Meist21

Srobe lights WTF are you putting strobe lights on there for?

Well I must say I dropped my car off at a mechanic's house Friday night. He called me at noon on Sat to tell me my car was all ready. I know he did not start on the car until Sat. morning. He is a Chicago area Lexus techinician that obviously does work on the side. He is the best tech and Arlington Lexus in the Northwest burbs of Chicago. I figure it took him three hours to complete the job. New water pump, pulleys, timing belt, drive belt, and radiator cap. I must say that after looking at the timing belt it could have gone another 50K. My car has 91K on it and I just needed the piece of mind. At any rate the job cost $800.00 compared to the 12-13 hundred the dealer would charge. Took the car home and thourghly cleaned the engine and gave her a bath. The Chicago winter is brutel.

My neighbor across the street both purchased our 98 LS 400s from the same Lexus dealer in Westmont (Chicago burb). I think it really depends on the sales person you are dealing with. I would agree that they really want to move cars but the sales person we had was awesome. He was not pushy and there was not a lot of haggling with price. The dealership treated us pretty good. It was McGrath Lexus in Westmont. Just my own two ceents.

He is just giving me crap. We literally live right across the street from each other. Been trying to get the fuel filter done. RCR actually tried but started loosing the filter and saw all the gas come a pouring out. He had second thoughts then. Can't say that I blame him. We both have 98s so when a problem arises it is nice to bring the other car over to help troubleshoot. Good thing they are Lexus machines as there have not been too many of those breakdown things. We just need to mentally prepare ourselves for getting douched with gas. We have done just about everything else, tranny change, plugs, differential fluid, side marker lamp mods, oil,etc.

Lex, When I use ramps on my 98 I have a sloped driveway. The car sits just a tick higher in the front. This way I know everything will drain out. The first time I did the drain I got about 3 qts as well. The first time I filled it I put in about 2 1/2 qts. Wanted to see if everyones posts were right. Well they were. Turns out everyone is right. After I checked the fluid a few days later I was over the "hot" region. (Too much tranny fluid). I have since done it three times and now only put back in 2 qts. I wouldn't worry about the ramps when you drain the fluid. Most of the fluid is still in the torque converter anyway. Just make sure that when you check the fluid that your car is on level ground. Not on a sloped driveway. Hope this helps.

Hey 99, If you want you could e-mail them to me. I have DSL and I don't think the size is a big issue. Thanks if you can..............

So far so good. Need to take em out in this storm and really put them to the test. How can I get a garage like yours? Hey neighbor we got 1100 miles of racing today. Ready to suck down some cold ones and watch the race? Back home again in Indiana......................

I ended up using the wedge type socket. There are way more wedge type bulbs out there than there are the double pole type. I also ended up going with amber bulbs instead of white. My neighbor did the exact same mod on the exact same car and uses the white. I personally like the amber color. I simply use some 194 bulbs. If I want to switch it is pretty easy to do so. The holder is a socket holder from Autozone. It is a Ford socket. The assbly is made out of rubber. Since I already drilled the hole this particular one would not fit. I simply cut around it and put it inside the original socket listed for this mod. It works perfect......

Hey 99, Do you have these posted somewhere? It would be good to have them around just in case. I have started a book on my LS and these would be great to have. By the way the side marker lamp mod is great. I get looks from other LS owners all the time. I should post the little tutorial I did on that one. Meist

As a newer member I have made the following observation about this site. Many of the posts involve Gen I cars. I see a ton of posts regarding 90, 91, 92, 93, 94 LS 400s. From my avitar you can see that I own a 98 LS 400. While many of the posts I find contain great information they just don't seem to apply to the later years. Obviously many things on the car have changed through generations but I am wondering why I don't see more posts on 97-00 years? I know those are a couple of different generations but it seems like there are few posts concerning those years. Even people considering the purchase of a first time LS 400. They seem to look at the 90-94 years. Just a question and was wondering what everyone else thought. I have learned a great deal from this site and thank many of the people who regularly post. We DIYers need to learn from each other as much as possible. Just wanted to see what everyone else thought.... ;)

I know this topic has been beaten to death. I have some Goodyear tires on my LS 400 ( when I bought it) and now it is time to replace them. I have seen a lot of posts about the Bridgestone Tuanzas. Actually my neighbor has had four installed on his 98 LS 400 and seems to like them but has been having balancing issues. Not sure what the deal is. Looking to replace the tires soon and was looking for input from everyone here. The Goodyear tire just does not look right but I swear by Goodyear tires. Anyone?

Anyone correct me if I am wrong but the single screw holds everything together. If it has not be opened in a long time a lot of gunk can build up and act kind of like glue and hold it together. I would get a small knife and carefully get it between the two halfs until it pops apart. While it is open clean it really good. You will be amazed at all the junk that gets inside there. Not sure on the bat size. I just took mine apart and then went to Radio Shack were they replaced it. There is one right around the corner........

Those are great pics!!!! They don't look that expensive. Should have had one yesterday. Ended up filling it until the fluid was running out. When I first took the top fill plug off (to empty the fluid) I noticed a small stream running out and the sysem seemed to have been under a little pressure???? Anyway that oil is heavy and stinks. Trying to turn the plastic quart was a pain. Turns out Vavoline had a cut off tip at the top so when you actally turn the bottle sideways very little will run out. Then you just put the tip in the hole and blow it in there.

My neighbor and I finished replacing my differential fluid, tranny pan drain and refill, oil filter and oil, and coolant change. Took about a couple of hours (minus the beer and talk) Everything was good. Although if anyone is going to do their diff. fluid get a tool that will push the fluid in for ya. The bottle of oil is a pain to use with the limited space. The tranny fluid also took a little bit over 2 quarts. It took about 2 1/4 quarts. Actually just a hair under. I know most posts say 2 quarts dead on but we filled and ran the car brought it back in a re measured. Most of the posts I saw on tranny pan drains were on first Gen Ls cars. My neighbor and I have 98s. Not sure if the trannys changed but the specs said about 2 quarts. I figure a little more won't hurt the car. Next job is the fuel filter.

Did the autozone retro on my 98 LS. Works like a million bucks. I grinded mine off with a high speed dremmel type tool being careful not to get the ball. Don't aske autozone for hood struts they will just tell you they don't have them for the LS 400. Just use the part number from above. (95029 made by mighty lift). You do lose a few inches of height but now my struts are rock solid........