marlon08901

It happened to me a while ago and I fixed it the same way you did and it WAS the anti-theft system that was making the car not start. But after unplugging the battery for a while and plugging it back in it resets the computer and everything should work normally again.

Personally I have found many parts on Ebay. As a matter of fact I just purchase a set of rear brake pads for my 90LS400 for $10.00!! Someone had a set of OEM pads that they had purchased for their lex but they sold the car before putting the pads on so I got a great deal. I got them in the mail earlier today still in the factory sealed OEM box and they fit just right. You will be surprised with the things you can find there. I have also recently purchased brand new OEM spark plug wires for about $120 OEM air filter for $20 and a set of 8 DENSO IRIDIUM Plugs IK20 for $62 and I know they cost over $10 a piece at the store...if you can find them. Anyway, this has been my experience...ebay has been good to me!

Adding an aftermarket amp and sub sounds like a good idea but......unless you do it yourself it will cost you a lot of money to have someone run all the wires and install a new amp. If I may....I will suggest that you do try to get the stock amp working with the new radio and if you feel that the stock sub is not giving you the sound you like....you can just replace the sub with an aftermarket one. I replaced my stock sub because when I bought the car, the sub was damaged-I put an aftermaket sub in and I am happy with the way it sounds.

As long as the car is less than id say $9k, buy it, all day long. WE ALL KNOW HOW AWSOME THESE CARS ARE - THE PRICE THEY ARE ASKING IS NOT TOO BAD AND IF YOU CAN GET IT FOR $6800 YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY GET IT!!! I HOPE YOU DO!!!!!

Ok a couple of things: No 3rd party stereo is going to be able to control the "Stock" CD changer in your car. I am not sure about what the proper wattage is for the trunk mounted amplifier but this amplifier is only for the rear subwoofer and does not power the rest of the speakers. The installation kit the new radio is pretty much already pre-assambled and it's pretty easy to put install - just reverse the instructions from the link you already have (radio removal) - the installation kit uses the stock screws. Any radio you get with at least 25 watts RMS per channel should have plenty of power for your speakers. Yes! There are 6 speakers ( 2 tweeters and four full range speakers) however, on the harness there are only wires for the full range speakers, the 2 tweeters are already wired directrly to the front speakers so there is no need to rewire them. Also, in order for the "new" radio to work with the stock amp (for the subwoofer) you will have to split some wires but I know it is possible becaue I did it...if you decide that you want to do this project let me know and I'll tell you exactly what wires you need to tap into. If you get the right wire harness...the installation is easier than you think....one end plugs into the harness that you will unplug from the stock radio and the other end you have to connect to the wires coming from you "new" radio and it's all color coded so you should not have a problem...just match the colors! It's a project you should be able to manage just fine - you will be real happy with your new system and proud to have done it yourself. About the "new" radio - I've always used "Kenwood" brand in all of my cars. I like the way they look, the way they sound and their reliability...I never had any "kenwood" stereos go bad on me. Oh! By the way, you can either get a regular single din size (2" tall) radio or a double din sized radio (4" tall)...I have a double din size and it looks great. Let me know if this helped! Ok - Here are the schematic diagram for all the wires in the audio system. http://www.lextreme.com/Lexradio.pdf On the bottom left handside of the diagram you will see the wires going into the amplifier in the trunk for your subwoofer - there are 8 wires - 2 for the + and - to the subwoofer - 1 for constant power - 1 for remote power (when you turn radio on) - 1 for mute- 1 for ground - and the last 2 are the ones we are interesting in; one is for + input from the rear (+) speaker from your "new" radio - Yes! one of the (+) wires from your "new" radio will be going to the speaker it belongs to AND also to this PINK wire. And of course, the same goes for the (-) speaker wire from the "new" radio, connect it to the (-) wire of the speaker it belongs to AND to the BLUE (-) wire going to the Amp. When you unplug your old readio and connect the harness for the new one.....there will be an extra harness from the old radio that won't be going anywhere - it won't be used by the "new" radio harness. This harness from the old radio will have six wires in it....THERE you will find the PINK and BLUE wire. That is it!! Plug in your new harness, connect all the wires for power, ground etc....then connect the front speaker wires (match the colors) and when you do the rear speakers, connect one of the speakers to it's mathching color wires and the last speaker wires, positive AND negative....connect it to the matching color wires from the new harness AND also to the PINK (+) ang BLUE (-) wires from the extra harness from the old radio that you won't be connecting anywhere...when you do the install you will see what I am talking about. I hope I have been cleared enough....let me know if you have any more questions....it's too confusing....I am willing to take my radio out and take some pixs...but that won't be until Monday...let me know.

Ok a couple of things: No 3rd party stereo is going to be able to control the "Stock" CD changer in your car. I am not sure about what the proper wattage is for the trunk mounted amplifier but this amplifier is only for the rear subwoofer and does not power the rest of the speakers. The installation kit the new radio is pretty much already pre-assambled and it's pretty easy to put install - just reverse the instructions from the link you already have (radio removal) - the installation kit uses the stock screws. Any radio you get with at least 25 watts RMS per channel should have plenty of power for your speakers. Yes! There are 6 speakers ( 2 tweeters and four full range speakers) however, on the harness there are only wires for the full range speakers, the 2 tweeters are already wired directrly to the front speakers so there is no need to rewire them. Also, in order for the "new" radio to work with the stock amp (for the subwoofer) you will have to split some wires but I know it is possible becaue I did it...if you decide that you want to do this project let me know and I'll tell you exactly what wires you need to tap into. If you get the right wire harness...the installation is easier than you think....one end plugs into the harness that you will unplug from the stock radio and the other end you have to connect to the wires coming from you "new" radio and it's all color coded so you should not have a problem...just match the colors! It's a project you should be able to manage just fine - you will be real happy with your new system and proud to have done it yourself. About the "new" radio - I've always used "Kenwood" brand in all of my cars. I like the way they look, the way they sound and their reliability...I never had any "kenwood" stereos go bad on me. Oh! By the way, you can either get a regular single din size (2" tall) radio or a double din sized radio (4" tall)...I have a double din size and it looks great. Let me know if this helped!

You are being pretty mean. It takes balls to post pics on here with something new. I dare you to post a pic of your face and see what the rest of us here think. C'mon give the guy a break, he is being brave IMO :) Thanks IS400 - for the encouragement you give people to put pictures on these forums!! For all the critics out there - Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and if someone does not like it what the changes I did to MY car...that is really not my problem. ....I did like the way this car looked stock but it looked just like every other LS400 out there and that is why I decided to change the rear lights, among other things. I am really happy with the way it looks and that is what matters to me. And the only reason I posted them was because "BKOCH89" was looking for some advice.

Ok..here are some pics of the rearlights - my car - before and after! I hope you can post some pictures when you are done with your project! And also, if you could take and post some pics of your project in progress that would be great too!

I cannot tell you about the HID lights because I do not have them - But I bought I set of bulbs for my car and they look really nice and blue at night. Perhaps you will consider this option. Here's the link for your car: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Blue-H4-Xen...sspagenameZWDVW On the clear bumper lights, my friend and I both both a pair for our 1990 LS400s from different manufactures on ebay - they both look the same and they both look great. Here is a link to an ebay auction where you can purchase some: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/90-91-92-93...sspagenameZWDVW On the smoked taillights that's a project you can do youself. Here is the link on how to do it: http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/lighting/ti...taillights.html In my car, I decided to get clear tailights since I already had the from bumper lights clear. I bought them off e-bay and here's the link if you decide to go for the clear look instead of the smoked. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LEXUS-LS400...sspagenameZWDVW About the angeleyes - corner lamps-- I could not find any. However, although these DO NOT fit my car since it's a 1990...they WILL fit yours and they look really, really cool. It's a set of headlight/fog/corner - European Style. Here's the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/93-94-LEXUS...sspagenameZWDVW I hope this can help you in your project, let us know how it goes. Good Luck!!

I am pretty sure you did this but.....have you check the fuse for the radio? I installed a Kenwood radio in my car with the wire harness I got from e-bay and it worked very well. However, during the install, somehow the fuse for the radio had blown and at first I thought the radio was bad but when I tested the power wires at the harness...they were not working and that's how I found out the fuse was blown. If your fuse is fine and somehow the wires at the harness have "NO" power you can easily run some wires from the ingnition harnesses' constant and accessory wires. It sounds like all you need is power to your new radio and I don't see any need to replace or run new speaker wires. I put my radio in 2 years ago and never had any problems.

Actually! I have a 90 LS400 and my car did shut off during driving and it did turn out to be the alternator. It was last winter....I was driving home from a club. I got stuck on the snow and tried applying gas to get out...I did manage to get out but I noticed that the "battery" light turned on, which I know from experience in previous cars that this meant that there was an electrical problem, usually it meant that the car was using the "battery" as a main source of power. Needless to say, I did manage to drive for about 45mins on the high way and about 5 blocks away from my house I started to notice the light get dimmer and dimmer until about a block away from my house when the car just shut off while I was at a stop sign and did not start again. I tried jump starting it and it did start but as soon as I disconnected the jumper cables it died again. I eventually had to take the battery out of my second car, put it on the Lexus, it started right up, drove it to my house and the next morning I drove it to the mechanic not too far from my house, where he changed the alternator and the car has been running fine ever since. By the way, if you do get the alternator replaced, you may have the power steering pump replaced at that time too. I say this because, I don't know about your car but there was a steering fluid leak in my car which was dripping on top of the alternator and may have been a caused for the alternator to eventually go bad. If you do have such as leak, it is cheaper to do both jobs at once than to replace the alternator and then have to pay extra money for labor for replacing the power steering pump later.

DM: "Bill Bailey for Tires" in Mount Vernon fixed mine......same problem, '95 400. The buggers wouldn't tell me what they did/what they used. BTW....they fixed the two rear wheels last October. No leaks since. If I remember correctly, they refused to take any money for it either. Whatever they did, it was done to the original wheels in about one hour. It was about the same amount of time it would take to get new skins all the way around. Bill Bailey Map THE SAME THING WAS HAPPENING TO ONE OF THE TIRES IN MY 90 LS400 - I WAS GOING TO PURCHASE A CHROME WHEEL OF E-BAY MY LOCAL MECHANIC SUGGESTED THAT HE COULD TRY TO GRIND OFF/SAND THE CHROM ON EDGE OF THE RIM FROM THE INSIDE...HE DID IT AND THE TIRE HAS NOT LEAKED SINCE AND IF YOU SEE THE RIM...YOU CAN'T TELL THAT THE CHROM WAS REMOVED BECAUSE IT WAS ONLY REMOVED FROM THE INSIDE EDGE.

Congratulations on your purchase!! dcfish - is right, i think e-bay would be the fastest and cheapest way to get the parts you need. Here's a quick link to an e-bay page which is selling some lights for your car: http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?f...&category0= I hope it helps!

Hi! I have a 90 LS 400 and althugh I am not familiar with the 96 model you have...but, we all know they are great cars. I know you just got the car and you are freaking out because it does not work as well as you expect it to but remember that it is a 12 yr old car so things are gonna need to be replaced sooner or later. You own a LEXUS so...relax, with the symptoms you got I hardly doubt is a lemon. Think POSITIVE! It can just be one of the fans not working properly or maybe the thermostat is defective. Take it to any local mechanic and they should be abe to fix the problem fairly easy. Good luck and keep us please...keep us posted!

Hey...sorry I did not read you post before but I don't really check in here to often...I hope you were able to fix your problem. Here's a wiring guide for you 94' LS400 in case you ever need it. http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/alarmdetail/1283.html By the way, in my car as well as in your car the Factory alarm disable wire is Green (-) and it needs a negative pulse to disarm....what made you decide to cut the GREEN/RED wire?. Cutting would wires do not help unless the have a constant charge. In your case I would have tried grounding (-) the factory alarm disarm wire and this will probrably keep the alarm disarmed all the time or...you could have tried to unplug the harness from the anti-theft module.

I have had similar situations happen to me where I get cd stocked inside or pieces of a cd broker inside a changer. My car DID NOT come with a factory changer but in the after market changesr I have had throughout the year, I found the the easiest and cheapest way to get this problems solved is to take the changer out of the car, open it up myselft and get the cd pieces out very carefully with my wife's twisers. It is really not that hard to take the panels of the cd changer apart and as long as you don't take any apart besides the panels...it should be fairly easy to put them back together, if you feel that you cannot do this, just take the canger out and take it to any radio/electronic repair shop and they should be able to get the pieces out with no problem.

TRY CHECKING THE BRAKE FLUID LEVEL!! IT HAPPENED TO ME ONCE AND I FOUND OUT THE LEVEL WAS JUST UNDER THE "FULL" LINE.

I have bought many things on ebay and as per my experience I would say if you are buying through ebay..do "ALL" your transactions on ebay! That way you will be protected if anything goes wrong. I have gotten a few items that did not match the description at all or where defective and I got my money back every single time......but only because I completed eveything throu ebay. Sometimes you have to go throu a long process so they can investigate but it worked for me. I had also sent money for items that I never received and they also got my money back. Don't trust the dealers! If there was no "buy now" option..they will just sell it to whomever gives them the most money!!

Ok...so, I have a 1990 LS400 with about 120k on it.....it has been running great since I got it about 2 yrs ago. The last time I drove the car was 2 days ago....it ran fine...I parked it and this morning the car just would not even crank...at frist I thought it was just a bad battery so I tested the battery with a volt meter and the reading was good. So, I cleaned the post a little bit a and tried again....this time the car seem like it was cranking over but then it didn't....instead there was a burning smell coming into the car from the engine compartment which was something that has never have happened before. At this point I asked my wife to turn the key and I opened the hood to take a better look at what was going on....there was a definately short circuit like smell and when my wife turned the key this time, it sounded like the started was trying to crank over but after about a 2 seconds it stopped and I saw smoke coming out from what it seemed to be the middle of the engine...but I guess since the starter is there somewhere that is what was causing the smoke and the smell but I am no mechanic so I need YOU help. I know there are a lot of posts here about cars not starting but most of them...the engine cranks over but just won't start....in my case it does not even go that far.....I am thinking I definately need a new starter..but I would love to get some feed back from you guys and see what kind of experiences you have had regarding bad starters or even if you have any suggestions on what I should do. Thanks!

YOU CAN HAVE THE UNIT REPLACED HERE: This link will tell you where to send your unit for replacement...it will cost you about $295 and you have to send the unit to them: http://www.cureline.net/lex/howtos/info_lcdrepair.htm THIS FOLLOWING link will take you to a ebay auction where....you will have the option of having a rebuilt unit sent to you and then you have to send your "old" unit to them. (You will have to pay a $100 deposit which will be refunded when they get your unit) or you can send your unit to them and wait til' they fix it and send it back to you. I USED THIS SITE AND MY UNIT WORKS PERFECTLY!! I used option #1 payed the deposit and then got it back with no problems! This way I always had a unit in my car. At the end..the unit ends up costing you like $150 or something like that. THIS LINK WILL ONLY WORK FOR THE NEXT 5 DAYS!! http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Lexus-LS400...sspagenameZWDVW I HOPE THIS WILL HELP YOU WITH YOUR PROBLEM!! --MARLON PLEASE COME BACK AND LET THE FORUM KNOW WHAT YOU DECIDE TO DO AND HOW IT WORKS OUT FOR YOU! As for the speakers problems....I had to replace the exact same speaker you are talking about in my 90LS400. The door speaker I bought on e-bay for $20 and it still works (in my case the "SPEAKER" was defective). As for the Subwoofer...they often go bad...mostly due to sun ovexposure. Mine looked really really really bad...it was the edges were ripped and inside was very old looking and cracked. As far as I know from what I have read that is most common cause for the subwoofer to go bad. I replaced mine and it works great.....here is a link to help you replace your stock speaker...should you choose to do so. http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/audio/subwoofer.html I hope this links can help!!!

It is so difficult to estimate a collision unless you can actually look at it in person, The bumper cover alone is around $800.00, So just by that I would say Around $2500.00 Depends where you take it. I really feel bad for your damaged LS, As long as you or anyone else were not hurt , Then all is well. Keep us up to date on this. TIA I will agree with the previous comment...it will cost you at least a good $2500....depending on where you take it and since the airbag did not deploy the insurance may not consider it a total lost...but YOU will have to pay for all the expenses of fixing it. And this car is definately worth fixing! What I would personally do is try to get a written estimate from a trusted shop so I'll know what parts need replacement and try to purchase them on-line. I have bought some parts for my 90LS400 on ebay and saved myself a lot of money. You can also find some post here on people selling parts for your car. BEST OF LUCK TO YOU!!

There are several "hoses" on the pump. Which are you referring to? The high-pressure line, which many people, including myself, frequently refer to as a hose. It is actually a metal tube so that is probably not a very good term to use as it confuses people. Those cost around $150. If you are referring to the actual rubber hoses, like the return hose, you can buy those by the foot at most auto parts stores. The cost is usually about $1.50 per foot. Are you sure that the leak is coming from a "hose" and/or even a high pressure line and that..that is all you need to replace?...I ask this because I think that the most common leaks are from the power steering pump "seal".....you can find many posts about his particular problem...I would really suggest for you to just do a little more research before you spend your money.

You can go here for instructions on how to replace your alternator: http://www.lextreme.com/alternator.html I hope it can be of some help! Please come back and let us know how it works out for you!

Where are the letters located. what year is your car I might have a set if they are on the rear. let me know... Rich I have a 90' LS400 which did not came with the "LS 400" letters in the back but I was able to purchase these letters on ebay for about $35 new. I put them on and compared them with a newer lexus that came with the letter and they look and measured exactly the same. As of today 1-21-08 the link to their auction page is: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LEXUS-LS400...sspagenameZWDVW I hope this helps!