warhummer1

I'm curious to see what they mean by "rack and pinion failed". I've never heard of one jamming, but if the power steering went out, you would have a !Removed! of a time trying to turn the wheel at a dead stop. That sounds more plausible, but would be easily controllable at highway speeds. Now, if you're trying to yap on the cell phone while eating something at the same time, you'd have some issues.

It's out...try Sewell Lexus parts.

One possibility might be the physical road surface where you're doing the braking. I'm not entirely familiar with your situation, but I have had instances of the steering wheel kicking slightly while braking on uneven asphalt. Basically, "tire tracks" formed at some intersections where heavy truck and auto traffic have literally worn shallow grooves into the road surface. If I start to brake with the wheels not in these grooves, the steering wheel tends to turn a bit until all four tires are tracking along in the ruts. If you can track locations where this is happening, it might help the diagnosis.

I only have 11,000 miles on my 2006 IS 350. I'm waiting to the last possible minute (looks like it will be 48 months) to get these installed.

If you order the XM radio from Lexus, all you have to do is read the instructions...and yes the labor charge is a bit excessive for anyone with some time to spare and the ability to read.. B)

To set the "warning ring" around the speedometer/tachometer you have to enter a setup menu. Instructions are in your owner's manual. It's fairly easy and you can dial in whatever you want. As far as your car's shift pattern, you usually will only see sixth gear once you establish yourself at a constant, highway-type speed. Also, if you have a "performance mode" switch, that changes everything and will typically allow the engine to rev higher in each gear before shifting up to the next one.

I bought mine from Lindsay Lexus in Alexandria. I went through their internet sales and the gentleman who helped me was very straightforward.

Try pushing the "OFF" button right next to it.

Satellite radio is transmitted at 2.3 GHz with about a 50 MHz spread between the lowest and highest alloted frequencies. The antenna gain pattern is virtually the same. People who have used the sharkfin installation for their Sirius have reported better reception than other means (sitting on the rear shelf for example).

Good question...I am about to go through this process in the next month with the Vais Tech SLS unit that allows full Sirius-Nav integration. I would like to know the answer to this as well. The research I have come up with is 50/50. Some say you can use sharkfin and others say you cannot. My Cert. Vais installer is going through the Sirius hookup for the first time. He has done many XM/ipod installs but this is a first since it is so new. He said he is pretty sure you cannot use the Sharkfin, but it dpend on the type of connection and he won't know till he gets in there. I hear you can only use it for XM.....If anyone knows the DEFINITE answer or has performed the install and used the fin, PLEASE SPEAK UP!!! Furthermore, does anyone know where to get the Vais SLS cheaper than $299, or are we stuck with that price tag from Vais????? Thanks! I've found some info that I'm trying to go over now to see if the sharkfin antenna connector can be easily changed or not. I've got conflicting info on the whether the terminal end is proprietary or not.

Didn't want to spring for the ML?

Destination charges are set by the manufacturer and are not negotiable. What you don't need to pay for are "document" or "dealer prep" fees. Dealer added extras also are not part of the equation. The $599 for XM radio was your destination charge by the way. You could have installed it for about $300 less. You paid almost 9% in taxes? Last time I checked New Jersey was only 7%.

Brain(?):Don't kid yourself. Here's the scenario. You come into the dealership, under warranty, with a car that traditionally has ZERO problems running hi-test fuel for the 70K miles of the warranty, and you're having trouble. So they take a look at the engine. Compression is around 75 psi, and the only way that would occur is from bad valves or bad rings. The valves are most suspect. So they tell you that they'll take a look, but the only way that this car goes through valves is if you don't use Premium gas. So they ask "have you used Premium Gas?" Now, whatcha gonna say, because they will know for a certainty when they open up that engine. And then they'll give you the bill for the $6 - $7K that they'll charge for a set of valves and rings to bring the engine up to spec. Or else, you'll just drive your poor car home, limping with your tail between your legs. And all because you wouldn't pony up the extra $3.50 per tank. But you'll put in some gas additive every few tankfuls in your car for roughly the same amount of money. Go figger. I sure can't. But like Bart said -- It's yer car, you can do what you want. larry Buy a Mustang if you want to use 87 octane. :D Lower octane fuel can be used at higher elevations due to the lower oxygen concentration in the ambient air. That whole stoichiometric thing.

From an engineering standpoint, premium gasoline is specified due to the high compression ratio of the engine. Basically, the fuel/air mixture is "squashed" more as compared to a lower compression ratio engine. At higher compression ratios, the fuel has a tendency to spontaneously ignite, without the benefit of the spark from the spark plug. When this happens at any point other than top dead center (piston is at the absolute highest point of its travel), the engine will not be able to perform at its best. The engine computer can help mitigate some of this but bottom line is that engine knock is bad. Think of it this way: if one was to go up to an engine and manually turn the crankshaft, you would see all the cylinders move up and down at different times, but all in some sort of synchronous motion. Proper ignition of the fuel/air mixture forces the pistons downward in their cylinders to turn the crankshaft. When this ignition happens prematurely (say from a lower octane fuel), you now have an explosive force trying to push downward on a piston that is supposed to traveling upwards, reducing power and introducing stresses within the engine that should not be there. Could one get away with mixing gas? I would say in most situations where you're not max-performing the engine (think steady highway cruising) then any damage would be minimized. However, heavy acceleration, stop-and go traffic situations are cases where I would not skimp on the required fuel. It's good insurance if you plan on keeping the car. Now sticking premium gas in a car that doesn't require it is, in my opinion, a waste of money. There might be some subtle difference in detergent additives among the different grades (company depending), but that's about it. One situation where this would not be the case is an older car that knocks or pings under acceleration. You can mitigate this with a higher octane gasoline. So, after much rambling, if the owners manual says you need 91 octane or higher fuel, you need 91 octane or higher fuel. Regardless of what you hear some schmo say on the internet. ;)

Are you referring to the shelf behind the rear seat headrests?

Good question...I am about to go through this process in the next month with the Vais Tech SLS unit that allows full Sirius-Nav integration. I would like to know the answer to this as well. The research I have come up with is 50/50. Some say you can use sharkfin and others say you cannot. My Cert. Vais installer is going through the Sirius hookup for the first time. He has done many XM/ipod installs but this is a first since it is so new. He said he is pretty sure you cannot use the Sharkfin, but it dpend on the type of connection and he won't know till he gets in there. I hear you can only use it for XM.....If anyone knows the DEFINITE answer or has performed the install and used the fin, PLEASE SPEAK UP!!! Furthermore, does anyone know where to get the Vais SLS cheaper than $299, or are we stuck with that price tag from Vais????? Thanks! As I understand it, the 2007 sharkfin is intended for use with XM radio only. The terminal leads from the antenna are supposed to end up somewhere in the right side of the trunk area, near the amplifier. If you have this installation (the sharkfin), want XM, and have the initiative, you can install the XM tuner yourself vis a vis the instructions located on the Lexus/Toyota tech website. If you want Sirius, the only viable aftermarket solution that I know of is to buy the Vais SLS unit and a Sirius tuner (compatible brand names are on the Vais website-Panasonic is one I remember). You're looking at $299 for the Vais unit and about $75 for the Sirius tuner, last time I checked. Now comes the unpleasant reality of the antenna. I believe that you can modify the sharkfin antenna line and splice on the appropriate connector to plug into the Sirius tuner. Most tuners that I saw came with their own antenna. I caveat this with the fact that I have not compared the wiring of the sharkfin antenna and the one that comes with the Sirius tuner to see if splicing the wires is a workable solution. If you're like me and have a 2006 IS with no sharkfin, you're stuck with whatever antenna comes with your tuner. I am, however, looking into procuring a 2007 sharkfin and installing that myself along with the appropriate connector. Don't hold your breath though.

Who did your installation? I'm curious because I'm about to retrofit an 06 IS350 with the sharkfin to use in a Sirius installation. I just have to see what connectors (if any) are at the termination of the antenna wiring.

Uhh, last time I saw the install instructions, they said to use the existing sharkfin antenna connection. It should terminate somewhere in the right, forward portion of the trunk.

So I brought my IS 350 in on Friday for my 5,000 oil change and all I can say is thank God for having the large panes of glass in the waiting areas that allow the patrons to watch the technicians work on the cars. Up goes my car on the lift, out comes the old oil, and then the technicians proceeds to pull off my tires and rotate them. "That's standard service," you say. I agree, except that I have uni-directional tires and my rear tires are wider than my front ones. I quickly pointed it out to a service rep and the tech sheepishly corrected the error. Had I not caught this, I'd like to think that I would have spotted it when the car came back out to me, or at least noticed it when I tried to drive away, but it's not doing much for the credibility of "factory trained technicians." Oops.

I paid most of it in cash and took out a small 3 year loan with my credit union, 2.9% if I remember correctly.

Thanks for the update. The only thing I have volume problems with is through the AUX input. I plug my Ipod in there occasionally and I have to significantly increase the stereo volume, even after maxing out the Ipod's volume control. I have not tried it out with any other audio device though. It might be an issue with the Lexus audio unit rather than a Sirius one.

While I'm not 100% sure, the connectors should be the same (easy fix if they're not), and the gain pattern for the antenna should be sufficient for both satellite frequencies (XM and Sirius).

I would be looking for one in the 06 Blue Onyx Pearl. I believe it's now called Black Sapphire Pearl for 2007. I also haven't checked the Lexus Tech Site yet for repair/installation instructions.

Thanks, I was looking at the Vais product too. The budget side of me is looking at the $299 price tag, plus another $99 bucks for a Sirius receiver and wondering if I might just say to hell with it and get the XM for $299. I wanted to try and get my hands on a shark-fin antenna and do the install myself. I haven't dug too deeply into the parts availability for an antenna from the 07 line. Let me know how the install goes and how you handled the antenna.

hnb, Yes, I have a pdf of it. The tech site website address is: http://techinfo.toyota.com/index.html Pricing starts at $10 and buys you 24 hrs of access and unlimited downloads. Unfortunately, there's no "download all" button to get the whole tech manual so you have to sift through what you need. You can email me at warhummer@comcast.net to get the pdf or dig around on the tech website.