1990LS400

I suspect your "amp" under the driver seat is for something else - maybe some aftermarket product a previous owner installed. If the current Nebraska owner of my 2000 LS400 ever does some interior disassembly he going to find all sorts of electronic crap I installed and later quit using during the 10+ years I had the car.

Bode, is your LS400 a RHD? Do you live in the UK? The amplifier on the LHD 95-00 LS400 that was sold in North America is under the front passenger seat - the seat on the right side of the car.

I have to agree. These were wonderful cars in their day but I can't see spending much on a car that can be wiped out for insurance purposes by a minor fender bender. There are already a number of replacement parts that are no longer available for the 1990-1994 LS400 and even some for the 1995-2000 LS400.

This may should strange but I absolutely guarantee you that there are cracked/broken wires in the wire harness that is attached to the left (driver side) trunk hinge. I had the same problem in a 1990 LS400 I used to have and many have had the same problem with the 1990 - 1994 LS400. The wires get broken/cracked as the trunk is opened over the years. What is amazing to me is that it took 26 years for this problem to show up in your car but maybe the trunk wasn't opened and closed as much as most. When this problem gets worse, the transmission starts not shifting properly. Unwrap the insulation from the wire harness at the left trunk hinge. It may not be obvious which wires are broken so you might have to "wiggle" each wire to determine where it broke. You may have to splice in small lengths of wire to repair the problem. Soldering is preferable but you might get by with using commercially available "butt" connectors for splicing in new wire lengths. The person who bought my 1990 LS400 in 2003 told me that he had to re-repair the wires over the years he owned the car. This probably did not occur on the 1995-up LS400.

When you install the aftermarket head unit using the Nakamichi amp, it is the Nakamichi amp that powers all the speakers including the subwoofer. There is no pre-amp under the driver seat unless a previous owner of your car installed something. I sent you a PM with the Nakamichi wiring diagram attached. It shows all the wire colors.

The Nakamichi amp takes care of "making" the subwoofer work without having to do anything special. All that has to be done is to connect the correct speaker wires from the aftermarket headunit to the car's connector leading to the amp. Those "everyone" who keep saying the amp has to be bypassed are clueless and are just repeating rumors. Others have successfully used the same technique my installer used and the subwoofer worked for them too.

The center air vent releases are on each side - reach through the vent slots with a small blade screw driver and pull the releases inward. The vent will then slip out with little effort. There is no commercially available interface harness for replacing a nakamichi head unit with an aftermarket head unit - only for the standard Pioneer. I had Best Buy install a Kenwood double-DIN in a 2000 LS400 in 2013. The installer fabricated a custom interface harness that had pins that inserted into the connectors on the car side. The installer didn't cut a signal wire on the car and the installation could have been reversed and the original Nakamichi headunit reinstalled in a few minutes. The installation utilized the Nakamichi amp under the passenger seat and all the speakers including the subwoofer. It sounded wonderful. I do know that all that is necessary to make the subwoofer work is to connect the four speaker wire sets to the connector leading to the Nakamichi amp and it is the amp that does the "magic" to make the sub-woofer work. The installer had never done an install like this and found that polarity mattered when connecting the Kenwood speaker outputs to the connector leading to the amplifier. I considered the installer to be far above average. He was middle aged, an LS430 owner and a Lexus and audio enthusiast. I provided him with the Nakamichi wiring diagram and we discussed the installation before he did it. I supplied the dash kit which I think I got on Amazon. The total cost including the $125 installation fee was a hair under $500. The Kenwood had phone handsfree but I used a Garmin for both handsfree and navigation. I sold the car to a friend in 2014 and he later sold it to someone else in another state.

This is a forum for North America. The SC430 sold in North America from from the 2001 through 2004 model year had what is referred to as a GEN2/3 navigation system. The final update for the GEN2/3 navigation system was November 2013. The SC430 sold in North America from the 2005 through 2009 model year had a GEN4 navigation system. The final update for the GEN4 navigation system was November 2015. The navigation systems in Lexus and Toyota vehicles sold in Europe are different than the navigation systems in Lexus and Toyota vehicles sold in North America. Here is a link to the Lexus navigation web site for Europe: http://www.lexus-mapupdates.eu/ It may be more reasonable for you to start using a cell phone based navigation product or a portable navigation product from a company like TomTom. Afterall, your SC430 is sixteen model years old.

It's a "feature" of all/most vehicles made by Toyota. The following text is from the Toyota Venza owners manual: " Approximately five hours after the engine is turned off, you may hear sound coming from under the vehicle for several minutes. This is the sound of a fuel evaporation leakage check and, it does not indicate a malfunction. " The first time I heard it on one of our Toyotas, I opened a garage door thinking the buzzing was coming from outside. Nope, it was just the emission system doing a self check.

Are your current headlights leaking or broken? If the lenses are just cloudy and worn, it's probable that they can be restored to virtually like new condition with a refinishing product. My favorite is from Sylvania and cost about $25. If they are leaking, try using epoxy. If you really need replacement units, try a salvage company.

Whether a car mainly understeers, oversteers or has more neutral handling is mainly due to weight distribution, front-to-back tire/wheel size and tire inflation. Front engine cars with transmissions connected to their engines usually understeer. Cars with rear engines and transmissions (e.g. RWD Porsche 911) are prone to oversteering. Mid engine cars exist largely to provide more neutral handling allowing both understeering and oversteering at the control (and skill!) of the driver. Some manufacturers (e.g. Alfa Romero) went so far as to use front engines and rear transaxles to get more neutral handling. Aftermarket shock absorbers / dampers will not reduce understeer. Different tires are not going to help either although some front engine vehicles (e.g. Lexus IS350) have larger tires and sometimes wider wheels on the back that somewhat reduce understeer. I've driven several GS sedans similar to yours and remember them handling much like the LS400's I drove over a 24 year period. They are not what I would call nimble but these are fairly large and heavy cars. They handle quite well for what they are. My main suggestion is to monitor your tire pressures. Follow the placard on the driver door post and don't get carried away with too much pressure. Be aware that tire pressure changes on its own about 1 psi for each 10 degrees Fahrenheit of temperature change. I find myself adjusting tire pressures far more often in Winter than the rest of the year. This being Winter and you being in Nebraska, I would hope you would be driving on winter tires on your GS if you are using it at all and would not be very concerned with handling. Winter tires almost always have much worse dry traction than all-season and summer tires so one has to be careful to drive more carefully when using them. My wife was born in Nebraska - Sioux Falls. BRRR!

Regardless of whether or not your post is relevant to this thread, you are on a forum targeted to North American Lexus owners. Navigation updates for the U.K. and Europe don't help North American drivers. Besides, the navigation systems for the UK and Europe are different than for North America. A map DVD for UK and Europe will not work in a Lexus marketed in North America and vice versa. If you are looking for the Lexus Owners Club for the UK, it is at http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/

I've been on Lexus forums for a lot of years and I don't remember anyone using Mustang wheels on a Lexus LS - not that it can't be done. I don't know how many versions of these Mustang 17x9" wheels there are but these I found have a 24mm offset: http://www.oewheelsllc.com/Mustang-Cobra-Deep-Dish-Wheel-Gunmetal_4?gclid=CjwKEAiAn7HEBRDHwNqitoWqsQcSJAADWmI29Eyk1GeTXbL-Fs3zB5-08JBIP6hbtbnEqyUT6oUBZRoCfuLw_wcB Wheels and Caps, where I've bought refurbished OEM wheels, show 1995 LS400 wheels as having a 45mm offset: http://www.wheelsandcaps.com/p-20690-aluminum-alloy-wheel-rim-16x7-74140.aspx That's a big offset difference. The "normal" tire size used on the 2001 LS430 with the 17" wheel option is 225/55-17 which keeps the speedometer accurate and reading the same as with the standard 16" wheels and 225/60-16 tires which was the tire size used on the 1993-2000 LS400. According to 1010 Tires, the widest rim for a 225/55-17 tire is eight inches: http://www.1010tires.com/Tools/Tire-Size-Calculator/225-60R16/225-55R17 A local wheel or tire shop might be able to help you with this. If you have found some used Mustang wheels locally, I assume you could test fit them.

I doubt if you will find unbroken center vents used on eBay. They are often trashed due to most people not knowing that there is a clip on each side that has to be pulled inward before removing the assembly. You can buy a new assembly here assuming it is for a non-nav car and still available: https://www.lexuspartsnow.com/parts/lexus-register-assy-instrument-panel-no-2~55660-50050.html

Many vehicles with keyless entry / push button start can be entered by thieves using a cheap amplifier that can be purchased on the Internet. If you park your vehicle near your fob (e.g. in your driveway), one of these amplifiers can be used to amplify the fobs signal - even when the fob is in your pocket - to open the vehicle door. I recently read about thieves in the city where I live capturing/recording signals from fobs as owners exit their vehicles in shopping centers and then opening vehicle doors with the recorded signals after the owners had disappeared from sight. I don't know if car manufacturers are doing anything about this problem. Google "Faraday Cage" for information on how to protect a key fob so its signal can not be captured by thieves.

If your navigation screen formerly showed maps, then you have a map DVD in the navigation system's DVD drive which I think is on the right side of the trunk of the 2004 RX330. I suspect, however, that the problem is more serious and that reloading the DVD is not going to fix the problem ... but it is worth a try. The 2004 RX330 has a generation 2/3 navigation system. Updates for the generation 2/3 navigation system were discontinued in 2013 per http://www.lexusnavigation.com/what-to-order/

I don't know what to tell you except to watch for sales promotions. You are pretty much stuck with more expensive tires due to your optional 19" wheels. I suppose you could get a set of 18" wheels but I don't know if the savings on 18" tires would be enough to make the smaller wheels cost effective during the remaining time you will own your LS. Maybe review the customer ratings on the Tire Rack website to see if less expensive tires have been "good enough" for others. Most of the tires I've bought in the past 15 years have been from Costco - as many as 12 tires at one time ... two sets of four tires in just the past three months. Costco has been having several promotions per year on Michelin and Bridgestone tires and have recently had a promotion that provided "free" tire installation for people who have the "executive" Costco "membership". (I hate the term "membership" since I'm really just a customer.) A potential issue with Costco is that I don't think any have road force balancing although that doesn't seem to be important for our current vehicles.

Something is clearly wrong so I doubt if updating the maps will help. You could try ejecting and reloading the map DVD.

The question is: Do your wipers turn on when they are needed? It sometimes seems to me as if a critical mass of rain drops on the rain sensor must be reached before the wipers are triggered. If the wipers don't come on when I want, I manually trigger the first swipe with the stalk and then put the stalk back into the Auto position. It does sometimes seem like I'm "priming the pump" to get them going. One reason I may not notice this issue as much is that I've used water repellent glass treatment for decades - at least once per month on windshields. Rain-X and similar treatments often make windshield wipers seem superfluous.

I'm almost surprised that a Hawaii specific nav disc will work in a RX made for mainland U.S. I think you are stuck with working with Serveco. I wouldn't be surprised if a Hawaii-specific nav disc is no longer available since there probably isn't much demand for them. Maybe you can get a nav disc from a salvaged RX. The 2006 - 2009 RX has the same generation nav system that my 2014 Sienna has - "OK" but not nearly as much map detail as the later generations. Have you considered using a portable GPS like a Garmin? Garmins get four free updates per year and you can get a really nice one for less than $250. I just put the address of Servco Lexus Honolulu in my Garmin without any problem ... I could navigate to it except for the road getting a little wet between Kansas and Hawaii.

You are in Florida with a "GS300SE"? Did you bring it from the UK? The GS300SE was not sold in North America. Security codes were never used on navigation systems of Lexus vehicles sold in North America. Security codes could be used on radios in some Lexus vehicles sold in North America in the early 1990's but hardly anyone activated them. When a security code was used and forgotten, a Lexus dealer could unlock the radio for a fee. Maybe someone on the UK section of this forum can help you: http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/

Have you tried increasing the sensitivity with the dial on the stalk to cause the wipers to activate with less moisture on the sensor? Yes, the rain sensor can sometime activate the wipers when dust or debris hits it. If this is happening rarely, it's normal.

Per the OP's previous post in this thread, the $1,700 included replacing a leaking steering rack. We had a badly leaking steering rack on a Camry replaced at about the same mileage and age and they aren't cheap - around $1,000 if I remember correctly and it may have been a rebuilt rack.

I don't remember anybody else asking this question. TPMS only monitors tire pressure. It doesn't really do anything. Is yours broken?

The problem is more likely a dead tilt motor or worn gears it drives. It's a common problem as these cars age.