scottmcc

Thanks for the education, Learn something new everyday.. Using a fuel with a higher octane lets an engine run at a higher compression ratio without having problems with knock. Actual compression in the combustion chamber is determined by the compression ratio as well as the amount of air restriction in the intake manifold (manifold vacuum) as well as the barometric pressure, which is a function of elevation and weather conditions. Compression is directly related to power (see engine tuning), so engines that require higher octane usually deliver more power. Engine power is a function of the fuel as well as the engine design and is related to octane ratings of the fuel. Power is limited by the maximum amount of fuel-air mixture that can be forced into the combustion chamber. At partial load, only a small fraction of the total available power is produced because the manifold is operating at pressures far below atmospheric. In this case, the octane requirement is far lower than what is available. It is only when the throttle is opened fully and the manifold pressure increases to atmospheric (or higher in the case of supercharged or turbocharged engines) that the full octane requirement is achieved. Many high-performance engines are designed to operate with a high maximum compression and thus need a high quality (high energy) fuel usually associated with high octane numbers and thus demand high-octane premium gasoline. And no this did not come out of my head, you can thank google for this info...

SBGUY said it all.. Why gamble? if your timing belt breaks while you are driving your engine will be seriously comprimised. It is not worth the risk... It ia a rubber belt.. It is not a question of IF it is a question of WHEN....

Keep in mind that the LS is Luxury and Performance. Running premium fuel is recommended because that is how the car was designed for maximum stock performance. Spark Plug Rating, Timing, Etc.. Not running premium will !Removed! performance slightly allowing carbon build up, pinging, etc because lower octances do not burn as hot. Driving habits will affect your MPG more than the octane you put in your car. Quick Accelleration from stop lights, Getting thrown back in your seat as that passing gear kicks in on the highway as you pass someone who is going to slow on that two lane highway, etc. I guess its like having a Corvette or Viper and asking if you can run regular fuel.. Using the lower octane will make you push harder on your pedal because you will be thinking, where in the heck is my LS power that I am used to..LOL I for one love the power from my LS and would not sacrifce that by putting in lower grade or octane fuel. Some states put Ethanol as an additive (Colorado for one) which has rumoured to dry out gaskets and other rubber engine components, so I try to stay away from the Ethanol products.

RMS stands for ROOT MEANS SQUARED.. In the speaker world in summary it means what power your sub woofer can handle on an average basis.. If you have a thousand watt amp and you only have a 40 RMS rated woofer, you are most likely going to blow that woofer. A 40 Watt woofer will be able to handle peaks of more that 40 watts but not sustained. (Say up to 100 Watts) To solver your problem you need to know how much power your system is supplying to your sub.. If you have the Mark Levinson system, I believe it will be around 100 Watts. If you get a woofer that is rated at a Higher wattage (say 400 watts) then your amplifier will not have enough power to push the woofer. Impedence is a big factor. If the woofer you take out is 2 Ohms then you should replace it with a two ohm. You can use a 4 ohm but then you have just turned your 100 watt amp into a 50 watt amp (performance wise). Not all amps can handle 2 ohm loads so don't apply the rule of the reverse. If you have a 100 watt amplifier and you took out a 4 ohm speaker.. Then if you replace it with a 2 ohm woofer my amp will perform like a 200 watt amp.. It will perform but may overheat and shut down.. Make sure you observe Polarity of the wires when reconnecting the wires to your new subwoofer. If you get these backwards you will be out of phase with the rest of the system and you will have a dramatic loss of BASS.. I have read on earlier posts that Pioneer makes a good replacement. Someone also posted the procedure on how they replaced the woofer from the back deck. You mentioned that you removed the cone, I assume the you are referring to the dust dome cap in the center. That is there to prevent dust and dirt from getting into the voice coil. With that removed your speaker will not last as long. I will be replacing mine this spring. GOOD LUCK

Forgot to mention that fact that I paid $20,000 for my durango and would be lucky to get $5,000 today.. I am positive that I will get more for my Lexus next year than I paid for it this year...

I would be sick if that happened to my car and I know how you must feel. However, You should also be thankful that you were driving that car as many other cars would have probably left you in the hospital. I am here in Michigan and am relatively new to owning a Lexus. With recent snow falls I still find myself preferring driving the Lexus over my Durango or S10 and they are both 4X4's... I find myself more worried about other drivers hitting me than how the lexus handles the snow, which by the way is incredible when you change your traction control to SNOW. I have always thought those switches were a gimmic and did not make much difference but I have to say there is quite a performance difference between modes. In summary, I would invest in another Lexus before buying a Durango, S10 or like..However if you are talking about buying a Lexus 4X4 that is a different story..

I am trying to upload my phone book but when I select Transfer from the NAV (phonebook) screen, I am prompted to press SEND from my Phone. I do not have that option on my ATT Blackberry Curve. I am never prompted for the Overwrite or Add option.. Has anyone experienced this? The Bluetooth connects and the phone operates normally.

Hello all Just wanted to let you know if you were interested in getting a Lexus Jacket off EBAY from JKW AUTO they are LEGIT. I got a little nervous when I saw that the Item was coming from BANKOK THAILAND but I wanted it bad so I took the chance. It cost about $60 dollars and I received it in 14 days. I was not able to find one locally or in the US at all...

Good Point.. Thanks for the good advice.

Hello all I purchased my 2005 LS 430 just over a month ago. Since then I have been approached with some offers to purchase an extended Warranty for about $3400. 3 year 36000 miles. I called a local Lexus dealer at was told I could get one for $2700. Murphy's law says that if I don't get this something bad will happen. It has 66000 perfectly documented maintenced miles on it. I am thinking this money would be much better spent on some nice shinny 20's

Did you put this in parallel with the existing sub or did you replace it. I assume you used the low level inputs?

Hello all Just purchased my first Lexus. 2005 LS 430. Absolutely love it. What have some of you done to get more bass by adding additional Sub Woofers to the existing Mark Levinson Sub.