Robert Young

Lexus actually supplies a flashlight in the tool kit (remember to check the batteries occasionally), so no under hood light. My GMC truck still has one, but I haven't seen one in a car for a while.

The camera plugs into a separate Television Camera ECU, located on the upper right side of the trunk area. The wiring diagram shows it under (outside, to the right of) the stereo amp. There are four wires from the camera to the Television Camera ECU; they look to be video +, video -, battery power and ground. The signal path for the Television Camera ECU goes through several other ECUs before it gets to the nav display screen.

Update, holding the A/C Off button did the trick and I did stumble on the instruction for that about 2/3 back in the owners manual section 4.3. I think this "test" is probably triggered more by miles / time driven on the computer (since A/C is almost always on) than any real measurement of air flow restriction, a bit like the oil change warning that has a similar reset function.

A real issue is brake caliper clearance, I think the other Lexus models use a cheaper sllding caliper design that does not stick out as far. I do not know what the performance brake package on the IS has for calipers, so wheels meant for that option might work.

I put the factory XM unit in my 2006 about 8 years ago and generally have no problem with reception, unless I'm in a long tunnel or have either a large hill to the south or thick trees overhead. The factory option radio which integrates with the nav system was the original XM design, with 2 antenna leads and apparently is no longer available. After the XM system had been up for a while, they realized they could take the performance hit and combine antennas for the satellite and ground repeaters. While that would hit overpass performance the more modern antennas are generally better and smaller. I have found performance to be just fine with my XM antenna on the rear package shelf, instead of being permanently mounted on the trunk. Attached are the installation instructions for the Sirius and XM radios, but I've never actually seen an installed Sirius system. LS430 XM Radio Installation.pdf LS430 Sirius Radio Installation.pdf

Unfortunately, the only electronic version of the factory repair manual that I found was on the Toyota Tech Info website, for which I was able to get a 24 hour account in 2006 for something like $15. The format for the information is not pretty (at least back then), being something like 1600 small pdf files grouped into 44 sections probably so they could change only a small file as required. I spent an evening in the office to download all of them and then used Acrobat to past the various sections together. In the section format, the files are much larger than I think this site and most email will accept. Also on the website are the 538 page wiring diagram (again in small pieces) and the historical tech service bulletins.

Just a thought, but try forcing everything without stable memory to reset. First, make sure the battery positive connection is good. Then disconnect the battery ground for at least 30 seconds and replace it with quick / firm contact with the battery (no multiple arcs). Somewhere in the owners manual there is a list of things you then need to reset, such as moving the seats to the end of range to calibrate the memory. I just did a quick look and could not find the right section, so it might be somewhere not obvious.

Thanks for the advise, I'll see if I can find an OEM and then maybe paint the slats on the original (the only parts that are bad) for a spare. I just hate it that my plastic GMC grill looks almost new with far more miles.

Thanks for the suggestion, I thought there might be something like that and had not found it!!

I've started to get a "replace A/C filter" warning at engine start. However, the filter is essentially new and shows not even dust (OEM Toyota branded filter, not aftermarket). I've had filters before with significant dust and various bugs at replacement that did not generate that warning. Everything seems to work fine and even the lowest manual fan speed pushes a reasonable amount of air. I may have to get back on the Toyota Tech Info website, as the repair manuals I've downloaded earlier do not discuss the test. Any ideas would be welcome.

Has anyone found a nice aftermarket front grille? I'm looking for something very similar to OEM appearance, but hopefully in metal instaed of plastic. I'm not happy that the painted surfaces on most of the horizontal bars in the OEM grille have totally worn away, with only 30k miles on the car.

I wanted to try the Continental Extreme Contact DWS, but they were in the middle of changing the 245/45-18 size to an XL load rating and none were available. A number of the other tire manufacturers are also changing that size to XL rating, which may mean more ride and noise issues for that size and the Lexus wheels will not accept much else. I might look into the 235/50-18 as used on the LS 460 in the future, they are only a bit larger in diameter and I don't drive the LS like my sports cars. Therefore, for the last tire change I had Michelin Primacy MXM4s installed as a substitute. The Michelins are a bit quieter than the OEM Dunlop 5000s, which had an annoying "boom" on small road imperfections from the very beginning. However, I've also had Michelin Primacy MXM4s on our Volvo and have never been completely happy with them. The Michelins still have more road noise than I like, in particular on the grooved section of CA freeways. Also, the Michelins on the LS 420 have a bit of an unsettled feel, it is not a vibration like poor balance or out-of-round (both checked several times) but a "squirm" feel is the best I can describe it. Both issues were also apparent on our Volvo, but not on other Michelin models. We had Michelin Hydroedge on our Volvo at one time and they did last almost 80k miles, however they are very hard and the ride / noise was not great. These were not much of an issue since we bought the LS 430 about that time and the Volvo was only used around town.

Hopefully, the suggestions for A/C fluid level check will fix your problem. However, one thing most of the dealers and mechanics don't seem to be aware of (or don't want to be) is that A/C compressor clutch wear is much more significant with recent cars. The main thing to look for is normal A/C operation when the engine is cold, but the compressor operation starts to cut out when underhood temperature warms up (potentially the cause of the idle issue, as the electronics would get confused). This is due to the shift in design from a compressor that runs 100% of the time with the A/C on to a sytem that cycles the compressor (done for fuel econ), it is the frequent cycling that just wears out the A/C coompressor clutches. My wife had a Ford Taurus that about drove me crazy with this problem (I know, but she had the Taurus before I knew her). The Ford OEM Nippon Denso compressor clutch would only last about 30k miles or just enough to be outside the Ford warranty, before the wear increased the air gap enough that the clutch coil would not pull it in when warmed up. On her Taurus with the 3.8, changing anything on the engine was a real nightmare! After getting the compressor / clutch replaced once for about $800, I decided to look into what was happening and that was when I found the air gap problem. You should be able to find the air gap spec in the service manuals, but anything much above zero will work. From some place like Snap-On you should be able to buy a tool to remove the compressor clutch plate, fortunately it is on the front and frequently not too difficult to remove with everything in the car and without draining the A/C fluid. On every system I've seen, you can then simply replace the shim washer with one a bit thinner. IN some cases, the dealers will actually have a variety of shims factory OEM. On the Taurus I had to do this about every 20k miles and you could see the wear on the clutch plate when it is removed. The 97 Volvo S90 that she has now has a better specified system, but it still had the same problem at 110k, fix was again easy.

Jac is correct! On our 2006 the Lexus Link was not even installed becasue service would not last past a couple of years, but they still left the stupid antenna in place. I don't think any service is available now for the analog type phone service that Lexus Link used. The LS 430 for other markets did not have Lexus Link, so they did have a roof panel without the antenna that could have been used. Not wanting the antenna to get ripped off, early on I simply installed a stainless screw in its place. I've tried to figure out some other use for the antenna, but haven't found anything other than some Amateur bands that might work. The antenna can't be used for satellite radio, both Sirius and XM require an LNA in the antenna system, which has to be powered.

We drove the HS earlier this year and thought that the drivetrain wasn't as smooth as the 2010 Prius. We will look forward to driving the CT for a potential city car only, can't beat our LS as a long trip car!

Make sure you check both the power side AND the ground side. A ground side fault is generally even more likely when multiple things fail at the same time, although the "clock spring" mentioned above is perhaps the most reasonable guess here.

I've been on travel, but page 43 of the owners manual tells how to delete the mirror dipping feature. Simply put the mirror adjust to the center position. The steering wheel tilt is a different story, it is one of the features that requires a dealer (or someone with special equipment) to change (also labeled "Personalized Settings"). If you want to change more than one of the "Personalized Settings" the cost is probably the same.

Good luck, that is one of the reasons I hate the moonroofs. I've had similar problems with Ford / Volvo products, unfortunately the LS 430 was not offered without the moonroof in the US (it was available in some other locations without the moonroof). Attached is a copy of the repair instructions, but be prepared for a lot of $$ or hours.Lexus_Repair_Manual_Section_74_Sliding_Roof.pdf

I just looked at the 2006 documentation and didn't find anything really specific. The general picture and one comment suggests that there are two drain tubes for the front AC system, both probably coming out near the bottom of the firewall. From the rear carpet comment, at least one problem may be with the rear unit. See attached.Lexus_Repair_Manual_Section_55_Air_Conditioning_System_page_12.pdf

I did an earlier comment on this issue, both of my mirror assemblies were replaced under warranty for sticking on the up/down motion. A number of LS 430 folks replied that they had the same problem. I can't believe Lexus hasn't fixed this, as the replacement cost for my repair was nearly $1000. I think one of the factors is use of the dip mirror feature when in reverse, which I've now disabled (but I did like it) as I'd not like to have a similar repair out of my pocket. :(

I think if your register the car with Lexus that you can download both operating manuals. If that doesn't work, the Toyota site http://techinfo.toyota.com/ has everything about the car, but there is a small charge for access. There is a lot of info in the manuals that is not covered on the CD/DVDs.

Putting a bit of R-134a into the system will probably fix it. The molecules in R-134a are apparently much smaller than the old R-12 type, so it leaks much easier. I've found that I need to put about half a can of R-134a in my wife's 1997 Volvo each year or so, with no detectable leak that a mechanic could find.

I'd ask the dealer, but there is gov site that has a list of all recalls (probably NTHS). You can also find out if there are active investigations that haven't resulted in a recall.

I looked at the 2006 manual, it shows that you can push the cruise control lever toward the dash for > 1 sec to select a standard cruise control mode of operation. If your manual is the same, see page 129 in section 2.4. Hope this allows use of cruise without the radar, since my guess is that the fix might be expensive. I do note that the manual discusses making sure the radar (or laser) sensor is clean, the radar appears to be behind the grill on the passengers side of the "L" and the laser is in the opening on the passengers side of the front bumper.

Unfortunately, you might not be lucky enough with a simple wiring fix. Lexus reduced the number of wires for each door by using ECUs (simple computer like devices). There are ECUs all over the car, including 2 for the driver's seat, 1 for the moonroof, etc. The door units are on a BEAN door bus, pages 153 and 154 of the 2006 wiring diagram, see attached. LR_Door_Pages_from_Lexus_Wiring_Diagram.pdf