1990LS400

There are lots of "older folks" with vinyl record collections too. That didn't stop the demise of in-car vinyl record players. And who remembers 8-track tapes? I used to have those. That a lot of people have large CD collections hasn't stopped Toyota from dropping CD changers from its Lexus vehicles which now at most have a single disc CD/DVD player. I'll go out on a limb and predict that the future of iPod and standalone MP3 players is also dim as is the future of satellite radio which is far worse. The smartphone is becoming the center of the in-car entertainment universe. Who even needs broadcast radio anymore? We listen to broadcast FM radio while in town but when we travel we stream whichever of the 100,000 radio stations we want to listen to through the free "tunein" application on our Apple and Android smartphones. It looks like all 50+ radio stations that can be received over the air here in the Kansas City area can be streamed from tunein. Although all the audio a person has stored on an iPod or MP3 player can now be stored on a smartphone even that is going to change as phone service improves since it is now possible for a person to store and stream an entire personal music collection from services on that mysterious "cloud". I don't know what your definition of "older folks" is but I know a lot of 60+ year old geezers like me who stream audio from their smartphones. One of my younger (he's "only" 62) coworkers used to kid me about all the media stuff I do with my smartphone and tell me that he had absolutely no interest in ever doing anything like that. Then he bought a Samsung Galaxy S4 a few months ago and became an streaming media addict.

1. Tach and speedometer needles sticking seems to eventually happen on all 98-00 LS400s. I happened to get a quote from the Lexus dealer only two days ago for sending the instrument cluster out for repair - slightly over $1,000. 2) It could be that a vacuum controlled flap is not opening or closing or even the controller itself. You will likely need the diagnostic procedure if you want to tackle this yourself. 3) The tilt and telescope motors on the 98-00 LS400 are sealed units. There is no easily replaceable plastic gear to replace or reverse like there was on the earlier LS400. Fixing this may require the replacement of one of the motors. Revised tilt and telescope motors were implemented at the factory during the 2000 model year and were made available to current owners at no cost if their basic warranties were still in effect. 4) Yes, it is possible to install a roof rack but doing so can damage the door seals. I once put my Yakama roof rack on my 2000 LS400 to see if it would fit and it did but the tops of the door window frames scraped the clamps as the doors closed. I've never found roof rack clamps made specifically for an LS400. I have a trailer hitch on my LS from www.etrailer.com and carry our bikes on a rack that I plug into the hitch. 5) The most popular tire for the LS400 and LS430 seems to be the Michelin MXV4 all season which is what I use, except in winter, on mine. Consulting the user ratings on the Tire Rack website will give you more reliable information than a car forum. Personally I wouldn't dream of driving my LS in snow without winter tires. I have Bridgestone Blizzak winter tires on my car now. 6) eBay is an excellent place to buy used parts -- there is usually not much in the buy and sell areas of car forums. Sewell Lexus in Texas provides discounts to forum members. I've bought parts from Sewell several times and have been very pleased with their prices and service.

Only the HID headlights are self leveling. The standard halogen headlights are not. Look at your plastic headlight lens. On my 2000 LS400, it's HID headlights have "D2R" stamped on the plastic lenses - both right and left. Halogen headlights have HB2 stamped on the lenses. I'm assuming that the standard and optional headlights on the 2000 GS uses the same bulb types as the LS - you can verify this by looking at the bulb application chart on the Sylvania website. The repair shop may have failed to connect the wires from the headlight leveling switch on the rear suspension to the headlights or the wires could have been damaged in the collision.

The pencil technique is illustrated in my 2000 LS400 owners manual but I don't see it in Lexus owner manuals for later model years. I have never encountered a CD with a rough edge - maybe it was a problem in the early years of CD's? I stopped using my CD changer in 2012 when I got an aux-in installed on the Nakamichi radio in my LS400. I stored all the same music on my phone and I couldn't tell any difference in sound quality between music on a CD and the same music in WMA format steaming from my phone - and I really, really tried to identify a difference. The random access allowed when streaming from a phone or from flash memory is incredibly more convenient than CD's - wonderful to see the album name, artist name, song title and even the album cover. I didn't mind "losing" my CD changer at all when I had an aftermarket radio installed a few months ago. I'm betting that audio compact discs will soon be as rare as cassette tapes.

Yes, I can attest, having met him in person, that Paul is an epitome of the "James Bond type" and a combination of all the actors who have played him in films from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig and especially Woody Allen who played Jimmy Bond in Casino Royale. As the DARPA speaker said, it is possible to hack into just about any computer system with enough time and knowledge. I suppose I should know more than I do about this stuff since my job requires me to hold a computer industry security certification. Back when Al Gore invented the internet (i.e. the commercialization of the Internet and the creation of Mosaic), I often found it easy to bypass a website's user interface and get to what should have been protected information and controls. That's rarely easy to do anymore although I still sometimes can't resist poking around, making sure that I do no harm, when I encounter a poorly protected website. Computer security isn't a perfect science but has come a long way over the years.

I could be a bit of junk (that's a technical term!) contacting the blower fan. I had that happen many years ago in 90 LS400 I used to own. I remember it being a cheap fix since the fan on that car was pretty easy to get to. My regular mechanic fixed it so I can't provide more details. Of course it could be something else.

OK, Paul. I finally watched the DARPA video. My opinion is that there is minimal risk of people hacking into a car's CAN bus through something like an audio CD - who uses audio CD's anymore? Audio CD's are going the way of cassette tapes. Maybe if someone found a way to pass a controlling virus from a streaming music service like Pandora there could be a risk. IMO opinion there is not enough "reward" for a hacker to spend the time to learn how to hack into the countless variations of electronic car systems. What's he going to do? All at once orchestrate all cars with an automatic parking feature to careen off the road? Have all cars with system similar to Toyota's Pre-Collision System to slam on their brakes? Sound's like something only a bored 16 year old would try to do. Maybe this could be the story line of the next Batman movie if we are unfortunate enough to ever have another one.

It seems to be a common problem although I see more complaints about the speedometer than the tachometer. The speedometer needle in my 2000 LS400 started occasionally sticking a little over a year ago but only on warm days. The problem got worse as last summer progressed and I don't think it has stuck since last October. I've seen prices as low as $150 from a Florida company to fix the speedometer and as high as $850 from the Lexus dealer to remove and send the instrument cluster to a company in California for repair. My understanding is that the cheaper quotes involve repairing the circuit board in the instrument cluster and that the more expensive quotes involve replacing the circuit board. A local speedometer repair company said they could replace the circuit board for about $400 but they've never done it on a Lexus before. I now regret that I didn't have the instrument cluster replaced with a brand new one in 2003 when the car was under its 4 year/50K warranty under a TSIB that addressed problems in the trip computer -- that might have bought me a few more trouble free years. Whether or not I have the instrument cluster repaired depends on if I keep the car much longer - was planning to replace it this Spring but my wife wants me to continue driving it. And I still really like the car after all these years. At least I have other speedometers in the car - one on a Garmin GPS mounted on a bracket by the HVAC controls and another on the iBolt Dock n Drive application that automatically displays on my Android phone when it is in its charging cradle. I'm reluctant to remove the instrument cluster myself and send it to a company I don't know for repair. I have the skills to remove/reinstall the cluster but I depend on the car and would not drive it without a cluster - particularly the fuel and temperature gauges. If we decide to keep the car, my current plan is to have the Lexus dealer take care of the cluster repair during the upcoming 180K service which is less than 5,000 miles away. Turnaround for the cluster repair is supposed to be less than one week and at least I'll have a decent ES or RX loaner to drive during that period.

A certain amount of room is necessary above the top of the tires to allow the wheels to move significantly upward when the springs compress when hitting bumps and dips in the road. I don't remember rural roads in New Brunswich being all that great but it's been a long time since I've driven there ... before the bridge to P.E.I. was built. Lowering your car on its suspension is the only way I know of to make tires seem to fill the wheel well more without trashing the accuracy of the speedometer. Lowering can cause a variety of side effects including tires wearing faster, harsher ride and changing handling characteristics. Excess lowering has even caused tires to wear through wheel well liners and damage electrical wiring harnesses on some Lexus cars - for sure that has happened on LS cars like I have. I think you are fortunate to have the wheel and tire size you have. I've seen complaints from IS250 owners who have the optional lower profile tires on 18 inch wheels and think their cars ride too rough. And your 17" tires cost substantially less to replace than the optional lower profile 18" tire size and last longer. The optional 18" wheels and tires don't fill the wheel well any more than the 17's since they are about the same diameter. I suppose you could get much larger wheels and tires but your speedometer would become useless. A side effect of oversize wheels and tires is that they can make a car seem sluggish since it takes more engine power to move bigger and heavier wheels and/or tires. I found that out 20+ years ago when I replaced the standard 205/65-15 tires on my first LS400 with 225/60-15 tires on the standard wheels. Just that little change made the car seem slower and ride rougher - my wife hated the harshness so that experiment didn't last long. But it is your car. Plenty of people seem to like "the look" they get from lowering and oversize wheels and tires regardless of how it effects ride, handling and cost. If you want to go that route, consider finding a specialty shop and see what they recommend.

Hi there, I would love if you could provide pictures or schematics of your fix. My radio works fine with the exception of backlights. This thread is 10 years old so I doubt if the original participants are going to reply. It must not be very difficult to replace the backlights on the radio since the California company that added a 3.5 aux-in port to the back of my 00 LS400 radio for $85 replaced both backlight bulbs for only an additional $10. The company that did all that is: http://factoryradioservice.com

I wouldn't worry about it except to plan on not depending on your car for a couple of days after you get back if something does go wrong. I've left cars for four weeks at a time while on vacation and they've always started right up. We have a Prius wagon with the same drive train as your CT. I never thought about whether or not it would run in EV mode if its starting battery was dead and then "die" when attempting to switch to gasoline mode. A trickle charger is pretty cheap. Might come in handy just in case.

$43,000 is a lot to pay for a seven model year old LS sight unseen even if it is very low mileage and is highly optioned. That's very close to what I would expect to pay for a 2011 LS460L coming off a three year / 36,000 mile lease with all options including air suspension but without the executive package. A 2011 LS460L like that should have had an original list price of between $85,000 and $90,000. My rule of thumb is that a three model year old Lexus LS should cost no more than 50% of its original retail / window sticker price. OK, I went over 50% a tiny bit when I bought my 2000 LS400 for $30,990 just after it came off someone else's 3-year / 36,000 mile lease. Its original retail / sticker price was $61,770 so I was pretty close to 50%. I maybe could have bought it for less but I bought it the first day it was available and it was equipped with exactly the options I wanted in my preferred exterior and interior colors to boot. I bought it from a broker. The local Lexus dealer was asking nearly $40,000 for similar (slightly lower mileage and less equipment) 2000 LS400's at the time. But! If you are happy with the deal you have made and it is exactly what you want, who cares?

OK, now I understand. I provided two links in your ClubLexus thread on where you can buy it. I suspect it would cost way over $1,000 by the time you imported it from Europe. I've imported parts independently from the UK and Europe and have usually have to pay customs duties although sometimes parts slip through with no duties. Just buy the Curt hitch from eTrailer. The one for the LS430 less than $200 is identical in design if not in dimensions to the one I have on my 2000 LS400. It is not all that noticeable. eTrailer is a great company - $250 miles due east of where I live. I had questions during the install and they were very helpful - even followed up to make sure everything was OK. You will need to power trailer lights from your car battery with a relay/adapter. My mechanic ran the trailer light wire out of my trunk beside an ABS wire and forward under the car to the engine compartment. He tucked the wire up and out of the way and I've never thought to look to see where he hid it. Be sure to use a fuse Look for a "hot" terminal at the side of the engine compartment fuse box to attach your trailer light power wire to.

Forget about "asking for assurance"! You are being given an opening. Damn! I'm just about ready to send you the $150. :chairshot:

As the guy in the video said, he plugged into the car's CAN bus with a cable. What he did to control the car's functions isn't brain surgery although it looked more sensational due to him doing it on a high specification Toyota Prius with PCS, Lane Keep Assist and perhaps the automatic parking feature. I suppose it could be a problem if someone attached some sort of wireless interface to the CAN bus that would allow remote control. For now my Ping clubs in our top specification Toyota Prius wagon are safe.

This question has come up many times but not in quite a long time. I just checked and saw lots of SC430 spare tires and some full kits on eBay.

First verify that cable clamps and battery terminals are spotlessly clean - bright and shiny. Then have the battery checked. Next check to see if the starter is drawing excessive amps and that the alternator is OK. I have had all these issues cause similar problems ... most recently the starter.

You are braver than I am. I would have stopped driving the car immediately the first time this happened and had it towed to the nearest Lexus dealer. See the attached diagram.

Demonstrate your sincerity by paying the $150 to get the inspection done. Do you really care if you get the $150 back? I'll bet that you have spent that much on a restaurant meal for two. Let the dealer be entirely responsible for replacing your current glass with the correct OEM acoustic glass and providing a warranty on the replacement. I suggest that you verify that the correct replacement part numbers are used since there are different parts depending on which factory assembled your RX. If the acoustic glass is installed under the TSIB, then it must be brand new OEM Toyota/Lexus glass with the Toyota or Lexus name and/or logo on it. If you have the glass breakage sensor, verify that the relevant instructions about it are followed. Your Lexus dealer may have its mechanics replace the glass or subcontract it out. Maybe the Lexus dealer has a body shop like the one here. You might want to start "managing your expectations" on how much reduction in noise the new glass will provide. As the TSIB says, the acoustic glass improves the noise problem. It will not eliminate all the noise. I've driven a variety of RX models over the years as "loaners" and I've always thought that they were fairly noisy vehicles - nothing like the quiet of my LS cars.

I'm confused. What country are you in? Would you please update the location in your profile? There are aftermarket trailer hitches for the LS430 if you are North America from companies such as www.etrailer.com where I bought the hitch I have on my 2000 LS400. If you are in the UK or Europe, I would not be surprised if the hitch you are asking about is no longer available. It certainly is not going to be available through North American Lexus dealers. Give us more information?

The timing belt replacement interval for the U.S. is every 90,000 miles (140,000 km) or 6 years - whichever comes first although the recommended replacement intervals vary slightly by country. Replacement of your timing belt and associated parts appears to be way overdue. I have never heard of a timing belt on a Lexus breaking on its own due to fatigue. Timing belt "failure" is usually caused by the failure of another component such as the water pump, tensioner or one of the idlers. Here in the U.S., I would expect to pay more than US$1,500 for a timing belt replacement that includes replacing all the parts I mentioned above and a few other miscellaneous washers and O-rings. I doubt that your "whistling" sounds are coming from cracks in your timing belt although I have to hand it to the inventive mechanic who came up with that story. Verify that any independent shop you choose to replace your timing belt and the other parts is very experienced in doing it on a Lexus V8. If in doubt, let the Lexus dealer do it.

A revised fuel level sender was implemented for the LS400 during the 2000 model year and was offered to owners of 98, 99 and early 2000 LS400's under a TSIB that addressed inaccuracies in the trip computer. My 2000 LS400 was built late in the model year (June 2000) so mine got the revised sender. The "RANGE APPROX" in my 2000 LS400 becomes increasingly accurate as the tank gets closer to empty. I've run the tank down to a RANGE APPROX of about 25 miles a number of times and tank refills when I have done that have indicated that approximately one gallon of fuel is all that is left. The 2000 LS400 has a lower fuel tank capacity than the 98-99 LS400 - something to do with added emissions controls.

I have never heard of anyone fixing the pedal position or throttle position sensors. I have had both replaced on my 2000 LS400. You might want to check www.toyodiy.com to verify that the same part is used on UK and US models. Sewell Lexus in Texas ships internationally: lexus.sewellparts.com Register with your forum member name to get discounts.

No, you will never get to put your top down again. You must, therefore, gift your car to me. Tennessee isn't very "south" unless you are comparing it to Minnesota.

I suppose you could go to an auto parts store such as an Autozone and make them prove to you that their scanners work on your RX.