Woodi68

Thanks VBdenny! I'll give that a shot.

I have no idea what the lifting mechanism is called, is this the Trunk strut? (2002 LS430) Anyway, problem is I suspect it's supposed to basically open with one finger, but it basically takes both hands to lift it open. Suggestions?

I tried these ones and after 4 or 5 tries I've given up. I have a message in to my dealer to find out if they'll do it for free.

Interesting... I hadn't noticed the cold weather issue. I've only had my Lexus since March, so maybe I'll have an answer before Spring!

I am experiencing what I think is pretty common for this model. When I dim the mirror the "magic blackness" spreads evenly across, but DOESn't all go away. It then takes many hours for the mirror to go back to normal. I'm trying to buy a new mirror for a "reasonable" price, but I've only found a 91 mirror for "that" price. Does anyone know if they are the same? Is it easy to change the mirror out? Any suggestions? Should I just put up with the problem?

I can only assume the shop didn't reinstall it properly. A couple friends of mine and I today disassembled the entire thing and found that, besides being a bit raged from it's trials over it's life, several of the bolts were not original and were installed with nuts and washers which didn't really work that well, since MANY of them actually fell out. So, my friends found several of the little plastic nuts that clip in, which were still usable and moved them from non-essential holes and placed them up front where you couldn't have installed a nut on the back. For those that could have a nut. They did get a nut. Really complicated, but really only took a couple hours. One of the other problems turned out to be a metal strap that's up under the bumper to re-enforce the structure and keeps the bumper material from tearing. This metal strap had been bent by the bumper being hit in the past (apparently since I just recently aquired the car). So we removed the strip and hammered it back into shape. All's well so far! Looks pretty good! We did have to install on fine piece of handyman craftsmanship. We had to drill a hole on the front passenger side of the Engine Under Cover because the hole was damaged in the dragging. A mighty fine (and undetectible) wire tie did the trick there and it's way up under so you can't see it!

Yeah, after you gave me the "Engine Under Cover" name I called my dealer to check out pricing. They said $218. Not TOO bad I guess. They also said lots of people call it different things, but Engine Under Cover is the Lexus name for it. I tried calling several junk yards in the area... Lexus parts just aren't easy to come by I guess.

I took my 92 LS400 into a non-lexus shop to get the air conditioning fixed. When I got the car back I noticed that black plastic cowling under the front bumper was hanging down slightly on the passenger side. When I called the shop about it they said, "well, it's not that important, don't worry about it". And, just figuring it would just hang there and not really be a problem I continued driving it. Eventually I noticed it was hitting the ground on occasion and eventually all but one bolt had come out or tore through the plastic and it was DRAGGING as I was going down the highway. Now, I'm no big fancy car owner and am not completely ashamed of the now duct taped and wire tied front cowl, but I do have to admit I find it a bit troubling and if nothing else annoying. What do you call this part? I'd like to go into a junk yard and find a replacement, but don't really know what it's called. Also, I think there might be something particularly with how the bolts fasten to the bumper that caused part of the problem. Where would I find a part number for this thing? Any feedback for me on this dilemna?