parnoren

Here is another way of doing it that took me about 45 minutes. Not sure if it would work on every occasion, but maybe worth trying. "Picked up the parts and went to work. It turned out to be much easier than I first thought. The procedure can be done in 2-3 different ways. The first one is to do what the dealer does (or at least what they say they do) and take out the whole steering column and do all the work on a bench. Or you can loosen the upper 4 bolts holding the column and bring it down a little for better access. The third and easiest way to do it is to just exchange the broken Cam Rod without taking the whole housing off the column. In an earlier post somebody mention that they had to sacrifice the lower plastic cover below the steering wheel due to the steering wheel being locked via the steering lock (one or two screws are behind the steering wheel). This will not be necessary if you take the ignition sleeve and the first of the two broken Cam Rod pieces out of the housing. This will enable you to stick a screwdriver inside and push on the locking mechanism for the steering lock so that the steering wheel can be turned to access the screws. However, if you do it the way I just did it, you don't even have to remove the upper two plastic covers. This procedure (which takes less than an hour to do) is for an LX470 2002: First remove the plastic cover that sits under the steering column which houses the rear window buttons, the gas fill cover and the hood latch. Remove it completely for easy access. Four Philips screws hold the two latches. Four electrical connections also need to be disconnected. Also remove the metal plate held down by four 10mm bolts. This gives you better access. Remove the black ring that's around the ignition (one Philips screw) and place it to the side. Now remove the key cylinder by inserting the key to the ON (or somewhere between ON and Acc) position and push a small screwdriver or a small punch in to the whole underneath the housing to release the key cylinder. After removing the cylinder make sure you take a look at exactly which position the broken Cam Rod is in so that you get it right when inserting the new one later. I believe you can also look at the new one you just bought as they don't sell just the Cam Rod, but the whole housing. Now the small broken piece needs to come out and this is where it gets a little trickier. As you will see on the new housing, there is a slot that allows you to insert or remove the Cam Rod which also acts as a lock so the Cam Rod doesn't come out again. Doing the whole procedure this way makes it difficult if not impossible to have a look in the back of the housing since it's still attached to the steering column. The next step is to remove the two Philips screws holding the white plastic part that is attached to the back of the housing. It's possible to get a medium sized Philips screwdriver in there and remove the screws, but quite difficult to get the screws back in again. (tape the screw to the screwdriver while trying to locate the holes). Then back off the plastic part about 1/4" so that the Cam Rod can be turned easily. Using a pair of very long needle pliers the broken part can now be turned and pulled out. This is where you will look at the new Cam Rod and the new housing to see how to position the broken off piece inside the housing so that it can be extracted. Mine had to be turned about 90 degrees to the left. After this you take the new Cam Rod and push it in all the way so that the slot in the housing is aligned with the part of the Cam Rod that needs to fit in this slot. I used a pair of needle pliers to push the rod in. Then turn the Cam Rod so it's in the same position as the old one was in when you first took it apart. This should prevent you from placing the rod in the 180 degree wrong position. If you turn it 180 degrees the wrong way I believe you will have to use procedure 1 or 2 (removing the housing by drilling out the bolts) since the Cam Rod is now in the way for you to get in with a long screwdriver and release the steering lock. Fortunately it worked the first time for me."

Or this one. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/OEM-LEXUS-L...=item51911cd392

I believe you have chrome under yours as well.

I had the same thing happen about a year ago. I just took the plastic covers off and smeared the lithium grease that is already in there around a little more on the main column and I haven't heard the noise since then. Mine had the same symptoms as yours. I did read somewhere you can buy a kit to make this stop, but it's an expensive procedure to do at the dealership. There is a TSB on this.

I think the foot has to be off the brake pedal for it to work as well.

Hi, I know this is an older post, but chances are that some of you guys are still driving around with more wind noise than needed. I just replaced the windshield with OEM glass and noticed a dramatic increase in wind noise from the passenger side. Since I was not near the glass installer I went to a Canadian Tire and bought some electrical tape to try to locate the area myself. After about half an hour and 10 stops later I had found the spot. It was along the side mouldings (between the moulding itself and the car metal) which are riveted in. When I placed a long piece of electrical tape from top to bottom, the noise dissapeared. I took the car back to the glass place and they offered to redo the side mouldings. I really didn't want them to drill out yet another 4 rivets and install new ones so they suggested a bead of black silicone between the moulding and the car. You can't see the silicone, and the car is now as "quiet" as it was before I had the windshield changed. I don't know if this will have any adverse effects such as water leaks, but it's my understanding that the side mouldings don't prevent water from entering the car. They're there to keep the windshield from popping out. If anyone know differently, please chime in. 2002 LX470

Some people have adjusted their torsion bars to make up for the sagging. If you search under "torsion" in this forum or the IH8MUD forum, you will get several hits. Par Vancouver

I saw somebody on the IH8MUD forum sending his unit to Audio and Video Service. Maybe give them a call. http://www.videoservicestop.com/

Somebody just changed the passenger side manifold himself in under an hour on the IH8MUD.com forum for less than $300. Exhaust manifold replacement -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have had an exhaust leak that has been getting worse for about a year now. With a little spare time this weekend I decided to see what I needed to do to fix it. I have read a lot about this issue here and was confident that I could do it myself and save some cash. Let me start by saying that I was lucky that it was the passenger side had gone bad. After replacing o2 sensors on both sides, I think that this story would have been a little different if I had to work in the driver side. I will try to attach a few pictures that I took along the way. I decided the leak was coming from the passenger side just by listening under the hood. Seemed very obvious. I got online and started searching for the parts I needed and found the best deal from a site called "DiscountToyotaParts". I ordered a manifold and gasket on Monday, they said it should arrive Friday. When Friday came and went, I checked on the status and saw that it was at least in town and would be delivered the next day. Saturday I went out to the garage early in the morning, removed the right front tire and splash guard. I soaked the bolts down with PB Blaster and let it sit. My truck came from Texas and is very clean without any rust. By the way it is a 2000 with 2" OME, diff drop and 295's. At around noon I went back outside and started removing the manifold. I have a decent collection of hand and air tools but only need basic wrenches to take it apart. 30 minutes later I had the bad manifold in my hand and was looking for the source of the leak. As expected. the flange around the front cylinder had cracked about a third of the way around the pipe. Fedex finally showed up at 6pm. The parts had actually come from a dealer in Round Rock, Texas. What I got was brand new Toyota parts in the box. I paid $207 for the manifold and $15 for the gasket. When I opened up the packages I was surprised to see that it did not come with the studs for the collector. No problem, I'll just jamb nut the old ones and reuse them...or so I thought. The studs finally came out but the threads were destroyed. Ran down to the local hardware store and got some stainless bolts and threaded them into the new manifold and was back in business. The installation also took about 30 minutes after I had sourced the hardware that I needed. Buttoned the splash guard back in and reinstalled the tire, fired it up and was quite pleased to have a brand new sounding truck! I guess the reason I am writing is for any of you that need to have this work done, but don't want to spend whatever the dealers are charging, it is a very easy and in expensive way to fix a very annoying problem.

Has anybody had any success with installing a separate subwoofer in an LX470 with Mark Levinson? I'm looking at the Infinity Basslink as a self powered sub as it costs less than a separate sub and amp. Pär

Hi, I've been searching high and low for anything that would point me in the right direction for an XM satellite install in an LX470 2002 with Navigation, but with no luck. I understand that the SLX from VAIS might work, but you would sacrifice the "text on screen" option. I can live with (or without) that. Has anybody actually done this install successfully or unsuccessfully? It would be nice not to have to use FM modulation. Does anybody know where in Canada the SLX unit can be bought? Thanks, Par Vancouver