1990LS400

Stupid? "Fix the leak and never need a shield"? I went through a number of new and rebuilt power steering pumps in the 13 1/2 years I drove a 90 LS400 from new to 183,500 miles. Just because you install a new or rebuilt PS pump doesn't mean it's not going to leak in a few months or a year or two or three. The shield is "insurance". If reliable new or rebuilt gen 1 LS400 PS pumps have become available, it's news to me. The design of the gen 1 PS pump is basically flawed. A rather serious and sudden PS pump failure/leak once became evident on my 90 LS400 when I was about 200 miles from the nearest Lexus dealer or repair shop. I wish I had had a shield on my alternator instead of having the engine die on an interstate highway and having to have my car towed.

You have no idea how many times a question like yours has been asked over the past seven years I've been on this forum. The answer is NO. OK, maybe not NO, but how much money and time to you have to spend? You can certainly install an aftermarket Bluetooth phone kit but you won't be able to use the phone controls or microphone on your steering wheel. And the iPhone doesn't work with all aftermarket Bluetooth phone kits. Some phone kits from Parrot are advertised as "Made for iPod & Works with iPhone": http://www.parrot.com/usa/products/bluetooth-hands-free-car-kits/parrot-mki9200 Getting a Parrot or any other music/phone Bluetooth kit wired to your 92 LS so it plays music through your LS audio system would be a challenge - might take a car audio guru. There are no plug and play adapter harnesses available for 1990's Lexus vehicles like there are for some made after 2000. If you are hot to do this, you might consider replacing the OEM audio system with an aftermarket stereo that has Bluetooth and is compatible with and can play music from the iPhone. If you are satisfied with a cassette adapter for playing your music (and many people are not), you could install a non-music Bluetooth phone kit that is certified to work with iPhone. The only connections to the car for a non-music car kit is power, gound, radio mute and speaker. There's plenty of room under the dash to hide a phone kit speaker -- easier and more reliable than splicing into the door speakers. The attached photo shows the phone kit speaker under the dash of my 00 LS and a smaller version from a newer kit.

Wow, could a 2009 ES350 be even too years old? You must be driving a lot of miles. If your car is within the basic 4 year / 50,000 mile basic warranty, replacement of the ABS pump should be covered under warranty at no cost. If you are out of warranty at less than two years, you might try calling Lexus customer service to see if you can get some participation or even full dispensation on the cost of replacement. If you need to know whether the 2009 ES ABS pump is the same as the 07-08, your most reliable source of information might be the Lexus dealer or even Lexus corporate customer service. Your car is so new, my usual online sources of Lexus parts do not show the ABS pump for a 2009 ES -- they might also be assuming that replacement would still be covered by warranty.

On most newer Lexus models without visible screws holding in the bumper mounted fog lights, the standard way to replace a fog light bulb is to loosen the forward portion of the wheel well liner just enough to slip your hand in to remove the old bulb and insert a new one.

No, directional tires are no more likely to cause a vibration than non-directional tires. I used directional Bridgestone RE750 summer tires (Tire Rack called them "ultra high performance tires") on my 00 LS for a total of a little over 20,000 miles before they wore out and there was not a hint of a front end vibration -- but I installed them at on the same day that I had my strut rods and bushings replaced in 2007 at 86,671 miles. I'm now driving on 5,000 mile old non-directional Michelin MXV4 tires (installed this Spring) and now have about 126,500 miles on the 00 LS. I have just started to detect a hint of front end vibration. Maybe the tires need balancing again but usually balancing lasts me more than 5,000 miles. I'm starting to wonder if other front suspension components are starting to wear out. The slight vibration is well within my tolerance range and I'll probably find out if it is a tire balance issue when I mount my winter wheels and brand new Bridgestone Blizzak WS70 directional snow tires in November.

Steve, you are on another continent. No, you are on an island next to another continent. Lexus cars sold in the U.K. and other countries often had standard equipment that was not standard in the U.S ... and sometimes vice versa. ML was not standard equipment on the U.S. spec LS430. Here, for example, are specs on the US Lexus website for the 05 LS430: http://www.lexus.com/contact/pdf/2005/2005LSspecs.pdf If it doesn't say Mark Levinson on the head unit, it isn't.

http://www.sylvania.com says that foglights on an 06 RX400h use 9006 bulbs.

It looks like Sewell Lexus ( http://lexus.sewellparts.com ) has it: Part number 81920-0E010 REFLECTOR ASSY REFL Retail 107.50; your price 77.56 You have to register and supply your forum member name to get this price. Be sure to double check the part number to make sure it's the right one.

Based on the "part 2" diagram of the three attached, it looks like the "LT GRN" wire, labeled "TMUT", is an audio system mute since it goes to an optional "MAYDAY ECU" (Lexus Link). TMUT usually means "Telephone Mute" on Lexus diagrams. You might be able to pick up a mute pin towards the front of your interior. One of the other wires/pins labeled "MUTE" might also work but sometimes they don't fully mute an audio system. The standard way to test for a mute, per installer forums, is to (very carefully) touch an unpowered grounded test light probe to a wire's core or to a pin it connects to while the radio is playing. The radio will mute when you hit a mute wire/pin with the probe. Some say this method is dangerous and can damage a radio component and that only a multimeter, etc. should be used but I've never heard it from a pro phone kit installer. 2004 RX330 std audio diagram part 1.pdf 2004 RX330 std audio diagram part 2.pdf 2004 RX330 std audio diagram part 3.pdf

Sorry, double post. Damned Road Runner.

Tire Rack customer surveys are a good place to start: http://www.tirerack.com/ Their surveys are often based on millions of miles of driving and I tend to trust those a lot more than individual opinions. A cursory look showed at the surveys shows that the Bridgestone Turanza Serenity has a particularly good noise and ride rating. It's available in 225/45R17. It's a "Grand Touring All-Season" so you likely give up performance to get comfort -- but that is what I did when I recently switched from the Bridgestone summer ultra high performance RE750 to the Michelin "Grand Touring All-Season" MXV4 on my 00 LS400. The RE750's were a blast to drive on but they were noisier and wore out quickly.

And, assuming that you use the 225/60-16 tire size that were standard on the 1993-2000 LS400, your speedometer will read 4.441% slower at 60 mph than it does now: http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp And the ride will be substantially more harsh and you will notice pavement irregularities you have not noticed before. The 93-94 LS had different springs and shocks and other minor suspension differences that softened the ride with the larger OEM wheels. The results may be within a range of comfort that is perfectly acceptable to you. The effect of the 95 LS wheels and tire size on your 92 LS certainly isn't going to be nearly as radical as people who "pimp out" their 90-92 LS's with 19" or 20" wheels.

The attached not-so-helpful diagram shows the amp being somewhere in the rear of your vehicle. I remember from long ago forum threads that the amp was under or behind a trim panel in the rear of a U.S. market RX300 and apparently it's in a similar location on a RHD RX. I definitely remember that people have found a radio mute pin on the amp of the early U.S. market RX and attached their phone kit's mute wire to it. I did a Google search on "RX300 mute lead" and found several companies in the U.K. including this one that sells them for a 2001 RX300: http://www.dynamicsounds.co.uk/autoleads-sot926-lexus-19992004-toyota-parrot-lead-p-9547.html . £14.99 seems very inexpensive to simplify the install of your Parrot. Besides muting your radio during a phone call, most mute leads supply power and ground to a phone kit and route the phone call audio through the door speakers.

If I am looking at the correct part (part number 74230-33010) in a diagram on http://www.toyodiy.com (see attached), you can get a new one from Sewell Lexus in Texas ( http://lexus.sewellparts.com/ ) for $145.75 after registering with them using your Lexus Owners Club member name or a member name from another Lexus forum. Other parts websites may give you a slightly lower price but Sewell gets my vote with their usually lower shipping costs and rock solid reliability. I am particularly uncomfortable with Parts.com's "we're not responsible for our vendors" disclaimer.

The hard drives in the U.S. market 1998-2000 LS400 navigation system can not be updated. The only way to get map updates here in the U.S. was to exchange the hard drive at a U.S. Lexus dealer. The last map update for the U.S. for the 1998-2000 hard drive navigation system was in 2004. I do not know in which countries a hard drive based navigation system used in the 1998-2000 LS400. In many countries, the 1998-2000 LS400 navigation system used a CD a hard drive. I checked a parts website and it showed that a navigation system was not offered in the LS400 that was sold in your country in 1998-2000. If the website is accurate, it is likely that maps for your area were never available for any 1998-2000 LS400 navigation system.

Steve you have a 94 LS400 with tail lights with bulbs that are accessed from inside the trunk. Please don't assume that one has to tear the trunk trim apart to access the tail light bulbs just because you have to do that on your generation 1 LS400.

The only thread I've seen on how to reset the VSC on an 01+ Lexus was for an LS430: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=55589 Jainla said in another thread that he used a paperclip to jump the two pins. I don't know if the LS430 VSC reset procedure is the same for your ES. On some older Lexus cars like my 00 LS the VSC reset procedure is completely different and easier and described in the owners manual.

It's on page 53 of the 2010 ES350 owners manual I'm looking at online. The "Wireless remote control linked operation" for both the windows and sunroof is "Off" by default. The windows and/or the sunroof can be set by a Lexus dealer to open wirelessly with the key. The default used to be "On" for most/all Lexus models that had this feature. There have been numerous reports of people with "T.P.S." (Tight Pants Syndrome) inadvertently pressing the unlock/open button and opening their windows and sunroofs while their keys were in their pants pockets when they sat down in their homes after parking their cars outside while it was raining. People didn't like getting their car interiors wet. Maybe the "Obesity Movement" is affecting the way default settings are programmed at the factory. The customizable features are set by Lexus dealers at no cost at the 1,000 mile service.

Cash has a mysterious effect on many people. If you are truely interested in this car - after checking it out in person - present a check to the seller for what you think the car is worth. Sellers see money as the real sign of a serious person. The main thing is to understand what this particular model is really selling for. Ignor the valuation guides like Kelly Bluebook.

Let's not fit the oil drain plug and gasket ... I guessing it's the same on all vehicles made by Toyota. :)

The car model in your profile says "SC430". If that is accurate, you already have HID headlights.

If you mean "owners manual", https://secure.drivers.lexus.com/lexusdrivers/info/my-lexus/resources/owners-manual-search.do

Stop driving it until you or somebody else fixes it? Is this a trick question?

The part numbers don't match the Lexus ones for your ES but that doesn't mean they won't work. They sound like a bargain and worth a try.

Just curious ... under what kind of conditions has this car been driven? Shocks on an LS and most fairly recent Toyota vehicles are "lifetime" and can last hundreds of thousands of miles unless your LS430 is a UL with air suspension. But if you have verified failure of the rear shocks, I would replace just those two with OEM shocks. The front ones could last "forever".