1990LS400

Billy would be overwelmed by the technology in the 2000 LS. ;) "VSC? We don't need no stinking VSC!"

I'm guessing that a new rear armrest for a UK/Euro market 90-94 LS with cupholders under its flip up lid would cost quite a few hundred $$$ -- part of the high cost might be due to the UK/Euro rear armrest having switches for the standard rear seat heaters. Of course, we didn't get rear seat heaters either while they were standard on all years of the UK/Euro LS400 -- our cold butts were ignored. Attached is a photo of the OXO drink containers we use almost daily -- they fit "like a glove" in both the front and rear cupholders of my 00 LS and have never come when taking a curve fast. If they did slip out, a nice feature of the OXO containers is a push on/off button on their tops to prevent spills.

I've never seen anything about being able to program a 95-97 LS key fob remote to work on a 98-00 LS. Attached are the instructions for programming a new 98-00 LS key. FYI: The 90-94 LS had its single lock/unlock button on the master key before they apparently went with a key fob remote for the 95-97 LS. 1998_LS400_key_programming.pdf

Look upward in this thread for where to download it from. It is waaay to big for any email system to handle.

Sure there's a market. The quickest way might be your local craiglist: http://stlouis.craigslist.org/ Or, you could sell them in the "Buy and Sell" part of this forum after qualifying as a contributing member by making 25 posts. Unless I'm mistaken, your SC430 wheels will fit any 90-06 Lexus, a lot of Toyotas, maybe some Lexus models newer than 06 and some other Japanese makes too.

Sure you can dye carpet. I hope carpet dyes are better than what I used on the carpet of a 1956 Mercedes 190SL 40 years ago -- made the carpet as red as new but the color later bled onto whatever touched it when got wet from water/rain/snow. Maybe you could spray paint it. If you are referring to the "mat, luggage compartment floor", new ones are fairly inexpensive -- $52.59 at http://www.parts.com/ The attached partial diagram from http://www.toyodiy.com/ shows part numbers.

Photos might help us know how far you have gotten -- I don't understand what you mean by the "rear vent hose". If you are trying to remove the entire flip-up armrest, have you removed the little plastic vent grill that you see under the armrest after you flip it open? I'm not sure if doing that is enough to give you access to the other screws/bolts tht might be holding the armrest in. If that isn't enough, remove the console box insert to see if that gives you enough access. There are a couple of screws hidden under the removable pad on the bottom of the insert. After removing the screws, the black plastic console box can be pried out with a trim removal tool, flat blade screw driver or -- my favorite "tool" -- a stiff blade putty knive with the blade wrapped with electrical tape so that you don't scratch anything. Be gentle but firm so you don't break the plastic box. I took the console of the 90 LS I had apart quite a few times but my memory of exactly how I did it has faded.

As Steve said, you should be seeing your TRAC warning light in the instrument cluster flash and hear a loud beep-beep-beep if your VSC is detecting a skid and selectively applying your brakes. Siva, have you ever heard your VSC warning sound beeping? If you aren't certain, take your car to a large empty parking lot on an icy day and drive it in a tight circle until you lose control -- you should first see the flashing TRAC warning light and then hear the VSC beeping when you start to skid out of control. I heard the VSC beeping sound several times times this morning during a 60 mile round trip to the airport in the ice and snow storm we are having here in the Kansas City area. I've never seen so many tow trucks pulling cars back onto the road and towing damaged ones away ... seemed like about one off-the-road vehicle per mile. Most people slowed down to less than 35 mph on the Interstate. It was strange to see a few people flying by at far faster speeds but I got to see some of them again later -- sitting in their cars stuck in the median or off the side of the highway.

It's possible that your pin stripes were hand painted but I didn't think anybody did that anymore -- except for custom car shops that do graphics. Feel the pin stripes with your finger tips to see if you can feel the pinstripe edge. I doubt if you could feel the edge of a painted stripe but you will for sure if they were applied in a tape decal process. Again, is there one tiny Lexus "L" logo on the pin stripe on each side of the car? If there is then you have the standard decal pinstripes that most Lexus dealers use. Actually, the Lexus decal pin stripes look very good and are hard to tell from hand painted pin stripes. Here is an old thread about removing decal/tape pinstripes and having painted ones repaired: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...mp;hl=pinstripe Pinstripes are sort of a personal thing -- some like 'em, some don't. I think I'll get flames for my LS -- can't find them with Lexus logos so Toyota Flames will have to do. ;)

OK, I admit the cup holders in all model years of the LS400 are pretty flaky. The front seat cupholders in my wife's 98 Camry are better and hold fairly large cups and water bottles. We've rented numerous Toyotas when I've traveled and all of them have had better cupholders than the LS400 including the 2009/10(?) Camry we rented in California last week. If fact, most more recent cars seem to have better and more cup holders than the LS400. That Ford Five Hundred/Taurus I rented, loved and reported on here a few years back had so many nice big cup holders, the occupants of the car could have had a party. Seriously, I think there were two cupholders for each occupant. I'm just happy my 00 LS400 has rear cupholders. Not having them was a P.I.T.A. on the 90 LS I drove for many years. It seemed silly to me that the 90-94 LS400 sold in most other countries had really nice cupholders in the rear armrest while we in North America got zilch.

Yes, that's what I've been doing since I bought 00 LS 2003 and I did the same on the 90 LS I had from 1990 to 2003. The hood insulation pad on the 00 LS has gotten a little wrinkly and the back edge droops slightly when the hood is open but at least it looks spotless -- it needs a few more attachment points to hold it securely to the hood. I don't use a strong spray of water to clean the insulator pad -- like I said, I clean it often so dirt and grime doesn't build up. It would be better if the hood insulation on the 00 LS didn't have a porous, cloth-like finish -- it absorbs water when I spray it but dries out quickly from the engine compartment heat. The hood insulation pad on the 90 LS seemed rigid and I don't remember it absorbing water, drooping or getting wringled -- it seemed of higher quality than the one on my 00 LS. As I've mentioned before, I've noticed numerous components and tolerances that seem to be to have been designed a little stronger/closer on the earlier LS400. I suspect many of the differences I've noticed between the 90 LS and the 00 LS were done just as much to cut weight as to cut manufacturing costs. I just now checked the retail prices of the "hood insulator" for the 90 LS and 00 LS and see that the one for the 90 LS costs $27.58 more than the one for the 00 LS.

Open your hood and spray it with a power washer or at a wand-type car wash. That's what I've always done every month or two. I also clean the engine compartment about once a month being careful not to directly spray electrical components and then wipe down everything visible with cotton towels I buy by the dozen. A lot of people have reported drivability problems after doing this but I've never had a problem and have been doing it for decades -- maybe I'm more careful than most.

All the "paint stripes" I've seen on Lexus vehicles have been the decal type and of the same design -- seems like the same supplier has been supplying all the Lexus dealers. Does yours have the standard little "L" logo in each stripe/decal? If your paint stripes are decals, they can be removed with a hair dryer and the adhesive residue left behind with a good cleaner wax -- that's what I did on my 00 LS when the stripes began to deteriorate.

I've been driving LS400's for 20 years (a 90 LS and now a 00 LS) and I don't remember buying a soft drink or a coffee (don't buy them too often) that came in a cup that didn't fit in the cup holder of either LS. What are the "most drinks today" you are buying? If you are buying some sort of huge "big gulp" drinks, you could transfer a portion of them to a container that fits the cup holders. Your Lexus dealer sells drink containers that fit the 90-00 LS cup holders perfectly as do the ones from OXO our neice gave us. The only other solution I know is to use a device like shown in the attached photo.

The factory installed Denso iridium spark plugs on my 2000 LS400 were replaced a couple of weeks ago at the 120,000 mile service. As I reported, the old plugs appeared to be in excellent condition and were replaced with the same plugs: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...c=62539&hl= You could buy a cheaper plug but another set of Iridium plugs will be good for another 120,000 miles. Cheaper plugs probably wouldn't.

I did a search of this forum and wasn't able to locate a thread with instructions for changing the console gear selector bulb. This thread was, however, the impetus that lead me to do some minor disassembly to replace a similar bulb in our 98 Camry last night -- it took about 30 minutes since I didn't know what I was doing. Our Camry uses a 194 bulb but I don't know what bulb your 91 LS would use. In the Camry, after removing the trim panel, I had to remove one screw to pull the P-R-N-D-L surround up enough to allow removing the portion of the assembly that contains the bulb. You might consider popping off the wood console trim panel and taking a look. There are many design similarities across the range of Toyota and Lexus vehicles so replacing the gear selector bulb in your LS might not be very different.

If you can figure out the exact date and location your lease turn in will be auctioned, you could hire someone with a dealers license to buy it for you. That could be a hassle though. Unless your bidder is a trusted friend, he's likely going to want to make a profit on the deal to pay for his time and you may have to trust him more than you want with up front cash. And, of course, if your car is as good as you say, your bidder/dealer will be competing with others. Also, you will have to pay your bidder/dealer sales tax -- $2,040 (Florida 6%) if you buy the car from your bidder/dealer for $34,000. I bought my 2000 LS400 in 2003 from a semi-retired auto broker who bought it at the auction after it was turned in by someone else after a 3 year/36K mile lease. The guy dealt in cars more as a hobby to fund his racing car restorations. He didn't bid on my 2000 LS400 for me -- he just happened to buy it for his short term personal use because he liked it and I found out about the car from a mutual friend. It certainly was a painless way to buy a car. If I ever buy another expensive used car, I might accompany a broker to the auction and give him a decent commission for this time.

The paint codes for your car are on the drivers side door jam. You can interpret the codes on the following web pages: http://www.lexus.com/contact/pdf/1995/1995SCspecs.pdf http://www.paintscratch.com/ http://www.toyotareference.com/

I doubt if your problem is the switch ... sounds like a ground issue, failing battery, an electrical short or something else. A break in the left trunk hinge wiring harness causes really weird problems but I don't remember this specific issue being caused by it. Still, if you just bought the car unwrap the left trunk hinge wiring and closely inspect the wires for a break -- splice in new lengths of wire if any are broken. Maybe try switching in the car battery from your 93 LS.

Mini-fuse versions are available although you might not find them in a small town auto parts store. Google and you will find: http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=mini+ad...9a46ede2c2a175d I've had no speeding tickets since I stopped using a radar detector 15 years ago and I've done a lot of driving through small towns including meandering around Mississippi stopping at every fricking antebellum house my wife wanted to see. My father has driven for over 70 years without a single speeding ticket. Hmmm ... are we needing an ophthalmologist as well as an audiologist? ;) (Sorry ... couldn't resist.)

HID bulbs seem to change color as they age. You pretty much have to replace them in pairs to get the same light color. I've seen OEM Phillips D2R bulbs on eBay for far less than what you would pay at a Lexus dealer -- be sure to get new bulbs since there a lot of used bulbs there. The ballasts don't require replacement unless one fails.

Your profile says ES330 but, based on a past post and that your thread is in the Hybrid Forum, I assume you are asking about your 2006 RX400h. Attached is drawing 1 for the 2006 RX400h non-ML audio system from the ARRC website. The radio 1 wire color is the same if you have the ML system. If you are using an old style fuse tap, maybe bending it with pliers will make it fit well enough so the fuse box cover will fit -- a phone installer did that on my first Lexus 20 years ago. Another way to get power from a fusebox is by using an "add a circuit" or piggyback fuse although some of those also get in the way of the fuse box cover. I attached a photo of the type I see most but there is another type that has the fuse holder about six inches from the dummy fuse that goes into the fuse box. Or, maybe you could tap into the wire going to the cig lighter or accessory power port -- that's what I did to power my semi-permanently installed portable GPS in my LS. Still another way is to use a wire behind the ignition switch but I don't know if that would work if your RX has "keyless go". I had an installer connect the two power wires for the phone system in my current LS to wires at the ignition switch -- one is a constant power wire and the other is switched (on only when the ignition switch is in the accessory or run position). Or throw your radar detector in a drawer and drive without it. I did that about 15 years ago and it sure made driving more pleasant. 2006_RX400h_std_audio_drawing_1.pdf

Have you looked? The indie shop I've been using since 1996 isn't the first one I've used that specialized in Lexus. I used another indie shop before that, also owned by a former Lexus dealer service writer, until he cashed out and moved to another (warmer!) part of the U.S. Ask around. If you see another Lexus owner at a gas station/car wash/shopping center parking lot, ask the owner where he has his car serviced. I think you might be surprised how many good indie shops are around that have former Lexus dealership mechanics. What harm could it do to replace the cam and crank seals? Pandora's Box. Why replace things that normally never have to be replaced? Why spend money that doesn't have to be spent? I'd rather you send that excess money to me! ;)

That's a new one. I agree with SRK -- changing the seals is very unusual and not needed. Sounds like your Toyota dealer is doing needless extra work to keep his mechanics busy. Changing a timing belt, tensioner, idlers, water pump and the other few small related parts is far from a 12 hour job. I've had three timing belts changed on two LS cars during the 275K+ miles I've driven them and the 90K service has never taken more than one day with only one mechanic working on the car. As I reported in another recent thread, the timing belt change portion of the 90K service on my 2000 LS400 was about $780 -- performed by a former Lexus dealer mechanic at an indie shop that specializes in Lexus and owned by a former Lexus dealer service writer. The same indie shop has been taking care of our Toyota and Lexus cars since it opened in 1996 and I've been way more satisfied with them than the local Lexus dealer I've been dealing with since they opened in 1989. I agree that seals can occasionally leak. The crank seal on my first LS was changed in the early 90's at low mileage under warranty due to leakage -- but that was unusual.

If a Lexus dealer can't supply the emblems, there is always eBay although the emblems might not be OEM. Or ... this company seems to have them: http://l-tunedparts.com/product/?id=1722 If the body shop hasn't repainted the trunk lid yet, you could have the holes filled and leave the emblems off. I've seen several gen 2 GS with all the trunk lid emblems removed or only the Lexus "L" on the trunk lid and they looked quite nice.