nc211

I agree with sha400. Mine does this too and I have no problems with the heat / ac in my car. Well I probably will now though since I'm sure I just jinxed myself.

Go clean your room and no jaw-jabbin'!

Dang, you're old! :whistles: hahaha

amsoil is good too. Infact, did you know that amsoil was the first oil to be synthetic? I saw that on the history channel a few weeks ago about the history of oil.

I'm now up to 107,000 on mine. I'm slowly catching up to Blake! Although all that evacuation stuff he had to do has put me further back. Blake, here is that picture I mentioned in the PM. This is the only picture I've got here at work. She's the basic LS400, no mod's done except for autozone brake pads on the front. Everything else is stock oem parts. Not a very good picture, I'll get somemore later on. I was on a property insection for a strip mall loan I was looking at doing.

I agree, $5k is a good deal, especially since the 90k service was already done. About the only think you'll need to address on the car might be some suspension parts. At around 100k, things tend to creak, thump and bump on all LS400s. Normal stuff that any car will face. Control arms, strut rods and so forth. Probably around $1,500 for everything depending on what and where you buy, give or take a $100. The dash lights might flicker too. This is very common on the 90-94 models and there is a guy named Jim Walker that can fix it for you for like $150 +/-. The lcd read outs on the a/c and radio might go out as well, again, cheap fix for $150 +/-. If this concerns you, then take a look around the market place and see what else $5,000 will buy you. You'll see that nothing compares to the LS400. Best cars on the road, no doubt. Even other car owners will agree.

Dude, if that were my car, no apology needed because I'm sure who ever does own that car gets enough "wtf?" looks as is. Hahaha

By the way, I figured out what FLMAO means, but what's the ROT? I'm showing my age here a bit as I'm not too savy on the pop-up lingo. I'm still stuck on LOL.

that's very interesting on the brand manager! I remember hearing something along the lines about that time that certain bearings were replace with plastic type bearings that were designed to fail at specific intervals. this was done to move the inventory of parts GM has on the shelf, which is where any manufactor makes most of thier profits....on-going cash flow. I've know several alternators & power steering pumps to fail 40 months and 40,000 miles...just outside of that 3 year, 36,000 mile warranty. Either case, I still love that sharper edge style of the 90's! I would love to have one myself, but my cash flow is just a little too tight for GM maintence matched by my obsessive nature with cars. I can tell you this though, I've NEVER been in a GM SUV that got stuck, anyware. Not in1 foot of loose sand on the beach, not in a mud hole, not in the snow. And talk about a comfy driving position! Just drop that wheel down in your lap, rest your arm on top and cruise baby! The 350 is pretty bullet proof, been making them for decades and you can put almost any part on them, from any manufactorer. One of the world's most popular engines of all time, next to a 2.0 liter 4 banger.

agc, i'm only on the computer from 8:30-5:30 eastern time, m-f. I don't have internet at the house. So if I don't respond during the evenings or on the weekends, that's because I'm not on the net.

agc, did you get my reply to your PM?

Get the burb', for what you want one for, it's the best choice in my opinion. A used SUV is a major crap-shoot because you have no real way of knowing where it's been...aka...mud buggy etc... Either way, they're both going to require some repair work, therefore I would get the one that Autozone, Napa etc..., stock most of their parts for, especially since you want a kick-around SUV and not a main driver. I would make darn sure the burb' is up to date on all recalls, especially the brakes. I know the antilock's have problems, or had problems. The chevy will either be perfect, or bug the crap out of you for fixes. Chevy's are like that, either way you look at it, new or used. A guy in my office just baught a caddy ctx sedan. Owned it for a month and it's been in the shop 7 times, one of which was because the outside mirrors actually fell off the car!

Just PM me the #'s and I'll do my thing.

PS, I love the 99 model of burb's and tahoes more than any other year! If I were buying a use SUV, I'd have to go with a 99' Tahoe, fully loaded, with the spare change on the side to fix it up, even possibly a new engine for the hell of it.

True story: This past Saturday morning coming out of the bagel shop, an old"er" man was drinking his coffee while looking at my car. I came out and he asked me some questions...ie..do I like it, how comfy, reliable, etc... I let him sit in it and so forth. He said his friends keep telling him he needs to get one because he's tired of his car. After he sat in mine, listened to how quiet it was and so forth, he said "I should have gotten one of these instead." I though he was talking about an older car or something. When I asked him what he had, he pointed to the car across the lot...a black 2004 BMW 745il. I didn't know what to say :o . I told him to take a new LS430 UL for a spin. Said he was going to the dealership 1st thing this morning. Hind-sight being 20/20, I should of asked him if he wanted to trade! Hahaha. Then I could of had a LS430 UL!

ED, if you take a 98LS400 to college, just be prepared for it to get keyed by some drunk moron. Nice cars like these on a college campus are prime targets. Doesn't matter if you're going to The University of Compton, or Harvard. Just the nature of drunken hi-jinxs.

But, you'll get more, um how do I say this politacally correct, "tail, booty, tune-in-tokyo, horizontal greetings, etc..." in the LS ;)

dude, don't trap a cat, that's just mean. go buy one of those car mats you can put on the hood that they don't like, or call a vet's office and ask them for advice. But don't go hurting some kid's "Fluffy". I hate it too, got 3 cats of which one LOVES the glass sunroof. I just accept it. The tail is an actual bone like structure, and you can break it like one.

http://www.envirofixinc.com

This is a new type of service a lot of dealerships in my area are using. In fact, they're using this company. I know this for a fact as I have seen and reviewed the contracts...can't tell you any more than that for legal reasons pertaining to my job. They use some state of the art lighting technique that zaps out everything, and I mean EVERYTHING that lives in the a/c system from start to finish. I think this is a pretty new technology that is catching on quickly. I know my guy charges around $70 a car. I haven't done it yet simply because I'm spending my money on parts at the moment, and winter is coming which will help the smell go away...for a while.

Oh h@ll no that's not my car! Hahaha. I'm like Wally Cleaver, I stick with tradition. That car was for sale on autotrader in my area the other day. I saw it and nearly spilled my drink on my files. I don't know if any of you remember the little battery toy cars of the 80's called "Stompers", but that LS looked like the Corvette Stomper. I bet a sears go-cart rides better than that car does. I think the seller said those were 22 inch rims. I agree there are some nice rims out there, and different strokes for different folks. But that one I posted up...well....that's just not right, no matter how you look at it.

I KNOW THAT BIRD!!! THAT'S THE FREAKIN' TERRIDACTLE THAT LIKES TO "UNLOAD" ON MY TRUNK!

are you getting any sort of smells from the car? like burning fluids, or gasoline? Here is what I think, but don't take my word for it because I'm only going off of what I've read, not experienced.

1)Clogged cat convert(s) or something along the exhaust can do this. Usually has a gas smell

2) tranny fluid not right, too much, too little, wrong kind.

3) fuel filter bad, not getting enough fuel into the engine.

I would think if the tranny is actually going bad and you have some sort of gear mesh lockup, you'd hear some sort of noise(s) that would no doubt identify itself. But to me, it sounds like either fuel delivery problem or exhaust blockage.

I agree 100%. The thing about using the right fluid, and please correct me if I'm wrong here because I'm no expert "thank god$$$" is tranny fluid will expand and contract with heat. If you put too much in, or the wrong kind, it can expand too much creating too much pressure on the "soft parts" and lead to failure. I remember I put some slicksortof50 tranny fluid junk in my Maxima and it screwed up the tranny pretty badly. It was slipping and chirping until the day I gave it back at the end of the lease.

Anyone heard from Rfeldes? I know Lake Charles took the eastern side of Rita, which is the worst side to take.

Army, Good to see you back on the boards amigo!

Strut rod cushion? I'm confused, is Lexus selling the "bushing" only now on the gen 2 strut rods?

This picture speaks for itself I believe.

You're positive you've got enough tranny fluid in there, not too little, not too much? You did use oem toyota fluid too right?

ran carfax on it for ya'. looks like second owner was an over the road driver, they put on 16k miles in about 90 days. Probably took it in for service, was told it needed the 90k service done, told the price tag for that service, and decided to get rid of it. Sweet looking car man!

In terms of ride quality, and transmission shifts, the Lexus is far superiour. To me, Acura's seem to shift very hard into gear, and their ride characteristics seem to go down hill. Every Acura I've ever rode in felt very harsh to me, and I always knew when the tranny shifted, especially from 1st to 2nd. Road noise, well, noise in general, seems to be much higher in an Acura too. MPG, I'd take the Lexus V8 over any V6 any day of the week. It's a wash really, higher rpm usage in a V6 = more gas. The Lexus will not be perfect, but neither will the Acura. Age will be evident in the repairing of the cars. Either way, you'll be fixing something, no matter which one you get.

Here we go again.....Rita is her name...gettin' on my nerves is her game. Blake, you guys ok where you're at in Texas?

welcome to the club, and sorry to hear about your dad. i salute you and your motivation to restore the car

I would first start off with a transmission fluid flush at THE DEALER. One thing you have to understand is that these transmissions are designed for toyota fluid only. You don't want to skimp on this part. A full tranny flush is probably around $100. Make sure they're doing a "flush" and not a drain and fill, as that will only get about 2 quarts of the old out. I believe they hold around 7 quarts?? The fluid changing can make a substantial difference in the way the tranny operates. You wouldn't think it could be that much of a difference...I mean it's fluid, not metal parts....but it does! Start there first.......actually, have you checked the fluid already with the dipstick in the engine compartment? What color was the fluid? It needs to be bright red, as that is the color of the new stuff.

Second, there are some shifting points in these cars, solinoids in the transmission itself..aka..shifting point relays. Look up member Bicolini, do a search on his name, you'll see a recent thread about this. Before you blow the cool $2g's on a new tranny, try and see if it's just in the settings and operating environment of the gears themselves. These tranny's are FAMOUS for longevity! I'm talking 300k mile kind of mileage.