Robert Young

I have no delay using an AT&T Blackberry 8800 with a 2006 LS and my wife's AT&T 3125 also works well in it. Good luck!

Send me an email at robert.young1014@sbcglobal.net and I can reply with an electronic copy (file is too large to attach here). I might also have an extra paper copy as well.

Wrong!!! The nav antenna is under the dash cover, so hope you never have to change that. The mast is only for the earlier version of lexus Link, which is no longer supported in any case. Some of the parts sites list replacement antennas for about $100. I hoped I could use it for satellite radio, but turns out that requires an antenna with an LNA and the simpe mast will not work. Therefore, I simply unscrewed mine and put a stainless steel screw in its place because I didn't like it there in the first place. Note, I do have the nav system and it still works just fine. The info on various antennas and functions can be found in the factory manuals on techinfo.toyota.com.

Look in section 4.3 of the owners manual. Note, the "reset" buttom is way up inside the drivers footwell, along with the buttom to disable the smart key system.

HS has the same wheelbase and is a slight bit wider than the 2010 Prius. It is almost 10" longer, probably due to the trunk (which is a real plus with my wife). I hate the "flip" nav screen dash design and hope it looks better in the final version, since you generally have to buy the nav to get phone bluetooth with Lexus. I originally thought that Lexus would make a hybrid ES version, since the Camry hybrid already exists. However, the ES is a bit heavier than the Camry and I don't think they have a bigger 4 cylinder to plug in, like they did with the HS design vs the Prius, to compensate for the increased weight and the battery itself.

I did have the mirrors on both sides replaced under warranty, the cost section that you normally don't see was over $1000. The service rep indicated that this problem is fairly common for all the Lexus cars that use the "dip on reverse" feature. Hope Lexus get this sorted with a redesign for the assembly.

Curious on how many others have had this problem. I've been operating the side mirrors with the "dip on reverse" feature enabled since the car was new in Feb 2006 (don't drive it a lot, only 15k mostly city miles on it now). Both mirrors have sporadically frozen in place (up/down). I first noticed something and didn't immmediately connect, when the mirrors would not be in the correct position following pulling out of the driveway or some other backing maneuver. What really got my attention is when they refused to move at all from the dipped position and were essentially unusable. While in the dipped position, I tried to correct the position ever time I drove the car and several times they would start to operate again. When they recovered function, I cycled them full range (up/down and side to side) to see if that would clear the problem, but they would freeze again in fairly short order. The dealer is replacing the mechanisms under warranty, but I hate the thought about how much that might cost if Lexus wasn't covering it. The service rep did not seem to find this problem unusual, which is the reason for this post. I like the "dip on reverse" feature, but not sure I really want to use it in the future when the "fix" may be on me. We have had several other brands that my wife and I would share, with frequent mirror adjustment, and have never had this kind of problem.

I think you can still download everything in .pdf form from techinfo.toyotat.com, but it is in a bunch of small files. I expect that Toyota supplies a search tool for the mechanics. I downloaded everything for our LS 430 and it took only a few hours, they charge $10 for a 24 hour access period.

See attached, the shark fin antenna wire apparently is in the trunk (2007 and up) and the only way to get an integrated radio is to buy the Lexus unit. Price isn't that bad if you do the installation yourself.2007_IS_XM_Radio_Installation.pdf

A trick I've used on several cars is to: 1) find the sensor wire running from the crank (or distributor for older cars) to the ignition computer input 2) connect a push on push off microswitch that can ground the sensor wire in a place not visually apparent 3) install the microswitch under the upholstery in a convenient place, where a slight push will toggle the switch 4) when parked, simply toggle the switch to ground the sensor and the engine will not run If you make the connections in a place that is not obvious, the bad guys have to a) figure out what you've done and then B) run a new wire. Of course, they've probably already damaged the car getting into it, etc. A friend of mine, with a BMW (which used standard DIM radios), simply got to the place that he didn't replace the radio and just left the car unlocked! He found that was easier than fixing the $500 worth of damage whenever someone stole his $200 radio.

I think the shark fin is only for XM, the AM/FM antenna is in the back glass and the GPS antenna for the nav is under the instrument panel skin. The original XM antennas had two leads, one for the satellites and one for the ground based repeaters (in most cities) that give you the better reception than Sirius. It turns out the signal strength was better than XM anticipated and the later XM radios went to a single antenna lead that carries both the satellite and ground feeds. If my memory is correct,the XM signal is on the order of 2300 MHz, which is a long ways from anything else in the car. Also, like all XM antennas, the shark fin contains a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) that draws power from the XM radio and I'd be surprised if it would be of any use on something other than XM (possibly a Sirius radio could use it, since Sirius is on nearly the same frequency band). I had looked into using the wasted Lexus link antenna for XM, but that would not work due to the issues discussed above.

The reason the LS 430 calipers are wide is that they have pistons on BOTH sides, so the caliper is bolted in place. The type of caliper is much better for both performance and maintenance. Cheaper cars, including most other Lexus models, use sliding calipers. That type have piston(s) on only one side, generally the inner that is away from the wheel. I've had problems with the sliding calipers on high mileage cars, you have to be careful that the pins the calipers operate on do not wear (or the mount). Brakes on the wife's Volvo have a vibration due to this and the Volvo "rebuit" mounts that should cure the problem turned out to be simply removed from another car and spray painted gold. Don't ever buy a Ford manufactured or controlled product, cars are nothing but junk and no long term support!

I noted on my 2006 LS 430 that the drivers side mirror glass, when adjusted to my preferred position, hits the body as it folds in. I decided not to automatically fold the mirrors, but perhaps damaged the mirror as it has now stopped working U-D. Unfortunately, it stopped working in the "backing up" position so it is almost useless for driving, but fortunately for me Lexus will have to fix it under warranty. :)

I just looked that up for my 2006 LS 430, the repair manual Section 70-42 for the side mirrors directs you to Section 75-17 which is how to remove all the interior door trim. Fortunately for me, Lexus will have to fix my mirror (which moves L-R but not U-D) under warranty.

Same experience, I just took a day with high speed access and was able to downlaod everything for the LS 430 in a few hours. It took me much longer with Acrobat to put everything together into reasonable files. The wiring diagram alone is 538 pages! Beats the others, GM wanted $135 for a paperback copy of the manuals for my truck a few years ago.

I think your 2005 is identical to my 2006 and I put in the factory XM radio kit. The antenna connection is in the trunk, the attached XM instructions will give you a clue on how to proceed. I think the actual receiver is on the low right side, with the amplifier assembly above it. Plan on a bit of time to do this and if you want to add XM or Sirius, now is the time. With luck, you might be able to do what you need when you get to the step in Figure A-3 of the XM installation. LS430_XM_Radio_Installation.pdf LS430_Sirius_Radio_Installation.pdf

Agree with the sentiment on location. However, at lot of the engines with the starter at the side now have problems with the exhaust manifold heat from the emissions impact (note the new cars have cats really close to the manifold, my GM truck has 3 cats for its "single" exhaust). I've had to put in (or add to) heat shields in some of my cars as the solenoid caps would crack, etc. Guess the "no such thing as a free lunch" applies.

I have the same experience as Blake. I've done Reno to LA, all on freeway at 80-85 (just going with traffic flow in CA) and seen a measured 28.5 mpg. In fact, the LS 430 seems to be at its best at the high end as I've not seen much over 27 mpg when running closer to 70. Reacting to some comments in another thread, I did check the tank average calculation the LS makes with actual measured fuel replacement over a couple of 300+ mile freeway segments and the LS was accurate to 0.1 mpg. All that said and with my extreme pleasure while driving the LS at all times, my local (all non-freeway driving) does yield much reduced mpg values. My normal short commutes (yes, LA acutally has some) yields around 14 mpg during the rush hour in traffic that is actually not bad for LA. I occasionally have to go into the infamous traffic in Santa Monica / West LA, for those commutes I'm lucky to see 12 mpg. The problem is obvous and only helped by some form of hybrid, while sitting at 0 mph, you're getting 0 mpg that has to be integrated into the final result. :)

Saw an article in the paper a few weeks ago, apparently the metal in the cats is valuable enough that the bad guys will cut them off the car during the night and sell them for scrap! Mentioned LA among other cities as worse than average, so I make sure the Lexus is at least behind my gate.

Probably is only the battery. The comment on steady drain for alarm, Smart Access, etc. is cetainly correct, in particular Lexus recommends turning off the Smart Access if the car is left sitting for a long time. As far as batteries go, I can't recommend the Optima Red Top spiral type construction enough (not cheap, but very tough).

I've seen brake fluid from the calipers look much worse than fluid further up in the system. One method I've heard about and used is to open the bleed port in the caliper when changing the pads. This allows the old fluid to come out when the pistons are pushed back for the new pads. Then, when I've changed all the pads for that maintenance (both front and rears rarely need to be changed at the same time), I pull some additional fluid through the calipers and top off the system appropriately. I think the key item is that you never want to get contaminated fluid into the anti-lock brake mechanism, it would not be a simple repair if you ever had a fault.

I trick that I've used from the exotic car circles simple adds one additional layer to whatever factory systems provide. I simply attach one contact of a small push on - push off type micro-switch to the wire from the distributor or crank sensor to the ignition system, and then ground the other switch contact. It is easy to hide the micro-switch under an upholstered panel. Simply push the panel in the appropriate spot when leaving the car and the majority of the bad guys will never be able to start your car, they know what the factory does and can't afford to play with something that is different. While this wouldn't help something towed directly to a chop shop, it is easy and can't hurt.

Lexus mentioned "new hybrids" in the owners magazine, but I have not seen any more nformation other than perhaps Detroit / Chicago auto show introduction in early 2009. The key to the Chevy Volt mentioned earlier is the shift to Lion batteries vs NiMH. Even if the basic capability is not enhanced, the shift would allow a smaller / lighter battery pack and both of those attributes would be good. Industry reports are that Toyota is moving very carefully toward the Lion batteries, since they had a very good history with the reliability of the current technology and wouldn't want to screw something up that carries 8 yr / 100k mi type of warranties (especially in light of the exploding Sony batteries in laptop PCs, etc.). I'm somewhat in the same position, my wife needs a new car in 2009 and we haven't a clue which way to go. The RX models are intersting, but a lok of the technology / features are really old.

I've had pretty good luck searching for Pioneer parts on the web by part number. Good luck, as it looks a bit unusual. Is it the on\off switch or the volume control (pot probably) that is bad? The other approach is to see if some generic switch / pot might be installed into the asembly.

For the 2006 it is a CR2032 with the Smart Key system, CR1616 with the regular key. Look in Section 4.3 of the Owner's Manual.