obergc

I don't think you will get any mfg to make no cost repairs to a 10 year old car that has been out of warranty for years. It is frustrating to have to deal with problems like this but it is the nature of the beast. .. Curt

Went back and looked up the specific tires I bought for the LS 400, they are Michelin® Energy™ MXV4® Plus XSE® - P225/60R16 97V, cost was 150.22 each plus tax, mounting, and balancing. I like them. Curt

The a/c filter is located at the bottom of the evaporator/blower assembly. You pry off the lower instrument panel cover, then there are two wing nuts on the bottom of the blower assy. There are actually 2 filters inside the blower housing and each one has a fold in it because they are too long to just drop straight down. When you drop the filter, fold it at the crease and then it will come completely out. I just replaced my a couple of months ago. They are not exactly cheap but Lexus is the only source for them I believe, I certainly couldn't cross reference another brand. As far as tires go, I also just put a new set of Michelins MXV4's on that I purchased at SAMS Club. They are V rated tires and are the Michelins recommended for the LS400 if you search the Michelin site for the right tire for your car. I paid $700 which included tax, mounting, balancing, etc. with free rotations and a lifetime warranty on balance. No complains so far at all. Curt

Good suggestion tansupplyman. I have been doing sort of the same thing, saving the really interesting ones that I will surely have to deal with in the future. It just so happens that I have the post about the 3 capacitors which I converted to a word document. Here it is if anyone is interested. Curt Instrument_Clust_Fixr.doc

I would really recommend sticking to the Toyota coolant. I think GM may be involved in a lawsuit regarding the new longer life coolant. As someone said, if you have a coolant leak and the system is not kept completely full it can cause a lot of damage to your engine.

What year car? I had a similar problem with my 93 LS that has memory control of the outside mirrors for different drivers. The circuitry is different with/without memory for the mirrors. There is an electronic control unit for the mirrors if you have memory control that is buried under the instrument panel behind the glove box. I fixed my problem by removing and cleaning the outside mirror switch located on the instrument panel, drivers side. They have worked perfectly ever since I cleaned the switch. Curt

Denny, The manual warns to first disconnect the battery, wait 90 seconds, then remove the trunk trim pieces to get access to the mounting bolts for the light assy. Same basic procedure for the combination light or the tail light assy. The manual says there are two bolts holding in the combination light assy and five nuts holding in the tail light assy. Looks like there is no way to replace the bulbs without removing the assy from the car. Not your usual American mfg car access, for sure. As for the need to disconnect the battery first, who knows. On the 93, there is a light failure sensor that should warn you of a bad bulb. Don't know if the warning light will reset automatically after you change the bulb or not. I would hope so. I am just thinking about the airbag light that will come on if you disconnect the instrument cluster without disconnecting the battery first. The airbag light will not reset when you plug the instrument cluster in and it a rather difficult procedure to get it to turn off. Good luck. Curt

Usually a blinking A/C light means that your a/c compressor is locking up, which is a bad news. With the hood up, listen to the noise coming from the compressor when it is turned on. If it sounds like a grinding noise, turn it off and don't turn it on again because when the compressor is making a grinding noise, it's pumping metallic filings into your a/c gas system and the more it runs, the bigger the mess you will have getting it cleaned out. You can run an a/c diagnostics check by depressing the a/c AUTO and REC switches simultaneously and then turn the ignition switch to ON while holding the switches depressed. All the lights should blink on and off 4 times and then it will put a code, if any are set, on the a/c display. Good luck. Curt

First, make sure that you are in the indicated contacts, TC and AB. I used a battery cable clamp connected to an engine ground, your - battery lead is as good as it gets if you have good grounding wires. Turn the ignition key to ACC or On for at least 6 seconds before doing anything. Then you touch TC to ground for 1 second, remove the TC ground and then Apply the AB ground for 1 second. Repeat this for 2 cycles and then apply a steady ground to TC and hold it for a few seconds. The air bag light should start blinking rapidly. Then remove the TC ground and the light should be out. Thats what worked for me, did it on the first attempt. Good luck. Curt

As I said, the procedure I posted is for a 93 LS400, I am not sure that it is the same for the 94. No guarantees that it will work on the 94, does anyone else know for sure? Curt

I started to have a lot of problems with the theft deterrent system not working right, the alarm went off twice with the wife sitting in the car before she put the key in the ignition. The doors were locking by themselves when opened with the remote after the wife had opened the door and was sitting in the car. The memory switches on the drivers door were inop. All of these problems were caused by a bad door courtesy light switch. Rather then replace the switch, I found a way to easily remove and clean the switches without removing any trim or parts off the car. I then found out that most of the door switches in my car were bad or at best were working intermittently. After cleaning the switches, everything that I was having problems with started working properly, in fact it felt like a new car with all the little electronic glitches gone. I tried posting the procedure in the workshop but it wouldn't let me post it, I guess the presentation is a little too large at 711K. Anyone that is having troubles with their door switches, send me an email at obergc@cox.net and I will send it to you. Curt

Michael, according to my 93 shop manual, the key transmitters are supposed to come with a ROM (read only memory) chip that you would need to install in the ECU when you get a new remote transmitter. The manual says ROM, not PROM which is a programmable read only memory. If you buy the 2 keys, make sure that they come with the ROM to install in the ECU or they will most likely not work at all. Curt

I live in Florida where there is no deductible for windshield replacement. I got a crack in the windshield on my 93 LS and am insured with State Farm. My windshield has a bronze tint and none of the local windshield repair places had an identical tint windshield so State Farm paid for a windshield from Lexus without hesitation. Curt

Jeff, No connection between the pins on the data link connector on the 93 for clearing the air bag light. You procedure mentions clearing a 41 code, that is not even mentioned for the 93. There is no 41 code for the supplemental restraint system for the 93 model. You certainly have to be wary of using a procedure for one year on a different year, they obviously at times change things year to year. That's a good reason to invest in a set of manuals for your car as I know you did. Curt

A few questions. 1. It was apparently not heating up before you replaced the thermostat and that is the reason you replaced it? 2. Are you relying on just the gage to tell you it isn't warming up? 3. Have you checked that the radiator is hot to the touch and you might just have an erroneous gage reading? 4. Are you sure that you don't have a lot of air in the coolant system? 5. What year car?

What year car? This does not sound like a simple ecm reset problem. Are you sure that you checked all the fuses, they are located in different places. Usually if you disconnect the battery all you lose are your presets for the radio and the memory positions for the 2 different drivers. I have had my battery disconnected many times and have never experienced the problems that you mention. Curt

This procedure is in volume 2 in the supplemental restraint system section. Curt

This is the procedure for a 93 LS. I would suggest saving this because it is a real pain to try to scan a page in the middle of a 3" thick book when some vital info is in the fold area. Next time, DO NOT remove your instrument cluster without disconnecting the negative terminal of the battery first and then waiting 90 seconds at least. I know first hand that it will give you an airbag warning light. I was able to reset my light on the first attempt using this procedure, it works. BTW, one number in the scan is ilegible, it says "turn the ignition switch to ACC or ON and wait 6 seconds. The "6" is not clear in the scan. Curt

Very useful post, nicely done. Thanks, Curt

Not sure but I suspect what you are talking about might be the Remote door lock volume control, the sound that happens when you use the remote . You can control the volume with it or you can shut the sound off. At least I think that might be what you are talking about. Curt

The connector to the solenoid is located under the car (naturally), near where the steering column attachs to the rack. At least that is where it is shown in my shop manual, if you have a DVM, solenoid coil should measure 6 to 11 ohms. good luck. Curt

Assume 94 location same as 93 and for the 93 the cigarette lighter fuse is a 15A in Junction Block 1, located under instrument panel, drivers side.

You just probably need a new mast, I purchased one from Lexus of St Louis for around $55. Easy replacement job. I would expect that you will have to remove the entire antenna unit though because the toothed nylon cable that runs internal to the mast that extends and retracts the mast is probably broken off and most of the cable is inside the antenna housing. Not an expensive or a hard job to repair using Lexus parts. Curt

In the past the Lexus dealer in St. Louis sold me parts for a discount. They were quick and cheap with the shipping also, wouldn't hurt to try them. Give them a call. Curt

You need to get into diagnostics and read what fail codes are in your ECM before you go and assume anything. You have to take a wire and short between two terminals (TE1 and E1) on the Data Link Connector, one located under the drivers instrument panel and and one in the engine compartment. Ether connecter will work. If you are not comfortable jumpering these two pins, get a friend that is comfortable with doing it. You count the blinks of the engine malfunction to retrieve a code from the ECM. After you count the blinks, let us know what the code is and you can go from there to put you in the ballpark of what is causing your check engine light.