1990LS400

The gen 2, version III (95-97) LS400 center vent assembly is different than than the gen 2, version IV (98-00) LS400 center vent assembly -- see the attached photos. Parts.com sells the 98-00 center vent assembly for more than twice the price of the 95-97 center vent assembly -- maybe the wood trim of the 98-00 is the reason. Attached is a graphic from parts.com for the 98-00 center vent but they are incorrectly using a drawing of the 95-95 center vent.

This Australian web auto magazine article mentions why the "semi-longitudinal tension rods" (their term for strut bars) on the later LS400 wear out so quickly: http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_3041/article.html The usually rapid wear of the strut bar bushings on the later LS400 is related to the revised suspension design and not to road quality.

One of your local Lexus dealers may be your best bet. I've never been able to find fasteners at on-line sellers even when I have the part number. I guess you could call a dealer like Sewell and maybe get them a little cheaper. Fasteners are one of the few types of parts I buy from my local Lexus dealer. They rarely have the fasteners I need in stock and usually have to order them -- prices are usually silly-high.

Have you looked to see if the part dropped to the floor -- may require removing the radio/HVAC controls. I dropped a center vent part like this but I found it below the radio and put the vents back together. The vent parts are not available separately. Either buy a whole new/used center vent or find someone with a trashed one that has the part you need. Not sure if the 95-97 vent is the same as the 98-00 -- you might want to tell us your model year.

It looks like the 97 LS has strut bars like my 00 LS -- see the hightlighted part in the attached diagram. The strut bars, sometimes called strut rods, on my 00 LS were thoroughly worn out by 85,000 miles when they were replaced. Actually, it was the strut bar bushings that were worn out but it was cheaper to buy the whole strut bar assemblies than having new bushings pressed in. I must have had my tires balanced five times trying to get rid of the vibrations before an alignment guy found the real problem. New strut bars eliminated the front end vibrations and made my car drive like new.

No, the weather in KC is not all that bad. Maybe about 4" snow in Lenexa so far but it is still coming down. It was near 60 degrees here yesterday so the streets may be in such good shape due to being still warm. Denver was like a second home for me in the 1980's and 1990's. Close friends lived in Golden across the street from the winter home of a circus -- near Stevenson auto plaza. We used to joke that we knew we had too much to drink the previous night when we woke up, looked out the window and saw zebras and elephants. I have no idea! Haven't done it since the 1970's on a VW Rabbit. You used to have to be careful to match the speaker ohms but maybe there is more consistency these days. I was mainly jerking your chain. I'm about 7 blocks from the Oak Park Best Buy. My Young Frankenstein avatar is not too far off from how I look when I let my hair grow out. And I've been accused of being a "mad scientist" -- It's Alive!!! It's Alive, I Tell You!.

I don't think you want to open that can of worms -- particularly if you are not going to replace all the speakers. I think you should buy me a new iPod Nano: 8GB, Black, $133.99. Which Best Buy ... Oak Park, Metcalf, Olathe? Be careful out there today, Killer. We may have more than 6 inches of snow before this is over.

The shifter bulb can burn out -- don't remember anyone on a forum replacing one on an LS430. Attached is a diagram for the 02 LS430 shifter with the part number for the bulb highlighted. I replaced the burned out shifter bulb on our Camry a few weeks ago -- don't laugh, the replacement routine is probably similar ... required removing the shifter bezel and unscewing/unbolting the shift indicator housing and lifting it up a few inches to access the bulb. Here is a recent thread about the cupholder: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...mp;hl=cupholder I can't tell you about your mirror -- probably the mirror itself. The mirror control system is quite complex with the memory functions and all. There are probalby diagnostic routines in the service manuals on how to figure out which part is the problem. You can download this information from https://techinfo.toyota.com with a short term subscription if no one else has any ideas.

I highlighted the information in the attached owners manual page.

Which brand, model and size tire were you using? I saw that you have only 24,000 miles on your 04 ES; are your tires the original ones? Machelin P215/60R16 94V all weather, the original tire. You have the "Michelin Energy MXV4 Plus" -- not the "Michelin Primacy MXV4" that was rated the #1 performance all-season tire in the November 2009 Consumer Reports article. I bought a set of Primacy MXV4 two months ago at Costco and will have them mounted shortly for Spring/Summer/Fall use -- April Fools Day until the weekend before Thanksgiving. The Michelin Energys are still highly rated tires -- #6 of the 31 performance all-season tires rated by Consumer Reports in the attached November 2003 article. Consider replacing your tires reasonably soon due to tire aging -- six to nine years from manufacture date depending on which expert you want to believe. The four digit manufacture date on the tire side wall is in "WWYY" (week, year) format. For example, if you see "1903" on a tire sidewall, it means the tire was manufactured the 19th week of 2003. Tread compounds usually harden as tires age and temperatures drop and provide less traction. More recent winter tires with the mountain/snowflake logo use compounds that remain flexible and this technology is starting to be used in all season tires.

Which brand, model and size tire were you using? I saw that you have only 24,000 miles on your 04 ES; are your tires the original ones?

Well you did ask for the "correct time". ;) I don't know. Believe your mechanic if you want to. Or put mileages on a dart board and throw a few. Hey, I've alread had one timing belt trashed on a Lexus -- when a water pump seized at only 75,000 miles. I'm not one to encourage people to stretch maintenance schedules.

pls look upwards in this thread for the location to download it from. it is too big to email.

Honestly Michael, I think you are wasting your time and emotional energy. Would you be bringing this up at all if not for the current "feeding fenzy" going on against Toyota? ABS is a great feature but its main purpose is to help reduce stopping distances. It can not correct a skid and keep a car on track -- that is a function of stability control systems like VSC. ABS is really sort of a "stupid" system -- all it does is help you stop sooner ... usually. I drove a Lexus with ABS-only for 13 1/2 years and can assure you that there is an extraordinary mind boggling difference between driving a car with ABS-only and driving a car with ABS and VSC. I frequently drive my current Lexus hard enough to invoke the VSC system -- particularly when it is raining and snowy. I don't do this only because it is fun (it is actually great fun!), but to nurture confidence in the system -- I like knowing that I can depend on VSC when I need it most. Am I correct to assume that you were driving on snow/ice without winter tires when you crashed? If you were, then consider buying a set of true winter tires -- you can tell by the "mountain/snowflake" symbol on the tire side wall. I use Bridgestone Blizzak winter tires on my Lexus and there are other good brands and models that perform (almost) as well.

The little windshield washer nozzles can usually be adjusted with a straight pin or a slightly thicker safety pin. I keep a safety pin in my console for just this purpose.

Have we established whether or not this 2004 ES330 has VSC? Vehicle Stability Control was optional on the ES330 in 2004 If the car has VSC, the audible VSC alarm should have been beeping like crazy during the skid if the car wasn't travelling in the direction indicated by the steering wheel. ABS alone can't correct a skid but VSC usually will if the driver keeps the steering wheel pointed in the direction he wants to go.

Sorry, I was going by the following text in the link I provided previously: "Once you have fully removed the whole carpeting, there are two panels inside on each side of the tailgate. Each is held on by 3 philips head screws. remove the screws and pull the panel off, revealing the bulb housing and sockets. The bulb closer to the inside of the vehicle is the one you want to replace, the one closer to you is the reverse light." Attached is a diagram showing the reverse light bulb.

My point, KC, is that a built in nav screen is becoming an important part of overall car multimedia systems. If you had asked me a few years ago, I would have told you that I would never consider buying a car with OEM nav since aftermarket portable navs work so much better. Now, I would most likely buy OEM nav to get all the other features and particularly the phone and iPod/MP3 integration features. IMO, the future of aftermarket portable nav devices like those from Garmin is poor and that Garmin's main hope is to continue to make inroads into the OEM market. I doubt if it will be very long until you see OEM in-dash nav's based on cellular nav services like those from Google. Low end cars like Civics and Corollas currently offer indash navigation as options and I guessing in-dah nav will soon become just as common and standard as a car radio is now.

I'm no pinstripe expert but I've seen them only higher up on the car sides -- as shown in the oven cleaner removal tutorial: http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/body/pinstripes.html I don't remember how much (posted it in the past) but a repair shop wanted what I thought was an excessive amount of money to remove the pinstripes from the 2000 LS400 I bought in 2003. He was going to use a commercial quality heat gun. I removed them myself in about an hour by heating up the stripes a little at a time with a hair dryer and removing the residue with car wax. Don't know about using oven cleaner ... seems a little harsh. The local Lexus dealer seemed to put pinstripes on the majority of the cars he sold back in the 1990s. I never cared for them but apparently many people do.

What Is The Correct Time To Get Your Timing Belt Done On A 2002 Es 300? 90,000 miles or 6 years -- whichever comes first. It's in your maintenance manual.

K.C., I hereby revoke your poetic license! Comparing a clunky StreetPilot III with the current Lexus nav is just plain weird to me. So how is that touch screen function working on your StreetPilot III? Is your StreetPilot syncing up OK with your phone and doing a good job of controlling your iPod and Sat Radio? How's your StreetPilot working with your steering wheel controls? Is the voice command function working on your StreetPilot? Maybe I'll allow you a "poetic learners permit". ;)

Here is a thread that describes how: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...l=reverse++bulb You might consider buying a clip removal tool if you don't have one -- the one I have is like a screw driver with a Y-shaped metal blade to grip the clips without breaking them or stressing the trim panel you are removing. A clip puller sometimes will break a clip -- your Lexus dealer will be happy to sell you more clips. Attached is a photo of a clip puller -- there are lots of varieties for different uses but they all work about the same.

K.C., you have a very rare "20 year old StreetPilot III" considering that the StreetPilot III wasn't introduced until 2001. The only product Garmin was selling even 19 years ago was the $2,500 GPS 100 with an itty bitty monochrome screen and sold mainly sold to boat owners and private pilots -- it didn't do street navigation. Garmin introduced its first automotive navigation product, the "GPS III", in 1997. In it's day, it was a really cool, if nosebleed expensive, device. The first StreetPilot model was introduced in 1998 -- big improvement over the GPS III but still crude by today's standards. We also have Garmin products -- Nuvi and eTrex. Quite nice. I hope Garmin continues to do well. They are a big local employer -- started here in Lenexa KS ... headquarters are now in Olathe KS a few miles south.

Your request seems like an "tall order". You can compare specs at http://www.lexus.com/cpo/model_library/index.html Do some thorough test drives.

A few weeks ago we took I-435 on the west side of the Kansas City metro about 30 miles to KCI airport. It was an icy day and there must have been 100 cars off the road both in the median and off the shoulder into fields. I-435 on the west side of the Kansas City metro area is mostly as straight as an arrow with a few sections of very gentle, hardly noticable curves. Many of the cars off the road were quite new and likely had ABS and some sort of stability control system. As we puttered along at no more than 35 mph and often slower, some people flew past us at over 70 mph. We saw a few of these people later sitting in their cars in the median or in adjoining farm fields. All the technology in the world couldn't save these people from themselves. I kept thinking: why are these people driving so fast when they can see all these cars off the road and tow trucks pulling them out? Duh! Darwin was right! I've run off a road only once in 44 years of driving. It was on a perfectly straight section of I-70 in a rural area east of Kansas City. I was going too fast for the conditions. I was lucky there was nothing to hit and that I went down an embankment into a nice grassy field. That experience pretty much scared the crap out of me and I have since slowed way down when the roads are slick or even "greasy" from rain and dust. I've had my "learning experience". Maybe this one is yours?