Ridgerez

Thanks for the lead. I presume I need the mounting kit in addition to the units from chinavision...approx $400-$500 in all.

The chinavision site is really exciting. wow. I have fwded to a few friends already.

Thanks again.

Nakamichi is on last legs. CD player stopped working a few months ago. I need to replace speakers too.

Just thought I'd use Black Friday to look for some deals. What aftermarket units have you put in your Gen 1 LS400?

I went through everything like you did. Turned out it was a nearly clogged heater core. A determined mechanic spent 3 hours with solvents and air until it was clean. He said it was amazing at the amount of junk that came out of it. cost me a bunch but now it heats as new. And by the way, change your cabin filter if you have not done that in a while. Really helps the fan blow some serious air.

We've got a 94 LS400 which the heater stopped blowing any hot air. First thought, thermostat. I've changed it twice---no change. Next, heater valve, or heater core. NOPE clean as a whistle through and through. Tried the valve manually in case it was broke, nothing again. Flushed and filled. Changed all the hoses. Nothing. Relays, fuses, OK, OK, OK. NO CODES SHOWING. Vent motor is working. I have had almost everything out and checked. ZIPPO. I'll take any ideas before I'm completely gray headed. Thanks!

Where is the cabin filter?? Is it near the heater core?

1. Air shocks: Right front, loses compression overnight. Have to wait about 5 mins after start to allow it to rise and level off. Not able to hold air...looks like I have a leak? If so how to fix it or how to look for leak?

2. Driver's Seat: Only right side of upright tilts back. All other controls work. How to fix?

3. Cruise control: It stopped working without notice. No sign. Nothing. One day it was working then it stopped the next.

#2 & #3 occurred immediately after my wife had driven the car. Of course she didn't notice anything.

Thanks for all advice.

Well, that fan bracket from the junkyard I bought is just that....junk. What I thought was a good bracket by turning the plate, the bearing seemed good to me..... Well, I re-assembled everything, & drove it for a day....everything seemed fine until day two... Started the car & it made a similiar noise like I had heard before....I thought "Oh *BLEEP*"....Popped the hood, I examined the turning of the fan bracket with the motor running....

I definitely was not turning on a true plane......

Well, I have now purchased from the Internet from lex-toy-parts for $ 99 plus $ 20 shipping....

If you count the one from the junkyard, I have now paid a total of $ 227 ( $119 + $ 108 ). Almost the total that the dealer charges.....

Oh well, live & learn......plus I get to spend another day tearing down & reassembling once I get my new part...

I love doing the same job twice.....yeah right......well, it just won't take me as long this time.....familiar with procedure now.....

Jeff

Jeff, sorry I didn't see your post sooner. I replaced mine in January. Bought part off ebay...here's the link for those who might need it in the future: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-90-94-L...sspagenameZWDVW

Safety, safety, safety.

I hope those of you with air suspensions deactivate them before jacking. The safety button is in the trunk, on the driver's side.

I'd try local salvage yards first. Just got a replacement for my LF unit too. $120. A friend put it in for me and its all good thus far. I had considered converting too but I'm glad I didn't. There's no duplicating these air babies.

If it is just the light that is bothering you, I recommend removing the bulb!

Is your car sitting high now? There should be a sensor that determines if your car has "high height" and it may need to be adjusted.

Disconnect the battery terminal for a few minutes then reconnect and start. Lights should go off.

The air struts are gone on the rear left of that baby i your picture. Just found out about mine (front left)...dealer quoted $1,133/ea for replacement. However don't panic. There are conversion kits and rebuilt oem replacements. check this link: http://www.suncoreindustries.com/lexuspage.asp.

OEM is about $300.00 each. They come with a lifetime warranty so I'll stick with the air struts. No conversion for me.

Yep, the caption says it all. '90 Ls400, 256K.

Gave a jump start to my old Camry yesterday then warmed car for about 15 minutes. All was okay. Then this morning I noticed left front end of car was entirely down. Air suspension gone. The lever was set on high at the time and now lever doesn't respond.

I drove car around the block and left it running for a long while (maybe 25-30 minutes), then car came up and leveled. There was the usual groaning sound that accompanies suspension level adjustments. I turned ignition off and returned this PM only to notice same left side down again.

All fuses are okay and nothing is showing on dashboard. I checked battery and alternator and both are very good.

What could this be?

Pictures added: Jan 1, 2008

This is how car looks like now. Right front is okay but left front is bad.

Hi fellows:

Got the new tires on yesterday morning. "H" rated Exaltos and they ride very well so far. Had to settle for 205s because there were no 215s. They offered MXM4s in 215s, v rated, for a lot more (~$145 each) but I declined since I wanted exaltos. They couldn't do the alignment because they said my upper arm "something" was bad and had to be fixed first. I think they said "ball" too. I've known something was bad in the front and/or rear suspension for a few months since I'd hear these occasional clunks when pulling over the curb as I get into my driveway.

What they said about needing alignment with these tires was hogwash at best since they sold me the tires anyway. It all came to $530 and included balancing and road hazard insurance. For going before 10AM on black Friday, I also received a $60 Sears gift card. Net cost $470...not bad.

I'm feeling better now cos I have a few business trips coming up in the next several weeks. Gotta do approx 200 mile round trip, twice a week for a few months. Also have to go visit my son in Blacksburg, Va next month. Thats a 1,000 mile round tripper. I'm a Hokie dad and UVA is toast today...ESPN2 at noon Eastern.

What I meant was that most porsche owners paid for their cars and that is about all they know about cars. When they are told they need track tires, they get them, but do not know why. Just that everyone else uses them.

The neat part is that you had the traction of competition tires but to them it looked like you would have less performance; due to their lack of knowledge of what makes a snow tire work great in summer for cornering and launches.

I've found porsche owners are pretty arrogant, until I get their pants down. Then it is me just giggling at what drove them to buy a porshe in the first place! Tiny little thing!

Nice work building your own cobra. I like them for the vibrations , but long drives tend to just leave me windburned and my hair full of knots. Fun for short blasts though!

Well not so much sneaky - more that I had run out of money after building the rest of the car! But it did have traction.

;)

HI IS400,

Its a no brainer. This is my choice, I'll be ordering tomorrow: http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_0...s&sName=Car

And to all of you, thanks for ya insights. I've a learned a lot from these exchages.

Thanks folks for very helpful comments. I'm taking IS400's advise to up the width from 205 to 215. Will look nice on my baby since she has BSR wheels with the wire look.

Aarman4 makes a good point for sticking with the V rating, especially since I'm doing 215 width. But guess what, can't find 215/65 r15 v rated, at least not at Sears or

Oh well, back to searching again.

Happy Turkey everyone.

Lexus recommends 205/65 r15, 94V for the '90 LS400, but I can't seem to find these specs in Michelin Exalto A/S. The lady at Sears says it can be special ordered for $149 each and then I HAVE to get an alignment for the warranty to kick in. I checked the Sears site and saw this:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_0...sName=All+Tires

However, the speed rating is "H"

My question is, what are the real life differences between V and H speed rated tires? Especially, considering I won't ever drive near 100 MPH. Sears lady says H rating is a much inferior ride to the V rated...I tend not to believe her.

I'm replacing my tires on a 93ls400. I don't drive aggressively but I do drive 80-90 mph on the freeways. I'm looking for tires that brake and corner well. And give you good road feel. Low road noise would be good also. I live in an area with no snow and very little rain. What tires do you like? Thanks

\

This here is a good site to look at for reasonably priced high end tires. Good luck: http://www.performanceplustire.com/product...res/#prodAnchor

I wouldn't use the compressed air from a GM dealership to adjust the tire pressure in my Lexus, let alone use a Delco brake pad.....

Granted, many of us have budget issues...why should that get in the way of our mutual admiration for fine cars.

:chairshot:

...in shape over the cold months?

Had some brake work to do so I went to Buy Wise (Vauxhall, NJ) for pads and rotors. The rear rotors had cracks in them. Got AC Delco semi metallic pads and rotors for all 4 wheels. With a USPS discount I paid $135.00 total.

While wheels were up I changed the sway bar bushings. See link for directions: http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/suspension/daizenswaykit.html

I installed a K&N air filter.

I changed oil and filter. Also emptied 2 quarts of old dirty, stinky, tranny fluid and replaced with new Toyota Type IV TF from dealer. Tranny pan lets out 2 quarts when you drain.

Car's running just fine.

Well, I did find other posts on tinting which were helpful but the quick question is whether there is some color film

that would look really nice on my 98 LS400 with antique bronze mica paint (say what?

its a brownish-goldish color).

I would have the work done professionally. A shop already quoted me $150 (about

2 hours labor). State law allows a 35% tint and I would like to have all windows (except

windshield) tinted.

My only dilemma is whether extra tinting would look right with my car and color scheme.

The windows have a very slight bronze factory tint but I dont believe it is a film.

What color film should/could I go with and still look nice? Or scrap the idea altogether?

Does anyone have a tinted antique bronze mica Lex and could post pictures?

All comments invited.

Take a pic of your car, upload, and Adobe it with like colors. That oughta give you the best possible inkling of how it would look like.

check out this post before you buy a new ps pump. http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...amp;hl=steering

Thanks for the link.

Tuesday, 9/25/07, I took out and cleaned the p/s solenoid screen. Didn't look like that had ever been done for my 90 LS400, 251K+ miles. Was really dirty. Its easy to do if you know what to do. Of course, I had help. Solenoid is on drivers side, at bottom of steering column, under car. It has two wires sticking out. Disconnect wires at connector, where its fastened to solenoid. Used a long screw driver and hammer to tap open solenoid. Some ps fluid escaped (I was prepared for that). Cleaned screen in gasoline with soft tooth brush and compressed air to blow out dirty stuff.

Put it back, filled ps fluid, did some bleeding by turning steering slowly from one end to other end, and road tested successfully. Steering is now so smooth. I don't miss hard steering of the past nine months.

On the transmission where the gear shift linkage bolts to the trans.

Found it. Thought it could be reached from behind console...wasted effort.

Located it on right side of trans. Ordered new unit from Autozone $143. Will install this weekend.

Thanks.

Pity that no one's bothered to chime in with an answer, but I think the problem has worked it's way out for the moment.

Before starting the car up, I put the old relay back in just to see if it would work and well.......it did. Started right up with no fuss. Drove well, too.

Got it back home after a 6 mile drive and turned it off. Cranked it up a few times and it seems that the problem wouldn't show itself again. I still believe that something in the anti-theft system got out of whack and bugged out on me. Anyone who thinks differently feel free to chime in.

During those moments when it won't start, do you have trans indicator lights on? I mean, do you see the lights move from P,R,N,D,1,2,L? If the P and N don't light on dashboard then you have a faulty neutral start switch. The switch could have come aloose or its bad. Either way, you can always start by pushing hard on trans lever till the P light comes on and it will start.

good luck.

Car wouldn't start. No code showed. Then I remembered that transmission lights (P,R & N, on dash) wouldn't show when car is cold. My mechanic friend suggested I'll need a new neutral safety switch.

Car started after playing with trans and getting light (P) to come on. Also noticed that engine revs higher 7500-8000 rpm when Park light is OFF. When I push trans lever hard (toward stereo), Park light comes on and idle speed returns to normal 600 rpm.

Anyone know where neutral safety switch is?

I checked with Rock auto and there are two units, $135 and $195 (ACDelco).

Any help welcome

might be the control valve which adjusts the power steering play based on speed. this or the fluid is low? maybe even check the steering rack filter

Would that be the valve under the alternator? The one with the two tubes leading into them (vacuum control valves?). Changed that last April...mine dripped ps fluid unto and damaged the alternator, so I changed both. And fluid isn't low, I check it damn near daily.

Anyway, this morning, in 50 degree weather, steering was smooth for nearly 25 secs. I just don't understand my baby pooh.

When I first start the car in the morning and the engine is revving high, the steering is free wheeling...no resistance to turning as I back out of driveway. Within 5-10 seconds of this, when I turn to move fwd to the street, steering STIFFENS up.

I have flushed the power steering and there was no improvement. What's the possible cause?

'90 LS400, 251K miles. Otherwise runs great.

When I first bought my LS400 last year and had to put some money into it last year, it kinda freaked me out. After driving the car for that time, and more importantly, after doing my own repairs, I have developed quite a respect for this car. Everything is beautifully engineered and easy to understand. I am aware that it takes significantly longer to understand how the components are assembled, but once understood, the quality of the engineering is clear.

Seeing as how I gress with several other members that the key is to doing your own maintenence, I do all of my own now. I figured that it's a better way of spending my time than watching TV or video games.

Denny

Hey, I'm a Hokie dad. My son plays for Coach Beamer.

Agree with you on the initial shock of a Lexus's sensitive nature. However, after you take care of the problems, it just purrs like a kitten.

LS400, '90, 246K and going strong. About to put in a K&N air filter to "boost" mileage since since I do quite a bit of City driving and with a each tankful of super around $50. Just graduated from a Camry so this is quite a shock for me. Also decided to go synthetic for next oil change.