four door

It's been about one year since I replaced the Lexus Pioneer am/fm/casette system in my '92 Ls400 with a stock Lexus Nak cd system which included door speakers, head unit, cd changer, amp and subwoofer. My goal was to keep the LS400 interior appearance stock and few if any head units would be able to match the elegant appearance of the original head unit IMO. No doubt their are better sounding audio systems but after a lot of thought I decided that the LS400 audio system is still very good by all standards and it would not be worth the trouble and expense to make serious modifications for dubious results. Re the subwoofer my guess is that the Lexus designers took into consideration that passengers sitting in the rear seat would be able to listen to the audio system with a equal balance of speakers including the subwoofer. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from doing "upgrades" but you might want to give it some serious thought before you do it and make things reversable since I doubt few people would be interested in purchasing a preowned Lexus with a "aftermarket" audio system. Four Door

Update on Nak C452 speakers. I'v been running them in the rear doors of my '92 LS400 that was updated from stock Pioneer to a Nak system. After six months listening I am very pleased with the performance of the Nak C452 speakers and I have had zero problems with them or my system. The install in the stock speaker inclosures was fairly easy and the sound of the speakers is difficult to tell from the original oem/Lexus front door speakers. Overall the C452 speakers are an excellent match for the Lexus oem system and the cost is very reasonable with minimal skill/tools needed for the install, a really simple diy. Four Door.

saldanha your '92 LS400 front and rear door speakers are not interchangable. You will have to match the speakers with oem/Lexus speakers or replace all of them with aftermarket speakers, ie the Nak 452.

Thanks to 1990LS400 I finally have a rare LS400 rear window shade (brown) to match my '92 LS400 tan interior. It only came with the two side clips but I think I can fashion a clip for the center. After looking it over and reading about the plastic template I will try to fashion some type of template of my own to properly align the shade and clips. Also the pictures will be helpful when installing the shade. I'll let you know how it comes out. Thanks for all your help, Four Door (Rich). ['92 LS400 sandstone beige 119,000 miles and running strong].

Re adjusting the bass & treble controls I have tried adjusting the controls, mostly the bass, and found the neutral settings to be the best and most accurate in my stock '92 LS400 Nak system. I have compared it to my fairly high end home audio system (mono amps/ large monitor speakers) and with a well recorded cd the Lexus audio system sounds excellent.

rct20 presently I'm trying out a set of Nak 452 speakers in the rear doors of my '92 LS400, the rest of my system is all oem Lexus/Nak. They sound fine and being two way speakers the tweeters give added boost to the high end which will be even more noticable for the rear seat passengers. The Nak 452 speakers require very minor modification to fit in the Lexus door speaker enclosures. I used some silicone sealant to fill the gaps between the speaker and enclosure to make a tight seal. All in all it was a fairly easy job. The only speakers that I know of that will fit the enclosure exactly are the Lexus oem speakers. Lexus didn't want to make it easy for anyone to use aftermaket speakers etc so eveythng is an odd size. Heard the original speakers cost $400 each from the Lexus dealer. You can purchase used Lexus speakers from salvage yards which I did. Figure on spending $75 each. This can be hit and miss, I had to return quite a few speakers before I got some that worked. The used Lexus speakers are 10-14 years old and who knows how long they will last. The Nak 452 speakers sound decent, the price is very reasonable and if you are installing them yourself it isn't difficult. Four Door.

Smyurick when I upgraded my '92 LS400 that came with a Poneer audio system to a Lexus/Nakamichi with headunit and amp I also upgraded all my speakers to Nakamichi, made a world of difference over the stock Pioneer speakers.

chasglenn3 I have some extra Lexus tools in excellent condition. Pliars, screw driver with two attachments, two wrenches. Figure $15 shipped. You will still have to pick up a lug wrench, flash light and towel in wrapper, might want to check the salvage yards for the lug wrench. The flash light and towel will probably have to be bought from the dealer. Four Door.

Crooked? "LS400". Looked at 90LS400Lexus picture and comparing it to mine it looks like it's straight and even. I measured the "LEXUS" emblem and positioned the "LS 400" emblem on the opposite side of the trunk lid. The "LS 400" emblem is two seperate emblems, the 400 went on fine, the LS was a little tricky and required some slight repositioning. From ten feet away no one would know it wasn't factory installed. If I had to do it again I would place the LS about a 1/8 to 1/4 inch closer to the 400.

Distance between LS and 400 is about 1". Just installed "LS 400" emblem on my '92 and figured it should be the same length as the "LEXUS" trunk emblem.

This topic has been discussed at length by many members and the consensus seems to be the '93 and '94 LS400 are the pick of the litter. Presently I have a '92 LS400 and I'm waiting for the "right" (color/options) '93/'94 LS400 to come along.

Wes re your '94 LS400 audio system the stock door speakers are 4.5" and the subwoofer is 8". You didn't mention if it was premium (Pioneer) or Nakamichi. If you decide to change out of the stock system be prepared to spend some serious $$$ to get better sound due to the complicated design of the LS400. If you have the basic premium sound system (Pioneer) you could upgrade to a Lexus Nakamichi system for less money then aftermarket. IMO the only aftermarket headunit that looks compatable with the LS400 dash is the Nakamichi units, all the others look totally out of place but each to his own. Advise you read a lot of posts in the audio section to see what other LS400 owners experiences have been.

When I switched out my Pioneer headunit and installed the Nakamichi headunit in my '92 LS400 their were two (2) antenna cables going into both of the headunits. One for AM and the other for FM. Believe the system Lexus uses is called "diversity" antenna. I also noticed that the antenna will extend to different heights according to the AM/FM signal received. As the others suggested check the connections, starting with the trunk. I live in the metro Boston area and have no problem with AM reception in my LS400.

Believe your amp is under front passenger seat and like someone else said if water/moisture/corrosion could be causing a short. Check the connections and clean if necessary.

Sal your correct the price of new speakers from the dealer are about $450 each. OEM Lexus speakers from a salvage yard are a lot cheaper if you can find ones that work. The next option is after market. Nakamichi makes 4" midrange speakers that are very close to the OEM Lexus speakers but they are two way speakers with a tweeter. Nakamichi also has component speakers that might match the original Lexus speakers but I believe some of them are now discontinued but may still be available. IMO the Nakamichi "aftermarket" speakers may be our best choice in the future as it gets more difficult to find the original Lexus speakers.

Flanker271 the original Pioneer amp is or was located in the left upper corner of the trunk next to the gas tank. Best to remove the panel covering the gas tank to access the location. About 5 screws on top and three screws on the bottom of the panel. I also have a '92 LS400 that originally came with a Pioneer headunit that had no cd controls or cd changer. With the help of "Pioneersuby" I was able to install a '92 LS400 Nakamichi headunit with cd changer controls, a Lexus cd changer, Nakamichi amp, Nakamichi subwoofer and a custom cd changer cable. Their were numerous Lexus LS400 headunits and they are NOT all interchangable. While your in the trunk check the right side panel under the first aide kit to see if their is a cd changer or an opening where the cd changer used to be. This will tell you if your LS400 originally came with or without a cd changer.

Might of answered too late to help, I have a set of four Michelin snow tires mounted on Lexus LS400 90-92 rims for sale.

Like to get a couple of opinions re my spare tire. I have a '92 LS400 and upgraded my wheels to 16" 93-94 OEM Lexus LS400 alloy wheels. I also purchased a new set of Michelin MXV4+V rated energy tires (225-60-16). My spare tire and wheel is the original 15" '92 OEM Lexus LS400 alloy wheel and forget the brand of the all season tire. Should I also change the 15" spare tire and wheel to match the four 16" tires and wheels? I occasionally do road trips and feel that the spare should match the other tires just in case. What do you think? If you agree does anyone know where I could purchase a "preowned" reasonably priced 16" 93-94 OEM Lexus LS400 alloy wheel in excellent condition?

Craig as some of the others have recommened that the tires could very well be the sourse of the poor quality handling/ride. Some years back I bought a set of tires, not cheap tires either, and all four were out of round. An LS400 with such low milage, even considering its age, should ride very close to new. Hopefully it's something simple with the tires but it might be worthwhile to have a bodyshop check the car to see if their is damage to the undercarriage. As someone said elderly drivers are notorious for going over curbs, center stips etc.

I should of been a little more specific re how my LS400 was on the road trip. First was comfort, after adjusting the seat once I never changed it and even after 100s of miles was never fatigued or uncomfortable. The climate control system kept the cabin perfectly ventilated, neither too hot or too cool. The audio system kept me entertained and I never found myself bored or nodding off. The ride as the others have said actually improved as the speed increased. Effortless power from the best V8 engine in the world gave me the ability to pass anything in sight. All the controls are easy to reach and use. When you spend this many hours in a vehicle your bound to find something that isn't quite right, the LS400 is the exception, everything functioned perfectly and I could find no room for improvement.

bigo I purchased my center caps on Ebay, if I remember correctly his Ebay sellers name was the same as his email address. Some people don't always answer their email. Keep an eye on Ebay for other sellers with LS400 center caps, it's hit and miss but you can occasionally run into some bargains. Four Door.

1UZ-FE congratulations. Couldn't agree more that the LS400 is the ultimate road trip car. Purchased my '92 LS400 in Aug '03 and in Oct '03 did a "short" road trip from Boston to Toronto. As you said dead on for the fuel consumption at 25-27 mpg highway and I was moving at 80-90 mph when I had the road open. It was a 11 hour drive each way and when I arrived back in Boston I felt great. Talk about tired, forget it, I could of refueled and driven to NYC without giving it a second thought. I used to drive BIG old Caddys and Buicks to Florida and they didn't even come close to the LS400. My brother has a '93 LS400 and he gets the same highway milage and does trips from Boston to Montreal like he was going to the local convenience store. Can't wait for the next road trip and it might be Florida in May. Four Door.

1990ls400 I'm still interested in finding one of the OEM Lexus rear window shades for my '92 LS400. Got distracted with upgrading my OEM Pioneer audio system to OEM Nakamichi system with cd changer. Thought about having the rear window tinted but prefer the rear window shade. Tried contacting a USA seller of JDM Lexus parts but so far no reply. Accidently ran across someone who knows a GI in Japan that owns a LS400, might see if the GI can track the shades down, the Japanaese version of the LS400 had a number of accessories that were not offered in the US models, power retractable mirrors etc. Important reason for the shade is keeping the top of the rear seat leather from being cooked and also protect the subwoofer from the sun/heat. I have a 90-94 Lexus parts book and couldn't find the shade listed, part #86195 83001. Four Door.

Put a post in audio forum maybe "Pioneersuby" can help you.

That for the ambient temp correct.