Unclebob9

OK the hood struts are really called Gas springs. I found an EBAY seller: ohopbob@yahoo.com, who sell them for $5.65 Each. You wnat 20" 100 PSI. I actually bought a bunch from him for my motorhome (10 for $50 ioncluding shipping), and then on a whim I decided to try using some of the old ones from my motorhome on my 92 LS400. This is how I made them work: The ones on the lexus are held onto the ball ends by a clip inside the ball. These are designed not to be removed from the ball ends. So, I put them to the grinder until I was able to get ahold of the clip and pull it out. I then had the ball ends to put back on the Lexus. The strut end that connects to the hood has a slight bend to it. So, I put the end of the strut in a vice and lightly pulled back on it until it was at the approximate angle of the ones that came off the Lexus. they then smapped right on and worked great. since I did not know what I was doing, this took me about 1/2 hour. When I do it to my 91 LS400, it sould take no longer than 15 minutes. Best of luck: Bob (91 & 92 LS400's)

I bought the conversion kit from StrutMasters, $650 for all 4 shocks. The front are pretty simple to replace, less than an hour each. The rear were more difficult, but not nearly as difficult as I thought they would be. You have to remove the back seat, the wheels and un bolt the rear sway bar. the instructions said to remove alot more, but I found that I could barely remove and replace them without doing this. On installation you will need someone (anyone), to help guide the strutsback into the bolt holes in the back seat area ae you lift them from below. Took me about 4 hours to do the 2 rear shocks. My right front was leaking, so I will probably be selling theothers on Ebay as time allows. Best of luck: bob

I lent my 91 LS400 to my x mother-in-law, supposedly she was here for a couple of months to help out my X-wife. After 6 months she finally went home and I went and picked up my car. Lots of little problems. The first one I tackled was the button on the drivers side door lock had broken off. Seemed like no big deal, but when I took it out, it is one unit with the window controls. Wrecking yards want $125 and up for the darn thing. After trying to epoxy it back together and it not holding and drilling some new holes in it to try to get it to stay, I finally took the switch apart and really got into how it works. After opening it, I could instantly see why they were so dam expensive, pretty neat set up. Anyway, I finally got it working. If you do take it apart, do it on a flat clean surface and beware of the tiny springs. there are 3 push bars inside the switch. The one is the center supports the rocker switch and the ones on either side Lock and Un-Lock the doors. The normal switch that you push on clips into 2 holes, my holes were worr completly through and no longer capable of holding the cover switch rocker in place. I ended up giving up on trying to make it like stock and no longer use the switch cover. this left me with just the 2 buttons which worked fine except for there was nothing to hold them in and they would spring out of the switch and I woul dhave to go hunting for them. I opened up the switch and superglued a small piece of plastic that I cut from a audio cassette holder on the feet of each of the push buttons so that it could no longer eject. Tweezers helps alot because the dam super glue works best on fingers! It also takes about 30 minutes to dry on plastic, unless you are glueing it to your fingers in which case it dries instantly!. It is back in the car and working great now. Bob

My compressor went out on my 1990 LS400. I found a Company on Ebay that sells Bran new Lexus compressors for under $400. The dealer price was $1000 for a rebuilt and so were most local auto parts stores. I replaced only the compressor, that was 4 years ago and no problems. I also refilled the system with "Freeze 12" Rather than R12 freon. Freeze 12 is compatable with both R12 & R 134 without any major change overs. I bought a few cans of it and filled my system using the same hose I bought ye4ars ago at Grand Auto for $5. Is is now colder than it ever was back in the R12 days. You can also get it with Stop leak and oil in cans. If you have recharged your system more that once, you need compressor oil, because you have lost some through the leak as well. Freeze 12 is about $7 per can and it takes about 2 cans to fill the system. Best of luck: bob

Interesting, I have 3 LS400's 90, 91 & 92. the old 1990 has 240,000 miles on it and has always used synthetic oil. It gets 21.5mpg all around and 27+ on trips at 70MPH +. I have used Castrol 20/50 most of the time. I switched to Mobile 1 and for some reason the car ate it. With Castrol it would get about 1/2 quart low before the next oil change (7,000 miles for me). with the Mobile 1 it used 2 quarts. I then switched to Royal Purple 10/40 and it used none in between oil changes. Due to its color it seems to get dirty faster, but it is dark purple when you put it in, so it is hard to tell. You can get it over the internet or on EBAY for a littl cheaper than the Castrol, I buy it in 5 gallon buckets. They also make a 15/40 Diesel oil that I use in my Cummins diesel pick up. Allison Transmissions recommends their "Transend" synthetic transmission oil for their big transmissions and increases the oil changes by 3 times the miles in between as opposed to regualr oil. I just bought a big diesel Motorhome with a big block 400hp cumins and an Allison transmission. The enging holds 43 quarts of oil and the transmission 44 quarts. I may sqitch to ordering my oil in 55 gallon drums! Best of luck: Bob

The good old Air shock problem. I have been putting off taking it on, but in the meantime I have done some occassional research. The Best price I have found per 3/2/06 is $649 for the 4 shock replacement kit from Strutmasters http://www.strutmasters.com/lexus/index.htm 1-866-597-2397 Not sure what they charge for shipping. If you want to replace your air shocks with air shocks, they do pop up on EBAY quite often, there are 2 sets on there right now both with less than 1000 miles on them. They are asking between $250 and $300 per shock. Still much better than the new $900 to $1200 each. The feedback I have read, rates the ride of the original air shocks as better than any of the non air shocks (both original or replacements). Do to the declining resale value of the older cars, the $650 replacement conversion kit is most likely the path I will take. It soulnds like the front ones are a fairly easy replacement and the rear ones are a big pain in the butt! I did talk to one sales person who said that you sould replace the front and not the rear or visa versa. you would just have to seal off the air lines. Since my leaky one is in the front I may just go that route and save the rear for a later date. Best of luck: Bob

My 1991 LS400, occassionally will not start after being parked. Engine turns over fine, has no spark. In the past I found a temporary fix by disconnecting the battery for a few hours, thus resetting the computer. I changed computers and still have the same problem. As of not it will not start at all even after resetting the computer. I have switched ignition circut parts back and forth with my 1990 LS400 and the 90 starts fine and the 91 is still dead. Someone told me it might be the cam sensors? But I do not know a simple way to check these, and not quite sure of their exact location. I can see a pair of red and white wires that I suspect lead to them. I was wondering if I could bypass these or if there is a simple way to remove them without taking the front of the engine apart? Help appriciated: Bob Unclebob9@aol.com