new2mud

I would rate the rwd/ultragrip setup as average right now .... hoping it improves.

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!

Looked for a few minutes on the internet for track width specs to see if my toe out was screwed up, found this handy table. Now to get my steering wheel straightened out!

Thanks!

Is this an official Lexus chart?

My old 1990 LS400 had a terrible "clunking" sound when going over bumps. I sold it before I fixed it. So, is it the lower ball-joints that normally cause this noise? Sounds like its a fairly easy replacement. How about the UCA's? Are they costly to replace? Just wondering, for when the 91' I am buying will need them. :whistles:

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.

You live at lower ambient air pressure at altitude, I wonder if the sensor is so sensetive that it detects the lower ambient air pressure as a leak? I would get a call into a Denver Lexus dealership and try and talk to a master tech there, see if he has ever heard of that problem.

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?

Pishta,

I think the carrier arm bushings, the round ones connecting to the frame will take up any vibrations and my lexus dealership said lexus doesn't even make replacement rear carrier arms bushings anymore and they used the ones we used.. the ADUS 505 bushings, so really you don't have any choice, but don't worry about vibrations, this is a good fix for about 2 hours of your time and only $66, lots of bang for the buck here.

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!

I did mine and it barely smoked. Wonder what I did wrong? Sucked 6 oz. through the brake booster hose. Same procedure..

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.

Absolutely, DO IT...!

You'll never regret it.

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

I have a 90 LS 400. The light and the LCD on the ac and clock display are not working at all. It's just blank. Also, a few of the lights on some of the center console buttons are burned out...for example the light on the "low" button for the AC. Anyone have a link on how to fix these problems? Thanks.

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.

i found one, so when i get my LS in a couple of weeks thats the first mod im getting

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.

Did the flushing do anything to the "assist" level? Much gunk or debris? Is it leaking from the pressure side or the return side? Pressure side has LOTS of PSI going through it, like 300 or something, I would try and tighten or maybe check and see if there is a metal one time use gasket that crushes and needs to be replaced anytime you break the seal. If it is the return side, same but lower pressure.

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? ...

Now it would be great to get the wiring diagram so hopefull I can modify since I am going to install my Bluetooth car kit and nice to be able to use the audio port near the steering wheel and the stereo speaker... :=). Sound tempting.

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.

After reading some of the posts regarding regular and premium fuel, I know there will be alot of differing opinions on fuel. I also have my direct opinions on octane ratings and what they mean to the life of some vehicles, AND, I also have an understanding and knowledge of how gasolines react whent he octane rating is not of the recommended level.... SO, this to you...

I live about 45 minutes from the nearest station that serves premium. I plan on using recommended octane rating for my car. I head into the city enough to usually make a fill before I run the tank out, so that is nto the issue. The issue is I don;t want to buy my fuel 45 minutes away. Have any of you used octane boosters? I never have and I am unsure about whrether it is an idea wirth pursuing, or a completely backwards approach to fuels.

If anyone has used them and had success, hwo do you find out the "new octane rating" and what types seemed to be the most effective or least harmful to the engine?

Tough question I know, but I'd really prefer to gas up 2 minutes from home if possible.

Aarman4

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....?

Hi All,

I think my upper control arms are shot also.. I've put on new Lower ball joints and stabilizer bar bushings and strut bar cushions... Handles so much better, but I am hearing a popping, and slight clunking over small cracks in the street.. I grabbed the driver side upper control arm and shook it and it make noise and shifted.. LOL..

Anyways, anybody bougth from that place

http://www.arnottindustries.com/part_LEXUS...yid7_pid65.html

And are the bushings the exact as factory and do they maintain the ride...

Am just asking because I've seen a lot of discussion about some people putting in those stupid poly busings and non factory shocks and ruining the ride of this wonderful car..

Has anybody replaced their UCA's and does the car ride the same?

THanks

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.

... did what you suggested and now the phone is completely off. Thanks for your help.

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

I created a "Photo show" of the strut rod removal....kinda corny but I had fun!

Turn up your sound and you can whistle while enjoying the show.

Check it out:

http://photoshow.comcast.net/watch/Fj9WH6CM

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

Some more pics for completion.

I edited the pics with text.

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

Here's a pic of the new ones....

Landar--did you have to break loose the upper control arm ball joint to free the UCA from the rest, or did you leave that in place?

A list of major components you "disassembled" would be great!

As stated earlier, no need to remove the control unit in the trunk. Just remove the handset in the center console...no radio issues, and lots more space!

Can anyone help me find a hole through the firewall in my '91 LS400?

I have been trying to get a couple subs hooked up and need to run the power cable through the firewall. When I lifted the hood and looked around though, I wasn't able to find a single opening. Not even around the steering column. (damn lexus and making it so tight)

If anyone has found one please help me out. Pictures/descriptions.

Any help is very welcome, and thank you in advance.

The firewall is a bit of a pain--you can also just use the grommet under the driver's seat and run wire through there.

Bottom Line - For those of you without a lot of time (and a big detailing budget), Meguiar's NXT Tech Paste Wax should be in your detailing toolkit.

hold on--not so quick. NXT has a great look--no doubt about that. However, many users find the longevity of NXT to be quite lacking. As a compromise, when I use NXT, I will let it cure for 24 hrs and then coat with an acrylic sealer like OptiSeal.

I'd be curious to get an update comparison in a few weeks!