1990LS400

History? Nice title to the thread. Too bad the real problem is that people don't understand or pay attention to history. If they did, they wouldn't repeat the same mistakes over and over, decade after decade, and on and on ... Reminds me of the "Texan Prayer": "Dear Lord, please let me have another oil boom. I promise not to p1ss it all away this time!"

I tried an incredible number of supposedly brighter bulbs years ago on the gen 1 LS400 I had for 13 1/2 years -- none of them did much good since the poor light output is caused by the beam pattern inscribed on the lenses. I sure got fast at installing headlight bulbs during all that experimenting. The main reason I sold the 90 was the poor headlights. I would have killed for a set of Eagle Eyes headlights like Python and others have installed on their gen 1 LS400's -- I think they are only about $225 for a pair from seller Sabersport on ebay. Here one of several past threads about them: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...83&hl=eagle

The only other part of the fuel injection system I can find in the diagrams for the dashboard on the passenger side of a 1999 Harrier is the engine control computer shown in the attached diagram. Could the fuses you are looking for be near it?

I'm not meaning to be a wisea$$ but have you tried your Lexus wheel centers on the Infiniti wheels? Toyota and Nissan use a lot of the same suppliers and it is possible that the wheel center size is the same. For example, the same alloy wheels that came on my wife's Camry were also available as an option on some Nissan cars.

Hmmm ... a cigarette package and a wine cork to provide a size reference ... working on your image? ;) Does there happen to be a part number on that white piece of plastic? Toyota seems to put part numbers on just about everything. Do you see anything the white box could snap on to? There must be something else in the wheel well .... unless maybe the deer took it with him.

Are you saying that you need different wheel nuts to mount your snow wheels/tires? If this is the case, are their specialty wheels shops where you live where you could try to find wheel nuts like you need? I do not have an RX but the aftermarket wheels I use with snow tires on my 2000 LS400 require different wheel nuts. In the attached photo, the left wheel nut is the wheel nut for my OEM Lexus wheels. They have a "flat base and a ring" like the wheel nuts you described. The right wheel nut in the photo is for my aftermarket (not Lexus or Toyota) wheels that I use with snow tires. As you can see, the base of the nut that touches the wheel has a pronounced conical shape. Having to use different wheel nuts or bolts for different sets of wheels may be fairly common. A friend has two sets of wheels for his Mercedes E320. Although both sets look identical, each of the two sets of wheels requires its own set of wheel bolts. I apologize if I am not understanding the problem. Perhaps you could supply photos that would help explain the problem.

The attached diagram for a Japanese market RHD 1999 Toyota Harrier shows a junction/fuse box on the driver (i.e. right hand) side.

Jim - Bingo on the airbag sensor, I think. Looked it up in the Service Manual, and that is exactly where they are located. Guess that one (or both) definitely need to be replaced. If I remove the headlight assembly, is that sensor visible? Or do you need to remove the fender shroud (cowl, I think its called) to get to it? I doubt if you need to replace the air bag sensors if they aren't broken. At least they are fairly inexpensive -- $60.84 on Parts.com. The right and left ones have different part numbers. Right = 89173-09010; Left = 89173-09020. You can get part numbers for many parts at http://www.toyodiy.com and then search for the part numbers on parts.com and other websites. I don't think you can get to the air bag sensors through the headlight openings -- only through the wheel well. Be sure to disconnect the car battery and wait a couple of minutes before you mess with those sensors or any part of the air bag system ... don't want an air bag inflating!

Assuming you didn't set the security code -- almost nobody does -- your choices are contacting the previous owner to see if he remembers the code or going to a Lexus dealer to get it unlocked. In the seven years I've used Lexus forums, I've seen your question asked a number of times but no one has ever responded with information on how to unlock a security protected radio without knowing the code or going to a dealer. You might as well contact a Lexus dealer and see what the cost is -- it shouldn't be much.

According to http://www.toyodiy.com , all LS400, LS430, and SC430 sold in Europe up through the 2003 model year use the same bell housing -- part number 35111-50010. I suggest that you verify this.

The "loose small white plastic open-ended box about half the size of a cigarette pack" may be one of the two front airbag sensors -- there is one in each front fender. I don't know if your dent could be removed but googling "paintless dent removal in pa" found of bunch of companies that do that in SE PA. Maybe you could remove the headlight and hammer the dent out enough to get the headlight to fit properly.

Wow! I thought the 98-00 LS was an incredible change from the 95-97 LS: Automatic leveling HID headlights Vehicle Stability Control -- the most amazing electronic automotive gizmo I've ever experienced 5-Speed transmission with a Mercedes-like shift gate -- 5-speed boosts fuel economy over 10% more horsepower side airbags "de-powered" front airbags that are safer for smaller people (like my wife) brake assist on the 2000 LS The above changes are the ones most important to us. A pretty good summary of the changes for all model years is at http://www.lexls.com/info/lsgenerations.html

The wiring diagram for the seat heater system in my 2000 LS400 shows a thermostat so I'm guessing that the RX and other models also have thermostats that turn the seat heaters off when they reach a certain temperature and restarts them when the temperature falls to a certain level. There sure are a lot of questions lately about seat heaters .... hmmm ... I wonder why. ;) It was -10° F. each of the past two mornings when I started up the LS in north central Iowa ... windchill of about -30° F. Glad to be home in Kansas where it is currently a balmy 10° F.

For the gen 2 IS without nav sold in Europe, Lexus offered the Motorola IHF1000 Bluetooth kit as an official dealer installed accessory. The dash mounted controller for the IHF1000 even carried a Lexus "L" logo instead of the usual Motorola "M". I don't know if the Europe IHF1000 kit would fit your IS350 -- audio systems Toyota puts in cars are different around the world. Attached is the install instructions for the IHF1000 into a European IS -- might give you some ideas. Bluetooth kits from other manufacturers sometimes provide iPod, USB, RCA-jack and even A2DP streaming connectivity. The Parrot MKi9x00 series of Bluetooth kits provide these interfaces and can be bought with interface harnesses that make installation into an IS audio system "plug and play". Bluetooth_IHF1000_into_IS_instructions.pdf

If it is like the 98-00 LS400 and the 01-06 LS430, there a warning message will be displayed in the "Multi-information display" between the tachometer and speedometer when a front or rear brake pad is worn down to the sensor. The message on my 00 LS400 says only "BRAKE WEAR" and doesn't say whether it is for the front or rear brake pads. I would hope that the message on the LS460 would be a little more descriptive but I don't know if it is.

That's usually a function of an OBD II scan tool (code reader).

I suppose you could remove your HVAC fan/motor to see if there is any junk in it making noise. Attached is a diagram showing the fan/motor in a 92 SC400. You may have to remove an underdash panel to get to it. There was once a sound like "playing cards in the spokes of a bicycle wheel" coming from the HVAC fan in the 90 LS I used to have. A repair shop pulled the HVAC fan/motor assembly out and removed the debris that was causing the noise.

It would appear that the stored code should have been cleared per the instructions here: http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/intro/codereading.html After you disconnected the battery and the CEL came back on, did you check to see if the code 71 is back or if their are other stored codes?

That's great news! Is there any way you could be a bit more specific? Am I cutting a wire? Turning a knob? Disconnecting a fitting? Thanks You should be pressing a two position button just to the left of the steering column on the underdash trim panel. When the button is in the "out" position, the beep is off. It's explained in your owners manual -- if you don't have one, register in the owners section of the Lexus website and you can view it online and order a hardcopy.

There is a very detailed diagnostic procedure for your car that will tell you exactly which seat heater component or components are defective. There is for my LS and there has to be for your RX. Ask your repair shop if they followed the detailed seat heater diagnostic procedure for your car and to show you the results. Specifically, ask for the results of the continuity test on each of the four seat heater elements -- I don't think there is any way that all four elements could fail all at once. Why don't you ask them to tell you exactly how they tested the seat heater elements -- I'll bet they never even tested them. The seat heaters in my 2000 LS are still working fine at 9 1/2 years -- sure were nice this morning in Sioux City, Iowa when it was 4° F. and the leather seats were rock hard after the car sat outside all night in a hotel parking lot.

Steve, should we be putting "Lexus gasoline" in our cars? ;) Most of the gasoline that has powered our Lexus and Toyota cars since December 2001 has been from Costco -- never had a problem. Costco is an unusually well run and consistently profitable company -- one of the relatively small number of companies, besides the Toyota Motor Company, that my wife and have invested in directly and outside of mutual funds.

The thread AzHotLS pointed you to is for tapping into the cable to the CD player to add an aux-in -- a little iffy since many 90-94 LS400's didn't come with a CD player and there is a different headunit for the ones that didn't. Yes, it has also been done by hardwiring into the cassette deck but I'd be hard pressed to find the thread that described how it was done -- was a long time ago. If you've got $60 to spare, consider having ebay seller factoryradios add an aux-in to the front or back of your radio. The guy must have his system down pat since he seems to add an aux-in to just about every used radio he sells.

Yes, VAIS solutions will work with your current radio and display XM station information on your nav screen. I'm sensing that you are not a "do-it-yourself" person like many of us on this forum. Some Lexus dealers install VAIS products although you will pay a premium to buy the product through the dealer and have them install it. You might try asking VAIS for installer recommendations if you don't want to ask your Lexus dealer. I've pulled radios out of Lexus and Toyota vehicles a number of times, removed interior trim, routed wires and have developed a comfort level .... but it really is pretty easy to do if you can follow instructions and have some basic tools -- a trim removal tool, screwdriver, 10 mm socket wrench. The people who install these types of products aren't brain surgeons. Installing a VAIS interface looks easier than many since it should be plug and play -- no wire cutting and splicing involved.

You should not have to turn the headlight switch to "Off" and then back to "Auto" to get the DRL to work. I think the confusing part is that the DRL comes on only after the parking brake is released -- attached is the relevent page from my 00 LS owners manual with the info on DRL hightlighted in blue.

The DRL and the high beams use the same bulbs so it sounds like the bulbs are fine. Have the DRL ever worked? If not, maybe a previous owner cut some wires. One place where some owners cut wires to turn DRL off on a 98-00 LS400 is at the DRL relay under the dash -- I think the relay on the passenger side. Do the low beam headlights come on automatically when it gets dark when the headlight switch is in the "Auto" position? If so, that means that the light sensor on the left side on top of the dash is OK.