landar

What you have described sounds exactly like a burned out bulb on the passenger side (right side). When you turn on the headlights, the tail lights come on all the way around as they should. The tail lights are a separate filament from the brake light filament. In other words, the brake lights do not depend upon the headlights being on or off. The warning indicator is showing that not enough current is being drawn by the rear lights. This could be due to a burned out filament in the brake bulb or a bad connection as gbhrps suggested. Do not depend upon a visual check of the bulb filament. Try a new bulb(or use an ohmmeter) and look carefully at the socket connections for corrosion and wires leading up to the socket. This is most likely something fairly simple especially if it just occurred quickly and is not intermittent.

The Lexus seats are very comfortable on long trips. I find that occasional re-adjustments along the route help keep my back from getting fatigued. Also, I know this may not sound important in warm California, heated seats are nice. I use my heated seats often, even in the summer. I find the heat soothing on my back at times. The heat even helps me on long trips. I do not always use it but it is nice to have and something I would highly recommend for your back.

Decklid looks virtually untouched to me. The taillight and quarter look like they took a hit.

So, you are number "3"? (bad things come in three's). Sorry to hear Averona. Are you ok?

Jim, looks like the left rear quarter got pushed in and will have to be straightened. I would guess $3500-$4k if no hidden damage. Glad you are ok. Be ready for the "ambulance chasers" to be contacting you. Paul, on the other hand, took a major hit. Other than soreness, sounds like you will be ok as well which is the important thing. Cars can always be repaired or replaced. Before commenting on your car, Paul, can you post any pics of it?

I was hoping you would weigh in. Yep, got some homework to do.

Thanks for all of the replies. Sage advice. The shop will re-skin both doors, new fender, hood, all with OEM parts (no salvage). The shop tells me that the door skins are actually bonded (glued) in place after a couple of tack welds. So, I guess I will drop it off at the shop and tell them to deal with it.

Update: The insurance appraisal has come back at $7600. They told me to take the car to the shop of my choice and they would work with them to get it repaired. Alternatively, the insurance told me that I could take a "cash-out" on the deal and they would be done. The cash-out would be less 40% on labor. So, that would knock about $1000 off. I could walk away with a check for roughly $6500 and find a shop to do the repairs for less and pocket the difference. I have found a shop that may do it for less but would have to determine how that could be accomplished and would it be to my satisfaction. Since most on this board already stand amazed at the low $7600, I am probably best served letting the shop deal directly with the insurance. Yes/no? Thoughts?

Typical operation for a tranny that is low on fluid. It is hard to check levels with the dipstick. Add a quart and see if it improves.

Well, air in the system is bad but fluid in the line is desirable. Now that you have repaired the leak, have you tried bleeding the air from the system?

From your explanation, it made me think of inner/outer tie rods. But you should get the car to a good, reputable alignment shop and let them assess the condition of the front-end components. Most of them will do the inspection for free and if not, it would be worth the small cost for a professional evaluation. You may have several different issues going on here in regards to the noise.

The info from James is correct. Replace for $5 a bolt. Here's another thread you might want to read -> http://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls430/546207-caliper-bolts-2.html Funny story about my teaching my son to work on his car and torque things down. He bought a 92 ES300 with a blown head gasket and so we proceeded to put in a new gasket, timing belt, water pump, etc. I let him do much of the work and only helped when very critical (like head bolt torquing). He was putting the valve covers on and even torqued those valve cover bolts...to 52 ft-lbs. He calls me up at work and says "Dad, I broke off a bolt". I had him revisit the service manual and he discovered it was supposed to be 52 INCH-lbs! Well, he learned a lesson that day and thats the whole idea. We have all been there. It was no big deal to back out what was left of the bolt and put another in. BTW, the ES300 is running great and he just loves it.

Still waiting for the independent appraiser to contact me so that they can have a look-see. I remember now about the rental issue. I did have the option years ago, but decided that for the $$ it would cost each year, it was worth foregoing and just paying out-of-pocket. So, my bad for being irritated about that. I have my old Chrysler van that I am now driving. Glad I hung on to it for the past year(its my "truck" for hauling junk). Kinda bummed today anyway, just drove my son to the AF recruiter's office and he is off to boot camp in San Antonio. I will miss him but it will be a good experience(I hope). I get to make a road trip in 2 months to attend his graduation (woohoo) and...I am OT and rambling. sorry.

In my experience, if the battery drops to 10.6 volts overnight, the starter is not going to crank. But you say it does? If so, then you may have made an errant measurement. The best way to test the health of the battery is to shut off the engine, turn on the headlights and observe how long the battery will remain above 12 volts. It should slowly and steadily drop for the first 5-10 minutes and may even go slightly below 12 volts. But it should hold for another 15 minutes or so without significantly dropping. So, for instance, the battery reading may start off at 12.5 and go down to 12.0, then maybe 11.90. But the rate of descent should slow(not stop) drastically at the 11.90 level and hold fairly steady for a good 5-10 minutes. If, after, 10-15 minutes, you are in the 10.x range, your battery is shot. But you are right about suspecting the battery even though only a year old. If the battery has been completely discharged several times that is all it takes to ruin or significantly degrade, some lead-acid batteries. Even new ones. Finally, you could have a parasitic drain on your battery such that something is pulling excessive current and draining the battery while the car sets. But first, verify the health of the battery with those tests.

Sounds like a nice car. Again, I would do the things prescribed by the Lexus maintenance schedule which would include all fluids. Some fluids that you might not even think about such as the brake fluid and power steering fluid and differential fluid. Then you have the more obvious like the engine oil, transmission fluid and coolant. Of course, many of these may already have been changed by the previous owner(s). But the power steering pump and alternator are not on the maintenance schedule. I would just check to make sure the PS pump is not leaking. If the water pump has not been changed when the timing belt was done, you *might* consider replacing the WP and T-belt, pulleys and tensioner. Other than that, just sit back and enjoy your "new" Lexus. Or rather, watch your D-I-L enjoy it!

Welcome to the forum, Michael. You may not like this advice but I would not advocate replacing the alt or ps pump if they are operating properly. I realize that you are trying a preemptive strike to avert future problems but, honestly, you might just consider leaving them be for the time. It is hard to beat the original equipment quality so I usually replace with like quality or rebuild the originals. In general, I do not use auto part store parts for more critical components. For exterior belts and the like, yes, a Gates or other non-OEM would be fine. There are some places on-line such as Sewell Lexus that sell quality OEM parts. I have done just as you plan to do and then kicked myself when the replacement part performed far worse than the original. I then wish I had just left it alone until it actually failed. Wasted $$$. Can you tell us more about your car? How many miles? What shape is it in? How was it maintained thus far? Any pics you can post? Again, welcome!

Thanks for that bit of advice, LEXIR. I have two shops in mind. One is the shop that the Lexus dealer uses for its repairs, since they do not have a body shop on the premise. The other shop is more of a Rod-and-Custom paint shop. They do some nice work but are not as experienced with Lexus as the first shop. I have spoken with the owners of both shops. The dealer shop is professional but rather matter-of-fact about everything. He seems to get a little irritated if I ask a question he has already answered or if I ask 'too' many questions. The Rod-and-Custom shop owner is very amicable. Will answer any and all questions very gladly. His shop is not as professional and clean looking as the other shop but I know he does good quality work. I am trying to decide which shop to choose. I will find out if they are "approved". I also found out that though I have full coverage on my car, the insurance does not cover a rental car. That was a pleasant(<sarcasm>) surprise. Seeing that my car may be in the shop for several weeks, it sure would be nice but I can manage. Depending upon the outcome of all of this, I am seriously thinking of finding a new insurance company. My current is certainly not bending over backwards for me. I guess that's to be expected. Sixteen years without a single claim.

Hey Steve. Actually I have seen that clip from the UK. The deer here in the US are very thick as they really have no natural predators. I cannot tell you the number of drivers that I talk to who have had accidents with deer. Almost everyone has a story. In my 40 years of driving, this is my first. That alone is pretty amazing. Many people have multiple encounters with deer. I have taken my car to the second repair shop that I trust and will have an estimate early next week. The insurance co. tells me that at this price level, they will definitely be sending their independent estimator to have a look. They seem to think a deer strike should be in the $500-2k range. While that may be true in the majority of cases, I have a Lexus and I hit the deer just under 70 MPH. That alone can(will) cause major damage.

The shop will replace fender, both door skins and hood with OEM sheet metal. In less, of course, the insurance company adjuster wants to cheap out with salvage or aftermarket parts. I am going to try to head that off. But yeah, pretty much everything you mentioned, Jim. The rear quarter looks untouched and the wheel/suspension/steering seems unaffected. Now, the caveat from the shop owner is that the estimate could go up if they get into things and find more issues than originally thought. But the labor rate at the shop is only $48/hr which seems very reasonable to me. I have an appointment with another shop on Friday then I am done with estimates on my part. I only trust a couple of shops in the area to do the work and this is one of them. I am not looking forward to dealing with the insurance adjuster.

The first estimate is in: $7492.36. This with the Lexus santioned shop (also does Mercedes). Working on getting a second estimate.

I called my insurance agent today and they told me that I have comprehensive coverage for the damage with a $250 deduction. And they told me to get several quotes which I will start doing tomorrow. I hope they are sitting down when I fax the quotes! Bet I get some push-back on this one.

Billy, I have always understood the model names to mean something to this effect: IS- Intelligent Sport ES- Executive Sedan GS- Grand Sport LS- Luxury Sedan They each have their own body styles and characteristics to meet a certain market segment.

Hey Billy. Yeah, it could have been worse. Like the deer could have come thru the windshield. Unfortunately, the deer didn't have any insurance that I can claim so this one is coming out of my own pocket. I don't think an LS460 is in the cards.

Thanks SRK. I will get estimates later this week. I do have full coverage with a $500 deductible so hopefully the insurance will cover everything needed. The light assembly is completely gone and that cannot be cheap with the auto-leveling headlights. Gives new literal meaning to "deer in the headlight(s)".