aarman4

there should be a switch somewhere on your drivers door that (like the on on your firdge that shuts the light off when you close the door). Find it, and smack it around a bit and see if you can get the light on or off. Actually, whats best is if you open your passenger door tpo make your light go on, and then push the switch in to make it go off, you will know what switch it "SHOULD" be on the driver side. find the same one on the driver side and play rough, if it doesn;t fix it, remove it and see if there is anything you can clean on it, or if the wiring is somehow corroded for any reason. Try running a multimeter on your switch when it is removed to observe if it changes when pressed. if it doesn;t, change the switch.... I think www.lexls.com has a tutorial on "courtesy switches" in the electrical section, this may be the same spot you need to work on, although I think his were for a different reason. Best of luck!

Did you check for error codes?

Thanks MArlon, I meant defrost as in the elctrical rear window defrost, although i am sure i can find it... Being in the COLD part of canada, the remote start is more for winter than it is for summer ;) But I do know to set my heater before leaving the vehicle as my other car has remote start.

If it is just the light that is bothering you, I recommend removing the bulb! Is your car sitting high now? There should be a sensor that determines if your car has "high height" and it may need to be adjusted.

Excellent Marlon, now I am hoping UPS hurries my package across the cold border here so I can get working on my remote start... invaluable indeed! I didn;t notice, but did you install any of the following with your system: Trunk opener Domelight auto-on defrost upon remote start ? Let me know, Aaron

So much for the old "My car always runs better after it's washed" mantra...

I am sure your lexus dealership will have the bulbs. I just went on ebay and managed to find an entire speedo bezel with all bulbs included and got it with all bulbs working for $10, but I doubt you will be so lucky.

I hope you weren;t expecting me to solve all of your problems, but i may be able to start it off.... Pull your speedo bezel(the big one around the entire dash, go to www.lexls.com and hunt aroud, it shows how to do it there), Your CEL bulb is most likely dead...(mine was, what a differemce when you can actually read your codes). If you don;t have a spare bulb, than move one over to CEL (I used the seatbelt reminder). That being said, I got a denso oem o2 sensor, and a bosch universal o2 sensor, did a resistance check on the like shown on lexls's website, and sure enogh the universal was outside of the values that shuld be there, while he denso was bang on. You might want to lay underneath the car and just run a quick check on the resistance of them after you replace your cel in case it throws o2 codes at you..... Thats all I got for now, best of luck, I just hope it's not something crazy like a plug arcing across and grounding on the cylinder... never heard of it happening, but it would explain a bit, lol...

go to www.lexls.com and check out the tutorials. At the very top category there will be one for reading and diagnosing warning lights and codes. Follow the instructions! Best of luck.

Do you feel the hesitation in the accelleration, or is it just a hesitation in the needle only?

marlon, I would love it if you could post your findings and results after you get the job done, any pictures as well. I have a remote starter being shipped right now from ebay, should be here in a week or two, andything you learn would be invaluable! Aaron

I haven;t had any problems with them at all yet, but I do keep it in the garage, and in my area, though it is very cold for a long period of time, we do not get alot of snow, and when we do, it is usually "dry light snow" that doesn't require the wipers to run, or it won;t stick simply because the car is moving to fast for that... (All highways in my area).

Just spit on my computer screen laughing...

Magic, I haven't driven it much in the snow, but with my yokohama avid's it was pure crap in the snow, with traac on or off, didn't matter. I got some kelly wintermarks (old goodyear design) and put them on all 4 tires. Night and day difference between them and the avids. It is alot better, and when the trac is on, it is quite capable of busting through even some of the loose snow in my driveway. packed snow is a piece of cake... Definitelely needs the snows though! Best of luck!

WWEST, Perhaps you should attempt to spend some time in the winter in a cold area? Maybe you have... I am not sure. I live in an area that spends sometimes months in a row when the temperature doesn't go above -20F. I tell you your summer tires do not last very long in those conditions first of all, and believe it or not, the snow, though not always falling, does blow on the road in those temperatures and then, as you have said, the summers are useless on it. I drove over 9 winters in the Pacific Northwest and would never even consider winters out there ccompared to all-seasons, but when the temps drop, and the possibility of snow exists, winters is the way.

http://www.michelinman.ca/promo/2005_wintertips.html I suppose we should report our friend Michelin to the BBB for lying about using different 'softer at colder weather' compounds in their winter tires when, according to you, and PLEASE correct me if I am wrong, that is completely untrue? Perhaps over the past 20 years, with "competition now run it's course", they have given up on deleoping newer rubber technologies in winter tires, and only developed better rubber for their summer/all-season tires? Mmaybe newer snow tires now afford more 'winter weather' grip now than they did years ago just because they do??? I suppose we could really get rich here by just creating a tire out of the same rubber that they make all-season tires out of, and putting a nice winter-style tread pattern on them and the underwriters would hand over that nice 'mountain snowflake' sign to us? Oh wait, I forgot, that won't happen, because THE TIRES WOULD NOT GRIP AS WELL. Oh well, we can all hope can't we?

I run my tires at manufactures spec, but I also currently use the manufactures spec tires on the car (sizes and speed rating). The pressure recommendation that Lexus gives you is not for ride comfort specifically, it is the level which you should inflate the manufacturers spec tires to in order to have the proper amount of tire flex and ground contact with those wheels based upon the weight of the car at the 4 tires. You will read in your manual that it recommends higher pressure if you are towing in the back wheels... This is so your rear wheels stay the same shape as they normally are when they are not towing. Keeping your tires at the desired shape will require different pressures as you plus size your wheels or change the load on your tires. The amount of "footprint", or ground contact your tires have will influence the ride of your car. Tires are meant to rid with a certain amount of sidewall flex making the weight that each wheel bears to be spread out evenly over the cars footprint. A "low pressure" condition will create a larger footprint as the tire is "flatter" on the ground, and will therefore give more grip, but will reduce handling responce as the strength of the sidewall is lowered in this condition. It will also allow the tire to wear unevenly and lower than expected treadlife, as well as lower fuel economy due to greater resistance to forward motion. A "high pressure" situation will reduce the size of the tires footprint as the tire is now rounder. Your handling will be more stiff and responsive. Your ride will bounce a little more especially in a pothole type of situation, and the tire will wear unevenly and lower the treadlife of your tires. Having a smaller footprint will also increase your stopping distance, which will definitely be the most unsafe thing you could do to your vehicle, as braking is the difference between life and death. Your fuel economy will increase due to having less resistance for the car to move forward. Those are the dangers to having over and underinflated tires, but like I said before, every tire is different and the pressure on your car-info badge is the pressure for the tires on the car info badge. Changing the tires in any way will change the optimum pressure that the tires should run at. Story: A colleague of mine had a mid-nineties ford F series truck. He doesn't care about braking or handling, but only saving money. He inflates his tires to 50 PSI (goodyear wranglers I believe). I am not sure what the reccomended inflation is for his truck, but he does overinflate. He rides alot of dirt roads and finds his tires do not last long regardless of inflation, but he saves money when they are overinflated. I am not sure how much of a savings it was, but overinflating the tires ended up saving him alot of money in the long haul because the fuel savings were high enough to negate the costs of replacing tires a bit earlier........This worked for him, but please keep in mind the degradation in your rbaking if you do overinflate, especially if you drive alot in "pedestrian rich" areas or at high speeds. Merry Christmas!

Just making sure you are "resetting" your CEL after performing your repairs.... I am not god with the gas tank sounds though.

bossman, I am still having a heck of a time tracking down a block heater that I can install.... Too mechanically inclined (cheap) to go to Lex and get her done... I suppose the old "light bulb in a coffee can under the oilpan" trick will have to do for this winter unless I can get into a heated garage free of charge sometime soon to play... I have the synthetic in there already, hell of a cost, but it's my baby right? I am actually in vancouver right now with family for the holidays, and despite the above freezing temps, I'll take the bitter cold over this grey skies and rain stuff any day.....Time to go back to the prairie!

Like I said, it was just my daily grumpy writing, but maybe in the states it is different... Here in Canada, (with exception to the big city I used to live in), I have found the cost of living to be at an alltime low for me with exception to fuel and food of course. When I bought my 91 LS, I drove it while my wife drove our 04 Toyota Echo from Vancouver to Brandon Manitoba (Just shy of 2000km's). The price of fuel for the 4.0L V8 was consistenly about double what it cost for the 1.5L inline 4 of the Echo. Spending more money in many of these situations is a choice we can all make, and although I am sure many here would agree that going to a very nice, reliable car like the LS and taking a hit on fuel milage is a worthy payoff for us... However, there are alot of people who emotionally love gas-guzzling cars that have terrible reliability and devaluation, and though they are not bad or dumb people by any stretch, it is those types of decisions that will take a families finances straight to the graveyard..... BTW, my family also has the time to make their own bread to combat the price of "non-fresh" bread at the supermarket, but that is more of luxury for us... Now I am ranting, let's just all be happy we do not pay the same as the Europeans do right now.. Merry xmas regardless!

$3.45 a gallon???? I always feel so sorry for my wonderful friends south of the border when they don't like there gas prices..... Now I know the dollars are close right now, and I also feel that it will be temporary, but COME ON PEOPLE!!!! US has the lowest fuel prices of Europe and North America BY FAR.... Sorry, just my daily grumpy remark, please continue..... (BTW, $1.09 CDN per litre here right now...)

Did this ever happen before the new tires were put on or balanced? Did this immediately happen after the tires were put on or balanced? if the change happened corresponding your balancing/tire install direcctly, than chances are it is related to that.

let me know how it ends up working for you, I am sure I will be in this situation at some point ;)

I am just wondering(as I had this problem), is there a chance your CEL is burnt out?

The way I interpret that is that you would move the headrest to the highest position, and then pput your hands on the supports(steel bars) and push them up and out.