1990LS400

The key question ... is your defroster working well enough to defrost your windshield? I went through 11 winters with a 2000 LS400 with a significant portion of my winter driving being in almost to the southern border of Minnesota. It's defroster worked well enough the majority of the time but sometimes not well enough to melt accumulating ice when driving in freezing drizzle - I pulled off Interstate highways numerous times on long trips to scrape ice from the windshield and to free up the wipers. I sometimes had to manually set the fan speed and temperature to maximum. My 1990 LS400 defrosters performed about the same in this respect. I did a "happy dance" when I found out that my Toyota van has an electrically heated windshield ... would have bought it anyway but it was a nice bonus.

Maybe this past thread may be helpful: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/topic/18799-only-136-miles-check-enginevsc-offvsc-trac/

I just checked and there are a bunch of used 2002 headlamp units on eBay. Even if the plastic lenses are worn they can almost always be restored with a kit to look like new.

Did you try my suggestion? You are not the first who has reported this "problem".

Did you try turning up the intensity of the dash lights when the headlights are on? There are separate daytime and nighttime dash light intensity settings IIRC.

Why are you asking since it seems that you were aware that you were being taken (for a ride)? It's the "American Way" to get people to buy things they don't need.

The roof antenna was used either for a dealer installed phone system or the obsolete analog Lexus Link service. Replace it only if you want it to look pretty or you could use a little metric bolt to plug the hole.

It's all explained at http://www.lexus.com/enform/ I might not have renewed Safety Connect in our Prius and Sienna if my wife and I weren't so freakin' old! Did you never press the SOS button in the roof to verify that it connects to an operator?

Maybe you need http://www.taninautoelectronix.com/ They have an excellent reputation for repairing Lexus LS400 instrument clusters - and some of the lowest prices I've seen.

I never noticed that few CD's display text information (album, artist, track) on the navigation screens in our vehicles since we almost never use our in-dash CD players and changers anymore - we store our music collection on our phones and more often stream music from Internet services which allows us to see this information on the nav screens. Your "problem" doesn't appear to have anything to do with the audio system in your GS300. I recommend that you do some reading on the Internet (e.g. Wikipedia) on how "CD Text" works. And please do not post the same question over and over.

Are you using commercial CD's are ones you burned yourself on a PC? Newer commercial CD's supply album title and track info but sometimes title and track info does not get transferred when CD's are burned on a PC.

The tolerances are tiny with these little clips - more like microns than millimeters. I suggest that you try a new C-clip.

A CPO inspection does not include removing bumper covers to verify that parking sensors are undamaged. The Lexus dealer was duped by the previous owner or lessee and the problem was probably inadvertently passed on to you. I would hope that the Lexus dealer would take care of this at no cost to you particularly since you took it to a Lexus collision center. But if not, you might as well have the damage fixed at your cost and move on. Something similar happened when I purchased an off-lease 2000 LS400 in 2003. When someone hit the rear of the car a few years later, previous hidden unrepaired damage was discovered. I paid whatever was necessary to repair the additional damage and moved on. I doubt if the selling dealer knew about the hidden damage so I didn't bother to bring the issue up with the seller. I think your case if a bit different in that you bought your ES only eight or nine months ago. I would be interested in hearing what the dealer says about this. That 2000 LS400 was the only used vehicle I have purchased since the 1970's. No more used vehicles for me.

Google something like "waterproof key case" and buy online or visit a general sporting goods store or a dive shop that sells scuba equipment. We've got a bunch of waterproof bags and cases from tiny to duffle bag size and all of them came from stores like I mentioned.

Remote start was optional in 2009. I think 2014 was the first model year that remote start was included in Lexus Enform on the ES but I'm not certain.

You've got it. That's one of the frustrating aspects of buying used vehicles or buying new vehicles and keeping them a long time like we have done - one simply does not get technologies and features that have become common since the vehicle was manufactured. If in 2022 you buy a new vehicle instead of a used one, you might get a vehicle that is self-driving, has a "Back to the Future" flux capacitor and is fueled by rainbows.

I suppose you could try local "junk yards". I was surprised last year when I could not find a used OEM wheel of the most common design for my 2014 Sienna, in a metro area of over 1 million people, that was in excellent condition and at a reasonable price let alone a set of four to use with snow tires.. I ended up buying a set of four refurbished wheels from Wheels and Caps at the best price I found on the Internet. They appear to have the most common 1999 ES300 wheel in stock: http://www.wheelsandcaps.com/c-2283-oem-aluminum-alloy-wheels_Lexus-ES300-1999.aspx Wheels and Caps is a subsidiary of the largest supplier of remanufactured auto parts in the U.S. which has warehouses all over the U.S. including within a few miles of me in Kansas. The refurbished Sienna wheels I bought from them were like new and still look like new after a winter's use. If you need the optional wheel that is shown as being out of stock, it still may be possible for Wheels and Caps to supply one. They didn't have enough Sienna wheels in stock when I first contacted them but they were able to deliver a full set within a few weeks. Shipping from Wheels and Caps will cost extra but is still far less than I can ship wheels for. There are likely other wheel suppliers that can help you if you do an Internet search but I was very happy with Wheels and Caps.

Yes, wife-training is almost as difficult as husband-training. :cries: I doubt if would feasible to add the driver seat retraction feature since in later model years it is also a customizable feature - "On" or "Off" with the default being "On". That means that the feature is programmed into the ECU that controls the seat memory. Maybe it would be possible to substitute the seat control ECU from an RX450h but who knows if would work properly and the cost of trying it might be shocking. Maybe look at this as one of the many additional features you will get on your next RX. The 2016 RX is getting lots of new features including heated and power folding rear seats, all-speed adaptive radar cruise control and Lane Keep Assist. The press release about the 2016 RX is on www.lexus.com .

The rear bumper cover has to come off. I suggest searching YouTube for a how-to video. If you don't find a video for an ES350, a video for a different Toyota or Lexus model should give you a good idea how it's done.

See page 363 of the owners manual for how to use the mechanical key to unlock the driver door. You can read it online at: http://drivers.lexus.com/t3Portal/document/om/OM53619U/pdf/sec_05_02.pdf The entire owners manual can also be read online in the owners section of www.lexus.com - no need to register.

You are one model year too early to have the driver seat automatically move all the way backward when the driver shuts off the ignition. This feature was added to the RX450h and now appears to be standard on all vehicles made by Toyota that have memory seats. I've never seen anyone ask about doing a mod like you want and have never seen a "kit" that can make this happen. I suggest that you use the adjustment switch on the side of the driver seat to move it rearward instead of doing it with the memory button - you can do that in the same motion as you sit down in the driver seat. Or ask your wife to run the seat all the way rearward before she exits the vehicle.

Dealers never, and I mean never, change locks on cars to prevent theft or for any other reason. Where did you get that idea?

I've read many times that a Lexus dealer can look up key codes as long as the owner provides proof of ownership. The key codes are imprinted on both the little metal key ring tab and on the plastic case of the wallet key holder that originally came with your car. Edit: Unfortunately, Sewell Lexus closed down their online parts department earlier this year. Their service and prices were excellent and they will be missed by many.

It is impossible to tell how many miles a vehicle has covered by looking at photos. Both my 1990 LS400 and 2000 LS400 looked almost like new when I sold them when they were nearly 14 years old and had covered 180,000 miles. On my 2000 LS400, the leather on the driver seat nearest the door also wore faster than the leather in the rest of the car. Does the owner have any maintenance records that show mileage and dates? The car's price would likely be considered reasonable if the car was being sold in the U.S. instead of Bulgaria. (7450 Bulgarian Lev equals 4248.16 US Dollars)

Even Toyota Corollas have LED headlights these days - they are no longer just on expensive cars. I'll bet you would love auto high beams if you had them. One of nicest aspects of the Toyota auto high beam system is how it can keep the high beams on as much as possible - even on divided highways when it is hard to judge if your headlights are blinding or even just irritating oncoming drivers. I don't know how it can be so precise. Toyota is pushing auto high beams and other safety features formerly available only on the LS460L/LS600hL further and further down their product line and has already committed to making safety features like automatic collision avoidance braking available in all models no matter how inexpensive within the next three years.