nc211

He doesn't have a Lexus dealership in Wilmington "lived there for 9 years", nearest one is 126 miles in Raleigh. I wouldn't think the struts would be bad at that mileage though. The GX is a softer ride than the 4runner "pretty close to the exact same cars, mechanically". One thing you could do though, is go test drive a new 4runner limited, as they have the air suspension, similar to the GX. Honestly, if this is your 1st Toyota product, the soft steering characteristics take a little getting-use-to. Matched with the height of the GX, it's going to be a little "loosy-goosy" feeling. I'd look in the phone book for an indi mechanic who specializes in Lexus. If you can't find one, then call the Toyota dealership and ask if their most senior tech can take a look. Don't accept the new kid who works nights at Bert's Surf Shop. You want the #1 technician. If that fails, and you still think something is wrong, then I'd say top up the tank, set the cruise at 79mph, and come on up 40 to Johnson Lexus on Capital Blvd, in Raleigh. Watchout around Kennansville for the police, they're sneaky at that exit, about 65 miles outside of Wilm. I've done that drive so many times, I could take a nap while driving it and be fine, if it weren't for all the other hot-dogs racing around me to get there first.

I'm suprised the phones don't work anymore. My 95' had the oem lexus phone in the arm rest, with the speaker phone buttons on the steering wheel. When I bought it from the dealership, the previous owner had not dropped the service provider "verizon", and the phone worked great. Granted, that was back in 04', but even after he finally had the service turned off, I could still use it for emergency reasons (911), and Verizon would hook it back up if I wanted to, even when I sold it last fall. Thing use to drive me nuts! Phone would ring all the time, looking for "Tim". Finally, after what I can only image was a few hundred dollars in 1-900 calls to his account, did he FINALLY turn the damn thing off! Took him 3 months, but he did it.

Pilotguy, until someone with a 430 can confirm to you the exact amount of fluid that comes out of the drain pan, I wouldn't do anything to your car. Although there are several good pieces of advice on here for you, none of it seems to be for the 430 specifically. In several ways, the 430 and 400's are similiar, but different in several other ways. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of 430 owners on here that are having to do services like this yet, because the car just isn't that old. There was one guy several months back who bought a 430 in Miami, and didn't listen to the advice, took it to some jiffy-lube type shop to have the transmission flushed. The last we heard from him, was that he was having hard gear changes "gear smacks", surging, and other problems. He wasn't very popular in general, due to some of his tactics, and SWO & I heckled him a bit, of which he didn't take to kindly too, and left with is his finger in the air at us. I caution you with adopting some of the same methods used on the older 400's, on your 430, without confirming it first. 430 is a bigger engine, more power, so there could be some differences in fluid levels. I can't confirm either. But I do know how wonderful the LS is, when it's right, and how frustrating it is, when it's not.

Python, I do agree with dropping the pan, but don't you think at 36k on a 03', might be a little soon to go through all of that? Not saying that it isn't a great thing to do, and I too recommend it, but do you think he's ready for all of that at this point? I don't know, just asking. I know on my 95, I never did that "didn't know how at the time and too chicken to try", I just did the ole' drain n' fills at oil changes, and didn't have any problems. But, then again, i probably would of been stunned at the condition of the fluid if I had done the pan proceedure! eatingblacktop, I agree with the "put back in what came out", so long as he knows what's in there is the original. If it's a used 430, the previous owner might of messed with it "doubtful at that mileage though", and overfilled it. Does anyone know for sure if it's 2 quarts on the 430? I'm really curious!

May history repeat itself! As it usually does, time and time again! This is just part of an article posted today, discussing Bush's options during his visit to Saudi Arabia today. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtm...5/bcnoil115.xml "...But if the downturn spreads from North America to Europe, Japan, and even China, it could upset with the delicately balance forces of supply and demand. The International Energy Agency (IEA) says demand will cool to 86.8m bpd this year, falling below supply for several quarters. It estimates for demand growth in 2008 at just 1m bpd , less than half the level predicted last July. US inventories are creeping up. They are slightly above their five-year average of 326m barrels. Eduardo Lopez, the IEA's chief oil analyst, says OPEC is fears that prices could tumble as the slowdown bites. "Even if they increased supply today, it would not hit the market until June or July, just as demand slows. They are bad memories from past cycles. Some of these countries are spending so much that they can barely get by with prices at $125, so they are very worried about losing revenues. Iran and Venezuela are textbook cases," he said. James Williams of West Texas Research Group said OPEC was right to be wary of the turning cycle. "If stocks build up at a time of recession, it creates the possibility of an unmanageable collapse. Oil could drop like a rock,"he said..." Until there is a new sector for investors to play in, oil/food/clothing "the staple-3" will continue to be the favorites. In my opinion, real estate will return for investors, specifically commercial real estate. Single family residential caused the collapse "subprime", not commercial, eventhough commercial is being dragged down by guilt-of-association. However, when you realize that most commercial real estate investors are too far behind the learning curve to understand what they're buying into, it's just a matter of time until they peak the curve and get it going again. A perfect example is the european investment community, of which the vast majority don't understand the difference between our "single family" and "multi-family" definitions. Most europeans live in apartment style setups, not sprawling 1/4+ acre detached homes. So when they hear "subprime meltdown in US housing", they don't realize the difference between the two. Apartment investments are strong, very strong, although some temporary slowdown is predicted, but certainly not a collapse, by any means. Retail will take a hit though, as shoppers aren't out n' about these days. If I could, I'd be buying that Tahoe these days, for thousands off sticker, and wait for what I believe is going to happen...

i would call the dealership and confirm that it's 2 quarts out on the 430's. I know it's 2 quarts on the 400's, and would assume the same on the 430's, but you should check to make sure. One of the simple things that can save you some hassle. Unless, someone can confirm it's 2 quarts for the 430's on here already?

You don't have to take the seats out. Just open the trunk and look along the hinges. I can't recall which side, but you should see some wires around one of them. That's the area where 99% of the wire problems exist. Find the bad wire, reconnect it and tape it up with some electrical tape, or heat-wrap tubing.

I wouldn't get any of the above. Go with a Mac! B) I just bought a new Macbook after 3.5 years of terrible service from my Dell Inspiron 8600, and wow, it's nice to have a computer that actually works and has excellent fit/finish/material quality. I agree with Blake, and will be doing the same for our home computer, when the time comes. Since Mac can run a virtual microsoft operating system, it's really two birds with one stone. Plus, the unbeatable stability and the fact that nearly 99.9% of the virus running around out there are for the PC based systems, and not Mac, is a done-deal for me. I have some experience with computers, although a bit outdated, but nonetheless, have some. I used to be 1 of 3 computer geeks for my business school in college, right when XP came out. And have fixed several friends computers over the years with reformatting and rebuilding. In my opinion, the number 1 thing to look for in a computer is resistance to proprietory equipment. What I mean is, if you want to upgrade your video card, or memory, or whatever, will the computer's DNA operate correctly, or toss a bunch of error codes and such. Compaq "crap-paq" was the WORST for this. HP was slightly better, Sony was very tempermental, and I don't know about Dell, although heard they were pretty good. I decided back in 2002 that I was going to build my own computer with off-the-shelf parts, from all different makers. To this day, I still have the same computer and it works fantastic. Other than a virus that wiped me out about a year or so ago "Thanks DCFish for the fix!", I've had no problems. I can swap out parts with whatever I want, hook up anything I want, it all works, no problems. But, that's desktops..... Toshiba has been my favorite for laptops. Oddly enough, if you open up a laptop of any brand, you'll most likely find Toshiba built parts inside. I still have a Toshiba Protege' from the late 90's, that's the size of a magazine, and it works fine. I've also got a very tiny Sony Vista laptop, that is only good for internet these days. We took it on our honeymoon to keep in touch. But everything else on it doesn't work, even after a rebuild. Apple will be my next though, as I won't take on Vista, period. We've been trying to convert the company's platform for months from XP to Vista, and they're still MONTHS away from acceptable levels to roll out the new machines. Bugs, Bugs, Bugs, Bugs... Furthermore, check the "restore" software that comes with it. Dell was FANTASTIC in the past with this, as they gave you a CLEAN copy of XP, and not diluted down with a bunch of unecessary add-ons, like 5 different versions of AOL, Etherworld, WabbaWabba-Slow-You-Down, etc.... That you had to spend hours deleting. If you find a laptop maker that gives just a clean OS....that's the one you want. Sony, in my experience, was very heavy with additional junk loaded in. HP was ok, Crap-Paq was a nightmare. Although, in Crap-paq's defense...they could take some "beginner" mistakes pretty well, like yanking the damn power cord out of the wall, then imediately putting it back in and turning it on, without freaking out. Granted, that was the only way to get the damn thing to reboot sometimes.

In light of today's news about the dam with severe cracks in it, I've attached three photos from Google Earth, showing the dam. They're not very good, as there appears to be cloud cover when the satelite took the photos, but good enough to see. Just down stream, towards the bottom right of the photo, are the areas of the most destruction being reported on the news. This isn't a good situation, to say the least. My prayers go out to those affected by this....

That's a good play RX! For the record, when I bark about the speculators running up the price, I'm not talking about folks like you that invest for your own personal benefit, I'm talking about all of these hedge fund guys making plays in the 10's of millions at a time, in hopes of staying afloat due to their heavy load of mortgage-backed securities that have now tanked and they can't shake loose. I think a law should be implemented that caps the amount of one single type of security these hedge funders can have. They're running around the markets practically unchecked, especially the international players.

$3.79 for regular...went up about $.15 cents over night..... The summer crunch is on, and I'm betting we hit $4.50 before it's all done and said for in the fall. I wish someone would ask the presidential canidates who's going to put in stop-caps on the trading floor on wall street on oil....as this is all just b/s speculators.... ....i stick by my personal opinions, that oil will tank close to the election and those speculator investors who survived the housing bubble, will get wacked in the energy bubble. But we better pray that hurricane "expert" at the university of colorado is wrong "again" this year, and we don't have any hurricanes run through the gulf, taking out those oil platforms. In years past, during the la nina' cycle, the storms have mostly hit the east coast, as the water up here is much warmer during the cycle.

Two words come to mind.... Beer & Cheetos! Lots of Beer & Cheetos! They are in the trunk...................Plenty cold Two more words come to mind...... crowbar & insurance!

Two words come to mind.... Beer & Cheetos! Lots of Beer & Cheetos!

If it ain't got rod holders.....it's a POS! Hahaha.... Actually, I don't think I'd have enough line in the spool to even cast down the side of that monster! That would be pretty funny to see though....a shiny clark-spoon bait, dangling about 3 feet above the water because you're out of line. I saw a documentary on the history channel not too long ago about how they're working to widen it for ships like this. "I think I'm going Japanese, I think I'm going Japanese, yes I really do think so..."

your rates went up like that because the cost to repair you new car more than tripled, even if it was a used, 8 year old Lexus.

Something fishy about this radio. I lost the bid at the last second, to a $71 bid. I started at $51, it sat for a week, then someone jumped in at $52 late last night, I jumped up to $60, and went to bed. Then at the last second, a 3rd bidder bought it at $71 and won. However, almost instantly, an exact match showed up for bidding, with the addition of the ipod cable. No reserve, supposedly "last guy said the same thing, but autobid up to $50". Below is the two descriptions. The first one was the original description for the one I lost. The second one is the new radio up now. The websites even look the same, same layout, lack of bells and whistles. This model is rare on ebay, as most of them on there are older models..... If you ask me, this is the same radio, and the seller used a different name to "buy" the radio and start over again, with hopes of getting more money. You tell me guys, see any similiarities in these two descriptions? Original Description: This auction is for a factory radio that will fit 2005-up Scion Tc, 2007-up XB, XD, and XA. This came out of a new Scion XB. The customer wanted an after market system in place of the factory. This radio works perfect and is in great condition. This stereo will also work with vehicles that have steering wheel controls, and the ipod/aux port in the center console. This radio DOES NOT come with the vehicle specific mounting brackets that are needed to have this installed. New Description: Up for auction is a factory radio that will fit 2005-up Scion Tc, 2007-up XB, XD, and XA. This came out of my 2008 Scion XB (T1808). This radio works perfect and is in great condition. This stereo will also work with vehicles that have steering wheel controls, and the ipod/aux port in the center console. I am including the Scion iPod cord that connected to my 08 xB center console. This radio DOES NOT come with the vehicle specific mounting brackets that are needed to have this installed. All sales are final, check my feedback and bid with confidence. Not that I care, or am willing to do anything about it, but if this is indeed the same guy trying again, because he didn't like my earlier bid, can they do this on ebay?

A few tricks that helped me with turning in my damaged 01' Maxima, with 2,500 miles over the limit. Wax it up real good, including some rain-x on all the glass to make it reflective. Clean the tires up with tire-white "or something like that", it gets all the dirt off the tires, especially when you use a brush. Basically, really clean up the car, with the emphasis of making it as shiny as possible. Then, ask that the leasing inspector come to you, if possible. Pick a hot day if you can, and park the car in the sun, on blacktop "office parking lot is perfect". Then meet him/her when they arrive, and be as kind as possible. Talk a lot, ask questions, ask them if they like doing this for a living, flatter them. What you're doing is holding them in the hot sun, making them want to hurry up and get back into the nice a/c in his car. Making the car shiney, and having it sit in the sun, can blind the guy to miss a scratch here or there that you're worried about. Usually, the guys/gals that come out to inspect your car, are young and don't really like doing what they do "it's a stepping stone", so if you chat to them while they're looking over your car, tell them what you do for a living, get them interested in what you do, they'll spend more time asking you about you, then asking you about the car. When I turned in my Maxima, with 47,500 on the clock, it had a bad dent on the back of the roof, over the driver's side passenger door and where the rear glass meets the frame. A tree branch fell during a hurricane and hit the car right in the sweet spot. It could not be repaired by a dr. dent because it was right at the weld spots, but it didn't break the paint. Estimated cost to repair it was around $800 bucks. So, I declined and waited to see what Nissan would say. I waxed up the car, made it super shiney, parked it in the hot sun at the office, met the kid, talked about good avenues to take to get into finance, he was sweating to death in the hot sun and freshly laid blacktop, he signed the release and didn't even make comments on the dent or the mileage. Two hours later, I tossed the keys to the Nissan dealer with a copy of my release statement, got in my LS400, and took off like a !Removed! in the wind. Had to pay $0.

Well Dens, I'm taking your advice amigo, I'm not going to do it. I lost my ebay bid at the last second, at 3:00am in the morning, after watching it sit for a week with no activity. I don't have the time, nor the patience to sit and watch ebay at 3:00am to make sure someone doesn't screw me over at the bell. So, I'm just going to save my money, and keep on enjoying what I've already got, which to be honest with you, you're right, it ain't that bad to begin with. Plus, I don't have to buy some $70 ipod cable and take my car apart installing anything. Afterall, it is a Toyota, so it ain't that bad to begin with.

If not feeling it from the rear, then you're most likely just feeling the a/c unit kick on. Although my car is not the GX470, it is the same mechanically (05' 4runner w/ 4.7 V8), and I too can feel a clunk when the a/c kicks on. The a/c units on these engines are huge. It's normal.... I seriously doubt you're feeling "the clunk" from the a/c though, unless if your car moves forward when the a/c kicks on. The cluck is the slider sleeve on the driveshafts unsticking and hitting the U joints at the differential. When you come to a stop, the slider yolk sticks about an inch from it's seat. When you start to move, it frees itself and smacks into it's seat. We have two of them; One on the front, one on the back. The back is usually the one that everyone notices, as it's much bigger and heavier than the front. I have this too in my 4runner. I have to grease the driveshaft about every 6,000 miles with my grease gun. There are 6 zerk "nipples" on the shafts, that you hook up your grease gun to and pump a few rounds of gease into. I also rub some grease around the slider sleeve's pathway.

This was the LAST time anyone but me has ever changed the oil in any of my cars. Here is my experience from a few years ago... http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...ripped&st=0

Wow, that's a pretty substantial increase in your rate man! I agree though, USAA is great if you're over the 25 years of age hump. I'm 34, had them since day one. I always had my tickets handled by some quick-draw-McGraw lawyer type, so my rates never went over about $150 a month, with max deductible of $500. Never had any DUI's or other types of tickets, but did have my fair share of speeding tickets in my teenage years. Now a days, my rates are less than $90 a month for BOTH cars, full coverage, $250 deductible, rentable car/windshield, the whole nine yards. But, I also have my house and personal property covered with them as well. Plus, the 4runner loan is with them. If you have access to USAA, and like you said, can bundle up your stuff with them, they're one the best out there. My homeowner's insurance isn't but $45 a month, and that covers beyond the value by about $20,000 with coverage of anything that I might have on the property at the time "mine or not". Of course, it also helps that we as a family have been with them since the 60's. Been there so long actually, that they send us rebate checks twice a year, due to excessive buildup in our escrow accounts. I'm talkin' checks in the $100-$200 range. The key to insurance coverage, is time. The longer you stay with one company, the better they become and better they treat you, in my honest opinion. I've seen guys hop around from company to company to save on their initial rate, only to get hosed when they needed to file a claim. USAA has it's quirks, that's for sure. But in our experience, on the 4 claims we've ever made to them, the check was in our hands the next day, via Fed Ex, no questions asked. But, they're just like any other insurance company sometimes....and do some strange stuff. I honestly think it's how you treat them that makes the difference. Those people on the other end of the phone line have so much power to mess with your file, I'd be amazed if someone having a bad day doesn't hit the "elevate" key once or twice when getting barked at. I'm in the business of financing large commercial real estate, dependent on brokers to bring me the deals. But if I get one that rubs me the wrong way, I'll kill the deal, no matter if it's the perfect deal or not.

How's the ride? Is it soft, yet controllable, or does it seem a bit harsh, with the bumps of the road rambling through the car? I ask, because maybe the previous owner replaced the struts with aftermarket, instead of oem? that can make a difference in the amount of road noise translated up the struts into the cabin. The Lexus brand is quiet because of the soft rubber bushings in all of the suspension components, including the struts.

USAA, but you've got to be military, or directly related to military.. and check your fonts....your screaming at everyone with that big font!

Interesting Dens, you're the first post I've read that said it wasn't much difference! From what I've gathered on the 4runner site, everybody seems to think it's the best mod they've done. Eitherway, the Ipod and satelite radio controls are worth it to me. The ability to actaually control your ipod from your steering wheel controls is well worth the $75 +/- after it's all done, and charge it at the same time. One less thing to fumble around with while driving. In addition to an extra aux. input line. Since this is going to become the family wagon for several more years, I'm betting a DVD player will be in the future for Jr. to watch his Bob The Builder movies on. The ability to plug in the sound to the aux. jack will be nice. Plus, the ability of the CD player to read MP3 compressed audio, which will allow me to have just one CD with a lot more music on it. I do wish the unit had bluetooth ablility though, for my phone and blackberry. But, someday....