1990LS400

I suggest getting a second opinion -- maybe even take it to a Lexus dealer. Does your mechanic routinely work on Lexus LS400's? If he doesn't, he might think the normal very cushy ride is defective! If your car is on the standard unmodified suspension and OEM wheels and tire size, there is no way the wheels are going to hit the body when cornering. It's possible, I suppose, that an LS400 shock could fail so early but that's not going to cause the car body to collapse and hit a tire while corning. If it did, I think you would be seeing damage or at least marks in a wheel well.

kilometres? What part of Zappaland are you in? Not all suppliers in the U.S. ship internationally and the shippings costs can kill the deal on those that do. I doubt if a grinding noise is from worn shocks unless you've reduced wheel clearance by "dropping" the car with aftermarket suspension components and/or are using larger wheels/tires. How long have you had this car and have you seen a degradation over time? An LS400 of any year isn't known to take curves particularly "tightly". They're not bad handling cars but they are a little bouncy even when new. At 188K km (116K miles), your problem - if you have one, could be from warn suspension components. I not certain if the 95 LS has exactly the same design of strut bars as my 00 LS (I think it does), but the strut bar bushings on my car were thoroughly worn out by 80,000 miles causing high speed vibrations and steering looseness.

Your RX should have come with two remotes -- do either work? Even if neather remote works, it could still be bad batteries in both. Battery life in these remotes seem to be extremely variable. The batteries in our extra, rarely used remotes seems to die even sooner than the batteries in the remotes we use everyday. If a Lexus dealer isn't handy, there are two Batteries Plus stores in Tampa but you might want to call first to see if they have a battery for your RX remote: http://www.batteriesplus.com/store_locator/state/FL.aspx There is a Batteries Plus store a few blocks from where I live and they usually install a new remote battery for me in about a minute.

How's $151.59 each for OEM shocks from http://www.parts.com compare with the prices you are finding. They show that the retail price as being $219.26. What's the sign that the shocks are worn out? The reason I ask is that many people have gotten several hundred thousand miles out of the original ones.

The hitches that Lexus dealers look nicer than the aftermarket hitches I've seen. I bought the hitch on my LS from etrailer and they have several hitches for your RX: http://www.etrailer.com/hitch-2004_Lexus_RX330.htm If you go aftermarket with a hitch, you'll probably want to install an aftermarket trailer light harness. etrailer has those too.

The people at dealerships working on cars aren't exactly brain surgeons and tire jockeys are usually towards the bottom of the food chain. I had a set of Michelin MXV4 tires installed at the nearby Lexus dealer about three or four weeks ago. It was a bad enough experience with my having to tell them to take my car back into their shop to replace a damaged wheel weight they had just installed. I drove out of the Kansas City Lexus dealer's complex (Superior Lexus at 103rd and State Line) and parked on the street to check tire pressures. The tire pressures were all over the map on the high side with none of them being within seven pounds of the recommended pressure. I bled the pressures down to just above the recommended pressure as I had done a number of times in the past. Your experience is not unusual.

GPS signals are coming from at least nine satellites from all directions so I think it is unlikely that you will notice any signal loss. I've gotten strong signals on GPS devices in covered parking garages -- your cargo box is a tinker toy in comparison. I wouldn't in my wildest dreams put a cargo box on top of any SUV -- even one as relatively low and car-like as your RX. Besides raising the center of gravity, you will be dealing with a LOT of unpleasant wind noise and buffeting from winds. Maybe a hitch mounted cargo box ... or maybe a larger vehicle like a minivan.

16 inch wheels were the largest available on the 98 GS300. Although bplaney was harsh in his comments, I somewhat agree with him. I regard doing a "plus six" wheel size on any car as ... well, more suitable for a car that is never driven more than 20 or 30 miles per hour and is considered more of a conversation piece than an automobile to drive in the real world.

And how many miles would you have on this 1991 LS400? By the time I finally sold my 90 LS400 in 2003 at 183,000+ miles, just about every normally replaceable front end suspension component had been replaced.

This forum doesn't cover Lexus cars sold in Africa and the Middle East. Do you have an owners manual?

I didn't think brake wear sensors were used as early as 1992 on Lexus cars but, no, it is not necessary to replace brake wear sensors unless they are damaged by a pad wearing down to the last 1 mm or so which triggers a warning on the dash on cars that have brake wear sensors. I'm not an expert on the SC but I know my 2000 LS400 has only one brake wear sensor for the rear brake pads and only one for the front ones.

If you were not to buy a 2004 with navigation and Bluetooth, yes, aftermarket Bluetooth phone kits can be installed to automatically mute the audio system when a call is received or dialed.

Great way to cause a battery to explode. Dope-slap your friend. You probably blew a fusible link instead of a regular fuse. Don't really know where they are in an old ES but probably in the engine compartment and perhaps near the underhood fuse box.

I am guessing that the part is made from plastic since it comes in many colors. The base part number for a 2007 US spec IS250 is 76801-53030 -- I don't know if the part number is the same for a 2009 IS. Google the part number and you will find U.S. prices but I don't know if the IS sold in Sweden uses the same part. The U.S. part has a retail price of about US$725 and I see it online for about US$580.

Owners, navigation and maintenance manuals for most recent Lexus vehicles may be viewed online at https://secure.drivers.lexus.com/lexusdrivers/info/my-lexus/resources/home.do;JSESSIONID_LEXUSDRIVERS=9L82LX2QfKt59fkfcYGY10Fp0fbWvV1Fjqp6B3MXQwjnXnn3jtPK!502998535 There is no need to register to view manuals. Pairing instructions for many popular phones may be viewd at http://www.lexus.com/models/IS/accessories/bluetooth_customer_service.html

Bluetooth was standard on the 2004 LS430 with navigation. If the 2004 LS430 you buy does not have navigation, there are a variety of aftermarket Bluetooth phone kits that can be installed. Some aftermarket Bluetooth kits seem to work even better than the early Lexus Bluetooth (2004 was the first model year Bluetooth was available on the LS430). I don't know if any Lexus dealers install aftermarket Bluetooth kits but they aren't all that difficult to install and you might be able to find a shop to do it for you if you don't want to do it yourself.

How "easy" do you want? The procedure in your owners manual takes about 30 seconds. Or just disregard the VSC warning and it may go off on its own after a few hours of driving. The VSC warning has usually gone off before I had time to follow the owners manual procedure. But if this is from "running off a curb", there is a possibility damage has occured that should be investigated.

You can probably find lots of photos and opinions if you search this and other forums. Other brands are probably fine but we've had our last three cars tinted with Llumar metallized tint and it has held up well. One of the keys is to take care of tint properly ... i.e. use the recommended special cleaning fluid and the recommended type of cloth. You can't clean tint with Windex! I had my current LS400 tinted with Llumar in 2003 and it is still as good as new. Here is a photo ... it's 35% which is the max allowed in Kansas: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index.php?app=gallery&module=images&section=viewimage&img=818 But you live in Phoenix. Arizona tint laws are more liberal: http://www.tintcenter.com/laws/AZ/ Although Arizona allows "Any darkness" on the back side windows and rear window, for safety, I would recommend not going any lower than 20% on the back side and rear windows. You want to be able to see when you are backing up at night. If you don't have one, buy a windshield sunscreen and use it religiously -- it will save your dash from cracking. We've been buying Covercraft sunscreens since about "forever" and gotten at least 10 years out of them: http://www.autoanything.com/driving-accessories/60A1228A0A0.aspx

The color of the upper body appears to be the "deep jewel green metallic" that was available on the LS400 in the 96 and 97 model years. I'm not usually into green cars but the color really is stunning - an almost identical color was available during the same period on the S-class Mercedes "panzerwagen". The lower cladding color on that Lexus is ... ahh ... unusual -- makes the car look a bit like a Chia Pet.

When you say "Now, the trunk latch wouldn't unlock with the ignition key", do you mean by pressing the button on the key or by trying to unlock the trunk manually with the ignition key? I've never heard anything about having to "reprogram the system" in a 90-92 LS400 after replacing a key battery -- the ROM chip and keys for the 90-92 LS400 come as a set and don't require programming. If your trunk won't unlock manually with your key, then either the key or more likely the trunk lock cylinder is worn. I remember the trunk lock cylinder in my 90 getting a little balky by the time I sold it in 2003. Lubing it with lock lube seemed to help -- do not use WD40 (!!!)and I doubt that silicon spray is a good idea either. Sorry I can't help more. I never looked at the ROM chip in my 90 -- the person who bought my 90 from me in '03 is the one who figured it out and provided the above instructions.

I wonder if your problem is a "mechanical" issue instead of an "electronic" issue with the Homelink module -- maybe the module is defective (e.g. circuit board has cracked) in a way where pressing one button causes the contact for another button to close. Are you using two adjacent Homelink buttons for your two garage doors? If you are, you could try using buttons one and three to see if that works better. Regardless, I'd be more prone to believe that the Homelink module in your Lexus is defective than your garage door opener receivers. If the remote that came with your garage door openers don't open both doors when one button is pressed, it would seem that you have confirmed that the problem is with the Homelink module in your IS. I'm not familiar with the mirror mounted Homelink in an IS or if the Homelink module can be replaced separately from the mirror. The Homelink module in the overhead light cluster of my LS is easily removed -- had it moved to a new overhead light module last year.

Your basic warranty is 50,000 miles or four years from your car's inservice date. The powertrain warranty is 70,000 miles or 6 years. The engine portion of the powertrain warranty covers "Cylinder block and head and all internal parts, timing belt and cover, flywheel, oil pan, water pump, fuel pump, engine mounts, engine control computer, seals and gaskets" So, if yours is a valve problem, it should be covered under the longer powertrain warranty.

Gosh, there have been a lot of questions lately about a "VSC Off" or "Check VSC" warning. The Check VSC warning means nothing -- VSC shuts off due to any of a plethora of causes with most having nothing to do with VSC. Maybe the purpose of of the VSC warnings is to our attention. I've had the VSC warning on my LS probably four or five times including when the car was still under it's basic warranty and not once was there a problem with VSC. One of the oddest causes of VSC warnings on more recently Lexus vehicles has been from a loose gas cap or defective gas cap gasket. Go figure. It sound's like your "service consultant" is BS-ing you. They certainly don't need to call Lexus corporate to diagnose a problem like this. It's more likely the Lexus dealer had a busy day, bigger fish to fry and/or just wanted to put you off until Monday. By the way, service consultants are not mechanics. They are sales people who are there mainly to sell services. I've never found Lexus dealer service consultants to be particularly knowledgable about their cars or cars in general.

Still one more time ... I'll say it again ... a visual check of the timing belt condition is usually a waste of time. The original timing belt I had replaced at 90,000 miles on my current LS looks like it is brand new - I kept it as a souvenir. Timing belts rarely break from fatigue or wear but from some other part in the timing belt system failing -- tensioner, idler, etc. That's why it important to replace all the ancillary parts when the timing belt is replaced.

Could mean something has broken or come loose? You didn't describe the nature of the sound. Attached is a photo of an automotive stethoscope -- great for finding the source of noises ... about $4.00.