glenmore

That would be a question for a dealer. If the part number is the same, it should be fine. There is an ebay seller offering some now but the ad is a bit confusing. The ad sez part #12360-50100 for 90-2000 LS400, but pic is 12360-50110. The ad for 92-2000 SC400 sez part is 12361-50100 but pic is same as the LS400 ad, 12360-50110. IIRC, I have bought from this guy before and he was OK. There is a phone number so he could verify easily. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

Yes, my "dim brake light" was the precursor to alternator failure. My charging light did start flashing torwards the end just before the battery died. You may be lucky that you have a full brake light on now! Maybe now it is just one of your sensors, either brake fluid level sensor or parking brake sensor. I discovered the cut wires when I tried to clean the sticky stuff oozing out from under the rubber cap of the sensor. I really should change that sensor. Low/lost coolant is a very bad thing! I did not drop the cross member to do the motor mounts. I made a half hearted attempt to drop the cross member when I got stuck and needed just a little more clearance to install the new mount. IIRC there were 4 large bolts to break and I could only get one of them. Besides I really didn't know what I was doing here so went back to the more traditional method. I eventually removed the sub mounts also, 4 easy to get to bolts each side and then everything went easy after that. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

I have a 1990 with similar symptoms. The idle has dropped to about 400 all the time now from IIRC about 550. A few times the car has unexpectedly rev than returned to normal, sometimes the RPMs will drop and the car will stall. Changing the fuel filter and cleaning the throttle body has had no effect. I "think" it is a dirty or failing idle air control valve (iacv). Since symptoms have been rare and the car is away from home, I haven't done anything further. A new part is around $600 from Lexus. They pop up occasionally on ebay. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300Ce 2000 C280

I would say motor mounts are the type of part that you should always stick with the OEM. It has a very specific shape and it is tight enough as is when changing out the flattened old ones with full size new ones. I live in a big metro area so shopping around for price is easy. I asked my indie for a quote and after doing the repair myself I was shocked at how little he would have charged. IIRC it was less than $200 labor. Based on charging so little, I would guess that my indie would do the "drop the cross member" method of changing the motor mounts. Some member did this recently and included pictures. It looked like he accomplished the repair in a parking lot. I did the more labor intensive "unhooking everything in the engine compartment to raise the engine" method. Sounds like our cars are twins. I had the rare "dim parking brake light" symptom also. And if it weren't for the previous owner, I would also have the same low coolant light problem as you do. The PO took care of it for me by just cutting the sensor wires underneath the rubber cap rather than buy a new sensor. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

I have a 1990 LS400, about 150m. In hindsight, the RPMs at idle slowly began to drift lower and lower down to about 400. I did not pay much attention as the car ran perfectly smooth. It was about due for some maintenance so I did a bunch of stuff together, caps, rotors, plugs and wires. I had to replace a bimetal sensor because it just disintergrated when pulling off the vaccumn lines. Upon restarting, the car idled roughly and then died. After checking my work, the car died a few more times and then ran fine but still had a very low idle RPM of about 400. Shop found nothing and just cleaned the throttle body. The car went on a 400 mile road trip and has been driven occasionally during the week since late July. The car runs fine with the low idle RPMs and my daughter has only reported early on two isolated incidents of stalling. I am beginning to suspect a plugged up or failing IACV. Anyone have success at cleaning one of these things? New ones run $600! glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

Generally I only get about 15-17 mpg in the city with a bit of highway driving so I barely get 300 miles from a tank of gas. Full highway driving, the mpg is better maybe in the low 20s. I have a 1990 LS400, about 160m. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

When I changed shocks I used KYB from an ebay seller. They were relatively cheap compared to OEM, about $225 for all 4. KYB also makes the OEM, even using the exact same assembly line as told to me by KYB. The valving is different though. It is said that the KYBs are stiffer, but I can't tell any difference. The ride quality has deteriorated over time on shocks that have 150m on them, so hard to say how a new set of KYBs rides compared to OEM. The cost of the struts was actually modest compared to all the additional stuff you need: strut mounts $165 (4)- you can probably reuse the old ones but you really don't want to take this apart again anytime soon insulators $132- probably thrashed and need replacing strut bumpers(front) $32- probably thrashed and need replacing glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

On Gen I cars, 1990-1994, weird dash light flashing suggests a potential failing alternator. Check that out before buying a new battery or it will drain your new battery too. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

I have not heard this but I have heard that about the tranny filter. The tranny filter is a pretty solid unit. But I think changing a fuel filter is cheap insurance. You don't want fuel pump problems and OEM injectors are $150 a piece! glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

My dim light would come and go, even though the brake fluid level was fine and as far as I could tell, the parking brake was fully released. I am not saying a dim light is a definitive indication of a pending alternator failure. It was in my case when I put the two occurrences together. Most likely you have the original alternator. 200m is pretty good service from that part! I have the complete service record for my car and the alternator was original, 150m. When I was researching alternators at the time someone mentioned that the failure at this many miles is typically the worn out soft metal armature so not feasible to rebuild yourself. Other cars like my Mercedes you can easily replace the brushes with a new voltage regulator. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

I am not encouraged. I did a search on "iacv" and there are a lot of stories of low rpms and dying and none of them seemed to have been solved despite throwing caps, rotors, plugs,wires, maf, iacv, iscv at the problem. I hope I find a good mechanic in Frisco/Berkeley. glenmore

Yes, try the lifting of the brake pedal with your left foot while releasing the parking brake but this didn't work for me. My problem was just a worn out alternator that took a while to fail. If your alternator is dying from the "p/s fluid bath", it could go quicker. I found an ebay seller that happened to be local and IIRC it was less than $100. Lots of them on ebay. If you DIY, take the heat shield and any other attachments off your alternator before sending it in if they want core. As Thomas said, and as I experienced, next up is a dead battery. My battery was due, so I thought I just needed a new one. Put the new one in and it wasn't long before all the lights would come on and thankfully I finally noticed the charging idiot light. There is a general "lamp out" idiot light. Mine comes on more than I think is normal, always a taillamp. Sometimes I need a new bulb, sometimes the bulb just needs a tap. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

I gave up on mine and had the indie do it for $50. I already had the filter. I have a 1990 LS400 and maybe it is different for later models but my model has metal fuel lies to the filter. This makes it harder to remove because 1) you can't pinch the lines to stop the flow of gas and 2) you have the tension of metal fittings to overcome as you undo the nuts. I just changed the FF on my MBZ C280 and the lines were rubber so changing it was a snap. glenmore 1990 LS400 2000 C280 1991 300CE

My theory? Your alternator is on the way out. I think this is the precursor of strange electrical idiot light behavior that accompanies alternator failure. I had this dim parking brake light/low brake fluid light for a while, couldn't figure what it was indicating. I kept an eye on brake fluid level which was always fine. There is another idiot light for brake pad wear. It was a little while before the alternator failed so you have time to locate a rebuilt. Replacing is straight forward. Maybe a Sears will check the charging system for you. glenmore 1990 LS400

I appreciate all the comments and suggestions. My daughter had another two incidents, identical to the one I experienced on the first start after all the repairs I did. The car idles low (about 400) and almost dies. In one case she let off the brakes and the car inched forward and idling resumed, in the second case she shifted into neutral and that was enough to keep rpms up to avoid stalling. I checked the price of a new idle air control valve, about $1000! Yikes! I'm going to have her take it into a shop and hope for the best. Thanks all, glenmore 1990 LS400

First time using this message board so hopefully this works. The old wires were still good but their mangled now so will be replacing. Problem is getting others out. When the wires were intsalled they should have had some special grease applied where they connect to the plug. This makes them release easier, per Lexus. Also prevents the rubber from adhering to the plug if gets too hot. Mechanic from Lexus said he had spent hours with long needle nose pliers digging them out enough to get a socket on them. So I guess thats my next step. Appreciate the different advice given, thanks again. I had no trouble with mine but your plugs may not have been changed in awhile. You have a straight shot at all the wires so just grab them with your tool and pull. That would be a drag if they came apart and part was left down in the spark plug hole so you might try levering your tool against some wood, sorta like pulling a cork from a wine bottle using constant steady pressure. I found the hardest part was pushing in the last 1/4" of the new wires onto the plug. You want that reassuring dull click of the wire finally hitting home on the spark plug. Be sure to follow the tutorial at lexls.com. A little bit more trouble but if the engine is due for caps and rotors, now is the time to do them. Again, check out lexls to get an idea what's involved. I had some casualties when doing this job. I was cavalier with handling the MAF. This is a sensitive and expensive part so be gentle here. Also there is this little baby blue colored plastic bi-metal temp valve by the upper hose that disintegrated when I removed the two vac lines. It is a $60 part. If you don't already have one, you now have a perfect excuse to get a nice low range torque wrench. You can justify it with all the money you saved! glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

No other wierdness or symptoms so far. Just this one instance of sudden revving. I told her to take the car to an empty lot and drive a bit and see if it would happen again and to note anything else like idiot lights, etc. After my repairs, the RPMs at idle seemed to be a tad low. It sits just above 400. From the Lexls site, this seems low. Would this be caused by a fading TPS? I take it that my indie must have handled this part when he cleaned the throttle body and may have "hurt" it when removing or re-installing or it may have been on the way out anyways. Thank you for your input, glenmore

I went to the local Autozone to rent a code reader as I have done in the past and found that they no longer offer this service. I needed it for my MBZ C280. FWIW, they said it was due to complaints from auto repair shops. It is now no longer available as part of their free loaner tool program. They may still read codes for you though. It was about time I bought one for myself anyways. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

I am going to have her check that. Is it only on the left side or is there wiring on both sides? Thanks, glenmore

I need some help in diagnosing a problem from a distance. Some background: 1990 LS400, about 160,000 miles. I've had some the typical suspension issues but the engine has been near perfect. I am in Los Angeles. In preparing the car for my daughter to use in San Francisco, I just did plugs, new wires , caps and rotors. While I had the MAF out, I spritzed it with cleaner. I finish up and start the car, it revs to 1000 for about a minute to warm up, then the rpms drop to 400 and then to 0 and the car stalls out. I curse. I check my work. I try again and the car runs normal a bit longer before choking and dying. The next day I take it to a tire shop to align the front end (I also changed tie rods). The shop is close by and I hope to align the wheels so I can then try and nurse the car to my indie. The car runs perfect. I'm guessing that maybe I was too heavy handed with the cleaner and maybe the MAF finally dried out. I drive the car out to the indie (about 15 miles) to leave it so he can start first thing in the morning and again the car runs perfect. Of course the cars behaves at the indie so all he does is change the fuel filter, cleans the throttle body and runs some injector cleaner thru the car. I pick up the car, runs fine. My wife drives the car about 400 miles from LA to San Francisco with no issues. My daughter drives it a few days and no issues. Then today, she is idling at a stop, foot on the brake, and the engine surges in waves up to about 2000 rpm. She holds the car back with the brakes. Then the rpms drop back to a normal 400 and everything is fine. She did not note any idiot lights. Any ideas? And any suggestions for a reputable shop in the San Francisco area? Thanks, glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

This is what I used: http://www.lislecorp.com/tool_detail.cfm?detail=1024 Your wires are old enough to be replaced and you may mangle the old ones when you take them out anyways. I found it harder to put the new wires on. glenmore 1990 LS400

I just did my outer tie rods and they are easy. I have a front end suspension tool kit that has several different types of pullers making things easier but this is not necessary. I looked at the inner tie rod repair in the manual and it is much more complex. There are some special tools needed and torquing some fasteners to spec is important. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

Is Lexus the only source to cut a new key for a 1990 LS400? I am down to only one key that works. I still have the aluminum wallet key but that one won't last long with continuous use. The original key with the button and the valet key are so worn that they no longer fit the door, trunk or ignition. Thanks, glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

I actually just replaced this item the other day while I had the coolant level lowered. Haven't had a chance to see if anything has changed. There probably isn't a Gen I Lexus out there where this valve is not encrusted with dried antifreeze. Both ports on the valve were rotted thru, leaving plastic in the inlet and outlet hoses so beware of this if you are changing it out. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

This happens in my 1990 also. I'm guessing that the controls that move the flappers back and forth are on the way out. What I do is briefly turn on the AC. This seems to jog the flaps into the correct position and this just about eliminates the hot air. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280