bwoods

Thanks for this great post. I have the Nakamichi. Wondering if it would be similar.

Thank you, that is fascinating information. That means that Lexus is even more luxury high tech that I thought!

BTW, I am laughing at your avatar...we are moving to Tucson this July/August. We live in the very hot Central Valley of CA, but I know Tucson is going to be slightly hotter. Cooler than where you live, though, I hope.

OK, thanks! That is feature overkill, yes?

Oh, jeez...wasn't that dumb of me? I guess it shows how many times I've typed the word "antenna" in my life! (Guess that rules out entomology as a career choice!) Thanks for letting me know it's normal. I just never noticed it before. Re: searching on buttons: OK, I'll give that a try. Sometimes it's so difficult finding info in this forum searching threads...but OK, I'll do it. Thanks!

On my '96 LS400, whenever I press the radio preset 4, 5, & 6, the power antennae goes down about 1/2" to 3/4". When I press preset 1 - 3, the antennae goes fully up. This is weird. Anyone knows why it is doing this? On a different note, the night time backlight for presets 5 & 6 is dead. Is this something replaceable and easily fixable? Thanks, Brad

I just got back. What they did was adjust the sensor at each shock. At least that's what I understood. He said they adjusted the sensor "at each corner," drove it around a lot, adjusted it again, and drove it around some more, then adjusted it yet again. Without measuring, it looks to me like the driver's side (the repaired side) is a little low. This shop does not know the specs for this car. Tell you what, after driving our Toyota Matrix for the last 3 months, to get this wonderfully quiet, smooth, and powerful car back is a joy!

OK, took the air shocks to a suspension shop and they replaced the driver's front and rear air shocks. They can't get it to calibrate it so that the driver's side and passenger's side are even. It was off by about 2". They replaced a sensor and got it to within 1.25" but they and I do not know which side is off or if both sides are off. There is clearance from the fender over the tires on both sides and is drivable. But we do not know if the passenger side is too high or if the driver's side is too low. What should I do at this point? I'm going to pick it up right now, so I will get clarification as to which sensor they replaced, but is there another sensor that should be checked? Will this settle in by driving it around and let the computer make more adjustments?

Thanks to all who replied to my post, you guys are great. Now off to find a mechanic to do this... Brad

Yep, I know it's better to do front/rear at the same time. But the fact is, I don't have the money. So I gotta do what I gotta do. What's the alternative, anyway? To let it sit in my driveway inoperable. Not an option for our busy family. Having just one car running is killing us right now. And I didn't buy a Lexus for spring shocks...I bought it for the great ride that it gets. I've read on this forum how some spring shocks are "pretty close." But I don't want pretty close. But thanks!

The 1995-up LS400 is different from the 90-94. Instead of turning off a switch in the the trunk, all that is necessary is to turn the ignition switch off. Attached is the relevant page from the 96 LS400 owners manual. AH! Thanks. That's the information I needed. I looked in the trunk and didn't see anything that others were talking about. THANKS!

Couldn't find anything about it.

I purchased remanufactured front and rear driver's side air shocks from Arnott. (They are both shot and my car leans to the left.) I'm going to have a mechanic install the replacements. I have read for other years' models that you should turn off the air suspension before it is raised on the rack. I have not found in this forum though where the switch would be on my '96 LS400. Also, is there a set of instructions that I can print up and give to the mechanic? Thanks!

Yep, that is huge, I'm quite pleased. Yeah, the plugs, etc. is next. I'm on the attack! YOU keep up the good work, good buddy. You are awesome. Thanks so much for your original post, it gave me courage to suck that stuff into my car.

Just did the Seafoam. Here's my experience. I put it in through the vacuum hose as shown in this thread. The Seafoam website or YouTube video by Seafoam I saw (can't remember which) also showed this as well as putting a third in the crankcase and a third in the fuel tank. Ran it and got the cloud as everyone else. Though I must say that I'm pleased in that I didn't have as much as a cloud as others I've seen. Must've been because the previous owner did take great care in the car and maintained it quite regularly as advertised. I did that in the morning. Took it to my Lexus mechanic and had him change the oil to Mobil 1 synthetic. Now the same day in the afternoon, I'm driving to Reno, but first to a store in Sacramento. We get off the highway and are waiting in stop-and-go on the exit. I notice that my Trac light is blinking and the Check Engine light is on. I'm thinking "Did I ruin my car?!!!" We get to the store and the lady lets me get online. This is around 6:30 p.m., I'm 4 hours drive away from my mechanic and besides he and all other repair shops are closed. (Fortunately for me.) I already checked my manual for what these lights mean and I'm now panicking. I'm wondering if I should spend the night and go to the Lexus dealer in the a.m. as I didn't want to keep driving and ruin my engine and/or tranny. So I call Autozone and they no longer get check engine light codes for free anymore (corporate and CA regulatory baloney) so the cheapest diagnostic tool is around $100. But then, what would I do with the code with no tools on me anyway? While I'm surfing online for the nearest Autozone and any mom & pop garages that just might by chance be still open, I come up with the brilliant idea of searching for this problem on this forum! (Duh!) And lo and behold, I find a similar problem and plenty of references to disconnect the negative battery terminal for awhile and see what happens after you reconnect. THAT SOLVED THE PROBLEM! Both lights are off. Even with the lights on, there wasn't a noticeable performance issue or problem. All I can say is THIS FORUM ROCKS! It saved me who knows how many hundreds of dollars of unexpected expense for a Lexus dealer to find out. THANK YOU to all who selflessly share their knowledge and experience with all of us. Oh, and I think it is cool to find out that even with the battery pulled, all my radio station presets were preserved! BTW, I am now experiencing an increase of 4 MPG of 26 MPG, up from 22 highway. :D Brad