1990LS400

I understand where you are coming from here. My Garmin is picky about syncing up with the satellites sometimes! I'm thinking about getting an external antenna to see if that helps me any (I hear good things about them.). I'm anxious to hear how you like the mounting position of the GPS....hanging over the phone! LOL ;) ;) One of the many advantages of a portable GPS: you can enter your destination it while you are driving!!!!!I sat in an Infiniti M35 once....loved the headroom!! Legroom was better than Lexus (which isn't saying much.), but not up there with the Germans....of course!! They are really good looking cars too... OK Blake, I'm frugal and I had to think about buying a portable nav for a LONG time. By now I think I've read every portable nav review on the Internet. First I spent months searching for the "perfect" "price no object" Windows Mobile PDA phone that would efficiently run a navagation program -- but putting all my eggs in one basket increasingly looked liked a very bad idea. Then I homed in on a Garmin Nuvi that included maps for Europe -- but by the time we go again (next summer), who knows what portable nav products will be available -- nav products are morphing quickly. For hundreds of dollars less than the least expensive Nuvi that can say street names, and with a similar but slightly larger form factor, I couldn't pass up the Magellan 2200T. Today I even got a $30 refund from Costco which bought the price down to only $219. I suspect by next summer I will buy a portable GPS with European maps and that the Magellan will go into my wife's Camry and for her to use in rental cars when she travels on business - which can be one or two weeks each month. Another plus for the 2200T is that it includes Canada -- we'll be wandering around Ontario this fall on a family history tour visiting cemeteries and former family farms. The Garmin Nuvi 200 I saw at Target today ($399.99) does not include Canada -- and it does not say the street names. The "closer" on the Magellan was spending about 45 minutes in Costco entering addresses from my PDA into the Magellan in "simulation" mode and watching the Magellan simulate the trips including the voice instructions. And it didn't hurt that the Magellan can handle a multiple stop trip -- none of the Garmin Nuvis can do that. And the Megellan is ready navigate in only 1 second when started up at the same location where it was turned off -- no waiting at all. I'll see if my positive opinion of the Magellan 2200T holds up after 10 days driving around Florida -- we leave tomorrow morning. With my (good) luck, our Hertz rental car may come with a nav whether I want one or not. Regarding the Infinity M35, one nice feature is the way the drivers seat automatically slides all the way back after turning off the engine and opening the driver's door. I'm 6' tall and could not reach the pedals with the driver seat all the way back. I also liked the ventilated seats but I disliked the I-Drive type control on the dash. But I sure loved the "keyless go" -- took a while to get use to using an ignition key again when we got home to our own cars.

An authorized Lexus dealer can't diagnose the problem? Geez, that's why we give them the big bucks. It does tend to sound like your now phantom phone is still muting your radio - as if a call is in progress. The tech should have plugged the two large phone connectors in the trunk from the phone ECU and then plugged them together. The handset in the arm rest should also be unplugged (do not cut the wires!) since there is also a radio mute pin in the phone connector under the air vents you can see when you raise the arm rest. Unplugging the handset requires minor disassembly of the center console -- search for a thread from Blake918 which shows the under console connector in his similar 95 LS.

I recently started a thread about the Magellan 2200T I bought at Costco for $250 (it is on sale online at costco.com today for $219): http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...ost&id=6987 The 2200T has a touch screen, maps of the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico and says the street names. After using it constantly every time I have driven for the past week - just for fun - I have to say that I am amazed at what I got for the low price. I can tell you more after an upcoming ten day fly/drive trip to Florida. A coworker's sister bought a 4000 series (I don't remember the exact model number) wide screen version of the Magellan at Costco for $399 about the same time I bought the 2200T. The 4000 series she bought has a Bluetooth phone feature and a few other enhancements. I had wanted to buy a Garmin Nuvi 300 series but I didn't need Bluetooth and a much higher price -- and I did not at all like how the power cord stuck out at the side of it. I could have had a new Garmin C300 series for free but I do not like its form factor -- way too bulky. I don't remember seeing a portable GPS that accepts voice commands -- I may have missed noticing since I was not looking for that feature. Consider reading the GPS reviews on CNET and other websites. Be aware, however, that problems reported in early reviews may have been resolved by downloadable firmware, OS, and map updates. My Magellan 2200T does not have the problems reported in the early reviews of it on CNET. I bought the 2200T as a "throw-away" since it was so inexpensive. But I like it so much, I obtained a really neat Pro.Fit Legent swivel bracket and am now waiting on an extra power cord and cradle so I can do a "semi-permanent" installation and direct wire it to the accessory fuse. I will mostly hide the power cord inside my phone console and behind the radio - I have to pop out the radio/AC controls one more time - very easy to do. There will be no dangling power cord and I will still be able to pop the Magellan out of its permanently mounted cradle and take it with me to use in rental cars with its windshield mount. There are lots of really nice, inexpensive touch screen portable GPS products available right now. You would probably be happy with almost any of them but I would encourage you to buy one that says the street names -- a very important feature.

Attached is TSIB LS004-98 that has instructions. 1998_LS400_key_programming.pdf

If I remember correctly the amp on the Nak in my 00 LS is rated at 280 watts; the standard system amp is 195 watts. The wiring harness to the amp is different between the Nak and standard systems on the 98-00 LS -- different number of connectors but the same total number of pins if you add up all the pins on the connectors in each system. There may be other differences but the amp is the only part of the system I have looked at. I doubt if the Nak is that much better than the standard system but I have never done a comparison listening to the same music on both systems. The main other differences I have noticed is that the Nak does not have ASL and its tone and balance control knobs stick out rather than being flush. The Nakamichi company went into the Japanese equivalant of bankruptcy in 2002 http://www.stereophile.com/news/11272/ and I do not know if they recovered.

The Infinity M35 we rented had lots of optional equipment - surprising for a rental car - but it did not have the OEM navigation system. I did not care much for the M35. The controls were not intuitive and the car rode very harshly -- even with its standard 18 inch tires set at the recommended pressure. The interior was very roomy and I loved the "keyless go" and not having to take the key out of my pocket to unlock the doors or start the car. But back to the subject. According to the specs, the Magellan 2200T has an operating temperature range of from 14 to 140 degress F (-10 to 60 C). I would hope that the unit could take a little higher temperature when it is off but I don't plan to press my luck. I always use a sunscreen to protect the dash (summer and winter) when I park outside and it is too much trouble to attach a nav unit to the windshield each time I enter the car. If I have a nav unit I want it to be available at a moment's notice and not have to mount it only when I need to use it. That is why I am going the mount the Magellan on a bracket by the radio just above my phone console. Besides that, my wife can not reach a windshield mounted nav -- she doesn't have my "gorilla arms". As of a few months ago, the local Lexus dealer was still installing Garmin C330's in Lexus cars without OEM nav. The dealer usually installs the C330 in front of the tachometer which is probably OK for 99% of people who probably never use the tach anyway. Other than its touch screen, size and low price, the other main reason that I bought the Magellan 2200T is that it speaks the street names instead of only saying "turn left" or "turn right". After using several portable nav systems and the Hertz Neverlost system without this feature, I have found the "text to speech" feature to be one of the most important featurs for a nav system to have. Like any genuine car nut, I took photos of the Infinity M35 we rented. Here is a photo of the dash. I will mount the Magellan 2200T in my LS in about the same relative position as the Hertz Neverlost nav is mounted in this M35.

After using a Magellan "Hertz Neverlost" navigation system in a rental Infinity M35 during an eight day trip in Massachusetts in May, I decided to buy a Magellan Roadmate 2200T at Costco last week for less than $250. For now, I have given up on finding my "perfect" phone/PDA/navigation solution. As far as I can tell, 2200T has features that are very similar to the Hertz Neverlost system except that the 2200T has a touch screen that makes it much easier to enter addresses. The main thing missing from the 2200T is that it does not have a direct selection to navigate to Hertz locations. Most surprising is that the 2200T - it has the latest SirfstarIII chipset -- can quickly acquire 10 or 11 satellites regardless of whether it is attached to its windshield mount or held in my lap in my LS400. It can even acquire 8 - 9 satellites inside my house! My almost new handheld Garmin GPS - made for hiking - can not acquire any satellites unless it is outside and has a clear view of the sky. I quickly found (again) that I hate having a navigation device attached to the windshield. It blocks the forward view somewhat - a safety issue - and mounting it on the windshield requires removing the mount to use a windshield sun shield on hot summer days. Some of the attached photos show the 2200T attached to the windshield and one shows where I will soon mount it just above my phone console on a Pro.Fit Legend bracket ( http://www.pro-fit-intl.com/ ) which I ordered today. I purchased a second $10 2200T mounting plate and a second DC power cord from Magellan and will run the power cord up through the phone console so that there will be no wires dangling about. I will reserve the articulating windshield mount for use in rental cars. The Magellan mounting plate has the standard AMPS hole pattern that matches perfectly to most phone brackets. BTW, the Pro.Fit Legend bracket has an integrated swivel that will allow the GPS to be tilted towards the passenger seat. I expect that my wife will be using the GPS more than I will while I am driving. The Magellan 2200T also has a photo viewer and can play MP3's and audio books -- I am not going to try to connect it to my Nakamichi system. The Magellan accepts the SD card from my Dell PDA and it is possible to listen to the stored music on the SD card with headphones. The 2200T does not have Bluetooth and can not dial POIs; it does not come with a "traffic" receiver although one is an optional add-on -- I was not looking for any of these features. I am not "advertising" for Magellan or encouraging others to buy one. Mainly, I am surprised at how far prices have fallen for products with these kinds of features. The first thing I did when I got the Magellan home was to download the latest software to it -- took only 10 minutes. That certainly can't be done with an in-dash OEM GPS.

There are very few choices in trailer hitches for the LS430. All the ones I have seen from U.S. companies have been of the same design and similar to the hitch I have on my 2000 LS400. Unlike the 90-94 LS400 where most hitches were almost completely hidden behind the rear bumper and the black plastic trim attached below the rear bumper, the design of the 95-up LS400 and LS430 means that the hitch can be more easily seen. The hitches available in the U.K. are of a very different design and less visible when the draw bar is removed but they are not compatible with U.S. trailer tongues. It is really not a big deal to see the hitch -- the hitch is black and hardly noticable. I suppose you could remove it for part of the year since the hitch is held in place by the six muffler bracket bolts. It is not all that difficult to remove but I'll bet you won't want to after you see how it looks on your LS430. As you can see in the photo on the trailerhitch.com webpage, the drawbar is removable. The portion of the hitch that the drawbar slides into does not extend rearward beyond the lower lip of the bumper cover.

The hitches used in the U.K. and much of the rest of the world are not compatible with U.S. trailers.

Are you saying that ride with a "plus four" set-up is the same cushy ride as with the stock 6.5 x 15 wheels and 205/65 tires? YES.. i did not feel any difference on the ride.. only changed is it is a little better on corner.. nothing changed on gas mileage too.. well maybe because my ride is not lowered also that why is has the same ride effect even for a "plus four" setup Well ... I guess you ARE in sunny southern California - land of smooth roads - rather than in the "land of potholes" and the "snow belt" like me. Kansas City, Missouri has been rated as having the absolutely worst streets in the U.S. I think what I read said that the poor streets cause the average driver about $500 in repairs each year.

Are you saying that ride with a "plus four" set-up is the same cushy ride as with the stock 6.5 x 15 wheels and 205/65 tires?

If you are saying that it is difficult to get the shift lever out of "Park", the usual culprit is a failing brake light switch at the brake pedal. In my experience, the switch fails little by little until it fails completely which means having to use of the shift lever override button to get the shift lever out of Park.

Here are two TSIBs on issues with the 98-00 LS400 steering wheel. The $450 repair you mentioned is likely the one where the flexible steering column cable is replaced with a shaft. The other TSIB repair is far more expensive. Tilt__Telescopic_Steering_Column_TISB.pdf Steering_column_noise_TSIB.pdf

Do you know of address to file a complaint if it is fond that the dealership was practicing unethical business? Charging $125 for an oil change is not unethical. A dealer is free to charge what he wants and a customer is free to decide if he wants the work done for the price the dealer charges. It's called "the free market". And you are free to take your business elsewhere or to do the work yourself. It is up to you want you want to pay. I've changed my own oil for the past 40+ years and wouldn't dream of taking my cars to a dealer or quick lube shop for an oil change. But I have always had a nice garage and a complete set of tools. For my current LS, an oil change, including six quarts of Mobil 1 synthetic 5W30 and an OEM filter, costs less than $30 and takes less than one hour during which I check all other fluids and the tire pressure. As I have said many times on this forum, the most important thing you can do to prevent damage to your cars is to take them to repair shops as infrequently as possible.

This question has come up a number of times on this and other forums. I have been following this issue for a number of years and have never seen anyone come up a replacement solution for any of the dealer installed Lexus phone systems - either fixed or portable - that would allow use of the steering wheel controls or that would interface with the navigation system. The solution comes down to putting up with your phone until it becomes completely unusable (and perhaps having having a second phone for use outside the car) or dumping the phone completely and perhaps installing an aftermarket Bluetooth phone kit. If you don't have OEM nav, there are plenty of aftermarket nav systems, both portable and permanently installed, that have Bluetooth phone capability build-in. But I have not been able to find a "traditional" portable nav product (Garmin, Magellan, etc.) that will interface with the audio system to the extent that it will automatically mute the radio both during a call and when the nav gives voice prompts. My biggest problem with portable nav products is that I have to turn the radio way down in order to hear the voice prompts. My goal (to rid myself of carrying both my old Nokia 6340i phone and Dell PDA) is to find a PDA phone (with both WiFi and Bluetooth) such as an HP iPAQ (but with a larger screen) that will run a navigation program such as Co-pilot or TomTom 6 and which will interface with an aftermarket installed Bluetooth kit that will mute my radio when a phone call is in progress or a navigation voice prompt is given. And, of course, I want the nav program to be able to say the street names rather than just saying "turn left" or "turn right" so what I am looking for a is pretty tall order. All I want is everything!

I absolutely hate (HATE!) the wind roar produced by roof racks so much that the last pair of skis I bought were the the very longest I could bend and force into the trunk of my 00 LS. Very bad idea. Going from 200+ cm skis down to 160+ cm was not pretty. If I were to try a roof rack again, I would go for a magnetic one so I would not have to worry about compressing the door gaskets. It might look a little funny on an LS (who cares!) but I would rather have a hitch mounted ski rack like one of these: http://www.prolineracks.com/hitch-mounted-ski-racks.html I have a hitch mounted bike rack that I love and it has lasted for almost 20 years of regular use. And there is zero wind noise with a hitch mounted rack. They have ski areas around Portland? I skiied a little area called Timberline on Hood a couple of years ago -- it was pretty neat being taken to the top in a snow cat but not so neat skiing down in almost total whiteout. Good luck!

Wow! +3 wheels on a 90-92 LS400? The difference between 245/45 R18 tires and 235/40 ZR18 tires on a 90-92 gen 1 LS400 (OEM wheel size 15 inch) is like the difference between hitting yourself in the head with a 30 pound sledgehammer and hitting yourself in the head with a 31 pound sledgehammer. Incredibly harsh ride either way.

My worst car was also a Triumph Spitfire (1964) which I bought in 1968 and which had covered about 30,000 miles. You haven't lived until you have had your headlights fail late at night on a winding country road after hitting a bump. I quickly mastered the art of holding a powerful fashlight over the windshield to light the way so I could limp the car home. The only satisfying part of my brief ownership was to sell the $hitfire to a used car dealer.

I see this is your first post and you may not know how valuable the search feature of this forum is. Here is a thread from the past where I posted instructions on how to change out the nav harddrive in the trunk: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...836&hl=hard The latest edition of the harddrive can be obtained from a variety of online parts suppliers. You first might want to check the edition of the hard drive that you have. I think there are instructions on how to do this in the nav manual that came with your car. If you don't have a nav manual you can get a replacement through a Lexus dealer. The hard drive edition information may (I really don't know) be on the harddrive itself - you could pop it out and take a look -- only takes a minute or two. It is hard to say if a later harddrive will solve your problem. The tiny harddrive of your old nav system holds only about 1/100 of the amount of information that a postage stamp size 2 gigabyte SD card holds.

I know many are frustrated with the limitations of the nav and Bluetooth system while driving and I suppose the venting going on here is somewhat healthy. However, similar limitations on the use of inbuilt nav systems have been on many if not most cars since inbuilt nav was introduced in cars over ten years ago. It is a little hard for me to have sympathy for those who bought LS460s or other cars without understanding that the nav system had documented and common limitations. Surely all of you knew what you were getting into when you bought an LS460 with nav - especially since the LS430 had similar limitations. The act of purchasing an LS460 with nav implies that the buyer accepted these documented and common limitations. The idea of a class action suit against Toyota seems rather childish. Unlike SW03ES, my wife and I do own Toyota "stock" (ADRs) and I appreciate that Toyota is acting responsibly by equipting their cars with nav systems that, if used properly, promote safety.

I would like some more info on modifying Jetta projectors to fit a Lexus. Is this topic discussed in another post? Here is a thread on using Jetta lights on a 95-97 LS400 --> http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread...highlight=Jetta The thread has had no activity since last September.

Hey, it was only TomD's second post -- lighten up a little!

Look at these two images from the gallery. Does it look like the headlight units are interchangable? http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...=si&img=290 http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...=si&img=818

I doubt if your problem is with the speakers - it would be extraordinary for 5 of the 7 speakers to fail. Something else is going on - perhaps with the headunit or amp.

Unfortuately, used undercarriage shields may be brittle and may not last very long. As relatively inexpensive as these things are new, and considering how expensive it is to ship a large used part like this, I'd suggest that you buy a new one and take care of it. For most of the last 17+ years I have removed the undercarriage shield before taking an LS in for service. The few times I left the shield on, it was damaged or bolts that should have been holding it in place were missing when I retrieved the car - whether it was a dealer or indie shop doing the service. My "favorite" story is how, by the time I got home from the dealer, the shield was dragging on the payment and trashed. The mechanic had apparently either left most of the bolts off or forgot to tighten them. And this fine service was done by SUPERIOR LEXUS OF KANSAS CITY - not that I would name names.