17LexusOwner

(noob question alert)

...What are puddle lights??

I tried doing a search on this, but that stupid new google search goes through every forum and it gives too many results :/ sorry if this is a repost.

Anyways.

Now that it's just turning summer I can find out different things about my car than during the winter. One of these rather annoying things is that when my car has warmed up every once in a while (around 2-5 times a day if i'm working) my tranny will miss shifts.

What I mean is that when I'm taking off from a stop or a very low speed (when the car is in 1st) it will start normally and then when it's supposed to shift into 2nd it seems to miss and go into 3rd or 4th (haven't pinpointed which yet) The odd thing is it doesn't make the car stall or bog at all, but if you push the pedal down it just won't give the amount of power to the wheels. It's kinda like if you were riding the clutch on a manual and you had the clutch slipping while flooring it. (possible bad clutch packs?? I sure as hell hope not)

Now I'm almost sure that this is an electrical problem because it also effects my over-drive button. Sometimes when i turn off overdrive it will stay in 4th gear.

The really weird part about it is that when it skips that gear I can push the "turbo" button on my pedal quick and it will kickdown to 2nd like normal and then shift fine. Sometimes though it won't even kick down after pushing the button under the pedal and i'll have to manually put it in 2nd then shift back to drive. :/

My conclusion is that it's caused by a faulty coolant temp sender(sensor). My temp gauge reads lower than normal also.

Any thoughts?

Once your done checking those ideas I have a question for ya.

When you say loss of power, do you mean that your car isn't shifting down like normal when you stomp on the gas? Or is it more like it shifts down but you have less power for accelerating than you used to?

...I think I'm gonna change my tranny fluid back to actual Toyota Type IV

Maybe because an LS400 is not a very common car to come into Autozone and so they didn't have the knowledge to give you the right stuff?

Happens a lot.

So if you got HID's in a 1st gen or 2nd gen LS the pattern of your headlights would go haywire?

What about Oriely's Global ATF? On the back it says it meets the standards of Toyota Type IV

I've put that in both my LS400's and it seems to be working fine. Has anyone heard anything about it?

please sticky this.

Damnit Pure, put up some pics of your BoB LS's. I wanna see those!

I was wondering the same thing about the 1st gen model. '91...

As far as your model though, I know SK has HID's in his LS. I think it's around a 95-97. Maybe he'll post here.

For those who have been told something along the lines of "that it's normal for the battery to die in 4 days because of the onboard computers".......Bhoosh Whah!......Someone should get slapped for making that asinine statement........

X2 on this.

Ask them to show you that in writing. If there isn't an official statement from Lexus on their vehicles' draining a battery in a week, the dealer is lying. The RX400h manual specifically addresses our vehicles draining during several weeks of non-use, but we are a different animal than the average Lexus.

Lexus is the maker of the Car of the WORLD. they wouldn't design a car that would kill it's battery in 4 days. they are not cheap like GM.

Fuller, regarding your '07 SC

Check your parasitic loads. If at all possible (it's a long shot) try and find another car like yours that doesn't lose a charge and see how much parasitic load it has and then compare it to yours.

And also another tip, I would bring it to the Lexus dealer in your area and demand that they find out the problem since I am sure that your car is still under warranty. They are not very good mechanics if they can stare you in the face and tell you that it's because of the computers onboard.....

it easily could be the wrong tranny fluid.

why would it be coming outta the AIR VENTS though for god sakes.......

Yes you need new struts. New springs would be good too.

Buy some monroe struts. they aren't too spendy. You can get they complete too with the spring.

If your looking for lowered ride hard, yes it will make it a harsher ride and also make your handling worse. Depending on how much you lower it can also cause your tires to wear faster on the insides.

I recommend just buying the OEM or equal to springs.

No there isn't a scanner adapter for either one of the LS400 ports. You gotta use the wire.

I never thought of it that way. It makes since then that they put it into the middle of the car. I guess Lexus designed it knowing that most of the people that bought the car would have enough money to pay a Lexus mechanic to change it so they didn't design it for easy DIY replacement.

Kinda on the same topic, does anyone know where a BMW 740 iL starter is? 1996-98 range. One was parked next to me one day and the guy came out and started it and I swear if I wasn't looking at it with my door open I wouldn't have heard it. That V-12 was so quiet.

Thanks for mentioning that CUMan. I have the same problem.

Except my tach doesn't work sometimes in the cold or the heat. But after driving awhile it's fine.

Lube issue? If so i'm gonna go get some KY.... :)

Yea Lexus burried that starter. It's so hard to get at.

Good luck

The Lexus has a really ghetto way of checking light codes seeing as it's such a luxury car.

Basically all you need is a piece of wire, paper and pen, and a buddy.

Check this site to get a step-by-step on how to do it.

http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/intro/codereading.html

(the guy that made that site is a god)

What the mechanic told you was right. Your tires are too wide. Check your sidewall and look for the numbers like XXX/XX/XX

I'm gonna guess you have something like 245/70/16 on there. Unless you have aftermarket rims.

Do you have AM rims?

-Regarding the pull, it's most likely a seized piston or else contamination on your brake pads

I've seen a DIY regarding the shifting mechanism but that was only in order to replace the shift knob with an aftermarket one. It might help though. And i'm pretty sure that broken piece is your shift lock piece.

http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/body/shifter.html

That's for replacing the shift knob if you wanna take a look. I've never taken apart the entire shifter so I don't know exactly what your looking for...sorry.

Bring it into a Lexus dealer and have em look at the ignition key in order to find out why it's stuck.

umm...the key won't come out after you have turned the car off? or are you trying to take the key out with the car running.....

and regarding your shifting problem, the only idea i can think of is to take it all apart again and make sure nothing is missing/broken. Then clean it out again and put it back together.

The Lexus tranny is heavily dependant on electrical sensors and if any of them are faulty or damaged it can cause the tranny to do any number of things.

Umm just bleed each wheel starting with the passenger rear wheel and then move onto the driver rear, passenger front, and driver front. Make sure to bleed each wheel until only fluid comes out. (helps a lot if you got a buddy to watch while you pump, so get a case of beer or something)

Also it might help to get fresh brake fluid and flush the entire system and replace all the old stuff.

When your replacing a MC you should always bench bleed it, fill it back up, bleed it a little again to be sure, and install it. Then bleed all the lines (2 or 4) to make sure that the system didn't get any air in it while you had the MC off...

And as far as the pedal pumping up, i'm pretty sure he's talking about having the car off and then pushing the pedal. If he is talking about that then the pedal always gets harder to push down because the pressure builds up and you have no power brakes.

now if it's getting tougher while the cars driving and your stopping is getting choppy than that's another story.

dear lord just go get some Oriely's Global ATF. It covers Toyota Type 4. I just replaced the tranny in my LS400 and used Global ATF and it's working fine. You can't tell a difference in shifting.

My suggestion is your pedal is fine.

Have you even tried driving it around yet?

It's a luxury sedan, it doesn't have a stiff pedal like a ricer, you're sposed to be able to smoothly put on the brakes.

it's only a 3 step process.

1. Grow a pair (might be hard)

2. Get under the rear of your Lexus and locate them nuts.

3. Use some elbow grease and get them suckers off along with the rubber 'donut' holding them on.

Easier than playing with some pie ;)