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Move the rear wheels/tires to the front....??

The OAT, Outside Air Temperature sensor, is located behind the front bumper just in front of the A/C condensor/radiator "stack". while stopped or moving slowly in heavy traffic it will often be heated via radiant heat from the condnesor radiator and that will sometimes result in coolish airflow from the system. Worse yet, it will sometimes premature "trigger" the climate control's automatic switch from heating mode, primarily footwell outflow, into cooling mode, footwell/dash combined outflow. Brrrr....!! Later models, mostly those that also use the OAT sensor for OAT indication to the driver, use a bit of digital signal processing so the HVAC system does not react to short term (false, temporary) temperature excursions. I moved my '92's OAT sensor into the right front bumper area, well away from radiant effects of the condensor/radiator. If you truly have the temperature setting at MAX, fully at MAX, then ignore all of the above and focus on a vapor lock in the coolant system. With the temperature setting at MAX heat or MAX cool all sensor inputs are ignored.

THE FINAL WORD.... When I picked up our 2001 911/996 C4 at the Porsche factory in Germany I was told that throughout our travels in europe we would not always be able to fuel with preminum but I should NEVER fuel with LEADED. The explanation was that leaded fuel would contaminate the catalytic converter and it would have to be replaced, $1000 cost to me, before shipping to the US. Now the 911/996 engine is unquestionably a high compression and high performance engine, so I asked how it was possible to run on regular fuel. I was told that the engine ECU would "learn" what fuel was being used by "pushing", leaning out, the A/F mixture to the limit, the point wherein the knock sensor would go off, essentially saying "enough, already". By that method the ECU would know just how rich to run the mixture to avoid knock/ping due to fuel octane being (too??) low. In other words if you fuel a modern day engine that has a high compression AND knock sensors no damage will result since the ECU will avoid the A/F mixture range, more lean mixture, that would otherwise result in knock/ping. He did point out that with the engine in the rear I would not be able to readily hear the onset of engine knock/ping due to lugging (six speed stick) so I was to avoid loading the engine up, asking for acceleration torque, below 1500RPM. So fueling a high compression engine with knock sensors with regular will result in increased fuel consumption but no damage will result. Our '92 LS400 has been running on regular only since ~2001, 60-70,000 miles and is still running STRONG.

Next question.... I messed around with the PB switch, turning the chirp and and off several times. I ended up leaving it on but now I notice that the parking/street lights flash when I lock the car. I don't remember ever noticing that previously but then up to now I have not been the primary driver. SOP??

The high beam bulb on the left was removed from my '01 AWD RX300 about 5 years ago, at I believe, about 12,000 miles. I gave the other one from the RX to the service manager at Bellevue Lexus to let him know what I had found. The two on the right were just removed, moments ago, from a '95 LS400 with 210,000 miles. I'm fairly sure they are the original factory bulbs. When I put the new bulbs in the LS the DRL mode was so much brighter it was hard to believe these original ones were still working. Luckily the 95 has two high beam bulbs in each side so the loss of one due to the severe sooting wasn't all that noticeable. I have found documents on the internet indicating that this is a fairly common problem with Halogen bulbs being operated as DRLs with sub-standard, below normal operating level, voltages. The 95 LS operates the halogens in series, 6 volts each. The Rx300 also operates the bulbs in series but has an additional voltage dropping resistor mounted below the battery.

Oops... Almost forgot. I opened the "tail" light circuit to the "inside" 7443's, the ones in the trunk lid, so as to give a much more "pronounced" indication, beyond just the high mount, that I have applied, am currently on, the brakes.

There are two resistor "issues". One is a voltage dropping resistor so the LEDs will operate at the correct voltage/current rating, typically 3 to 4 volts. Those are almost always, if not always, included in the base of the standard LED bulb replacement. So a 7443 LED bulb simply plugs into a 7443 incandescent bulb socket. The second issue is a bit more complex, moreso with a Lexus since they always have bulb failure sensors. But the first thing is to "tackle" the turn signal flasher issue. In many cases you can simply buy an electronic flasher which is NOT sensitive to the electrical current load represented by the incandescent bulb filament. For turn signal bulbs that is typically 1.80 amps at 12 volts, 3.6 amps for both to a side. The amber turn signal LED lamps that I chose, 7443 for the rear and 1156 for the front, each require 0.120 amps, 0.240 amps total per side. Other than buying an aftermarket solid state flasher relay some people choose to simply add resistors in parallel with the new LED bulbs. In my case that would have required two ~4 ohm resistors with a minumum power rating of 20 watts. The turn signal duty cycle is only ~50% so a 40 watt resistor is not really necessary. Obviously incorporating a 20 watt resistor within a LED lamp is out of the question. With the Lexus there is also the issue of disabling, or modifying the bulb/lamp failure sensor. I disabled the one in my '95 LS by opening the circuit to the bulb failure "icon" lamp. Also remember that many newer cars, like the Lexus, come with an electronic flasher relay that has an integral "fash flash" bulb failure sensor to let the driver know that a turn signal bulb has failed. With two bulbs, or 4 in hazard mode, it flashes at the normal rate, with only one bulb in the circuit in turn signal mode it switches to fast flash as an indication of the failure.

Stop/tail: http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/Product...sid/0/SFV/32481 Turn (REAR): http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/Product...sid/0/SFV/32481 In a visual comparison, one side with LED the other with the OEM incandescents, these appeared to me to be just a tad brighter.

$8500.00

What is your reasoning for replacing the front/rear struts? And for that matter what about the rotors. I've just installed, probably the sixth set, of brake pads on my 95 LS400, 210,000 miles, and the rotors have never been replace or turned. 3rd set on my 01 AWD RX300, approaching 70,000 miles, and with original rotors and...struts. When I buy brake pads I do not want the ones with a wear warranty and I can "live" with dust and even noise in favor of stopping power. In reality brake pad noise is generally easily solved by chamferring the pad edges, metal shims, liquid rubber application, and proper brake sliding surface (NOT pad/rotor) lubrication.

I would amend that to say leave it off when traveling, creeping, in relatively constant stop and go traffic. If you are moving along relative smoothly, even slowly, then OD can be of help for FE. Provided the engine ECU "thinks" so.

Basically, since the '92 has 2 engine knock sensors, you can ignore it. But my advice would be otherwise if you have an unusually heavy load or are towing one. In that case I would never leave it enabled except traveling on flat terrain or downhill. But even with "standard" loading if you have a long climb ahead you can generally improve FE slightly by turning OD off. But then if you don't remember to turn it back on quickly you will can quickly lose anything you have gained. Which was likley not much anyway.

The red enclosure at the center of the picture is the bulb/lamp failure sensor mounted in the trunk of my '95 LS400. There are three separate failure circuits, stop lights, tail lights. and high mount stop light, all driving one indicator lamp on the combination meter assembly. The circuits use nichrome resistive links and if you wish you can substitute empirically determined resistor values once you know how much current each LED "group" will draw. But be aware that dual brightness, dual function LSD lamps do not draw current flow on the low light side when the high side is powered. In my '01 RX300 I added a transistor switch circuit inside the enclosure to simulate the current draw of the LED tail lamps when the stop lamp section is powered. But since the reliability of LED lamps is head and shoulders over incandescents that was way too much trouble for what it was worth. So this time I just clipped/opened the violet/green wire going to pin #4, the output driver to the instrument panel rear bulb failure icon. From top/left in the picture the connector is numbered: -5--4---------3-2-1 12-11-10-9-8-7-6

The electronic turn signal flasher in my '95 LS400 is mounted in the driver's side left "kick-panel" at the very top and forward toward the firewall. The circuit is designed to flash at a normal rate if at least two bulbs are working, 3.6 amps of total current draw. It also flashes at the normal rate when the hazard switch is on, 7.2 amps of current flow. But in turn signal mode if one bulb should fail the relay will fast-flash to make the driver aware of the failure. It does this by sensing the current flow through a resistive nichrome wire "link" which is carefully trimmed to drop 80 millivolts, 0.080 volts with both turn signal bulbs working. So the goal, to prevent fast flashing with the low current draw of LED lamps, is to replace that nichrome wire link with a resistor that will drop at least 80 millivolts with both LED turn signal lamps powered. In my case each amber turn signal LED draws 0.120 amps, 0.240 total, so I wanted to replace the nichrome wire with a resistor of ~0.70 ohms. I didn't happen to have a .7 ohm resistor on hand so I substituted a 1.0 ohm resistor. With the 1 ohm resistor I don't get fast flash if one LED is out but... In the picture the larger 1/2 watt blue banded 1 ohm resistor at the top replaced the nichrome link. If you wish to have the viability of installing incandescent lamps temporarily should a LED lamp fail then I would recommend a 5 amp diode mounted in parallel with the 1/2 watt resistor, anode nearest in the picture, 12 volt B+ point. Otherwise the 1/2 watt resistor would not long survive a 1.8 amp current flow.

For some reason this battery post corrosion issue seems to pop up as winter wanes. I keep a specialty battery post/connector cleaner/wire brush in my tool chest.

For the most riding comfort and quietness you should purchase Bridgestone Turanza "summer only" tires and with the lowest speed rating you expect not to exceed for extended periods.

Nothing at all? No click, no nothing? The LS will do that if you're not in park, or if it thinks its not in park....dirty switch maybe. If the dash lights up, and you twist to start and nothing happens, that'd be my guess. Assuming you had a STRONG start on the third try I would remove both battery post connections, clean and burnish the posts and connections.

Single marque sales shops have a smallish "fleet" to work from and then you have the fact that the upscale cars are just plain better designed, built, and therefore have greater reliability makes me wonder how these shops even keep a service bay open at all. But I agree, there is NO dealer service shop I would trust to do work on my cars, PERIOD!

The VSC is simply a default condition that arises anytime you have a CEL. The CEL may be the result of a poor refueling procedure. If the gas cap is removed and no fuel is added the emissions ECU assumes a vapor leak. That can also happen if the gas cap is not tightened fully, or is left off and the engine is started and run for a period of time. If the problem is/was the gas cap and it is corrected the CEL will automatically cancel with a few "drive cycles".

Yes, page 10, right there, how'd I miss that...!

Yes, hopefully my wife won't back into any more trees. :chairshot:

50 watt halogen backup lights, LS400 http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...t=0#entry288004

Original, bi-pin socket epoxied and connected, bulbs installed, and results. I cut the backup bulb socket off so the halogen filament would be at the same position, height, as the original incandescent filament.

Just now in the process of lubing the tilt and telescoping stearing wheel gears and pulling the flasher relay to modify for LED turn signal bulbs. Discovered a small pushbutton switch, obviously factory, on the bottom dash cover below the stearing wheel forward of the courtesy light. Been through the owners manual page by page and cannot find any reference to this switch. '95 LS400 originally of Canadian origin. Anyone know or have any ideas what the switch is for..??