nc211

I'm curious about your ebrake: how does the peddle feel in the car? Does it have to travel all the way down to engage the rear ebrake?

somebody, PLEASE! Go to Yahoo.com and click on the article about who the most annoying singer is of all time!!! It's got Celine Devil Ho' Dirt Bag in the picture with Michael "As$ Clown" Bolton... Security settings here at work won't let me go to that website! PLEASE!!!!! I gotta' know!!!!! I know it's that Devil Ho'Bag'!Removed!!!! Please!!!

do you know if the previous owner had the pads and rotor resurfaced at the dealership? It does sound like you've got a sticking caliper, as well as a tired transmission mount. The rear set up is floating. If you take the wheel off, look along the top and bottom of the caliper, along the inner side. You should see two, tiny, black boot covers. Inside of there are two slider pins, that must be cleaned and regreased when you take them apart. Otherwise, the calipers can stick together. Also, the brake piston, has a rubber seat and boot cover. Several LS owners have had to replaced these seats and covers. After a while, they wear out, and cause the piston to actually stick. That is not uncommon, but it does usually show up on the fronts, before the backs. Another possibility, if the pads weren't done at the dealership, is that they're way too small, and they're very much out of line inside of the caliper seats, causing them to not just wiggle ever so slightly, but actually shift and pinch against the rotor. There are two kits for the pads that Toyota uses. One is called the Fitment Kit, which is a few clips and pins to hold the pads still. The other is the anti-squel kit, which are two, thin, pad clips that go over the back of the pads. One is black and covered in rubber that is greased and sandwiched between the pad, and the outter metal pad, which takes the pressure of the piston. I think the key here, is to know where the brake job was done.

*******CHECK THE BLACK WIRE IN THE TRUNK FIRST********** Do this before you do anything else. You have to get the old fluid out of the tranny and replaced with genuine toyota fluid, one way or the other. You can drop the pan and clean the filter now, or later. I think later, after you've run clean toyota fluid through the tranny and given it a chance to flush out any particles into the filter. Then, drop the pan-clean the pan-clean the filter-and replace the fluid with the amount you lost during the removal of the pan. I believe you'll probably lose about 2 to 3 quarts when you drop the pan. Draining it takes out 2 quarts, so figure another 1/2 to 1 quart dripping down from the tranny while you have the pan off. To answer you question though about the entire case, or 2 quarts a day... I would think either way would be ok. The day between drain n' fill might allow the new fluid more time to clean up whatever is in there. But, you do want the car to sit for a little bit to cool off before you get under it. The exhaust pipes, especially the cat-converters around the tranny pan, get HOT.

Ok, first thing to do, to avoid any possible wild goose chasing..... open your trunk.... look along the hinges.... find a tiny black wire around the hinge area.... make sure it's not broken or the insulation isn't shaved & exposing the wire itself. That little black wire is the #1 cause of wierd things with the transmission and lighting "brake lights, reverse lights, etc..". After that, and if the wire is in good shape, then it's time to get that generic fluid out of the tranny, pronto. Swing by your local Toyota dealership with a $50 and buy a case of toyota tranny fluid. Trust me, you want the case. Also, buy yourself a couple transmission pan crush washers, the counter guy will know exactly what you need. Don't go to the Lexus dealer, you'll pay 30% more the exact same thing. HINT: Buy the tranny fluid first, without telling him you have a Lexus. Some Toyota dealers have gotten wise to this, and will put a $5 surcharge on your bill for Lexus parts/service. The one here in Durham, NC, does this. Now, go home, put the car on ramps, crawl under it, and find the transmission pan. It is located in the center of the car, right under the center counsol. You'll see a drain bolt. Open it up, and let it drain. It should drain 2 quarts...but with generic in there, there's no telling. When it's done draining, put the plug back on with new crush washer. Get a long necked funnel, and fill the car up with exactly 2 quarts "case comes with 10 individual quarts". When done, take a gentle spin around the block, to get the fluids mixing and cycling. Then do this again. You want your transmission fluid to be cherry red, like the stuff in the bottle. That is the easiest way. I've never dropped the pan on mine, so I can't give you any advice on how to do it. But run a search on here for it, and you should find some threads with pictures of it. I agree with Jeff about the soleniod #2 sticking. But you might be able to free it up with some genuine toyota fluid, might.

Possibility is that the transmission mount is in need of replacement. They're a V type shape, and when you go forward, the torque put the pressure on one side, and when in reverse, the torque shifts over to the other side. If the other side is bad, the rubber insulation will fail and cause two metal parts of the mount to touch, which will allow noise and vibrations to come up through the frame. Since you say it feels as though it's right under the center of the car, maybe a little further back, I'd say check it out. The tranny mount is located in that specific area. www.lexuspartsonline.com is one of many great resources to buy your oem parts online, and save some significant money. Buy the part, and take it to an indi mechanic for replacement, shouldn't take them more than 30 minutes to do it. Part is about $30-$40 bucks, i believe. It's under the "engine" section, and is called "the rear mount". Front mount is the engine mount, which require two. Brakes..... Do you hear or feel a click noise when you first apply the brakes in the new direction? For example: put the car in reverse, start backing up and press the brakes...do you hear or feel a click from them? Same for forwards... Only happens the first time you apply the brakes. If so, it is doubtfull the previous owner put on oem pads, but rather instead used aftermarket pads. Some aftermarket pads don't sit completely perfect in the caliper, and will wiggle every now and then "click noise". Nothing wrong with it, but if you don't know what it is, it can spoke you. Additionally, the aftermarket pads, depending on what was used, can sometimes create a humming noise sensation, but will most likely fade away as they seat themselves on the newly surfaced rotor. But my bet, since you can hear the noise inside, but not outside, and you hear it under the center of the car, is tranny mount. A very common repair at around the 100k mark. Go dealership route though, and you'll pay out the nose for it, as they know it's a common repair, and use it as a money maker. In all honesty, it shouldn't cost you more than $150 max if you buy online and take it to an indi. Or, if you're a DIY type, just do a search on here for transmission mount and learn how to do it yourself, as it is very easy to do! You do need a floor jack though to lift up the transmission a little, to get the old out and new in. Then, from there, it's two bolts, and done.

i believe he knew of the title condition prior to purchase, right lextuned? If not, screw going to the dealership, call a lawyer and take him the disclosure statement that should be part of your paperwork indicating a clean title and no damage "to thier knowledge" to the car....and make them EAT it! Honestly, I think you paid a little on the high side, but probably not by much, maybe $1,500.

2rotor, I think you're the first guy I've seen on here that's used the seafoam tranny stuff. I've been quite curious of that stuff, in particular, getting it out of the system when you're done. Do you have the tranny flushed of all quarts when you change your fluid? If it's anything like the engine stuff, I'm sure it produces great results!

motor mounts really have nothing to do with a slipping transmission. It sounds like to me that your fluid is old and ready to be replaced. Use genuine toyota iv fluild, don't let some jiffy lube do the proceedure. Or, search for the drain n' fill proceedure, as it's been covered numerous times. Before you go buying expensive parts, start with the fluid first. The number 1 thing to bringing back a LS400 to near-new operational performance....is simply fluid.

First thing I'd do is hit that wheel with some high pressure water, like in those car wash bays where you was the car with the water gun. You might just have picked up a rock or something and it's stuck between the rotor and backing plate. If not, then I'd suspect a sticking caliper has your pads riding against the rotor, probably has been that way for a while, and has worn down one of your pads to the point where the medal aspects are hitting the rotor with the bending of the car during the turn. I'd snoop around back there before you buy anything.... Have you tried put the car in reverse and doing a few right circles while you're applying the brakes? Might dislodge whatever is stuck in there, if indeed something is stuck? How does your e-brake feel? Might have a rock stuck inside the rotor crown where the ebrake pads are, and it's dragging as well?

Ralph, you got the cat's litter box too close to the air vents in your house again? Man, you gotta' get off that stuff! Hahaha... Called insurance, and with a $250 deductible, the repair shop is going to fix it. Since it's a no-fault accident, my rates won't be adjusted. So, figured what the heck, would cost me at least that to get just the parts anyway. Let them do it!

Thanks jcrome B) ! It appears my bumper is actually a one piece, not a two, so my part price has jumped a bit. after looking behind it tonight, it doesn't look too bad, nothing crumpled up, but a large plastic block was knocked loose, and fell out onto the driveway. I believe it's #2 in the diagram. it's a little loose though. Gonna call my insurance guy in the morning and get his opinion on who to take it to. I've heard that sometimes accidents like this waive the deductible, as it's really a no-fault situation. Can't really blame me for a friggin' dear flying out of the bush at me. We'll see.....oh just what I needed...:cries: One question though, would something like this show up on car fax? no police report or anything, just a possible insurance claim... I can't remember if it would. My insurance company is USAA.

I guess...geezzz. I've seen crack-heads make better decisions than that.

Oh man, now that's just bad, in a good way ... No skin off my back though...

I don't know if I would of missed him or not in the Mazda, but you're right RX, it was luck that I was in the 4runner, as that Mazda would of taken a pretty severe hit. I was on Green Level Road heading towards 751. You know, when you come to High House Road and 55, if you turn west, it'll take you to 751 along Green Level. With the Toll Brothers new residential development going on back there, the deer are all over the place, at all hours of the day. Gotta' watch it! I saw a pack of about 10 yesterday hop across the road, in broad day light. We've even got them in our yard at home, which is in the middle of a subdivision. I know they're there, because the cats all puff up like balloons and start creeeping around like they're constipated. SWO, I called the dealership, and you're right, it's not painted. With the wife at home now fulltime, the baby due in a month, the economy in the can, and my acceptance that the 4runner is probably going to be a diaper haulin', spit up catchin', suburban buggy for the next few years, I'm not too concerned about it's visual condition as much as I was with the LS. If the internal components look ok, I'm gonna try and buy the part online for the $85 bucks "$215 quoted via dealer", and take it by a body shop with a $100 bill attached and see if they'll paint it. Honestly, it's just a couple little squares that need the paint, the rest is just black plastic. Granted, this is all conditional on the downloaded manual I pulled down a few months ago, and my ability to remove the part. If it's too difficult, or more damage is underneath, then I'll just hand it over to the body shop in general. From what I heard over on the 4runner site, that piece appears to be nothing more than visual aid, with no real support behind it. I don't know about that though, as it sure sounded like I smacked the hell out of Bambi's butt. Hope it's ok, sure looked stunned running away. Why on earth it decided to leap out into the road at that moment is beyond me. I was the only car out there.

I posted this over on the 4runner forum as well, but judging by the lack of responses I get over there, I thought I'd post it up here to, for my Lexus amigos ;) I hit a deer this morning in my 05 4runner. I was able to slow down to probably around 15 mph when I clipped his butt with the passenger side front bumper. He cracked the square section of the lower bumper cover "#25 in the attached photo", just to the right of the fog lights. My question regards the replacement of parts to fix it. The car drives fine, and I can buy the lower cover for $85 bucks. 1) Do these bumpers come painted already to match? Mine is dark blue. 2) Are there usually other parts underneath that get damaged, but don't show, like energy pads or crumple pieces? If so, can you please tell me via the numbers in the attachment? Everything lines up fine, the lights even work. Thanks guys & gals! Oh, the deer? He got up and took off, although I'm sure his butt is quite sore. He must of been suicidal because I was the only one on the road, and he jumped right out in front of me at the very last second. I can confirm, the 4runner can STOP pretty damn good! I was going 60mph, and STOOD on those brakes. ABS kicked in and it came to a stop in no time.

I raced my 95LS against my buddies 87 or 88 Z turbo, and it was close actually, didn't win, but wasn't blown out either. I use to race him in my 01 Maxima, and we were tied neck n' neck. I would think your LS would take him easily. Just don't get directly behind him, cause he'll get you with the smoke screen coming out of his tail pipes when he goes over 4,800 rpm!

Honestly, since I replaced my 95 LS for the 05' 4Runner, I have no complaints and don't miss the LS that much at all. But, a lot of that has to do with functionality differences between the two. But I must admit, I didn't think I was going to like the reduced smoothness/floatiness the LS spoiled me with, but I've actually grown to like it, quite a bit. In fact, I drive the 07 Mazda 3 now 95% of the time, and that little thing is like a go-cart, rides like one, handles like one, and takes bumps like one, yet I love it. Kind of reminds me that I'm driving, instead of being driven. LC's are notorious for racking up hundreds of thousands of miles, trouble free, like the LS's are. Plus, the cost difference in parts & labor from dropping the Lexus for Toyota, is quite noticable. But, like you said, mpg will suffer. However, some seafoam, new plugs, synthetic fluids and clean air intake, and a gentle foot, you'd be pretty impressed on the mpg for the car actually. Granted, the age and technology difference between a 91+ LC and the latest generation of the 4runner is pretty substantial, but my 4.7 V8 with perm 4x4 gets anywhere between 19-22mpg on the highway, and roughly 16/17 around town. Put your foot in it though, which is tough to not do with 270hp / 333 lb's torque, and it gets thirsty! Not to sound arrogant here, but honestly amigo, the costs of cars of that age, really doesn't pin you down to badly, if you decide to switch back. The depreciation on them has run it's course, and you're really buying the vehicle only, which is great! In my opinion, if you wanted to pull the trigger and try a Land Cruiser, I say go for it! I actually considered them too prior to the 4runner, but my wife thought they were a little too big for her "which is crap". It was her way of saying "please don't buy another older car that you'll spend countless hours obsessing over". You'll never know unless you try. I don't know of any land cruiser forums though to snoop around in to do some research???

You want to drop gas prices..... figure out a way to get the SEC to launch a full investigation into all of these hedge funds on wall street that are artifically inflating the futures on oil. Then, you will see the price of oil tank, and very quickly. So long as the Securities & Exchance Commission continues it's blind eye approach, it won't matter if the entire country turns off all of their gasoline engines for a month, the prices will continue to be falsely elevated. Honestly, there isn't an analyst out there that can support the current excuse of supply & demand for the reason prices are so high. OPEC knows this, but they also know the options traders are HEAVILY tied into oil. Match the housing collapse of current, you dump energy now too, you will see big time trouble. I hate these prices, and there is no justification for them, but as long as supply & demand takes second seat to profit margins used in hedge funds, there ain't nothing to be done. BUT, don't worry fellas, it's all going to come crashing down in a few months. I've made that prediction a few times on here, and I'm sticking to it. Prices will hit all-time highs during the next 90-120 days, ALL TIME HIGHS, then, when the Presidential campaign begins to show the most likely path for the next 4 years, things will settle down, The Texas Twister Boys "Bush & Cheney" will be sent home, and the ones who've been artificially running up the price of oil will get out and run for cover, for fears of being caught. You can feel it, you can sense it. It's like that teenager who throws the big party while mom & dad are out of town. He talks all big, acts like he's king of the world, but about 24 hours before the folks come home, does everything he can to cover up his tracks so he won't get caught. Same thing here.... Those involved with the oil trading will scramble to squeeze out as much money as they can for the summer, knowing this type of environment will not happen again for a couple decades, then they'll cash out and get out, and we'll be seeing the prices fall. Don't believe me? Don't think there is something screwy just under the surface of all of this? Then ask yourself why the government "1st time in history" is bailing out all of these subprime lenders, but doing nothing to address the oil prices? I mean come on, we've got over 100k troops in Iraq, yet we're short on oil? I smell total Bull Sh*t!!! Some dude with a blanket on his head, says in some small Arabic country that 2 of his 20 oil pumps are down for maintenance, and the prices spike? Bull Sh*t. Complete Bull Sh*t. I bet, if I, a white colar worker, with my mortgage and suv in the garage, sent a random email to some wall street trader, saying "I heard Saudi Arabia is going to replace their entire oil tanker shipping equipment with bigger boats that can't fit through the Suez Canal", you'd see oil prices spike. They'd use that one random, untraceable, and unsupported, email as an excuse to ramp up the prices. Just pinch your pennies for the summer the best you can. Stick close to home, if possible, and do your best to ride it out. Thankfully though, it's summer and not winter, at least we won't get screwed on home heating oil prices. They're gonna screw us over this summer, but payback will happen....just wait for it...it'll happen. On a side note, if you need an SUV, and can either use it sparingly, or can afford the $150 fill ups, this summer is going to be one of the best times ever to get a great deal! Nobody thought the dot.com business would fail, until it did. Nobody ever thought the commercial real estate business would tank, until it did "several times in history -late 70's, early 80's, early 90's". And, nobody thought the housing market would tank, until it did. At some point, the oil sector will follow suit, as it has in the past as well. Anyone old enough to remember the 80's in Texas and Oklahoma? Oil guys made a killing under Jimmy Carter, then all went bankrupt under Reagan, and quickly! Which leads me to McCain, and why I'm voting for him. He's been around, he knows the game, and they know he knows the game "which is all it takes". Obama, I fear, could get taken to school. Hillary...well, just can't do it.

I do, on the BBC-America channel. It's a great show! Saw one last weekend about a race across London, one in a car, one on a bike, one on public transportation, and the other in a boat on the thames. It was great! A bit hard to understand due to the accent differences, but nonetheless, great show!

definitely not Thanks. I just wanted to be sure that there would not be enough movement to cause seals to shift and bind. The only way I could see a leak being caused by the new gromments would be during the installation. I wouldn't move the rack too much, just lift it up maybe 1/4 inch to remove the old gromments and install the new ones. If you look at the rack, on each end there should be a U shaped clamp. The gromments are the rubber pieces that those U shaped clamps attach down upon. It's very similar to your stabilizer bar bushings in terms of use. The best thing to do to avoid the rack leak is to make sure your power steering solenoid screen is nice and clean, and the fluid is in good order. That screen gets dirty, and it creates back pressure on the whole system, which will force the liquid to find it's way through your seals and to your driveway. On mine, I knew the engine mounts were bad due to engine vibration and noise coming into the cabin, plus, a noitcable thump at startup, which was the driver's side mount hopping up and down with the engine's torque. All of these were elimenated with the new mounts. Quite honestly, the new mounts gave the car a new feeling. The engine was totally insulated from all noises and vibrations, and it just made the car smoother. It's not a cheap repair, but one well worth the money. In my opinion, the mounts are one of the biggest improvements you can make on the LS series. ;)

dj, are you under the same name over there? I am. I've got you over there, and dens on the 4runner forum. We're taking over the world! hhahaha.. To avoid the burping of the fluids, just fold a paper towel into 4's, and use it like a lid over the top of the funnel. Fill up the funnel and then quickly put the towel over the funnel. You have about 2 - 3 seconds before the first burp. You'll get 3 burps, then do it again. It's super easy on your back too, so you don't have to stand there, in some kind of Yoga voodoo stance for 20 minutes. Also, if you do the 3/8th internal diameter tube approach off the cooler, you can flush the entire car without having to turn a wrench. And when you fill it up with the tube still attached, it won't burp at all, just pour the stuff in. I followed HouRman's thread on how he did it, which is below. I'm towards the end. http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=66369.0;all

You can get a much better deal by buying your mounts through one of the online vendors, instead of the dealership. lexuspartsonline.com or something similiar. I would caution the ebay stuff. They might look like oem, but don't be supprised if they don't perform like oem. I ran into this with driveshaft flex couplings a few years back. While you're at it, you might as well spend the extra $20 for the tranny mount too, as all three of these mounts tend to play together. Two motor, one tranny. Yes, if you're feeling vibrations like that, then it's time to replace the mounts. Time plays a bigger role in the condition of these mounts than does mileage. I replaced mine on my 95' at the 98k mark, and it made a world of difference. Additionally, for not that much money "maybe $20 tops", you can replace the rack's steering grommets too, which will insulate the rack from the frame of the car. There are two of them, one on each end, and it's a very easy DIY, just like the tranny mount. Buy the parts online, and then take them to your favorite indi mechanic to have installed. YOu'll probably pay around $80 per motor mount for installation "the driver's side is a real !Removed! to deal with". The rack and tranny mount you can do yourself if you like, or have them put them in too. They're very easy. You'll love the difference, trust me.

Yo', are those 20's? As in, millimeters.... Hahahaa... What kind of concrete is that in your garage? Is that some kind of new Kermit concrete? I think we've finally found a car Blake could fit in, after we run him through the shrink wrap machine a few times. I'd watch out for on-coming traffic though, since no air bags back in those days. Those idoits behind the wheel of those Tonka trucks, are crazy! All talkin' on their Mattel cell phones, gettin' Barbie's digits and all. :D

Hahaha!!!! That's freakin' perfect! That guy is EVERYWHERE! He'd sell his grandmothers ashes for $19.95 "plus the pets too" if he could include the word oxyclean in it.