Micah

Yes. There are 3 connectors. You will need to pull the carpeting back to get to them. 2 are near the front, one is below the fuse box right below a relay or something. I had to get a screwdriver to pry the clip a bit so that it would release. Mine was a bit hard to release but once released its easy.

I'll try to. What do they need to look for? I took it to the toyota place (no lexus dealer around) and they said the suspension was good. Sears said the same thing. They even did a 4 wheel alignment. Do I need to take it out of town to a lexus dealer?

Has anyone had any experience with conversion to e85 ethanol? I was thinking about it for my car because it said it is 105 octane and should cost less and burn cleaner when introduced to my area. There is an adapter being sold on ebay that looks like it might work, but I'm not sure. Here's the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...em=300007788615 Thanks!

Hi, when I go over large bumps such as those when first going onto a bridge, my rear of my car seems to go to the left a bit. Its a bit like I'm sliding. I've heard that struts can do this, but the suspension seems very stiff and doesn't bounce like the struts are bad. I've also seen suggestions of the busings, but I thought that would make the wheels loose feeling when the car is suspended. My suspension feels very firm when the car is up. The toyota dealership and sears said that my suspension looks good. I also had a 4 wheel alignment recently which didn't really change anything. What could cause this?

Check ebay motors for the replacement. I purchased one from there and it was very simple to program. The fcc id is listed in your owners manuel and is probably the same as mine. Mine was listed on page 11 in the owners manual is is HYQWDT-C. You just do a search for that ID (be sure to check "Search title and description" so that you get the maximum number of responses. BTW, I paid about 30 dollars for mine, shipped.

Mine had the same problem, but was intermittent. I wound up disassembling the door and removing the entire wiring harness. . .took it in my house to be comfortable while working(wasn't too hard to do). Afterwards, I started testing all the wires with an ohmmeter which took me a pretty good while. I finally came to one of the wires that was bad as it produced too much resistance. My problem was with a white wire with a black stripe on it and was broken inside the weather boot that connects the door to the car. I pulled it back and respliced the wires together. I believe that your buzzing noise is occurring b/c your window relay doesn't have enough amps to operate the window as that motor takes a lot of power. I also found that my passenger window didn't work either and the drivers window buzzed. Now it works perfectly. My interior lights didn't work correctly before either.

I had a car that did this and it was the catalytic converter.

Control arm bushings?

Also, if they did not change the dryer, some of the old oil may have been left in the system. When this happens it mixes with the new oil. These oils are not compatible and will form a corrosive agent. One should always replace the dryer when doing these changes is what I was told by a mechanic. Also, your o rings could be drying out causing the refrigerant to escape. They may have put a stop leak agent into the system to patch the hole, but I don't believe that its a permanent fix. Also, R134 operates at a higher head pressure than r12 does. If your system wasn't designed for r134 then this could be the cause of the problem as its harder on the compressor and other components. It also doesn't have the cooling capacity of r12. Hope that helps a little. By the way, there's always some reason that a car gets low on freon. It had to escape from somewhere originally, so when they merely recharged the system, they didn't fix the cause. They only fixed the symptom. The only way to fix this permenantly is to find out where its leaking out using a leak detector (a chemical that is put into the system then a light shown onto to find the leak. . .just one method). They should be able to do this if they are a good shop. A lot of times it is the seals in the compressor. It can leak out from the compressor itself in other words. My personal opinion is that I would start looking there. Worst case is that it is in the evaporator (inside the dash) which may take some man hours to get to. You would be looking at some money to fix that.

figured out. There is a cover behind the door handle that I didn't notice. there's a bolt behind that

THere are 2 bolts below the arm rest. They need to be removed as well. I'm in the same predicament. The door handle will still be holding the panel on. I don't know how to get it off.

Hello, I'm having trouble getting the drivers door panel off my sc400. I've been having problems with the wiring and want to evaluate it beneath, but can't access it without it off. The door handle seems to be the only thing left holding it on. I removed all the screws (including the ones beneath the arm rest) and the quick snap holders removed easily. How do I get around the issue of the door handle?

Has anyone ever experienced this problem? two scenarios: 1. Key in ignition: Open drivers door and the overhead light goes out and doors try to unlock twice. 2. Key out of ignition: Open drivers door and the overhead light goes out. In both cases the overhead light dims away as if I'm closing the door, but the door light on the dash stays on but dimms a little after the lights go out and the light on the door stays on. When I first open the door (just crack it open) all the lights work normally, but once I swing it all the way open, this happens. I'm sure there is a wire grounding out somewhere, but where should I start looking? It doesn't seem to be blowing any fuses. I did notice that the rubber grommet that covers the wires that goes from the drives door to the car's body is broken and I can see the wires If I pull it back.

As far as your overdrive light blinking, On my ford (with the e4od electronic tranny), the overdrive light blinking means there is a transmission problem. May be the same on the SC400 since the transmission is electronically controlled. I'm not positive about this on these cars, so if anyone else know for sure please correct me. You might want to count the shifts. You should feel (or document with the rpm needle) 4 shifts plus one extra for the torque converter lockdown (so that means 5 changes in RPM). That's my two cents, at least! YOu might also want to have the computer scanned to see if there are any codes. If there is a problem with the transmission you would be best to fix it before it becomes a larger problem. Most auto parts stores will let you use their's at no charge (around here they do) as they want to sell you as many parts as possible I guess. Hope that helps at least a little.

ROM means Read Only Memory. It means it cannot be programmed with a newer remote, hence Read Only. As for replacing the key, the car you bought has the remote built into the KEY (a single button behind the Lexus symbol). When you purchase this key (from a dealer), he is saying that you also recieve a chip that you (or the dealer) would install into the car. This allows the car to "talk" to the remote. As it stands now, the car only knows how to "talk" to one remote, the one that you do not have. This would be the one that came with the car when purchased. Newer cars (such as ones purchased in 1996) have newer technology. This newer technology allows one to program a replacement remote without replacing the chip that allows the car to talk to the remote. This type of programmable technology is called EPROM which stands for Erasable, Programmable, Read Only Memory. In short, you can change the way the car talks to the remote with this type of technology whereas with plain ROM memory the only way to change the remote is to change the chip (that tells the car which code to listen for). BTW, memory is the medium with which any computer stores information. Sorry so long winded, but you requested clarification. I hope that I have done this as I have done the best I can as I am not a writer. I see numbers better as I am a Mathematics Major. I do know one other thing, I was able to reprogram my keyless entry on my car. It is a 1996 SC400. I will post the steps that I used successfully in PDF format. Here's the PDF. This worked for me. Pages_from_96_key_fob.pdf

I have a bit of rust on my sc400 (1996) and I'm going to let it ride for now b/c I plan on repainting the whole car b/w now and next June. I know they make a primer that changes rust to black primer, but you would have to repaint that area later. You could get a dremel if it is very small and grind off the rust then use touchup paint. . .just an Idea. Mine is starting to get under the paint in front of my sun roof where a rock pecked the paint. I'm just going to wait, though, b/c I have a dent to repair as well.

Well, you probably need the timing belt changed along with coolant and water pump and drive belts for one. All that cost me 1025 (I had a 20 dollar coupon) dollars from the toyota dealership here in town. Other than that, they probably quoted you for spark plugs, distributors, and plug wires. I did all of that myself and it cost me 150 for the wires at NAPA, 50 for the plugs (at NAPA), and 80 for the distributor caps and rotors. Labor: free as I did it myself. They may also be quoting for transmission fluid change which at the toyota dealer ship it costs 125 dollars (they change the filter too). Prices can add up quickly. I still have to get the tranny fluid changed in mine, but I've done everything else at 205000 miles.

Sounds good, I'll try that. Thanks for all the helpful info!

My car shifts very smoothly in all gears except when upshifting into 3rd gear. The transmission shop I use (I trust them very much) said that it was probably my motor mounts causing the engine to come at rest precisely when the car was shifting into 3rd gear. It also has a slight vibration in park and varies with rpm. Motor mounts are the suspect on my car and I'll replace later as they are not really a priority to me and I wanted things like the brakes and timing belt all replaced first. Hope this helps a little. I have not had mine very long and it is a 1996, but it drives and shifts very smoothly (for the most part), especially for a car with 206000 miles on it.

Thanks for the fast reply. I finally figured out that the rotor has 2 threaded holes in it near the hub. I inserted two bolts (ones I had laying around) and drove them in. This pushed the rotor off (I did have the emergency brake off before doing this). I still couldn't get the rotor off as something was sticking, the emergencybrake pad. It seems that it had been rubbing against the rotor for some time now. I fixed the springs that were inside the thing that hold the pads in the hub (one was bent such that it was hitting against the back of the lugs so I removed it and bent the nail looking thing back to shape). Put the new disc on and the car now stops GREAT!! No vibrations anymore. No vibrations when driving now either that I could tell (will drive tomorrow on interstate to really be able to tell). Was like night and day, but the hardest part was getting the old rotors off. after the rust broke free around the hub and the pads were freed of the inside of the rotor, it was a snap! Thanks for the helpful advice, chubyball!

sounds like you have it under control now. Overheating could be several things. . .the radiator (that was the culprit in my ford econoline), the radiator cap (that was a good idea to replace it), the thermostat, the water pump, or a blown head gasket. You would most likely see bubbles in the radiator if the head gasket were the case (or so I've been told). Best of luck!

I got the caliper and brake pads off with just the dust shield and rotor left to be removed (I even took that big bolt in the middle off thinking it might be holding it on). The rotor seems to be stuck on there. Am I missing something? I can't get the thing off. Tried beating it with a bid hammer to no avail. WIll not come off. Please help anyone. thanks!

Transmission shop said the hard shift was the motor mounts (just enough torque for the motor to lay down or something in third gear). Next step will be the mounts. Thanks!

Got mine recently too. Never been over 85 in it, but it drives very smoothly at those speeds. Mines a 96 with 205500 miles on it and it still looks and drives like a car with 50000 miles other than a slight engine shudder which I recently found was just a motor mount. Love this car! I'm going to have mine repainted in a couple of months b/c it has a rather large dent on the rear and some dents on bottom behind the wheel wells (should be able to cover up with some ground effects which will also fix the rear bumper at the same time). Can't wait til its finished!!

With the direction of jzz30, I reluctantly crawled under my car and jacked up the rear of the transmission (placed the jack on the rubber grommet on drive shaft). I only jacked it up maybe 1/2 an inch. Started the car and no vibration now. I believe it is the rear motor mount as jzz30 suggested. The dealership didn't pick up on this for some reason. I still felt a hint of one at about 1200 rpm but not enough to matter. smooth as silk otherwise. Will call dealer to see how much it will be to replace. Thanks to everyone who has helped me with my knit-picking problems. May have seemed trivial, but I believe I am ocd and need everything perfect. I know, a lot to ask of a car with 205000, but nonetheless, that is just how I am. Thanks again! One more thing. I am going on a trip to St. Louis in it and don't know if I should attempt a transmission fluid change in it before I go. I'd like the filter changed too, but am afraid of doing so before a long trip. If it goes, I'd rather it be while I'm here local to my own mechanics. Would it be bad to change all this before I go or should I wait until I get back? Also, when I was driving one day, I heard a sproing sound that sounded like it came from the transmission. I also now notice that it shifts into third a bit hard (harder when accelerating harder and harder than the other gears engage). Should this be a concern as it doesn't really shift that badly. Just a little bit hard into third. I do know that the transmission has springs that engage clutches and regulate the hydraulics, but am very much a novice. Sorry for my ignorance. Could this be related to the bearing rattle when I am coasting with my foot just barely on the gas? Sounds like BBs rattleing in a jar kind of. Doesn't do it if I put a load on the transmission or if I totally let off the gas.