1990LS400

Defective CV joint? That's my guess.

I wanted to kick one of my brother-in-laws for recently exchanging his Toyota Sienna van for a similar year (2006?) Sequoia -- he said he needed the Sequoia to make it up his long steep winding driveway of his new house in central Iowa. Funny ... his four other 2WD vehicles don't have a problem with the driveway. I guess the Sienna wasn't "he-man" enough for him. His Sienna was so nice, quite, roomy and comfortable -- it could easily hold his family of five and my wife and me. In comparison, the Sequoia rides like a "buck board", is much noisier, and seems far less spacious. I was stunned the first time I rode in it. I don't know if his Sequoia has a third row seat but if it does, we ain't going there. I rarely ride in SUV's so I am not in a position to judge how the Sequoia compares with other SUV's. Bro-in-law complained to me how the Sequoia got substantially worse gas mileage than the Sienna -- I wanted to give him a "dope slap". If you must have 4WD and want a Toyota quality vehicle, consider a Sienna Limited 4WD with HID headlights, memory seats, voice navigation and Bluetooth: http://www.toyota-eshowroom.com/partner/To...toyota_nav.html We drove a rented Toyota Sienna around rural southern Ontario for five days last summer on sort of a family history tour loaded with up to seven geezers and a significant amount of luggage stowed behind the third row seat. I was amazed at how well the Sienna handled and how it had plenty of power when loaded to the max. Most of the controls seemed just like my Lexus. I loved driving it. I want one.

Sorry we were so little help. I usually don't reply to a thread when I don't have a clue. I didn't realize the accessory fuse also powered the dash lights. Thanks, I learned something.

I think the smell is the least of your worries. It sounds like your gas tank is leaking. You might try removing all the trim necessary to expose both the tank and the filler neck. It's a wild guess but I would first check for leaks at the Fuel Sender Gauge and the Fuel Inlet Pipe. There was a TSIB on the 98 LS that involved replacing the Fuel Sender Gauge. If the TSIB work was performed, it is possible that the Fuel Sender Gauge was not installed correctly. Attached the page from my 00 LS400 repair manuals showing the fuel tank components -- should be identical to your 98 LS. Be careful -- this is not a trivial matter.

Have you checked with a Lexus dealer? You can see the parts numbers here: http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_U_1996_LEXU...EPGKA_5804.html

I've looked at a number of audio diagrams for various years of the ES and haven't found any that show the wire colors in your list or that all the speakers share a common negative. You might take a look at this thread on ClubLexus that shows a diagram that is supposedly for a 95 ES: http://www.clublexus.com/forums/es300-and-...o-95-es300.html

Yes, but are they "plug and play". I don't see anything about it on the eBay sellor's offer. If one had to chop off the connectors from the car's harness and hardwire to the LED light units and wire in load resisters ... then I wouldn't give these things any thought at all.

This thread has made me curious. Do these LED light units have connectors that plug into the bulb sockets on the car's wiring harness ... or does one have to chop the connectors off the car's wiring harness and splice the wires to the LED light units? Do these LED light units contain load resisters so that the "bulb out" indicator in the instrument cluster doesn't light up? In other words, are these LED tail light units "plug and play?

I owned a 90 LS for 13 1/2 years and I'm pretty sure that it didn't have a cabin filter -- I think 93 was the first year for that. I had my 90 LS converted from R12 to R134a in about 2001 by an indie Lexus repair shop. Prices may have risen but I think I paid about $250. The shop was never able to get rid of all the leaks and a little R134a had to be added about once each year -- but at least the R134a was cheap. When I last spoke with the current owner of my 90 LS, he was still adding R134a occasionally and the A/C was still working fine. After conversion to R134a, the A/C still worked great. I'll never forget when four of us sat inside the 90 LS with the engine idling for about an hour on a 100 degree day in the Kansas City Royals Stadium parking lot -- the A/C was putting out enough cold air that it seemed like it could have cooled a house and the engine temperature gauge didn't budge from the it's normal reading.

At least we finally have some "reality" in this thread! :D

Have you tried finding a "continuous power" wire or pin on a connector that plugged into the OEM radio or to the amplifier if your aussie ES has a separate amplifier? Back in the "olden days", I always found switched and unswitched power on a connector that plugged into the original radio -- I usually chopped off the connector from the car's audio system harness to wire the power wires to an aftermarket radio. Sorry that I may not be following you. The aftermarket radios I installed back in the "dark ages" were usually pretty simple.

I wonder if the laws regarding this are completely different in Canada. In the U.S., dealerships do not conduct business under a "license" but instead are independent businesses conducting business under a franchise agreement. There is an absolutely huge difference between the two under U.S. law. I suppose you could consult with an attorney but you could easily ring up a fairly high bill pretty quickly. Regardless of your star witness, being hit while backing out of a parking space leaves room for interpretation with the law (here in the U.S.) usually coming down on the side of the other driver. I've certainly swerved around a car backing out of a parking space a zillion times in my lifetime. My advice is to move on in the most expeditious way possible. If you can get the dealership to pay for or help with the repair cost, great. If not, file a claim with your own insurance company.

I see that you are in Australia where your Lexus radios do not run on dreams and magic like they do in here in the U.S. ;) Maybe it is because we are "two peoples separated by a common language" but I don't understand why you are using a "continuity checker" to find the "hot" wire on the car's original radio harness. My continuity tester has a battery and two probes for sending a current through a circuit and sensing the current appearing somewhere else on the circuit. I would think you would instead want to use an unpowered (no battery) 12 volt test light to sense which pin on the car's radio harness is the switched (hot only when the ignition key is accessory or run position) pin and which pin is the unswitched pin (hot all the time). I installed a bunch of aftermarket radios in Mercedes, Volvo, Honda and VW cars back in the 70's and 80's and using a 12 volt test light to find the hot wires always did the trick. Some of the nicer multifunction battery powered testing devices can be used for testing both continuity and voltage ... and lots of other functions. I've got a really nice multi-tester but hardly ever use it ... I mainly use my cheapo continuity tester and my cheapo 12V test light.

I found several threads on another forum that confirms what jainla said on how to remove the housing on an LS430: "move it 1/2" to the left, then lift it straight out. Then you can remove the connector wire, and the bulb assembly to replace the bulb."

A car having a "having a major, and very dangerous problem" should not be driven. Take to a professional if you can't fix it yourself before driving it again. If necessary, call a tow truck to have it taken in.

I'd recommend buying the premixed coolant at the Toyota dealer -- it's the same product sold and used by Lexus dealers. The premixed coolant saves the trouble of mixing with distilled water and ensures that the coolant complies with the vehicle requirements. For a fluid that is usually supposed to be replaced every 24 months or 30,000 miles, using "long life" coolant makes no sense. The only people I know who ever have radiator or other cooling system problems are the ones who try to stretch coolant change intervals ... sometimes to infinity. The repair shop I use charges so little to change the coolant with Toyota/Lexus premix coolant and can properly dispose of the old coolant that it isn't worth my while to do it myself and find a waste disposal facility that accepts coolant. A gallon of premix coolant used to top up our Toyota/Lexus cars lasts about a decade.

boss_onie, Accidents happen. You wouldn't believe how many cars get damaged during test drives. I spent 31 years with the company that insures most auto dealers in the U.S. so I know how common it is -- I've read plenty of claims reports if sometimes only for their entertainment value. You are not going to get any kind of "diminished value" compensation on a 10 year old car -- even if your car was far newer you wouldn't get that kind of compensation. It ain't going to happen and it is never done that way. It is normal for a mechanic to take a car for a test drive without your specific permission. If you don't like the way the dealership is fixing the body damage, take your car to a body shop of your choosing, pay for it yourself and bill the dealership for the cost. If you do this, get your own insurance company involved since litigation may be necessary. The damage to your car appears to be quite minor and shouldn't be difficult for any competent body shop to repair. I think the dealership treated you completely fairly.

This has me curious. Exactly what make, model and size of snow tires do you have, how many miles are on them and what is their tread depth. Were you getting stuck in all snow conditions or in snow of a particular depth? I'm surprised that one of the more recent GS cars with the snow mode transmission setting and with snow tires would be having that much trouble

You might try contacting eBay seller "zeroism702". He sells LED tail lights for the 98-00 LS400 and might be able to supply them for older models.

While you are having your door locks programmed to lock automatically, you might want to have other features customized since it would be less expensive to have everything done at once. The attached document is for an 01 LS430 so you should ask the dealer for the LPS documentation for your 04 LS -- there could be additional features on your 04 that could be customized. 2001_LS430_LPS.pdf

thanks alot, im looking for some oem wheels... what other model will fit my es300? i'm looking for 17's, 18's or 19's thanks As far as I know, any pre-2007 Lexus wheels will fit your 96 ES300. Your ES came with 15" wheels. 17" and larger wheels would provide a substantially harsher ride. Why do that?

Paul, I had put E-code headlights in almost every car I had owned since the 1960s until I bought my first LS400 in 1990. I was shocked when I first drove my 90 LS400 at night -- never thought of doing that before I bought it. Before the 90 LS, our cars were a 79 Mercedes 240D with Euro headlights with wash/wipe and an 86 Honda Accord and an 85 Honda CRX which both had 200 mm Cibie headlights with replaceable H4 bulbs. All three of those cars also had extremely effective Euro code fog lights. I thought it would be easy to replace the 90 LS headlights with the Euro versions until I started checking and speaking with a U.K. coworker who had a U.K. spec gen 1 LS400. Getting the gen 1 Euro LS400 headlights is the easy part. To make the Euro LS gen 1 LS400 headlights work properly, one also needs the wiring harness and the dash mounted low beam control switch -- the beam control switch looks a lot like the beam control switch on the U.S. spec Sienna van. Also, where the U.S. spec gen 1 LS400 headlight unit has fog lights next to the high/low headlight, the Euro version has additional high beam headlights. The fog lights are in the bumper of the Euro gen 1 LS400. The Euro gen 1 LS400 essentially has two high beams on each side -- one being the high beam of the main H4 headlight and the other being the high beam inner light housing. All in all, buying all the Euro gen 1 LS400 headlight parts in the early 90s was going to cost thousands of $$ -- not something I was willing to do on a car I had just spent a lot of money to buy new. OK, here is a parts database if you want to see the headlight parts numbers for different markets around the world: http://www.toyodiy.com/ If you are interested in better headlights, take a look at the Eagle Eyes headlights for the gen 1 LS400. Forum member "Python" bought a set and said he is happy with them. On the following thread, I posted information about the eBay seller: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...mp;#entry356589

Hey ... some people think my Nokia "eye-phone" is pretty cool!

I can tell you that Blake's voice through his new Parrot handsfree kit was crystal clear when he called me while driving on the highway in what he said were windy / noisy conditions. I actually couldn't tell when he stopped using the Parrot handsfree and went to talking directly on his iPhone. Now ... if I can only get Blake to buy that Bury activeBase and activeCradle for the iPhone I found on eBay. Blake ... spend mo' money! ;) jainla, this is the Bury System 9 you told me about that charges a Bluetooth phone, has available interchangeable snap-in phone cradles, and an external antenna connection. The activeBase on eBay is $73.49 and all the System 9 snap-in cradles are $64 each. You're right too about the Bury System 9 being the same product sold as an option in Europe and the U.K. by Toyota and Lexus dealers with Toyota and Lexus logos.

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