1990LS400

Standard answer: Place the mirror switch in the Left or Right position. The mirrors will not lower if the switch is in the center position.

Paul, when the dealer rep told areich12 that his car "needed to be wired for it", he/she might have meant that no XM receiver is installed. Sat radio receivers are options: http://www.lexus.com/cpo/model_library/IS/2008.html I'm too lazy to look now, but the last time I looked on eBay, I think the price for an XM or Sirius receiver that was fully compatible with late model Lexus vehicles was running about $250 - whatever the price it was far less than the dealer installed sat radio receiver option.

I saw some on eBay only a couple of days ago but they were surprisingly expensive - have you searched eBay>

Are you "totally unimpressed" because of this battery problem or have you had lots of other problems? I've gotten more than 43,000 miles out of a battery in a Lexus vehicle only once in almost 21 years of driving them. I'd say you are doing pretty good. Also, a battery can test "good" but still be weak. If you are keeping your headlight switch in the "Auto" position and letting the headlight ECU turn your lights off automatically, try turning the switch to the "Off" position each time you park you car. As explained to me by a Lexus tech, the headlight ECU checks every nanosecond whether your headlights are on and whether they should be turned off -- eating up battery power. Once we started turning the headlight switches in our Camry and Lexus to the "Off" position, our car batteries no longer seem to run down. If it hasn't already been done, clean your battery terminals with one of those 3-dollar abrasive battery terminal cleaners and use some baking soda, water and an old tooth brush to clean away any corrosion and gunk. Reconnect the terminals and coat them and the battery cable ends with petroleum jelly or a substance designed for that use. Is Lexus service incompetent? Does a bear !Removed! in the woods?

No Pierre, push that white button when you are in a place where no one can be injured. Maybe it controls the fender mounted machine guns! Actually, that is a great place to mount a switch or USB port -- I never thought about that but I will now. Randy, I use SnagIt from TechSmith to capture screen images both at home and, much more importantly, where I work: http://www.techsmith.com/snagit/ If you look around you might find an older version of SnagIt that can be legally downloaded for free but the current version is an excellent bargain. Who would hijack a thread? Moi?

The first thing I would look at is the antenna connection. Is the antenna extending?

I assume it is to enhance dealer profit. Bulb replacement instructions were deleted from U.S. Lexus owners manuals in the mid-1990's. Before that, there were very detailed instructions in the owners manuals.

Maybe member dcfish can help you with the OEM audio and navigation systems that were options on the 07 GS350. They were: "Audio System - Mark Levinson® Premium Surround Sound Audio System with 7.1 architecture and in-dash, single-feed, six-disc CD/DVD auto-changer" "Navigation System - Lexus voice-activated DVD Navigation System with backup camera" The only really good aftermarket audio system installs I've ever seen have been done by motivated car owners. Almost all the experiences with aftermarket car audio installers I've had have been unpleasant and some outright fraudulent. I know all installers aren't high school dropouts that can't pass the GED but that is what it has seemed like to me. Maybe a VAIS iPod interface would be enough to float your boat: http://www.vaistech.com/products/home.php Or dump your current 07 GS and get one with the above audio and navigation options - probably cost less and work better than going aftermarket.

Although both model years are beyond the CPO period, the specs for both are still in the Model Library if one modifies the year in the URL: http://www.lexus.com/cpo/model_library/SC/2002.html http://www.lexus.com/cpo/model_library/SC/2004.html Lexus cars are quite reliable in general and, based on about 300,000 total miles and 20+ years in a 90 LS and now in a 00 LS, I doubt that much in the way of repairs - other than normal scheduled maintenance - would be needed on an SC until beyond 150,000 miles unless the car has been mistreated or poorly maintained. I'm not an "SC430 person" for some reason - just can't swallow the way they look but I'll bet that either of the ones you are considering would be more reliable than even a new Z4, Boxster or SLK. Two of my friends have Z4's, my next door neighbor has a Boxster and a coworker has two (don't ask me why!) silver SLK's - one old, one new. For everyday use, the SC430 would likely be more enjoyable than those.

Your Lexus phone system is also attached to the HVAC system. When a phone call is received or made, the fan speed is reduced. Sometimes with the trunk mounted phone ECU fails, the radio will go into permanent mute mode and the HVAC fan speed will default to Low. On your 99 LS, it is important that you plug the two large male and female connectors together after unplugging them from the phone ECU in the trunk. A friend's 99 LS Nakamichi went into mute mode last year and he assumed that his radio or amp was bad due to a burning smell in the car interior. He even bought used replacement Nakamichi components. On a whim, I unplugged all the connectors from his phone ECU, plugged the two large ones together and - voilà - his radio worked again after months of silence. After removing or unplugging the ECU in the trunk, if you want to get the cables out of the way and away from potential moisture, there may be a plastic bracket on the bottom of the plastic tool kit receptacle housing for that purpose unless the phone installer removed the bracket - see attached photo. While you are unplugging your phone components, note that the center front pin in the phone connector under the console air vent on the drivers side is a mute pin. If you want to install an aftermarket Bluetooth phone kit, plugging the phone kit's mute wire into the connector to contact the mute pin (secure it with a cable tie) will mute your radio when a phone call is in progress but will not lower the HVAC fan speed. The antenna coax cable that is also under the armrest vent leads to the phone ECU in the trunk. If you have an aftermarket phone charging cradle with an antenna connection, you can use the rear window imprinted antenna by connecting your charging cradle's antenna connection to the coax cable under the armrest and by connecting the two coax cables in the trunk together to complete the circuit. Connecting the two coax cables in the trunk requires an adapter - I bought one at Radio Shack.

The sound from the Nakamichi is wonderful but none of the U.S. LS400 cars have RDS and Traffic.

The interior of my 2000 LS400 is the same as Billy's except for the front seat heaters, Nakamichi and the maple wood (instead of walnut) that was available on the U.S. Platinum Series and Canadian Millenium Edition 2000 LS400. My ancient Nokia phone cradle is on a German Kuda leather phone console. After the first of the year, I will replace the Nokia system with a Bluetooth kit and mount a Bury System 9 phonebase on the Kuda console. The same snap-in charging cradle will work for both my wife's and my Blackberry.

All very nice, Pierre. What does the white button by the gear shift lever do? For the passenger ejection seat? I would rather have your radio system than the Nakamichi in my 00 LS400. I assume yours has RDS and Traffic which was never available in the U.S. on the LS400.

The brand of the bulb (Phillips, Sylvania, etc.) does not matter as long as it is the correct bulb type. If your car has the optional HID headlights, D2R is the correct bulb type - maybe you are inserting the bulb upside down? If your car does not have the HID option, http://www.sylvania.com/ shows that the correct halogen bulb type is "H7". On my 00 LS, the bulb type is shown on the lower outboard corner of each headlight lens but I do not know if the bulb type is shown on the 04 ES330 headlight lenses. Here is a link to the specifications and option list for the 2004 ES330: http://www.lexus.com/contact/pdf/2004/2004ESspecs.pdf

That is a VERY nice car Pierre! German car ... German racing silver! The 98-00 LS400 sold in Europe usually had a much higher level of equipment that those sold here in the U.S. Our cars have no headlight washers, no rear fog lights, no side turn signals, no heated rear seats and the few cars sold here with a navigation system had one with a small hard drive instead of a CD drive like in Europe. Even the optional telephone sold here was analog and cannot be used today like the GSM telephones of the European 98-00 LS400. About the only nice feature the U.S. got but Europe did not is that our radio antennas are imprinted on the rear window - we do not have an exterior antenna on the left rear fender. Keeping with the "snow theme" here is a photo of my 2000 LS400 taken last Christmas when visiting family in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Based on its serial number, it looks like only 205 LS400's were made after it was assembled.

Is the temperature gauge in the instrument cluster getting up to about the middle of the scale within a few minutes? Probably the most common cause of no/low heat from a car heater is a defective engine coolant thermostat.

Products from http://www.vaistech.com/ seem to be the aftermarket industry standard for adding sat radio and iPod interfaces to Lexus vehicles.

Open the hood and remove the one retaining screw that holds the turn signal housing to the headlight housing. Grasp the leading edge of the turn signal housing with your finger tips and carefully pull to the side spreading the force so you don't crack the housing. The turn signal housing will "pop" out - it's held in place by a friction fitting and the retaining screw is probably more to prevent theft than to hold the turn signal housing in place. Once you have the turn signal housing separated from the car body, unplug the socket, remove old bulb, insert new bulb, plug socket back into the turn signal housing, reinstall the turn signal housing and then the retaining screw.

It kind of looks like Jack's ES in his avatar is mooning us.

It's described in the owners manual - see attached.

Yes.

What I find surprising is that Toyota went through so many redesigns of the tilt/telescope system of the 98-00 LS400 in such a short period of time. Here in the U.S., there was a TSIB under which the tilt and telescope motors and related parts were replaced under warranty with the final version of the 98-00 system. And there was another TSIB here in the states where the flexible cable in the steering column of the 98-00 LS400 was replaced with a u-joint. I can see why so many people have the "auto tilt away" feature turned off and just manually adjust their steering wheels when drivers change. If you have not seen it, attached is the one of the TSIB's I mentioned. I'm fortunate that my 2000 LS400 was built after the final redesign was implemented at the factory - I've never had a problem with it. Tilt- Telescopic Steering Column TSIB.pdf

I absolutely agree. By the way ... what article? I don't see an article or a link to it. :whistles:

Hey Paul, I've got aftermarket Mille Miglia wheels I bought from Tire Rack in a snow tire package in 2003. They look great and are of high quality but I now realize a problem with buying aftermarket wheels -- models come and go and it can be impossible to find a replacement if one is ruined. I recommend finding a set of OEM Lexus wheels to use with your snow tires -- maybe check Craigslist for Des Moines or eBay. You might even find a set of "takeoff" wheels at the Lexus dealer -- that's what I did in 1990 when I bought my first LS. Good luck, Jim

IMO, far better information is available in owners surveys and evaluations on http://www.tirerack.com/ than from anecdotal information from a few people on a car forum. Also, my opinion again, the term "performance snow tire" is an oxymoron. As much progress that has been made in snow tire design - and a lot of progress has been made - a performance snow tire is going to be more similar to an all season tire than a true winter tire. The Michelin X-Ice Xi2 is a very highly rated winter tire. I might have bought a set this year if I hadn't absolutely loved the Bridgestone Blizzak WS50 winter tires I squeezed seven winters out of. So I bought a set of Bridgestone Blizzak WS70 tires in July and put them and my snow wheels on my 2000 LS400 the week before Thanksgiving. Based on the Tire Rack evaluations, my take is that the Michelin X-Ice Xi2 is slightly more biased towards dry road performance and the Bridgestone Blizzak WS70 is more biased towards snow performance. The tread patterns of both look almost identical but the WS70 tread has slightly wider gaps. I would expect that either tire would serve you well.