VBdenny

nveer had this problem on my 90 LS. The engine (once at temperature) idles at 600RPM's in or out of gear.

how difficult are the door panels to remove?

I'll go with the vacuume leak theory as offered by threadcutter. You know the starter is okay because it starts. Man, there are a lot of vacuum and elctrical lines around and one off or damaged would do this. Replacing a starter is a pretty big deal on these cars, not like the old days.

We will all hope they were right. Be careful.

I think I would stick with the originals. I always thought they looked pretty good.

I went out and took a look at the latch assembly on my 90. I even took a couple pictures but couldn't get them to upload on here. From the looks of it, the locking mechanism is activated when the plunger (part of the base unit) is compressed. It appears to depress about an inch total travel yet is spring loaded to stay fully extended. What I suspect has happened in your case is that when the actuator is activated, the spring inside the plunger is not extended outward. Kind of like a caliper piston being hung up. If the plunger does not extend, the other mechanism in the trunk lid is fooled into thinking it should be locked. I would need to read more on how it operates to better understand. Someone with an shop manual would have that information. Now the solution is much more difficult. Getting inside the trunk will be of now help. Spraying fluids into the lock cylinder won't hurt but I doubt it will help.

that is a pretty serious thing to have happen. I have never heard of that before and don't like the sounds of it at all. Fill us in on details when you find out why.

you didn't happen to get a price on the flow control valve did you?

scumbags? who was that, the dude that programmed your computer? I go out to the local junkyard once in awhile. I f I see anything I'll let you know but I almost never see any Lexus in there. There is another junkyard called Oceana Salvage (in VaBeach) that had an 93 LS about 8 mos ago. They have pretty slow turnover there as it is an old style junkyard so it may still be there. Hey kewl, do tell more about the tail light incident

My wife called me one time all upset because the key wouldn't turn in the ignition. First, I told her NOT to break it off trying, then I asked her if the wheels were turned. They were as she had turned into a corner parking spot. I told her to pull hard on the wheel while turning the key. Yeah, I listened to a lot of whining that it wasn't working, and it took her several tries (and some excellent ocaching as well) but it worked and the powerful 4.oL surged to life. At this piont I suggested she always straighten the wheel when parking. She did, and that, was that. Takes a lot of muscle to turn these with no PS.

I had the same type of wear when I bought the car. I replaced the from torsion struts and it has been good ever since. The Lexus dealer told my the from upper control arms (wishbone) was "weak" but didn't need to be replaced. I have never had any problem since and the car tracts great. I have a lot of videos of me driving it on youtube so if you're bored ever... By the way, the same Lexus dealer told me not to replace the struts and shocks as they should last the life of the car. Still seems pretty stable at speed to me.

If the key has not been opened in quite awhile you should expect it to be very tight. So tight that you may suspect you are going to break it before it opens. I worked it for awhile with a tiny flathead screwdriver from my eyeglass repair sized set. It finally popped open and after checking to make sure nothing broke, I opened it up. While I had it open, I cleaned it all out after I took out the battery. Before I removed anything, I took a picture of the setup on my cell phone, then I took a closeup of the battery. I went over to Radio Shack and they hooked me up with a 2 pack. I put it all back together and it works perfectly. For some reason, my other key has different internal parts which have apparently failed.

now at 202,000 totally missed the turn at 199,999 stupid cell phones! loved that. I remember I once had a car that was going to turn over to 100,000 (back in the old days). I waited patiently as it approached and then totally missed it for no good reason. You gave me a good laugh remembering that. My 90 LS400 has 175,000 miles and I drive it to work every day.

My neighbor just had the VSC and TRAC and check engine light come on all at the same time. It is on an 01 RX300. Any suggestions appreciated.

mine has always done the same thing but not to that extent. Like CUMAN, I just leave the level slightly lower and have little problem. I found there is only a thin margin between low enough not to leak and tripping the low coolant light. I would probably use JB weld for soemthing like that. Did you happen to price the tank?

Yokohama Avid Touring The best choice. I have Avid H'4's on the Corolla and Avid V'4's on the ES. Just an excellent tires.

Thanks, I suspected as much. Love your car by the way.

wheels, tires, mounting, balancing and delivery. They are already on the car. you have tires?

I had one of the rear calipers on my 400 lock up. The dealer wanted almost $300 for the caliper, an ASIAN,. I went to BAP Geon and bought the exact same caliper for $93 and it has a warranty. It also came with brake pads which I threw away. Calipers lock which means that the piston is pushed in and unable to retract. Here is what I think cause this. Your old brake pads are pretty well worn, not much meat left on them. You do the right thing and buy Lexus pads. In order to fit the new pads in and have clearance over the rotor, you have to compress the piston and push it deeper into it's cylinder, which is easily does. The problem is that the rubber boot has been pushed in as well as it should. BUT the part of the boot which has been exposed to years of harsh road exposure and heat conditions is now pushed way up inside just like it was when the car was brand new. Except now it is not. I highly suspect that lubricate the dealer suggested was to lubricate the boot. I would suggest that anyone who can, do it themselves and take the time to clean and lubricate the boot prior to compressing the piston to accomadate the new pads. I haven't had a problem since and that was 4 years ago.

Jason, I know exactly where you are on this. My car has a couple problems now but nothing major. The AC is out again which is okay in the winter. I have to replace the valve cover gaskets because they leak oil. My PS pump slowly loses fluid. I went under and did a look-see and can tell it is where the hoses are connected. A couple of the AC lights are out and I only see the clock on 100 degree days but that's okay. This car drives fantastic. I bought my wife an ES and took this and she isn't happy. I run the car hard up and down the eastern seaboard and it just drives perfectly. I put some BF Goodrich TA/V 225/60VR-15 on it last spring and they really improved the ride. I guess I need to take some time and read up on the stuff. Having been around here for awhile I know all the information and links are here. Time, motivation, parts, and maybe warmer weather are needed fo me to get going on this.

When you apply the brakes, does the Reverse light come on by any chance?

exactly what my 90 does. At startup, it stays at 1600 for quite awhile then slowly drops off. I have noticed that often when driving during warmup, even after the car is almost up to temp, the idle stays high when stopped at lights. I have found that slipping it into nuetral makes the idle drop down in a few moments. Almost lie something in the transmission causes it to hold a high idle longer. This has always done this and I've had the car over 5 years.

I just put a set of Firsestone Winterforce snowtires on my ES330. I bought them mounted on a set of nice looking MSW silver painted mag style wheels for $750 from tirerack. That included everything including delivery. I did put them on the car myself. Very good price compared to the very expensive lines but what sold me was the user reviews. Having driven on them for awhile, I am very impressed.

Hey, I thought maybe someone would have an idea on this. My neighbor's kid has a 96 Avalon and the drivers door handle broke. Does anyone know if it is the same as a Camry? Suggestions on the difficulty of the job would alos be greatly appreciated.

I have BF Goodrich Traction TA/V tires on my 90LS and they were around $400 from tirerack if I remember correctly but that wan't mounted. On my 04ES I have Yokohama Avid V'4 tires which are excellent unless you get in snow with them. I just bought a set of Firestone Winterforce snow tires and rims for the ES from the tirerack for about $650. My wife drives it in NY in the winter so I figured snow tires might be prudent. Since you live in Fairfax, you do get a little snow so I would probably go with the BFG's. Unless you drive flat out, you can probably run the "H" version rather than the "V". You will save money on the purchase and get extended treadware at a minimal loss of handling at extremes. Spend the time on tirerack carefully reading the reviews and ratings so you get exactly what you want. In my opinion, "cheap" and "tires" should not be used together :)