nc211

I haven't a clue about the Lucas stuff...but you'll never see it in my car, that's for sure. If you want to change your oil, then change it to full synthetic, if you're not using it now. If you really want to clean up the oil in the engine, do a search for the Seafoam thread. Blake and I have both done this, and it has helped tremendously to keep the oil nice and clean. I checked my oil yesterday, it has 4,700 pretty hard miles on it...and it still looks good. Not good enough to not change my oil, but looks better after 2 treatments at 4,700 miles than my oil use to look before the treatments at 2,500 miles, that's for damn sure.

LS4Hundy, the mpg's in these cars flucuates like crazy. It's wierd sometimes. One day, you think the gas needle is stuck, the other you think there must be a hole in the gas tank. It depends on the environment factors, the tune of the engine and so forth. But, the most important thing that impacts the mpg, as you've witness, is the stop and go driving. It depends on the "go" part particularly. I'll give you an example: I recently moved to a different side of town. My office is 20 miles away. In my old house, it was stop and go all the way there "freeway traffic jams, all the time." My new house however, is the same distance, but my drive is now through the country side, with zero stop and go driving. I was filling up the car about once every 4/5 days on the freeway route, now, it's more like once every 8 to 9 days. I get nearly twice the mileage, and go twice as fast. The key thing is that I'm not dancing the gas & brake Jig. It's just go, no stop. I would sit out on that freeway, and probably crawl for 10 times in stop and go traffic. Stomp on the gas...Stomp on the brakes. I would recommend a can of Seafoam in the gas tank when you head out to Seattle. Seafoam is a great fuel system cleaner, and best used when you're low on gas "pour it in before filling up to allow it to mix well", and then hit the highway for a bit, so the car gets good and hot. I think you'll like the results. Also, keep an eye on your air filter, that plays a big part in your mpg on these cars. But, if you stomp on the gas a lot...you're going to burn through a lot of gas. Not like a Mustang 5.0 liter or anything like that though.

not to be a spoiler here or anything. I agree with everyone's stance on the issue, and being someone who has buried more than his fair share of close friends over the years due to someone else's stupidity behind the wheel. I must say that I think going 150mph in anything on the ground is stupid, period. But that's just my opinion. God help you if your tire blows, or a rabbit runs out, or even have an engine failure. In my book, 150mph requires wings. But, I also must say that I don't recall receiving my AARP card when I purchased my LS400 either. To back up DC's comment, I have had a few close calls myself with other drivers, but mostly the ones going 20mph on the freeway. One time, not too long ago, I was following a van in the right hand lane. We were going about 70mph "speed limit", when the van swerved over to the left lane, leaving some lady in a chevy, about 50 yards in front of me, going 20 mph, in a bunch of traffic. I couldn't swerve into the left lane due to traffic, and I couldn't stop or I would of been hit from the back, so I swerved into the shoulder and the rear end fish tailed a little in the grass. Being a formally trained driver from many years ago in the movie business "transpo department", my instincts kicked in and I was able to keep my car under control. But, it was a clooooose call. I grabbed my phone and called the police to come get her off the road, before she killed someone.

Ahhhh, the joys of watching a newbie learn the mysterious ways of LS..... Becareful Dan, you might find yourself in a few months with that thing up in the air, your feet under neath of it, and asking yourself "what the hell is that?" The next thing you'll know, is you'll find yourself so comfortable with working on the car yourself, that you'll end up with a signature like mine, and fear of ever owning anything else. I'm serious...you'll waste a lot of time tinkering at the local import dealership one day, looking at that german beauty, or that hot swedish number, and then get back in your decade + old car, and say to yourself "it looks nice, but damn if I want to work on that". Toyota upgraded the tranny fluid over the years, to the Type VI it is now. You are wise to stick with their fluid for the tranny. And I would advise against doing a "flush", but rather do a drain and fill for the next 5 or 6 oil changes. You can buy a case of the fluid from the toyota dealership for like $20 or $30 bucks. It drains out exactly 2 quarts. So you'll know you're not over filling, or under filling. Eventually, your tranny fluid will be perfect, and will not have put the tranny under the stress of the flush. You'll also like the difference in the smoothness. I also recommend the differential fluid too. The key to these cars, is simply make sure your fluids are good. You'll hit a few parts that need to be replaced, but for the most part, it's all about the fluids.

I had to post this one. Hamma' found himself a website! www.hammerzone.com Actually, the site looks really cool, and helpful.

Oh, we hear ya' son, loud and clear. We've all been there too, and probably don't care to return to those days, other than a few chuckles with the few remaining buddies that survived that time period in our lives. Please post pictures....of the car though, I don't think anyone here cares to see the other stuff. But I think we would all like to see what kind of LS430 you can get, for $9,000. Becuase if you can get a 2003+ LS430 for $9k....you might want to have another $9k to invest, to get it fixed. Don't worry about being naive..... the "women" part in being "naive about women, flash and cash" will certainly fix that... You'll need another $9k for fancy dinners, shows, trips, clothes and flowers to hook up with those kinds of chics. If you think the car will get you in the endzone alone, think again. Chic's don't see the car, they see the "Lexus" which translates into "jewels, flowers, trips, clothes, shows, dinners, furniture, 2,000 SqFt, etc...." If all you've got for that lawyer/business/doctor/principal chic is a car, then you got no game for the dame, which means you got no way to tame her bootie-game. Or at least the ones that don't have a little "suprise" to share with you, and your doctor. But, I'm not naive about women, flash and cash, so my advice is probably off a bit. You might find better advice about that on the other club lexus website.

I paid roughly $280k. That includes the engagement ring, house, honeymoon, dyson and garage furniture to sit on while she yells at me to "leave it alone, I'll do it".. good thing about those central vac's. if you're a parent with a teenager, and you leave them alone for a weekend...all you have to do is check the central vac container too see if they had a party while you were gone. Because it is human nature for a stupid drunk teenager to throw his beer bottle tab, or cigerrete butt into one of the hose connectors. Take it from somebody who knows, and learned that lesson the hard way, many many moons ago. If I have kids, the Gods will surely take their revenge on me. If we have a daughter, she'll be eating deep-fried chocolate sticks until she's 21... I don't ever want to find "me at 16", knocking on my door, looking for my daughter. If we have boys, well, allow me to introduce my lawyer, who is on permanent retainer until they're 18 years old.

....well he can't be that good, he does drive an ES for PeteSake.....hahahaha Gotcha! Actually, where Steve works is one of the most expensive areas to live, and has a relatively high turn over rate. The DC area has a "typical" resident stay of about 3 or 4 years, then most folks head out. So, you match high real estate prices with a higher than average turn over rate, you get goooooood business! Not to mention, the nations lowest vacancy & unemployment rates, by far! I'm in the commercial real estate lending game myself, and have a few developer clients in the DC area. We're gearing up to do our 5th apartment project in DC soon. If you work for an employer, or part of a union that offers matching 401k's, it is almost essential to adjust your current lifestyle to allow you to fund the 401k at max levels. The main reason why I fuss with my 11 year old LS, is because it's nearly paid off, and I want to assign that car payment to the 401k for as long as I can, before I have to replace the car. I would love to pony up for the 01 or 02 LS430, but I know in 5 years, my retirement account won't be any better, and all I'll have to show for it is another 10 year old LS. I learned a long time ago the difference between the truly wealthy, and the truly wealthy "now". We lived in an area of Birmingham called "Mountain Brook" for a few years back in the late 80's. At the time, that was the most expensive part of Alabama. We moved to Overland Park, Kansas thereafter, another nice area. The folks in Mtn. Brook were loaded, but you never really saw flashy cars driving around, just older diesel MB's. We moved to OP, KS, and there were a ton of flashy cars running around. Funny how most of my friends' parents back in Alabama have all retired to the coast, live in nice homes, and play golf all day; while most of my friends' parents in OP, KS are far from retirement, and still trying to "keep up with the Jones" next door. Me? I couldn't care less about flash. I'm more of a "function over form" guy. I don't care what it looks like, but rather how well does it work. That's the main reason why I love my 11 year old, fully depreciated, door dinged, LS400. It has some age on the exterior, but rides, drives, and looks, pretty darn close to new on the inside. My tax bill on the car is less than a night out drinking beer with my buddies. And the payment is less than a lease payment for a Kia, which should be paid off in about 11 months. If I can keep her running this good for another few years, and put that payment "plus a little more" into my 401k, which my employer matches at 75%, then the ball is rolling! 401k's are like your first year of college. If you tank your GPA in your freshman year, you'll be pulling it up for next 3 or 4 years. 401k's are similiar in the sense that if you can put a lot of money in at the beginning, then the time value of money and interest accrual plays in your favor...aka...$1 = $5 when you need it. If you put in a little at first, then $1 = $1.50. Not exactly correct math there, but you get the point...

I hate having to get up to turn the channel myself, but I'm in my mid 30's. By the way, have you guys checked out Pong on this new gadget called Atari? Wow! Talk about cooooool...like, totally. ;)

You probably won't be seeing too many used LS430 being traded in for the LS460......But I bet you'll see quite a bit MB S500's being towed in for trade! Hahahaha

The manual is wrong. You don't have to remove the axle shafts to replace the struts.

Well gee....now you've made me blush ... still can't have my budlight though johnny.

"I have Central Vac in my house...but wait I don't do any of the cleaning that is women's work...what is wrong with you NC...and the rest of you guys! J/K " I've only been married for 5 months.....a little too soon for me to pull that stuff....plus, still need to get that HD TV. Well the Dyson has definelty earned it's stripes with me, that's for sure. We cleaned our new house with it, and cleaned our old house yesterday with it, and it made a huge difference. I had to emply that cannister probably 6 times yesterday when cleaning the old house. It never even hinted that it was getting tired or weak. It may not be as good as some of those professional models out there that the big hotel chains use, but I will never accept that it isn't better than most of those other models sitting next to it at the department stores. How I can tell is by vacuuming with bare feet. On all of my other models I've had over the years, I could feel dirt and crap hitting my feet, because the vacuum was missing it, and blowing it backwards. But not with the Dyson. It pulls in all the dirt and stuff, not just some here, some there. I saw that article in consumer reports as well. And I must say, that I now completely agree with Blake on that magazine. It is bias.

Just thought I'd put this up, incase anyone was curious. Those Dyson vacuum cleaners, that say they don't loose power, and so forth.....well, I can vouch that it IS the best dang vacuum cleaner I've ever had, bar none. We bought the "Animal" version, since we have cats. Now, my old vacuum cleaner was a hoover, and I thought it was really good. It was bagless as well. It would get up the cat hair, everytime, and we've got a lot of cat hair "3 cats". So when I used the Dyson, I was not that impressed that it too got up the cat hair. But what did impress me, tremendously, is the amount of dirt the Dyson picked up, that the other never got. And, it fluffed up the carpet like never before. In our new house, I vacuumed with the Dyson, then I ran my Brissel home steam cleaner "excellent machine too", and then after the carpet dried, I ran the Dyson again, to fluff up the carpet. Even after steam cleaning the carpet, the Dyson still picked up some dirt and dust. So, if anyone is thinking about a new vacuum cleaner, and curious if the Dyson is worth the $400+ price tag....well....in my honest opinion, it is worth every penny. If you do get one, get the "Animal" version, it has more attachments, especially a very handy spinner attachement for furniture and stairs. We bought ours at Target for $450, and received a $100 Target gift card with the purchase. But, it sure is UGLY as hell.

I have noticed for quite some time now, that when I have the sunroof in "tilt up" mode, then close it, and if it rains later, I get a leak that drips down through light switch by the sunroof switch. I also notice that if I open the roof a little bit normally "slide it back motion", then close it, it doesn't leak at all. I've had to clean the seal and especially the metal of the car where the sunroof seal meets the car, several times over the years. So, question: Anyone else have this happen? Any suggestions on what type of silicone or other lubricant I could use on the rubber, to help it seal right from closing the sunroof from tilt up mode? Because, sometimes my old bones forget to "reset" the seal by doing a quick slide back, and then close motion. And nothing irritates me more than driving down the freeway, and a drip of dirty water splaters on my center counsole. I can't spell today....or any day for that matter...

I just stick around here to bug SWO, by telling him the Inifini G35 is way nicer than the ES. :D

So you saw that one did ya' :whistles: No, we weren't effected. The neighborhood was NW of the evacuation zone. They're saying it wasn't as bad as they had thought. I met one of my new neighbors last night, who is a firefighter for Apex, and he said the media totally blew the story way out of perportion.... go figure that one. It rained all weekend long, which pretty much washed the crap out of the air, put it in the sewer system, and it being treated at the plant. Or so they say anyway. I can tell you this though, the good thing about that fire, is that those toxic stop-off stations are all going to be relocated far out in the country. When it was built, Apex was the country. But with urban sprawl, now it's not anymore. There are already a few lawsuits filed by local residents against EQ. The residents have said that they don't expect to receive any financial benefit from the suit, but want to make sure nothing like that ever happens again. Everyone has one or two of those sites in their cities, it's where all the crap is stored, before being shipped to it's final destination. With all of the development in the past few years, especially the new gas stations, all the polluted soils that had to be fixed, has those dump sites full.

www.parts.com drill down to Lexus, and you'll see quite a few places, that are actual dealerships, that sell parts for a ton cheaper than your local dealership. I like www.lexuspartsonline.com myself, but have used the Hoy Fox one as well. Hoy Fox is usually a couple of bucks more though. Just to give you an example: Front brake pads. I can get them from the lexuspartsonline for $52 bucks for the car. Or, I can go buy the exact same part at the dealership, for around $110. Plus, not to mention the fitment kits, and anti-squeel kits. Online, they're about $15 per kit....at the dealership...$50. I think you'll find that if you are DIY type, you'll find that these cars are actually quite easy to work on, for the most part. There are only a couple areas that are a tight fit, and require a special tool. I think you'll also find, that if you buy your parts online, and do the repairs yourself, or even take the parts to a local indi mechanic, that owning a LS400 doesn't cost that much. Sure, it's more than an Altima, but nothing even close to a MB, BMW or Infiiniti. I would ball-park the comparision to somewhere close to maybe a Camry?? But, you've got to know a few things, like you've just learned, which is where to buy your parts. The biggest cost of owning the LS400 isn't in parts, its in Labor. When mechanics see the Lexus badge, they usually tack on a steep premium because they think you can afford it, when in all reality, they're one of the easiest cars to work on. Heck, even Toyota does this. You can get an oil change at the Lexus dealer for $90 bucks, or you can get the exact same oil change at the Toyota dealer across the street for $49.

Well....I'm proud to say, and share with my friends...... That I am a proud & happy home owner now. The closing was flawless. So, give me some time to get settled in, and then we'll have some Carolina BBQ', NC211 style...aka...a few Budweisers.... Wrote a little song, like to sing it, so here goes. Sing it with me fellas, cause you know you know it... It's a little something I call, the "Raw-Hide" run.... B....double E....double R, U, N....... BEERRUN!!!

I agree.... I'm not sure what you mean by dealing with electrical bugs? There is really only one cause that I know of that creates electrical gremlins, and that is that little wire on the trunk hinge, which is easily fixed with some electrical tape. The dashboard, ac/heater read out and radio display simply wear out over time, not due to bugs in the system, but simply due to wear and tear. Trust me, if you're left stranded on the side of the road in the LS, it's probably because you ran out of gas, or your alternator died, becuase your power steering pump leaked on it. You want to talk about one of the greatest engines ever built...then you're talking about the 4.0 liter Toyota V8. Sure, things wear out...but not prematurely, not even on a regular schedule like other car makers do. If you have clean fluids in the parts, have a tune up, then you're pretty much good to go. My biggest problem, as seen in my signature, was due to a devil vibration that I clearly misdiagnoised...see my wobble thread. It turned out that my drive shaft was bad. But, for all of those parts listed below, and the man hours put in by both me, lexus, and indi mechanics...probably a grand total of $4k. But, I purchased the car for $14,200 at 81k miles. So, at $18,200, I have a pretty darn near lexus ls400 with 120k miles, and at least that many more to come over the next several years. I have never had to replace anything electrical, except for the computer. But, Lexus picked up the dime on that one since I discovered it right when I bought it, and enforced the 90 day / 3,000 warranty. You've named some nice cars in your search...The Q45...no thank you... The BMW....you want to talk about gremlins, good luck with that one.... The MB, can't say anything bad about that one. That model year, and that 5.6 V8 is pretty tough to beat. My dad has a 85 500SEL, all in italian. And that car is nice. But, not NEARLY as plush as the LS400. I don't think it rides as nice, operates as smoothly, and certainly isn't as quiet on the road. But, the V8 is amazing! I think you could run that car on a tank of watered down gas. The compression ratio on that thing is so low, a !Removed! could make the engine turn over.

Closing on the house tomorrow at 3:00 pm!!!! Went by the bank today to get the down payment certified check... It took me two times to actually write out the check request because my hands were shaking so badly. Should have seen me leaving the bank with the check... I was like "BACK...GET BACK YOU HEAVINS...BACK!!!" Bet you guys didn't know an 11 year old LS400 could lay 30 feet of rubber did ya!! To the innocent bystandered, it probably looked as if I just robbed the place. Course, that probably cost me another few hundred in torn bushings in the rear suspension...but worth every penny!!!

Steve.... you need to start your own magazine. Real estate is your second calling.... consumer reviews is your first! Thanks for the very helpful information amigo! I went by Circuit City on my way home today to take a look..... It's going to be a Plasma TV. I know what you mean about viewing angles now on some of the others, and brightness settings. I think it's going to be a Panasonic model. I love the Pioneers, but they're a good bit more, and to me, the difference in screen characteristics don't justify the cost difference. The sales guy said the same thing you did about the life span. I don't think I would survive in general if I had to watch TV 24/7. So, now it's time to figure out this HMDI stuff and all of that... We have Time Warner here in Raleigh. I was told that I want a TV that has the cable card insert, so I could bypass the need for the cable box. I assume that's correct? One less remote control in my life would be great! I've got one of those Radio Shack 7/1 remotes that lights up, and I love that thing!! India, I've got the sound system already. Lightening hit the house last fall, and took out my old JVC receiver, and blew the sub's internal amp. So I bought a nice Pioneer with all the digital connections, 7.1 surround, and more damn lights and options than you can shake a stick at. It actually has a microphone you place in your preferred sitting area, press a button, and it spends the next 5 minutes making wierd noises through all the speakers... End result is one amazing imagery of sound! I've got a 5 set of Klipsch speakers, two Infiniti back speakers, and had the sub fixed, which is a 300 watt, 12 inch Pioneer. That thing THUMPS. Actually shook one of the gutter downspouts looose on the house. Doesn't say much for the house though, does it...

Thanks fellas.... The depth of the Plasma's is nice, but I'm not too concerned about that since I won't be mounting it on the wall. My father in law has a nice 42in sony lcd that he bought last Christmas. It is nice, but the one thing I don't like about it is the pixilation movement, edges just don't seem very smooth. I have not seen a dlp in person "i don't think", but I remember some guy at Circuit City saying that he recently traded from a plasma to the 1080i platform, and loved it. From what I can tell, the 1080i is the DLP technology?? Or am I wrong? The part about having to replace the light bulb, in all honesty, sounds a lot better to me than having to replace the entire TV when the plasma crystals start to go out and stuff like that. I'm assuming they do after about 6 or 7 years?? I've heard this mentioned before. The Burn-in is a definete concern, that's for sure. Just like back in the day when your computer monitor would do this if you left it sitting for too long w/o a "screen saver". But I don't think I've ever seen it before, but then again, I have not been around too many of these tv's either. So from what it sounds like here, the DLP is Plasma quality, but w/o the burn in potential, and instead of replacing the entire unit, you just buy a new light bulb for it? You lose the slim design, but it's only about 18 inches deep. Here is a picture of my new living room where the TV is going to go. We're having a custom shelfing system built along the wall and corner, under the window. The TV will go on the shelf. That is the old owner's Tv, and man, what a picture! Football on that thing was amazing! Check out CNET...they're all over the place, from $999 to $2,000+, in ranges of 42 in to 46 inch. Ohh....this is going to drive me nuts, I can just feel it. Decisions decisions decisions......

Need some help in the HD TV market, as I have no clue on these technologies. What is the best picture quality? LCD, Plasma or this Digital Light Processing 1080i stuff? I know the size differences in terms of depth, but what's the best picture? I'm thinking about a 42 inch in the coming months, and I have no clue what to look for. I've read CNET reviews of different TV's, and it seems like Panasonic and Pioneer are the front runners. I'm thinking of a budget range between $1,700 - $2,300. I've got all the surround stuff already, pioneer deck and Klipch surrounds, with a monster thumper sub "12in Pioneer". I like Pioneer myself, actually love them. As they say here in the south "go with pioneer, 'cause a million rednecks can't be wrong". Well, I agree. But, I also like Panasonic too. My current 27 in TV is a panasonic, and has always been awesome. But anyway, back to topic....techies help explain this technology to me please? What's the best?

i bet that thing would sell like hot cakes down in Southern Florida "Palm Beach" types, and S. Cali around Newport Beach area.....basically, the wealthy and/or retired..