RDM

Four O2 sensors. The primaries set the A/F ratio, the secondaries adjust for catalytic efficiency. I removed my resonators about a year ago after hanging one on a very tall speed bump and damaging it. I assumed I'd get something out of it, there was zero increase in sound or power. So although you can reduce a few pounds by deleting them you won't gain a thing. The converter removal may pick up a few horsepower, but the piping is really the issue on the LS, it's dreadfully small. The issue with removing the converters is they have a very weird upper flange, not something any muffler shop will have, so it's likely they wouldn't even touch it since they can't cut and weld to the manifolds. Plus, it's illegal to do so anyway.

Mileage rarely matters on a wheel bearing, they go out from hitting a large pothole, curb, etc., any kind of major impact. OE Toyota bearings can easily last 400k miles.

Agreed. Any tire/wheel place has removal sockets that are designed to cut into and grip the wheel lock. You can also just buy an impact socket a bit smaller (21mm probably), hammer it on, then ratchet it off. Anything to grip the wheel lock works fine. Trying to actually break it apart though will be impossible without damaging the wheel too.

Air pocket in the cooling system, or a defective coolant sender. They corrode over time and the terminal will become loose, triggering the light randomly.

That's an awesome price. I looked at just recovering my rear seat to match my fronts (out of an IS300) and got quotes starting at $900. If they're going to disassemble and rebuild the lower portion for less than $200 I'd get on it.

PB Blaster does nothing if the stud is corroded and heat cycled to death. All three of mine broke loose easily, but about midway through the stud just sheared off. Any exhaust hardware on a 20yr old does that. Like I said on page two, yes, but you don't have to buy the kit. Just weld up both openings on the intake plenum. A good welder won't charge you half the kit price. If your pipe isn't cracked you can cut your own plate (just use the gasket as a template) and bolt it on to the end of the pipe, sealing it off. No need to remove the converter and risk breaking hardware.

Like I said above, $129 gets you a reman unit that works fine as long as the system is properly flushed. Anyone paying more than that just likes to be abused.

Must be a lame shop. My local rebuilder does every type of alternator, starter, or generator, import stuff rarely runs more than $80-90 for anything. They did my LS starter for $70, and I used to send core units to them when I was selling parts to just clean up and make them look new for $30 each. Any competent place can handle it, sounds like those guys are just lazy or inexperienced.

Weaver Automotive in College Park has two of them with memory adjust, M&S Auto Parts has one without. All three white. You do realize you have to do some legwork to find parts, they don't just fall out of the sky.

As he said, WITH navigation. So if yours does not have navigation, no.

The parts interchange shows them to be different, but that may just be due to the plug, options, etc. 95-97 models had the memory setting option that's not listed for 98-00. The actual housing looks the same. I found a few yards with mirrors for as low as $40, a few in the $75 range.

Instead of stabbing at guesses, why not pull the codes and see what comes up? It could be a faulty ignition coil, injector, coolant temperature sensor, anything ECU related. Pull the codes and you'll have your answer.

http://www.sportsandimport.com/ Don't follow their website for inventory, it's rarely updated, but they have a good 150+ cars on hand and plenty of warehoused parts.

Typical fuel filter replacement interval is 60k miles. I'm surprised people let it go for so much longer. The only thing to note is to do it when the tank is empty since it's lower than the tank and thus dumps a good amount of fuel on the ground while changing it.

There is no valet/override button on the OE alarm. It is triggered by opening the doors, trunk, or hood, so first narrow it down as to which one is triggering it. The door switches do stick but they wouldn't stick open if the door was closed, unless one is broken, so go around and try each one manually to see if they work correctly. That's pretty simple to do and will eliminate those as the culprit. Next try the trunk, arm the alarm and then press down on the lid, maybe even lean on it, until the 30 seconds passes. The switch is located in the latch and may be worn enough that it doesn't trip unless there's a load on it, like the trunk fitting tighter. If that's not it it's the hood switch, which I believe is located behind the latch itself. The hood latch is not adjustable on these cars so you may just need to order a new switch since you can't tighten the tension on it at all.

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/searchWheelsByVehicleAndSize.do?bp=&yr=1998&wd=17&rw=&vid=006167 Should work, this is Discount Tire Direct. 68 wheels come up searching your car. Nearly any reputable wheel site will have a similar system of searching.

Why do you think they won't fit? The LS400 is a very common car for wheel fitments. Nearly anything with a 5x114.3 PCD and below a -50mm offset will bolt up fine. Both of those wheels show to come in correct sizes. For a 17" wheel you can go up to 9" wide if the offset is less than -20mm or so, less if you go with a narrower wheel. I don't think you're looking very hard if you can't find anything.

Though I'm a fan of urethane bushings for a lot of applications, the majority of the rubber bushings on an LS400 should be kept rubber. You want the compliance rubber gives to allow for a softer ride, and urethane requires a lot of servicing, people don't realize that. Urethane does not wear as fast but does dry out faster and should be greased regularly to keep squeaks and noises from popping up. The Adus 505 bushing for the rear axle carrier is one that I have because the dealer's repair kit is three times the price, but this is also a place where the bushing doesn't see twisting forces very much, so it's not going to require a lot of service. The upper Aarm and lower control arm in the front should be kept rubber due to the higher loads, as well as the upper and lower control arm in the rear. For the price a pair of Arnott Aarms is a good investment since you're getting new bushings and the ball joint, which isn't available separately.

The second generation door lock actuators seem to be a common problem, several people here have noted they die prematurely. Why would you think an oil change would cause an issue? The circuit for the locks is a shared one by all four actuators, plus the control unit. A 'fuse' would eliminate them all if it was blown or messed with.

I have the parts to do this but have yet to have time to put it all on but from what I understood, and looking at the ball joint, it's the connection to the tie rod end that is the issue. The first generation ball joint has a raised arm that the tie rod ends bolts to, sort of stair step shape if that helps, while the later ball joint is flat, allowing the tie rod end to sit lower. It's the raised part that interferes with the caliper since it's larger, thus longer, and sits lower on the spindle. Take your wheel off and look at it.

I replaced mine with an aftermarket unit from Advance Auto. It died about a year later, but mainly because I didn't fully flush all the old, incorrect fluid out of the system, the previous owner poured it full of PS fluid. It came with a lifetime warranty so it was no cost to replace and has been fine for three years now, about 35k miles. It was $129 and tax. The main concern is to make sure the nasty fluid is cleaned out.

I should have also noted that calling is a better option. Most salvage yards are still old school, some don't reply to emails daily, some places only have one person to handle the internet sales. Calling the place usually gets a quicker answer, and even better if you find one remotely close, just go in person. Money talks, a person calling is not a potential customer as much as the guy standing at the counter, cash in hand. I do a lot of business with salvage yards and there's always the guy who's too busy to look up or worse go out and find a random, obscure part. Show up ready to buy though and he's motivated to get on it and do it.

I don't do 'quick and dirty jobs' either. I don't know why you suggested I did, or do. I've been doing car audio for over 20 years, back long ago I was certified with the MECP for Installer, Installer First Class, and Alarm Specialist. We're trained to run wires inside the cabin. I don't just throw random ideas out without fact behind them. The rear seat is removed in less than 2 minutes by anyone qualified, 3 minutes if you're a novice. The kick panels and Bpillar lower trim all snap off. It's a very simple job to disassemble one side of the car to run a wire, and again you want to run it away from the OE harness, which is actually sitting flat on the floorboard, so there's no need to pull anything else. No dash components save the lower trim under the driverside has to be removed to drop a wire down through the grommet where the hood release sits. I agree, though I'm betting any amplifier rated at 1000 watts is only putting out half of that. Still, a 4gauge wire would be better suited for the current draw required by such a large amplifier, because you also must factor in voltage drop across the length of the wire too. Wears out? A wire that size doesn't wear out. I hope not anyway. You're only half right here. Everyone with a brain knows you would fuse the wire. But if the fuse is at the battery end and your power lead shorts at the other end of the car, what happens? Sure the fuse blows, but only after the ground current travels back to it. If you've ever grounded a wire on accident you know there's a spark. The higher the current, the larger the spark. A wire carrying 50-60amps will make a much larger, hotter spark then if you grounded a 10amp parking light lead. Will that spark ignite anything? Doubtful. But it's still a risk. Fusing it at both ends is safer, but you're still going to have a slight resistance because of the fuse, and it's one more 'serviceable' part you've added. The bottom line is in the opinion of anyone who does car audio work it's easier to run inside than out. Think about a clean, professional job running a wire under the car, you have to jack it up (jack, ramps, blocks, stands, etc) so that you can access the underside of the car easily. It will be dirty, greasy, and otherwise obscured with debris under the car. You will then need to remove the plastic cover over the fuel lines and secure your wire tightly to them, using zipties every 4"-6" or so to ensure it stays tight and does not gain slack anywhere. You will first of course snake it down from the battery, avoiding the engine, exhaust, and any moving parts, and then snake it up over the rear subframe, again avoiding moving parts and the exhaust. Then you must re enter the car, there are grommets everywhere but you want the grommet sealed to prevent leaks and to keep the wire from moving, chafing, and grounding out. All of this is not hard to do, but you'll get dirtier and spend more time doing it. Running the wire inside requires no zipties, no extra tools, and you can do it in your Sunday best if you really wanted to and not worry about a dry cleaning bill. But, to each his own. I do find it funny that on this forum when a series of opinions is presented, even with factual data behind them, people get upset and try to argue. No one is saying you (or anyone) has to do anything a specific way, but blindly choosing an option with no basis besides what someone else did is not intelligent. Research the data if you're really that one sided about it, or better yet, since your mind is already made up anyway, don't even bother to post on the subject. Either way, I'm done with it myself. You guys can continue to bicker but leave me out of it.

There is a plastic channel under the car by the frame rail that covers the fuel and brake lines, but there is no wiring harness running fore/aft under the car. I assure you, I've been under mine a dozen times and parted out another one, fully stripping it to a shell then cutting the shell up for scrap. If your mechanic likes that option, cool, but it's just way more clean, safe, and easy to go inside.

First thing first, start a new thread. Bogarting into someone else's thread with a completely different problem is just plain rude. Secondly, when you do post, try typing a little better and use capital letters where they belong so people can easily read it and be better able to help you.