and still loves the car. Just make sure it's been maintained. Ask him these questions: 1) Do you have any suspension issues? Any "clunk" noises when going over bumps? 2) Have you ever had a problem with the engine computer? Has the car ever shut off after a long highway cruise? Or, does it have a herky-jerky feel in the transmission around 40 mph? 3) Did you have the starter replaced under the "only" recall ever issued for the car? 4) How are the interior dash lights? Have you ever had problems with the dashboard lights going dark on you? The dash light problem is mostly for the 90-94 model years. The engine computer however is a curse for the 95 and 96 models. Some of them are flawled and send a faulty code to the fuel injection system when you take your foot off the gas...it's drops the fuel supply too quickly, which creates a buckling feeling in the driveline. Mine had this problem, the dealer fixed it for free, but the normal cost is $2k+. The "clunking" noise is directly caused by worn out suspension control arm bushings wearing out. On the 90-94 models, you can buy aftermarket bushing called "Daizen" for MUCH cheaper! But, they're also hard plastic. The original bushings "which give it that famous Lexus ride" are soft rubber. These bushings usually last anywhere from 100k to 200k, just depends on how the car was driven, and where "pot-hole city, or smooth highway". Chances are you will have to replace the front strut rods at somepoint soon "if they have not been replaced already within the past 70k miles". They're not hard to replace, and with connections on this website to vendors, you can get them for probably around $200 +/- for both. Ask the owner about them, I'm willing to bet he'll know exactly what you're talking about. There is really just one potential major problem with the 95's....the engine computer. Everything else is normal wear and tear stuff. And let me tell you, as others have already agreed to, these cars will last forever, if taken care of! You get a good one, and you'll be loyal to it for a very very very long time. But, it's no Corolla. You can't use duct tape to fix it. And it can be expensive at times. But, well worth every penny if you ask me! Especially for $5,000. You won't find a better car out there for that kind of money.

Man, that is crazy! I would have taken the whole thing to the supreme court if I had to under one simple rule: The only way I could have figured out the speed of the car would have been with a radar gun located in my vehicle. It is my understanding that it is illegal for me to operate one in my car, as I am not a law enforcement officer. In addition, if it is now illegal to use my cell phone while the car is in D w/o a hands free attachment, then how would I be allowed to operate a radar gun? Here is my routing number and account number, please wire the funds by 5:00 pm today.

yeah gunslinger...no problem...my pleasure to help my friend! As I appreciate all the help you gave to me over the past several months! I found with cetain dealers that they are starting to blend aftermarket parts and oem parts together, to reduce the cost to the customer. Caseinpoint....my rear carrier bushings. I went in about 13 months ago to balance the wheels, and was told the rear carrier bushings were shot "the start of the wobble curse". They told me the bushings could be replaced with part # llllll-llllll...sounded official, when in all honesty it turned out be a set of ASUS 302 aftermarket bushings, for...$35 in parts. I might be off on the ASUS part number of 302, but you get the point. I assume this is for your 91 LS? I'm betting since Sewell is very much in tune with older LS cars that they are now selling the Daizen, or ASUS bushings as a part of their inventory, and have assigned a non-oem part number to them.

Gum, one is probably quoting you the Daizen aftermarket replacement part, and the other is quoting you the whole OEM strut rod.

Do you have some money set aside for repairs? Like $1,500? They're great cars! Blake918 has 271K on his. I have 111k on mine. Both have required some repairs. Mine is a bit out of the ordinary though. But I'm also a freakin' nut case, so take that with a grain of salt. Before asking what service has been done on the car, you need to be prepared to shell out some dough for repairs, as there WILL be some with that amount of miles. Ask your local lexus dealer to run the car's vin number through their service computer. They will print up a repair history for you, and if it was indeed serviced at the dealership only, then you should have the entire history of what was done, why it was done, and when it was done. If he did not have the dealership do all the service, then you'll be able to tell. There should be foot notes in the report to something to the effect of "done by 3rd party" or so forth. Honestly?? I could be very wrong here, but judging by how expensive Lexus dealership services cost, I would doubt he had everything done over there. Especially when the car started to rack up the miles, fell in value and he probably went into "pinch penny" mode. But again, he could also be like some of us here, and be a lexus lunny like some of us are in the persuit of perfection....if you don't believe me, I'll fax you my credit card statement...hahaha. If you buy the car, you will be fixing it....it's just that simple. It's not like a 1979 BMW or anything, but it will require a bit of TLC, which means $$$$$.

Rf and I will be hiding in our fox-holes if you need us..... Me? I think Henry Ford started the trend with the Model T. He wore a watch.....

His is a 1st generation LS400 "89-94" model years. The daizen bushings only fit those model years. Unfortunately, those of us who have the 95 + model years are still stuck with having to purchase oem control arm assemblies. Believe me, I tried like heck to find aftermarket parts for my 95 for the bushings...no luck. So, I ordered all new control arms through a GREAT contact here....give you a hint...he's a man of one, who is currently tweeking out his ford. I purchased all the fronts, and rears for $1,600.

Army, I believe Vascar is when they time you from one spot on the highway to another one. They've measured out the distance between the two, time you from one to the other, and that tells them how fast you're going. I got NAILED in Colorado when I was a teenager coming out of Eisenhower tunnel heading from Keystone to Denver by Vascar. The tropper told me "which one do you want, bad, or worse?" When I asked what he meant? he told me "90 or 105 mph". Luckily for me, I had just had the brakes worked on, that was not done correctly, and I used that to get out of it. Told the DA "with documented proof" that my brakes were not installed correctly, the pads were dragging, heating up the system, and making them fade badly. How in the h*ll that worked is beyond me...But I will say this, that was the most expensive parking ticket I've ever had! Point is, I had a radar detector too, and it never went off. The tropper told me he tracked me via Vascar. Said he was actually behind me, but I never saw him. Apparently, the airplane above me sure did see me. A red VW 1987 GTI screaming through traffic kind of stands out.

WOW !!! Now that's a sweet car!

A commercial banker contact of mine had a 99' LS400. It was beautiful, midnight blue and fully loaded. A cellphone yappin' desperate housewife in a Volvo ran a red light at 50 mph the other day and T-boned his LS right at the driver's side front wheel. She hit him so hard, I kid you not, nearly took the whole front of the car off. The driver's front wheel was pressed nearly into the center section of the engine. Unbelievable damage. The driver? A 68 year old grown man with a bad back "fused vertebra" walked away with not a single scratch. He has a sore neck "pulled a mussle" and his "my old one I gave to him" cell phone broke...that's it! That's all the damage to him. The lady in the Volvo? She'll be OK, but I guess her face got burnt by the airbag gas, broke her ankle and now has a permenant markings on her face from her sunglasses "just kidding, not permenant". Man, if that isn't enough to make you want to own one of these cars...then I don't know what is? Oh....and yes....I tried to get that wood shifter knob, but the insurance company said "hell no". They won't even let him switch it out with my leather one. Apparently, those things fetch a nice price. I would have figured they wouldn't have noticed...but they did.

Nice!! I love Docksides! My sunroof will leak in the front, above the light switch every few months. Mine is due to a dirty contact point for the seal and the metal. I usually clean the metal, and the rubber seal, then apply a very think layer of silicone based lubrication on the rubber seal. This always fixes mine. Make sure you lubricate the seal!! Otherwise, when you go to open up your sunroof, the rubber will stick to the metal and tear the rubber.