nc211

Lexus has aftermarket rear carrier bushings they use now. if they recommend replacing the wheel hub itself...tell them to shove it! They used these aftermarket carrier bushings with my car, and it fixed the problem. Parts were like $40 bucks or so.

Josh....you're starting your own chapter in life. Some chapters will be better than others. But, they will all be yours. The neat thing about heading out on your own is that you'll soon realize you have built a wealth of life experiences that you, and only you can claim as yours. Get er' done! Post up when you can amigo!

Ford, I don't know what you do for a living, but I'm guessing it has nothing to do with lending or banking ;) Bad credit has no benefits. It can even prevent you from getting that job you've been working so hard for. Especially if it's in the finance sector, because an applicant's personal credit history is pulled during the investigation process of an employer. It is seen as a test of character from an employer to possible employee. If you can't pay your bills, have a collection agency on you for your cell phone bill, or racked up a ton of debt right before you filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy to get out of paying for it...well...you probably won't be getting hired for certain jobs. I know mine was checked, and continues to be checked on an annual basis by my employer. I am a commercial real estate lender for a $1.6 billion dollar institution. I'm 32 years old, and my signature alone has the loan approval limit of $200,000. I wouldn't have this job, or even be in this career field if I had bad credit. You can screw up a lot of things in life and survive..But !Removed! up your credit will do nothing but make life's journey that much harder, and expensive. And if you have a family or others who depend on you to provide....well...they can pay for it too.

Just my $2 cents.....on credit ;)

142 in 87' BMW M3, Birmingham, Alabama on Red Mountain Express Way.

155 in tweaked out 89 IROC in Kansas I-435

132 in 1992 Nissan Sentra SE-R on state highway 10 in Kansas, heading out to University of Kansas......ran with an Integra, that got caught by the county' mounty.

130 in my former 01' Maxima on I-20, west of Atlanta

105 in my 99 Subaru Outback "thought it was going to come apart"

And recently 115 in my current 95 LS400 here in Raleigh on US64. She was nice and smooooth. It loves going that speed.

Oh, no tickets in 15 years...knock on wood.

Anything but Celine Dion! :chairshot:

She needs to bubble herself back down to the pits of Hell, where she came from. I firmly believe she is solely responsible for the need of a labodomy. My father once flew B52's with 5 nukes in the bay, known as the Crome-Dome missions for SAC out of Ohio. Now, he putters around in a minivan, smokes his pipe and listens to that Satanic Troll. A man who could of erased human existance...reduced to a panty-waste, thanks to that devil woman. Anyway, have no clue of the importance of this tread???? But felt it was my human obligation to warn society of this.

dude, slow down on the typing..... you're all over the place. first off, your tranny fluid shoud be ANYTHING but clear! Normal oem fluid is red. Worn out fluid should be dark brown. Clear is not an option for tranny fluid.

Prix, what was described as the rumble strips pertains to the torque converter. It's a very common problem on the newer models. I've even felt it on the new camry's assigned out as loaners from the dealer. I suggest this be one of those awful reasons to head to the dealership and have them powerflush the transmission fluid. True, it'll cost you a good "c" note or two by the time it's all done and said for, but if it's done wrong????well, you've got the dealership on the hook. I hate the dealership in every aspect, but, when it comes to buying/owning a used lexus ls400, it's best to pony up the coin and have the fluids flushed by them. I say this because the previous owner may have been a jiffy-lube fan and had the tranny flushed by them over the years....with the wrong fluid. I learned this the hard way with my old 01' maxima....ignorance bit me in the tail. well, it was leased, so it didn't bite that bad. But still, you get the point.

Had an oily feel to it.  Nothing grinding or metallic in sound or feel.  I accelerated, felt a lull, then a slippery slurp, as if something were supposed to be grabbing hold, but it didn't.  It 'slipped'.  It didn't make any slurping noise, just felt like a slurp.  After reading these posts, I looked at my records and I'm due for tranny fluids check.  I did have an inspection recently though, and they checked off 'clear' on the sheet for fluids (incl. tranny fluids).  Hmm...will see if it does it again.  Will be in the shop soon and I can bring it up too.  If anything interesting, will post it here!  Gawd, better not be anything else I have tend to.  Low miles and I have had a free ride, up to now that is. Quite literally, a free ride for a decade practically.  Now the work begins.  Bring it on!  Ha ha (demented laugh).

How often do you guys change the transmission fluid?  Just curious. 

If the way the car felt was similar to that of driving over rumble strips, you may have experienced a very common problem with mid-90's LS models.  This usually occurs around 30-40 MPH when you are accelerating up an incline.  It happens when the transmission downshifts.

My 93 did this when I first got it.  When I had the transmission fluid drained and refilled, the problem stopped.  That was probably five years ago, and the problem has not returned.

Try a transmission drain and fill.  Use Toyota Type IV ATF.

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check the fuses? anything burned out in there? how about the battery terminal connectors? are the clean? you said you have a new battery, but how about the bettery contact point for the cables?

question: when you take the key out, and then put it back in, does everything reset? you mentioned the clock does, but how about the memory on the seats settings, radio stations, etc....???

Prix...I will quote you on that....because you're right. ;)

It's not that bad to change those two mounts. I HIGHLY recommend buying them online and taking them to a mechanic. My first indi mechanic at the exxon station installed mine for $120. Driver's side nearly broke his left hand.

On which one? 91 or the 99? "you lucky dog!"

I have the problem that when I hit the gas quick to get around someone....already going 60mph... the back end shakes a little bit and the engine hesitates for about 3 seconds, the engine doesnt speed up or anything and then all of the sudden it just goes like there wasnt any problem.  Could this be the diff causing me probelms....its not an issue all the time, just annoying at times.  Also do you have to jack up the car to change the diff oil?

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Tex, the differential fluid is easy if you have a couple key parts. I did mine about 5k miles ago. There are TWO alanwrench bolts on the passenger side of the differential. One on top "fill", and one on bottom "drain". You'll need a device to "inject" the new fluid into the differential with. I got something that is a cross between a caulking gun with a 12 inch rubber hose. It's used to drain oil from lawmowers and such. You can get one at any auto store. You need a drain bucket too, and that's it. It's super simple. JUST MAKE SURE you have loosened the TOP bolt FIRST! You don't want to drain the fluid and realize that you can't get the fill bolt off.

Drain the fluid, put the drain plug back in, and use the injector tool to fill it back up. I think it's like 2.3 quarts. Took me literally 20 minutes of rolling around under the car. Transmission fluid is even easier. Just undo the drain plug, let it drain it's 2 quarts, put plug back in, get narrow funnel and put in 2 new quarts through the hole in the engine. 20 minutes..tops. Do a search under my name, you should see a thread about this somewhere that has a tutorial in it.

PCV valve is a 2 minute job. Just pop out the old, put in the new. It's right there on top of the engine, by the 'Toyota V8 32 Valve" labeling on the cam cover..driver's side.

edit: here's the link to the thread: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...topic=23033&hl=

Bad mounts.... probably true. Tranny mount is simple too. Motor mounts can be a bit of a chore as it's hard to get to the driver's side. but once they're replaced, you'll instantly notice a much smooother car.

You know, I was just thinking the same. But, I'm booked up in April due to my wedding on the 29th....and 2 weeks in FIJI for my honeymoon. I'm going to do nothing but sit in the sun, drink beer and.... :whistles: ;) I've also got a monster exam for a professional designation I'm going after in March. I'm looking at a 10 hour exam that has required 2 years of studying to complete. If we can do it around those two items, then I'm in. Mmmmmm....BB-Q!! It's only 9:30 in the morning here, and all I can think about is BB-Q and beer. I think that's one of the warning signs when you're thirsty for beer at 9:30 in the morning.

Any time my friends...any time B)

I was talking with some friends over the weekend, wondering how we escaped this hurricane season untouched. NC is usually in the gunsites too. Glad to hear Marti Gras is still on! Although I'm not sure if the "Hurricane" will be a very popular drink this year. I'm thinking more like a "gentle breeze" would be a better name.

Rf, good to see you back up Bubba! Man, LA has had enough storms for the next 20 years. I didn't know where Lake Charles was until I saw it on the weather map with the eye wall on top of it. Offer still stands to you and Blake...Free Carolina' BB-Q if you ever find yourself in my neck of the woods. We can swap "eye-wall" stories.

Hahaha. I'm just bored man, and asking questions. Trust me, I'm not worried about anything with the car beyond normal curiousity. Yes, it is 10 years old, and it does have a creek here, moan there, but I understand it's to be expected, even on a Lexus. Other than having some bad tires, there really isn't a thing a few squirts of WD won't fix.

nc211, well this is most likely the rack that you're feeling but to make sure remove the boot from around the inner tie rod and visually inspect if the ball joint is moving inside. Now, the important thing for you to do is to stop messing with your car  :chairshot: A little play and a pop noise inside the rack will occur with age and mileage. That's why Lexus has a tolerance call out for steering wheel play. There is however one adjustment that you could do. The lower side of the rack has a large external nut with a recessed internal hex which holds a spring and an adapter that pushes the rack firm to the input shaft coming from the steering. If you remove the nut, and the internal hex you can replace the adapter piece and the spring which weakens over time and this might solve your problem. Personally, on mine I have learned to not be so picky and ignore it.

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Hell no you should not feel bad! True they don't get their profit spread on the parts, but they do get to do the work, and make that money. Trust me, they don't feel bad when they show you that $500 bill for 5 hours of work "with several smoke' breaks in between." If you want to make them feel better, tell them that you're recommending them to all of your LS400 buddies in the area!

Oh no...I've learned the hard way to learn what tools you need BEFORE you tear the thing apart. ;) So, if I were too move my steering wheel back and forth quickly, and felt a slight gap, matched with a faint metal on metal noise, I could possible assume that ball joint might be bad? Don't say rack....PLEASE don't say rack. In fact, tell me it's normal, and it's meant that way to keep the car smoooooth!

Ahhhh...ok...thanks man! Can the ball and socket be replaced by itself, or is a part of the tie rod in general? I'm assuming it's a part of the tie rod in general.

Guys, this might be a really stupid question, one I'm sure I should know already...But...Why do the inner tie rods go bad? I've looked at pictures of new ones, and they all seem like just steel rods. They don't look like the outer's with a pivot piece and so forth. So, why would the inners ever go bad if they're just a steel rod? What am I missing here? <_<

I'm dealing with this exact issue on my 95 LS400. Last diagnosis was "most likely damaged tires". Mine has been to 2 shops, one specifically specializes in older, high mileage Lexus and Toyotas. They checked it out, checked the drive train and so forth. The only thing they could come up with was the tires. No run-out spotted on the axles, rotors or rims. It's been balanced and aligned several times, which only produces a short term fix. I've got Michelin energy tires with about 4/32 of tread left. You'll see in my signature that I've replaced just about every other possible part that could be related to the problem, except for the tires.

I agree with SRK. Jacob, almost every toyota &/or lexus dealership will diagnois a problem with a broad swipe of "replace everything" and not pinpoint the problem. If you go in for a "clunk", they'll recommend upper, lower, strut rods, struts and ball joints to fix it, instead of pinpointing it down to just a bad strut rod. It's just the way they are....salesmen in nature.

Thanks SK. So it's not really a pressing issue to replace it at current time. It's been gone for quite some time, I had a lot of junk in between the two radiators.

Oh man, thought I'd seen it all. If this is someone's car on this site, my appologies in advance. Personal taste is personal taste, and mine says "Good God Man??" :o

Saw this for sale on autotrader. It's a 91' that says "new paint job, got 20's, needs tlc...$5,000." No mileage listed. No Vin listed either.

I just finished cleaning out the air filter and the leaves at the bottom of the radiator. Question: The foam insulation on the top of the radiator "black, maybe 1/4 inch thick" that covers the top of it is all rotton and torn away. Is this stuff important enough to fix it?

I also sprayed some prestone belt dressing on the serpentine belt....quieted that down a lot!

Oh yeah man, those GS400's are sweet machines! I like the tight fitting driver's area. Really makes you want to STOMP on it and scream on down the road! the V8 is a perfect blend too. I can see where a person would have a tough time not getting to know his lawyer very well due to traffic tickets.

For sure the best option is having the LS and then a sporty something on the side. Right now I am debating what to get next, but I am keeping my LS. I have a biased opinion and love my LS. Of couse I have not driven the GS so I really cant give a fair opinion, but since LEXUS makes it I suspect something good.

Cheers to LEXUS

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Hahaha..where in the world did you come up with "thermoelastic hydraulic compensation controller"?? Now that's funny!!

Yeah it's the dry stabalizer bushings for sure. The air is super dry down here now. Really, that's the only noise I hear, and you can't miss it either, sounds horrible. I'll hit them with some grease this weekend probably. Just glad you guys agree, and not all saying "yep, it's the thermoelastic..........". I'd have to go choke Greenspan if that were the case. Yeah, that GS was sweeeeeet! But I have to admit, even after driving a car that sweet, I was still happy when I got back into my battle cruiser. Can't wait for new tires in a couple months.

Nope, it's the thermoelastic hydraulic compensation controller.  It's a $5400 part and you have to drop the suspension and raise the engine to do it - not a DIY job.  Only a Lexus dealer can do it.  Better dump that ride while you can.  Maybe a nice '00 GS? 

I know what it is, NC.  You're starting to hear things because you want another ride, right?  Happens all the time.  I'm just now getting the Mercedes lust out of my blood, and a buddy of mine took me through the spankin' new Benz/Porsche dealership in Dallas today at lunch and there was a LOT to drool over.  I heard squeaks and rattles in the LS all the way back to work! 

Kennyr is probably right - lube that baby up and go.  It will at least isolate the source of the problem, even if it does start squawking again.

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