glenmore

Just got a quote from Irontoad. They are asking $117 for the steering damper like lex90 said. Still outrageously overpriced. glenmore

Just called Park Place, the strut cushions are $120 and the damper is $207. This is an unbelieveable price! It looks like a simple shock absorber just like the steering damper on my Mercedes C280 or Mercedes 300CE. The Mercedes part is like $25. Call Irontoad and maybe they have it for $120 as lex90 mentioned. No wonder your previous owner just chose not to replace it. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

Sorry if there is any confusion. I found the strut cushions from Park Place for $120 each and they did have to order them. Are you saying that your place is asking $240.92 for one cushion? If that is the case, cancel the order and buy from Park Place. The other poster commented that the damper was $120 from IronToad. I haven't seen a price on the damper but I think $120 is outrageous considering that a typical Mercedes steering damper is only about $25 (not that a Mercedes part would fit the Lexus). glenmore 1990 LS400

I have the same problem plus the PO cut the wires probably because the sensor went bad and kept giving a false warning. The white residue looks like dried coolant, but Lexus OEM coolant is reddish and leaves a pink crusty residue. A new sensor will probably seal better. glenmore 1990 LS400

$120? Another example of Lexus part ripoff. A Mercedes steering damper? $24!!!! Are you sure you need a new damper? Take it off and test it. It simply should have no flat spots as you compress and expand it. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE

I just repalced my strut bar cushions on my 1990, 152m, and the cheapest I found was from Park Place for $120 each. Replacement is easy DIY, just plug and play. Only difficulty is that you will need a 24mm deep socket so get one of these before you start. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

This place is not all that close to you but give them a call and it might be worth it to drive up. At least call them and get an idea what an independent would charge for those repairs. Haines Auto 2233 w. valley alhambra 626-300-9269 attn: haines I try to DIY as much as possible nowadays, but in the past he took care of these cars: Mazda RX2 1972-1983 Mazda 626 1983-1993 Toyota Camry 1983-1993 Villager 1993-2005 glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

You should always loosen and retorque your lug bolts after a shop repair. About the only shop that does this carefully are the COSTCO tires shops. This is a good excuse to buy some more tools! I have 3 torque wrenchs, lo, med and hi ranges. You simply cannot guess how tight nuts should be. The Lexus rotors look pretty beefy and they are designed to be turned so you might get away with it. But it is good practice to use torque wrench. Torque IIRC is 80 ft-lbs, and this is not that much. Mercedes rotors are thinner and designed not to be turned, maybe three sets of pads and toss them. Torquing is much more important here. A while ago, I bought some new wheels and I had a shop swap them. I was watching them start the nuts by hand threading them, always a good practice. Sure enough on the last wheel, the guy rushed and just did them with the air wrench. Got home and was able to loosen and retorque them all except one that was solidly cross threaded. I snapped off the stud trying to get it off. Drove back and they replaced the stud. How fun would that have been to later have a flat in that tire with just a tire iron to get off that nut? glenmore

Well, that's good news! Finally a break on part prices! Interesting to refer to those older links and compare prices. These bushings from Sewell are currently $190. glenmore

I don't think it is the sway bushings or the links. I have a 1990 and I have a similar sound, particularly when backing up and braking and going over speed bumps. I started with new shocks all around and this cut the noise quite a bit. I am almost certain that new strut rod cushions/bushings will complete the repair. But not cheap, they are $120 each! Your 1995 may or not use this similar bushing. On later models, they list the bushing only for about $50, so you can reuse the rod. In changing out my rear shocks, the old rubber boots on my rear sway links cracked, oozing grease. Get a load of replacement costs: new sway links from Park Place, $60 each!!!! An equivalent Mercedes sway link? How about $7.00 each!!!! My sway links will have to fall off before I replace them. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

Go to ebay and seach with "lexus drive shaft bushing" and you can see a (used) OEM bushing and compare it to new knockoff bushings. The knockoffs are real cheap ~$30 each. A new OEM one is around $200! You can clearly see that the OEM is much beefier but $200? This is another example of outrageous Lexus prices. A Mercedes OEM equivalent flex disc is about $50. I just changed my rear shocks and just with a little movement of the sway links, the rubber boots cracked, which can be expected because they are old (1990). New links? How about $60 each from Park Place! A Mercedes sway link? $7.00! glenmore 1990 LS400 2000 C280 1991 300CE

i think i have it now. found post by danw. said to rotate shock 90 degrees, drop in front of axel then with foot on brake disk, manipulate suspension. i did this and it dropped right out. when i reinstalled i started from behind the axel. on to the other side! thanks, glenmore

I did the fronts yesterday and now attempting the rears. This is without having to take out the rear axels. So everything is unhooked and I can see that the axel is in the way of dropping the shock. Am I trying to drop the shock in front of the axel towards the front of the car or to the back of the axel? Does simultaneously trying to depress the rear suspension help? What's the trick? Thanks, glenmore 1990 LS400

These are the strut bushings/cushions that you replaced? I can't seem to find them at $95. The cheapest I can find is Park Place for $120. Thanks, glenmore 1990 LS400 Nevermind, my mistake, I see you have a 1996.

Going back to square one I reconsidered the discounted OEM KYBs at Park Place that are about $460. The KYB GR2s typically available at parts houses and ebay run $300-$400. Several posters have commented on the firmness of the GR2s versus OEM. I talked to a KYB tech and he said the OEM and GR2s are made on the same line but the valving was different on the OEM. He estimated that the GR2s were 10-15% firmer. Browsing again on ebay I came upon a local seller with the unbelievable price of $210 for all 4 so I drove down and picked some up. I have no idea if you can judge a shock just by compressing it and watching the rebound but the rears seem pretty similar to the wrong ones I had an some Bilsteins I put on my Mercedes. The fronts were a different matter. A little harder to compress but the rebound was at a snails pace. I hope this is not an indication of how harsh they are. I'm hoping that they need to be stiffer to handle the weight up front. We will see soon enough. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

The lock difficulty sounds exactly like my situation. On mine, the key with the button remote is just too worn. Compared to a relatively fresh key, I could see the wear points. It was getting had to unlock both doors and I could not get into the trunk at all. My second key, valet key and wallet key work fine. glenmore 1990 LS400 (152K) 1991 300CE 2000 C280

blake918, Thank you so much for checking. I reconfirmed with the dealer that this is a 1997+ strut. The dealer went to pull a 1990 strut from inventory and I went to my car and brought in mine. From 20 feet away I could tell they were not the same. The 1990 strut has a much larger spring seat, maybe 6" in diameter where the spring seat on the ones I had were maybe 4" in diameter. The seller agreed to take them back and has given me a refund. I've had a rotten run of luck. At the same time I also bought a pair of 1990 front struts from another ebay seller. He sent only one and it was obviously not an LS400 strut. Turns out it was a strut for a Lexus GS or Lexus SC. The LS400 strut has a bushing type lower attachment and this one had a "U" shaped piece of metal at the lower attachment point. Seller agreed to a refund but haven't gotten it yet. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

Being penny-wise and pound foolish I bought some OEM rear struts from ebay for my 1990 LS400. The seller advertised them as for 1990-1993 for sure. The Toyota boxes show part #48530-59097. The strut is marked "Toyota KYB D123 48530-50091". Just to be sure, I called the local dealer to confirm that the part numbers were correct. He had difficulty finding any of these numbers but finally found that these were for 1998-2000 Lexus LS400. I will bring them in to confirm, but is there any other way to figure out if these will fit my car? Thanks, glenmore 1990 LS400

No problems, no leaks. I reused the same spring clamps also. You could put new hose clamps to be sure. I just took the old hose to Autozone to find a similar size. You might experiment with different lengths to find the optimum length, only a few bucks. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

If this is just the little loop of hose about 1.5 feet long under the car attached with just spring clamps , then yes. This hose sprung a huge leak on my car and I replaced it with generic hose. The original hose had a layer of thick foam around the part that bends to prevent kinks. You could probably duplicate this with an additional length of wider hose. On of the best, cheapest, effective repairs you can do! glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

From what I can gather you have 3 choices. 1) Tokico, longevity is suspect. 2) KYB GR2s, may be too stiff and harsh and 3) Lexus "OEM" which is also made by KYB but different from the KYB GR2s. The Lexus "OEM" is the closest to the original feel and also the most expensive. I've been comtemplating this repair for the past few months and lately the price of the struts at Park Place seem to go up by the day. In my notes the rears were $117 just the other day and now they are $123. Thanks for the tips nc11! I agree with your comments about money not being wasted. Put in new shocks sooner rather than later and enjoy the new ride! Two of my friends had opposing thoughts on investing in their homes. One did minimal repairs and upgrades to his house so he saved the money but then realized less of a price when he sold it. The other guy always spent the money for i.e. upgraded kitchen, hardwood floors, etc. and he may not have recovered all the money spent upon selling the house but his point was he was able to ENJOY living with the nice floors and upgraded kitchen. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

nc11, I am gearing up for this repair and getting all the parts together. The price of around $60 is for the strut "rod". The shock absorber or strut is $100+ (non-air). Strut mounts are about $100 each! I found an ebay seller for the KYB version for about $40 each. You need 4 of them, 2 fronts and 2 rears. Then you need new bumpers all around : 4x$15, front spring insulators : 2x$30, rear insulators are 2 pieces : 2x $30. I understand that the manual calls for the rear axels to be removed but others have said this is not necessary. Can anybody confirm how this procedure goes? Also the spring compressor tool used, a simple inexpensive one from ebay? Thanks, glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

Jim, I am gearing up to do this repair also. You are sticking with OEM? I gather the other option is the KYB GR2s that are available on ebay for about $250, but some users do not like them. Should some of the other parts in the shock assembly be changed also, like the strut mounts and strut bushings? Thanks, glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

I use Mobil synthetic in 3 cars. I don't mind the extra cost because I think of it as a little "treat" for my babies. Some will argue but I don't think there is any doubt that synthetic is a superior oil. The real question is, is it worth the extra cost? Engine failure due to the failure of the lubricant is extremely rare. Yes, you can get sludge but not with regular oil changes, even with the cheapest oils. I justify using the more expensive oil by 1) buying it on sale, COSTCO always has it at $30/6 pack. 2) DIY oil changes 3) I drive less than 10m/year, so I only change oil 2x instead of 3x a year. 4) Join Mobil One club and get $5 rebate per 6 pack. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

Starting to research changing out the radiator. I am getting a little bit of red crusty stuff on the upper part of the radiator. I called a reputable local radiator service and he said the the Lexus radiator core is an exceptionally good one. And that repairs typically reuse the core and replace the seal between the core and the upper plastic tank. Total parts and labor about $250. Any experiences? Thanks, glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280