1990LS400

6 minutes ago, Lexusrbest said:

I looked into this and was told the vehicle has to be towbar prepared at the factory ! 
apparently the electric motor or rear diff is not suitable for towing

The RX450h is suitable for towing although to exploit its towing capabilities it should have the factory installed tow prep package that I mentioned in my first post in this thread.   The components of the tow prep package have nothing to do with the hybrid traction motor or a "rear diff". 

46 minutes ago, Howard18 said:

Thanks for the informative reply. UHaul’s website says they can install a trailer hitch on a 2022 RX 450h; wondering if I should just go with that. 

I looked at the Uhaul hitch on their website.  It actually doesn't look bad which is saying something since some of the most butt-ugly hitches I've seen have been from Uhaul.

The installation instructions say that trimming an "appearance panel" in two places is necessary.  Are you OK with that?

I've occasionally used Uhaul services and have found that the skill levels of their employees are EXTREMELY variable and I do mean E-X-T-R-E-M-E-L-Y !!!  If you go with Uhaul, I suggest that you carefully interview the person who is going to do the installation to see if he is at least conscious.  

Installation looks very easy and similar to my installation of a Curt hitch on our Toyota Sienna which is a close cousin of the Lexus RX and shares many components.

If you are handy and have the appropriate tools including a torque wrench, you could do it yourself.  Installing a hitch on your RX looks easier than on our Sienna which took only about an hour including the time it took to trim the underbody plastic panel.  It would likely require elevating the rear of the RX such as with jack stands.

You are using the correct terminology - at least the same as used on the Lexus website.

The optional towing preparation package includes engine and transmission oil coolers and a "heavy duty" radiator and cooling fan.  It used to include additional wiring in the back for attaching trailer light wiring but it's not listed as one of the features.  None of the engine compartment components are needed for installing a receiver hitch for carrying a bike rack or for towing light trailers such as a small utility trailer. 

I've long been perturbed that the towing prep package isn't standard on the RX since it is inexpensive and was made standard on its Toyota brand siblings in 2014. 

Toyota offers kits on some models to relocate the kick sensor when installing a receiver hitch.  Even when a relocation kit is not available it has been found that it sometimes possible to relocate the kick sensor to make it work after installing a receiver hitch. 

Installing a receiver hitch will not void the warranty.  The impact on a lease is a different matter since installing a hitch sometimes requires cutting plastic body panels. 

If you are going to use a receiver hitch only to carry a bike rack, then you wouldn't need to install trailer light wiring or buy a draw bar or ball.  For example, I installed a Curt receiver hitch on my wife's Prius v wagon only for carrying a 2-bike rack but I didn't install or buy anything else. 

Oddly, I don't see a receiver hitch for the 2022 RX450h listed on the Curt website:  https://www.curtmfg.com/

I wonder what's up with that.  The last three receiver hitches I've bought have been the Curt brand and they've all cost a fraction of the price of an OEM hitch.  You should still be able to buy a Lexus brand receiver hitch but you might lose the functionality of the kick sensor if it can't be relocated to work properly.

The Platinum badges may be impossible to remove and reuse since they seem to get damaged when they are removed.  In around 2010 I watched a body shop employee remove and install several of them trying to get one lined up correctly on the 2000 LS400 I drove for many years.  The replacement badges were like peal-off stickers and somewhat different from the originals which were sort of set into a rubber or plastic underlay.

I suggest leaving the badges off.  You might be able to get new badges made by a jeweler that makes custom pieces but I suspect the cost would be very high - hundreds of dollars.

Who needs badges anyway?  I've sometimes removed exterior badges.

It sounds like the OP has only a valet key which cannot be used to unlock the trunk at the keyhole by the taillight.  The OP needs to get a master key which can be fairly expensive.  I think a master key can be obtained without replacing an expensive ECU as long as the owner has a valet key that can operate the ignition and allow the car to be driven.  The master key will have a button that can remotely lock and unlock the vehicle.  Unlike the master keys/fobs for second generation LS400, the master key for the first generation (90-94) has only one button. 

While getting a master key may be fairly expensive - up to several hundred dollars - it's critical to have at least one.  If you have only one valet key and lose it, you are SOL and may have to spend far more.  I was so protective of the master keys for the 1990 and 2000 LS400's I owned that I had extra ones that I kept in a fireproof safe. 

The setting I'm referring to is in the vehicle.   Access it through your in-dash screen.   Your navigation entertainment manual shows how. 

The first thing I'd try is to go into Settings and verify that "Bluetooth Power" is set to "On".

I would suspect a broken wire at the hinge.  Unwrap the wires at the hinge and look for wires that are cracked.  You might have to wiggle the wires to determine if/where the metal wire cores are broken under the insulation on each wire.   I had to splice in short lengths of wire on my first LS400 when the car was 13 years old due to the wires at the hinge breaking.  The friend who bought the car from me had to do again as the car aged.  

You can view it and other manuals and download them at https://drivers.lexus.com/lexusdrivers

14 minutes ago, sexyrexy71 said:

I treated / reseated all the stereo connectors in the trunk and at least the front speakers came on. No rear speakers or subwoofer. The 12 disk CD changer refuses to play. What do you expect from 27 year old stereo electronics!?

At least you're making progress.  Not that it will help but here an audio system diagram from Auto Repair Source that is supposedly for a 1995 SC300 although it doesn't indicate if it's for the standard or Nakamichi system.

33 minutes ago, sexyrexy71 said:

I just brought a nice SC300 home with only 112k on the odo yesterday. The sound is almost inaudible. There appears to be a amp box under the cd changer and yes, a little water in the trunk. I completely gutted the trunk trying to fix a inoperative turn signal. Also the gas cylinders for the trunk lid are weak. Does anyone have an idea where the water gets in? The seals look great. I guess I wanted a project bring home a 27 year old car, right?  

The water is most likely getting in between the trunk lid and the gasket as it did on the 1990 and 2000 LS400's I drove for a total of 24 years.  I suppose you could replace the gaskets if you can find new OEM gaskets although new gaskets sitting on shelves for 25 to 30 years might not be in great shape.  Or you could look for similar aftermarket gasket sold by the foot.  I never replaced the trunk gaskets on my cars but I tried to get more proactive about removing the water with towels.  I also frequently cleaned and lubricated the trunk and door gaskets with spray silicon but I don't know if it helped that much.  There's not much that can be done to improve trunk and door gaskets after the become compressed and collapsed.  Water in the trunk and other places also contributes to high humidity which can cause corrosion in and failure of electrical components.  Maybe the solution is moving to Arizona!  

Edit:  One more thing.  Per my previous post in this thread, does your SC300 have or is there evidence that it had a dealer installed Lexus brand cell phone?  Failure of the phone ECU in the trunk can put the audio system in permanent mute mode although the audio can sometimes still be heard at a very low volume.  If it has a phone ECU in the trunk, remove it and check the pins in the ECU connectors for corrosion.  Even if it does not have a phone, check the connectors in the trunk for a phone and ensure that there is no corrosion on the pin in the connectors.  All Lexus SC of the 1990's were prewired for dealer installed phones.  The phone ECU connectors have a mute pin.  If this mute pin gets grounded by corrosion, the audio system will go into mute mode.  I've had substantial experience with this situation on Lexus cars of the 1990's.

19 hours ago, ROJAN said:

I am new to this site.

I am thinking about buying a Lexus SC430 BUT I need to know what years have  a FACTORY Blue tooth capability.

Thanks for any help!

Based on the owners and navigation manuals, it appears that the SC430 first got Bluetooth for handsfree phone for the 2006 model year but didn't get A2DP Bluetooth for audio streaming until it's final (2010) model year.  Several companies offered Bluetooth A2DP and aux-in interfaces but I don't know if they are still available.  The SC430 infotainment system was pretty much left to rot in it's final model years - probably due to low sales. 

There probably aren't many recent threads about this problem since there aren't very many SC300/SC400 still on the road but there were a number of threads "back in the day" about the SC amps getting damaged by water.

You could look for a good used on on eBay or maybe you can find a company that repairs them.

Do whatever you can to keep water away from the amp.  Trunk mounted Lexus telephone ECU's suffered a similar fate and often put the audio system in permanent mute.  If your SC400 has a phone ECU in the trunk, disconnecting it might solve your problem.

4 hours ago, libertas said:

Thanks, virtual connect button in the settings/phone?  I dont have the car here now to look.  Assume you mean go to phone in menu and  so on.

I don't have a UX but on most Toyota/Lexus vehicles, there is a "Connect Phone" button displayed on the in-dash screen after you press the off-hook button on the steering wheel.

Could one of the iPhones displayed on the in-dash screen be a phone that's no longer used?   If in doubt, delete and re-add the phones.  You should be able to rename the phone in the car's Bluetooth settings.  And if you want to, you should be able to rename the vehicle in the phone's Bluetooth settings. 

The problem you are having has occurred on every vehicle we've had that had Bluetooth.

I'm sure your wife can learn to connect her phone if it's not connected.  My wife may be the most technically challenged person on earth and she's learned to do it.

An easy way to verify which phone is connected is to press the off-hook button on the steering wheel and look at the screen to see which phone is connected.  If the desired phone isn't connected, then press the virtual connect button and then select it from list on the screen.  If the desired phone still doesn't connect, first try toggling Bluetooth on the desired phone off and then on.  In rare cases, it's been necessary to reboot the phone or turn the vehicle ignition off and restart the engine.

I used to have the problem far more when I had my home phone system automatically connect to my cell phone as I entered our house.  Our home phone system tended to not "turn loose" of my phone when I went to the garage and started one of our vehicles.  Most of the time I would have to manually sever the connection with the home phone system and manually connect my phone to the Bluetooth system in the vehicle I was about to drive.  The problem went away when I stopped connecting my cell phone to our home phone system.   I realized that I'd rather have my cell phone in my pocket when I'm home and I my current cell phone's long battery life means I don't need to charge it as often..  

BTW, the latest Toyota/Lexus in-dash systems, such as the one on the Lexus NX450h my wife is getting, allow two cell phones to be connected simultaneously.  I'm not sure that is an improvement but we'll see how it goes.

You may have the dreaded disease known as TPS - Tight Pants Syndrome.  Something in your pants pocket may have pushed against the unlock button to cause the windows to roll down and then against the lock button to lock the doors.   I've occasionally had this problem although I've become careful to remove keys and fobs from my pocket when I'm home.

You're fortunate that it happened in your garage.  It's happened to some when their vehicles were parked outside in the rain.  At some point, Lexus vehicles began to come from the factory with this feature set to OFF by default - maybe due to the prevalence of TPS.

Unfortunately, only a Lexus dealer can change the setting on the ES350 of generation you have.  This and other customizable settings are documented in the Customization section of your owners manual.

10 hours ago, janmeeks said:

Thanks, Jim.  Every car my husband and I have owned has kept the cruise speed constant - this is new to me and quite frankly, annoying.  I actually took it to the dealer, they said nothing was wrong, and it's been holding speed ever since!  Weird.

Re the radar:  I think I'm too much of a control freak to ever let the car drive me!!!!  I'm an aggressive highway driver so find myself close behind people in the left lane fairly often.  

If the adaptive distance sensing feature of your cruise control no longer works, the dealer must have deactivated it with Techstream or via an in-dash setting that you can control yourself.  

Laser based adaptive cruise control was available in all years of the LS430 in the Custom Luxury and Ultra Luxury packages.?  Its laser sensor was in the lower grill on the passenger side.  The LS430 got radar based adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking for the 2004 model year as an option on top of the Custom Luxury and Ultra Luxury packages.  It's radar sensor was behind the "L" emblem in the front grill like it is on your LS500.

Radar based adaptive cruise control is one of my favorite features.  All our current vehicles have it.  I won't even rent a vehicle without it.

Even a fully autonomous driving vehicle requires oversight from the driver.  One can't just "zone out" while the vehicle is driving itself.   Some who have done that have made the news by crashing.  I'm rather looking forward to full self driving vehicles.  A 700 mile medical related trip last week sure would have been less tiring with that.  I would have bought a Tesla with the full autonomous driving option by now if there were enough convenient charging opportunities where we drive or if they had substantially longer range on a charge..

I would expect the actual speed to be slightly less than the speed shown on the speedometer.  The difference is usually between one and three mph.

After setting the cruise control speed you can adjust the cruise control speed with the steering wheel controls to get it to exactly where you want it.  

Do you not like the Dynamic Radar Cruise Control?  All vehicles manufactured by Toyota since around 2018 have it.  It takes some getting used to and even some skill to use efficiently.  I've often driven 200 miles or more while using radar cruise control without ever touching the gas or brake pedals.  

Sat nav was an extra cost option on the RX300 and RX400h in the U.S. market.  Some people bought it.  Other people didn't.

Sorry, I didn't understand exactly what you wanted.  

It is common for forum software to be configured to turn on "follow" by default whenever you post.  If you don't want to follow a thread after you post, then immediately turn off following after posting.

I assume that this is a forum software configuration setting that could be changed by a forum administrator but many people prefer to automatically follow a thread after posting.

Click on "Follow" in the upper right corner of the window and then click on "Unfollow".  

1 hour ago, Endugu said:

"backup camera, Bluetooth phone and audio, radar cruise control, automatic emergency braking, and a system that nudges the vehicle back into its lane if it drifts out.  A few bucks more gets blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic assist and parking sensors.  Our 2000 LS400's have none of those features"

 

All of those features seem lame to me.  The last thing I want my vehicle to do is beep at me, brake or move the wheel. 

Well I guess you're going to be buying older vehicles for as long as those are available.  In the three years since I wrote that, these features have become standard equipment on vehicles made by Toyota including their Lexus vehicles.   Other car makers have gone in the same direction and have or are implementing these features and much more.

The warranty on the 2018 ES300h hybrid system is 96 months (8 years) or 100,000 miles - whichever comes first.  You can view the warranty information at https://drivers.lexus.com/t3Portal/document/omms-s/L-MMS-18ES300H/pdf/L-MMS-18ES300H.pdf

Toyota hybrid batteries typically last far longer than the warranty period.  If they ever do fail, refurbished hybrid batteries are available on the aftermarket. 

Buy the version you like most.  The regular V6 will probably feel faster but the hybrid is no slouch.  My view is that the main difference in the way these two versions "feel" is related to the V6 version having a traditional 8-speed transmission and the hybrid version having a CVT - continuously variable transmission.  The difference is especially noticeable at highway speeds on steep hills.

Not possible.  There are aftermarket products that can run Apple CarPlay and Android Auto that supposedly can be installed in your car.

You can see some available products by plugging in your vehicle information at https://www.crutchfield.com/

30 minutes ago, Bykfixer said:

Impressive!! 

That sounds pretty standard these days but that must've raised a few eyebrows back then when a premium car stereo would turn up the volume based on road noise, but to lower the fan speed of the comfort system when the phone rings?  Heck, I think in my modern day appliances called automobiles they still don't do that. 

 

I suspect that the reason that the reason that Bluetooth phone systems standard in newer vehicles do not turn down HVAC fan speeds is that noise cancelling microphone technology makes it unnecessary.

Automatic radio volume increase based on road noise has been around a long time.  The volume of radios available in the 1957 Ford Thunderbird increased with speed and the radios also a search feature that would find the next available radio station on the dial.

The 1956 Mercedes 190SL 2-seat convertible I drove as a kid even had a turn signal like lever on the steering column that would cause its Becker Mexico radio to find the next station.  Mercedes sedans of that era and into the 1960's had optional foot operated switches that would cause the radio to search for the next radio station - pretty sure I have one of those foot operated controls in a box in my garage.  These crude radio remote controls could even be attached in series so that each passenger had their own.