Gunnut

125 a couple months ago with my boss in the car. 129 last fall on a deserted part of a state highway. 135 on a sportbike. I realize many have gone faster on their bikes, so I qualify this with the fact I wasn't wearing a helmet and it was during rush hour on I-35 in Kansas City. One lane change by a cage and it'd been over. JimA

I don't think I'll buy another GS. I'm going to go back to the LS line. While the GS is high in luxury, it has nothing on the LS line. I guess I'm getting old. JimA

I bought a 98 GS400 to replace my 94 LS a couple of months ago. Finally got around to selling the LS. Drove it one day after I had an offer on it and realized the mistake I made going with the GS. Should have kept the older LS. but that's me. I inherited the big car gene from my Dad. JimA

Seafoam.

"If so, is this an easy do-it-yourself type fix? is there something like a "snake" you can insert into one end of the hose to ream it clean, or is that too primitive an approach for what may be there?" I've used a thin hanger straightened out. You don't want the wir to be too rigid. Make a small loop in the end so it doesn't poke a hole in the tubing. JimA

I am in the market for a 98-99 right now. I'm curious as to what the deferred maintenance items were and how much you paid for the car. I'm looking at a 98 with nav, nak, &97k that needs tires, brakes and the timing belt-water pump to be done.

I just got back from test driving my car after changing out the plugs and installing new wires. Man, what a difference. this should have been done when I first got the car. It really woke the motor up. the plugs were pretty worn. I'll have ot check the gap on them to see how bad but I could tell by a side by side comparision that they were well past their prime. Now to clean the throttle body and flush the tranny and power steering.

62k is only about 7k a year. Way low miles. THis car should be good for at least another 125k. Where else you gonna get this nice of a car that is good for that many miles for 14k? I'd be looking really hard at it. BTW, My 94 has the varnish as well. Doesn't concern me a bit at 163k.

Could be a rebuilt pump.

Ask the owner who did his oil changes. My 94 takes 5.6 quarts. the typical quick lube places advertise they refill with "Up to 5 quarts" of oil. they will routinely shave the total fill by .5 quarts to save themselves money. this would leave me a total of 1 quart low. That is why I do most all of my changes myself. When, do to weather or time restaints I have to use one of these services, I check the oil and make them top off before I leave. What is he asking for the car?

I just checked my tranny fluid. It is very dark. No red tint to it at all. I know to use the Toyota fluid. going to do a complete flush as well as a filter change this weekend. I'm guessing it'd be better to do the flush and then sacrifice 3 quarts of fresh fluid and change out the filter last. Any opinions to share? The car has 163k on it. Spotty records so I don't know hte last time it was changed but given the color of the fluid, it's been a while. JimA

The dealer can make your key off of the VIN as long as you can show proof of vehicle ownership.

That was the total price plus tx. She said there might be some moulding that will be extra but won't know until they order the glass. If it sounds cheap it is because I am taking advantage of a work relationship.

4 choices on the 94. Bronze with bronze shade. Bronze with gray shade. Gray with blue shade. Blue with blue shade. Being my car is Sandstone Beige, I'd assume it is bronze/bronze. But I'm going to make sure as soon as it gets sunny again. JimA

I called a glass company today about replacing the windshield on my 94 LS400. Its not broken, rather just pretty pitted and I'm tired of looking through it like it is. Quoted $210 with them doing the owrk at my office. I was a bit surprised when they asked for the 'color' of my glass. I'll have to wait for a sunny day to find out. JimA

Prolonged white smoke could indicate a blown head gasket. Other symptons of a BHG would be if the car overheats or runs extremely hot and if the engine misses. White smoke at cold start up is normal and is only the water burning off of the inside of the exhaust system. Mine does this every morning. White or gray oil is a sign of water in the oil which could be from a BHG as well. JimA

Dark oil is normal. Nothing to worry about. If the oil stays clean, I'd worry about proper circulation. JimA

Mine doesn't move either. I think if you manually move the seat and then press the button it resets the seat to your setting. I don't think it has an exit mode the way the wheel does. JimA

Better have the car aligned if you don't want to burn up two more tires. JimA

Jim, after the seafoam, the oil was not nearly as black when it came time to change it. As I mentioned, I was skeptical, so you can see the before and after pictures that show the difference in post #25 in this thread:http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...=30929&st=0 Blake, that is a pretty remarkable difference in the oil. How much did you add and how long did you run it in the crankcase before changing? JimA

What did you notice in the oil? JimA

I've had the part for at least a month now but the weather has been so cold I haven't attempted it. Yesterday I took the car to a friend of mine's place and was able to work on it in a heated shop. Plus he has an awesome set of Snap-on tools. Nice gun collection as well. I used the instructions off of the Lexls.com site. They really made the job a lot more straight forward. I believe I could have gotten it done but there would of been a lot more trial and error to the job. Only two more cosmetic/convenience projects left to do, new antenna (already have the parts) and remove and possibly replace the window tint. I can already tell this is going to be a very satisfying repair. JimA

Are there any tutorials on how to do the soleniod screen? JimA

I've been looking for some replacement wheels for my 94. THe chrome on the stock wheels has seen better days. I have yet to find a better looking wheel than the stock offerings from Lexus. But, to each his own.

If you don't have all the issues I had with mine, I'd say the $4200 price would be fair. The timing belt can be an expensive job. Something to think about. The A/C compressor on mine was something that could not have been predicted. Even then I beleive I did okay on my deal. It is a great car. JimA