1990LS400

The ATT/HTC 8525 is not listed on the Lexus website as having been tested by Lexus. The similar AT&T/HTC 8125 has been tested by Lexus and is shown on the Lexus website as have no capability of transferring contacts to a handsfree system. I came close to getting the 8525 when it was available until I read about its problems. I'm a fan of Windows Mobile except for its tendency to lock up about as often as "Windows 3.1" and having an Internet browser that is not compatible with complex websites. OK, so you are jealous. Are you interested enough in getting your iPhone contacts list into your ES Bluetooth to try the workaround I provided? There are plenty of Bluetooth phones that are extremely compatible with the pre-2010 Lexus Bluetooth system -- surely you or a friend has one, or you can buy a cheap one on FleaBay or at a garage sale. Not surprised that you could pair your MacBook. I've found that I could pair anything, including non-phone PDA devices, to Bluetooth systems in rental cars even if they couldn't transfer any information to the car's handsfree systems. It is very doubtful that Toyota is going to provide an update to your pre-2010 ES that will allow your iPhone to work with it. If they did, it would be a first.

The warranty is not affected by an owner performing maintenance. I've always documented the maintenance I've performed by recording it in the maintenance booklet like the Lexus dealer would do. It's good to check occasionally with the Lexus dealer to see if there are any outstanding TSIB's or "product improvement campaigns" for your RX -- not sure if that is the correct term. I've had a lot of free work done on Lexus cars without the dealer even telling me exactly what they did.

I've seen a number of threads in which people have said to export the contact list from the iPhone/iTunes to a non-Apple Bluetooth phone that is highly compatible with the Lexus system and then to transfer the contact list from the compatible phone. Some have said that they have done it but provided no other details. Have you any Bluetooth non-Apple phones in your junk drawer? If you do, check the Lexus website to see if they are compatible. I don't even have an iPhone or Lexus with Bluetooth but this issue keeps catching me eye since I've been sort of a car phone geek for 20 years. If you are going to try it, I'd suggest finding a Nokia Bluetooth phone since you can connect it to your personal computer (without having to buy a cable) via a cheap USB Bluetooth dongle (< $5 on eBay) and use Nokia PC Suite (downloadable for free from the Nokia website) to import the contact list into the Nokia phone. I paid less than $10 for a USB Bluetooth dongle at a MicroCenter store about a year ago. I use Nokia PC Suite to maintain the contact list on the phones of elderly relatives. PC Suite can import contact lists in several formats including vcard. One thing to watch for is to match the correct version of Nokia PC Suite to the particular Nokia phone model. Anybody in the Kansas City Metro have an iPhone, a pre-2010 Lexus with Bluetooth and want me to help try this? I'm game for a little technical challenge.

"Extreme Dimensions V-Speed Body Kit"? -- http://www.andysautosport.com/lexus/1992_2...eme_dimensions/ Looks like a good way to turn an SC into a snow plow for Wisconsin winters. ;) A car with a kit like that would likely not be driveable in more than a few inches of snow.

It's a "feature". The oil filter is in the same place on my wife's 98 Camry V6 and I have a problem with it too -- got a pretty big catch tray to keep the oil from spilling on to the garage floor. I've never noticed the Camry smoking after an oil change -- are you spilling oil on the exhaust manifold as you lift the oil filter up and out? If you are, make sure the oil filter is upright before remove it. I guess the filter could be removed from under the car but I've never tried that -- I always remove the filter from above. I calculated that I've changed the oil and filter in the Camry 22 times sime we bought it new. I think I could do it blindfolded -- if I could keep from burning my arm while removing the oil filter. Wouldn't it be nice if a high maintenance item like the oil filter was put where it could be easily serviced? I have to remove 12 bolts to drop the freakin' belly pan on my LS400 to change its oil filter. One of the few things I really liked about my Mercedes 240D was that it had a remotely mounted oil filter insert in an upright heavy cast metal housing. The oil filter insert even had a little metal loop handle so it could be lifted out of it's metal housing with a hook so I didn't have to touch it. It would be nice if Toyota would do something like that and make their car hoods stand straight up when open to make their cars easier to service.

Kevin? Is that you from CL? The front of the Nak headunit isn't a snap-on faceplate -- I've had mine out several times. Besides, the button configuration of the 98-00 Nak and standard radio headunits is a little different. The Nak headunit doesn't have an ASL button or the ASL feature. It almost looks like the little buttons at the bottom are in a slightly different location too. Compare the photo of my Nak: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...si&img=1349 with your Pioneer: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...c=56051&hl= Is your radio "faceplate" damaged? With Nakamichi's getting difficult to get repair - parts not available - I'm wishing I had the standard Pioneer system.

eBay seller "factoryradios", located in Colton, California, adds a 3.5 mm aux input jack to the front or back of Lexus radio headunits for $60. Attached is one of the photos from eBay of a Lexus radio with the added aux input on the front. I think you have to dedicate an FM station button to it and that it does not interfere with the CD changer.

There must be a zillion threads on this problem including this one: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...hl=driver++seat I've been trying to find the thread on this forum that has photos but haven't found it yet. It is a very common problem on the gen 1 LS400. It happened on the 90 LS I had -- it was fixed by a repair shop for a "nominal" (less than $100) if I remember correctly. Here is a how-to-fix thread on another forum that has photos: http://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls400/4423...res-inside.html

Email you? You didn't provide an email address and with only one forum post, people can not send a personal message to you. http://www.parts.com/lexus/lexus-parts.cfm has new seat heater switches (part # 84751-33021) for your 00 ES for $53.45. The diagram at this link shows what they look like: http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_U_2000_LEXU...4.html?hl=84751 It might be worth having your dealer install the switch and run the diagnostics on the seat heater system. Switches do not necessarily melt because they are defective. The switch may have been overloaded by some other defect in the system. The seat heater diagnostic procedure for my LS is fairly complex and involves testing resistance, voltage and continuity on a number of pins in several connectors. I don't have the procedure for the ES.

Well said, Steve.

I'll bet those Lexus car seats are nice. How much do you like your kid? Reminds me of the typical Southwest Airlines flight attendent safety speech: "If traveling with more than one child, pick the child you like best and put his oxygen mask on first."

According to this diagram, it's under the dash: http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_U_1996_LEXU...GKA_8401.4.html

The diagram on the following page appears to show the "receiver, door control" for a 2001 RHD U.K. LS430: http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_E_2001_LEXU...GKW_8420.7.html Click "Home" start over if yours is not a 2001 LS430.

It looks like you have to remove the front turn signal housing just like on my 00 LS400. Remove the one screw and pry the turn signal out by using your fingertips between the headlight lens and the turn signal assembly. It's held in mainly by friction fittings -- about all the one screw does is to make the turn housing difficult to steal. An illustration is here: http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_U_1999_LEXU...TPGKA_8103.html

Click on the following link to search results to see a list of previous threads that will answer your question: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...ghlite=%2BSupra

Diagrams on the Sewell website indicate that center cap 42603-50170 is for a "Type A" wheel. Yours is shown as a "Type D" wheel. Try giving Sewell a call or send them a parts inquiry through their website -- give them the discount code or ask for their best price. Tell them that your wheels are the style that were standard on the 01 LS430 and on the 00 LS400 Platinum Series but are chrome wheels. I found used center caps when I bought mine but people wanted as much for used ones as Sewell charged for new ones. Like most businesses, Sewell appreciates repeat customers and seems to reward them -- or at least me -- with healthy discounts.

Either Apple could clean up their Bluetooth implementation on the iPhone or Toyota could make its Bluetooth system more forgiving as some other car manufacturers have done just to get the iPhone to work better with their Bluetooth systems. Toyota is just now coming out with cars with Bluetooth A2DP which allows streaming stereo audio from cell phones -- the first IS to have it is the 2010 IS C.

Tire Rack surveys are a good place to start. Here is the one for the "Pilot Sport A/S Plus": http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?ti...are1=yes#Survey Check the surveys for other all season tires and also for snow tires. I've gotten caught only once in my 00 LS in deep snow with all season tires -- took off my snow tires too early and couldn't even get out of my culdesac. Struggled back into my garage, mounted my snow wheels/tires and blasted right out of my culdesac and pretty much drove normally while most other drivers were struggling just to get their vehicles to move.

The same 2001 LS430 style chrome wheel came on my 2000 LS400 Platinum Series. I bought a new set of four all chrome center caps from Sewell Lexus ( http://www.sewellpartsonline.com ) in Texas in September, 2007 for $93.38 including shipping to Kansas. Here are the details from the parts quote email from Sewell: Item ID:2541, 42603-50270 - Lexus LS430 Chrome Center Cap, Quantity:4, Price:$21.37, Item Total:$85.48 Sub-Total:$85.48 Shipping: $7.90 Tax:$0.00 Total:$93.38 Parts.com often has the cheapest prices but I see today that they want $47.12 each! Their webpage says that the retail price is $68.14 each. Yikes!

I bought the cargo net for my LS from Sewell Lexus in Texas -- use it amost every day. It looks like they have one for your 08 RX350 for $39.99: http://www.sewellpartsonline.com/parts_detail.asp?id=87785 The Clublexus discount code (“CL911M”) will get an additional 10% off. I've sometimes gotten more discount that that from Sewell by just asking. Or ... Iron Toad Lexus has it for $31.99: http://www.irontoad.com/Merchant2/merchant...;Store_Code=LSC Don't know which is less expensive with shipping tacked on.

100,000 miles isn't all that much for a modern vehicle. You can probably keep your LX in good running order for about as long as you want if you don't skimp on maintenance and repairs. Last time I checked, my first Lexus - a 1990 LS400 - is still being driven daily by its current owner and has over 275,000 miles on it. It was in like new condition when I sold it after 13 1/2 years and 183,000 miles -- and I live in the "rust belt" -- not in San Diego. My 2000 LS400 is at nearly 113,000 miles and is aging even better than my 1990 LS400 did -- much better, in fact. I could see it lasting substantially longer than the 90 LS if it doesn't get crashed. There is no reason to ditch your LX if you like it. As my CPA wife says, the longer you keep an asset past its depreciable life, the greater the financial payback.

Would you be talking about the front or the rear?

George_Jetson, I think what you found is the difference in the way the foglights are wired on a U.S. spec car and on a Canadian spec car. The foglights are not the DRL. Even in some model years where DRL was standard on U.S. Lexus cars -- the headlight/DRL system wiring on at least some U.S. Lexus models (e.g. the 2000 LS400 like I have) is quite different from that on the nearly identical looking Canadian spec models. For example, the same instrument cluster indicator light that is used to indicate that the headlights are on in a U.S. spec Lexus is instead used in a Canadian spec Lexus to indicate that the DRL is on. Why? I have no idea. Maybe Canadian requirements are different from U.S. requirements.

1999 was the first year of DRL on the U.S. spec ES300 and Toyota Camry. My wife drives her 98 Camry with the headlights on during the day -- actually never turns the headlight switch off and relies on the the driver's door switch to automatically turn them off when she gets out of her car. The 99-up ES probably has a DRL relay similar to my 00 LS -- adding one and the supporting wiring to a 97 ES is probably not a trivial change. It looked kind of complex when I recently researched a DRL issue for the owner of a 2000 ES300. You might look into buying a DRL conversion kit from a Canadian source. As you know, DRL is required in Canada but not in the U.S. Lots of Canadians import cars from the U.S. and have to add DRL -- one of my Ontario cousins had to have DRL added to a U.S. spec car last year. DRL kits are pretty common in Canada -- even the chain store "Canadian Tire" sells a kit for CN$39.99 : http://www.canadiantire.ca

The GX has very little legroom for the third row seat -- the specs say almost six inches less than your IS250 ... and I've ridden in the back seat of an IS250 and it was not fun. Is your wife going to be using the third row seat only for child seats or for adults she doesn't like? ;) IMO, a better choice for a true seven passenger all-wheel drive "luxury" vehicle is a Toyota Sienna Limited AWD with navigation with backup camera and Bluetooth, leather heated memory seats, dynamic laser cruise control, DVD entertainment and wireless headphones, 2nd and 3rd row window sunshades, parking assist, etc., etc. The Sienna AWD even has HID headlights which you can't get on a GX and even a more powerful engine with better gas mileage than its Toyota Prado/GX470 cousins. OK, I admit I've become a little "Sienna crazed" since driving eight of us - all adults - and luggage around southern Ontario for a week in a rental Sienna last summer. It was quite, calm and comfortable -- and huge inside. For a vehicle that can carry a lot of people and stuff, the Sienna is the best I've experienced.