Imzjustplayin

I read that on the LS400 the mileage is stored on the dash and not in the ECU.

I'd rather just have the ability to roll forward or backward the odometer.

I was thinking of getting a new circuit board for my guage cluster on my '94 LS 400 and since I know this is where the mileage is kept, I wanted to know if there was a relatively easy way of beng able to roll back or rickroll the odometer. I want the car to properly display how many miles it has and if I get a second hand guage cluster, this won't be the case. Any help?

I have to disagree with that..... I had a 1998 LX400 for about 5 years and by far the best gas mileage I ever got was on a trip from Texas to Oregon and back via Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. The return was via I5 and I40. Over 4000 miles, at average speeds of 65 MPH and when all was said and done, my trip average was 31 MPG. AC on all the way. My LS400 always turned in the highest mileage on the highway at high speeds.Just my $.02 and my experience so far. Just got a 2004 LS430 and we'll see how it does. Vern Vern, I think the person who started this thread has a little higher mph figure in mind about what he thinks is high speed -- he said 90 mph. Your 1998 LS400, like my 2000 LS400, has a five speed automatic, a lower coefficient of drag and gets substantially better gas mileage (EPA 19 mpg city; 25 mpg highway) than a gen 1 LS400. At a constant 65 mph (on cruise control) in low/no wind conditions, lightly loaded, tires properly inflated, my 00 LS has more than once done a hair over 27 mpg overall while driving every other weekend from Kansas City to Iowa City before Iowa raised its speed limit from 65 to 70 mph. Yes, I actually obeyed the speed limit. With a strong tail wind, my 00 LS has slightly exceeded 30 mpg as it did several weeks ago when returning from Tulsa to K.C. with a 40-45 mph tailwind. Try putting the trip computer in your LS430 on "Current mileage" and see what kind of mileage you get at a constant 55 mph. Then bump up your speed to 65 mph and look at the current mileage. Do all this on flat land in low/no wind conditions. Did your trip computer really show that your mpg is better at 65 than it is at 55 mph? Well the only logic I can deduce from the idea that a higher speed could yeild better mileage than a lower speed for certain vehicles is that the torque curve could jump up dramatically up until the peak torque output and then it levels or drops off from there. So yes if you're driving past your peak torque, you're definately getting worse mileage than otherwise. Also not all vehicles use less fuel at lower RPMs, sometimes it can be quite the opposite and really depends on the engine. Things that have to be accounted for are rolling resistance, drag, power output, and other such things. If an engine can produce 150LBs of torque at 1600rpm and 220LBs of torque at 2000rpm then you'd more likely than not get better mileage with the engine running at 2K rpm and highest gear than at 1600rpm and highest gear. Now if you're getting only 180Lbs of torque at 2000RPM then running at a higher speed probably won't yeild better mileage UNLESS.....from 2000rpm you're getting 180Lbs of torque and at 3200rpm you're getting 320Lbs of torque and other coefficents are factored in then you'd probably get better mileage or similar mileage at that higher RPM. But because the lexus' peak torque is all the way at 4400rpm and since I can't imagine its torque curve very steep at all and it not consuming more fuel at lower RPMs, I'd imagine that the lowest RPM possible with the highest gear would yeild the best mileage for this car.

Found this post and it intrigued me to find this. "cleaning the filter in the power steering solenoid control valve and in the fluid reservoir will help avoid system leaks and power steering pump failures. The lower ball joints, transmission mounts and suspension bushings won't be badly worn if the prior owners weren't aggresive, hard charging drivers. The failing liquid crystal displays in the dashboard can be repaired by independent specialists familiar with the problem, etc." Where do I find this exactly? I have a feeling mine is dirty/bad.

What that button does is basically downshift the tranny. So if you're in 4th gear, it'll downshift into 3rd. You'll notice this if you're accelerating and you have to press the button, watch the tach and you'll see it jump up, thats cause it's now in a lower gear.

Had a similar problem with my Land Cruiser, no it doesn't have a similar key whatsoever, just a cheap key but it did keep the key in the ignition and made removal generally impossible. I eventually had to wait for the pins to move out of the way and it eventually released it. Had a locksmith come by and fix the ignition, for the lexus on the otherhand, since it's laser cut, you're going to have to get that repaired by them.

Where is the index for PDFs such as that?

Um I noticed that there is a page that says the capacitors for the backlight and for the fuel gauge not working when the capacitors are below temps, but what about if the speedometer and tach don't move either? Sometimes even after the car has been warm, the tach and speedometer won't move until some time later, is the cause of this issue once again bad caps?

Have you had your 94 LS long? Are you keeping track of miles per gallon over the long haul to see how the mileage fluctuates in relation to the type of driving? The gen one LS400 had an EPA rating of 18 mpg city and 23 mpg highway. EPA figures are often very optimistic. If your 17.7 mpg is in mixed city driving, then that does not seem very far off what you should expect. I drove a similar gen 1 (1990) LS for over nearly 14 years and kept track of every gallon the car used and the mpg on every tank full. I think my best ever mileage on a tank was a little over 24 mpg and that was on a trip where all the miles were on the highway and with a tail wind. With a very gentle foot on the thottle, I averaged between 17 and 20 mpg in mixed city driving which included quite a bit of highway driving. In city-only driving, my gen 1 LS400 would get 15-16 mpg on a tank which I though was pretty good for a nearly 4000 pound sedan made during those years. My current 2000 LS400 with its five speed automatic gets substantially better mileage than my 1990 LS400 did - particularly on the highway. It sounds like your car is operating normally when it comes to gas mileage and I doubt if changing the tranmission fluid is going to do anything to improve it. If your transmission is having shifting issues, inspect the wiring harness in the left trunk hinge for cracked or broken wires - do a search on this forum for information on how to fix for a couple of bucks by splicing wires. Intermittent shifting problems occur as the wires start to crack and become progessively worse. My gen 1 LS became almost inoperable until I fixed the broken wires in the hinge. Yeah I heard about the trunk wire but I couldn't find anything that looked broken or something of the sort. My driving is about 70 city 30 freeway. I'm trying my very best to get the highest mileage possible so thats why this is a bit frustrating. I've heard of people getting mileage better than the EPA rating which is why I'm frustrated since I'm trying to do everything I can to get the highest possible. Hey btw, does anybody know if they get better mileage at higher speeds with this car or not? Cause one example a guy I know gets like 17mpg on the freeway at 60 with his truck and 25mpg with his truck when doing 90. He also gets a similar improvement in mileage when going 90 with his taurus. But because I realize optimal speed varies per car, I'm not expecting much which is why I ask.

Are you saying my valvoline Maxlife 75,000 mile Dexron III tranny fluid isn't good enough?http://www.valvoline.com/pages/products/pr...l.asp?product=6 Cause if I remember correctly, ALLDATA said this would be suitable.

You're suppose to use synthetic oil as thats what the car came with. Also there are LS400s that have come into one dealership near me for an oil change and have 500K miles.

Ok I already know the reason for why my cluster guage doesn't work as the capacitors are faulty and in order to 'temporarily' fix the issue, I turn up cabin heat. Now sometimes the cluster guage won't turn on at night (which I already explained why) BUT I'm also wondering why the shifter/radio/clock/climate control backlight will turn off when the headlights are turned on? So if the headlights are off and the guagecluster won't light up, IIRC the backlight for the shifter/radio/clock/climate control will turn on but then if I turn on the headlights, all that will shutoff and then once the guage cluster heats up, THEN that backlight turns on. Are these directly related? How is the backlight for shifter/radio/clock/climate control regulated?

I already posted another thread about how my car is having starting issues but I thought I should create a thread related to this anyways. My fuel tank is now slightly less than half full and I've calculated my future total range of being around 400miles and I wanted to know what I can do to fix my milage issue. When you calculate a total range of around 400 miles, it turns out I'm only getting like 17.7mpg and I was under the impression the car got something like 22mpg. I *think* the tranny fluid needs to be changed, could this be the resulting issue of poor mileage? The tranny was having issues shifting a while back but now it isn't, I'm not sure thats a good thing.. How many quarts of tranny fluid does the LS400 94 need again? What are some things I can check to see if they've gone bad and will hurt my mileage?

I've been noticing that my engine startup is quite as smooth as it used to. A while back my startup was a bit rough and took an excessive amount of time, changed the oil and I noticed it started up albiet smoother but still took too long. I then changed the battery a few months down the road because startup times got progressively worse and was tested bad, start up times then became near instant again like they should.. Now another issue with startup time is occuring. After I changed the oil and before I changed the battery, I believe it would just fire/move the cylinders at a much slower pace, reh...reh...reh ....reh..reh..reh.reh RUN. Now that the battery has been changed, it starts more like, reh..reh..reh..reh....reh...reh RUN and soon as it started up, the engine not only didn't sound too 'clean' but I heard some water sloshing around and I'm wondering, what is going on? I have a bad feeling I know what could be going on but I just don't want to admit to the issue just quite yet.. Possibly I have another issue that I don't know about.

I've been getting the same tires for the lexus for a few years now and I think it needs a change. Are there any tires you can recommend for this car? I believe I'm using stock rims, the less expensive rims from what I've seen on other cars. I was just thinking that maybe I could get better tires than the good years I currently have on there.. One thing I noticed is that my tires are only H rated from the standard manufacturer rating of V, right? Any suggestions on tires? How are runflats anyways?

What would be the reason for running a fuel tank on low be a bad thing? I've heard that you have to worry about all of the 'gunk' that collects at the bottom of the tank and thats why it would be a problem but isn't the fuel drained from the bottom of the tank anyways? So if the fuel is taken from the bottom of the tank, why would it matter if you're taking the last bit of fuel?

Chance are that he would hear that in any gear, and it shouild be more pronounced when turning the wheel side to side. IMHO the Lexus engines tend to be whiney engines in terms of sound. I thought that about my first ES and still about my LS. Check the tranny fluid and make sure it is up to spec as to level and color. May be time for a change. It would also help if you defined "whine" a little better. Is it continuous, only when the car is warming up, when turning, high pitched, like a squeal or scream, etc... Reply, now that I think about it, sounds more like a dive belt than anything else....

bump

yeah but a saturn IS cheap. I know someone is cheap when even my dad says they're cheap...

Every morning my LS400 '94 is progressively getting more and more difficult to start. I mean it isn't hard like I have to keep cranking but this morning it started really rough, after warming up it finally it ran smoothly. But when it started up this morning it sounded like a guy choking on water or with a cough and then finally starting up. The car needs an oil change I know that and I plan to do it asap but could this really be the culprit for it starting up progressively worse each morning? I mean the difference between every morning is significantly worse, I was surprised that the car started up at all as it took like 7 secs to crank. Worried me a lot... Anyways, what else could be the issue? Need of an oil change be the only thing? Well I did an oil change on the car (needed it bad) and it now starts up smoother. Though on cold mornings, the car seems to still take much longer to start up than I believe it's suppose to. It's hard to know if it's starting up rough or not but it's kinda rough when it's like 40*F but at 50F its more of a long cranking of like 4-6 secs before it will startup...

yeah I keep hearing about the 'trunk wire' thing and I have no idea as to what you guys are talking about. I took out the plastic shroud thing in the truck and the 'carpet' but I've yet to find this infamous wire that would cause all these magical issues. I'm trying to get to the problem before it it becomes a problem.

When my LS400 '94 is in drive, there is a slight whine when the car is put into drive and I'm not quite sure what it could be. My friend thinks it's a drive belt but I don't believe so because otherwise I'd hear it when it's in park/neutral but when in reverse or drive, it makes the noise. What could it be?

How do I go about removing the headlights from the LS400? I was able to remove the fog light but I'm not able to remove the main light or the blinker light to the right. I'm not sure if there is a particular order to remove the m or not but I did manage to bend out the right edge part of the light (driver's side)

I need help/a guide on how to remove the driver side fender and I wanted to know if it was necessary to remove the headlights or not and if I do, how do I remove the last two lights as I was able to only remove the fog light. I would like to know what I have to disconnect as I'm having issues getting the damned panel off. BTW, do I have to completely remove the wheelwell housing to remove the panel? (Which therefore requires the removal of the tires?)