VBdenny

I had my car over to the local Toyota dealer today where a friend is service manager. He had my AC checked out by a Lexus certified tech and he confirmed that my compressor had indeed gone south. He said he will have an exact price to replace it but said it involves around 12 hours of labor plus parts. This will probably put the repair around $2K+ which I am not going to put into this car. Since I have other vehicles, I just won't drive this much during summer months. Rather disappointing since everything else on the car is perfect.

I would claybar the car well. Rather than follow the directions on the clay, I use a bucket of very clean water with car wash soap added. I then use one of the fuzzy wash pads which makes the clay easier to hold. On black it is very important to clay first as it removes any imperfections and old wax and makes the paint like glass. I doubt you need to use any paint cleaner but you should clean the entire car with detailing spray and a MF towel before waxing. Then lay on a couple nice coats of quality wax. I use a wax called Collinite #845 Insultor Wax. It isn't exactly car wax as it was developed for treating high tension power wires and connectors, but it last a very, very long time. I always finish by rubbing the car down with McGuires Ultimate Detailer. My wife had a black car for awhile and after that, I said no more black cars. They look fantastic when clean but it is very difficult to keep black clean.

One of my headlamps on my 90LS got mositure inside. I think it was a result of me improperly installing a new bulb and then driving in rain. I removed the headlight assembly, dumped rubbing alcohol inside and swished it around and then dumped it out. A hairdryer completed the job and then I put it back together with the bulb properly installed and it is fine now.

Gotta love a happy ending. Nice repair job. Any chance you took pictures?

I have found the Lexus dealers to love using terms for parts that nobody else much understands. I am guessing that it is a royal pain to remove and replace these mirrors. When some dipweed karate chopped the mirror on my daughter's car, I replaced it and it wasn't bad but she had manual adjust mirrors.

use an impact screwdriver. They are quite inexpensive and work wonders for removing stuck screws.

I was at the junkyard last Friday and they had a 90 LS400 which had the engine partially disassembled. The intake manifold was off so you could see the starter location. Naturally, I took video of it so if I needed to do this job in the future I would have some idea of what's inside. If you are interested in seeing what it looks like with the manifold and starter removed you can watch it on youtube and it is called LS400 picked clean.

Nice detail the AofO. That is a big rig to detail. I did a F-150 a couple years ago and spent 16 hours on it so I can appreciate what you did. If you haven't tried MacGuires new Ultimate Detailer spray, it is good. After seeing the ads on SpeedTV, I bought some and I will say that I will not be using anything else for awhile. Very impressive product.

I use the Bosch Ion blades. A little less than $20 each. It seems like a lot for wiper blades.... until it rains.

yeah, on the 330 engines it is way up in the front of the engine, you have to remove it from the top and it usually makes a big mess.

just make sure the OFF/ON switch for the remote on the dash was accidently turned to off.

just out of curosity, why do you need to change the mirrors?

I believe that the early V-8's put in the LS400 cars used 5 liters of oil. I usually add 5 and 2/3 qts when I change the oil.

I just put up a video on youtube showing the engine of a 90 LS400 with the intake manifold removed. Perhaps it will show you what you need to see. Search LS400 picked clean. hope it helps you

Although I have no exact way of knowing I do know that this is a very common occurance when the throttle plates get carboned up. I know there are instructions on how to clean this. I never had this happen on my Lexus but have had it happen on other cars. Clean the throttle body and see what shakes out.

My starter seemed to be turning slower and not operating normally. I put in a new battery and was back to normal. Since my battery was over 4 years old, I returned it to Costco and got a brand new battery for $25. On your car I would suspect a bad connection of compromised battery. The starters on these are pretty tough which they better be because of the location. I was at the junkyard and took some video of a disassembled LS400 which shows the starter location and other stuff. Look for LS400 picked clean on youtube.

I always hated Lexus when they first came out. I called them a glorified Toyota. Then I bought one and drove it. That was all it took and now I have 2. I will say, the 90LS drives much better than the 04ES

If the battery is more than 3 or 4 years old, I would replace it. Testing a battery isn't always accurate.

If you are so inclined, it really isn't all that difficult to replace them if you have ever done any brake work. I found the Lexus to be easier than GM, Fords or Mopars to change calipers and rotors. I would buy the stuff at Bap Geon in Virginia Beach (757) 425-7100. They are in Hilltop and are very good with reasonably priced Lexus parts. I paid less than $100 for an ASIAN caliper (same as factory).

my ramps are too steep for my 90LS. I put the ramps on the apron of the driveway where it slopes down at a greater angle than the rest of the driveway allowing me to drive up on them. The hardest part is getting back down off because you need to go very slow so the suspension doesn't compress as the tires hit the pavement. I liked the 2x10 idea but I would use a 2x12 section.

Another popular way is to replace the entire instrument panel. Find one in a wreck with lower miles and switch. Very unlikely. Since my 90 has only 170,000 the odometer is probably original and correct. Many people who bought these cars never drove them very much as they owned several others. Look at the brake pedal for wear.

I had to put one in for my Sirius. Pretty easy job. The radio comes out fairly easily, shouldn't take you more than a hour.

yeah, on my 90 it beeps if you leave it open. I often do because I park it in the garage so I know the sound. Mine beeps if the sunroof is not fully closed.

Go over to Advance or Autozone and they have a OBD2 code reader that allows you to reset the codes. Not sure about the oil cap, a junkyard if you can find a Lexus in there. I usually run my oil (Mobil 1) between 3 and 5 thousand miles and it is always still full. I think if you were losing oil through the cap you would see it all over the engine.

I had a back caliper lock. Man, I couldn't get that free. The dealership quoted me "at least $750" to change it out. They also wanted $280 for caliper. I bought it at Bap Geon in Virginia Beach. An EXACT Asian Caliper. $90 with pads (not Lexus, not used) and a lifetime warranty. Took me less than 45 minutes. Now I see that name IS400. Is there such a car? If there was, it would be sick fast.