VBdenny

Craig, Man, these things are low, really low. If you lower it much you would just have to be really careful. I have dragged slightly on a couple of big humps. I guess I would just put on a little taller tire to compensate for the lower springs.

I will have to count myself as lucky with the Lexus brakes. I put some new Toyoto pads on that I got from irontoad and I was good to go. I guess I am not that hard on the brakes because I can go 25-30K miles on a set of pads and still have a little meat left. I may look into the the Brembo brakes in the future so cool guy let me know.

Dump a bottle of Valoline Complete Fuel System Cleaner in the tank. It will cost you about $10 a bottle and I would put in 2 then fill it up. Worst case scenario is that you are out $20 and have a clean fuel system.

Luckily I bought a 30lb. conatiner of R-12 at Costco about 12 years ago. I think it was $119.

Makes me glad that I don't tkae mine through automatic car washes. Sure looks to me like you will need a repaint. Maybe someone just sprayed a clearcoat over the old paint and that is why if came off so easily?

Probably the transmitter in the key has gone bad. I put a new battery in both of mine and cleaned them out while they were open.

just make sure you have the gas cap on tight. I know if they are not secured that it can turn on the light

It is going somewhere. If it is a headgasket leak, it could leak into the combustion chamber, or into the oil. I doubt it is a headgasket though. Have you noticed any fogging off the inside of the windows?

I don't know if they have Interstates in Sweden but if they do, take that LS out and do a little speed run. When you are cruising along at 100mph you will know why it is such a great car. Rock steady.

Having been hit more times than Joe Lewis myself, I can understand. Looks like your Lex is all done but at least your future wife is alive so the Lexus did it's last job well. As much as we love these cars, you can replace them with money. Sue them! I wish you both the best.

Am I correct in understanding that you can replace the upper control arm bushings with these as opposed to replacing the whole control arm assembly?

My LS has always put out great heat, never a problem. Now my AC is another issue.

NC, are you saying that when you drain the tranny pan via the drain bolt that exactly 2 quarts comes out each time? I do like your idea since most places yuou would take the car to have this done simply do the same thing you have been doing but only once. Where is the cheapest place to get the Toyoto transmission fluid?

Agent 99, I have always thought they should make giant sized ziplock bags. You could seal snowmobiles, tractors and all kinds of things in them. My 1990 LS has often fooled people into thinking it is new. I usually have to show them the registration to get them to believe it is 16 years old. They do wear well. My brother has a 96 Saab with around 200,000 miles on it and it still runs great. The only big problem he has had is with the AC. He swears the Saab is a great car

We had a couple of instances where our LS didn't start. Usually at the airport after "someone" left an interior light on or something. Let me tell you cool, these cars are very hard to jumpstart. The jumper truck tried the jumper battery, click. Then he hooked it up directly to his truck battery and a slight groan. Waited quite a while and then a slow crank and start. I am not sure why but in both cases, it was really hard to jump. Even though the battery tested perfectly twice, I replaced it and hav not had another problem. That was a little over a year ago and now the car just sits in the garage most of the time. I only take it out once in a while during nice weather to go racing.

My wife just got a 2006 Chrysler 300 with every goody except the hemi. It is rated at 250HP, the same as my 1990 LS. No comparision, the 16 year old Lexus drives better and certainly has more horsepower than the "screaming six" in the 300 Limited. There is something to be said for that I guess.

Any of the above could be correct, add a failing fan motor to the list. Sometimes they suck in a leave of pin needles which cause a real drag on the fan motor. Normally they probably don't draw enough current to have the RPM's make any difference but when they are full of trash? I have found all kinds of thing s in them. Maybe someone knows if they are easy to get to. I doubt it, but if you cleaned it out it might end up being a free fix. I'll watch to see what the verdict is. Good luck.

Hey SK Man, your LS looks absolutely great, what a sweet ride. I thought I was the only one who didn't like pushing down on the paint to close the trunk. I had a Cadillac years ago that would close the trunk for you. Hey one thing, is that a little dent under the right rear of your back end? Thanx for the pix

Education is your best investment. Between my wife an I we have 6 college degrees. That is the main reason I am even on this board. Driving a Lexus sure beats driving a Malibu.

I had my LS400 up to 130mph on I-80 near the Delaware Water Gap. I was amazed that the car was completely smooth, like going 70. The car had a lot left but I was a CS and backed off. I knew my tires are "T" rated and a buck twenty is about the limit.,

The way I see it is that with a rear wheel drive vehicle you can control the actions of both the front and rear tires. On a FWD car you sure can get going better, no doubt, you just do not have as much control as RWD cars. Of course AWD is the best way to go. A note on snowtires, true snow tires use gradual compounds in the tires. The first half of the tread is a silicon based tread which gives way to an all season tread during the deeper part of the tread. The other important consideration is the rating. Many snow tires have a "Q" rating which supports a maximum sustained speed of 99mph. Other snow tires carry higher speed ratings. Someone made the comment that the only good car in snow was the Corvair and VW bug. I drove both extensively in the snow. Man, they do go off the line but you could not TURN them in the snow. Talk about a car that plowed! AT least you and a buddy could easily push them down off the snowbanks. Before all this reckless driving crap came out for sliding around in snow we use to have a blast. Out evening entertainment in high school was to go out "sliding around."

Having grown up in Central New York and going to college on Lake Ontario I feel fairly qualified to comment on snow driving. Obviously a four wheel drive vehicle is the best and many new cars offer all wheel drive options. In leiu of all wheel drive, rear wheel drive is supior in snow to front wheel drive. While front wheel drive cars certainly beat rear wheel drive cars on acceleration, they have wicked torque steer and far poorer control options. There is nothing like a nice V-8 powered rear drive car with positraction for winter driving fun. I think because these LS400's sit so low they will drag. I saw the comment about the problem of center drift. That is where the snow gets so deep in the center of the road that it actually lifts the car off the ground. It is not much fun and I speak from multiple experiences. I would park the Lexus in the garage for the winter and do what we always did as kids. Buy a "Winter Rat" go find some miled out 4wd buv and buy it cheap. Put 4 new snow tires on it and run it until spring. Wash it up and sell it for maybe more than you paid for it. Why drive your $50,000 Lexus around in salt and ruin it?

Time for new batteries in my keyboard I guess. I suppose spilling that drink into it didn't help it much either. Oh well, back to work...

Ever since I started driving I have always driven with my headlights on. I have had som many people pull out o=in front of me and I hit quite a few of them. Maybe it helped with those who I missed, maybe not. I saw the comment about being able to turn the foglights on with the parking lights. I noticed on out 2006 Chrysler 300 that you can do this. In my Nissan pickup I wired the foglights to a direct switch so I can run them alone. It is very nice to be able to use the highbeams with them on.

I put four Dunlop Graspics on my daughters Corolla. It is great in snow with them on. I can't speak for the LS400 since mine sits in the garage on the rare occasions it snows here. The LS also has posi so that gives it more traction but will cause the car to fishtail easily. ANyone who lives in a snowbelt should use snowtires. ALL season does not mean winter, it means fall, summer, and spring. I bought mine at the tirerack.com Great price, great service. I had them delivered to my house in two days. Even if you don't buy from tirerack.com, the site offers actual reviews from people who bought the tires and drive on them.