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Bill Gate's would stoop to driving an LS? With his money, I would think he would be more of a Bentley man. Must have been his 'beater' car. ;)

...and that is why you do one side at at time! Thanks for the update. BTW, I will usually snap a couple of digital pics along the way when doing the brakes just in case I need a 'refresher'.

Best run-on sentence I have seen in quite a while. So you suspect no fuel at the injector rails, correct? You could try hooking up a fuel pressure gauge to see if you have proper pressurization. You could also press the valve on the rail to see if any fuel squirts out. And a simple test would be to spray some starter fluid into the throttle body and see if you could get the engine to run momentarily. That does not solve the problem but does isolate your issue to the fuel side.

If you don't mind the $70, a new unit is probably the way to go. Of course if you plan to do that yourself, you can look at the old unit first once off the car and decide if a 'bandaid' would work(growing up in the midwest, we had other names for it ). Depending upon what you find, you just need to add friction. I believe the ball/socket just loosened up. Maybe it would even be possible to squeeze the socket with a pair of pliers to increase the fit interference. Maybe even a clamp or rubber band around the inside assembly. On the other hand, $70 is not too bad. Bad. But not toooooo bad. ;)

Jim, I just checked the center visor on my LS430. Granted they are different models but the visor is very similar. Anyway, my visor, which BTW, I rarely if ever use, seems to be a friction fit with perhaps a hint of spring at the top. But if it is a spring, it is extremely weak. Not like it snaps with any authority. As I was looking at the little ball going into the mirror assembly, it occurred to me that maybe you could 'gum' up the works, so to speak. To add the friction needed to keep it in place and make the ball/socket work hard. Like squirt(or work) a very small amount of rubberized silicone compound (or equiv calk) into the ball socket. That would set and add friction maybe but not lock it into place as it does not dry rock hard. Or maybe a well chewed piece of your favorite Wrigley's? :whistles:

With 93k miles and having had all new rotors and brakes at some point, it sounds like your brakes may be just fine. That is, the pads and rotors. What does not sound fine is the sponginess. That usually indicates air in the system. Could also be your master cylinder. Bleeding each brake caliper would be in order. If you have never had the brake fluid flushed with new, fresh fluid, then that would be at the top of my priority list. As far as the grating when it sits overnight, that may well be normal. The rotors will begin to develop surface rust incredibly fast and it just takes a couple of stops to clean them up. Nothing out of the ordinary there.

I don't know that the shims wear out so much as just needing to be resized to fit the new pads. The shims keep the pad from vibrating in the caliper housing when you step on the brakes and thus prevent annoying squeals or buzzing. The new pads steel backing may be slightly different in size and may (or may not) require new shims. A visual check or gauge can help determine the proper clearance. Here is a tutorial on doing an early model -> http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/brake/fbpad.html

Sure does sound like a fuel starvation issue but you should try to retrieve codes before you go any further with the parts changing. Did you try retrieving the code(s) using this procedure? -> http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/intro/codereading.html Right off hand, it sounds like a plugged fuel filter and also maybe a leaky injector. But try the codes first and let us know what you find.

Any "good" mechanic would have the equipment to true the rotors. The problem comes when a mechanic takes off more material than needed. The last time I checked, the going rate was around $10-15 per rotor to lathe them. I had my 98 LS400 front brake job done at the Lexus dealer 3 years ago for $300. The pads were about $70, labor 2 hrs @ $100/hr and truing, $30. If you have nominal mechanic skills, I think you could do a complete front brake job yourself for around $100 assuming you do not need new rotors.

Pic of the finished job. I decided to reinstall the shields (sans insulation). I will recheck it for corrosion each time I drain the tranny fluid.

Jim, did you also have the front rotors resurfaced the first time around? If so that means they were cut twice now and still have enough thickness. I am going to install my snow tires today and will give my brakes a good "looking over". These Lexus brakes are about the beefiest I have ever encountered.

Well, I could not stand it (not knowing what was underneath) so I pulled the SST shields off to have a look. The bolt holding the clamp just sheared in two, it was so badly rusted. Thats a plus as I did not have to fuss much with it. Once the shields were off, I did not like what I saw. The pipes were no where near rusted thru but there were some pock marks and quite a lot of residue rust scale. That insulation between the shield and pipe is a mess. And I think it contributed significantly to the extra rust. Trapped heat. Nothing like high temps to cause steel to rust. BTW, I think you are right about the insulation keeping the exhaust hot for the cats. I decided to sand the Y pipe and paint with Hi-temp paint. I am now in the process of doing the 3 curing cycles for the paint. I have not decided if I will reinstall the shields. I may but not with any insulation. And I bought new SST clamps. I am going to look for some hi-temp exhaust wrap to keep the shield material from direct contact with the exhaust pipe. The paint should help but over time I think it would just wear thru. The following pic is before I painted. Thanks for the heads-up on this issue, CuriousB. I owe you a beer or two (maybe a single malt?) next time I get to Chi-town. Thanks also to boblexus430!

Just got a chance to look at my exhaust shields/clamps. They actually look ok(I think) at the moment. The clamp bolt is fairly rusted. At this point, would it be better to replace the clamp or just hit the exhaust clamp area with manifold paint? Maybe both? Here's a pic of the LH front clamp. As I mentioned before, the car has only seen one winter even though it is a 2002. [Edit] oops. Double 'clutched' on the reply.

Just got a chance to look at my exhaust shields/clamps. They actually look ok(I think) at the moment. The clamp bolt is fairly rusted. At this point, would it be better to replace the clamp or just hit the exhaust clamp area with manifold paint? Here's a pic of the LH front clamp. As I mentioned before, the car has only seen one winter even though it is a 2002.

Te laat ;)

Have you tried resetting things by pulling the battery for a couple of hours? Just FYI, this is the LS section of the Lexus forum.

Is this an LS460? Sounds like there is an offset setting that is perhaps incorrect. Could the dealer re-flash the GPS unit?

Interesting. Where can I get one of these LS329's? ;) Do you happen to know what brand of T-belt was used in your recent change? If the belt were to be off by a tooth or sloppy.....I wonder if maniek recently had his T-belt changed?

Now you know why the 96 was such a bargain!

So, you cleared the code(s) with an OBDII reader and disconnected the battery for > 1 hr to clear any cached memory and you still have das blinkin' light?

Pull the battery...

And a jolly good one at that, old chap!

Neat stuff. It would be nice to see those gauges on a special page of the Nav screen. Maybe someday.

'Wat' octane fuel are you running? How many miles on the car?

Jim, is it time to buy back your 'baby'? You need a hobby....plus, you can play catch-up to Billy. That car still (did) look(s) pretty nice. [edit] just looked at pics on craigslist. Those years of salt seem to be getting to her. :cries: