nc211

The connectors are gold, so the only real servicing that is done is a visual inspection of the system to make sure everything is ok. Nothing major at all, and most people don't even mess with it.

I've been following this thread but haven't yet posted. Last weekend I did the power steering fluid flush thing and it firmed up my steering quite a bit "it needed it...way to watery. But I'm not so sure it's not too firm now. I did the bleeding for air bubbles like advised. My question is this, and probably a dumb question. Cleaning that solinoid filter will loosen up the steering, correct? When I pulled the old fluid out of the resivour tank, it had a lot of dirt in it, especially at the bottom.

J...forever remember your words:

my girlfriend just broke up with me because of my job, and my last Girlfriend, of almost 3 years, cut it off because she "couldnt handle it". well you know what, NOBODY is gonna tell me i cant do this job, thsi job is a part fo me, and if they dont like the job, then they dont liek me, it comes as a package deal.

you will find that this theory will lead you to true love and defining success. Now, it'll cost you trips to Target on most of your Friday nights.....but they'll be the best Friday nights of your life!

The differnce between arogrance and sucess is simple; One is scene...one is felt.

Eastwind, you should alter your car info on your signature to include what year your LS400 is. That will help you here a lot, as there are a few different models and funky little quirks to each year.

I do not disagree with this information. But in my 95, my lexus cd changer actually plays everything, including copies that are not in the best of shape "scratches" flawlessly! It actually plays CDs better than my home based Sony...of which won't play a copy at all "1994 model". But, on my dealership history report on my car, the previous owner had "radio" work done back in 03'. It's very obvious he had the LCD problem and the dealer replaced the radio, as it's much brighter at night than the air module. Maybe when they fixed whatever the problem was, they upgraded something in there too that made the changer work sooooo well. I'm not 100% sure the previous owner did not have all the speakers replaced too, as I find it strange a 10+ year old car still has it's original speakers, and none of them are even slightly damaged. They sound brand new!

Are these original cd's or copies? Pioneer does not seem to like copies, is why I asked.

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Amen! And well spoken. North Carolina has been hit hard by this war, as we're mostly military with Ft. Bragg, LeJune, Pope, Havlock and a couple others. But yet you go into those towns...those towns that are nothing more than a half a dozen stop lights surrounding a military base....and ask them what they think about all of this...well...I'll tell you what they say. They say "I'm probably going to lose my business, home and wife/husband...but these colors do not run". It's amazing to see, and especially to meet, a person with his/her back against wall, with nothing left to loose and mouths to feed that harbors that same anger, that same feeling of panic to address a problem, that we all had back in 2001. I'm honestly not trying to spread a political view, and please don't take my avatar into consideration. All I'm saying is to please find a hole-in-the-wall breakfast house in your neck of the woods that serves a military base, and go there on some random Sunday...drink your coffee....and just listen. Eat the "special", read the paper, and listen to those around you. You'll be amazed...trust me....you'll be amazed!

I just wanted to say thank you and GOD BLESS those ole' boys and girls who make this possible....the United States/BRITISH/ETC... Armed Forces. For if you read this with sand in your teeth an wonder if your home questions you??...well don't....because we all remember and live by that feeling we had...and still have...back on that sunny/foggy/hot/warm/clear/happy/sad/birthday"me"/proud/embarrased/love-makin'/ Thursday morning back in 2001. And if you ever think we don't support you, or don't think we respect you...well, yet again...DON'T!

For all the B/S on the airwaves, and for all the RESPECTED opinions out there about these modern times. I beg you to just accept this random posting on some random car website as proof to our loyalty to the fact that WE WE WE WE WE WE WE WE WE WE WE WE WE WE WE WE WE RESPECT YOU!!! and... WE WE WE WE WE WE WE WE.....won't dishonor your fallen protectors with our STARBUCK's Monday morning quarterback horse*BLEEP*. Some of us might not like war, and that is human. Some of us might be too quick to flip off the safety, and that too is human...and more like me. But for those Seals, for those Rangers, for those Shadows...and especially for those Lejune boys out there...well...Toby's still has 23 hotties, and 1 ugly......and she's waiting for you to honor that marriage proposal right before deployment!!! Keep the sand above, anger below, and focus right on the laser marker.

I wish you a merry chirstmas, gunslingers! And I thank you!!!!

Oh, and those from Jax....semper.... ILM is waiting!!!!

Guys......let's kill this, or at least move it. it's all personal opinion and we've hijacked the original question. kill this thing Steve.

Jc, that brings up an excellent point for Max!! Max, are you in "Auto" mode when doing this in the morning? I didn't even think about that. If you're in Auto, then no, I don't think it will start blowing air at all until it knows it's going to be warm air. If you are in Manual mode, then it should work no matter what, like normal. I didn't even think about Auto, as I never use it.

Hahahaha!! We might get a little wind-burn here and there "granted it's at 140 mph!", but we don't get frost bite!

Yeah I can see where being a motorcycle fan could make winter draaaaagggg on and on!

I've never not had at least the air blow in the car when cold. Now I've had the a/c hold things up when selected, but never happened when a/c not selected. However Max, I have had a few funny glitches here and there where the defrost wouldn't engage and so forth right off the bat, but came on later. I wouldn't worry about it. I've got a feeling messing with the hvac on these cars would be too costly to chase down a funny glitch that maybe happens 3 or 4 times a year at random times.

Ralph, I think the new guy' is callin' us out!! <_< ;)

The wind chill around here might suck, but it's got to be better than those tropical storms!  :P

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Damn right! There is no way I could survive in Chicago, I'd freakin' freeze to death!

agc, I'm seeing on NADA your car in NY is worth:

trade-in: $22,825

loan: $20,900

retail: $26,675

Your biggest adjustment was for your low mileage at $2,875!

Max, when you hit the defrost for the front, it kicked on the A/C unit as well. My car does this too when it's that cold and the a/c won't engage until the engine has warmed up to a certain temp. I think this is done as a precautionary purpose to not put the load on the engine until it's warmed up. I've found that hitting the front defrost and then immediately turning off the a/c will work. It'll warm up the inside quite nicely! Or, just have the normal foot / head setting on set to max heat and that'll warm up the insides too. The heat itself will dry out the inside, then when you are ready to venture back out in the cold to get into the car "poor guy", just hit the defrost then and it'll clear the windshield in like 30 seconds. Oh how I don't miss those Great Lake winters! I used to live in Lafayette, Indiana as a child for about 8 years....and BURRRR is an understatement!

It's not so much the problem of the oil draining itself down out of the engine during that time, as it is the oil being able to be dispensed when you start it cold...that's where synthetics come in to save the day as they'll maintain more of thier "liquid" state during those hard freezes than normal oil...making it easier for the oil pump to get the oil back into the engine much quicker. This is not theory, this is fact proven by commercial vehicle usage in Alaska way back in the day. It is my opinion that if you're going to drive the car at least once every week, and you said that you do, then don't worry about it. Just give it enough time to warm up before you start driving, like maybe to the first tick on the guage. I would suggest however that you have your engine coolant flushed and replaced now and do a drain n' fill on the transmission.

One of the reasons why Subaru engines last for so darn long is because of the "boxer" piston arraingement. They're actually horizontal and basically sit in the oil.

This is great thanks for all the info. These boards and you folks are such a great resource.

I do need a slight clarification. To reiterate, I use my car 2 or 3 times on weekend (1-3 stops on each trip) and drive atleast 10 miles on each trip.

During the week I drive it on average once. So...I may leave my car sit for 2-4 days between starts (during the week).

My concern is how much "wear and tear" I put on the engine by letting it sit that long in the cold weather. I know that "theoretically" starting the engine is the time that there is the least amount of lubrication (oil) in the engine and may be the hardest on the engine.

Does enough of the oil (Mobil1 synthetic, 5w-30) drain out of the engine in cold weather over that many days to be "bad" for the engine.

I guess there isn't much I can do otherwise, but I am just generally curious about it...

-Bill B)

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Well it's done, wasn't too bad either, but was messy. Morg, you were right, it was a bit of a booger getting that hose off! It needed it badly, the old fluid was black as midnight! And there was dirt in the resivour cannister. Question, it looked like there is a screen in the bottom of the cannister....is that the screen we're talking about? If so, how do you get that thing out to clean it? Because mine needs to be cleaned...badly. Anyway, steering feels much better now, not as watery. Also did another tranny fluid drain and fill. I'm now completely red. The old stuff was red, not dark red or burnt looking, but red like the new stuff. It's such an easy process to do I just can't justify not doing it whenever I am working on the car in general. Also changed the oil and filter for the first time ever in my life. I wish I could get a refund for all that money I've spent over the years for that service...talk about a cake thing to do! That oil had 4k miles on it, and it was super black! I use Mobile 1 5w30 full synthetic and have for the past 10k miles. Guess it's still cleaning the engine. Car drives great, shifts super smooth and now the only thing I would like to do is flush the coolant and the brake fluid. Coolant might require some help though, looks a little tougher than what I care to take on, according to Lexls website "THAT'S AN AWESOME SITE!" Thanks Lexls for making that site!

I remember when Hyndai just came out in the US, back in the mid 80's with that tinker 4 door...I think it was the Accent but can't remember anymore. They sure have come a long way since then! If you think about it, it's a little like Honda in the progression of the cars. Remember the old accords and civics? That new SUV is sharp looking!!!

It is my experience that any form of defect on a Craftsman tool will warrant the free replacement, so you should be good if it's loose and such. On these cars, and especially if you're taking on bolts that heve never been removed since original manufact date, you'll want the 3/8 to be safe. But, what you'll really want and need is a good breaker bar! I learned that one the hard way too when trying to tackle my suspension control arms, I've had to use it for nearly every other bolt on the car as well, especially the rear brake caliper bolts...them things were mothers!

I just wanted to update this thread with the answer on what the rattle is. It's the seatbelt sleeve on the upper pillar. Does that make sense? It's that little piece of swivel plastic that the seat belt uses as a guider on the upper anchor, it's loose and rattles horizontally. So, that problem is now identified and soon to be fixed as well.....man I'm on a roll these days!

www.lexls.com is the site....he's a member on here as well

It's my bet the original is still in the system. I really don't think they did a "true" 90k service on my car, just the tming belt and water pump. I say this because they didn't change the in-cabin air filter either, they just cleaned it. Anywho, it's time for the flush anyway. The coolant is next, and soon! I got the Valvoline dex III at the store for the power steering fluid. Toyota tranny fluid is too expensive to use for the flush proceedure.

Interesting suggestion! Thanks! yeah I'll warm up the engine then tomorrow before I do it, or at least use a hair dryer and heat up that part. It's time for a flush as the steering is real rubbery and sluggish now on those cold mornings. Plus, it's a dirty brown color and has 25k on it from the 90k service back in May 04. I'm also going to drain the oil, filter and do another 2 quart tranny drain and fill. Figure I got all these dang tools laying around from the suspension part replacements, might as well use them. Plus, I'm so freakin' paranoid someone will strip out the threads on the lower oil pan again that I just don't feel comfortable with letting anyone else do it anymore. I always feel like a pest hawk-eyeing the mechanic at wal-mart these days.

Probably so, but wanted to check.....is the proceedure on Lexls website to flush the power steering fluid the same proceedure to use on the Gen 2 models? His is for Gen 1, but I would assume same engine...same proceedure and same fluid measurements and so forth. I'm gonna try and do it tomorrow.

Army, actually they split them into two recently, one dedicated to just toyota and dedicated to just lexus, but same company. It confused the hell out of me last week!

I doubt he does either. I just find it funny that when his success is mentioned in the press, it sometimes has "...not bad for a college drop-out" next to it. That would bother me personally, but that's just my nature in general. I don't care for those who praise my success with a negative reflection on it like that. Just my opinion. I'm sure he doesn't lose any sleep about it...but I would.

I have heard that letting your car just sit there while idling can actually accelerate your cataletic converter to fail sooner.