1990LS400

All I'm seeing in this thread is hearsay and links to media articles. Let's have some links to statutes on state and provincial websites that show that eating while driving is in itself illegal. I'm a "fact oriented" person.

Probably because you have more pad left than whoever told you you had. Look for yourself. Measure with a micrometer. If you look at a repair manual for your car, you will probably find that one millimeter is the minimum pad thickness - that's when the sensor triggers a display of a warning message in your trip computer. Repair shops just love to do early brake jobs -- it's easy money. I had a repair shop tell me that my rear brakes were worn out 50,000 miles before I replaced them ... and they still had probably 10,000 miles of life left.

Your link was to a news article which may have sensationalized the issue. Do you have a link to the text of the statute? "Careless driving" has long been a punishable offense whether it is caused by eating, searching for stuff or just general inattention, wandering across lanes, driving erratically, etc., etc. Are you certain that just eating in a car is automatically a fine-able offense or does one also have to be acting stupid?

Soooo .... what's your solution or do you think one is needed? Personally, I'm getting tired of getting hit by people talking on cell phones and particularly at the inconvenience of getting cars fixed. I had a close call just a couple of weeks ago when I stopped for a red light and the cell phone user behind me didn't plan to -- lucky that the lane next to me was open for the guy to serve into. I haven't got hit by a "texter" (yet) but I'm noticing more and more people engrosed in texting and not moving their cars when traffic lights turn green.

I cannot vouch for them but https://www.leatherseats.com/ sells a complete leather upholstery kit for the 90-94 LS400 for $750 - that's for all the seats. My understanding is that they also sell parts of their complete kits separately but colors and textures will not match OEM.

Assuming you want an aux input for a 2001 GS300 and not for an ES300 of unknown model year shown in your profile, products from VAIS are generally regarded as the "gold standard": http://www.vaistech.com/ You can find them on eBay too.

I'm not a "Detailaholic" like "Steve" but Lexol products are popular and what I use: http://www.lexol.com/ I buy Lexol vinyl and leather care products at a saddle shop but I've seen them in mainstream stores. There are many good brands of these types of products. Consider using a windshield sun shade to preserve your dash and interior. Covercraft shades (about $50) are well made, are available for specific models and fit perfectly. I got 13 1/2 years out a Covercraft shade for my 90 LS400 and passed it to the new owner when I sold the car in 2003. I use a Covercraft shade in my 2000 LS400 when I park outside at work. My wife uses one in her Camry. High quality window tint is supposed to block nearly 100% of UV rays and might help preserve the interior -- at least that's our hope. Our cars are tinted to a moderate 35% tint -- maximum allowed here in Kansas. I use the windshield sunshade almost every time I park outside for more than a few minutes and sometimes even then if I think the area might be prone to break-ins. The sunshade and the window tint makes seeing what's inside the car difficult when the car is parked.

Yes he is. He used to look like Gene Wilder! What happened, Kansas? :whistles: I've been called a lot worse. Much, much worse. No, I looked like Froderick (get it? ) Frankenstein. I've long retired from doing major work on cars but I was always amazed after putting an engine back into a car that it started and ran ... and that I never had to use a fire extinguisher which I always held when a rebuilt engine was started for the first time.

I've been on Lexus forms for over 8 years and I don't think I've ever seen instructions or a link to instructions on how to swap an engine. I've removed/rebuilt/reinstalled engines/transmissions in other cars (e.g. Mercedes) and doubt if it would be much different for an LS400. Disconnect all wiring and hoses. Disconnect the drive shaft from the transmission. Disconnect the transmission shift linkage. Disconnect accellerator pedal linkage. Remove the radiator if needed for clearance. Remove the hood if necessary for clearance. Disconnect the engine and transmission mounts from the car structure. Lift the engine/transmission unit out of the car with an engine hoist. Yes, I'm probably oversimplifying it. It's mainly a matter of seeing what has to be removed/disconnected before an engine can be lifted out.

It's possible but I doubt it. The cause could be a number of things including corrosion. A competent automotive electrician who has the appropriate diagnostic instructions "should" be able to figure this out quickly.

The "Keys and Doors" section of the 2006 RX330 owners manual I viewed at http://drivers.lexus.com has a photo showing the knob that adjusts the beep volume -- looks like it is on the right side of the panel under the steering column. The manual says to see the dealer about turning the light flashing feature when the door is locked on or off.

I have no idea. I am only going by what a tint shop owner told me in 2003 -- that customers had complained about reduced radio reception after metalized tint was installed on rear windows with imprinted antennas. He would have installed metalized tint on my rear window if I signed a release.

No one ever commented about the rear window of my 90 LS not being tinted while the side windows had 35% tint. It looked fine and I enjoyed the clear rear view on dark winter days when I lowered the retractable shade. Attached is a photo of the 90 LS taken a few days before I sold it in 2003. The non-metalized tint on the rear window of my 00 LS is a different shade of gray than the metalized tint on the side windows. I don't think anybody can tell and no one has ever commented. Can you tell? Look at the photo of my 00 LS showing both the rear and side windows from a distance - it's the photo labeled "with winter tires". It is quite common to tint the front side windows to a different degree than the rear side and/or back windshield. Many states do not allow the same degree of tint on all windows -- here is a table showing the various state requirements: http://www.tintlaws.com/ And what about SUV's and minivans? They almost always have darker factory tinted windows aft of the front side windows. As for a Lexus requiring a certain "look", the photo of the license plate frame on my 00 LS says what I think about that! If I "followed the herd", I wouldn't have bought my first Lexus LS 21+ years ago at a time when many people, including some of my friends, said it was stupid to pay so much for a gussied up Toyota.

The 35% Llumar metalized gray tint we have on our current cars and have had on our past cars doesn't seem dark at all when looking out from the inside of our cars. But I'm unusually sensitive to sunlight due to a cornea issue and spending way too much time at the beach -- some of my friends call me "Prince of Darkness". Maybe other colors and brands of 35% tint might would seem darker than the 35% tint on our cars. I have chosen gray tint because I've been told that it is more optically neutral. My suggestion is go with the 35% maximum allowed by your state. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that they wish they had lighter tint on their car. I would prefer something like 20% if 35% wasn't the maximum allowed in Kansas although I would probably still use 35% on the back windows so I could see well enough to back up safely. If your ES350 has a retractable rear window shade, consider leaving it untinted. You can always tint it later if you don't like it. My first LS400 had one of the very rare optional retractable rear window shades that was available as a dealer installed option in the early 1990's. I left the rear window untinted on it and have since noticed a number of other cars with retractable rear window shades that had the rear window untinted. Also consider that rear window tint may interfere with your automatically dimming interior and exterior mirrors and that it usually causes a little "light scatter" on the rear window defroster lines from the headlights of cars following you at night. I've gotten used to the defroster line light scatter but I still wish the auto dimming mirrors had not been effected. Also be careful of using metalized tint on a rear window that has a radio antenna. My tint installer recommends against this so our cars have lower quality non-metalized tine on the rear window. Another tint option you might like is a front window brow. I had mine installed a few years ago when I scratched a cornea with a hard contact lens I used to have to wear and sunlight glare was making it difficult to drive. The window brow on my LS is 15%. The installer "cheated" a bit and extended the brow below the ASI line on the sides about an inch so that the line of the brow would be perfectly straight when viewed from the side. Attached are two photos: My side view of my 00 LS with 35% tint on a sunny day and a garage photo (dirty car!) that shows the front window brow.

Yes, it certainly can be an "interesting" experience when a TPS fails ... engine running but the gas pedal does little or nothing. Mine failed on a Spring 2009 evening while I was doing U.S. Census work at the end of a dead end street in a neighborhood I definitely didn't want to be in after dark. Having the required government placards on my car didn't make me feel good either and neither did having a nice shiney new looking car when most of the other cars on the street looked like wrecks or were up on blocks. As I was trying to get my car to move from a standstill, about 10 young tatooed guys holding beer bottles approached my car. They were maybe 20 feet away when my car suddenly lurched forward and I waved to them as I drove away. Maybe nothing bad would have happened but I'm glad I didn't have to find out. T-Bone Mike, how many miles are on your car?

I can't answer your question, but on my 00 LS400, my mechanic ran the power cable for my trailer lights from my trunk underneath the car to a terminal in the engine compartment fuse box. The power cable exits the trunk through an existing hole used for an ABS wire. I'm not sure how he hid the power cable under the car. He said he tucked in up into the car body and secured it with cable ties but I can't see it - he did a great job and it's been working for years. The terminal in the engine compartment fuse box looks like it was made for powering accessories. My mechanic put an inline fuse where the cable attaches to the fuse box terminal so that it is protected by the fuse box cover. Maybe a method like this would work for you.

Sorry, but I don't know if the throttle control motor should be "silent". Personally I wouldn't change it if it tests within spec but I'm no expert. I don't remember them being nearly as prone to failure as the TPS. Your mechanic "wants" to change the TPS ... but does it test as being below specification?

If you can't afford to take your car to a professional mechanic and cannot even afford the repair manuals for your LS, my advice to you is to get rid of your LS ASAP and a get a car that you can afford to maintain. Lexus LS cars have been my daily drivers for over 21 years (right at 281,500 miles) during which I never had a problem that could not be resolved quickly and at a reasonable cost by a competent Lexus trained mechanic.

I would suspect a problem with your Blackberry. Do you have other phones/Blackberrys that are working properly with your Lexus Bluetooth?

The attached page is from your owners manual which can be viewed without registering at https://secure.drivers.lexus.com if you don't have one. If you are careful and don't touch the aiming screws, you should be able to reinstall the headlight/foglight assembly without re-aiming the headlight. Some people remove duct work and the battery to change headlight bulbs but doing that takes far longer. Once you get the hang of it, a headlight/foglight assembly can easily be removed and reinstalled in less than five minutes. I did it in my 90 LS400 many times while testing various bulbs.

The attached pages from the 2000 LS400 repair manual set show the Throttle Position Sensor, the Pedal Position Sensor and describe how to test them. sf-36.pdf

The problem could be caused by something else (required disclaimer :) ) but my 2000 LS400 had the same symptoms when the TPS (throttle position sensor) began to fail in 2008 and the throttle would work again for a while if I turned off and restarted the engine. I'd have to look up the mileage but I think it failed at about 115,000 miles. Test or have the TPS tested to see if it really is the problem. My PPS (pedal position sensor) was also marginal so I had it replaced when the TPS was replaced.

A 12 year old spare tire is not safe for daily use - no matter how good it looks. Even the optimistic "experts" say that 8 to 9 years is the maximum safe life of a tire. Some European car makers say 6 years is the safe maximum. We are going to replace all the tires on our 98 Camry, including the never used spare, this fall since the four tires in use on the car are nearing seven years old. In a way it's seems a waste since the tires have lots of tread left due to the car being driven so little but that's just part of owning a car.

Are you sure the message isn't "Check VSC" instead of "Check VRC"? VSC turns off for a variety of mostly unrelated issues. I've had the check VSC message on my 00 LS come on due to defective batteries, throttle position sensor, etc. As long as the car is running normally, not overheating, etc., it should be safe to drive it to a repair shop. The first thing the mechanic "should" do is to check for stored problem codes.

If you also can't operate the door lock with the inside electrical switch the problem may be the actuator. Here is a thread on that: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=41219&hl= Yes, it is possible that the headlights are not turning off due to the door lock issue. The headlight auto setting is great for turning the headlights on and off as lighting conditions change but I found that it tends to run the batteries down in our Toyota and Lexus cars when the cars are left sitting for more than a couple of days. Because of that, we turn the headlight switches to the off position when we park the cars.