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While I do not have schematics for the 96 LS, I sincerely doubt that Lexus uses the same fuse for the fuel door and left low-beam. Both being out is just coincidence. I believe that the trunk release also uses the gas filler release fuse, so if the electric trunk release works, your fuse is good. Do you hear any clicks at all when you pull the gas door lever in the cabin? Sometimes the rubber bumper pushing on the door gets rotted/damaged and does not exert outward force to open the lid.

Congrats on the milestone, Curious. Its a bittersweet moment...."yeah! I made 100k. Wait, my baby is getting old. ohhh". :cries: There is a certain pleasure derived from doing one's own work. For me, it is the $avings and, perhaps more importantly, knowing the good was done correctly, independence from shops, the "learning" experience and bragging rights. Surprised to hear that you had to replace both the front and rear rotors. Would have thought a simple resurface would have sufficed. Have you ever changed your brake fluid?

The oil change is nice but will do nothing noticeable for your mileage. It sure seems like the thermostat is open although you mentioned that you replaced it. Do you remember the value stamped on the thermostat? Maybe you got the wrong thermostat. Depending upon where you live (btw,where do you live?) and current cold weather, it could take anywhere from 5-15 minutes for the engine to warm up. This assumes you are driving a modest 35-50 MPH down the road. Normally, in this weather (25F in Indiana), it will take about 10 minutes for my engine to be 95% warmed. If the temp gauge is taking in the area of 20 minutes to come to full operating temp, you have a problem in the coolant area. Here are a couple of suggestions. Feel free to try (or not) :) 1) Make some measurements. You dont need a stopwatch but try to get reasonably accurate. From dead cold, start and drive down the road at around the speed limit. How long does it take for the needle to get to "normal"? 2) After getting it up to full temp, find a stretch of flat road where you can keep the speed constant, in the 50-60 mph range. What does your instantaneous(current) MPG readout indicate? 3) If your engine is taking in the 20 minute range to warm up, consider putting a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator (cut to fit so it is safe to drive) and do test #1 again. Does it now warm up much quicker? Do not leave the cardboard on there except for the short test drive or you could overheat. And keep a close eye on the temp gauge if you try this one. This test would confirm an open thermostat, stuck-on fan, etc.

Welcome to the forum! You get the legendary beer-chug (sorry, we just ran out of fuel injector gift cards...however, advice is still free and worth every penny!) First off, I wonder why you think you need to clean the injectors. Is it running rough? If you use a top-tier gasoline, premium blend, you generally will have all the additives needed to keep the injectors in clean shape. However, if you would feel better putting an additional cleaner in there, I have always been impressed with Berryman products...ie: the B12 Chemtools. They always seemed to work better than other products when cleaning up parts in the garage. Here is a link -> http://www.berrymanproducts.com/ProductsInfo/CombustionSystemCleaning.aspx

No need to be caustic and demanding Tim. That will not get you answers on this forum. You do not need an exploded view. You know there is a leak under there. It wont matter how much speculation is made. To truly know the exact cause, you will simply have to remove the manifold.

On the brighter side, at least now you know why it was for sale at such a good price. :whistles: Sounds like your fob button may be sticking down after pressing, possibly contact bounce. Try taking it apart and cleaning or try another fob.

Dont know the answers. Just know how to use the search engine on this site. See if this thread is of any help -> http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=61977&st=0&p=397833&hl="hid%20headlights"&fromsearch=1entry397833

If you are talking about the plastic molded door piece then it is acceptable (imo) to not be perfectly aligned. I know, its hard to accept imperfection when you pay $20k for a $60k car but that's the breaks. :P Life is short enough.

Has the transmission fluid and filter ever been changed? If not, that would be the very first thing I would do. Well, after verifying the fluid level was correct. You might be low on tranny fluid. I do not know if the trunk wiring would cause this issue but I rather doubt it. You certainly are in the year of vehicle that has that problem. So, check level and adjust as necessary. If the fluid has not been changed in a while (ie:last 50k miles or more), change the fluid along with the filter and see if that helps.

For the early LS, the link you will want is -> http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/engine/timingbelt.html Concerning the clock display, you just get a new piece of LCD glass and install. The old one is trash. I got my new glass on Ebay -> http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170447204098#ht_500wt_1182

You are fortunate to have your dad's LS nearby for comparison. That certainly helps. You might consider buying an infrared thermometer to check various spots on the engine for comparison. The thermometers are really pretty inexpensive these days (maybe $35-45) and are wonderful supplements to the toolbox. Takes the guesswork out of "feeling" the heat. I have one similar to this: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=safari&rls=en&q=infrared+thermometer&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=12955984420802696606&ei=W4AaTe2QLc29nAfqivm5Dg&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CEMQ8wIwAQ#ps-sellers

Welcome Richard. Yes, it is interference and could suffer damage if the belt were to break. The recommended change interval is 90k miles or 6 years. My 02 with 22k miles still has the original belt. I am not losing any sleep.

The fan bracket on a 98-00 uses 2x14mm bolts and 2x12mm nuts. The torque spec is 12 lb-ft for the 12mm and 24 lb-ft for the 14mm. The four nuts on the fan to bracket are 16 lb-ft.

The LS, being a RWD vehicle with the engine mounted in-line, is really pretty easy to work on. Especially when you get the radiator out of the way. Once you get into it, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how well the Lexus engine is designed and built. I recently replaced the clock display on my 92 LS for $45. Again, fairly easy to do.

Try this -> http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/electrical/clusterdisassembly.html

Its "Sedan Luxury" vs. "Luxury Sedan". Available only in outer Slabovia. <_<

If you do a simple search on this forum, you will discover that you do NOT have an interference fit engine. So, no bent valves (happy times). You indicate that the TB was replaced 7/09 and that you have owned the car for 1 1/2 years. So that places your purchase right around the time of the TB replacement or 82k miles. See if there are any codes before you determine that the belt has slipped. Heres is how to check codes -> http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/intro/codereading.html A TB that is as new as yours should not break or slip unless the water pump seized (a real possibility given the antifreeze that you saw). With antifreeze flowing out the bottom, you may indeed have a bad pump and, if so, might as well replace the TB, pump and pulleys. Being mechanically inclined, you can do this yourself for less than half of the shop cost. Good tutorials are available to guide you through. But a more thorough analysis (partial teardown perhaps) is needed before coming to that conclusion.

If you still have your under-engine cover installed, take that off carefully, looking for evidence of a leak dripping from above. The cover could prevent you from seeing anything on the ground depending upon the severity of the leak (hopefully, its external to the engine).

Welcome! 1. Yes there should be a way to keep the mirrors from auto retracting. On my 02, there is a button on the left side of the steering column, right next to the mirror adjusting joy stick. It is labeled "Auto". Just switch it to the left and the mirrors should stay out. It has three modes: off (left), manual retract(middle) and auto, retract when ignition is off(right). I keep mine in the off mode except when I want to manually retract, like getting past a closely parked object. EDIT: Left = off, middle = auto, right = manual. 2. Sounds like you got a good deal. Please post some pics. We would love to see that color. 3. It all depends upon what the extended warranty would cover. You want to get the warranty in writing and read it VERY carefully before purchase. They can put a lot of wiggle room in the contract, so be careful. Personally, I would not go for it for the money. However, I like to work on my car and can take care of most repairs. If you are not that type and you want the piece of mind (and have the money), go for it. You are right, it "could" pay off quickly. But remember, the deck is stacked against you with the reliability of a Lexus.

Do all doors lock/unlock if you press the drivers door lock button on the inside door panel? Do you have another key fob you can try? You do know that you have to press the key fob button in rather rapid succession 2x to get the other 3 doors to unlock? Finally, on the trunk remote, sometimes you have to really make sure the trunk button is pressed down and held for several seconds. A quick press will not do the trick. And finally (the real final, I promise), Merry Christmas and Welcome!

Brian, glad to hear you now have heat even at idle. . According to a previous post, your mechanic apparently could not get the air purged so this is no simple feat (or your mechanic does not know the correct procedure). With all that has occurred, I am still unclear as to exactly what you did to finally get the air purged from the system. Can you summarize the procedure that you have learned?

The way I look at it, if you bought an '03 LS430 for next to nothing, you did not get screwed. Despite the condition of the engine, it still runs, looks decent, drives straight and the engine can, perhaps, be salvaged. Not ideal but you may have gotten your money's worth. A wrecking yard will still give you next to nothing for it so this really is not a total loss situation.

You got that one right! I suspect that the WS trans fluid, being synthetic, holds up very well. I mean, regular ATF appears to work fine up to 100k (and beyond) even if you never change it. Many new car owners never have their transmissions serviced until/unless they have a problem. That is not to say excess wear and tear is not going on within the transmission because of deteriorating lubrication. It is just not yet apparent. And I also suspect that the Lexus marketing dept. likes to flaunt this longevity. Over the years, I have seen many systems(not necessarily automotive) that supposedly never need servicing. Sealed bearings that never need lubed and so on. They do, however, have an end-of-life. IF the transmission fluid did not get hot or interact with so many precisely machined parts, I would be inclined to believe the lifetime hype. On the other hand, why second guess the Lexus maintenance schedule? It's not like they want to sell you another car. :whistles:

First off, I hope you did not sustain any burns. Steam contains a tremendous amount of energy. There should be a drain plug near the bottom (passenger side I believe) of the radiator. Probably the reason that you did not see the reservoir level go down is because the engine has to cool down in order to pull the coolant from the reservoir into the engine AND you would need a sealed and completely air-purge system to do that. Your system after the "incident" was not sealed or purged. There is no magic trick (level-wise) going on here. So, are you saying that you suspect a clog in the heater line leading from the engine to the heater valve? Sometimes a hose can get a kink or collapse.

I think Lexus is being very truthful when they say the fluid needs no changing for the life of the vehicle. Of course they forgot to tell you that the life is determined by the how long the tranny holds out and when the fluid is shot...well, THAT's the life of the vehicle! Self-fulfilling prophecy. Personally, I would be getting antsy about changing or checking the fluid. You might consider sending a sample of the fluid off to a lab. The ATF-WS is synthetic so it lasts a long time but everything wears out eventually. I would just go ahead and have it changed. At the dealer if I could not figure it out. Take a look at this thread -> http://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls430/527541-another-transmission-fluid-thread.html