1990LS400

As long as "Attorney Joe" lives in my culdesac with the 1972 Mercedes 350SL he bought new, I will never hold the culdesac record. Can you imagine owning a car for 40 years? And the Porsche would be for me - not her. We'll probably be in Des Moines at XMAS ... maybe we'll meet up again.

Yes, you can have my house at the right price. And the weather is soooo much nicer down here in balmy Kansas City than in frigid Des Moines. (Is there an emoticon for lying?) My culdesac was "better" before an elderly neighbor and wife moved last year -- they had two Mercedes S500's. Another neighbor in my culdesac, though, has since bought a BMW M3 to go with his Range Rover. The best part of having "Maserati Gil" and "Porsche Ron" living on either side of us and the other expensive cars in the culdesac is that it makes it more difficult for my wife to give me flack about spending money on cars. And some womam my wife knows drives a Porsche Panameria and my wife seems to like it so that's why I looked at one of those which led me mention it the recent "Hyundai & Kia Beats Lexus ?" thread you started.

Well, your opinion means something to me - especially if you are ex-military. Did you view the presentation video at the link I posted? Did you hear that this was the first time since the Vietnam war that the medal of honor was presented to a living recipient instead of to the family of a dead soldier? Yes! Sgt. Giunta's parents were not the main focus, in the front row or on the stage since they were not going to be receiving the medal in Sgt. Giunta's behalf. Sgt. Giunta is ALIVE and the focus is on him - as it should be. Did you hear the President's lenghthy acknowledgement of Sgt. Giunta's parents or the long period of applause after this acknowledgement? Did you hear the President virtually "gush" about Sgt. Giunta's accomplishments? The opinions expressed in the video link you posted seem completely inconsistent with what actually happened at the presentation ceremony which, in my opinion, was as close to perfection as it could have been.

In the last month, my next door neighbor has started leaving one of his two! Maseratis parked outside his garage in his driveway and in the last couple of weeks has stopped putting a car cover on it for the night. He used to be completely obsessive about that car. Maybe he's tired of it. Maybe I can ask him to give it to me?

The rules may be different for Canada but here is relevant information from the U.S. maintenance booklet which covers the IS250 and other 2009 models: Maintenance and repair services may be performed by you or by any automotive service provider you choose. Lexus will not deny a warranty claim solely because you used a service provider other than a Lexus dealership for maintenance and repairs. However, damage or failures caused by improper maintenance or repairs are not covered under warranty. Your dealer may recommend more frequent maintenance intervals or more maintenance services than those listed in the scheduled maintenance log. These additional services are not required to maintain your warranty coverage. Ask your dealer for an explanation of any recommended maintenance not included in the scheduled maintenance log. Here in the U.S. it's easy to get oil filters for substantially less than what Lexus dealers charge for them. I buy OEM oil filters for my LS at the same Toyota dealer where we bought our Camry and pay right at US$4.00 per filter including an oil plug drain gasket. The cost of changing my oil using synthetic Mobil 1 oil and an OEM filter is around US$30 and one hour of my time out in the garage and has the added bonus of avoiding the kind of petty damage I've had done by so called professionals. I've driven Lexus cars for a total of about 290,000 miles and have had engine oil changed at a Lexus dealer maybe three or four times. The rest of them - every 5,000 miles - I've done myself.

Here is a video of the entire Giunta medal of honor presentation ceremony: http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2010/11/16/medal-honor-staff-sergeant-salvatore-giunta It's really cool.

What's your point gabep. All I saw in your video was somebody else's rambling "opinions". Why don't you express your own opinions in your own words? I'm going to be standing on a podium on Veteran's day, November 11, giving an accounting of my own military service. Will you be doing the same? I'm in a civilian role supporting the U.S. Marines Corps and I want to tell you that I'm extraordiarily impressed with and damned proud of our current Commander in Chief. Get a clue. If you can't get one then maybe I can send you one.

Have you crawled under your dash and looked with a flashlight? Or use one of my favorite tools - a lighted borescope - so you wouldn't have to crawl under your dash to do a look around. I doubt that a fuse block containing relays would be hidden. Also, why put LED's in your turn signals? I don't understand what you want to accomplish unless it's just to get some sort of "look". From what I've read, the only exterior lights where LED's are really useful are in brake lights where they can alert a following driver a fraction of a second sooner.

I guess I'm not a fan of aftermarket exterior LED bulbs based on seeing too many that put out so little light that I considered them unsafe. You want people to be able to see your turn signals in the day time - not just at night. But if you want to do it, have you considered using LED bulbs with built-in load resisters? You can buy #7440 amber LED bulbs with built-in load resisters from http://store.ijdmtoy.com/7440-7441-7443-7444-992-T20-s/45.htm and probably from other companies.

The only free LS430 online repair manuals I know about are at http://bahamutcars.free.fr/workshop/workshop.html Be patient -- the webpage often takes a while to load. The manuals are for European models but are usually accurate enough to be used for North American spec models.

I found the LS460L to feel "dead" and completely "boat like" in that it seems like it is even larger than it is. I guess it responded compentently but it felt far from nimble. Don't get me wrong -- it is an incredibly well put together car. What I dislike most (no, HATE) about the LS460 is the view from the driver's seat. The front, side and rear windows feel so "compressed" and short. I got off to a bad start simply backing out of a parking space at the dealership. Whoa! Using the rear camera and looking at the nav screen seemed essential to back up the car -- sure can't see out the back window. The Hyundai Equus on the other hand felt smaller than it is and was much more fun to drive. It's windows are a bit small too but I didn't notice it nearly as much. Within the first 1/4 mile of driving the Equus, I took a tight traffic circle at a fairly high rate of speed. It was fun. It would not have been enjoyable in the LS460L. The really curious thing about driving the LS460L was that getting back into my 00 LS400 felt like such a relief. As I drove away in my old LS, my main thought was that I should not be liking an 11 1/2 year old LS400 far more than a shiny new LS460L. I really want to like the LS460 but I can't make myself do it. It's as if Toyota is going in a direction with the LS that is completely foreign to my taste in cars. I know at some point I'm going to have to buy another car and I want to be ready to buy something I will really like for the long haul. As I've sometimes joked, at my age my next car purchase could easily be my last. Other than one little sporty "toy" I owned from 1985 to 1990 and disregarding my wife's more numerous car purchases, I've owned only three cars since 1979 with driving each about a decade. I like nice, comfortable, roomy reliable cars. I've actually considered a fairly modestly equipped Porche Panameria but I don't know if I could live with it over the long haul and I don't like the thought of being at the mercy of the one local Porsche dealer. With an 11+ year old LS, I know I'm just one major fender bender away from having to buy another car. Right now, it looks like the Equus would be the best choice for me. I really don't want to sound like I'm trashing the LS460. It's a very high quality car and many if not most people would love to have one.

Well .,. as I think I reported in that last thread, I test drove a "basic" rear wheel drive Hyundai Equus and then a fairly basic all wheel drive Lexus LS460L on Columbus Day. Both cars had air suspension and the Equus had a higher level of equipment while listing at over $20,000 less than the LS460L. I could have driven the Equus all day but I couldn't wait for my drive of the LS460L to be over. Seriously, the LS460L just wasn't pleasant to drive compared to the Equus and I just wanted to get it back to the Lexus dealership and get it over with. Not counting the ancient 1956 190SL I bought when a "kid" in 1969, I drove "modern" Mercedes (450SEL, 240D) from the 1970's to when I bought my first Lexus LS in early 1990. Since 1990, I've drive a Lexus LS almost every day. It is clear to me that, with cars the Equus, Hyundai could do the same thing to Lexus that Lexus did to Mercedes 20+ years ago and without the "baggage" of having a separate dealer network. The King is dead. Long live the King!

My translation of what CuriousB said: "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"

Czar has been a popular political term for decades. A history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czar_(political_term) Come on, Lenore. Have you been doing a "Rip Van Winkle" or recreational drugs?

Come on people? After I gave you the wiring diagram for your Nakamichi system on Oct. 17 you replied: I dont know what I'm looking at but I will take it w/ me to my stereo guy. Thankyou for responding Steve What did your "stereo guy" say? Maybe it can be done but I don't remember anybody replacing a Nakamichi amp with an aftermarket one. There are frequently used amps on ebay. And maybe forum member dcfish will see your post and offer to sell you Nak parts. However, when the speakers in my LS started cutting out and everyone told me that the Nakamichi amp was the problem, the real problem turned out to be a loose connection in the head unit. As far as I know, nobody repairs Nakamichi components anymore. Nakamichi went out of business years ago and the company currently operating under the Nakamichi name is not the same company.

Is replacing the fuel filter in the maintenance schedule booklet for your non-US IS? I've driven Lexus LS cars for about 300,000 miles and have never replaced a fuel filter since replacement was not in the maintenance schedule.

I always buy just the OEM rubber inserts and reuse the blade assembly and metal stiffeners. If you go with complete aftermarket blade assemblies, you can get locked into buying complete blade assemblies each time you need just the replacement rubbers. With OEM inserts I know that I can pop into any Lexus dealer and get replacements. I've had lots of practice but I can install new rubber inserts into our Toyota and Lexus in about two minutes per car.

That horse isn't just dead but stinking and offensive. Jaswood :chairshot:

Look up the part numbers for both the 91 LS and Celsior at http://www.toyodiy.com/

Who do you think comes out ahead the most when a bank fails? Who do you think loses the most when a bank fails?

I wonder if the "charges" on old parking tickets like these would be dropped if the recipient simply notifies the city that he was going to come to court with the expectation that he would confront his "accuser". I've gotten only one parking ticket in 45 years of driving and it was dropped when I called the city and told them that I wanted to see the police officer / "meter maid" that wrote the ticket in court. Of course it was easy for me since I was legally parked when I got the ticket. It was the last day of the month and it looked like everyone parked on the block got a ticket -- might have been from pressure to meet a parking ticket quota.

You are going to need two HB2/H4/9003 "pigtails" since your 92 LS OEM headlights use HB1/9004 bulbs. You can either cut off the existing bulb connector or leave it in place and splice in the HB2/H4/9003 pigtails in case you think you might want to switch back to the OEM headlights. The last time I converted a car to H4 headlights, I bought the pigtails at an autoparts store. Do a google and you will find lots of places to buy them online. Yes, the 90-92 LS400 headlights are very bad ... main reason I sold my 90 LS in 2003.

I think the biggest issue is that your posts seem to parrot rants from a variety of angry chain letters. They don't seem to be based on your own experiences. To persuade people you really need explanations and they need to be in your own words - explanations based on your own reasoning ... not somebody else's.

And would you please explain in detail what you are talking about because I have absolutely no idea.

Which, Steve, is why I haven't been participating much anymore in these nonsense threads. I do have to wonder and be concerned about what is causing so much irrational anger among so many people. It sometimes seems like I am inhabiting a completely different country than these angry people. I suspect that one of the reasons that I'm not particularly worried about the current world situation is that I have quite a bit of information about how the centuries have gone for various lines of my family. This information seems to help me view the current world situation as just of blip in time. Let's have a little Rudyard Kipling!: If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!' If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run - Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!