1990LS400

A service warranty won't protect you from "being stuck on top of a bridge in rush hour". Maybe verify that your auto insurance company covers towing or join AAA which is a bargain if you travel and rent vehicles very often. By 2000, Lexus cars like your GS had become much more reliable than the early Lexus vehicles which in their day were pretty reliable too. My 1990 LS400 got to ride a flat bed truck at least three times after it broke down - that's never happened with my 2000 LS400. Just keep on top of the maintenance outlined in your maintenance booklet, get anything that breaks repaired as soon as it breaks, and you will be golden.

The first thing I would check is the alternator and if power steering fluid has leaked from the power steering pump reservoir onto the the alternator shorting it out. The gen 1 LS400 power steering pumps require constant monitoring. My 90 LS was on (I think) its 5th PS pump by the time I sold it after 13 1/2 years. When my alternator failed due to a PS pump leak, the symptoms were very similar to what you are experiencing. The problem could be caused by something else but, on a gen 1 LS400, the alternator would be the first thing to check. If you PS pump is leaking get it rebuilt or a new one before you replace the alternator. And consider making a shield for the alternator from a plastic container

The stop light switch at the top of the brake pedal lever is most likely defective. I had the same thing happen on a 90 LS400 - it's a fairly common problem. Another symptom is that you cannot turn off the cruise control by stepping on the brake.

Could it be that people who inhabit Lexus forums are enthusiasts who don't let their cars go to hell? I've seen a number of reports of timing belt failures on ClubLexus.com which has infinitely more traffic than this forum although most of the reported failures I have seen were on gen 1 LS400's where no damage was done due the engine being non-interference. Personally, I have known only two people - other than me - who have had timing belt failures that bent their engine valves. They were not Lexus vehicles - one Honda Civic and one Toyota Camry. The Honda was low mileage and the Camry was at well over 200,000 miles. The Civic owner had the engine repaired for a few thousand $ and the Camry owner retired his car to the pasture behind his house to join some of his other past cars. I really do think that on newer Lexus vehices, 95%+ of the time the timing belt systems could operate without failure for well over 200,000 miles or 15 years. But in the words of Dirty Harry, "Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya? Punk!". When it gets down to it, timing belt changes are pretty darn cheap compared to the price of repair after a failure. As the old saying goes: "In the end the stingy man pays the most."

The air you breath is 78% nitrogen. I suggest that you check your tires at least monthly and more often if the temperature changes more than 20 degrees. Tire pressure changes about 1 psi per 10 degress of temperature change - whether the tires are filled with 78% nitrogen or 100% nitrogen.

It's all "extra dealer profit". Ask about the cost of the option to have Inuit women gum the wheel bearings so that they work with less friction. (No offense to Inuit women meant.)

Maybe they redesigned the damned tensioners so they wouldn't fall apart and take out the timing belt.

Also ask the dealer to replace the air in your tires - that tire air wears out pretty fast.

It's 90,000 miles or 6 years - sorry Billy. I waited an extra year on my 2000 LS400 and had the timing belt and all the ancillary parts replaced on July 31, 2007 just before 90,000 miles - exactly 7 years to the day after the in-service date. I wouldn't have waited any longer based on my previous experience. It's not the timing belt that breaks. Much more often it is one of the ancillary parts - idlers, tensioner, water pump - that fails and takes out the timing belt. In fact, I've never heard of a Toyota or Lexus timing belt break due to wear. In every case it has been due to the failure of another part. The timing belt on my first LS400 was trashed in the mid-1990's when the water pump seized at around 75,000 miles - which, of course, was just after the power train warranty had expired. I am supprised that someone at a Lexus dealership would tell you to wait until 90,000 miles. If you are the original owner continue to pile up miles at the current rate, that could be another five or six years. But, of course, if the timing belt system does fail, the dealer gets to charge you $5,000 to $10,000 when the engine valves get friendly with the pistons.

It sounds like you found your problem but verify that the phone kit's mute wire (industry standard color is yellow) has been disconnected from the radio, amp or wherever it was connected if it was connected at all.

If "kicking the vehicle out of cruise control" means stepping on the brake pedal, that also points to a defective stop light switch on the brake pedal arm.

What reason did the dealer give you? If corrosion, it can sometimes be cleaned up but the work may have to be repeated on a regular basis.

There is a brake light switch at the top of the brake pedal lever. It could be loose or defective - I had one completely fail on a 90 LS. Are you also having any problem shifting your transmissions out of "Park"? The same brake light switch causes the transmission lever to unlock so that the transmission can be shifted out of Park.

Hi Jim, Does the WiFi signal for the car come from a cell tower signal? If so, how do they handle drooped signals as your driving along and varying signal strength? Or is it some sort of satellite setup. When my wife had a Blackberry we would use the Verizon data service and plug it into one of our laptops while we were driving. Yes, all the automobile WiFi hotspots I've read about are cellular based. It's like putting a wireless router in your car. I just noticed that Audi is also offering WiFi in their cars. My wife has a cellular dongle from AT&T that she plugs into a USB port on her laptop PC to get Internet service. It and the Internet service on her Blackberry work fine in large metro areas but service is spotty in rural areas. She keeps trying but the Internet service between Kansas City and Des Moines continues to inconsistent. In can be fine at the top of a hill but vanishes as we descend a hill. I doubt if dropped signals would be handled differently on in-car WiFi than on regular cellular based Internet services on phone or on wireless devices attached to a home wireless router - you would simply have periods in which the Internet browser would be unresponsive. I keep reading that companies are working on mobile WiMax but I have yet to see commercial offerings. Regular WiMax is used to provide residential services in southern Iowa. If I remember correctly, the WiMax service used by a friend who lives on a farm near Centerville is provided by a municipal water company. The city of Lenexa, Kansas where I live has a WiMax system that covers the entire city but it is only for municipal employees.

I can't comprehend buying a service warranty on a 12 year old car. Put the money you would spend on a warranty in the bank and pay for repairs from those funds - you will come out far ahead. My opinion is that service warranties are for suckers - and I retired from a company that sells automobile service warranties.

WiFi will likely be offered in Lexus cars since it already is in Mercedes and BMW.

Yes, the top speed of your LS400 is electronically limited - to just under 150 mph. On European LS400's of all model years, the top speed is electronically limited to approximately 156 mph.

Where exactly are the wires located? The dealer installed Lexus phone would have been installed under the removable floor panel on the right side of the trunk. If you look at the bottom of the tool box receptacle behind the trim plan, you may see a white plastic bracket holding the cable connectors for a phone. If a phone was installed, the cables may be laying beneath the false floor on the right side of the trunk. By the way ... your 95 LS has an audio system mute pin in a connector under the vents you see when the front center armrest is raised - perfect for use with an aftermarket Bluetooth phone kit.

On North American specification Lexus cars from about 1995 through 2000, there is a phone connector under the center console that contains an audio system mute pin. It is possible that your phone system's mute wire plugs into a connector like that. The Nokia system I installed in my 00 LS400 has its mute wire plugged into the OEM phone connector under the center console. Can you tell if a "mute lead" was used to install your phone kit? Mute leads were often used in the U.K. to install aftermarket phone kits in the 1990's but became available here in the U.S. only in the past few years and for a fairly limited number of vehicles. If a mute lead was used, it would plug into the back of the radio head unit or the audio system amplifier if your radio has a separate amplifier and then the OEM radio/amplifier connector would plug into the mute lead. A mute lead usually provides power to a phone kit, mutes the audio system when a call is in progress and routes the phone call audio through the door speakers. So, if a mute lead was used, you might want to unplug it from your radio or amplifier and then connect the OEM connectors directly into your radio/amplifier.

Billy, I suspect PPK321 is serious based on his post a month or so ago. Of course your battery terminals need cleaning. They are digusting!!! Mix a little baking soda and water and apply to the terminals and cable ends after you remove the cables from the battery. Scrub the baking soda/water mixture on the terminals and cable ends with an old toothbrush or similar to bubble the gunk away. Buy a wire battery terminal/cable end cleaning brush - the one I have cost a few bucks at an auto parts store. Use the special wire battery bush to clean the inside of the cable ends and the battery terminals until they are bright and shiny. Attach the cable ends to the battery, tighten securely and then apply a light coating of something like petroleum jelly to the cable ends/terminals to !Removed! future corrosion. I just did this to my LS just last Saturday. It's good to do all this about once each year and to reapply the petroleum jelly coating every few months. If you don't have cable end covers for your battery cables, buy and install a set. Keeping your battery cable ends and battery terminals clean, bright and shiney makes big difference in how well your alternator charges your battery and how well it starts your engine.

The wires in your photos do not look anything like the ones in the phone systems on U.S. specification Lexus cars in the 1990's. Your wires look like some sort of amateur job.

I do not have a GS but many people have reported that unplugging an old phone ECU has restored audio system volume. I personally guided a friend through doing it on his 2000 LS400 and his radio immediately came to life. Am I correct in my assumption that you are not in the U.S. or Canada? Your phone is GSM which was not offered on North American Lexus cars until the 2003 model year. By all means, unplug all the cables from the phone ECU in the boot. After you unplug the connectors from the ECU, see if there are two connectors that plug together to complete a circuit. That's the way it is on North American Lexus cars but it may not be the same on your car. If you run into problems, take photos of what you are dealing with and post them on this thread. It may be necessary to unplug the phone handset cradle. Do not cut any phone cables! If you need to unplug the handset cradle, disassemble the console enough to do that. There may be more than one cable under the center console to unplug including a coaxial antenna cable. The large subwoofer speaker in the rear parcel/hat shelf sometimes fail. Some people have had success repairing them and they can also be replaced with an OEM or aftermarket subwoofer. Let us know how it goes.

Having retired after over three decades from an insurance company that was/is one of the largest suppliers of automobile service warranties, I can tell you that it is a very profitable business. Service warranties are essentially insurance policies although they are often not regulated as such - they should be. I can't comment about your "Gold and Platnium Warranties" but, in general, service warranties are almost always heavily weighted towards the issuer and a poor deal for the consumer. Buy one if it will help you sleep at night.

Because it is a 21 year old car with 185,000 miles and has lots of gadgets. Other than the air suspension my other main concern would be corrosion in the electrical system. My 90 LS was starting to have electrical corrosion problems that affected the foglights when I sold it in 2003. If the air suspension is still working properly, I think you can count on it failing at some point -- when it fails, the car may not be driveable when the suspension collapses. The A/C compressors on the gen 1 LS400 had a fairly high failure rate. My 90 LS was on its 3rd A/C compressor when I sold it although the first replacement was covered under the car's original warranty. Make sure the A/C compressor works and that the system has been converted. A new A/C compressor/system conversion will likely cost well above $1,000. Also check the power steering pump for leaks which can cause the alternator to fail. My 90 LS was on at least the fifth power steering pump when I sold it. Checking for PS pump leaks was part of weekly maintenance on my 90 LS. Personally, I wouldn't touch an LS prior to the LS430 with air suspension unless it was going to be a fun/hobby car. When I asked someone to search for my 2000 LS400 in 2003 - NO AIR SUSPENSION was an absolute requirement. If you need reliable daily transportation, I'd recommend something newer and cheaper to fix. My 90 LS didn't age nearly as well as my 00 LS has. At 147,000 miles, my 00 LS has been substantially more trouble free than my 90 LS was at similar age and mileage.

I wouldn't say that 185K is "just the beginning" but a well kept LS at that mileage can have a lot of life left in it although a number of components will likely need replacing/fixing along the way. My 90 LS looked and drove nearly like new when I sold it in 2003 at 183.5K miles. As of a few weeks ago, the second owner was selling it at 295K miles but the car had started to visibly rust around the rear wheel arches. Air suspension was a fairly inexpensive ($1,500) option in 1990 but it can cost several times that (exceeding the value of the vehicle) to replace all the OEM air struts with new ones. Many replace the air suspension with aftermarket coil spring suspensions when the OEM air suspension starts to die. What is the asking price for this car? Any rust or obvious cosmetic defects? Does the A/C work and has it been converted from R12 to R134a? Do all the internal electrics work including all the bulbs and LCD's in the HVAC controller and radio? Do all the gauges including the odometer work? Do the speedo and tach needles still light up? Does the car have heated seats and, if so, do they work? Do all the exterior lights including the fog lights work and are there signs of corrosion around the fuse blocks? Are there complete maintenance records documenting that the car has had regular oil changes and the timing belt/water/pump/idlers, etc. ($1,000+ job) replaced for the second time at 180,000 miles? These cars can be fairly expensive to own as they age. Based on my experience, at a minimum you should reserve between $1,000 and $2,000 anually for repairs and maintenance. And I'd regard this LS as a "hobby car" - not something to depend on as a daily driver. I think one reason my 90 LS made it to 295K with its 2nd owner was that it was a fairly basic model with fewer gadgets to break and that both the 2nd owner and I were obsessive about maintaining cars properly. A high spec LS like you are considering will be a greater challenge. Got any photos of this beast?