MadMax96

I just had my timing belt on my 99LS400 changed today, 01/03/06 at Lexus of South Atlanta. My odo showed 135,047 at the time. The dealer did not mention about the water pump at all until I ask them to. They said to check and see if I need the new pump. After checking, the man told me that the pump is still in good working order, if I really want to replace it, there would be $300 extra. I decided to replace only the timingbelt. I paid $422 (part, labor, tax,...) for the timing belt. I hope this helps.

I like this forum alot. People here did not only helped me to save some bucks but to help me learn and understand more about my Lexus. I feel more responsible for helping others.

Wow - $422 out the door for a timing belt? Not bad at all! The water pump is another part that is generally replaced as preventative maintenance. When it fails you're talking death to your engine from over heating. Because nearly all the work that was done to do your timing belt is ALSO necessary to access your water pump, it's usually just swapped out while they have everything apart to save you money on labor.

Kinda surprising to me that they didn't suggest the water pump while you were there - not because it might be a good idea, but because it was another thing to make some more money on! Even if you had paid for the water pump (putting your total at about $722) - that is still a reeeally good deal on that service from the dealer from what I've heard. Most people are paying right around $1k I think.

So my question is, as a non-mechanical person, why would anyone design an engine that destroys itself when a simple belt fails? This seems insane.

Well I think the whole point of the 90k service is to replace the belt BEFORE it fails. In most cases the belts should last that long without issue - after that you're on borrowed time. If the belt wasn't done at 90k miles, and it fails after that mileage - it was owner negligence IMHO.

The fact that it broke at only 92k miles does suck big time - I've read posts where people waited until after 100k... but it was still after the recommended interval...... doh!

I hope things work out for you Bob!

I actually like the fact that it's quiet. :whistles:

Would you want to take someone's word for it when it came to the part number? You're going to have to pull the stereo anyway to fix and/or replace it. Might as well get the right part number to ensure you get the correct replacement parts.

Good luck!

What a weenie - someone signs up for this forum just to post that crap??

BAN HIM! :chairshot:

I think the ride height looks ok as-is. It would look good lowered, but I don't think it's a must.

Some other cars look like they're ready to go off-road when you put larger wheels on them. But the fender gap isn't bad at all IMHO.

How is the ride w/ these as compared with the factory 16 inchers?

Looks good! What size are those? 17 or 18? To me they don't look huge at all. I personally like a rim with more of a lip on it.

Is that the stock suspension also as far as ride height?

Not much into those military vehicles, but I'll take the tools! :D

Ouch! Hope everyone is ok....... at least you have an excuse to upgrade!! Given the age of the car I'm sure it'll be a total.

Sorry for your misfortune... but what would I expect from Pepboys? Nothing except aggravation! I know you didn't have a choice, but hear too many horror stories from them!

I remember seeing a movie made right when the Ford Taurus first came out.  Might have been set in Detroit.  The "futeristic" cop cars were all dark gray Tauruses.  In the early 1970's when I imagine what cars would look like in 2000 I felt pretty much came true.  I drew pictures of them in class rather than paying attention.  I attribute much of my current stupidilty to not paying attention then.

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You're thinking of RoboCop - 1986. That car was such a POS.

Looks like she's got dual airbags to me.

MadMax, not sure about your dealer, but I just stopped in mine and they had a mechanic come out to the parking lot and did it for free.

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Haven't brought the car to the dealer since I've owned the car.. but I have a feeling they would probably do it for free considering ALL the service & oil changes have been done at this place since the car was originally purchased two owners ago.

My clifford alarm/starter locks the doors on startup and unlocks them on shut down.

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The Viper alarm I had on my T-bird some years ago did the same thing - I liked that feature. Won't be getting anything like that put on my LS anytime soon however.. if the car has the feature built in that'd be great.

The 1998/99 LS 400 can be programmed to allow the doors to unlock when shifted into park.  My 1998 has this feature.  It only takes the dealer about 15 seconds to activate it.  I had it done because usually the passenger is pulling on the inside door handle before I can get it unlocked using the button, and I was concerned that something might get broken, maybe even the handle.  If I am in a area where I am concerned about safety, which is rare, I just shift to neutral, put on the parking brake, and unlock whichever individual door I need.  But if you push the unlock button on the driver's door, all the doors unlock anyway.

Happy Holidays!

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Sweet - might have to ask them about it next time I'm there for service or whatever. If I just stopped by, would they do it for no-charge?

I don't suppose this is something that could be done on my '99 as well eh? That's one thing I don't like about Japanese cars.

On my T-bird, the doors would unlock as you opened them - no need to press the unlock button. Same thing would happen in my dad's Lincoln - but only for the front doors. No worries about kids falling out in the back seat, but it was before they put child safety locks on back doors.

:D All I'm sayin is that I'd take a little cold and snow anyday... it makes me appreciate the summers more (that's what I keep telling myself anyway).

As a motorcycle owner - the winters seem even loooonger. :cries:

You need to look for a set that is geared towards sports cars. The incline isn't as steep and they are generally longer. I think they usually are wider to accomodate the fatter tires found on cars like Corvettes, etc...

In fact the Corvette catalog I ordered from sells them, although a bit pricey...you'll see what I mean: Race Ramps

Just a note guys, on my 90 LS the air would not blow until the engine warmed regardless of the defrost. It actually makes sense, because you don't want cold air blowing on you bringing the wind chill down to -10 in the cabin. Yeah, I lived in Chicago and the wind  off that Lake is Murder!!!!

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I think that's kind of odd that it wouldn't blow anything... I've never owned a car that did that. My past two cars also have had automatic climate control.

I don't care if it blows cold - that's why I let it warm up. By the time I leave it's blowing warm air.

The wind chill around here might suck, but it's got to be better than those tropical storms! :P

Thanks for the info.. I'll give that a shot tomorrow. I reeeeally want to get a remote starter but funds are super limited. I didn't have it on my prev. car (because it was a lease) but had it on the vehicle before and it was great. It should be standard issue around here right? :D

After a week in 85+ degree weather on a cruise I sure wasn't ready to return to Chicago. That week sure went by quick! My new-to-me LS had been in the garage while I'm gone but sat outside last night.

It was about 1deg F this morning. After cranking a little slower and longer than normal it fired right up. I hit the front and rear defrost and then went inside for about 10 minutes.

When I went to leave I noticed I still had frost on the windshield...hmm.

Get inside and the fan isn't blowing at all. All the bars are lit indicating full speed but I got nothing. Turned the fan speed back down, and back up, turned it off, cycled through the modes and the fan still didn't want to do anything. I could hear things going on when cycling the mode so I know the problem is isolated to the fan at this point.

I turned off the climate control, turned off the car, and then restarted. The fan is now working and was fine my whole way to work (about 40 mins in stop/go traffic).

So:

Is this a common issue with the climate control?

Is this a total fluke that I shouldn't worry about?

Is this an indication that the battery is on it's way out? (It is a few year old Duralast I think...has some crust on it but the prev. owner said it was a 7 yr battery or something)

More details on the car - I'm the third owner, ALL service has been done and it currently has 115,400 miles.

Thanks guys......

Does a breaker bar even exist in 1/4" size? I ended up getting a 1/2" breaker bar along with a set of 1/2", 6 point metric sockets. My torque wrench is 1/2" also. The set only goes up 19mm and I've had to buy a few larger sizes to accomodate lug nuts and a big 32mm *BLEEP* for the bolt that holds my motorcycle clutch together.

If you don't have access to an impact wrench, a breaker bar and like a 3-5' section of pipe to extend the leverage is ALL you need. Bolts will either come off or snap off. :D

Craftsman is pretty good about replacing tools. I knew someone who deliberately used a screwdriver improperly to pry something and either broke or bent it. They exchanged it with no questions. Think about it this way - the people that work there don't give a crap - they'll just swap it out and keep you happy.

Snap-on stuff I know is better, but are much more $$. Plus, if you break something of theirs (less likely I know) - it's not as convenient to get it replaced. I don't see Snap-on stores all over the place like I do Sears!

In my eyes, any oil-glazed filters are, well, you might be  playing with fire since sensors do not like oils etc.  Then again people love to over oil them.

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I think that's the main problem - people over oil them. You're supposed to wait like 10-15 minutes for the oil to soak in.

The appeal to me is that I can re-use the filter. I have K&N pod filters on my motorcycle so I already have the "recharge" kit.

I can find a K&N for my '99 LS for about $50 online... where an OEM one is like $25 right?

Not a bad deal if you have no sockets at all. I find that I use my metric stuff 90% of the time. A set like that has so much stuff I wouldn't use (like all those allen keys).

Your best bet is to buy smaller sets of specific items as you need them. I use my 3/8" drive 6-point metric sockets the most and my hex key sockets a lot too (everything on my motorcycle needs those). 1/2" drive sockets are nice to have for heavier duty jobs so it helps to have a 1/2" drive breaker bar too.

Talked to my cousin and yes, those engines are supposed to do that. In fact he said if they didn't - the car has a problem. He tells me the engine runs at the elevated idle until the temp reaches 220 or something.........