VBdenny

The throttle body is clogged. Oberg made a great tutorial on how to clean it complete with pictures. If you can't find it, PM me with your email and I'll send it to you on PDF. Very cheap and very easy. Denny

I think you all are crazy to put gold emblems on unless your car is black. I think they look good on black. On white and other colors, they are wicked ugly. The silver just looks so much better.

The dealer will tell you that the bushing are not availabel by themselves, rather they are included with the strut arm as a unit. Then they charge you over $800 to replace the strut arm. I couldn't find the bushing anywhere and they look fairly simple to replace. I got sick of the clunk and pull to the right and paid the bass yards. I will admit that it made a huge difference so it was worth it to me. Clunking and pulling in the car grew old on me quickly.

Let me get this right. People are paying over MSRP for these? I doubt I'd ever be willing to pay MSRP for any car. Is the LS430 in short supply?

Thanks 1UZ, That is something I didn't know. I have read my whole owners manual but I don't recall seeing anything on brake wear indicators other than the tiny clips on the pads themselves. I read quickly though and sometimes miss things, so I'll check again. On your car Is there a different indicator light for brakes and brake wear? If not, maybe Lexus should have put a "report to dealer" light in instead. Ha! I think a wear indicator is a great idea, but if you merge it with the regular brake warning system you take the risk of people ignoring it. Suppose your pads were low and the light was illuminated, then the system develps a leak taking out your front of back brake system? Crash! or you leave the parking brake on, and don't notice because "that light is always on." Then your sense of smell must compensate. I'd bet a dollar to a dime that the parking brake is slightly hung up. Like CUman, I always use my left hook foot to pull back the pedal or sometimes the light comes on. Denny

As far as I know, only two things will illuminate the "BRAKE" warning light. 1. Parking brake is slightly engaged. Happens all the time. 2. Low pressure in either the front or rear system. This means that one of the systems is not reaching the pressure due to a leak. This you can see unless it is a master cylinder failure. To make sure. Start the car and hold your foot with firm pressure on the brake pedal. If it slowly sinks to the floor and then you can pump it back up, the master cylinder is failing. They are easy and fairly cheap to replace but you must follow specific procedures or it will never work properly. Brake pads have NOTHING to do with a "BRAKE" light coming on unless it's something very new that I haven't heard of yet. Check to make sure the parking brake is fully retracted. My wife told me once that the brake light was on, after she released the parking brake again (it was hanging on the first click) it went off. Otherwise, crawl under the car and inspect each wheel for evidence of fluid leaks. Good luck Denny

I'm sure you aren't too happy about this. I would probably use my old inductive type timing light to see if the plugs were firing. Just clip it over all the wires and see if you are getting a spark. Nothing to disconnect or attach. If the light flashes, you have spark. I always do this since 90% of all problems are electrical in nature and not fuel. I've never heard anyone mention about a fuel pump going out on an LS, and with the symtoms you described I doubt it is. When those puppies go, they go quickly. Being rather cheap myself, I would dump in some dry gas and fuel system cleaner to make sure you don't have some water in the tank from some ----- gas station. If you could decribe the symptoms leading up to the failure in a lot more detail, I'm sure someone here will have a better idea. Internet diagnosis is tough at best. Denny

Hey Chaz, You were very smart to take it to the dealer and have it checked. I bought my 90 from a friend for six bucks and it had 120,000 on i and wish I had done that before I bought it. That was two years ago and I am still happy even though I have had a few issues such as suspension, power steering and AC. The AC is something they want a fortune to fix but it looks like I can buy a compressor pretty cheaply and I have 30lbs of R-12 in stock plus all the equipment available to repair it myself. Here I my suggestion for whatever it's worth. I would read every post on this site regarding the LS400. Once you are very knowledgeable on the problems and symptoms typical of this car, I would use something like autotrader.com and start looking. When you start going out and seeing what is available and the prices, you will be prepared and able to make a quality decision that won't lift too many $$ from your pocket. It is your money and I'm sure you worked very hard for it. Buy exactly what you really want. People are so full of BS about cars that you can't believe anything, so know it yourself first. Welcome to LOC. Our strength is the top quality people who frequent this site. We watch each others back. Denny

I always make sure I have a lot of wax on the front and the headlight lenses. They seem to stay pretty good on the Lexus. I've seen Fords that are absolutely yellow, they are about the worst. My Chevy with 186000 has the originals and they still look fine.

My Caprice leaks water all over the floor on the passenger side. I tried running air up the drain and even a thinh wire. It doesn't seem to be clogged, yet it leaks inside the car. Very annoying to have the floor getting wet. It only does this when the AC is on, so I must have a crack in the casing or leaking line. Cold air releases a lot of moisture. But hey, it sure must have surprized you! I'm not sure where the drain is for the evaporator, but they get clogged and then what happened to you, happens. It probably got high in there and flowed into the airduct. Listen for any sloshing under the glovebox. Maybe you can hear it.

I never understood why the pollen didn't blow off when you drive. My wife (who is a doctor) said it is because pollen is made to stick. She said it has tiny barbs like a burdock that can grasp even the tiniest surface. When the pollen is heavy the Cal duster only does a good job for awhile. I guess I need to wash it. Pollen season is one of the least favorite for car cleaning people like us. Glad it is gone here, now we have the may flies and they can rip a chuck of skin out right quick! Add bug spray to your detailing supplies!

Great looking business cards. I do a lot of graphic design and have made many business cards and yours are perfect. Gave me a few new ideas! All you need is a big "L" on the grill. Keep on truckin' man! Denny

Coolest thing I have ever done. I would have like to go faster, they said I was going about 140 and I've done close to that on the Interstates before. Remember they use 4 speeds. A couple of "automatic" people showed up which was somewhat amusing to the rest of us. Big heavy clutch with brutally mechanical shifting. Felt like you had you hand on something as you ran thru the gears.

I don't really have any problem with my original 15" but I do think the later Lexus 17" (especially the 5 spoke) look great. Just be careful in heavy rain with the very low profile tires are they hydroplane wicked bad compared to higher profile tires.

eyebrows? what are they and what do they do?

I guess I have been in the dark as well. Does the 90 have a beep setting I can use? Although the remote works well, you do have to be with 6' or so. Besides, since it does NOT beep or anything, you have to listen for the actual click of the doors unlocking and locking. If there is a switch to turn on a beep on the 1990, please let mek know. Thanks Denny

I have decided I will use Yokohama AVIDs when I replace.

I was watching pimp my ride or some other car show and they said it is a very good idea to install oversized calipers when upgrading your rim size. Switching from 15" to 18" adds a lot of strain on the factory calipers designed for smaller wheels. They used some kind of red calipers, sorry I can't remember the name

I don't think you have to remove the bolt you are describing. You only need to loosen one bolt and then the inner caliper assembly rotates out. PM me with your email and I'll send you pictures with descriptions on which bolts you need to remove. They are not actually stuck, they are made with counteracting threads so they don't loosen I believe. And oh yeah, when I first tried to remove the lugnuts, no way. I slipped a long peince of conduit over the Lexus lug wrench and used my brains to loosen them.

Here is the high pressure connection for the power steering pump. It is a flow-through design with an attachment for the vacuum lines on top. I was able to stick my camera up in there to get a picture after I tightened it. The high pressure line is a flow-through design, the two hoses are vacuum lines. Wll, now you can't load pictures from the gallery? It is on Page 41 of the LS gallery

I'd skip replacing the alternator unless it is really covered with oil. If you have someone else repair it, put an identification mark somewhere on the pump. Even a yellow tire crayon. Make it unobvious. That way you can know if the work is actually done. I had my PS pump and high pressure hose changed a year an a half ago. The left off one of the mounting bolts which caused the connection to the high pressure line to vibrate loose, then it started leaking again. I went under an tightened it and it has been fine since. The independent shop charged me around a grand for the pump, hose and labor. I wish I had just gone ahead and done it myself with an Autozone pump, but I was really pressed for time then. Put the car on ramps, remove the engine splash pan, get a good light and look up around the pump. You will be able to see quite a bit and scope out the situation. No point of throwing money away. Denny

Typical Lexus dealer. Throw money (yours) at the problem, and see if it works. I imagine you were fairly steamed when the check engine light came back on. I usually add a bottle of Valvoline Complete Fuel System Cleaner every other oil change (about twice a year). Seems to keep everything running fine. I still haven't tried the BK44 or whatever it is, reviews on that have been good.

You took a hard lick on that. Sorry to say it's a total. The good news is that the parts are probably worth more than the car if you buy it back. How often do you see a wrecked Lexus laying around? Glad you were not hurt, you can always get another car.

I think you are all wrong. Sounds like a universal joint going bad on the driveshaft. Let's look at the symptoms, vibration, clunking, whine. All symptoms of a failing universal joint. They are cheap too. You really need a lift to check it and even then sometimes you can't tell unless they a really bad.

The car rides and handles perfectly with 38psi. Gives a much firmer feel. I also noticed improved gas milage and better handling. I tried several settings over time found this to be the best for my preferences. The car has "T" rated Goodyear Aquatred 3's on it. I have no idea how V or H rated tires react.