1990LS400

If I understand the OP's original post, his timing belt is 11 years old - 5 years beyond the recommended 6 year change interval. If that is the case, the service advisor was giving him the correct recommendation. The only timing belt failures on Lexus cars that I have personal knowledge of have not been from belts breaking from fatigue. The failures have been from failure of ancillary parts -- the water pump in my case. That's why, as EUBT said, it is important to replace the ancillary parts. I'm not saying that you can't stretch the change interval -- it's not an exact science. I waited an extra year on my 00 LS and had its original timing belt changed the day before the car's "7th anniversary" (from its 31 July 2000 "in-service date") and a little before it reached 90,000 miles. The old timing belt looked to be in great shape but it was the least of my concerns. I was more concerned about the replacement of the water pump, idler and tensioner.

You are correct. The 92 Celsior has a 3.917 rear diff and the 92 Canadian spec LS400 has a 3.615 rear diff. If you look at the part numbers for the two diffs, you can see the ratios: 92 Celsior: http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_J_1992_TOYO...AEPQK_4101.html 92 LS400: http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_U_1992_LEXU...EPGKK_4101.html Slow down to the 100 km/h speed limit of most Alberta highways? Clean out the trunk? Leave the kids and wife at home? ;)

Python had an HID kit on his gen 1 LS but he sold the kit and bought aftermarket Eagle Eyes headlights: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...c=59724&hl=

Steverino, "the voice of reason" -- even when he's being a little unreasonable! ;)

At least the 2010 ES shark fin antenna is reasonably small -- unlike the dorky big ones on the BMW 3-Series. I wouldn't be so sure that the shark fin would provide better reception. I've spent plenty of days with XM in rental cars and I've gotten so tired of seeing "Buffering" on the radio display I've pretty much given up on XM. Has it gotten any better? You might look closely inside a 2010 ES Ultra to see if the antenna lead for the shark fin is imprinted on the inside of the glass. If it is, you are probably SOL for adding one. Are you sure that the shark fin is screwed on to the glass of the panoramic room? Maybe it's just stuck on like an old style cell phone antenna or the emblems on some Lexus models. Personally I think it is wonderful not to have any external antennas on either of our Toyota made vehicles -- nothing to get knocked off or vandalized or add wind noise on the highway -- and when I think about it, we've gone through quite a few external antennas over the years. It kind of seems like the car industry is taking a step backward with external antennas or maybe Toyota/Lexus is just continuing their pattern of mimicking what European car makers do.

Your antenna is imprinted on the inside of the rear window -- same as in our Camry and LS. This drawing shows you where it is: http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_U_2001_LEXU...4.html?hl=86101

You apparently have not read my past posts about how a water pump on my prevous LS seized at about 75,000 miles and caused the timing belt to shed. It was a gen 1 LS400 so no damage was done. That experience has caused me to be more concerned about the water pump and timing belt on my 2000 LS400 with vvti. If I still own the car in two years, I'll have the timing belt on my 2000 LS400 replaced a second time. I've discussed this issue with Lexus mechanics and repair shop owners who I got to know pretty well over my nearly 20 years of driving Lexus LS cars. Mine was not the only broken LS timing belt they had seen.

This is actually something my CPA wife and I have thought about. If your time is at all valuable, replacing pads early to avoid replacing a sensor is a false economy. It is an especially false economy if you drive almost any distance and spend almost any amount of time to take your car to a professional to change the pads and have the rotors turned as recommended by Lexus. The time you wait at a dealership or repair shop waiting for a repair to be completed is for many people lost income or lost productivity if they are salaried. Some people have said they can get by without have the rotors turned when they change brake pads. Good for them. I've tried that and am not willing to put up with the minor irritations including a sometimes very slightly pulsing brake pedal. I want my LS to drive and brake perfectly -- that's why I've spent so much money buying new or nearly new Lexus LS cars. IMO, the "3 mm rule" dealers like to push for changing brake pads is especially silly when it comes to the rear pads. For me, the difference between 3 mm and when the sensor on the rear pads trigger the warning message is, apparently on my current LS, about 45,000 miles of driving -- if my current LS gets to 120,000 miles on its original rear brake pads which I think it is going to do (currently it's at 115,500 miles and still on the original rear pads). I think this is a case where "one size doesn't fit all". Replacing the pads early works financially for some people but not for others.

Has that guy been hanging out at a donut shop? What's the solution for "glazed" rotors -- is it to have the glazing licked off by endangered tree frogs? I'll bet that service would be expensive. Yes, it is recommended to replace the pads at 3mm under the "dealer profit enhancement program". Tell those people to "take a hike". I've known some very "nice" service advisers whose main interest is selling unneeded services. Ask other Lexus owners where they have their cars serviced. I sometimes recommend the indie shop I use when I see other Lexus drivers at the gas pump ... which is sometimes funny because they are already using the same indie shop I use. Word of mouth iseems to be the best way to find a good indie repair shop.

... changes in the layout? ... don't think I've noticed any changes ... Hey, am I missing out on something here? How do I get this "new format"? Is there a special button or secret code? Maybe dcfish is talking about threads sometimes displaying -- for no apparent reason -- in "outline" or "linear" mode. When that happens, click on the Options button to change the display mode to "Standard".

Reuse the old shims -- I have and have never had a problem. I've got lazy and now let an indie Lexus repair shop do brake jobs for us -- they reuse the shims. C-Clamp? I've always used a crowbar to compress calipers! Seriously, I'm not kidding.

I'm not wanting to take away from member/vendor dcfish's business but, according the the valuation charts, a 2007 ES with nav (in excellent condition with 30K miles) is worth only $665 more than the same car without nav. About the only option that provides less payback than nav at resale time are fuzzy dice -- there's plenty of documentation that supports what I am saying. If you want nav that bad, you might be better off selling your car privately and then buying a 2007 ES with nav in a private transaction. What's with all the cracked Lexus nav screens being reported lately on Lexus forums? What's going on? Are they that easy to break? One guy reported that a Lexus dealer wanted over $7000 for a new nav unit to replace his that has a cracked screen. The best price I could find for him on a new nav unit from an on-line discount Lexus parts seller was something like $4500. My wife's Camry is more than a little similar to an ES of the same year (she would really like to have an ES!). It's worked very well in her car to attach her Garmin Nuvi to a bracket just to the right of her radio and to "permanently" hide its power cord inside the center stack and attached to the accessory circuit so it turns on and off automatically. Just getting it off the windshield made it much more pleasant to use and it's so hard to see from outside her car (she throws a floppy hat over it when she exits the car) that she removes it from its bracket only when she's going to use it on a business trip in a rental car. And the nav voice instructions from her $160 Costco widescreen Garmin Nuvi announces the street names -- unlike a couple of Lexus navs I've seen which apparently couldn't do that.

What do I think? I think you are "being taken for a ride". You had an $800 brake job at 30,000 miles and at 50,000 you are contemplating still another brake job? Do you drive your car extemely hard ... frequenty slam on your brakes at high speed and stop using maximum braking power? Are you a "street racer"? If you are an average non-abusive LS driver, your front brake pads should be lasting 60-70K miles and your rear brake pads should be lasting well over 100,000 miles. Yes, the brake pads on more recent Lexus cars don't last very long but the ones on your 05 LS are still of the old school long lasting type. The front brake pads on my 00 LS were replaced for the first time at 71,293 miles when the brake wear indicator light came on. Cost (labor and parts) of replacing with OEM pads and having the rotors machined was $214 at an indie shop that specializes in Lexus cars and owned/staffed by former Lexus dealer employees. LS430 brake pads are only slightly more expensive than the pads used on my car. My car is still on its original rear brake pads at 115,500 miles. They are getting fairly close to needing replacement and I am hoping they last until the 120,000 mile service during which I plan to have the rear brake pads replaced and the rear rotors machined. I assume that the price is going to be similar to the cost of replacing the front pads and having the front rotors machined -- probably less than $225. There is absolutely no reason to replace front and rear brake pads at the same time or until they need to be replaced. Brake jobs seem to be a "cash cow" at many dealers and repair shops -- I'd rather keep the cash and have a few cow steaks with the money I save by not having needless work done.

I think you mean "TPMS". TPS is the acronym for the "Throttle Position Sensor". Cover the dashboard light with a piece of electrical tape if it bothers you -- I don't think any Lexus model with TPMS sounds an alarm.

What you mean by a "skid"? Are you losing control? Unlike LS400's with traction control from earlier model years, traction control on a 98-00 LS400 allows unlimited wheel spin as long as the car remains pointed in the direction the steering wheel is pointed. The VSC (stability control system) will cut the throttle and selectively apply brakes if the VSC system senses that the car is not going in the the direction the driver intended. You will hear a "beep ... beep" sound when VSC intervenes and a warning light on the dash will flash -- it's all explained in the owners manual. Sometimes when streets are wet or especially "greasy", I put the transmission mode selector in Snow mode while taking off from a stop and then put it back into normal mode when underway. Of course, check the tires to verify they have adequate tread.

Try to keep your tires at the minimum pressure shown on the driver's side door jam. On both our Camry and LS, that is only 29 psi.

You can almost always "get by" with all season tires in upstate New York. Goodness knows, I've driven front wheel drive rental cars with all season tires from Albany up to Gore Mountain and White Face at Lake Placid in the middle of Winter and survived -- only I didn't happen to encounter any really serious snow storms and the highways were pretty clear. Real snow tires (with the mountain/snowflake certification logo on the sidewall) add a level of comfort and security which is hard to fathom by those who haven't used them in snow conditions. Here in Kansas where we don't get nearly as much snow as in upstate New York, we use all season tires on my wife's front wheel drive Camry (with TRAC) since she has a fairly short drive to work. On really bad snowy days, I take her to work in my rear wheel drive LS that has heavy duty snow tires on it. My rear wheel drive LS with Blizzak snow tires does far better in snow than her front wheel drive Camry with all season tires. I suspect if we put real (mountain/snowflake logo) snow tires on her Camry, it would do better than my LS with snow tires. It's really a matter of how comfortable and secure you like to be when the weather is really bad and how much risk you like to take. With real snow tires, I feel sort of "bulletproof" in my LS and my main goal is to avoid running into the out of control "idiots" with all season tires. I suggest that you just try one set of really good heavy duty snow tires. I think you will be amazed at how much better they are than all season tires.

Here is another diagram for you: http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_U_1992_LEXU...EPGKA_1603.html Take a look at the "SWITCH ASSY, LEVEL WARNING" -- sometimes they go bad or stick.

There is a diagram here: http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_U_1992_LEXU...EPGKA_8503.html If you you can hear your washer pump running, maybe a hose is clogged. On most Toyota/Lexus vehicles, access to the washer pump is by peeling away the forward part of the liner in the wheel well -- may sound difficult but one of my a bro-in-laws recently did exactly that to replace the washer pump on his Camry in just a few minutes.

You might try having your car aligned by a professional -- from my experience, they are the first to spot suspension component wear issues. I'm not one to just start replacing stuff -- that can get expensive. Have you had your car a long time or know your car's maintenance history and what, if any, suspension components have already been replaced?

Attach the appropriate diagnostic device and check for a stored code. A number of people on the forums have said places like Autozone will do it ... sometimes even for free. Any Lexus dealer would be able to do it too.

The tabs were discontinued after the gen 1 LS400. On the 95-00 LS, grab the seat cushion at the leading edge were it meets the carpet and pull up forcefully. The first time I did it on my 00 LS, I had to use a metal pry bar. It will be mostly obvious how to remove the seat back if you need to -- you'll see the bolts. A few of the bolts are hidden behind leather flaps, held in place by velcro, behind the head rests and, if I remember correctly, behind the armrest. I seem to have to slide the rear seat back upward before it can be removed. If you want an OEM ride, get OEM shocks. Are you sure your shocks are worn out? I know of LS400's with waaay over 200,000 miles on them that are still on their original shocks.

Steeeeve ... dare I question what my favorite person on this forum says ... but I think it is permissible and even recommended to rotate non-directional radial tires side to side / front to back. Attached is the tire rotation chart from the online manual for my 00 LS from the owners section of the Lexus website. Directional tires and/or directional wheels (like my gen 1 LS400 had) are another matter and, of course, should not be rotated from side to side. Maybe it's all in my head but the Bridgestone directional summer tires I'm using on my LS seem to "feel" better when braking in the rain than any non-directional summer or all season tire I've used. They were advertised to be better in the rain but maybe I'm just unconsciously buying into the hype.

The same integrated XM radio kits for the SC430 are on ebay or direct from VAIS for about $260 --> http://www.vaistech.com/products/sl2xmt.php There was a thread on another forum where someone installed one in his SC430 and I remember that he reported favorably on the kit.

I just now verified that your 97 ES uses the exact same radiator (same part numbers) as our 98 Camry V6. I went out into the garage, lifted the hood on the Camry, and looked down behind the radiator. I can see the drain plug on the back of the radiator at the bottom, on the left (passenger) side as you face the car. On our Camry, the plug sticks out pretty far and the part you grab is white -- very easy to see. Actually, there are three different part numbers shown for the radiators on both your 97 ES and our 98 Camry V6. I'm assuming that they all have drain plugs but that might not be the case. Some cars don't have drain plugs on their radiators and are drained by removing the lower radiator hose.