nc211

That brings up a good point. SK, when you say upper shock mounts, are you talking about the rubber stopper thing inside the shock tower? I remember when changing out the shocks I came acrossed these and thought to myself "I wonder if these should be replaced too". If it is, is there any way to replace them w/o having to take the whole shock assembly apart? Dealing with those springs is a massive pia!

The noise is usually associated with the upper shock mounts but mainly isolated with the front and rear stabilizer/sway bars .

In order to do a quick fix spray some pb blaster on all the bushings on the car . But if you want to isolate to make sure which one do it one by one.

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I just took a 99 GS400 for a spin. Sweet machine! But, don't think I can let mine go just yet. But I have identified my next car, for sure. I'm thinking when I get married next April, and I'm paying for my wife's honda civic at $300 a month, it will be traded in for a used GS at a lower payment. She's got 66k miles on it already and has a bad dent from a parking lot mishap.

I'm just about convinced the original indi mechanic I used last year was an idiot. He was fired after all from his employer. I'm getting this "crunch" noise in the front end when the shocks are compressed down "dip in the road". I hear it now due to the cool / cold weather. I know for a fact the control arms and such were replaced, as I did this myself. But I did not do the front stabalizer bar bushings myself, nor have I seen them. The sound is dead center under the front part of the car, right were those bushings are. And, it changes left to right depending on which side is taking most of the load. This sound like bad stabablzer bar bushings to you guys? Sure does to me. <_<

Yeah, I'd want the 400 model since I'm now familiar with the V8 engine "and addicted to it". How are the problems with the GS model? Are they similiar to the LS in terms of suspension bushings, engine computer and so forth? I drove a 98 GS300 we had on repo before I bought my LS400. I made a few offers on the GS, but was not accepted. When I test drove it, it died and the trac light came on right in the middle of the highway. Talk about a butt tightening moment in my life! I must admit, I sure did like the cockpit on that car, and she was FUN on those curvy country roads.

If I do trade for a GS, are there any parts from mine that I could tranfer to it? I just hate walking away from mine after all of those repairs, but if I can transfer some parts over, then I would feel better. But I'm just thinking out loud here too. Damn, wish I could have both!

Mrt'e, man I hear ya'! I really do. But I'm getting that itch! You know, like "ok, well this one is done. What's next?" I have driven the GS...once...and it lead me to my car. We had a 98 GS300 in the bank repo lot 2 years ago. I took the keys for a weekend, and had a blast!! But the board of directors got greedy, so I bought mine instead. I look at my current car as a learning experience to the Lexus way. I spent $14,200 on mine at purchase "5/04", put $3,000 in it to date. I don't care what Warren Buffet says, you can't beat an LS400 for $17,000 for 2+ years...period... I'm just curious about the others?? No doubt the LS is the king! But, what do you guys think of the GS400? A-side from the obvious "interiour room and cache'" ??

NC - From someone who likes to buy and sell quite often, they all look great at first, you can research all you can about the history, you can test drive it, even have it checked out. But there's always a problem that shows up that wasn't noticed before. I know you've been through so much with your 95, but at least you know what works and what doesn't. You've invested so much and you'll never recoup it. I'd keep what you have.

Then again, if you have driven the GS, do you prefer the ride? Or the styling? What is your motivation to change? I haven't driven the GS, I understand it fills a niche in the lineup, but I've never been crazy about the look, although the '98 is your smartest choice. I've also heard from quite a few people that the interior feels cramped, especially coming from an LS. You are so close to perfection, hopefully just a new set of tires to solve your problem, right?

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Yep.

After your search you'll know but all Lexus built after 1998 or so do this, its a side effect of the throttle by wire system.

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Agreed, 100%. No shims = free play in the pads between caliper seats. Got the same problem in my LS on the fronts. Hit "r", first time on brakes = BANG

Hit "d", first time on brakes = BANG. Pads are shifting back and forth. Turbo is right.

I recently had my breaks done over on the front pair.  Whenever I turn the car on and apply the break in reverse or when I come to a slow stop I can hear a clanging/banging in the front right side of the car.  Not sure if it's the breaks, suspension, etc.  Does anyone have any ideas?  It it a sensor of some sort?  It's strange because I've certainly heard it on other Lexus's in the parking lot.

Thanks,

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SEARCH!!!! Shim kit was not used <_<

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Hey guys, new guy on this side of the tracks. I have a 95' LsS400, with about 600 postings. I've got 108K miles, paid close to $3000 in repairs for all new control arms, struts, strut rods, rotors, pads.......yap yap yap.

I'm curious about something, if you don't mind me asking? My car is close to perfect "need new tires", completely oem, across the board. If I were thinking of trading for a 98 GS400 with minimal records,,,, would it be a good idea?

I'm just asking from a driver's stand-point, not a mechanical standpoint. Bushings are busings, and pcv is pcv... I'm nearly 85% city driving in Raleigh, NC.

Guys, need ya'll to talk me out of something.....

Got a good lead on trading my LS400 for a 98 GS400. Why should I not do this? I know my labor on my LS. All things are equal.

Prix, you're close. What you're looking for when you do that is excessive engine shifting in the bay. The engine will flex a little since the mounts are rubber. What you're looking for is excessive shifting from driver's side to passenger side. Sometimes you'll hear a clunk noise when doing this. This is a clear indication the mounts are toast as the torque is compressing the rubber beyond tollerance. Basically, if your engine shifts more than and inch or two, they're bad.

agc, I agree with the guys, especially SRK and the road force balancing issue. I would recommend you find a place that has the Hunter equipment. Here is thier link http://www.hunter.com/. I hear this is the best stuff on the market, and most dealerships have it. It should be noted that I do not have the 18 wheels, just the stock 16 that came with the car. I know lower the profile, harder the sidewall the tire has, which reduces the flex in the tire over bumps.

edit: here is the site to find the 970 machine in your area. Look at "locate a gsp97000" at the top right. http://www.gsp9700.com/

Bingo! I'm in the exact same boat!!! Last diagnostics was bad belt in tire. I'm hoping that's it and will replace the tires in a few months. They need it anyway do to tread depth won't pass state inspection in a few months "at 4/32" now.

I'm curious about something here, and I've posted this up before. My vibration showed itself after I changed up my suspension stuff too, primarily those strut rods. I'm wondering if those new strut rods are confussing the mechanics on the caster/camber settings??? The dial indicator is the same one from the old ones, but I'm curious if new manufactoring techniques of the new strut rods and rubber bushing material used has skewed the setting number requirements??? Any thoughts on this guys? Or just pure rubish.

This sounds like a variation of the "Off-Throttle Shock" syndrom produced by the engines computer. You'll see below in my signature that I replaced my ECU unit. Let me ask you this...what are the conditions for this? What speed range, uphill, downhill, flat? That sort of thing.

edit: I just saw your other posting about your check engine light. My problem I described above won't trip the engine light. I'd follow the engine light problem first before considering my suggestion.

tranny pan cost me $550 from dealer thanks to Walmart stripping out the treads in the pan itself so badly it had to be replaced. They paid half which was fair. dipstick seal went bad too, cost me $130 at dealer. Only reason why I went to dealer for that is because I thought the oil pan was leaking oil around the new seal. turned out it was the dipstick seal. Question....why all the leaks? How many miles do you have, model year, and specifically, what kind of fluids are you using? Typically with that many leaks at once, it makes me think you've got high miles and just switched over to full synthetic fluids. On rare occassions, switching to full synthetic fluids on high miles can create leaks to the old seals. Suggestion, once you do have these seals replaced, and if you're not using synthetic currently, now would be a good time to think about it.

I would recommend it, yes. The rear stabalizer bar is exposed, no plastic cover. If you lay down and sneek a peak right behind the bumper, you'll see the bar and the two bushings. You can probably do those with/out a jack. The front however, yeah you'll want a little extra room, because of the need to remove the engine cover.

Prix, I agree with Sha. One question though, is this at the same place? Sha, man you got any other pictures of your car? Your tag looks sweeeeet! Good looking ride man!

Oh hell yeah. Honestly, they'll probably take care of this inside of 20 minutes. Convience is all you're really paying for. If you've got a phillipshead screwdriver, an old shirt that you don't mind getting dirty and an hour to kill, you can do this yourself.

So what you're saying is paying someone $85 for an hours worth of labor is plenty of time to get the job done?  I'm only replacing two, btw.  Is this is reasonable..or are you saying a chimp with a wrench can do this...(I do not have tools)...

That's for the back though, I think you need to take the plastic engine cover off for the front to get to them. Nothing more than a few screws, but will slow you down a little.

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That's for the back though, I think you need to take the plastic engine cover off for the front to get to them. Nothing more than a few screws, but will slow you down a little.

With one hand tied behind your back. It's cake man, super easy. They're split, so all you're doing is taking off the bracket "2 screws" pulling off the old, putting on the new, and putting the cover bracket back on. Super easy. However, and someone might chime in on this, I think you're supposed to put a little grease on them to make sure they're good and quite. I don't think mine on the front were greased and I'm getting a little chatter out of them on cool mornings. I'll probably hit them with some silicone spray this weekend and see what that does. I say this because they're silent in the rain, a tiny bit squeeky when it's dry out. Only hear it when the suspension is near it's full compression on a certain dip in the road on the way to the office.

Hey thanks nc211.  I tried again at discounttoyotaparts and they were under a different name (stabilizer bar bushings, not sway bar bushings).  Right, around 11 or so per bushing.  I was quoted a very large sum for these bushings ($63 per!!), and I was pretty sure something was off.  I do believe he gave me a quote for a completely different part!  Does 1 hour labor sound about right to you to replace? 

Prix, I found it in the Hoy Fox Toyota link on parts.com. They're $10.93 a piece. I believe you'll need 4, two on the front, two on the back. Here is where the fronts are located...In the colision catalog/wheels and front suspension, suspension components, stabalizer bar bushing.

If you don't see it on the list, click on the stabalizer bar, then when it comes up on the right, click the option to see the illustration. You'll see a directory at the top listing the numbers. I believe it is #14. This is a trick to "back" into finding a part that's not listed in the list. Here is an attachment of the page I'm looking at.

I've tried discounttoyotaparts.com but do not see any item labeled sway bar bushings.  I am trying to find out what these retail for.  Can someone direct me to a site?  Thanks much.

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I'll only go muddin' in my 430 if the dirt was properly conditioned with avian water. And I think you can tell that I'm not a bottled water type. $2.00 for a quart of water just doesn't seem right to me. Not when there's beers out there on Friday nights with my name on them!

Your antenna moves up and down based on signal strength?  Cool, I didn't know it did that.  I'll trade you my 98 with less that 40K on it for that!!  And it's hardly been off-road!!

But seriously, I think you made the right move.  You've put so much blood, sweat and tears, not to mention money, into your current car.  You'd just be doing it all over again with a newer one.  Maybe not the exact same repairs, but something similar.  I side with Alsalih - if you're gonna make a move, jump big into a 430.  Then we'll REALLY go muddin'.

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PS, you 1st generation guys got it made on parts options. :chairshot: I saw that you can buy just the bushing for the lower control arms for like $35 bucks. Us Gen 2+ are stuck with having to buy the whole dang control arm at like $200 each.

Me jealous? what makes you think that???

Prix, I found it in the Hoy Fox Toyota link on parts.com. They're $10.93 a piece. I believe you'll need 4, two on the front, two on the back. Here is where the fronts are located...In the colision catalog/wheels and front suspension, suspension components, stabalizer bar bushing.

If you don't see it on the list, click on the stabalizer bar, then when it comes up on the right, click the option to see the illustration. You'll see a directory at the top listing the numbers. I believe it is #14. This is a trick to "back" into finding a part that's not listed in the list. Here is an attachment of the page I'm looking at.

I've tried discounttoyotaparts.com but do not see any item labeled sway bar bushings.  I am trying to find out what these retail for.  Can someone direct me to a site?  Thanks much.

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craig, i have this problem only if I try and put any more gas in the car once the automatic lever clicks off on the pump handle, every time. But if I don't try and squeeze any more fuel out of the pump once it tells you it's full, I never have that problem.

Ditto, minus the oem filter. 108k miles.

That's exactly the reasoning I came up with for keeping mine. Plus now I know what's causing this dang wobble that's been driving me nuts for the past few weeks, months. I was beginning to think the car was cursed with it, but apparently not. Sometimes it's the simplest things. Plus, and not to knock the 98-00 models at all, but I just like the 95-97 models the best for appearance sake. I think it's the power antenna that does it for me. I get a kick out of it moving up and down automatically due to signal strength.

nc211, I'm going to go against everyone's recommendation and tell you stay with what you have. Don't get me wrong I love my 98, but as with any used vehicle you will have to spend time and money "fixin" it up to your standards and correcting some really poor past maintenance repairs. Since you have already paid up and went through this with your 95, I doubt you want to do this again. The main significant gain you will get is the cool Xenon lights (although not all of them have it), and slight power gain. The wood steering wheel on mine is already cracked at 12 different locations (I also have 110K on mine). So if you want to make a significant change, wait till the prices drop and go with a LS430, otherwise I would say it's more trouble then its worth.

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