1990LS400

Could it be the part I've pointed the arrow at in the attached diagram? As many times as I took the console apart in the 90 LS I had, I would have thought I would have remembered more about how the little flip down door was attached. Edit: No, that can't be it since it doesn't come in colors.

The estimate for repairing my 2000 LS400 came in at $5,500 ... was told that it would have been substantially less if the left rear fender had not been bent inward. So ... it is supposed to be finished on November 9. Sure glad I don't have to look for a new car. I'm enjoying driving the Smart Fortwo "Passion" a lot but I don't think I want to get hit while driving it even if it does have a gazillion (i.e. eight) airbags. When I bought my first LS In 1990, I swore off having extra "hobby" cars but maybe I need just one more fun little sporty car. I've been thinking about a Scion FR-S with it's Suburu engine but it is a shadow of its Toyota GT86 brother sold in Europe. I think I will lie down until the feeling passes.

Gosh, based on his post it looks like Lenore is supporting Obama. I'm surprised and pleased. Thanks, Lenore!

The Toyota/Lexus organization had nothing to do with that crude crap. Looks like something an amateur did in his back yard.

No Lexus is listed as compatible but it might be possible to use a Parrot UNIKA to control a Parrot MKI series Bluetooth kit with your steering wheel controls since one of the UNIKA modes is programmable: http://www.parrotsho...t.aspx?i=182081 I don't remember seeing the UNIKA for sale in the US and it could get a bit pricey for something that might not work. An alternative is to use a portable GPS (e.g. Garmin) that has Bluetooth phone capability. The Garmin I have mounted on a modified Pro.Fit Legend bracket on my dash works extremely well with my Android phone - very reliable voice dialing. It doesn't mute the stereo like OEM Bluetooth or a kit like the Parrot would do but the Garmin rings very loudly so you won't miss incoming calls.

The 1994 LS is a heavy car compared to the later LS400. The official curb weight of the base 94 LS is only 31 pounds less than the offical curb weight of my 2000 LS and having 40 less horsepower and a less free-reving engine makes the gen 1 feel heavier. You might see if there are people in your area that repairs automotive leather. Where I live, there are roving leather repair guys who do contract work for dealerships and repair shops - similar to the independent touch-up paint guys who touch up used cars before they are sold. I suppose you could remove the cluster and play with the connections. I assume you can get a working used cluster on eBay. At least with your 94 you don't have to worry about engine damage if the timing belt fails. The timing belt on my 90 LS was trashed by a seized water pump at only 75K - mainly inconvenient.

Decklid looks virtually untouched to me. The taillight and quarter look like they took a hit. Thanks, that's the conclusion I've come to. This doesn't look nearly as bad as it did in the heat of the moment immediately after the crash. Body shop service writer's comment was "three to four thousand will go pretty quickly on this one." I'm going to install the "Blinking Smart Stop Intelligent" module from http://www.kahtec.com/smart_stop.htm as soon as I get the car back. I'm fairly certain that I've prevented two other rear end crashes by rapidly tapping my brake pedal when I saw in my rear view mirror that drivers were approaching at high rates of speed while I was stopped ... one, of course, had a phone pressed against her ear. And that's not counting the time I "floored it" while stopped at a red light to keep a full size van from hitting me ... scariest part was the women driver chasing me down to thank me. It seems odd that most of my rear end crashes and close calls have been caused by women... guess it could be a coincidence. I noticed recently while watching a video that flashing brake lights are now on the European Prius+ van/wagon - essentially the same vehicle as the Prius v my wife recently bought. I wonder if that is now required over there.

Here is the rental Smart Fortwo "Passion" I'll be driving for the next few weeks while my crashed LS is being repaired .... parked next to my wife's recently purchased Prius v wagon. Although the Prius is vastly larger than the Smart, they have a number of features in common. Both have hoods that drop away so severely that the driver cannot begin to see them or where the front of the cars are. Both have panoramic roofs which make the interiors seem larger than they are. Both are actually very roomy inside. The Smart doesn't pretend to be any more than a two passenger car and a six footer like me could probably wear a cowboy hat in both cars. Both cars have incredibly wonderful headlights. The Prius has LED low beams and the Smart has the best halogen headlights I have ever experienced - probably better than the Prius LED or the HID of my Lexus. The Prius is nearly silent at low speeds. No so the Smart with its loud and raspy engine. The Smart turns out to be quite a fun car to drive - especially with the transmission in manual mode and using the steering wheel paddle shifters. The Prius is not a fun car but is certainly smooth and rides far better than the Smart. I find the Smart seats more comfortable than the Prius seats but the Smart could sure get old on long trips where its loud engine would make it hard to talk or hear the radio. It's a fun comparison and more so due to the cars being the same color.

Wow, Paul! It sounds my damage is minor compared with yours - both to your car and to your body. Bodyshops (the great ones) are like miracle workers these days when it comes to repairing extreme damage. Your car could come out of this as good as new. The way I have come to look at it, each time my car gets hit, I get new paint that covers existing scratches and the car looks better than ever when I get it back. Last year after hitting flying road debris, I got a new front bumper cover, front left fender and the left side of the car repainted back to the rear quarter panel. This time I will get that rear quarter panel repainted - eliminating the one scratch that was on the car when I bought it in 2003 - and a new rear bumper cover to replace the one that is looking a little worn since it was replaced in 2007 after a woman too busy talking on her cell phone hit it in stop and go traffic on a slick and snowy day. My bet is that the 45 year old Ford pickup driver who hit me 2 days ago was either texting or talking on his phone. It's a small world. The guy lives about 30 miles from me in this metro area of a million plus people but I still found that 10 people in my contact list on LinkedIn are also in his LinkedIn contact list. I've actually done a thorough background check on the guy - at least he has a great job and seems to otherwise be a responsible person.

Jeez, how could someone rear-end my 2000 LS400 late yesterday afternoon while I was waiting for a traffic light to turn green? I had been sitting there for maybe 10 to 15 seconds with nobody in the other eastbound lane to the right of me and no one in front of me ... it wasn't like I had stopped suddenly for a yellow/red light and the person behind was following too closely. The damage didn't look as bad today as it did yesterday when my back was hurting more than today and while I was stuggling to move all my stuff into a rental car as it began to rain. It was late in the day and Enterprise had only two cars available - I took the lessor of the two evils which was a tiny Smart Fortwo which makes my wife's Prius wagon look like a stretch limosine. I'm guessing the repair cost will be between $4K and $5K. What do you think? The F150 that hit me definitely "won" although it will need at least a new front bumper and some body work. The F150 driver quickly whipped a extra temporary insurance card out of his pocket and handed it to me -- the policy effective date of the new policy was yesterday ... maybe printed by the insurance agency earlier in the day. It sure was a convenient place to get crashed ... right in front of the body shop owned by the same large corporation that owns both local Lexus dealerships and which has repaired damage on our cars numerous times in the past.

I assume replacement owner manuals are still available through your lexus dealer or directly from Lexus at https://secure.drive...xusdrivers/home where you will also find online PDF versions of owner's, navigation and sometimes maintenance schedule manuals. It is not necessary to register in order to view owner manuals.

You mean ... there are colors other than white? NOOOOO!!! I just realized I never took a photo of the white 98 Camry my wife drove from new and which the Prius replaced. Camry recently went to a 14 year old nephew in Iowa - 14 year old car for a 14 year old kid. My lifetime "infatuation" with white cars comes from reading an article about the safest car colors which was published in the 1960's in the Mercedes owners magazine "In Aller Welt".

Sorry but I don't see a similar facility on the lexus.ca website. On the U.S. Lexus website, if your phone is GSM (from Rogers?) you might try choosing AT&T. If CDMA, try choosing Verison.

Wow. That seems like a stunningly low price. I had assumed that the bumper cover, hood, fender and front and rear left door skins would would have to be replaced and the entire left side of the car repainted.... and of course the headlight unit. And that there was even rear quarter panel damage that could probably be hammered ouit. It even looked like the front left wheel was damaged. Is the left foglight salvagable? Would the shop doing this work use new OEM parts? I need to come to your town the next time I need bodywork!

Check the compatibility of the phones you are trying at: https://secure.drivers.lexus.com/lexusdrivers/info/my-lexus/resources/bluetooth.do Many phones are fully compatible with the Bluetooth systems in Toyota/Lexus vehicles. Some phone manufacturers (e.g. Apple) have not adhered closely to industry standards on Bluetooth.

Geez, Randy, I'll bet that was scary. Yep, that is over $10K in damage. Shall we start a damage estimate pool? I'll go for $14,000. It could have been much, much worse. A neighbor's adult son was killed a few years ago when a deer came through his minivan windshield. His wife was partially blinded. Their two kids in the back seat were injured. Somehow he brought the van to a stop before he died.

According to the maintenance schedule for your 91 LS400, the timing belt is to be replaced every 90,000 miles or 6 years - whichever comes first. Normally the water pump, idlers, tensioner and other small parts are replace when the timing belt is replaced. If your water pump is leaking, it is a sign that it will likely eventually fail. The water pump on the 90 LS I drove for many years gave me only a few seconds before it failed - I smell coolant and then it seized taking the timing belt with it. The good news is that no damage will be done if the water pump fails and damages the timing belt as long as you stop immediately and have the car towed. To answer your original question, yes, $700 is reasonable for replacing the water pump. If the timing belt and the other items I mentioned have not been replaced recently, they should be replaced too - total cost will probably be around $1,000.

Your best bet might be a salvage yard such as the "Pick and Pull" I used last year. I see that the window brake light harness is pretty cheap new online - less than $20 - part number 81575-50050

Great post, Archie! I'd recommend sleeping on your back while you're in the Big House.

Have you checked http://www.lexus.com/bluetooth/ to see if the compatibility levels of your phones are shown? If a phone has a high level of compatibility, it is usually not necessary to manually transfer its phonebook - it would be automatic.

I'm not sure I understand. IMO, it is now better to have the regular Pioneer audio system than the Nakamichi system. Nakamichi systems often cannot be repaired since there are no parts available. Nakamichi went out of business years ago and the current Nakamichi company has nothing to do with the products the old Nakamichi company made for Toyota. The Nakamichi and Pioneer components are not interchangable on the 95-00 LS400 - not sure about the earlier LS400. The wiring harnesses are very different.

Nakamichi was never part of the navigation systems.

My Samsung Galaxy SIII phone wirelessly connects via Bluetooth to the Garmin GPS mounted above it on a bracket. I had planned to install a Parrot Blue tooth phone kit so that it would automatically mute the radio during a phone call like the Nokia phone kit I just removed but the Garmin "rings" so loud when a call comes in that I don't miss incoming calls. One cool thing about this setup is that the free Garmin "Smartphone Link" app from the Google Play store allows sending addresses from a variety of applications on the phone to the Garmin GPS. Both the Garmin GPS and the Samsung phone can be operated with voice commands. In fact, clicking the Samsung phone into the Samsung Infuse charging cradle automatically puts the phone into voice command mode. If I had an aux-in jack installed on the Nakamichi (about $60 at Factory Radios in California), I could connect the aux-out on the Infuse cradle to the Nakamichi system and stream music from the phone's memory or from the Internet. I also have the Toyota Entune app on my phone which allows me to stream music to the Entune system of my wife's new Prius. The Prius has XM radio but I prefer the music I am finding on http://www.iheart.com/ which I can seamlessly stream to the Prius audio system from my phone.

COVER, ENGINE UNDER, RH (part number 51441-33090) and COVER, ENGINE UNDER, LH (part number 51442-33090). Part numbers are at http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_U_2007_LEXUS_ES350_GSV40L-BETGKA_5102.html?hl=51441C

If it is a Nakamichi, then it will say Nakamichi on the face/front of the radio - always. If it does not say Nakamichi then it is the standard Pioneer. You can see the Nakamichi logo on the radio in this photo of the one in my 2000 LS400.