1990LS400

And what exactly would those be? I've watched techs go through the menus on handheld Lexus scantools using the appropriate program cards and we never saw any CBES/LPS settings that are not on the published lists. I do remember that some settings that are available in other world markets are either "grayed out" or marked with something like "not available" when the scantool is connected to a U.S. spec Lexus.

What factory unit? The one from the 98-00 LS400 which is quite pathetic? If that is what you want you would have a whole lot of wiring to do. The 98-00 LS400 without nav is not cabled for nav. And the 98-00 Nav audio functions are not compatible with the Nakamichi but is compatible with the standard Pioneer system. The Nakimichi has a very different architecture from the standard Pioneer and the audio portion of the 98-00 navigation system which are largly if not completely compatible. For hundred bucks you could buy a Garmin that would head and shoulders above all but the latest Lexus nav system. Here is a photo of how I mounted a portable nav in my 00 LS: http://us.lexusowner...leryℑ=1349

If your steering wheel phone controller - see attached photo - looks like the one in my 2000 LS400, it is for an official dealer installed Lexus phone system. Ah, yes ... Superior Lexus ... I bought my first Lexus - a new 1990 LS400 - from Superior 22 years ago. When I visited Superior in 2003 with a question about the dealer installed 2000 LS400 phone system, I was told that they had thrown all their documentation away and that they could not help me. OK, you hear a beep when you press a phone controller button. Is there no evidence of a phone handset cradle in the upper console tray? The handsets for both the portable and fixed Lexux phone systems were installed on the upper console tray. If you don't see evidence of one but still hear a beep, a prior owner must have removed it but left other phone system components in place. Remove the false floor on the passenger side of the trunk and see if there is a phone ECU. If there is, unplug all the connectors from it. If there are two large connectors that will plug together, do that to complete the circuit. You may see a coax antenna cable - probably two. One leads to the phone antenna imprinted on the rear window and the other to the rear of the center console. If you have a phone ECU, you might as well remove it and toss it - it's analog and of no value. In 95-00 LS400's without phone systems, the phone system cables in the trunk are attached to a plastic bracket attached to the bottom of the tool kit recepticle. Now ... the center console. Remove the air vents you see when you raise the center armrest and see if the handset and/or antenna cables have been cut or unplugged. If they have been cut, unplug the cables that have been chopped off. The white driver side connector has a mute pin that can be used with an aftermarket Bluetooth phone system to automatically mute your radio during a phone call. I have my aftermarket phone kit's mute wire attached to the mute pin of a similar phone connector in my 00 LS. It doesn't hurt to leave the phone controller on the steering wheel. If you want to remove it, you may still be able to buy a plastic "blank" to fill the hole that's left ... but I wouldn't count on it still being available separately. If you haven't found them yet, check out Exact Performance in Merriam, Kansas: http://www.exactauto.com/ Ben and his staff have been maintaining our Lexus and Toyota vehicles for about 15 years. Tell them that Jim with the white 2000 LS400 sent you - I bought the car from a friend of Ben's in 2003.

Any 95-06 LS400/LS430 wheel will fit any 95-06 LS400/LS430.

Crutchfield has a decent overview of how to install an aftermarket sat radio: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-w2u3gjVVwWS/learn/learningcenter/car/satellite_radio_installation_guide.html I suppose you could install the antenna inside of the car interior - some people have put the antenna on the dash, on the rear shelf and even inside the high mounted stop light housing. Lexus dealers put the antenna on the edge of the trunk lid when installing sat radio in an LS430. Options for getting audio from an aftermarket device into a pre-2001 Lexus audio system are not the best - there was a major change in audio system architecture beginning with the 2001 model year that made it easier. I haven't used them but a company in California can add an aux-in to just about any radio including older Lexus radios for (I think) about $60: http://factoryradioservice.com/index.php They can put the aux-in either on the face of the headunit or on a cable coming out of the back of the headunit; the reviews I have read about their work and the sound quality of the aux-in have all been positive.

Here is one of a several threads on how to fix this problem: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=19484&st=0&p=123344&hl=++seat%20++shaft&fromsearch=1entry123344

If an installer is asking a question like that, my recommendation is: RUN, RUN AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN! Clearly the installer does not have the knowledge needed to install anything in your car. A compentent installer - and there are very few of them - will have all the information needed to do the job. Does your installer happen to wear a clown costume? The owners manual for your car can be viewed at https://secure.drivers.lexus.com Brand of radio? Hard to say - I don't see the manufacturer's name printed on the face of the radio in the photos I'm looking at. What type of Bluetooth system? Is the installer at one of those chain stores like "B.B"? Attached are both audio system diagram from the ARRC website that are labeled as being for a 2007 IS250 - don't know which is applicable to your car. 2007 IS250 Audio diagram 1.pdf 2007 IS250 Audio diagram 2.pdf

You guys are funny. You'd actually spend hours getting to court for a measily $250 with the likelihood you will get nothing and completely alienate a car dealer you might actually need in the future? Two words: "reality check". BTW, I've got a large panel of otherwise flawless Lexus console wood with a long crack in the finish in a box out in the garage - crack was caused by an impact which did not even dent the wood. I took a photo but the crack doesn't show up.

Does the "SD" in your member name mean "South Dakota"? Where are you located. What was the ambient temperature when this happened? Was the engine/transmission at normal operating temperature and had it been functioning properly immediately before this issue occurred? When you are having a problem like this, punching past the redline is not advisable.

Small claims courts must operate differently and more efficiently in Des Moines. People who seek redress in small claims courts are often so poor that they have few other options that don't involve firearms. A Lexus owner suing in small claims court? - An interesting concept and one that will likely NOT amuse a judge.

Have you checked for "junk in the trunk"? No, not the size of your butt - whether or not there is something rattling around under spare tire well or under the false floors on either side of the trunk. And make sure that the jack and it's handle are securely stowed in the spaces provided.

Based on my experiences, the first thing I would ask would be: "Do you have a wife, girl friend, child, mother-in-law, etc. who drives or rides in your RX"? I've had some pretty odd damage done to cars, appliances, houses - on and on - by family members who didn't understand the impacts (pun intended) of their actions. My all time favorite was when dents mysteriously started appearing in the top of a small furniture-like refrigerator in a living room. Wife said she had no idea what could be causing the dents. One day I observed her slamming ice cube trays on the top of the refrigerator to loosen the cubes. While she was in "mid-slam" I asked her again if she knew what could be causing the dents -- again she said that she didn't know. And you don't even want to hear about the cosmetic damage she's done to cars.

I don't see anything called "perfect fit" in the Weathtech website but the following text is at http://www.weatherte...ts-all-weather/ and describes the rear all weather floor mats Weathertech sells for your RX: "Rear mats are designed to be trimmed so that they may be customized to fit almost any vehicle." Only the front mats are custom fit. Weathertech's "Digital Fit" mats are another matter - they have a signficantly raised "lip" around the edges that could cause problems if a person wasn't very careful. They are like putting pans on your vehicle floors to trap and hold liquids.

The arrow in the attached schematic shows the gear indicator bulb location.

I don't see a "sport edition" for the 04 model year: http://www.lexus.com/contact/pdf/2004/2004GSspecs.pdf There was a "sport design" option for the GS300 in the 2003 model year. Maybe what you have was a dealer option. Dealers come up with all sorts of "special editions" to move cars .... just hope yours doesn't have a vinyl roof!

Could the dash light rheostat knob be turned down so low that the climate/radio backlighting completely dims with headlights on? Check. The clocking backlight dimming with the headlights on sounds normal. Replacing the gear shift bulb requires a bit of disassembly which I'm pretty sure is the same as on a Camry - requires removing some screws and sliding the lighted gear selector piece up the gear shift shaft so you can reach under it to change the bulb. I'm pretty sure I've posted one or more diagrams which you can find by searching the ES forum.

You could try searching http://www.toyodiy.com/ to see if you can find a Toyota that uses the same oil plug gaskets/washers as your LS. I noticed that they are not the same as the ones Toyota used on almost all it's Toyota and Lexus vehicles for a couple of decades. I buy oil filters and washers for our 98 Camry and 00 LS at a local Toyota dealer. I buy everything by the 10-pack which brings the unit price of a filter to right at $4 including the one oil plug gasket needed for an oil change on our cars.

Photos?

Look at the schematic I posted yesterday at http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=71920&pid=446233&st=0entry446233 Drain the oil from the filter before you remove it.

Your owners manual says "H3". You can view it online at https://secure.drivers.lexus.com

This must be "National Where's my Oil Filter Day".

The oil filter location is the same as on all V8 engines made by Toyota - or at least the same location as the many I've seen. The cartridge filters shouldn't be any messier than the ones you are used to. Mercedes has used them on some models since at least the 1950's. I suspect Toyota is trying to "go green" by using cartridge filters - definitely uses few materials. It shouldn't be difficult to remove the engine undercover to change the oil filter. I just calculated that I've removed engine undercovers about 78 times when changing the engine oil on Lexus LS cars over the past 22 years. Edit: I should have mentioned that the LS460 oil filter housing has its own drain plug - cool. That should make it a lot less messy than oil filters with their own outer shell. Just be sure to lay in a good supply of oil plug gaskets if you arn't goint to have non-dealer garage change your oil. There is a gasket the sump oil plug too and both need to be changed to prevent that drip ... drip ... drip. I buy oil plug gaskets for cheap by the 10 pack -- same is probably available for your LS460.

I would still first unwrap and check the wires at the left trunk hinge. The problem seems to affect 100% of gen 1 LS400s and sometimes must be fixed over and over as the wires "re-break" at another point. I had this problem on the 90 LS I drove from new to 2003 and its 2nd owner told me he had to fix the broken wires at the trunk hinge again some time after he bought the car from me.

I really do hope you find your solution. I've been messing with car phone systems since 1990 and have found it can be pretty frustrating with one of my main frustrations being the lousy work done by so called professional installers. By the way ... the standard controller on the left side of your steering wheel was not for controlling a phone system. A separate steering wheel controller came with the dealer installed Lexus phone system. The only way - and a completely wacko one - you are going to get a cell phone to display its address book on your navigation screen is to somehow find and install the many components for the 2003 LS430 dealer installed phone system which was designed around only one cell phone - the GSM Cingular/AT&T Nokia 6310i - and partially based on the Nokia CARK-91 phone kits like the ones we still use in our 2000 LS400 and 1998 Camry. You can still view information about the 2003 dealer installed phone system in the owners section of the Lexus corporate website ... here is one of the PDFs: http://drivers.lexus.com/t3Portal/document/om/OM9998X/pdf/om1sourc/2003om/lexuspho/section1.pdf But you really wouldn't want to do that. Although the 6310i had Bluetooth (it was originally the only Bluetooth phone certified to work with the 2004 LS400 Bluetooth system), the 6310i had to be inserted into a hard-wired phone cradle installed in the center console for it to transfer its phone book to the nav system. No other cell phone could be used - only the 6310i and it had to have a particular software version to work. Nokia 6310i phones are available on eBay, were great phones in their day and are visually identical to the Nokia 6340i phones I've bought on eBay by the dozen and which we are still using in our phone kits. When I bought my 2000 LS400 in 2003, I thought it would somehow be possible to get its steering wheel phone controller to work with an aftermarket phone system. I've given up after what has probably been 100+ hours of research. I considered getting a Parrot UNIKA which is a programable interface between OEM steering wheel controllers and Parrot phone kits and made for use in a limited number of cars but I'd be completely on my own since there are no programming instructions for an OEM Lexus LS phone controller of any model year. Even in 2003, my Lexus dealer had already dropped support for all dealer installed Lexus phone systems - supposedly all their documentation had been discarded or at least that was the story. Best of luck to you. When you work your miracle, please tell us how you did it. I really would like someone to figure this out. My next primary car is definitely going to have OEM Bluetooth -- finally got permission from the "boss" (CPA wife) on New Years's day to start looking for the perfect white LS460L AWD to replace the white 2000 LS I've been driving the past 8+ years. (Yes, guys, I decided against that Hyundai Equus since I want what may be my last car to have all wheel drive and power door closers.)

Well then ... I can tell you that virtually any aftermarket Bluetooth phone kit can be installed in your 03 LS430 but it will not interface with the navigation system display. Many people have asked the same question you are asking. Member Jainla installed an older Parrot kit in his 01 LS430 UL and hardwired everything without using an interface harness and it even plays the phone call audio through one or more door speakers like a Lexus phone system does - I'm sure you can find the thread via a search. It's easier to use a separate speaker and there is plenty of room under the dash to hide one. I think Jaila found that hardwiring a phone kit into an LS430 is more of a chore in an LS430 than in something like my 00 LS400 since the LS430 amplifier is in the trunk. There are only four main connections for all phone kits - power, ground, mute, speaker. Some kits need both a constant power and a switched power (switched with the ignition switch) although, depending on kit, both wires can sometimees be connected to a constant power source. Of course, most phone kits have a controller and some a display screen that displays the name and/or phone number of the incoming caller. Whether you install a Parrot kit or other brand, I highly recommend using a Quick Connect harness. As far as iPod/MP3 connections, consider the interface products from http://www.vaistech.com They have some really nice products for your 03 LS430.