VBdenny

When I got my first Lexus back in 2002, I became the proud owner of a 1990 LS400 (another story pending on that) of which I couldn't believe I owned one of the best cars in the world, The sedan de ville, the Electra 225's, the Chevy's, Plymouths, Fords all them were gone. The Lexus was amazing and still what I consider the best and most road comfortable car I have ever owned (which is a bunch). Of course when driving it I found at times in traffic I felt I could hold my nose up just a little higher since this was a Lexus I was driving. Shifting my eyes under my sunglasses, I would check out the Mercedes and BMW people at lights, all without moving my head. Within a short time I was able to develop and attitude which certainly extended into my driving practices. I mean a Lexus should be able to cut off an old Dodge Stratus driven by pierced up mall working girls should it not? Well that was stupid but as I have previously mentioned, I am a slow learner with wicked ADHD. Now it is all in perceptions since you never know who is who. So who do I want to be today? I can dress in my old working clothes with ragged out old jeans and slap on my old seat encrusted Virginia Beach hat (got that way from mowing in it all summer and getting soaked in sweat then drying and crusting repetitively), slide on my comfy worn denim shirt then hop the '97 Silverado and look like to be an old conservative redneck who loves his redneck, white socks, and blue ribbon beer (which I do) and be invisible. Great for Home Depot, Lowe's and liquors stores. Terrible? yeah but depends on the mood. Slap on some slacks, and button down and take the Corolla and look like an environmentally concerned liberal and drive around slowing down for duck walking across streets and stuff like that with the same people (sporting "I don't believe the liberal media" stickers)(on the paint) who smiled at me in my Silverado are now frowning at me in the Corolla? I don't care which side you're on but my rules include no stickers and never on paint. Pretty nice because I can be a conservative or liberal depending on my feelings that day. Of course when in Massachusetts I sometime drive my wife's RAV4. Talk about an invisible vehicle? cops ignore the things and so should you (my wife doesn't read the forum). For a bubble car (what I call the style), her 13 RAV4 Limited is really nice. For me, they are boring and mommy (or retired) looking things. Once in awhile I get out the IS and then I'll plead the 5th. Denny

Buying cars is almost always a losing deal for us regular people. You always hope your car retains value (which is why we are here because we know), yet when you sit back and have a good swig of beer and think about it all, buying cars means you lose money. Luckily, we are among those who can afford to lose some money while providing ourselves with excellent, luxury transportation. We all had the option to buy a Prius (practical and economical), a domestic, or a Corolla to save money.

I love (LOVE) Costco. My very favorite place to go. Looks like a Lincoln run. Costco's top selling product.

Leave the transmission alone for now, no filter just a screen inside. There IS a drain plug so when you are so motivated you can do a drain-fill-drive thing several times. I will promise you aches and pains from that one. Run the engine up to temperature prior to changing oil. The pump isn't as good as the drain but far better than NOT changing the oil. Engine normally takes 5 3.4 qts but using a pump, maybe slightly less.

Yeah Walter, Impossible to change oil on your car without ramps or a lift. I know because I have tried. Do it maybe a little more often but on a 91? you're good. Denny

Welcome to the LOC. Rather than screw around with jumping wires, drive over to Auto Zone or any auto parts and borrow their code reader (and code clearer) for free. I've jumped wires before with unfavorable results so frying some obscure electronic component isn't out of the question. I finally just bought a cheap ($100) code reader/clearer and keep it in my car kit. Another way is to just disconnect the battery for awhile.

Probably not as great as draining but with the new oils, can't see how it would hurt much. Probably a way all new cars will be going anyway since I think it is already the only way to change some transmissions fluids. Either way, better than not doing an oil change.

I'd just get a USB extension cord and run it out the side of the console.Would have been nice of Lexus to put on in the dash somewhere like every other car.

I ordered new headlight assemblies for my Corolla, Silverado, and Frontier. Very inexpensive, easy to install, and looks brand new (because they are). Eagle Eyes on Amazon. Costs between $50 and $150 a set depending on the car. I would say if the current assembly as moisture inside then remove the old assembly, dump rubbing alcohol inside and swish it around. Run a hair dryer in for awhile then put a little vaseline on the twist seal. Of course if you are going to all that trouble, better just to freshen up the lighting.

My wife has a RAV4 Pretty nice vehicle but not a Lexus.

Maybe not so dumb. I know the timing belt in my previously owned 90 LS400 was changed at 89,000 miles. The car now has 225,000 and it hasn't broken. Putting over a thousand dollars into an older car requires a commitment into the future. The 4.0L engine is non-interference so the valves and pistons can not occupy the same space. If it breaks, there will be no "boom" rather a quiet coast to the curb. And yeah, I did get lashed on the valve lash as all engines have that I know.

Hey Steven, I guess that means you won't be getting another Lexus. Always hard for me to give up a vehicle.

Just came off a 1500 something mile trip in my IS250. While I will say that these are not the most comfortable seats, they really were okay. Not nearly as comfortable as those in either my 97 Silverado or 01 Frontier which is pretty sad. There are a few support points that I am not able to adjust perfectly on my IS. These are not the cars to buy for comfort obviously.

Keep in mind that on many (probably most) TPS cars, the spare tire is included in the sensor reading. You can have correct pressure in all 4 road tires but if the spare is low, the TPS light will illuminate. Upon adding air, it should go off. Just one more thing to check.

Winter Tire Time - Considerations AWD/4WD? The state safety inspection ran out on my Frontier which is what I usually drive around town. Not a problem as it will pass but rather not get a ticket. The other morning it was raining and I had errands to run so I took the Corolla since I don't like getting my race car wet. The Corolla is usually driven by my daughter but due to her needing to move stuff, she ended up with the Silverado. The tires are maybe 3 years old and have less than 20,000 but these summer tires are junk. You should never break traction in 3rd gear in a 5 speed Corolla. Since she sometimes drives in snow, I ordered up some new snow tires since when I looked at the winter set I noticed the old tires were date coded out (9 years old). Look for the DOT code that has four number (such as 0204) which mean Second Week of 2004. All tires have carried this code since the 90's however on very old 90's tires there is only 3 numbers (mo/yr). Of course you'd be a fool to drive on them. Besides tire wear, tires also DATE code out with 5 years being a safe benchmark. For those of you who live in areas with occasional snow, snow tires are cheaper than accidents. For those of you live in snow belt areas and depend on AWD/4WD to save you, please do others a favor and read statistics on how well that works. Yes, AWD/4WD really is good at getting you going BUT the tires are the SAME as FWD/RWD vehicles and they all will stop and steer just about the same in snow because after all, tires are tires. After you smack into something and your insurance company sits up and takes notice you will wish you had a flexible foot so you go give yourself a good swift kick in your personal rear bumper. Snow tires cost a fraction of an accident and as a bonus, you don't wear your summer (or 3-Season) tires out in the winter spinning them endlessly in a futile attempt to gain traction. Your beautiful summer wheels will not get salted and pitted and the winter sneakers may even save you car shopping. One word of caution for new WINTER tire drivers. Learn to check your mirror because that person behind you with AWD doesn't know how fast YOU can stop. If you're going to be in an accident, always better to be the hit-ee not the hit-er. Better you avoid the accident by driving aware.

As cars grow older certain things seem to go. I appreciate this thread as nobody likes a flopping visor. I've had them before and found gravity fought my every effort. A friend of mine worked for Loctite and gave me some stuff to squirt in which pretty much locked it tight. After that I drove west in the mornings and east in the evenings and that solved the problem.

You problem may not be the transmission at all. I would investigate a air leak or dirty throttle body intake. Worked on an 01 Camry today doing the same thing. Upon a look-see I found the casing where the throttle body attaches was cracked. I could easily flex it which was letting in air, causing the computer to think the mixture was lean therefore dumping fuel in causing the engine to stumble due to the wicked rich mixture which tells the transmission not to shift to prevent stalling. Since I didn't have a spare casing on hand, I used Gorilla Tape (strongest tape in the world) to seal the crack. Put a second piece over too. I've got feelers out for a free one but the tape works great. Car runs sweet now. I cleared the 440, 441 and 446 and none have come back however I suspect the charcoal cannister one will. One problem often shows symptoms in obscure ways. Make sure the engine is truly running correctly before suspecting the transmission. This ain't the old days and the computers control everything now.

Can you hear the window motor running? The problem is either the switch on the door is bad the window motor has given up the ghost the flexible line that physically pulls the glass up is broken something is jammed in the track preventing movement If you can hear the motor running, then most likely the flexible pull has broken, if not the motor isn't working. Cars driven by smokers often break as they get older due to lots of use and flexing when they open the window to whip the butts out. Cars driven by A/C loving non-smokers only open the window for parking receipts, tolls, and traffic tickets so they aren't as worn out. Window motors and the flexible lines are no easy job to replace. I bled all over the place the last time I did one. The first thing I would check is the door window switch. Often the first thing to go. Spray contact cleaner and compressed air in there and you might get lucky. Good luck If the motor

Sorry but key opening hood? you kind of lost me. Key FOB battery good?

Sounds like a likely problem. Kind of forget that even hybrids need 12v batteries.

Well that gave me a laugh. How true. Saw a new red C7 Corvette idling around last week. For my purposes and better judgement, the horsepower I have is surely adequate. More than you can use is what gets you in trouble.

My thought is tires. The light tells you that one of the tires is breaking traction, not locking in which case you would see the antilock brake indicator, Tires are everything and the older and more worn the tires, the more likely to slip Perhaps time for a visit to Tire Rack for a little research on new sneakers. Just ordered new tires for my Corolla because they did the same thing.

NOT working is MUCH more fun than working. I walk, mow, clean, drive and whatever. Don't miss working one iota. Apparently the weather has decided to move to Charleston for awhile. Actually saw a peek of sun for first time in weeks.

Hey Khoa, Thanks for providing the video. Very considerate of you to share with everyone. Welcome to the LOC. Sure hope to see more of you around here. Denny

I think there are two different ways the deflectors attach. Some are glued on I think. The Weather Tech deflectors say not tape or holes. The deflectors are nice, especially if you smoke in the car. I surprized that WT doesn't offer them for your car.