1990LS400

Your question has been discussed numerous times on this forum and other Lexus forums including clublexus.com . You might consider doing a search both here and on other Lexus forums. There is a search and a "more search options" feature at the top right of this screen. I've been watching a thread on clublexus.com where a guy bought an 05 LS430 with the optional 18" wheels and 245/45-18 tires. He hates the punishing ride and is searching for the standard smaller wheels and tires. And remember, his LS430 has a more compliant suspension that can better cope with larger wheels --> http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=326908

The revised EPA estimates for the 98 ES300 at http://www.fueleconomy.gov/!Removed!/noframes/14224.shtml are: MPG (city) 17 MPG (highway) 25 MPG (combined) 20 If you are driving purely in stop and go city traffic, then 15 - 17 mpg sounds about right. My wife's 98 Camry has the same V6 engine and automatic transmission as your ES300. It has 98,000 miles on it and is used mainly for a 20 mile round trip daily commute -- about 75% on a 60-65 mph interstate highway and the rest at about 35 mph with few traffic lights. I calculated the gas mileage over the last several tank fulls this morning as I gassed up her car -- 20-22 mpg. My wife has an unusually "light foot" on the gas pedal. Toronto's traffic has made quite an impression on me over the years having spent the equivalent of several weeks there - mainly based near the inner harbor on University Avenue. I love Toronto but its traffic seems more like New York City than the easy traffic where we live in the Kansas City metro area.

Well, you certainly aren't going to be "unique" if these rims are sold commercially. Why do you care what others think? Why are you seeking approval? No, I don't like those wheels but why should you care? Buy what you like. Personally, I think those "Dodge" wheels would be more appropriate on the red pickup truck I see parked on the other side of your LS430.

The information on resetting the VSC came straight out of my owners manual - the one in my glove box. It is possible that a similar reset procedure is not necessary for an LS430. The 45 pages on diagnosing VSC problems are in my two volume 2000 LS400 repair manual set -- I bought the set from a Lexus dealer shortly after I bought the car. I was under the impression that everything in the repair manual set is on techinfo.toyota.com but I could be wrong. The repair shop that maintains my LS uses techinfo.toyota.com.

Here are removal instructions: http://www.carstereohelp.com/stereoremovalLexusLS400str.htm It's probably only a 5 minute job after you have done it once or twice. If you mean that your current radio does not have a CD button, you could substitute a LS400 radio with a CD button and install a CD player -- if you can find all the parts. The local Lexus dealer here did swaps like that back in the early 90's when a customer wanted a CD player on a car that didn't have one installed at the factory. Or you could install an aftermarket radio/CD/MP3 player - even one with nav and sat radio. I've seen a number of threads over the years where someone has done something like that.

Attached are the only two TSIBs I could find regarding combination meter malfunctions on 1998 U.S. spec LS400s. The 25 pages about the combination meter in my 00 LS400 repair manual do not discuss how to resolve specific problems - only gives voltage and continuety specifications. Fluctuation_of_combination_meter.pdf Miles_since_refuel.pdf

I don't remember anything about installing an ipod jack on this forum but other Lexus forums have threads - here is one: http://clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=269156 I think these instructions require that you give up the CD player - not sure. And you must have a working CD player to make these instructions work. And play a blank CD while listening to your ipod. I parked near another 98-00 LS400 in the Costco parking lot about a year ago and noticed that it had a sat radio mounted next to the OEM radio. The owner was getting in or out of his car and I asked him about it. He told me that an audio shop did a custom install of two jacks on his radio. His had a 3 position switch so he could switch from CD to his sat radio or ipod. I recognized the switch as being similar (I think identical) to the Soundgate switch in our Camry. I did not think to ask if he had to play a blank CD while listening to his ipod or sat radio. He told me that he did not know how it was connected. I don't know if he was embarrassed but when I asked him what it cost -- he said something like "a lot" or "way too much" and told me that the shop had to keep his car for several days while figuring out how to do it. I didn't think to ask him who did the work and I have not seen him since. I keep thinking that if one audio shop could do something like this, then some other techno-geek at another shop could probably do it too.

I am fairly certain that only the early Lexus radios (91-94?) could optionally be protected by a security code. My 2000 LS400 definitely does not have an optional security code feature. I always thought the security code on my 90 LS was silly and I did not set a code -- it was not like someone was going to steal the radio and use it in a Camaro.

Attached is the page from my 2000 LS400 owners manual on "Initial adjustment of vehicle skid control system". It may not be the same as for your LS430 but it might be worth a try. You might consider disconnecting the battery first and wait a few minutes before reconnecting it. I checked my 2000 LS400 repair manual set and found about 45 pages devoted to diagnosing problems with the VSC system. It would take me hours to scan that much and I do not have the software to put scanned pages into a compact file for posting on this forum. Besides, the 2001 LS430 VSC diagnostic procedure might be a little different than the one for the 2000 LS400. A Lexus dealer might be willing to print the diagnostic pages from https://techinfo.toyota.com Or you could pay the $10 for a one day subscription and have a "downloadfest". Diagnosing the VSC system appears to take a few specialized tools (including a voltmeter) and knowledge of how to debug an automobile electrical system. After flipping through the pages, I doubt if I have the knowledge to diagnose the VSC system and likely could not even find all the components illustruated. But this is absolutely not "brain surgury" for a competent mechanic. A competent Lexus mechanic should be able to easily diagnose and fix a problem with the VSC with no guessing.

My suggestion would be to Google "Mercedes forum" and look for information about the SL300 and Mercedes cars in general. Some of the Mercedes forums have a high level of usage. Having owned three Mercedes cars - total miles driven over 300,000 miles - I find that reading the Mercedes forums are a lot of fun.

fyounes, I would suggest that, if a dealer does not have compentent mechanics that are able to diagnose a problem on a 6-7 year old car, it is time to look for another dealer or an independent repair shop. There is are very detailed diagnosis procedures for solving problems like this. Does your LS430 owners manual have VSC reset instructions? My 00 LS400 owners manual has instructions for resetting the VSC.

I suggest you start here: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=1999+LS400+reviews

There are two vertical adjustment bolts on the back of each HID headlight housing. They stick out pretty far on my 00 LS and are hard to miss. Both bolts are towards the bottom of the housing - one in the middle of the housing and the other at the inboard side.

I remember reading in the early 1990s that no one had died in North America while driving or riding in an LS400. Crashworthiness of the LS400 was only part of the story. It has been well documented in the insurance industry that people who buy new expensive sedans tend to drive more conservatively than those who buy lower priced cars. All sorts of reasons have been given including those who buy expensive sedans tending to be older, more highly educated and exhibiting more conservative behavior - i.e. less speeding, less reckless driving and less alcohol consumption before driving. On the flip side, we heard a segment on NPR a couple of years ago about drivers of small pickup trucks having the highest accident and death rates. Similar reasons were given -- that owners of small pickups tended to be younger and less educated, more prone to mix drinking and driving, and of course, the vehicle provides much worse crash protection and is less stable. We were listening to this program as we headed north into Iowa in an ice storm. As if on que, a young male blazed past us at a speed much higher than the 35-40 mph I was driving on I-35. We had to laugh as we topped a hill and saw the young man standing by his pickup in the center median of I-35. Newer cars have more and improved technology which can make cars safer as long as people don't depend on the safety features to bail them out of bad situations. 98-up Lexus cars have front air bags that deploy with less force to reduce injuries caused by deployment. Side air bags were also introduced in 98 along with stability control (VSC). As far as we are concerned, one can't have too many safety features. Although a 1997 LS400 may not be as safe as a newer LS, it is certainly much safer than many other cars on the road today. Driving within the speed limit and reducing speed in bad weather makes any car safer.

Dave, Although a grounded mute wire in the phone prewire harness can cause the radio to go permanently into mute mode, I think it is highly unlikely that this has happened on your relatively new 01 LS430. The only times I have heard of this happening was in an older GS or SC when water got into the wiring system or amp or when an owner removed components of a Lexus or aftermarket phone by cutting wires to remove the components instead of doing it cleanly by unplugging the components. Did you take your car to a Lexus dealer for the diagnosis or did the dealer tell you over the phone that the amp was the likely cause of your problem? I sent you a PM about non-dealer repair alternatives in the Kansas City area.

nc211, One of the features you might appeciate is the ability to add custom POI files via an SD card. For example, I've been doing genealogy research and documenting family grave locations. To make this easier, I loaded custom POI files that contain thousands of cemetery locations to make them easier to find. I also downloaded POI files for a bunch of chain stores - kind of a joke but I currently have one alarm tone sound when I'm within about 2500 feet of a Target store and a different alarm tone sounding when I am within 300 feet of the store. Some aftermarket GPS units allow you to supply MP3 files to use with your custom POI files - you could hear someone sing "'You Deserve a Break Today" everytime you are near a McDonalds. Guaranteed to drive the wife crazy. I think Garmin has some free POI files on its website. Here is a website with a few free restaurant POI files: http://www.gps-data-team.com/poi/united_states/restaurants/ There are lots of POI files for sale too and lots of GPS forums where members trade POI files. Google "POI files" and you will find a lot.

I may have been the one who posted the information about plugging the male and female connectors together to bypass the phone ECU in the trunk. For sure, that is that way in works on one of the two available Lexus phones in the 98-00 U.S. spec LS400 but it may not be the same on earlier U.S. spec cars. U.S. Lexus dealers installed a number of different phone systems in LS400s during the 11 year model run. The cars were all prewired for phones at the factory but the phone systems were installed by Lexus dealers. I never checked the trunk of my 90 LS for the phone cable configuration but am certain that the phone connectors under the center console were different between my 90 LS and my 00 LS. US. spec LS400s did not come from the factory with a phone transceiver - it was a dealer installed option. I doubt if the 5110 phone system in your car was a sanctioned product sold through Lexus dealers in your country but I really can not say. The dealer where I bought my LS in 1990 sold both Lexus branded phones and phones supplied by the local cell phone company. In 1990, Lexus phones were very expensive so I bought a non-Lexus President brand phone system from the Lexus dealer at a fraction of the Lexus phone price. The car kit used for the Nokia 5110 is the Nokia CARK-91 or CARK-91H (with privacy handset) which was documented to have been the most popular car kit in the world. We have been using CARK-91x kits in our cars since 1998 and still have them in both our current cars. If it is a CARK-91 kit, you can adapt it to a newer pop-port Nokia phone by buying a different cradle and a Nokia CA-55 adapter cable. Look for a yellow mute wire running from your Nokia CARK-91 control box and trace it to where it connects to your audio system. I doubt if that is what is making your radio mute but there is a chance it is. Attached is a photo of the CARK-91H phone kit including its control box. That disconnecting the CD player allows your phone to work could point to a problem with the CD changer or headunit. For example, I know that the CD port on the back of our Camry radio has a mute pin - I used it for the phone kit. But my understanding is that the mute pin on the CD port is to mute the radio while a CD is playing so you won't hear both the CD and the radio at the same time. If you post a photograph of what you have found, perhaps one of us can identify what you have.

Seems a little odd ... I don't see a mute wire at the CD changer on the audio system wiring diagram for a 90 LS that I posted earlier in this thread. Generally the mute wire is labeled "MUTE", "TMUT" or something similar. Are you saying that the mute wire from your phone kit is attached to a wire leading in to your CD player? If so, what color wire is it?

I almost aways agree with everything VMF says - really! - but I think shocks on an LS400 can often last a very long time. I'm pretty sure that the current owner of the LS400 that I bought in 1990 is still riding on the original shocks at over 250,000 miles since he seems to tell me when he replaces components.. The shocks were in fine shape when I sold the car in 03 at 183,000 miles. When VMF said "front sway bar", I wonder if he instead meant "front strut bars". The strut bar bushings have been the first front suspension component to go on both my 90 and 00 LS400s. Most people buy the entire strut bars with the bushings already installed rather than press in a new set of bushings. I had the strut bars replaced on my 00 LS earlier this year at about 85-90K miles at the local Lexus dealership -- the fix eliminated vibrations that I had thought were caused by tire imbalance. The other suspension parts that VMF mentioned had to be replaced on my 90 LS at between 120K and 140K miles. I assume similar repairs will be required on my 00 LS when it gets in that mileage range.

IMO, the lack of sound from your radio is more likely a defect in your amp or head unit than with the mute connection from your phone. But if you want to remove your phone, it is better to unplug phone components rather than to cut wires. Was it on this forum or Clublexus where someone reported in the past few days that he cut the wires from his phone cradle and then had all sorts of other electrical problems? - he must have grounded a hot wire and blown a fuse when he cut the wires. I'm not clear on whether your phone is a Lexus phone or an aftermarket kit. If it is a Lexus phone, one of us might be able to tell how to unplug the various components. If it is an aftermarket phone kit, you would have to trace the wires from the phone kit to whereever they connect on the car's electrical system. What year is your LS? It helps others help you if you would put the year of the car in your signature or in with the model designation (e.g. 19xx LS400) that shows on the left side of a thread.

I tried all sorts of tire pressures early in my 13 1/2 year ownership of a 90 LS400 but settled on the recommended 30 psi cold inflation. I went as high as 44 psi and tried running different pressures in the front and back tires. The recommended 30 psi seemed to give the best comfort and the most predictable handling. The higher pressures seemed to cause more abrupt and less predictable breakaway on sweeping curves and I didn't want to put my baby in the ditch. My wife seemed to notice - and not in a happy way - when I had the pressures set even a little higher that recommended. I run the recommended (29 psi) in my 2000 LS400 and in our Camry and adjust the pressures frequently as the ambient temperature changes. I set them to 33 psi yesterday in a 50 degree F. garage since I will be heading north towards 10 degree F. temperatures. One needs to add or subtract one psi for each 10 degrees of temperature change.

FLIPPU (Mike) on that other Lexus forum has an Ultra and posted these minimal instructions on how to remove the rear seat cushion: http://clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php...;highlight=seat Mike has a highly modded LS430 Ultra: http://www.uber.com/mypage/?entity_id=243589851

I've seen your question asked several times on Lexus forums and don't remember anyone reporting success in adding the newer features you want to the older nav system -- but I could have missed it. You could install an aftermarket Bluetooth kit (Nokia, Motorola, Parrot, etc.) and hook the mute wire from the phone kit to a "tele-mute" connection on either the audio system or the prewire harness for the Lexus phone. A kit like this would automatically mute your audio system when a phone call is placed or received. Attached is a portion of the audio system wiring diagram for a 2002 LX470. The tele-mute wire is indicated by "TMUT" on the amplifier. 1995-2000 LS400s and likely other pre-2004 Lexus vehicles have a phone connector with an audio system mute pin under the back of the center console. I do not know if the 02 LX470 has a similar connector but it might be worth taking a look. Although it is possible to play the phone call through a door speaker, most people use a separate speaker and hide it under the dash. You will find various writeups on installing phone kits by searching on member name and the word "phone". "jainla" did a super detailed writeup on his aftermarket bluetooth kit install in his LS430. Blake918 installed a non-bluetooth phone kit in his 95 LS400 and I installed the same kit in my 2000 LS400. Whether Bluetooth or hardwired, the principles involved in installing a phone kit are the same. 2002_LX470_audio_diagram_page_2.pdf

fyounes, As I mentioned in another recent thread, the "check VSC" warning can be caused by something as simple as a failing battery. My 2000 LS400 is on its third battery. When the first two batteries began to fail, the "Check VSC" message displayed and a few other gremlins emerged. Each time, all was well after replacing the battery. When the battery started to fail last time with the usual signs, I didn't bother to take the car to the repair shop. I just drove to the nearest discount store and popped a new battery into the car myself in their parking lot. I see that you bought your LS430 earlier this year. Is the battery relatively new? There are a bunch of extra electrical toys on an UltraLux that might require an especially sound battery. Lexus LS cars occasionally require some pretty expensive repairs -- the cost of which is higher if, like me, you choose to pay others to do the more complex repairs. And, with all its additional electrical toys, an UltraLux will likely be more expensive to maintain over the long haul that a more modestly equipped LS. On the bright side, maintaining an LS is far, far less expensive maintaining a comparable European car.

The Mille Miglia Bello wheels I bought from Tirerack in 2003 in a Blizzak snow tire package are of very high quality and still look like new in their fifth winter of use. I don't see as many Mille Miglia wheels for sale these days and am assuming that the weak U.S. dollar is the reason. My Bello wheels cost about $115 each in 2003 but I saw the price rise as the U.S. dollar declined. Attached is a photo of the Mille Miglia Bello wheels on my LS.