TA in KC

If the car has been involved in an accident serious enough to worry about, it will likely be obvious after a visual inspection of the car. If you don't have a trained eye, a mechanic will be able to tell you. They can also tell you a lot of other things that a CarFax report cannot, like the mechanical condition of the vehicle. CarFax does not always have accurate information about accidents. The DMVs in Kansas and Missouri, where I live, say that they do not provide information to CarFax. So a CarFax report run on a Kansas/Missouri car likely will not have accurate information. My 1992 LS has been rear-ended twice. Neither one of those accidents have shown up in CarFax, and I check fairly regularly. I think you should save your money and take the car directly to a mechanic, instead of wasting it on a CarFax report. If you end up getting one, just remember that the information is not necessarily accurate.

Any Lexus dealership can take the VIN and put it into their national service history database. That will tell you all the maintenance that they, or any other dealership, has done to the car. It's pretty unusual to find records like timing belt replacements in CarFax reports. Many car dealerships now require you to show proof of ownership to obtain service records. I guess maybe that's why, but it does not make much sense to me. For that reason, they probably do not provide service records to CarFax. Luckily, the report that the Lexus dealership will give you does not contain any of the current/previous owner's personal information, so they do not require any kind of proof of ownership/ID to get one. You can even just do it over the phone at most places.

Yes, the parts are certainly expensive. You sure can save a heck of a lot of money by maintaining the car yourself, or taking it to an independent mechanic that specializes in Lexus. They are much cheaper than the dealerships. Some people complain about the dealership prices, but a Lexus dealership is very expensive to start and continue to operate. The prices just have to be higher. For repairs I don't want to tackle myself, I take my car to a local independent Lexus mechanic. If the replacement parts are expensive, I buy them myself and bring them to the mechanic to install. A good example was the power steering pump in my 1992 LS, which I had changed recently. Had I bought that part through the mechanic, it would have cost $600. I purchased a remanufactured Toyota-OEM one myself, that actually included a better warranty, and it only cost $120.

What's wrong with the factory-installed alarm on your car already?

I once had a cell phone salesman tell me the same thing...to unplug the charger when starting the car. Apparently, leaving it plugged in while starting is hard on the cell phone's battery. I would imagine it is probably the same for your GPS.

Lash, I don't know how much experience you have had with Car Fax, but I have found it often times does not provide correct information. I don't know where they get their records from, but I do know that they do not get them from the Missouri or Kansas DMVs, where I live. That would explain why the information in their database about my vehicles in incorrect. Even if they did have correct information, I really don't think anything their reports say is that important. I personally think your money would be much better spent on having an independent mechanic or Lexus dealership inspect a vehicle you are interested in buying. If someone offers you a report from their subscription, just remember that the information is not necessarily (and often times) not correct. I would not make a decision based solely on a CarFax report.

Yes, that knob controls the volume of the remote lock/unlock chirp.

If the timing belt breaks, it is not going to do any damage to the engine, like it would if that happened on most cars. Tow trucks are fairly inexpensive. If you wouldn't mind being stranded for a while if the belt ever broke, you do not have to change it immediately. The belts do not break very often though, unless the coolant was not changed regularly and the water pump siezes.

Thanks for your suggestions. Yes, the switch is on, but I have made the mistake of accidentally turning it off before. I think I will go by the dealership tomorrow and purchase a battery that I know is good.

Hi Steve, I could not get those instructions to work. I actually wasn't aware that there were remote programming instructions for the early LS400s, I didn't know that was possible. I could never get the locks to cycle. Do you have any other ideas? Do you think I was doing something wrong? Something I never thought of before was the wire harness attached to the left trunk hinge. I have not yet unraveled it to inspect the wires. Does anyone know if any of those wires would affect the remote entry? I plan to take apart the harness today, as soon as it stops raining.

A couple of months ago, the keyless remote on my '92 LS stopped working. I first tried replacing the batteries several times, but it did not make a difference. After searching this forum, I located the remote entry computer in the trunk, removed the ROM chip, and reseated it. The remote still does not work. I'm stumped. Has anyone else had this problem, or have an idea of anything else I should try?

Lexus dealerships will give you free license plate covers? Your dealer must be very generous! Last time I checked, the ones at my local dealership were "on sale" for $59.00. Unless things were changed in the second-generation LSs, they have a plastic fuel tank. I know my '92 does. I doubt you will have to worry about rust.

I would not try to open the door with a slim-jim. My friend locked his keys inside his 1997 LS and had the door opened that way. After that, the lock mechanism, door handles, and alarm did not work properly. All of the hardware inside the door had to be replaced at a very high cost. I don't remember the exact figure, but it was several hundred dollars. klausbj, what kind of shape is the windshield in? A new windshield only costs about $150, and at that age, it probably needs replacement anyway. You may as well break that to get inside. It is certainly the least expensive piece of glass to replace. You would spend the same amount hiring a locksmith.

A power steering leak can be caused by more things than just the filter. In fact, I think it is probably more likely that the leak is coming from the seal between the pump/reservoir, other gaskets, or Idle Air Control Valve. Those all lose their effectiveness over time, particularly if the power steering fluid was not changed regularly. I have asked several experienced mechanics at both my local Lexus dealership, and independent shop, about the filter in the steering rack people are always talking about. They all told me the same thing. It doesn't exist. It is just a common myth. The only filter in the system is the screen located at the bottom of the power steering reservoir. During a PS pump replacement, the reservoir comes off the old pump and is installed onto the new one. At that time, this filter should be cleaned. The only thing that will change the steering feel after a pump replacement is if a mechanic re-uses a worn out Idle Air Control Valve. That part is not contained in the power steering pump. It is sold seperately and costs about $200. My mechanic did not recommend putting the valve back onto the new pump, or buying a replacement valve. Even if it is still functional, it will be oil-soaked and will likely not continue to work for much longer. Instead, he just bypassed the speed-sensitive steering by installing a bolt on the pump, where the valve would have gone, and capped off the connections for the vacuum lines that used to go to the valve. It does not make a significant change in the steering feel, if any at all. The SC400, with the same engine, is not even equipped with this feature. I do not notice any difference in my car. If the steering still feels stiff after a PS pump replacement using this method, it is likely that there is air in the system that was not bled correctly.

venmichaels, based on your other post, it sounds like you are having more than one mysterious problem with your car. We can attempt to help, but our suggestions are only going to do so much good, and may even mislead you. There are many different possibilities as to what could be causing these problems, and what we think are pretty much just going to be guesses, since we are not there looking at the car. As I stated when I replied to your other post, I think your best option is to get this car to a Lexus dealership or independent mechanic. They will be able to get the problems ironed out and tell you exactly what's wrong. If you decide to do that, please keep us up-to-date.

It is unusual to hear of an LS400 leaking oil. My guess is that the leak is coming from the power steering pump. That is a very common problem with early LS400s. Usually, the leak comes from the seal between the pump and the reservoir. If you are not mechanically inclined, you should take your car to a Lexus dealership or independent mechanic for a professional diagnosis. That way, you will not spend money replacing parts that do not need to be replaced trying to find the problem. If your problem does turn out to be the power steering pump, make sure you fix it immediately. If you wait, it will just turn into a bigger problem. I had a leaking power steering pump in my LS, and I ignored it for a while. It leaked onto the alternator and damaged it, requiring it to be replaced also. Replacing both of them cost about $600, having parts I purchased installed by a local Lexus mechanic. A remanufactured PS pump with a lifetime warranty costs about $120. Then, you can take it to your mechanic for installation. If you buy the pump yourself, it is much less expensive. Keep in mind that you do have an 11 year old car. I don't know the mileage, but no car that age is perfect. You could be complaining about much worse things with a different car the same age.

If you don't want to give up the "Lexus ride", don't go any bigger than the stock wheels. Your suspension was designed for 16" wheels. I have ridden in a friend's LS400 with larger-than-stock wheels. They did not look like the ones on these cars, but were a similar size. While the ride was not terrible, it wasn't nearly as good as with the regular 16" wheels. The LS400's soft suspension makes it easy to notice. I guess you have to either choose between comfort or style!

Steve, I don't live in DC, but I take my car to a similar shop in Kansas City. The owner is a former Lexus service tech, and so are his mechanics. My experience with that place has been very good. Their prices are much cheaper than the dealership and they are very knowledgeable. They also provide loaner cars, so I don't have much of a reason to bring my car to the dealership. I would imagine you will have a similar experience to mine at the shop you are talking about.

If you end up needing a MAF, I have a used one I am interested in selling. Thanks, Thomas

If you are losing fluid in the winter, it is probably being sucked into the intake manifold and burned through the 2 vacuum lines connected to the idle air control valve. That's another thing that was happening to my car. My mechanic removed the valve and installed a screw in it's place. Then capped off both of the connections for the vacuum lines. Now the speed-sensitive steering is a little bit "different", but he told me I wouldn't notice a difference, and I don't. You may be able to get the alternator rebuilt, but if your problem is like mine was, it was totally saturated and not worth fixing. It is possible to rebuild the power steering pump, but with the relatively low cost of a replacement ($120), it doesn't make much sense. You don't get the lifetime warranty rebuilding it yourself, and it's difficult and takes a long time. The pumps just start to leak eventually because the o-rings get brittle and crack. It's not at all unusual to be replacing components with rubber parts like mounts, hoses, power steering pumps, etc, on a 17 year old car. An alternator is not uncommon to have worn out at this age and mileage either. The good news is, it sounds like everything else on your car is working correctly. I would imagine this will be the last major repair you will have to make for a while. But, before you go spend a lot of money on this repair, I think it would be worth the $100 to have a professional diagnosis done. That way you will not spend extra money replacing parts that don't need to be replaced. The power steering pump might not even be bad...it could just be the alternator, or not even that.

A friend of mine drives a black 1994 LS with 303,000 miles. He took it to a quick-lube type place for an oil change. When they were messing around in the engine bay, they managed to break off one of the battery terminal clamps. They also broke his air intake, $800. The entire wire harness for the whole car had to be replaced at a cost of $2500, not including labor. That leads me to believe that the terminal clamps are not easily replaceable. I guess they are unique. After hearing that story I am much more careful with mine. I guess you couldn't really hurt anything replacing it with one of the universal ones from an auto parts store, but I don't know if it would work.

The brake pad warning indicator is a separate light. That feature did not start until the 1993 model year. 90-92 LS400s do not have a brake wear warning light. I'll second Glenmore's comment about the alternator beginning to fail. Over the past few months, I started having similar problems with my 92 LS. The alternator failed because it had gradually become saturated with power steering fluid from a leaking pump. It sounds to me like you are having the same problem I did. I wouldn't trust the alternator tester from Sears, AutoZone, etc. They tested mine twice and said it was "OK". I purchased a replacement alternator and power steering pump at O'Reilly's Auto Parts. Both parts only cost me $280. They were remanufactured and came with a lifetime warranty. I normally do not care for non Toyota-genuine parts, but these parts were pulled from another LS400, and then had been remanufactured. They were identical to the Toyota-genuine ones currently in my car. Normally, I probably would have installed the parts myself. However, at the speed I like to work, I decided it would be easier to pay someone else to install them for me. I took the car to a local independent Lexus mechanic and gave them the parts to install. Altogether, the repair including parts cost me about $600. If you continue to drive the car, hook it up to a battery charger when not in use, carry a portable jump starter in the trunk, and just be careful. My car's engine died a couple times during the time I was driving it with the failing alternator. The LS400's electrical system is not designed to operate without a battery, and the battery will quickly become drained when the alternator is not functioning properly. Between the warning lights, and flashing instrument cluster, the car will give you plenty of notice before the engine is about to shut off. All this information is based on my experiences. In order to avoid wasting money replacing unnecessary parts, I think the best thing to do would be to take the car to a Lexus dealership or independent mechanic and have them diagnose the problem for you. If I can't figure out a problem myself, I like to have my car diagnosed by someone who is familiar with the LS400's common problems. That way, I can ensure I get an accurate diagnosis. If you don't have a mechanic specializing in Lexus cars, I think it would be a job for the dealership.

One of the members on a Mitsubishi forum I visit painted the engine cover gold on their 1998 Diamante. I know it resisted heat fine. I assume you are talking about the plastic piece on top of the engine, or are you talking about the cover on the bottom?

Try www.lexls.com. There is a page there that shows how to replace the rear main seal. That requires removal of the transmission.

Thanks but that's the point the service center won't gve me the vin of where the engine came from. So I was thinking maybe they put it elsewhere on the engine so I can get the history of it. Thanks The owner's manual for my 1992 LS states that the VIN is stamped on the engine block.