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1990LS400

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Everything posted by 1990LS400

  1. I wouldn't ignore it and would keep an eye on it. Fluid can "weep" past gaskets for many years without causing puddles, measureable low fluid levels or noticeable performance changes. A good example is the 1998 Camry V6 that my wife bought new and passed to a nephew in 2012. Oil weeped at the rear valve cover gasket for at least five years before we had it fixed and we fixed it mainly because the car was going to the nephew. There was never a puddle or a smell and there was no measurable drop in engine oil level between 5,000 mile interval changes. I suppose if you are "mobile" and have the interest in doing it, you could wiggle under your RX and take a look for yourself. If you do see oil at those two components, maybe wipe it away with a rag or a paper towel and then check again in a year or so to see if the oil has returned. Toyota has eliminated the transmission dip stick from most automatic transmission vehicles it manufacturers making it impossible to easily check the fluid level. I think the level can still be checked through the fill hole which was how it was/has been done on manual transmissions.
  2. Isn't the FCC ID you would need stamped on your key fobs?
  3. At least the "cost is $169 and they provide the thumb drive" is correct in that it is the retail price of the activation card that has the license key and the dealer uses his master USB flash memory drive to do the update. I suggest that you just go to a Lexus dealer for the update and find out exactly how it works. I'm not doing a good job of explaining it.
  4. Look at the link I provided. The Lexus dealer uses his "master" USB drive. You buy only an activation card for a 2013 ES350 which is a license to use the information on the dealer's master USB drive. You are not buying a "thumb drive".
  5. Most vehicles store only one set of TPMS ID codes in the vehicle ECU so reprogramming is necessary when doing the winter/summer tire changeover. I don't know what the current charge is but $100 per vehicle was about the cost here several years ago. I bought an ATEQ Quickset TPMS programming tool on Amazon.com for about US$150 and it paid for itself the first day I used it when doing winter/summer tire changeovers on two vehicles. The handheld Quickset tool can store two sets of TPMS ID codes for one vehicle at a time - one set for Winter and one set for Summer. The ID codes are entered into the Quickset software running on a personal computer and then downloaded to the Quickset tool though a USB port. If you have only one vehicle with TPMS, the download of the ID codes to the Quickset tool has to be done only once. To program the TPMS codes into the vehicle ECU, it is a matter of setting the vehicle ignition to run mode (i.e. pressing the Start button twice without foot on the brake), plugging the Quickset into the diagnostic port in the driver side foot well and pressing the Winter or Summer button on the Quickset tool. The TPMS warning light in the instrument cluster usually goes out within a few minutes but can take longer if the TPM sensors are new since they are activated by wheel rotation. The Carista smartphone app also the capability for an additional fee to program TPMS using a Bluetooth receiver that plugs into the vehicle diagnostic port. If you get a TPMS programming tool, you may need a business like a Lexus dealer supply you with TPMS codes for your winter and/or summer wheels. Since the ATEQ Quickset can pull the TPMS codes currently programmed into the vehicle ECU, you may need to obtain only one set of codes.
  6. Sure, you can add USB and Bluetooth. Check out http://www.vaistech.com/newsite/ I found from a previous post that you have a 2006 GS300 but it would be easier for people to help you if you add your model year to your profile.
  7. OK, "Mate". Exactly what does "Location: Other" mean. If it is Australia or New Zealand and especially if your 2000 Lexus LS400 is really a Japanese market 2000 Toyota Celsior then all bets are off. Does your car have "radar" (the term "radar" was used but it was really "laser") cruise control? If it does, it does not work like the cruise control on the 2000 LS400 that was sold in the U.S. and Canada. This is a Lexus forum for North America.
  8. One of the TPMS sets I bought is about 3 years old and the other set is about 2 years old. One set is Pacific and the other TRW - both brands are used by Toyota on new vehicles. One set came from Tire Rack in a winter tire/wheel package and the other set I bought from Costco when I bought winter tires there. The main reason I stuck with OEM brands was to make sure they worked with our vehicles. I don't remember what the sensor price was at Tire Rack but it was right at $40 per sensor at Costco.
  9. Yes, you are crazy! The cruise control on the 2000 LS400 I drove for over ten years sure didn't slow the car down when going down hill. Hybrid and all electric vehicles, however, do keep the set speed when going down hill by using regenerative braking to charge the traction battery. Maybe you are confusing your LS400 with your hybrid LS600hL.
  10. The navigation system of the 2013 ES is updated though USB and requires software that only Lexus dealers and some repair shops have: http://www.lexusnavigation.com/what-to-order/ The navigation "update" for the 2013 ES is an activation card that has an authorization code that the Lexus dealer will use when he uploads the update to your nav system. You don't get the nav update itself when you buy the activation card. Our Prius has a very similar "generation 7" nav system. If you have a Costco card, you can get the navigation update at a discount through the Costco Auto Program which I did when I updated our 2014 Sienna nav system with the 2015 nav update.
  11. Open a claim with your insurer and let them find a replacement wheel for you. Hitting road debris is not the type of claim that should raise your rates - it's considered unavoidable. I hit road debris that damaged countless vehicles a few years ago and my insurer took care of everything. The damage to my Lexus was around $4,500 if I remember correctly.
  12. I did not confirm that 3M tape will work - maybe it will. I only said that most replacement emblems that do not attach with metal posts are "peel and stick". You've inspired me to remove the all the excess emblems from our current vehicles - I'll do it this weekend with fishing line on the emblems that are held on only with adhesive. They serve no purpose and get in the way of cleaning and waxing the exteriors.
  13. Replacement emblems generally come with double sided tape - I see some for the ES300 on eBay currently that are advertised to "peel and stick". Why bother putting the ES300 emblem on your car? Toyota didn't put LS400 logos on trunk lids during the early years and has stopped putting Lexus script emblems on the back of cars. Maybe a previous owner of your car removed the emblem or a body shop did not put one on after a collision repair. "De-badging" cars has often been popular. Urban legend is that it started in Germany when people removed model emblems from Mercedes cars since vehicle taxes were taxed based on engine size which was why most engines in Mercedes cars sold in Europe were just under 3 liters. Cars with 3 liter or larger engines were taxed significantly more. The trend became so popular that Mercedes started offering a "model emblem delete option" and many people chose it even when their engines were below 3 liters.
  14. What problem are you having with the nav screen night view? Maybe we can make it more acceptable instead of turning it off.
  15. Find the button with the big "P" on the lower left of the dashboard and press it to turn park assist on.
  16. Isn't doing that a common practice - at least on non-hybrid vehicles? I assume your RX400h isn't spending much time in EV mode when towing your travel trailer so I would think that the alternator is running most of the time and would charge your RX battery and power your fridge OK. You would likely find lots more information about this on RV forums.
  17. I think all you can do is to head back to the Lexus dealer or find an independent repair shop that specializes in Lexus or Toyota vehicles. Maybe have autozone read the codes again and tell us what they are. Countless issues can cause the Check Engine and VSC warnings.
  18. I suppose you could try what this person did when he got an ERROR 4 on his 2004 RX330: http://www.fixya.com/cars/t621935-error_04_cd_player CD changers sometimes get cranky as they age. I burned almost my entire CD music collection to a micro SD card in my phone and stream music wirelessly to my audio system. CD changers are getting rarer in new vehicles. Some models made by Toyota that used to have CD changers now have only single CD players and even those may not be around much longer due to CD's falling out of favor similar to what happened to cassette tapes. VAIS has interfaces that would work on your RX including this one that adds A2DP Bluetooth: http://www.vaistech.com/site/sl3b.php
  19. I don't think I've heard of one of these failing but it is probably a failed diode and it's probably soldered into a circuit board. I've been referring people to http://www.taninautoelectronix.com/ which also repairs sticking speedo and tach needles.
  20. There are companies that repair these things: https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=Lexus+navigation+repair
  21. Duh, should have read your post. Yes, there should be a chime when an incoming message comes in but not for previously unread messages. Press the off hook button on the steering wheel and then the messages button on the in-dash screen to see a list of existing messages. At least that is how in works with an Android phone. .. probably similar for iPhone. If the messages button is grayed out the messages aren't getting transferred from your phone to the in-dash system.
  22. I had to google something like "Enform Entune iphone text messages" to find information that jogged my memory on how I got it to work with my wife's iphone 6 in our Prius. The key was to set "show notifications" to "ON" in the iPhone Bluetooth settings in the profile for the vehicle. So, after your iPhone is connected to your RX350, select your RX's profile in Bluetooth settings and then set the "slider" for Show Notifications to ON. From what I've read, iphone does not support sending text message responses and we've never gotten that to work on our Prius. My Samsung S5 (Android) can send text message responses..
  23. My suggestion is to forget about installing an aftermarket system in a 12 year old vehicle and instead install a $230 VAIS SL3B Bluetooth interface and make your smartphone the center of your car entertainment universe: http://www.vaistech.com/site/sl3b.php Buy a phone holder that attaches high on your dashboard and download iBolt Dock'n Drive to your Android or iOS phone to make it easier and safer to access and control phone apps like Pandora, Slacker, Tunein and music stored on your phone. You can come reasonably close to emulating 2016 Lexus Enform by organizing smartphone apps with Dock'n Drive. Attached is an photo from a few years back of an older version of Dock'n Drive on an old Samsung S3 I no longer use mounted in a holder in a 2000 Lexus LS400 I sold in 2014. A new version of Dock'n Drive just came out today - they keep making it better and better.
  24. I suppose you could watch one of the videos on YouTube that show people doing it: https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=youtube+reset+lexus+windows+after+battery+change
  25. A TPM sensor failing after only three years is unusual. I'm not familiar with the Orange Electronics brand. The two sets of four sensors I bought for our winter tires are brands that Toyota uses on new vehicles and we haven't had a failure ... at least not yet.
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