1990LS400

All speakers including the tweeters and the subwoofer worked with the Kenwood DDX470 that Best Buy installed using the Nakamichi amp. The bass from the subwoofer was a little less "thumpy" than from the Nakamichi headunit but it was still plenty.

A Best Buy installer replaced the Nakamichi head unit in the 2000 LS400 I sold last year with a double DIN Kenwood. The Kenwood worked great with the Nakamichi amp and all the Nakamichi speakers including the subwoofer. In 2013 the total cost for the Kenwood, installation and all parts needed was $500. I bought the dash kit on Amazon for about $15 and provided it to the installer. The installer hardwired the Kenwood into the car's harnesses using special pin connectors that might have included resisters. Not a single wire was cut and the Nakamichi head unit could have been reinstalled in just a few minutes. Your 98 has exactly the same Nakamichi system as my 2000 so there is no reason it can't be done. The Kenwood has a more "digital" sound than the Nakamichi and not quite as much bass but it still sounded very nice.

If you say so. This link is why I thought it might.... www.team-bhp.com/advice/find-your-cars-date-manufacture-vin Furthermore, since I believe the last digits represent the vehicle in sequential order, there probably is info, somewhere, as to which numbers started and ended for the month. Granted, maybe only Lexus knows. But if members posted VINs and months, we could make approximations ourselves, couldn't we. I'll start, for the benefit of others that might not still have the original door sticker. Mines Dec 1999 The link you posted is nonsense - there are no 19th and 20th position in a VIN containing the month of manufacture since the VIN format used since 1981 is only 17 characters. Prior to that the VIN was usually only 10 characters and it was a free-for-all on what it contained. Well into the 1980's we found that 17 position format VIN's on vehicle placards were sometimes miscoded and could not pass the check digit calculation. We even had vehicle owners send us photos of their VIN placards to prove that their invalid VIN's were what they said they were. You can't depend on taking a 10 or 17 character VIN for an older vehicle to an auto dealer to look up the records for the vehicle to determine how it was originally equipped. Record keeping is often sloppy or non-existent.

I can assure you that a 17 character VIN does not contain the month of manufacture. I retired from 31 years in the insurance industry and know that a VIN often does not contain enough information to charge appropriate policy premiums for a vehicle. Wikipedia has a page that describes the information a VIN contains.

If you are looking for parts and diagrams and not diagnostic instructions, you can find part numbers and diagrams on toyodiy and then google the part number. Toyodiy also has a cross reference where you can determine all the models are part is used on. Only registered users can see the diagrams. http://www.toyodiy.com/

The 2013 RX brochure describes the front seat types: http://www.lexus.com/pdf/cpo/RX/2013-Lexus-RX-Brochure.pdf

Completely untrue. I've towed with almost every vehicle I've owned since the 1960's and had a commercial license and towed really big stuff in the 1970's. I've often towed up to the maximum vehicle towing limit and once far exceeded the limit when towing a large boat 50 miles at low speeds. If the information I found is correct, the towing capacity of your GX is 6,500 pounds. You should be able to tow that much. There even seems to be a subculture who discuss techniques for safely exceeding vehicle towing capacities. There are a variety of online forums dedicated to towing. Whether you really want to tow a trailer that big in the mountains is another story. You would certainly be fine on main highways though mountains but it can get "interesting" towing a longer trailer around hairpin curves on twisty mountain without scraping rocks and trees and without using up the the lane oncoming traffic is in. I sometimes tell people to watch "The Long, Long Trailer" movie before they tow a travel trailer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long,_Long_Trailer I saw the film in my grandfather's Roxy Theatre in a small Missouri town back in the 50's.

My 1990 LS400 was dirt cheap compared to the similar size BMW 735 that I had just looked at and was also substantially less expensive than the current version of the 1979 mid-size Mercedes I had been driving since new.

There are aftermarket and OEM headlight units on eBay. Your 1998 ES300 does not have the height control sensor on the rear suspension, the wiring and other components necessary for the factory HID headlights of the 2000-up ES300. It would likely be a lot less expensive to sell your 1998 and buy a 2000-up ES that already has the features you want than to try to add them to your 1998.

I remember that this question was asked a LONG time ago and I think it was determined that more than just switches were involved in the auto up feature - it might have included an ECU and other parts. Auto-up includes a "pinch protection" safety feature although I've never had any desire to see if it really works. (Ouch!) We had a 1998 Camry that worked the same as your 1998 ES300 - only the driver side window was auto-down and none of the windows were auto-up. I never noticed the difference much over 10+ years when I switched between driving the Camry and a 2000 LS400 that had an "All Auto" feature (all windows had auto up/down). Maybe look at it this way ... your next vehicle will likely have auto up/down with pinch protection on all windows and auto open/close with pinch protection on the sunroof. Auto up/down seems most useful on very hot days when it allows lowering and raising all the windows at the same time.

Look closely at the stripes for a tiny "L" logo. If you see one, your stripes are the same tape stripes sold as accessories by virtually all Lexus dealers in the 1990's and into the 2000's. Since all the Lexus dealers I ever visited seemed to sell the same aftermarket accessories, my assumption was that they were supplied through the Lexus division of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. The tape pin strips are often mistaken for paint. The 2000 LS400 I bought in 2003 had the dealer installed pin stripes and they were still in good condition. I immediately removed them using a hair dryer and car wax. I don't remember being offered pin stripes or other accessories when I bought my first LS400 in 1990 but I think I made it clear that I was interested only in a base LS400 and didn't want to spend a lot of money.

There may be more than one VAIS product besides the SL3B that might fulfill your needs: http://www.vaistech.com/site/sl3b.php Many Lexus dealers sold and installed VAIS products before features provided by them became available from the factory. You might also check out products from iSimple.

It is not about attracting unfavorable attention. It is about keeping a vehicle safe and legal both for yourself, your passengers and for other drivers and their passengers. I doubt that there are any vehicle owners equipped to verify whether or not self-tinted tail lights still meet DOT requirements and are safe. Yes, some vehicles come with OEM tinted tail lights and those are designed to meet DOT requirements. There are also aftermarket tinted tail lights that meet DOT requirements. So ... if anyone reading this thread ever rear-ends another vehicle, check to see or have your insurance company check to see if the owner of that vehicle has tinted his tail lights. Even if the crash is your fault, responsibility will be shifted to the owner of the vehicle that you hit.

I find it impossible to believe that "visibility at 50ft" is the minimum in Oklahoma where I once lived. Here in Kansas it is 1,000 feet: http://kansasstatutes.lesterama.org/Chapter_8/Article_17/8-1706.html I don't know where your OK regulations are online but I do know that 1,000 feet is the minimum requirement of a number of other states and I assume that it is a Federal requirement since states do not establish standards for vehicle lights - only the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) does that. That is why you see the DOT marking on approved automotive lighting products. Just remember that if you install unapproved aftermarket tail lights or tint your tail lights yourself, you may be assuming 100% of the liability for damage, injury and/or death should a vehicle rear end your car. And, your insurance company may not cover you. Even putting LED bulbs in tail lights designed for incandescent bulbs could be a problem.

3,000 miles per year isn't much. One of my neighbors drives a Mercedes 350 SL no more than a few thousand miles per year and often has it on a trickle charger when it is parked in his garage - particularly noticeable since the battery is in the trunk and the lid is often up with the charging cables running out of it. He's owned the car since new ... something like 43 years! Make sure that your battery posts and cable clamps are sparkling/shiny clean to ensure that the battery gets the maximum charge. There is a inexpensive specialty tool for cleaning the battery posts and the insides of the cable clamps. Coating the post/clamp connections with petroleum jelly retards corroding.

They look like BBS or BBS "knock-offs": https://www.google.com/search?q=bbs+wheels&biw=1664&bih=865&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=tKXeVPWcLsuqggTnuYLIDQ&sqi=2&ved=0CEsQsAQ&dpr=1

I agree with Denny. A 2012 RX with a 107.9 wheelbase and relatively high seating position isn't going to ride like a 2006 Toyota Avalon with a 111 inch wheelbase and a lower sedan-type seating position. Among vehicles of its type, the ride quality of your RX is quite nice but might take some getting used to. You might come to appreciate the easier manueverabilty that a shorter wheelbase provides in parking lots. My daily driver is a 2014 Sienna Limited with a 119.3 inch wheelbase - provides a limo-like highway ride but is a total pain in parking lots. And maybe you will appreciate having a hatchback. You'll be able to carry stuff that you couldn't dream of carrying in an Avalon. (All vehicles should have at least five doors!)

Ride quality shouldn't deteriorate a bit in only 31,000 miles - it should still ride like new. The first thing I would check is to see if the tires are appropriately inflated. Check the driver side door jam for the pressure specs. Tire pressures change on their own by about 1 psi for each 10 degrees of temperature change. I have a thermometer on the wall of my heated garage so I can compute how many psi to add so that that our tires are adequately inflated when outside. What type of vehicle are you coming from? The wheelbase of the RX series keeps getting longer but the wheelbase of the 2012 it is still relatively short at 107.9 inches. It's not going to ride like a Lincoln Town Car. Does your RX 350 have the standard 18" wheels and tires? The ride quality that comes with 19" wheels and tires is not going to be as cushy. If everything mechanical checks out as being OK, maybe the ride is something to just get used to.

I think your Lexus dealer is correct and that you were lucky if your music started streaming after you used another application. My experiences are similar and are based on streaming music from an app (Slacker, Pandora) directly in our Prius and Sienna. Our Prius has Entune (similar to Lexus Enform) and our Sienna has the same nav system used in the previous generation Lexus RX. If I pause the music from the nav BT screen and don't do anything else on my Android (Samsung Galaxy S3) phone while I'm out of my car for a short period of time, I can restart the music from the nav BT screen when I reenter the vehicle as long as I leave the music app running on my phone. If I pause the music from the app on my phone then I cannot restart the music from the nav BT screen. If I use other phone apps between the times I leave and reenter the vehicle, then "usually" I cannot restart the music from the nav BT screen and have to restart (press "play") on the music app on my phone. If I pause the music on the nav screen, leave the music app running on my phone, don't use any other app on my phone and don't reenter the vehicle for a few hours, then I cannot restart the music from the nav BT screen. I don't know why it works that way ... maybe my phone is off doing something on its own! "Features" like this are why I like Toyota Entune/Lexus Enform but even those aren't able to always restart music where it was paused and one has to tolerate the sometimes lengthy initialization time it takes for Entune/Enform to start. And of course Entune/Enform has only Pandora and iHeartRadio ... e.g. if you prefer another music app like Slacker, then you have to stream directly from your phone. One way to make streaming directly via BlueTooth a little more tolerable is to put a phone holder on your dashboard. We have iOttie phone holders in both our Prius and Sienna - they will stick to just about any flat service. I use the iBolt Dock n Drive app on my Android phone - free on Google Play and there is now a version for iPhone. iBolt Dock n Drive functions somewhat like the Microsoft Windows Desktop in that it provides five screens where you can put short cuts to applications like Slacker and Spotify. I start Dock n Drive using an NFC (near field communication) tag. Your Samsung S4 should have NFC capability so all you need is a little one dollar NFC tag discreetly attached to your dashboard to start Dock n Drive by passing your phone over it - or you can start it manually from your phone. If you have a compatible phone charging cradle, Dock n Drive starts automatically when the phone is inserted into the cradle. I absolutely love Dock n Drive. It can prevent the phone display from timing out, has an excellent night mode, accurate speedometer, a location display and on and on. When Entune and Enform were first announced, Toyota press releases said that applications would be added. I thought that meant that applications would be added to existing vehicles with Entune or Enform but, instead, new applications have been introduced only when new Entune/Enform generations have been introduced and not for older Entune/Enform generations. It would be wonderful if Toyota had something like an "app store" for Entune/Enform where an owner could add additional applications. Sorry about the long reply. I'm rather enthusiastic about this stuff.

OK, now I understand. My 2000 LS400 did the same thing. I drove the car from 38,000 to 180,000 miles and don't remember if it always did it or was something that started at some point and then I got used to it.

How does the paint on your NX compare to others when you park beside them? Is it similar or much worse? All you can expect is for the paint on your NX to be similar in quality to others. Did you inspect your NX before taking delivery? I've found there to be substantial differences between material and finish quality between Lexus models with there being very direct correlations between quality and vehicle price as well as differences between different models of similar prices. The NX would best be described as an "entry level" Lexus so I would not expect the same quality level as in more expensive Lexus models. I had several conversations about these quality variations among models over the years with Lexus dealer employees and they were very familiar with the variations. All of these conversations were when I was returning an ES or RX loaner while my LS was in for service. The quality differences between the loaners and my LS cars were always a shock. Your sales guy is certainly right about BMW's. Yikes! It would be an insult to oranges to call paint on some BMW's "orange peal". Heck, I bought a brand new Volvo sedan in 1978 that had a paint "drip" on the left front fender down near the rocker panel. It was a cute drip and I enjoyed showing it off.

The good news is that the 5-speed automatic transmission used on the 1998-2003 LS is extraordinarily reliable. I don't remember any reports of failure during my 12 years or so on Lexus forums and I never had any problems during my 10 years with a 2000 LS400. Are you getting just one tick/click when the transmission shifts or are there a series of ticks/clicks on each shift. The noise may have nothing to do with the transmission. Regardless, has the transmission had regular fluid changes. I know I did overkill but I always had the transmission and differential fluids on my LS cars changed every 30,000 miles or two years. A noise on a shift could be something else - maybe the transmission mount. Even though your 01 LS430 has low miles, many components including engine and transmission mounts are affected just as much by time as miles. Based on what I have seen on Lexus forums, engine and transmission mounts seem to fail earlier in southern states. I've seen photos of these mounts on southern cars that showed them being in awful shape at 10 years while the original transmission mount on my 2000 LS400 looked like new when I had it changed at 150,000 miles (about 11 years) way up north here in Kansas. Are you in a metro area with one or more independent repair shops that specialize in Lexus? I've had vastly better success with indie repair shops than with the local Lexus dealer. My advise is to find an indie repair shop and establish a relationship. Do you have service records? Make sure the timing belt (and water, pump, idlers, tensioner, etc.) has been changed - "should be" done every 90,000 miles or 6 years - whichever comes first. It seems common for low mileage cars to be waaay under-maintained.

Why don't you ask the SiriusXM people if the Traffic feature is available separately. I've gotten at least one email per week and one phone call each month since I allowed SiriusXM including Traffic to expire last year in my Sienna. XM Traffic didn't provide any value here in the Midwest but I would hope it would in densely populated California. The final straw was when the XM Traffic feature did not route me around an Interstate highway bridge closure here in the Kansas City metro area. I knew several days earlier that the bridge was going to close and there were detour signs but I would have thought that XM traffic would have known about it since my portable Garmin did.

I wouldn't call them luxury vehicles but heated steering wheels are available on the current Toyota Highlander, Venza and Sienna. They are becoming increasingly common.

The current 2015 model year GS350 has a push button on/off switch for parking assist on the dash - it has a capital "P" on it with little radar-like waves shooting to the right from it. It is explained in the owners manual. I don't know if all model years of the GS350 with parking assist have the on/off switch. Putting your model year in your profile might help get answers to your questions.