1990LS400

Steve, I think it boils down to whether or not you want to detail your car or just want it to look good. My two next door neighbors spend hours detailing their cars - one is a Porsche guy (enters his cars in competitions), the other is nuts about his Maserati. There is nothing wrong with wanting to make a car look perfect. In the summer I enjoy drinking a beer while "talking cars" and watching them work their asses off detailing their cars. But a lot of us just want our cars to look very good and do other things with our spare time - for us some of the products highly rated on the Consumer Reports list work just fine. Many people who didn't know Lexus model body styles all that well thought my first LS was brand new after I had owned it for 13 years so I'm not sure all the extra work of detailing would have paid off in my case.

I posted the differences between the three different Platinum Series versions in this old thread: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...232&hl=Platinum The original list prices of a Platinum Series could range from $55,969 for an "SE" with no other options to $64,500 for an "SG" (Nav version) that has all remaining options: air suspension, Lexus phone, trunk mat, wheel locks and chrome wheels. The Platinum chrome wheel option was not an official Lexus option but was widely available as a dealer supplied option at the same rediculously high list price ($1,700) as the "regular" chrome wheel option. Oddly enough a non-Platinum with Navigation and all other options was $751 more than a Platinum SG. Well optioned LS400's (Platinum or not) do not bring all that much more as a used car than basically equipped ones so you can get a lot for your money if you can find a loaded one.

Silver is sure far easier to keep looking clean than black. (I had a silver car and a black car - each for about five years.) Since one LS is a Platinum, if you are not familiar with the Platinum series, consider looking at previous posts on this forum to see the differences between the three different Platinum packages: SE, SF, SG - significant differences in original prices and equipment.

Professional installers sometimes use special "spade" connectors that they force into the fuse socket with the fuse. In my first LS, one of these spade connectors kept the fuse box cover under the dash from fitting securely. Also, when I deinstalled the particular phone kit for which it was used, I found that the spade connector had damaged the fuse socket. I was too lazy (and old) to wiggle under the dash to hook up the power wire for a phone kit in my current LS last year so I had a professional installer T-tap connect it to a wire leading into the ignition switch. I connected the ground wire to an existing bolt on the fire wall. There is always the ashtray lighter wiring you could tap into. I don't know about your GX but I can pop off the console wood on my LS and get to this wire in less than 30 seconds. Before I decided to throw my radar detector away many years ago, I considered connecting it to a power wire leading to the overhead lights near the rear view mirror of my 90 LS and running the wire forward under the headliner to where the detector was mounted on the windshield. I've found that driving without a radar detector is so much more enjoyable - much less stressfull - should have thrown mine away years earlier.

Steve, I was not recommending NuFinish but only reporting on what Consumer Report found in scientific tests. In the latest Consumer Reports evaluation I can find (May 2000), 26 polishes were rated. NuFinish Paste was rated #3 (NuFinish Liquid was rated #8)and the #1 rated polish was "Zymol Cleaner Wax" which was considered to have the best overall combination of qualities. Zymol is what I have been using for the past few years. Over the past 25 - 30 years we have found Consumer Union to be a very reliable source of information and we have made many purchases based on its findings. Attached is a scanned copy of the polish ratings.

I just now went to the garage to check the label and the part number for the premixed 50-50 Super Long Life pink coolent is 00272-SLLC2. The price label on the 1 gallon plastic container says $14.24 although the Toyota parts department guy usually gives me a healthy discount. I was just in the Toyota parts department tonight buying brake fluid and they had a rack of coolant on display.

NuFinish won Consumer Reports Magazine's durability test several years in a row (and was rated the "best buy") but the magazine also noted that it causes hazing that is particularly noticable on dark paint. I used it for quite a few years on a previous car, and although the shine really does last a long time, I also can not recommend it.

95,000 miles is absolutely nothing for an LS if it has had decent care. And the original shocks on my 90 LS were still fine when I sold it at 183,000 miles. Since you can hear the noise when the car is bounced when stationary, maybe you could have someone else bounce it while you use an automotive stethoscope to precisely locate the source of the noise. A stethoscope costs around $10 and are handy for locating noises in the engine compartment, interior or wherever. It is possible that the noise and the vibration are not related. The front bushings on my 90 were replaced at least a couple of times to solve a loud "creaking" noise which was loudest when going over a speed bump. The vibration could be caused by an out of balance tire, out of round tire, bent wheel, drive shaft issue (unlikely) or maybe other causes I don't know about. I don't remember having any vibration issues during my 13 years with my 1st LS. But why would your vibration occur only on blacktop and not on concrete? Makes no sense ... unless the blacktop road is has a lot more of a crown towards the center and you are having to move the steering wheel away from neutal center to hold the car on the road -- that can magnify a vibration. On my current 00 LS, I had vibration at about 60 mph after a wheel shop put the stick on balancing weights where they were ground off by the brake calipers. And the vibration was worse when the steering wheel was off center as when going around a curve. Quite a puzzle you've got.

I hope you all realize that I am sometimes, tongue in cheek, making fun of some of the newer phone technologies which, from my viewpoint, do not seem to work nearly as well as older ones. I suspect that Bluetooth or a similar protocol with Nav will become standard or cheap options on all cars in the near future and all these issues will fade away. I doubt if aftermarket Bluetooth car kits like the Parrot will even be available in 5 - 7 years - there just won't be much of a demand.

With a Bluetooth phones on your belt or in a purse, how do you know who is calling when using these aftermarket Bluetooth kits? Do the kits have a caller ID display? With my wired kit, I glance at the the phone's caller ID display (phone holder mounted by the radio) and often press the "decline" button (before the phone auto-answers after three rings) and send the call to voice mail depending on who is calling and the traffic conditions. Based on how often I loan my phone to others when in the car, having an external antenna seems to be very important where I drive. During the last leg of a 325 mile Saturday drive to an Iowa football game last year, three people in the backseat were all trying to talk on their phones at the same time - what a circus! You would think they could talk to each other... And half the time my wife in the front passenger seat was talking on the privacy handset of my old CARK-91 Nokia kit. Every once in a while I would hear an "Oh !Removed!" when the people in the backseat lost their signals. But the CARK-91 with the external antenna never lost its signal.

I think it is interesting that Lexus U.K. does not pretend that a Bluetooth phone is going to perform satisfactorily when left in one's pocket. Take a peek at the U.K. market "Bluetooth Complementary Kit" which includes a phone cradle, charger and an antenna connection. http://www.lexus.co.uk/colours.php?model=l...age=accessories

As you might guess, "Armyofone" works for Motorola. The main thing, if you go Bluetooth, is to verify that the car kit you choose is compatible with your Bluetooth phone. The Howard forums are always a good place to research phones and car kits. We will not be going with Bluetooth for the forseeable future since our older Nokia phone kits work incredibly well and we keep cars for 11-15 years. In each of our cars, we do not have to remove our hands from the steering wheel to turn down the radio, answer a call or hang up after a call - it is all automagic and really cool. We do have to remove our hands from the wheel to initiate one of the nine 1-key speed dials, to press the "names" key so we can voice dial, or to dial from the 750 entry phone book.

I don't think there have been any significant developments since you asked this question on January 26, 2004. I have not seen anyone on this or other Lexus forums come up with a way to pop a modern digital phone into a 90's LS system and to allow the use of the steering wheel controls and to play the call through your radio speakers. Since then, however, I found to be fairly easy to hook up an aftermarket phone kit in my 2000 LS so that it at least mutes the radio a call is in progress. If you are not using your Lexus phone, I recommend removing it and installing an aftermarket phone kit - probably a Bluetooth kit. Of course if you don't have a Bluetooth phone you will have to change phones and perhaps even carriers.

I guess us guys are supposed to have an advantage since we (are supposed to) have mechanical knowledge and abilities. You have to consider that the service department at a car dealership provides most of a dealer's profit. I never take a car to a repair shop more often than at 15,000 mile intervals during the warranty period unless something is wrong. After the warranty period, I take cars in for service at most only at 30,000 mile intervals. When I do take a car to someone else for service, I am very selective about the services I choose to have performed. Dealerships and independent repairshops tend to dramatically over-maintain cars since doing so increases their revenues. Some may even try to intimidate you into having more services performed than your maintenance manual indicates is required. Follow the maintenance recommendations in your manual. If the dealer or repair shop tells you that more agressive maintenance is required then politely tell him to f*ck off. Probably 99% of owners do not need to follow the "severe service" maintenance schedule since they do not use their vehicles as taxi's or commercial vehicles. If you take your vehicle to someone else for service, do not "order" service packages from the menu on the wall. Instead, order "alla carte" based on the requirements specified in your owners manual. If you have a garage I would encourage you to learn how to change the oil yourself and to learn how to check and top off the few other fluids that need attention between major service intervals: coolent, brake, transmission, windshield washer fluid. Buy a cheap set of metric flat wrenches and a socket set. And buy a big box of surgical gloves to protect your hands from dirt and oil while working on your LX. You will spend only a few minutes each month and save an incredible amount of money. Find a mentor to advise you on how to maintain your LX. Post your questions on this forum and we will try to help.

On my 2000 LS400, the recirculation sensitivity is programmed with the driver side temperature control. Attached is the relevant page from my 2000 LS400 owners manual. I happen to have an owners manual for the LS400 sold in Europe and the U.K. in 1994. The 1994 manual does not show a recirculation sensitivity adjustment. I am surprised that you can not get getter support for your car in Normay. In 1993, I considered taking my 1990 U.S. specification LS400 on a one year assignment in Zurich. Lexus customer service told me that my car would receive no support from the European Lexus organization or its agents. I am surprised that there are not more Lexus agencies 12 years later. I stayed up late last night watching Ian Wright on a television program called Globetracker. The program showed Wright traveling by boat, bus and plane from the most southern tip of Norway to the northern tip where he surrounded his camp site in the snow with "trip wires" that shot explosive flares when polar bears approached. Beautiful country! We should travel to Norway sometime instead of spending our holidays on beaches in the Greek islands!

I do not understand what "Army" meant when he said that Cingular is "all GSM". Cingular uses three protocols in the U.S.: AMPS (Analog), TDMA and GSM. Portions of Cingular's GSM network supports GPRS. TDMA is still a "huge deal" for Cingular and will be an important part of their network for a very long time. See: http://www.cingular.com/business/network/0,,,00.html Cingular has many millions of customers who have non-GSM phones. I must know a dozen people who still use a Nokia 5100 series TDMA/AMPS. My wife stopped using her's a few weeks ago and is now using one of my Nokia 6340i GSM/TDMA/AMPS phones - mainly because it is lighter and its infrared capability makes it easier to maintain/backup the phonebook with/to a PC that the 5100 which requires a USB cable. Like other carriers, Cingular will not be dropping AMPS for at least several more years. See: http://tap.gallaudet.edu/FCC/AnalogElim.htm I think it is safe to say that all the shaded areas of this map represents Cingular's current GSM coverage area: http://www.cingular.com/download/GPRS_coverage_410.pdf Lots of the non-shaded areas have excellent TDMA and AMPS service from Cingular. For example, in Iowa where we spend lots of time, there is very little GSM, but great service from Cingular via AMPS and TDMA.

Steve, Cingular may not want to talk about it much, but its network is still a combination of GSM, TDMA and analog. My wife's and my Cingular phones support all three protocols and spend a lot of time in TDMA and analog when outside metro areas. It is interesting that the lack of GSM coverage in much of the U.S. isn't keeping Cingular and other carriers from pushing GSM-only phones. But a friend of mine was surprised a few weeks ago when a Cingular employee pursuaded him to keep his GSM/TDMA/AMPS phone rather than get the latest GSM-only camera phone. Hopefully, there will be a lot better GSM coverage before analog goes away in a few years. Cingular's GSM coverage is getting a better all the time although there are still whole states with relatively little GSM coverage. Those interested might want to take a look at the recent Consumers Reports magazine article about the limited GSM coverage in the U.S. Not much of a problem if you live on the coasts but a real pain if you live in the midwest and venture outside cities.

You might try using the search feature of this forum but I doubt if you are going to find information you will like. From what I have read, the parting of Lexus and Sprint seemed like a fairly nasty divorce. You could ask Cingular about using a Sprint phone on their network - their response could be entertaining! I was offered a "free" Lexus phone by a friend for my 2000 LS in 2003 while my car was still well within the original basic warranty. The local Lexus dealer would not discuss helping me activate it. If fact I was told that they had discarded all documentation and parts for Lexus phone systems. The only phone system they supported was the Bluetooth setup on the later LS430. My point is that I doubt if you will get any help from Lexus. But it does not hurt to ask. There might be hope if you could find a guru phone hacker who could adapt a Cingular phone to your 01 LS. But I think that is a real long shot and that it could be very expensive and produce marginal results at best. If you have Nav, it would be a shame to not be able to dial POI's through the phone. I suspect that your options are 1) keep your Sprint phone working as long as you can, or 2) abandon the Lexus phone system and install an aftermarket phone kit - probably Bluetooth. It is relatively easy to interface aftermarkets phone kits so at least they mute your audio system when a call is in progress. I'm not a fan of Sprint although their service seems to be better here in their home town than in the rest of the U.S. If I go up a few floors, I can see their "World Headquarters" from the window - the local joke is that it will make a great medium security prison when Sprint is gone. It would be helpful to others here if you would post the outcome of your quest!

OK then, based on what you just said I would say that there is no comparison between the choices. The 2000 is certainly worth $4,000 more than the 98. And you will like the HID and the "butt warmers" will be nice in New York. I suspect that you are underestimating the cost of doing a trade-in on vehicles of these particular values. I suspect your cost will be $3-5K more than on an all cash deal if you drive even a barely decent bargain on both ends of the trade-in transaction. Dealers love trade-in deals. But once you priced these deals with a trade-in, it is difficult to switch - the dealer already "has your number".

I used 225/60-15's on all four standard wheels for several years and there was plenty of clearance. I would be surprised if 225/60-16's did not fit since that size became standard in 93. Do you know anyone with a 93-up who would let your put his spare on your car to see? You are not going to mix tire sizes front to rear are you? The early LS (I had a 90) was very balanced and I suspect the handling could get very strange if tire sizes were mixed.

I don't think it is all that simple. Are these cars equally equipped and in equal condition? And how many miles does the 2000 have? Even without Nav there were over $8,000 in options available in 98-00. Options in 98 were more individually oriented. Options in 99-00 were more package oriented. Some options on 98 models, like wood/leather steering wheel and gear shift lever became standard in 99. Cars without HID are far more common in the 98 model year. The main standard feature that that the 2000 has over 98-99 is "brake assist" - something you will never miss if you have never experienced it. 36,000 miles is extra low for a 98 so that certainly is a plus if it is in better condition and better optioned than the 2000 LS. Is there any way you can sell your car on your own first? Trade-in's really muddy the deal and and almost always turn the deal into a lose-lose proposition for the buyer. (You lose on the value of your trade-in and then you lose by not getting the best price on the car you are buying.) We always sell our cars ourselves - often to friends and relatives and come out several thousand dollars ahead on each sell/buy transaction.

Well, there are wiring diagrams for all Lexus models at http://techinfo.lexus.com/ A one day subscription is $10. A dealer employee printed a portion of the audio system wiring diagram for my LS from techinfo and it was fairly detailed.

Having participated in the Consumers Reports product surveys for many of the past 25 years and with statistics being my favorite (although not my major) in college, my suspicion is that there were not enough 2000 LS400 owners participating in the survey to make the results statistically valid. With only 15,785 LS cars (LS400's and LS430's) were sold in 2000, how many would have been subscribers to Consumer Reports and how many of those would have completed the very long survey? I know I did not participate last year or in quite a few other years - don't even know what my wife did with the survey last year. According to Lexus corporate statistics, fewer LS cars were sold in the 2000 calendar (not model) year than in any other previous year except 1989. Check this thread for sales figures: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...wtopic=8844&hl= For North America, the 2000 model year LS400 was made at least into June 2000 when mine was assembled (210 from the last) which I think is near the normal model changeover time (for U.S. bound cars) for Japanese car manufacturers. For some of the rest of the world, production of the LS400 ended much sooner when the LS430 was made available at the beginning of calendar year 2000. I forgot what the category was but once when I was really p1ssed at something breaking, I rated a particular aspect of my 1990 LS400 very badly on the Consumer Reports survey. When I read the poor rating on that particular category in the Consumer Reports auto issue for that year I had to wonder if I was the only LS400 owner who participated! Check the applicable TSB's for 98-00 LS models and you will see that some of the problems affecting the 98-99's were fully or partially resolved by the 00 model year.

Photo 3 of the Kuda phonebase in my 2000 LS400

Photo 2 of the Kuda mount in my 2000 LS400