RichieRich

I bought one of the cheapie replacement masts from Ebay. Used the tutorial on lexls.com to install it. Other then being a greasy job it wasn't too difficult. Two weeks later and now the antenna cable clicks loudly when it tops out, then drops back down about 6 inches. The mast is also very rusty already. Probably going to leave it in there until it stops working and then replace it with the OEM one. I don't like having cheap junk on my cars that rusts in less then two weeks......

The 93 LS400 just clicked the 100,000 mark the day before yesterday. The car is new to us and maintence records are a bit spotty. What should be checked/replaced to assure that the car will have a long and healthy life with us??? Thanks Rich and Lori

Update: Replaced alternator and battery.... Everything seems to be back to normal now. The alt was the problem. The previous owner had recomended that we replace the battery when we bought the car since it was very old and nasty looking, so we swapped that out as well just to be on the safe side... BTW, the day after the Lexus died, my Tacoma also left me stranded on the side of the road (igniter crapped out). Been sitting in the driveway all week (borrowed the company van to get to and from work).... After 13 years and 4 toyotas with no breakdowns I had two dead Toyota products in two days, what are the odds?????

We were rolling back from AZ to San Diego, cruise set at 85+, radio on, life is good. Kicked the cruise control off because someone wandered into the fast lane in front of me. I hit the gas after the wanderer cleared the fast lane and the car decides to not let me use the gas pedal, felt like the cruise control was still on. Tapped the brake and the cruise gave me back throttle control. Then the radio died, followed by the gauges. AC kicked off too. I pull off the freeway and stop at the end of the off ramp. Go to pull away and the trans is slipping like crazy, engine has no power. I manage to coax the car to a gas station. Car will not start, just clicks the starter. Checked all the fuses and battery terminals. Found a bunch of corrosion on the terminals. Cleaned off the terminals and got a jump start. All systems back to normal. Figured I had solved the problem. Get back on the freeway, all is well again. About 4 miles down the road the systematic failures start happening again. Car totally dies and we coast down a long grade on the freeway to an off ramp. After spending 3 hours on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere (near Plaster City) a tow truck arrives. Spend the next two hours riding home in a less then comfy tow truck with the poor Lex dangling off the back. What the heck could cause a systematic shut down like this???

Well, I put that fear to rest. I was reading all the receipts that came with the car and found one for the tires dated 8-02 with the previous owners name on it. These are the same tires currently on the car and have about 80% tread left on them. Miles listed on the date of tire install were about 86,000. Mileage is probably pretty close... Unless the dash has been on the fritz for the last 5 years, I think the mileage is pretty close to accurate. Antenna mast is in transit, just in time... Lori is gettin very tired of listening to the same Jimmy Buffet and Grateful Dead cds that are stuck in the changer.

Well crap..... Thats not good. Means that this car could have 1,203,658 miles and I have no way of knowing. The guy we bought it from said that the dash started acting up last year and that he seldom drove the car. I have not had a chance to pull the dash out of the car yet, but in other pics I have seen of the clusters there is an analog odometer hidden under the dash trim directly below the digital odometer........ I HOPE he isn't full of it....

No, not much of a gamer. I have not played games on line since a buddy of mine ran a quake server back in the day. Thanks everyone for the welcome and the advice. Hopefully I will get a moment to take a close look at the car and see if I can get some of the issues squared away. I am going to check ebay for the antenna mast, the cluster is getting shipped to Jim Walker for repair after Christmas and I will get the lighting squared away. Got to go for a drive this evening, boy is this car quiet and composed. Lori was driving a 67 Buick until yesterday, this is a whole new world for her and she is loving it..... Stupid question.... Does the odometer continue to function even when the dash lighting is out???

My girlfriend and I (actually it's her car) are the proud owners of a Pearl white 93 LS400 that we picked up less then 4 hours ago. I love the car and hope she will let me drive it once and a while. Just 45 minutes driving it and I am already checking out SC400s for myself. Might make it a 2 Lexus household very quickly. The car is in really good shape with a few exceptions.... The factory chrome wheels are pitted and chrome is flaking off in the indentations in the wheels. Probably has something to do with it living it's whole life near the beach. It has the usual blinking dash problem and the cd changer magazine will not eject. The car did come with a full changers worth of cds that are not too bad..... Oh, and the antenna is broken.... She paid $6500 for the car and it has 98,000 on it, not bad for it's age and Carfax confirmed it as accurate. Has new tires, brakes and a stack of receipts for maintence that I have not had a chance to read all of. Couple of questions.. The antenna, when triggered by the radio spits out about 2 feet of greasy cable with a 6inch antenna stub on the end. It does retract when powered off. Will a replacement mast be all that is needed to repair this or will I need the whole assembly?? A lot of the interior lighting is not working, might any of this be related to the problem with the dash cluster? Or just a bunch of burned out bulbs that the PO was too lazy to replace.... Dome light doesn't work, shifter detent does not light up, ignition surround is out. How can I get the cd changer magazine out without destroying the changer? Since we don't really listen to cds anymore, can the changer input on the head unit be modified for use as an aux input for Ipod or satellite radio? In regards to the dead dashboard, is there a description of the capactors that go out on them anywhere on the net? Or am I better off sending the boards off for repair? Did all the LS cars come with keyless entry? We didn't get any transmitter keys or remotes with the car nor did the previous owner. What it the best way to remove an aftermarket external cell phone antenna without breaking the rear window? Phone is long gone. The wheels are not worth having stripped and rechromed IMO. I have a friend that can get dealer take off wheels pretty cheap (he manages a tire shop) . Are there any Lexus factory wheels that will not fit on an LS?? (other then ES and RX models). Due to some overzealous buffer usage the bumpers on the car have some spots where the paint was burned, leaving the yellow urathane bumper exposed (pretty much a 1/8 to 1/4 in stipe between the bumper cover and the plastic trim strip. Will one of those "bumper medic" places be able to touch that up or is it something that should be left to a bodyshop? BTW, great site. I have spent the last few hours reading and have learned a lot. Now I am not intimidated by the concept of working on this car. I am a fairly competent shadetree mechanic, but all the electronics and the tight look of the engine bay had me concerned at first. Thanks Rich and Lori