new2mud

AFAIK, LS400 weren't available from the factory with LSD--did you do some sort of retrofit/aftermarket?

I had already done the ecu reset and ODB jump/clearing the codes. It came right back on the first drive (after a few minutes). I did a complete fluid flush including TRAC actuator and accumulator this past weekend--haven't been able to drive it long enough for it to come back on--will hope that solved it, as it has for some others.

Depends on the model year--can't change only the upper balljoint without replacing the entire UCA on 1990-1994.

Anyone else with experience? I'll do a complete brake fluid flush (+ trac flush) today and see if that helps.

I wouldn't count on the tires IMPROVING grip with time. I had a set of Ultragrip Ice snow tires on my Cressida--1st season they provided simply amazing traction. 2nd season noticeably less. Since you guys are living in fairly cold climate year round you may wish to consider the Nokian WR tires--they have the extreme service snow rating plus are good for dry pavement. You can leave these on year round. I have a set on my LS400 now, but I do also run dedicated summer tires on larger wheels. For cold, also consider a remote starter--I put one on mine and by the time I get in it's nice and toasty and the rear window is also set to come on when its started--plus you can just drive away immediately since it's already warmed up. I've only had it to -20F and it started right up, but you guys are in another class of cold altogether!

Thanks! Is this an official Lexus chart?

Lower ball joints are very easy. UCAs are very straightforward...no need for a spring compressor or special tools (other than ball joint puller), as the entire shock assembly comes out together, springs and all. Took me ~3 hours the first time, but I bet I could do the other side now in 1.5 hours. As with most other LS service items, well worth the $1000 savings over what the dealer would charge. UCA aftermarket from Arnett run $200 for a PAIR. This is a relatively new item for them, so long-term durability has not yet been tested in the real world. However, considering the quality of their other items that are easily found on this board and others, I wouldn't put those on my car. OEM runs about $330 each discounted. When I'm expecting 80k+ miles from them, I don't mind paying for the real deal.

I just replaced UCA after also doing lower ball joint and strut rod cushion. The lower ball joint got rid of the initial "thunk" I had. Then realized it was hiding some of the "thunk" from the UCA bushings. Easy to check UCA bushings: grab one of the arms and push/pull with both hands and listen for any kind of noise/movement. Then grab other arm (on the same UCA) and do the same. Mine had a tiny bit of play that gave an audible clunk when yanking on the rear arm of the UCA. Replaced the UCA and now it rides and sounds good as new.

It worked fine for 1 winter, 1 summer, and now as winter cold sets in is when it is getting triggered. (Of course it's buggering up when I'll need it most!)

I live at high altitude and am getting the OBDI TRAC errors 19 (accumulator pressure leakage) and 51 (engine computer error). I am not getting any CEL light in conjunction, so that rules out O2 sensors, etc. I have heard that if the TRAC motor has to run for 10 consecutive brake presses then it will trip code 19. However, mine will trip after a period of time on the road even without pressing the brake. Here's the catch: When I drove down to sea level this past weekend the TRAC light did NOT light up at ALL during the duration I was at lower altitude. When I drove back up to altitude, sure enough, it tripped again. Any thoughts as to how the altitude is causing this problem?

Well, found a set on craigslist for 40 bucks for 2 pair, left and right. Cheap enough to not pass up, even if I don't NEED them. I got them in the mail, and I am really dissapointed that these cost more than about 10-15 bucks! I mean, if they do the job, great, but SOMEONE can make these for pennies on the dollar and still clean up at 15 bucks a side. Allow me to point out the basics: 1. They are polyurethane, that means they are made of skateboard wheel material, and the old soft style at that! Around 80a durometer as fas as I could tell by squeezing them. 2. The pin is just Turned steel, I don't think the diameter or wall thickness is special, but the length and bore must be through bolt close and strut rod yoke wide. 3. Get yourself 4 48mm 81a solid skateboard wheels, ( bust out those old skates in your closet!) no deep dish or fancy insides, about 15 bucks shipped on Ebay. You can even get pretty colors! Turn them down and drill them out like my dimensioned drawing on a lathe with a wicked sharp bit. 4. Find some pin material, like spacer stock or thick wall hollow rod (metal supply or make your own) Make sure its diameter is 22mm or larger than the bearing race in the wheel. Drill the id to the bolt diameter. You can make the diameter any size that is convenient, just match the bore of the bushing material with a snug fit. 5. So: Get a machine shop to make you about 20 pins, buy 5 sets of skateboard wheels and spend an evening behind your lathe and sell each set for 15 bucks. Then move on to other LS bushings, simply, no? 6. Want it cheaper, buy 1 ADUS 505 bushing set. Make some plaster or silicone molds of the ADUS bushing and buy some 2 part polyurethane casting resin. At 75a, its very close to the ADUS softness (maybe a little softer) Pour a few dozen and get your pins made and bag'em in sets. Sell to all members of us.lexusownersclub.com! Well, maybe not that easy, but why are these so expensive??? They really are not that special, but if they get a 45,000 dollar car (new) back to factory ride, maybe we are not the people to talk to about penny pinching.... Follow up: Installed both sides today and OMG! Now this is what the car is supposed to drive like! Rear is completely stable. No more !Removed! wagging when you go over a bump in a turn. The rear does not sag anymore. I think my shocks are actually good! Noise over lane bumps is much quieter. This repair has really helped this car. I am impressed again, and to quote myself, "they really are not that special" I was wrong. They ARE special in the way that they make the car drive again, but they still are not that physically special. The old ones were so soft, only 1/2 inch of rubber at the core of these bushings, the rest is void. My control rod could twist with light hand pressure, now it is solid. To appreciate what these bushings do, unhook the rod and move the carrier around, it is fairly easy to do and these bushings basically push the car forward and haul the car to a stop as well as keep the rear wheels tracking true. Lots of forces on this set of bushings. A few points to stress when you do this job: Use jack stands. Dont bother drilling out the rubber bushing or burning it out or even pressing it out (unless you have a 33mm arbor, not real common) Just Tighten the nut/bolt and twist it out, I drilled the first one and pushed/pulled it out. Took me about 10 minutes drilling and cutting. Saw what it was made like and the second one was twisted out in 6 seconds and left alot less rubber in the there to cut through. Use a sawzall carefully. It is hard to see behind the brake shield on the bottom. I uses a rocking motion with the sawzall to cut down to the iron on each side then flattened it out to watch my progress, worked great. 2 sectional cuts, the piece literally jumped out, and the rest of the bushing pushed out with little more than finger pressure. I used lithium grease to lube the polyurethane bushings as they are impervious to petroleum as stated on the MSDS, no need for 5 buck an ounce grease! They pushed right in and the greased pin tapped in with the butt of a screwdriver, snug fit. Now the hard part, the arm does not want to reach back to the new bushing. I thought I tweaked something, but it was just the way the multi link suspension wants to sit relaxed. You need to muscle the carrier forward and turn the carrier inward to line up the trailing arm. It is difficult to do but I found a real easy way to do it. Dont try and lift it, it does not get it any closer, you need to turn the front part of the wheel inward, that gets it close, then you use a strong screwdriver or my tool, a long tapered punch. Put it in and lever the carrier and bushing to align. All these little tricks were from doing the first side and learning better ways to do it. I started the one side at 1:30 and by 4:30 I was done with that side and wondering if I could even do the other side tonight. Granted I did walk to the corner autoparts store to buy the "special" grease, and look for a few lost tools in my tiny garage. I would say a solid 2 hours for the first side. The second side took my 34 minutes from the time I cracked the lugs to the tire back on the ground and that was including some sawzall blade issues. I could do the next pair in under an hour, time me! Flexy video! Fantastic...thanks to all for sharing tips/advice and especially the time-saving ones!

If you let it sit for a while before restarting the motor...then I'd just say you didn't have a lot of carbon buildup in your combustion chamber.

As stated above, ONLY tires with the mountain/snowflake extreme service rating are to be trusted for true snow use. All-season tires are an entirely lower level of snow traction...and you'll notice it immediately. For comparison, my RWD LS400 can get around way better on snow tires than AWD/4WD with all-season tires, and I live in an area that gets over 300 inches of snow every year. Now, the only truly all-weather tire that has the mountain/snowflake rating that I am aware of is the Nokian WR tires, and they are the same compound all the way through, unlike Blizzaks, which only have the good stuff on the outer 1/2 of the tread. Plus the wear rating on the Nokians is comparable to an all-season. You can put these on and leave them on year-round, without the worry of chewing through them on dry roads. However, you won't get the responsiveness that a true summer tire provides.

Especially if it's an even swap....

If you are referring to the LCD readout itself just being blank, then this is an LCD issue, not lighting. Also, if the "low" light you are referring to is the "green" LED indicator light, then that is not as easily user replaceable. However, the backlighting for the button itself is easy to do--check out the Lexls.com tutorial. You can even replace with blue LED backlighting while you're in there.

Just make sure you get the correct harness for your year vehicle. Not to bring up an old thread but I cant seem to find these anywhere in the states? Where did you guys get yours? Thanks in advance! You have to be patient and search the various Lexus and VIP forums...best bet is to find a used one from somebody on one of these boards. Also, occassionally there is one on ebay...just keep looking and be patient...they do show up from time to time. I saw several when I was shopping around earlier this year.

Flushing didn't do anything to the assist--PS was fine before...I just wanted to do some PM to clean out the solenoid and reservoir screens. Thanks for the tips to clean the area really well, fellas. I'll do that next time I'm in there. Is the high pressure side the one closer toward the front or rear of the car?

anyone? ...

I'm thinking of trying to use the phone pickup/hangup bar on the side of the steering wheel to use as a remote MUTE switch for a radar detector.

The vast majority of octane boosters available off the shelf offer very little actual octane boost, despite their heroic claims. The most effective, and probably cost effective method is a "home-made" octane booster, which many simply mix toluene with a little bit of ATF (to act as lubricant). On a high-boost street engine I'm running I just add toluene to the tank as my octane boost, with great results. Way cheaper and far more effective than the junk on the store shelves. Do a google for "home brew octane booster" for the calculations of what kinds of octane increase to expect for given ratios.

1990 LS400 with only 85k miles: I recently cleaned the solenoid screen as PM, as well as removed the PS fluid reservoir and cleaned the mesh screen at the bottom of the reservoir, and did a complete fluid exchange. (Boy, was that reservoir a real pain to get back in...those bolts are really tough to access!) Since then, I have been having a slow PS fluid leak that appears to be coming from where the hoses attach to the pump, from the best that I can tell from looking both from the top and bottom. There is no white-smoke-at-startup to indicate the air valve has gone bad...I am physically leaking fluid from the pump/hose area. Is this indicative of the PS pump failing, or the hoses, or....?

Looks like you have tackled the components in the right order, with UCA being last. There was somebody on this board I believe who put in the Arnott's and was happy with them. However, I would be concerned about their longevity--Arnott has quality reputation problems with their other LS400 aftermarket parts. Sure, they're cheaper than OEM, but for something that should last 80-100k, OEM prices don't look so bad. I guess it really depends on how long you plan to own the car.

Shame that all that once-useful technology is so outdated and obsolete now. But that extra space in the center console sure is nice!

Now THAT's what I call a tutorial! Thanks again for documenting this for the community.

Excellent pictures and great descriptions--in these cases, pictures are truly worth thousands of words!