1990LS400

Jump starting, properly done, usually does not damage an alternator -- got me wondering if current day car electronics have become more resistant since my perception is that alternator damaged used to be more common. I was aware of so many cases of alternator damage back in the 1970s and 1980s that I made it a policy to never jump start other people cars unless I used my own jumper cables and the other car owner agreed to stay completely out of the way so I could do it properly. Even then I tried to avoid it. When I was in the Army forty years ago, injuries from battery explosions from improperly jump starting vehicles in the motor pool were so common that it was deemed a punishable offense. My jumper cables hit the trash many years ago. Now when we have dead batteries, I either put the battery on my battery charger or, if pressed for time, call a motor club to jump start a car. My wife did just that a few months ago. Her car had set unused in the garage for a week with a door cracked and the dome light on so she called the motor club to jump start her car.

The only instructions I find in your owners manual regarding the windows after a battery change are these: --------------------------------------- If the battery is disconnected or run down The power window may not operate automatically and the jam protection function will not function correctly after you reconnect, replace or recharge the battery. At this time, the indicator lights of the switches will flash. In any of these cases, you should normalize the power window on each door. To normalize the power windows: 1. Push down the power window switch of each door and lower the windows halfway. 2. Pull up the switch until the windows close and hold the switch for a second. Make sure that the windows open and close automatically. If the power windows cannot be operated properly, have it checked by your Lexus dealer. --------------------------------------- I guess you could try disconnecting the battery for a few minutes and see if that helps. Also, make sure the battery terminals are sparkling clean. A little baking soda, water and old tooth brush does wonders as will a battery terminal/cable cleaning tool which costs a few bucks at an auto parts store.

The following website is not always exactly correct but if it is you might have some difficulties with the local authorities with tint that dark: http://www.tintcenter.com/laws/CT/ 10% is awfully dark. 20% is not too bad for seeing out but I wouldn't want it on my back window -- even my current 35% sometimes seems too dark at night when I'm backing up.

The instructions for resetting the maintenance required light appear to be in the owners manual -- see attached.

Register at http://lexus.sewellparts.com with your forum member name and check for prices with discounts on OEM parts. If I'm looking at the correct part/assembly (I am not positive I am), Sewell wants $1,100.90 not including shipping which might indicate that your dealer is giving you a good deal off the $1761.44 retail price.

If your starter is spinning the engine fast enough to start it, then the starter is not the problem. Randomly replacing parts is an expensive way to (try to) solve a problem ... it's almost always cheaper to take a car to a professional mechanic.

The only official "special" LS400 models for the U.S. market I'm aware of were the 1994 "5th Anniversary Edition", the 1997 "COACH® Edition", and the 2000 "Platinum Series". There were sometimes special LS400 models sold in other markets such as the 2000 LS400 "Millennium Edition" for Canada which was essentially the same as the U.S. Platinum Series except without the emblems on the front fenders and the American Express credit card tie-in. There are, of course. those cheesy, vinyl top "Palm Beach Edition" Lexus cars from a Lexus dealer in Florida -- I thought I had a photo of one of his LS400 aberrations but these other two will have to do.

Unless it has a Lexus logo on it, it is likely a previous owner was careful to buy a cart that fit a particular area of the trunk. They are usually called golf carts or golf bag carts here in the U.S. Where I live, many courses do not allow golfers to walk the course and drag/push a cart and require the use of electric riding carts or allow golfers to walk only on certain days or times of the day. I've noticed that far fewer Lexus branded accessories were sold in North America than in some other markets. Seeing that you collect radios ... my grandfather sold and repaired radios in the 1930's and 1940's. I grew up with a Scott Superheterodyne radio in my bedroom which was connected to a long three or four wire antenna strung from the house to a post in the back year. The antenna wires were separated by a series of metal disks perhaps five inches in diameter. I spent countless evenings in the 1950's as a kid listening to short wave broadcasts from all over the world.

That would be lenore ... still again. :chairshot:

The strut rod bushings usually don't last 115K miles let alone 201K miles. It's a well documented issue on the 98-00 LS and there have been many past threads about them. I forget the exact mileage but my strut rods/bushings were replaced at around 80,000 miles due to excessive wear and a bad come and go vibration at highway speeds. They needed replacing much earlier that that. I'll probably have them replaced for a second time before 150,000 miles. I'm surprised that the transmission mount hasn't become overly compressed at 201K but I was told mine was fine at the 120,000 miles service.

If you have a 92 LS400 as your profile says, you can't use a bumper and fender from any old 90-98. At best you will have to stick to ones made for a 90-94 LS400 and maybe even to ones made for a 90-92 LS400 since there are differences in the body cladding between the 90-92 and 93-94.

Changing the brake fluid is very necessary -- what does your maintenance manual tell you? Changing the power steering fluid is not necessary -- what does your maintenance manual say about that?

There are plenty of instructions on this forum but here's a thread on another thread that has lots of photos: http://www.clublexus.com/forums/es300-and-es330/168680-es300-a-c-or-cabin-filter-change-97-01-a.html

Lenore should at least be happy that the scientist who promoted that wild theory that the earth is not flat was not funded by the U.S. government. <_<

I don't remember Lexus disclosing which company supplied shock absorbers although some have speculated Bilstein. Do you know if ls400 has air shocks on them? Air suspension was an option on all 1990 - 2000 LS400's but the option was more common in the early years. LS400's with air suspension have extra switches by the gear shift.

We don't really mean to do it on purpose but we've gotten some significant rental upgrades by being choosy and patient. Even through my wife is a "frequent flyer" or whatever you want to call it with car rental companies, she gets free upgrades mainly when they don't have the type of car she has reserved. If the car type you reserved is not available, upgrades are usually available if you are patient and pleasant. Although I didn't care for it at all, my wife and I got an Infinity M35 a few years ago for a 2-week rental when Hertz ran out of full size sedans (we wanted a Camry) and all they had left were SUV's. I don't consider an SUV an acceptable vehicle and we were promptly offered the Infinity at no extra cost. I've done something similar outside the U.S. When I specifically reserve an automatic transmission medium price car and none are available, I get a much nicer larger car that comes standard with an automatic transmission and at the same price as the lesser car I reserved. Rental car companies can be flexible especially if you are a frequent customer.

Gimme a break and man up.., just drive it....I live in alberta, canada and have only been driving for 3 years and i have no compaints. Sure i got stuck a few times but thats because there was so much snow it lifting the car from the ground and the wheels couldnt make contact. The &#33;Removed&#33; car doesnt even have a block heater but it still starts in -40 :)...Barely but it starts... Really! People down here are wimps when it comes to snow. Put some freakin' snow tires on your car, stop complaining and just drive it. Some of my relatives who moved from Ontario to the U.S. and didn't like it moved to just north of Whitecourt, Alberta. What we are experience in the U.S. this winter is mild compared to a typical winter up there.

Well ... see if your Lexus dealer can come through with a VAIS solution. It is possible that your dealer has gotten it to work even if the VAIS application chart seems to indicate that it does not.

Some of it is just part of the Internet culture where people have come to take for granted getting information for free. I'm always surprised and pleased when someone thanks me for the help I've given them. Yours and my rewards are knowing that we have helped others even if we have never been thanked: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altruism

2001 was the last model year in which the Camry V6 and the Lexus ES were mechanically virtually the same car. Since then the Camry V6 and Lexus ES have grown further and further apart -- especially beginning with the ES350. My wife and I, and especially her since she fly/travels almost weekly, rent a lot of cars and usually try to get a Camry like the Camry we rented for about a week in the Monterrey CA area last year. Unfortunately, most rental Camry's are sparsely equipped four cylinder cars. A fairer comparison would be between an ES350 and a high specification Camry XLE V6. But actually, the rental Camry 4-cyl car last year was very nice to drive -- I drove it "vigorously" (screaming around curves with tires sometimes squealing) at least 100 miles on the winding coastal highway 1 -- it handled great and felt more sure footed than my LS. I don't think the ES was ever sold in the U.K. or Europe but I do remember that the Camry V6 sold in the UK in the late 90's / early 00's had a higher level of equipment than the nicest Lexus ES sold in the U.S. The Camry, however, was no longer sold in the U.K. after the IS200/300 was introduced there. Too bad rental companies don't or no longer rent Lexus cars. I'll never forget picking up a rental car at the Seattle Sea-Tac airport in 1990 shortly after I bought my first Lexus. There in a stall near whatever cheaper car we were picking up was parked a rental LS400 almost identical to the one I had just bought. I remember my wife glaring at me when I said we should have rented the LS400. That was the first and only rental Lexus I've seen.

Please let us know how it works out. The VAIS application chart for Lexus vehicles - attached - seems to indicate that their products will not fit an 01 RX300 without nav. I have to tell you that it is extremely common for Lexus dealer employees to not understand Lexus cars - particularly the older ones. If I had a dollar for every time I had to explain a vehicle feature or a common problem to a Lexus service writer or other dealer employee ... well, you get the idea. If the VAIS doesn't work out, here is another idea. A company in California can add an aux-in to your RX300 radio for $60 not including shipping: http://factoryradioservice.com/page.html?id=1 The guys been doing this modifications for years and all the older radios he sells on ebay (seller name: factoryradios) have it. The Factory Radios aux-in mod will not display iPod information on your radio but it will give great sound. Here is a thread on ClubLexus about a guy (pizitz70) who just got his 99 Lexus GS300 radio back with the aux-in mod: http://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-second-generation/546486-sound-quality-of-3-5mm-aux-mod-to-oem-radio-from-factoryradioservice-com-2.html And, yes, that's me participating in the thread on ClubLexus -- OK, this is my weekend hobby! It's not very difficult to pull most Toyota and Lexus radio head units -- usually held in by only four 10 mm nuts or bolts ... two top, two bottom. Bubble wrap your radio, ship it to Factory Radios (after contacting him first), and the radio will have an inexpensive aux-in in a few days. If you go this route consider having the aux-in come out the rear of the radio on a cable you can route to the center console or glove box and see if he can add an on/off switch on a cable so you don't have to muck of the face of the radio. If if you want to mount a holder for the iPod by the radio you can get a nice bracket for a holder from the same company (Pro.Fit) that has instructions ( http://www.pro-fit-intl.com/Adobe/LX-70-99.pdf ) on how to pop of the trim bezel from around the radio so a bracket can be installed (or the radio removed).

I don't remember Lexus disclosing which company supplied shock absorbers although some have speculated Bilstein.

If this is the same independent mechanic who told you not to worry and if he doesn't regularly work on Lexus LS cars or at least Toyota vehicles, you may be better off taking your car to a Lexus dealer. I'm lucky to have an independent repair shop nearby that specializes in Lexus but lots of indies who don't routinely work on Lexus/Toyota vehicles don't seem to have a clue. I'm not into paying for the "free" coffee, snacks, WiFi, big screen TV's and leather chairs at the Lexus dealership but at least I get a "free" (it's not really at all free) loaner vehicle.

... who usually deserve it. :whistles:

Well, as shown in your owners manual the immobilizer can be activated when a battery is replaced. Per the instructions in the owners manual, have you tried a different key? Are the battery cable clamps nice and clean? Don't know if that could be a factor in this situation but cleaning the cable clamps and battery terminals with a terminal/cable clamp cleaning tool (and also baking soda, water and a brush) a few months ago to clean all the gunk off stopped my battery from running down nearly as quickly when I inadvertently leave an interior light on.