1990LS400

Phone companies had permission to end analog phone service on Feb 18, 2008 although phone companies started withdrawing analog service months before that date.. I've read that some smaller companies serving rural areas have been given extra time - perhaps up to a year. It will not be possible to use the analog phone in your BMW to call 911. In my area, my tri-mode phone no longer works in AMPS (analog) or TDMA modes - only in GSM.

Welcome to this forum. One of the most valuable features of this forum is the search feature -- you can likely find past threads about phones by doing an advanced search. That said, I would recommend that you use an external speaker for your Parrot -- Parrot sells one or you could use a speaker from another manufacturer such as Nokia. IMO, a good place to mount a speaker on a 98-00 LS is just above the emergency brake. It's easier to use an external speaker than try to tap into a door speaker and an external speaker sounds just fine. An easy way to pick up power for your phone kit is with a piggyback fuse that plugs into the underdash fuse box (photo attached) -- you can buy one at auto parts stores. You should find an audio system mute pin in the driver side phone connector under the air vents you can see with the armrest raised. Just strip some insulation off the mute wire from the phone kit, plunge it into the middle front hole in the connector and secure it with a plastic wire tie. The ground wire from your phone kit can be attached to something metal under the dash. Here is a link to a past thread I started -- it has a pointer to a Word doc I wrote a long time ago on where I positioned a phone kit speaker and microphone on my similar 00 LS: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...91&hl=phone By the way, you will likely want to remove your existing old dealer installed Lexus phone. Be sure to plug the large connectors together after you remove the phone ECU in the trunk. You can unplug the Lexus phone receiver when you disassemble the center console. My Word doc has information about prying the insert out of the upper console tray to remove the Lexus phone receiver cradle. Doing all this may sound like a big job but it is really fairly easy. PM me if you have questions.

Yes. In fact the 98 LS400 rims were standard on the 97 LS400 Coach Edition which is virtually identical to your 96. While you can always (?) put newer LS wheels on an older LS, you can't necessiarly put older wheels on a newer LS due to the brake caliper size growing over the years.

The 2007 LS460 was the first LS to have an aux input.

In my 18+ years of driving LS400s, I have never seen a mileage or time recommendation for changing shock absorbers. They often last the life of the car. I'm pretty sure that the LS400 I bought in 1990 is still on the original struts at over 250,000 miles - I sold it at 183,000 miles and the current owner usually tells me when he replaces things. Heck, the shock aborbers never wore out on the lowly 86 Honda Accord my wife bought new and which was in the family until about 250K miles and for about 15 years.

All thermotstats are in the open position when they fail -- that's just how they work. That's why the first sign of thermostat failure is usually the lack of heat from the heater.

Thanks for the follow-up, Blake. The Ford 500 / Taurus stands out as the most enjoyable car we have ever rented -- and we have rented a whole bunch of cars on a lot of trips including some fairly high dollar cars. I think one has to drive the new Taurus for at least a few days to fully appreciate it. As I said before, it was very difficult to get back into my 00 LS400 after driving the Ford 500 for almost two weeks. The 500/Taurus Limited is way more fun to drive than my LS.

I don't think Scotman2's Lexus dealer experiences are particularly unusual. Here are a couple of my Lexus dealer stories for you. Sometime in early 2000 my wife and I visited the local Lexus dealer looking to buy a new 2000 LS400. We had bought a LS400 new from the same dealership ten years earlier. The dealership did not have a car like I wanted on the lot so I gave my requirements and contact information to a saleswoman. The saleswoman was effusive about how she would search and quickly find the car I was looking for. My requirements were not particularly difficult to fulfill - mainly white exterior and HID headlights. The saleswoman had to have known that I was a "live one" since I had previously bought a new LS400 there. Did she ever call me? No. Did I ever hear from her or anyone else at the dealership? No. I don't get all that excited about buying cars - the 90 LS was doing OK - and I let the matter drop. By late summer 2003, I was getting desperate to replace the old 90 LS due to the 90's crappy headlights and my vision issues. I realized that the last of the 2000 LS400s were coming off 3-year leases and time was running out to find a nice low mileage one. I visited the same dealership and gave a salesmen the same specs - mainly white and HID headlights. The salesman was willing to cut a great deal on a new LS430 - which I have since grown to appreciate - and assured me that he could quickly find an off lease 2000 LS400 like I wanted within 2 or 3 days. Did the salesman ever call me? No. Did I ever hear from him or anyone else at the dealership? No. After a couple of weeks I visited the dealer to see what was going on. The salesman no longer worked there. Not being a "salesman type", I really don't understand what is going on in their heads which makes some sales people treat customers like they do. Perhaps they are looking for "low hanging fruit" customers who are the easiest targets to sell to. Maybe they mislable some people as "tire kickers". Maybe they are just lazy. Here is my favorite story about how a person was treated by a car salesman ... It's about how a person I knew while in the Army in 1971-72. The guy was in his mid-20s and a medic. He unexpectedly inherited a s#it load of money a year or so before his scheduled discharge. He went on a spending spree -- got an incredible place to live in a nearby town and started throwing wild parties. He went to a Rolls Royce dealer inquiring about a used Silver Cloud they had in their inventory. It was his "dream car". The salesman would not talk with him. He ended up returning to the dealership later with a cashier's check and then left with his Silver Cloud. One odd aspect of his new wealth was the hostility towards him by the military brass -- probably just plain jealousy. It sure was fun seeing that Rolls Royce driving around the base.

According to the maintenance schedule for a 2000 LS400, the timing belt is supposed to replaced at 90,000 miles or six years after the car's in-service date. I had timing belt replaced on my 2000 LS400 replaced last summer at 90,000 miles and almost exactly seven years after the 31 July 2000 in-service date. The original timing belt looked brand new - no signs of deterioration. Whether you follow the maintenance schedule for timing belt replacement is up to you.

Maybe you could ask LSLex how he added DRL: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=47670 I started driving with headlights on in the daytime in the late 1960s -- my little 2-seat silver Mercedes 190SL was just about invisible to oncoming drivers on the highway - blended right in with the pavement color in the heat of the summer. That was about the time that DRL was introduced in northern Europe and studies were published documenting that DRL equipped cars were involved in fewer crashes and that, when DRL cars were involved in crashes, the damage was usually less severe.

Since the standard rims are 17" and the sport rims are 18" on an 04 LS, yes, you would need new tires. Here are the specs on an 04 LS: http://www.lexus.com/cpo/model_library/LS/2004.html

I find it interesting that Lexus has been using the same oil filter in their most expensive V8 cars for nearly 20 years, although the part # did change when the filters were manufactured outside Japan. I seriously doubt that Lexus is supplying "junk" filters to use in their most expensive cars. And our Camry V6 uses the same filter used in most or all Lexus V6 cars. It seems to be doing just fine on Mobil 1 and Toyota filters at 100,000 miles. A friend of mine drove his Camry to nearly 400,000 miles on regular oil and Toyota filters before he parked it in his pasture -- really, it's in his pasture -- for other reasons. Using a Toyota filter sure didn't hurt his car either.

A Google search brings up several companies that see chrome wheels for your 97 LS: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=1...amp;btnG=Search

I suppose that it is possible that the Mobil 1 is doing a better job of picking up and holding contaminants that regular dino oil didn't capture. Sure, I would think it could go at least 5,000 miles even though it looks dirty. I've used Mobil 1 in my current 00 LS400 from 38,000 miles and am now nearing 100,000 miles. I just now went to my garage to check how the Mobil 1 looks after 4,900 miles; it is only slightly darker than when it went it came out of the bottles. I change the oil and filter ever 5,000 miles even though I know it safely go far, far longer. Regarding the oil filter, I've never found a reason to use anything other than a Toyota/Lexus filter. I buy OEM Toyota oil filters by the 10-pack from a local Toyota dealer (Toyota and Lexus V8 engines use the same filter). The last two 10-packs have cost $40 each including 10 oil plug gaskets. Doing the math, a ten pack of filters lasts 50,000 miles so I guess I have bought about five 10-packs over the past 18+ years and 250,000 miles driving LS400 cars.

There's been a number of threads on this forum that address your questions. There is a "Search" feature towards the right side of the heading of this page. That said, I'll repeat some of the information you would find from searching past topics. The requirement for phone companies to supply analog phone service ended 18 February 2008 --> http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/analogcellphone.html Removing a dealer installed Lexus phone requires some disassembly of the center console. It is not all that difficult to do on a '96 LS but it does require some effort to do it cleanly without cutting any wires; it is best to unplug phone system components rather than cut wires. You should unplug all cables from the phone ECU in the trunk and plug the two large connectors together. One member of this forum used a portion of a mouse pad to re-line the upper console tray after removing the phone. You might consider buying a Bluetooth phone kit from one of the major vendors - Motorola, Nokia, Parrot, etc. While it is possible to splice into a door speaker, it is simpler to use an external add-on speaker with a BlueTooth kit - there is plenty of room to hide a speaker under the dash; the phone kit speaker under my dash sounds fine. The easiest way to power a phone kit, IMO, is to use a piggyback fuse connector at the underdash fuse box. There is an audio system mute pin under the rear of the front console - on the driver's side. You can attach the mute wire from any phone kit to this mute pin so that the radio/CD/Tape mutes automagically when a call is received or placed -- perhaps the most important feature of all. Do a search on user "Blake918" and "phone" in the LS400 section of this forum to find information on his similar 95 LS400. Post specific questions if you want or PM me or Blake918. Blake, Jainla, I or others with experience with phone kits will likely respond.

Treadlife depends a lot on driving style and tire quality/design. I am a fairly conservative driver (even more so as I get older) and I can usually get 40,000 miles out of almost any summer or all season tire on an LS. Traction issues in cold weather? I always use full blown snow tires -- ones with the mountain/snowflake symbol on the sidewall. My Blizzaks are mounted on an extra set of wheels. More than once over the years, I have done the switchover to summer tires in the Spring and then had to quickly reinstall my snow tires to safely get around in a late snowfall. I can't emphasize too much that using snow tires on an LS makes winter driving incredibly easy and drama-free. My current set of Blizzaks (WS-50 which I think are no longer available) have been the best snow tires I have ever used in terms of wear, traction and low noise level. They have four winters and about 22,000 miles on them and I think I can get one more winter out of them before the tread is down to the point where they will function as "normal" snow tires.

Wow, for once I agree with wwest! :o One should remember that all season tires were always a no cost option on all years of the LS400. The standard tires were summer-only tires. Although I used all season tires during much of the 18 years I have been driving LS400s, I am finding that my 2000 LS400 is much more enjoyable in the spring/summer/fall with summer only directional tires.

It is easy to fish a wire under the rear carpet to the center console without removing the console. Pop the rear seat out and take a look. The storage box inside the console is easily removed. I forgot exactly how I did it in the 90 LS I used to have but I do remember it is pretty obvious. There are two screws hidden under the removable cover at the bottom of the console box. If you need to remove the wood panel on the console, it is easily removed -- used a screw driver or putty knive with the blade taped to prevent scaring the wood. Be gentle but firm. The console wood on a 90 LS is quite thick compared to my 00 LS but it is possible to crack the finish on the 90's wood if not careful. If you do need to remove the entire console, how to do so will be more obvious once you remove the console wood and the console storage box. Remember that the gas tank is between the back seat and the trunk so don't go drilling holes into the gas tank!

DRL was standard on the U.S. specification LS400 beginning in 1999 and was standard on Canadian models many years before than. It would likely take an analysis of the wiring diagrams for both U.S. and European LS400 models to identify the differences between the lighting systems. My understanding is that there are differences between the lighting systems of U.S. and European specification LS400 models although by 1998, both U.S. and European models may have used the same headlight assemblies. The headlight assemblies on my 2000 LS400 have labels with instructions in several languages including German so I am assuming the assemblies are the same. Sorry, that is all the information I can provide. Perhaps someone else on this forum can supply the portion the electrical diagram that shows how the headlights are wired.

If Factory Car Stereo Repair in Florida had not been able to fix my Nak a few weeks ago, then I would have replaced it with a double DIN. I've gotta say that Bob Randall, owner of that Florida radio repair shop is a great guy. Wonderful customer service!

The advanced search feature of this and other Lexus forums is useful for finding information you are seeking. "Current hot method" for connecting an iPod? Here is a method on another forum: http://clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=269156 Apparently there is not enough demand to lead the main interface companies to provide a solution for older Lexus cars. IMO, the really "hot method" is to replace the Lexus audio system with an aftermarket double DIN audio system that has a built-in iPod interface and much more. If your car is running OK, I would not bother with "Sea Foam". These are usually clean running cars and have sophisticated fuel injection systems and electronics. 100K is low mileage for an LS. www.tirerack.com is a good place to view tire ratings from buyers. The ratings on Tire Rack - sometimes from thousands of customers - will likely be more relevant that the limited feedback you will receive on this forum.

Odd, I don't think I have ever replaced any rear suspension components in my 230,000 miles of driving LS400s. Maybe I've been lucky. But I have had to replace the front strut rods and bushings on both the LS400s I've had. The front strut bar bushes rarely last much more than 100,000 miles and cause sloppy steering and vibrations when they fail. I had the front stut bars and bushings on my 00 LS replaced at about 85,000 miles last summer and it made a world of difference.

There is a section in the owers manual for 98-00 LS400's on how to reset the VSC - I had to follow the procedure recently when I changed my battery. If the light went off, that is great but Autozone guy was apparently not familier with the process. I've gone through a whole bunch of batteries in the 18 years I have been driving Lexus LS cars. Almost every time the first sign of failure has been the engine dying - most often when rounding a low speed curve or hitting a bump. My indie repair shop owner - a former Lexus service writer - thinks a connection between battery cells fails and gets temporarilly disconnected while driving. I too have almost always been able to restart the car and drive until the car dies again. Now when it happens, I don't bother to have the battery or electrical system checked but simply pop in a new battery. Coincidentally, the last battery I replaced (an Interstate) also lasted only about one year. This time, I installed a battery from Walmart - they had several that fit but I got the largest dimension one with the most cranking power. Aside from what wwest said, Lexus dealers usually have lots of well trained, competent mechanics that have seen just about everything that can go wrong with Lexus vehicles -- something you are not going to find at an Autozone or other low budget garage. Look for an indie garage that specializes in Lexus and get to know the owner and mechanics. For me doing that has resulted in getting much better service and somewhat lower prices on repairs and maintenence. Good luck!

The attached capacity chart is from ARRC. Although my 00 LS400 also has a 6.5 U.S. quart engine oil capacity, it takes just under 6 quarts to bring the level up the the full mark on the dipstick. This matches up to what my 00 LS owners manual says -- only 5.9 U.S. quarts is to be added when the oil filter is replaced and 5.6 quarts without filter replacement. It is normal for all the oil to not drain from an engine during an oil change. I'm surprised that your manual says only 4.8 U.S. quarts -- sounds fishy. Lexus_1999_2003_Capacities.pdf

An "Autozone" is the last place on earth I would take a Lexus to to solve a problem like this. You need a mechanic with experience with Lexus cars -- either a good indie or a Lexus dealer. There are apparently multiple issues that can cause the problems you are experiencing. The only thing that has ever caused my 00 LS engine to die while driving and the VSC light to come on has been a bad battery - it has happened twice in the 60,000 miles I have driven this LS and each time a new battery solved the problem. I had a similar problem on a 90 LS I drove for 13 1/2 years. It could be another problem but, I'm curious, how old is your battery?