1990LS400

Having owned a 90 LS (quite similar to a 94) for 13+ years and a 00 LS (nearly identical to the 99) since 2003, here are the main things I have noticed: The interior of the 00 LS seems far larger than the 90 LS. The "greenhouse" is substantially taller with the side glass being taller by over 1 inch. The front seats are much more like "armchairs" - the seating position seems much higher which even provides room for the first aid kit to slide in under the drivers seat cushion. The rear seat legroom seemed tight in the 90 but ample in the 00. The entire passenger compartment of the 00 LS is stretched forward which is how the interior gained so much space with only a 1.4" wheelbase increase. You have to compare side views of a 90-94 and a 98-00 to appreciate the difference. There were about $10,000 (retail) in options available on a 99 LS. You might as well buy a well optioned one - there is little difference in their prices as used cars. One reason our 90 and 00 LS probably seem so different to us is that our 90 was a fairly basic model but our 00 has all options except Nav and air suspension. I recommend avoiding the Nav with the old 4:3 screen ratio. The map update in 2003 may well be the last one. Although I avoided cars with air suspension when we bought the 00 LS, I now think it would be very nice to have. While the 90 LS with 240 hp was fast for its day, the 00 LS with 290 hp is a real "screamer" in comparison. And I can't speak highly enough about VSC (which all 98-00 LS have) and the way it magically takes over when you take a turn a bit too fast when the road is slick. The "snow mode" setting on the transmission is much more effective than the TRAC on the early LS. Add a set of Blizzaks or similar heavy duty snow tires and you will get around in winter better than most SUV's.

Thanks for the nice words on the pics! The manual rear window sunshade was deleted from the LS400 accessory catalog in the early 90's. It cost less than $100 and came in several colors. Installing it required a huge special template to drill the holes in the headliner and rear parcel shelf in exactly the right places - the installer borrowed a template from a Lexus dealer 200 miles away. A few on this forum have tried to find these shades in dealer "dead stock" and e-bay but I do not remember anyone having success. The tinted rear window on my 00 LS works about as well as the manual rear shade on the 90 LS and it is nice to no longer have to manually lower the rear shade so I see to back up at night. Attached is an inside view of the 90 LS rear window shade. Yes, the 90 LS had a cloth interior - still flawless when I sold the car after 13+ years.

For your convenience, attached is the text of the NHTSA report on this problem as of today. You can view the current status of this issue by going to http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems...efectsearch.cfm and typing PE05009 in the NHTSA Action Number field. PE05009_RX330.txt

Looks like I am too imcompetent at this to get both photos in at once. Here is that photo showing the right side view of the 90-91 view.

Which OEM wheel goes on the right and which on the left on a 90-92 LS? Here are photos of my old 90 LS just before forum participant "ylekiot1" bought it from me in 2003. Look at the top of the right rear wheel to see how the small "spokes" are swept back towards the rear of the car - kind of like the circular saw blade. The wheel spokes on the driver's side of the car are a mirror image of the ones on the right side.

Over the years, I've seen lots of 90-92 LS's with the wheels mounted on the wrong side. I doubt if it makes much difference although I think the wheel design was supposed to help brake cooling. It probably looks especially odd to me only because I had a 90 LS and always mounted the wheels on the correct side. If you gave Sears instructions to mount the correct tires on the correct wheels, then I would think they would re-mount the tires for free. Sears isn't exactly the kind of store that would pay that much attention unless they are told. Uni-directional wheels are not very common and some wheels that look like they should be uni-directional (like on our Camry) are not.

I think the upper console tray in the 95 LS is like the one in my 00 LS. If so, the upper console tray insert can be easily pryed out with a well taped putty knife or screwdriver. The handset cradle wire plugs into a connector in the area under the air vent at the top rear of the console - the vent you see when the console lid is raised. K9CREW replaced the fuzzy covering on the upper console insert with material from a mouse pad - he just glued it to the insert. You may want to unplug the two connectors from the transceiver in the trunk and then plug them together and even remove the transceiver.

We own a 2000 LS400, but the 95-97 is my favorite style - I love the clean front end look. We drove our first LS400, purchased new in 1990, to 183K with few suspension issues. The control arm bushings were replaced once under warranty (the originals were of a defective design) and the front ball joints (can't remember if upper or lower) were replaced. I do not remember that the ball joint replacement was very expensive. The current owner of our 90 LS is at well over 200K and is still on the original shocks and springs. The main reason some of us buy new(er) cars is simply to get newer technology. I would have driven our 90 LS for many years longer if it had HID. (The 95-up LS has really great headlights compared to the early LS.) We also found that we really like the substantially larger interior of the 95-up LS400's and especially all the gadgets (VSC!!!) that came on our 00 LS. Our 90 did not have a dual temp control and a fully adjustable passenger seat - probably the most noticable issues. Except for the water pump failing around 80K (and taking the timing belt with it) the 90 LS had almost no non-warranty repairs (only regular maintenance) until it got to about 125K miles. But like nc211 said, these can be expensive cars to maintain and you need to have available funds for repairs. If dropping $500 - $1,000 for a maintenance or an occasional $1 - $2K for the very rare repair is not acceptable, then you might want to consider something besides an LS.

Could this issue possibly be related to the various "region codes" for DVD video players. DVD players made for one region code will often not play video DVD's encoded for another. The U.S. and Europe are in different regions. This website explains it: http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#1.10

I have never heard of a "gold edition" LS400 unless you are talking about an LS400 with gold plated emblems or a local dealer's option package that he called a "gold edition". The only official LS400 optional variations I know about were the 1997 Coach Edition and the 2000 Platinum Edition. Nakamichi was the upgrade audio system through from 1990 through 2000.

Metro Lexus Toyota in Victoria BC has an export license and their web page says "We Offer World Wide Shipping": http://www.discountlexusparts.com/ I bought parts from "Paul" in the parts department.

Ed, The tilt-down feature on the passenger side mirror was added to the LS in the 1998 model year: http://www.lexusjax.com/shared/shared/cpo_...00/ls40098.html The feature was added on the driver's side in the 1999 model year: http://www.lexusjax.com/shared/shared/cpo_...00/ls40099.html

The mirrors tilt down only when the adjustment switch is the "Left" or "Right" position - not when the switch is in the center position.

Sorry, but I didn't read your first post very well and didn't notice the part about the windows not working. This sure sounds like a fuse problem or some other type of electrical failure. The brake pedal switch can not cause all these problems! If it was the brake switch, only the brake lights would not work and the tranmission would not shift out of park. For future reference though, the brake switch is probably at the top of the brake pedal lever - at that is were it is on our LS and Camry. You can see it if you lay on your back under dash and look upward. I apologize for the bad information!!!

This problem can be caused by the brake switch at the brake pedal. The switch was the culprit when I had this problem on a 90 LS. Check past posts on this forum...

What do I use to mow my lawn? I guess the answer is "Mexicans" since the lawn service's employees seem to speak only Spanish. These guys work their butts off but I always wonder if they are legal residents.

I've used Blizzak snow tires on my current LS the last two winters - really great traction. When choosing snow tires make sure you are comparing "apples with apples". Blizzaks are heavy duty snow tires and have the "mountain/snowflake" logo on the side wall. Many tires sold as snow tires are labeled as all season tires. I drove my first LS, a 90, through 13 Kansas/Missouri/Iowa winters without TRAC and I never got stuck once -- even one time driving through over 10 inches of fresh unplowed snow. The VSC system on the 98-up LS is completely different from TRAC and much more effective in snow. I want to suggest that you go with the lower mileage 92 but the 93 had huge improvements - larger brakes, wheels and tires; in-dash CD changer; a fully adjustible front passenger seat (more inportant than it sounds). I think 93 was the first year that the headlights used H4 bulbs too. The headlights on my 90 were awful and the same ones were used in 91 and 92. And front passenger airbag, a bit beefier lower body cladding - a really big list of improvements. Read the sticky "Used Ls400 Buying Guide"!

I don't know about Florida, but the degree of tint on the rear passenger and rear cargo areas of some SUV's and minivans would probably not be allowed on the driver and front passenger side windows here in Kansas and several other states nearby. Here the front side windows must be fairly lightly tinted - don't remember the percentage - something about the police needing to get a good look at drivers. By its nature, tint can be easily damaged (including scratched) if cleaned with paper towels and/or with harsh window cleaning products such as those containing ammonia. Some tint shops sell special silicon based cleaning products like "Solar Majik" that can be used with a soft cotton cloth to clean tinted windows. There are a few compatible cleaning products available in stores. I have never had a problem with bubbling (or scratching) on either of the cars I have had tinted - I suspect there was an installation problem on your car if you have bubbling. Perhaps you got a warranty on your tints that would allow the problem to be corrected at no cost to you. My tints have a lifetime warranty. I have the darkest tint allowed by Kansas law on the front driver and passenger side windows and it is not difficult to see through at night. But my experience is with only one brand and color of metalic tint except for the rear window which has non-metalic tint because of the imprinted radio and phone antennas. If I had the maximum allowable tint on the rear side and rear windows, I agree that it would be difficult to see through at night. I too wish that Lexus and other manufacturers would offer more darkly tinted windows in the U.S. market - I noticed that some car manufacturers do in some other countries. I suspect the problem is that various U.S. states (and some cities) have different standards. For example, last time I checked, the maximum tint % allowed is different in Kansas and Missouri.

Can't remember the actual brand but we have bought these for three of our cars over the years: http://www.autoanything.com/products/produ...shade_uv_shield Lots of on-line stores sell these same custom fit shades. The one I bought for my 1st LS was getting worn but was still usable when I sold the car after almost 14 years. I used the shades everytime I parked outside - winter and summer. You might consider getting your front side windows tinted too. Tints and the windshield shade really helps the interior stay free of sun damage -- especially the dash and steering wheel leather.

I guess I don't understand. If you have a "pocket" under a Toyota single DIN radio/cassette player (that has a CD button and labeled CD controls) like our 98 Camry, the pocket can be removed and replaced with a Toyota single disk CD player. The Toyota 6 disc CD player does not fit into this pocket. Toyota also sold a three disc changer that fit into this single DIN pocket. The single disc player can be used with a remote mounted 6 disc changer for a total of 7 discs and the convenience of being able to pop a CD directly into the in-dash CD player.

If your 96 Camry has a single DIN OEM radio with a CD button and built in CD controls like our 98, there is a "data port" in the back of the radio for attaching a CD changer. It is "plug and play". (You can locate the changer under the passenger seat.) If not you may need a different Toyota radio with this feature or an after market radio that accepts a changer. "Google" "Toyota CD changers" and you will likely find a few choices. I saw several recently for $200 - $300.

My rear cupholder jammed a few months ago. A few wacks of my fist on the side of armrest made in pop out. It has not jammed since.

Trust me on this one Mike - the ride could be a substantially harsher with the 245's. 245's will be substantially wider and the tires will be effected simply because the contact patch will be much bigger. And the tire/wheel unit will be way heavier too. You might want to do some research on how increasing "unsprung weight" affects handling. If you do go with 245's, keep the pressure to the minimum to help the ride quality. I was really surprised how going from 205's to 225's in my first LS made the ride so rough and I soon went back to the 205's. Tire Rack used to have a good selection of 245/55R16 but the selection may be drying up since fewer cars use 225/60R16's these days. Let us know how the 245's work out. Heck I might want to change my mind and give it a try!

A salesman at Tire Rack tried to get me to buy 245/55R16 for my 00 LS in 2003 but I stayed with the standard 225/60R16. I've bought a lot of tires from Tire Rack over the past 15 or so years and I would have thought that the salesman knew that the wider tires would fit. Of course, he was probably going to make a lot more money from me if I had bought the much more expensive wider tires. I did something similar in the early 90's on my first LS. I used 225/60R15 instead of the OEM 205/65R15. Braking felt far better with the wider tires and the car felt more stable on at highways speeds. But the increased ride harshness was not fun (my wife hated it) and I thought the "breakaway" was less predictable when driving at the limit on curves. I suspect that the 245's would ride a lot rougher and doubt that the slight improvement in handling or braking would be worth it. 245/55's are however within the tire width range that the 7 inch wide LS wheel can handle.

Click here for a Google translation of the German page: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=ht...Flanguage_tools