1990LS400

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.

There were three versions of the Platinum Series (SE, SF, and SG) - sold during the last half of the 2000 model year. The most striking visual difference is that they all had light maple wood instead of the standard darker wood. Air suspension seems to be found most frequently as an additional option on the SF version. All versions of the Platinum Series have identifying plaques on the sides behind the front wheels. A photo of my SF version is at: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...=si&img=815 Platinum Series (SE) Appliques, Bird's Eye Maple Wood Wheels, 16-inch Custom Alloy Moonroof, Power Badging, Black Pearl Exterior Floor Mats, Platinum Signature Embroidered Headlights, High-Intensity Discharge Leather Trim, Textured Royale Compact Disc Changer, In-Dash Platinum Series (SF) Appliques, Bird's Eye Maple Wood Seats, Heated Wheels, 16-inch Custom Alloy Radio, Nakamichi Premium AM/FM ETR Stereo with Cassette Badging, Black Pearl Exterior Headlights, High-Intensity Discharge Leather Trim, Textured Royale Moonroof, Power Floor Mats, Platinum Signature Embroidered Platinum Series (SG) Appliques, Bird's Eye Maple Wood Leather Trim, Textured Royale Wheels, 16-inch Custom Alloy Navigation System Package Floor Mats, Platinum Signature Embroidered Badging, Black Pearl Exterior

The maintenance manual for your car has detailed information about the maintenance requirements for your car. There can be significant variations in maintenance requirements for different model years so it is best to follow the maintenance specifications for your specific model year. If you just bought your car, check in the glove compartment to see if there is a maintenance manual with the owners manual. If not, a replacement maintenance manual (and an owners manual too) can be obtained from Lexus.

I have to disagree with that..... I had a 1998 LX400 for about 5 years and by far the best gas mileage I ever got was on a trip from Texas to Oregon and back via Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. The return was via I5 and I40. Over 4000 miles, at average speeds of 65 MPH and when all was said and done, my trip average was 31 MPG. AC on all the way. My LS400 always turned in the highest mileage on the highway at high speeds.Just my $.02 and my experience so far. Just got a 2004 LS430 and we'll see how it does. Vern Vern, I think the person who started this thread has a little higher mph figure in mind about what he thinks is high speed -- he said 90 mph. Your 1998 LS400, like my 2000 LS400, has a five speed automatic, a lower coefficient of drag and gets substantially better gas mileage (EPA 19 mpg city; 25 mpg highway) than a gen 1 LS400. At a constant 65 mph (on cruise control) in low/no wind conditions, lightly loaded, tires properly inflated, my 00 LS has more than once done a hair over 27 mpg overall while driving every other weekend from Kansas City to Iowa City before Iowa raised its speed limit from 65 to 70 mph. Yes, I actually obeyed the speed limit. With a strong tail wind, my 00 LS has slightly exceeded 30 mpg as it did several weeks ago when returning from Tulsa to K.C. with a 40-45 mph tailwind. Try putting the trip computer in your LS430 on "Current mileage" and see what kind of mileage you get at a constant 55 mph. Then bump up your speed to 65 mph and look at the current mileage. Do all this on flat land in low/no wind conditions. Did your trip computer really show that your mpg is better at 65 than it is at 55 mph?

I think most cases of suspected gas mileage "problems" would be resolved by meticulously keeping track of all the gas that goes into the tank over a long period of time and using a handheld calculator to calculate the exact gas mileages. Most of the reports I have seen or heard about who say they are getting higher mileage from a gen 1 LS400 were from people who were literally guessing on how much gas they were using rather than making this a scientific exercise. And there are huge differences in driving style and traffic circumstances. Getting better gas mileage at high speeds is a popular myth. The best gas mileage is almost always attained by driving at a speed just above where the car shifts into its highest gear - usually between 35 and 50 mph on a modern car with auto transmission. This fact is easily verified in later LS cars with built in trip computers by watching the current gas mileage at various speeds. I know gas is getting expensive compared to the recent past and that is getting a lot of people down. Those with a long term view like me, however, know that, adjusted for inflation, gas is awfully cheap compared to prices in the 60's and 70's.

Have you had your 94 LS long? Are you keeping track of miles per gallon over the long haul to see how the mileage fluctuates in relation to the type of driving? The gen one LS400 had an EPA rating of 18 mpg city and 23 mpg highway. EPA figures are often very optimistic. If your 17.7 mpg is in mixed city driving, then that does not seem very far off what you should expect. I drove a similar gen 1 (1990) LS for over nearly 14 years and kept track of every gallon the car used and the mpg on every tank full. I think my best ever mileage on a tank was a little over 24 mpg and that was on a trip where all the miles were on the highway and with a tail wind. With a very gentle foot on the thottle, I averaged between 17 and 20 mpg in mixed city driving which included quite a bit of highway driving. In city-only driving, my gen 1 LS400 would get 15-16 mpg on a tank which I though was pretty good for a nearly 4000 pound sedan made during those years. My current 2000 LS400 with its five speed automatic gets substantially better mileage than my 1990 LS400 did - particularly on the highway. It sounds like your car is operating normally when it comes to gas mileage and I doubt if changing the tranmission fluid is going to do anything to improve it. If your transmission is having shifting issues, inspect the wiring harness in the left trunk hinge for cracked or broken wires - do a search on this forum for information on how to fix for a couple of bucks by splicing wires. Intermittent shifting problems occur as the wires start to crack and become progessively worse. My gen 1 LS became almost inoperable until I fixed the broken wires in the hinge.