ThunderRiver

Water pump? Lexus uses oil cooling for the engine, not water...

Also, I am wondering if there is a way to check the timing belt, so that I can be more prepared for replacement?

People do suck.. and that's why we have to be more cautious about our Lexus.

Premium gas is the only choice to go. Try avoid Standard as much as you can as it degrades performances with your car.

LOL. I finally went to Lexus for a $90 A/C check up. It turns out that they couldn't find a darn thing wrong inside my A/C

They said if A/C causes my car engine to stop, the problem would come from engine not A/C. They said A/C does causes abit noise from my engine, but other than that it is fine.

Since they couldn't find anything wrong with it, they didn't charge me anything. Instead, they washed my car for free

okay. I am not done yet.. here is the interseting part! Before I went for inspection, my A/C would cause my engine speed to fluctuate and often end up engine stalling. Now, after the inspection, the problem is gone although the engine still has a bit noise, but no more engine speed fluctuation nor engine stall. Isn't that amazing?

My 'mechanics' key came with a small square piece of aluminum attached with a 5 digit number stamped in it.

Is that the key serial number??

Would assume so, but don't know for sure.

Yes, that's the serial

Make sure your transmission fluid level is full. That does a wonder of difference.

Yeah well, the more strange thing is that I never knew it existed in my car until it starts bussing whenever I hit the brake.

I cut the wire earlier tonight, and went ahead to separate the wire and isolate them from touching each other.

I don't think my 1994 LS400 comes with any Lexus car kit speaker, and previous owner probably did the wiring, and now the external speaker is going bad.

All my sound system is in good shape. All sound speakers are working, so that's something I am not too worried about.

Tonight I can sleep better, knowing that I got rid of the problem LOL

Thank you all for all your help. I don't know if I want to go through the pain and uncover all the wiring underneath the car. My car spent its first 9 years in southern states, either Florida or Texas. This is the first year that it is enduring cold winter weather up in Michigan. A lot of problem came up, cruise control failure, air flow censor malfunction, instrument panel black-out and this sneaky external speaker is just one of them. Not to mention the snow driving while my rear end was swaying one way or another. So much fun with rear wheel drive on snow... heh

Hi,

Thanks for the hint! I bought this car back in 1997, and it was a pre-owned 1994 LS400. Well, I suppose the previous owner installed the handfree cell phone car kit inside the car, and I never knew until now LOL.

I noticed that the serial number for that speaker is SSN4002A. After goolging around, I found this http://store5.yimg.com/I/cell-accessories_1785_15527081

That's exactly the speaker that was inside my car. Do you think Lexus installed that phone car kit? or previous owner did?

I wonder if there is an easy way to remove it as it doesn't do me anything good. I already have another car kit of my own anyway. Besides, I think this speaker is going bad, and that's why it has been buzzing.

All the wires are hidden under the carpet. I guess the only solution is to take off the carpet and dig deeper to find the wire? Can I just cut the speaker off and leave the wires inside the car? I don't think it matters that much anyway.

Any suggestions?

Lately, whenever I step on the brake, I keep hearing little buzzing sound near my driver's seat. After further investigation, I notice that it comes from a little speaker that's a little bit left to the brake padle.

What does that speaker do? I don't think that speaker has anything to do with the regular audio speaker. How do I fix it so that I wouldn't hear any buzzing sound from that speaker?

1994 LS 400

Thanks

Hehe.. wish I could help you out, but I am also wondering about the same thing. My year model is 1994 LS400. Since the car is pre-owned, the dealer didn't give me any serial number.

My dad also got his 2000 LS400 preowned, but he got his serial. I guess I should have asked back then.

I live in Michigan, and I notice that now a day, whenever I turn on the A/C, the engine speed will fluctuate and I can even feel that the engine is vibrating.

Within about 5 seconds, it caused my car engine to stop!

Well, as somone here suggested before, it might be something to do with air compressor. Well, I called Lexus about it, and they told me the inspection fee for A/C will be $90, and what's worse is that they refuse to tell me how much it would possiblly cost for an A/C Compressor for my 1994 LS 400.

I then went on and start calling other places for A/C repair. One place informed me that they would only charge me $75 bucks for A/C inspection, and if the problem truly points of A/C Compressor, it will probably cost me about $400 to replace. Is that a good price? It doesn't guarantee that it is will be the original part from Lexus though.

Besides, if I go to 3rd party dealer, I would be stuck there until it is fixed. I don't really have a very convenient transportation for me to get rides while the car is being fixed. I think "maybe" Lexus will be kind enough to test drive one of their cars while the car is being fixed. Keep in mind that my 1994 one is out of warranty, so I doubt Lexus would let me test drive their car.

Anyway, which choice should I choose? Go to Lexus and fix the A/C or go to 3rd party that is willing to charge $400 to replace compressor? Also keep in mind that the pirce would probably go higher as I haven't sent my car to any inspections yet.

Lastly, what's a reasonable amount of price for A/C Compressor for 1994 LS 400? Does it matter if I get the original part?

Yeah I tried the suggestion on Auto and REC button, but the problem is that 1994 LS400 doesn't have REC button.. and therefore, I have no way of finding out what's wrong.

So I guess I don't have to worry much about it?

I do notice that the car would be making scary noise when the blinking A/C light persists for a long period of time.. like for 30 min to an hour.

Is there a guide with pictures and tell you how to apply silicons? My 1994 LS400 has noise too..

Is it bad if I don't address it?

I searched on the forum regarding car starter, but all I found was http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...&hl=car+starter

I am just wondering if anyone of you actually had any experience with car starters with Lexus, specially LS400. During a cold winter, a car starter surely will enhance the driving experience with comfortness.

I went on google and search for brands like CodeAlarm, Clifford, and Viper, but I can't seem to find their officidial web sites. Doesn't that sound odd? I want to know how much they are truly compatible with Lexus, and I want to know if there is any downsides by installing it on my car. Finally, I am wondering if it is feasible to DIY? Thanks

TR

On my 1994 LS400, the A/C signal light sometimes blinks while I was driving. Is that normal? I guess the sensor is confused about whether turning on heater or A/C, so the light is on and off.

The outside temperature is aruond 30's. If I manually press the A/C button, the A/C light would go off, which means heater would come on until next time I drive again. Whenever I turn on the engine, the A/C is on by default... kind weird at such cold temperature eh?

So in another word, I can't put in ATF Dextron III in there? Will it mess up the car really bad? I just don't want the car to die on me though.

The nearest Lexus/Toyota dealer is actually over 1 hour away from me, and I only asked one technecian from the dealer. It is unfortunate that he didn't mention anything about Toyota ATF Type T IV.

I have about 440 miles to drive this Saturday, and if I can temperarily fix this problem, I will definitely give it a fix at home. Right now, it seems to me that the Lexus is using the same red fluid as Dextron III. At least they look the same to me right now.

Hi,

I have a 1994 Lexus LS400, and I recently found out that my car is quite low in transmission fluid, but the manual said that if it is low, I should get ATF Type T II.

I have been to many places, like AutoZone and Napa, but they said they don't carry such thing or they never heard of it. I called Lexus dealer this morning, and the technician said that I should be able to use Dextron II/III, which is equivalent to ATF Type T II. Can anyone confirm this? It seems to me that Lexus uses Dextron II for everything eh? Like for Power Steering Fluid too..

Lastly, if the car is very low in ATF (automatic transmission fluid), would that cause the engine to make noise? Like when I hit the gas, I can hear the engine is actually gearing up, and that's not normal sound that you should hear. That happens especially when I drive the car for 6 or 7 hours straight with speed around 75 or 80 MPH.

I checked with the engine oil level, engine coolant level, and they seem to be in good shape, so I can't really tell if the engine is dying or not. One thing for sure that, the engine wasn't over-heating at all.

Any suggestions are highly appreciated.

ThunderRiver