1990LS400

It could take a lot more than a month for a battery on a gen 1 LS400 to run down. I left my 1990 LS400 sitting for exactly four weeks in 1998 while on vacation and its starter spun when I got back as if the car had been driven the previous day. Asking a Lexus dealer for advice shouldn't cost anything.

Breaking a window and then opening the door from inside should set off the alarm and may disable the inside trunk release.

I strongly doubt that your issue has anything to do with the "radar" Pre-Collision System (PCS). We have PCS on all our vehicles and don't have similar problems. But if you really want to turn PCS off, your owners manual tells you how. Your "problem" is more likely caused by the Traction Control and/or the Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) intervening and taking control of the throttle away from you as it should when your RX loses traction. If you don't want the enhanced safety that these features provide, then turn them off - your owners manual tells you how. Do you have "real" Winter tires on your RX? (i.e. tires with the mountain/snowflake symbol on the sidewalls) VSC and traction control are incredibly more effective with real Winter tires. We use Bridgestone Blizzak winter tires mounted on extra wheels with TPM sensors on all our vehicles.

Here is a link to a video showing how to remove the head unit: http://www.carstereoremoval.com/htm/stereoremovalLexusRX33004_05P.htm I assume that an aux-in product will come will installation instructions.

The easiest and least costly way would be to install an adapter like the VAIS SL3U: http://www.vaistech.com/site/sl3u.php There may be other companies selling similar adapters but VAIS has been around a long time and its products were commonly sold by Lexus dealers before Lexus vehicles had these kinds of interfaces built-in. Check Amazon.com and eBay too. Installing an aftermarket head unit can certainly be done and might provide features like Pandora and Slacker but that can get a lot more expensive and complicated. No, wait! You are in Ontario. I assume that services like Pandora and Slacker still aren't available in Canada.

Nope. The V6 engine in our Camry was rated at 4 HP less than the one in the ES. Regular grade feel was specified for the Camry V6 but our Camry owners manual included a statement that its engine would produce more power if premium grade fuel was used, i.e. the same horsepower as the Lexus ES V6. A difference that sometimes come in to play is the exhaust system. For example, the current Toyota Avalon and Lexus ES350 are both rated at 268 HP on 87 octane fuel. Both have duel exhaust systems. The same engine in my 2014 Sienna is rated at 266 HP. The difference? The Sienna has a single exhaust system. There was a similar difference between my 2000 LS400 and the 2000 GS400. The LS400 engine was rated at 290 HP vs. 300 HP for the GS400. The difference? The GS400 had a less restrictive exhaust system.

Identical V6 engines have been used in Toyota brand and Lexus brand vehicles for 25+ years. Premium fuel has often been specified for Lexus vehicles and regular fuel for Toyota vehicles. These V6 engines have been rated as being up to four horsepower more powerful when used in Lexus vehicles. I've compared the part numbers for these V6 engine assemblies used in Toyota and Lexus brand vehicles and the part numbers have been identical. They are the same engines. The same goes for the 1.8 liter 4-cylinder engines used in the Toyota Prius and Lexus CT200h - identical engines with the same part number. It's good to see that TMC has finally given up on this fairy tale and now specifies the same fuel grade and advertises the same horsepower rating regardless of whether an engine is installed in a "Lexus" or a "Toyota". If you don't believe me, you can compare the part numbers yourself at http://www.toyodiy.com

If this is about the adjustment switch and fold/unfold button for the exterior mirrors, the backlight bulb is probably burned out - see the attached diagram for the part number.

Google and you will find complaints about the lack of backup camera guidelines on the generation 3 RX and that the RX sold outside North America has them. I suppose you could ask a Lexus dealer or Lexus corporate if guidelines can be added but I doubt that you will get anywhere. Both our Toyotas (2012 Prius, 2014 Sienna) have backup guidelines including the additional predictive guidelines that move with the steering wheel. I would have assumed that Toyota would have put these guidelines on all their Lexus brand vehicles but of course they didn't.

It's normal. The windows and sunroof are supposed to open when the unlock button on the remote is held down. See page 14 of the 1999 RX300 owners manual: http://drivers.lexus.com/t3Portal/document/om/OM48401U/pdf/lexomsou/99lexom/99rx300b/sec11.pdf

35-45 degrees is cold? Poor baby! Are there clock and daylight savings time settings in your navigation like there are in newer Toyota/Lexus navigation systems? Maybe your nav system thinks it is night and dims the display during the day. Are your headlights on when the nav display dims? I think having headlights on may also put the nav brightness display into night mode. I'm doing a bit of guessing here but I've had the nav screens in our cars go dim at inappropriate times and corrected the problems by fiddling with the settings.

My suggestion is that you follow the appropriate diagnostic procedure which is in the hard copy repair manual set and at https://techinfo.toyota.com The problem could be a "dead" mirror control ECU.

I just found a 2013 RX brochure that indicates that the components of the towing preparation package are standard on the F-Sport but optional on the regular RX and the RXh ( http://www.lexus.com/documents/brochures/2013/2013-Lexus-RX-Brochure.pdf ) so that seems to verify what your salesman said.

Automotive carpet pad is less fragile than household carpet pad. I've been accused of "overkill" lots of times but I would use automotive carpet pad that supposedly has noise reduction qualities... something like Stinger Roadkill which can be purchased at Amazon.com and Walmart.com http://www.walmart.com/ip/Stinger-RKCP12-Roadkill-Carpet-Pad/21647861 http://www.amazon.com/Stinger-RKCP12-RoadKill-Carpet-Pad/dp/B001TH8OC4

Very interesting ... may be wiring for an optional feature that your RX does not have. I wouldn't think that it would be for a dealer installed phone. Those were discontinued for the U.S. in around 2003 although they continued to be available in Europe. Have you tried prying/popping the "clamp" holding the wires out? At least you are finding money (coins)! I couldn't believe all the money and cheap jewelry I found in the off-lease 2000 LS400 I purchased in 2003. I would have hunted down the guy that leased the car but the total value of what I found wasn't all that much.

OK, you apparently have a 2012 ES350 with navigation but without the Enform in-dash app that has the Pandora interface. It should be easy enough to stream from Pandora from your phone directly to the audio system through a 3.5mm aux-in cable or, better, wirelessly through A2DP Bluetooth. Do you have the Pandora app working on your phone? (i.e. can you listen to Pandora with ear buds directly from your phone?) If so, does your phone connect to your audio system via Bluetooth? The audio system connection is separate from the hands free phone connection and you may have to perform a separate action to make the A2DP connection. Provide more detailed information about the problem if you can't get this to work. I subscribe to Pandora and stream from it wirelessly in my Toyota van almost every day and through Entune (similar to Enform) when I drive my wife's Prius. Yours should be a simple problem to solve.

The mechanical odometers in the 90-92 LS400 had a high failure rate. The one in the 1990 LS400 I drove from new until 2003 failed in the late 90's at around 120,000 miles if I remember correctly - I think I still have it in a box in the garage. The speedometers and tachometers are also known to fail. It could be the speed sensor but I doubt it. I would ship the instrument cluster to http://www.taninauto.com/ and have them look at it. You might ask if they can repair the mechanical odometer since new replacements have not been available for many years.

If you are thinking about going through Costco, DO NOT contact a Lexus dealer directly. Costco will contact the dealer on your behalf and make preliminary arrangements. The Lexus ES is assembled both in Japan and in Kentucky - at least Wikipedia says that it is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexus_ES Some vehicles assembled at the Kentucky Toyota plant are even exported back to Asia. If your 2004 ES330 is in as good a condition as you say it is, you should be able to easily sell it yourself. Trading in a used vehicle on a new vehicle "muddies the water" and rarely benefits the buyer. Have you considered the Toyota Avalon in either regular or hybrid? My wife was all hot to have me buy a hybrid last year (she drives a Prius v wagon) and one of the vehicles we considered was an Avalon Limited Hybrid with all packages and options including HID headlights, Pre-Collision System and Dynamic Radar Cruise Control. The Avalon and ES350 are based on the same platform and are very similar with some auto journalist saying that the Avalon is superior. The Avalon Hybrid is fast too and I like how there is complete silence when stopped at a traffic light. The Avalon is now available with optional LED headlights similar to those on our Prius ... even better than HID. And I think I can guarantee that it will be easier to special order an Avalon than to special order an ES350. One "trick" to special ordering a vehicle that I even had to explain to the salesman when the Sienna was ordered was that a vehicle can be obtained more quickly by modifying an order that has already been submitted as long as the vehicle is still a few days away from being assembled. So in my case, the Toyota dealer turned an already ordered basic Sienna LE into a fully optioned Sienna Limited via the online ordering system while I watched.

My understanding is that the ES350 is built in the same Kentucky facility that built the Sienna Limited van that I special ordered last year through the Costco Auto Program. It took four weeks to the day from the time I placed the order until it was delivered to me. Some accessories like paint protection film that could be installed at the dealership were instead installed at the factory at very deep discounted prices and no installation charge. So, my suggestion is to contact Costco to see if there is a participating Lexus dealer and then go through Costco to make the contact with the dealer. Do not contact the Lexus dealer directly. If you are not a Costco member, it is worth joining just to buy a car. Costco requires dealers to show you all invoice prices for the vehicle, packages and options and to follow the Costco "script". I paid about $1,000 over invoice for my Sienna which had a retail price a hair under $50K. I've bought a lot of cars over the last 50 years including new Lexus, Mercedes, Volvo, Honda, and Toyota. The purchase through Costco was the most pleasant purchase of all. I probably could have beat the salesman down to under the Costco price but I have no problem with dealerships make a decent profit since I made a pretty nice living from the franchised dealership industry for most of my working life.

There is no reset procedure for this. Your car still has a problem that has not yet been found and corrected. Start by having someone stand behind your car and then in front of your car at night while you activate the running/taillights, headlights, turn signals and brake lights. Even if all the lights are working, there could still be a defective bulb, bulb socket, ground wire, etc., etc. These issues can be difficult to identify. I once had a bulb failure light warning on my first LS light up occasionally for several years until I found that a trailer light harness was not installed quite right. Edit: Also verify that the correct bulb types have been installed - particularly that "offending bulb".

Instead of buying aftermarket slotted rotors, get a set of regular OEM rotors if you are currently using aftermarket rotors, make sure that an air wrench is never ever used to tighten the lug nuts and ensure that the lug nuts are always tightened only with a manual torque wrench to 76 ft. lbs. making sure that the lug nuts are torqued down gradually and not all at once. If you are using aftermarket brake pads, get sets of OEM brake pads to use with your OEM rotors. OEM Toyota/Lexus on your RX should easily last to over 200,000 miles - maybe to way, way over 200,000 miles. OEM Toyota/Lexus brake pads can go much further than most people allow them to go. The brake wear sensors - either mechanical or electronic - alert the driver when the brake pads wear down to between 1 mm and 2 mm. 1 to 2 mm may look "scary" to some people and dishonest shops will often tell people to replace the pads when they aren't even half worn out. I have the rotors "resurfaced" (ground, trued up ... whatever term you prefer) every time I have the pads changed - just make sure that some ham fisted amateur doesn't get carried away. The Lexus LS400 I sold last year at 179,000 miles were still on their original front rotors and their thickness was within one millimeter of what they were when the car rolled out of the factory. I've never got less than 70,000 miles from a set of front brake pads on a Lexus or Toyota and the rear pads have lasted at least twice as long. And we have never had to replace a set of rotors and we have driven a bunch of vehicles to very high mileages.

Not sure I have ever encountered someone who wanted to stream audio from a laptop to a vehicle audio system. Most people move their audio files from their PC to a more portable device such as an MP3 player / iPod, a phone or simple USB flash memory such as a memory stick. I copied my music library both to a micro SD card in my phone and to a memory stick. I thought I would stream it from the memory stick but found it much easier to stream it from an app on my Android phone since the phone app keeps the music better organized in albums and displays the album covers while I am streaming. Both my wife and I put our phones in inexpensive iOttie phone holders on the tops of our dashboards so that we don't have to divert our eyes from the road much while controlling the streaming. If you use a similar method using a phone or MP3 player, you "should" be able to skip tracks by using the Channel Up or Down button on your steering wheel if you connect via Bluetooth but I don't know if this can be done if you connect to the aux-in. USB Bluetooth dongles are available for PC's for around $10 if your laptop doesn't have Bluetooth built-in but I don't know anything PC applications that can stream wirelessly to vehicle audio systems. I have also run into people who have streamed audio from Android tablet computers and have mounted their tablets on brackets in their vehicles. A number of companies including iOttie sell tablet holders for vehicles. I don't really stream my music library from my phone all that much anymore. I mainly stream from the Internet ... Pandora with a little Slacker and iHeart thrown in. We are traveling 200 miles this coming Saturday morning so I'll be streaming a local radio station all the way via the free Tunein Internet service so that my wife can listen to her favorite Saturday programs.

It's inside the center console next to the power port - page 258 in the owners manual: http://drivers.lexus.com/t3Portal/document/om/OM33875U/pdf/sec_03_02.pdf My understanding is that the 2011 ES350 with and without navigation also has Bluetooth A2DP for wireless streaming from compatible devices like phones and MP3 players. The sound quality of A2DP in your 2011 ES is probably as good as with aux-in - at least that is my opinion and I am very particular about music sound quality. I never connect to aux-in in our vehicles - only stream audio wirelessly.

I have fully or partially removed the center consoles from a number of cars (Lexus, Mercedes, Toyota) and have never found anything "spring loaded". A console is not an explosive device. Just proceed methodically and don't force anything too much. It is mainly a matter of disassembling the console enough to expose the screws/bolts that hold it to the floor. There will probably be a number of electrical connections in the console that you will have to unplug in order to remove the console. The RX400h center console does not attach to the center stack or contain the gear selector so it should be a little easier to remove than those in Lexus sedans.

It is common for interior noise to increase as cars get older. Deteriorated door gaskets may contribute to increased noise. I drove a similar 2000 LS400 from 2003 (38,000 miles) to 2014 (179,000 miles) and my perception was that the interior noise level gradually increased over the years - especially wind noise. The 1998 had particular interior noise issues that were addressed at the factory beginning with the 1999 model year of the LS400. Attached are service bulletins that were used by Lexus dealers to attempt to correct some of the noise issues of the 1998 LS400. It is possible that this work was never done on your car. Even if the service bulletin work was done on your car, the noise fixes were not necessarily permanent. For example, the adhesive foam strips in the exterior mirrors of my 2000 LS400 that were supposed to reduce wind noise started to loosen after a few years. Pieces of foam started appearing between the edge of the mirror glass and the mirror housing so I pulled them out each time they showed. There were a LOT of adhesive form pieces in those mirrors! All sorts of little noises and rattles start building up and increasing interior noise levels even when individual noises cannot be pinpointed or even noticed. Some noises may be from worn suspension components and others from loosening interior trim. I think it was in 2012 that I test drove a new LS460L. I was stunned at how much quieter it was than my 2000 LS400. My 2000 LS400 was, however, much more enjoyable to drive than the LS460L. The door gaskets of my 2000 LS400 had no visible wear or "cuts" when I sold it last year. One thing I did in an attempt to reduce wind noise was to wipe down the door gaskets with liquid silicon several times each year. I also had the driver door hinges replaced several years earlier when a collision repair shop found that the door gaskets were not fully sealing. My assumption was that the driver door hinges got slightly bent due to the weight of the door and/or because it was used much more often than the other doors. Replacement of the hinges cost several hundred dollars. I've had driver doors on other cars sag but they could be adjusted. Also, the amount of noise produced by different tire brands/models varies considerably. Tires put on new Lexus sedans are usually chosen for their low noise levels but often have other drawbacks such as wearing out quickly. Choosing a tire with documented low noise levels may help reduce the interior noise of your car. t-s-i-b-nv003-98-1998-ls400-wind-noise-service-tips.pdf t-s-i-b-nv004-98-1998-ls400-squeak-and-rattle-service-tips.pdf