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Gillette LS400

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About Gillette LS400

  • Birthday 09/05/1983

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    SMichaelG2
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  • Lexus Model
    LS400

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  1. Just set the thing to blower hi, recirculate, and its lowest setting and empty a can of lysol spraying towards the underside of the dash on the passenger side. BTW, stand outside the vehicle when you do this and make sure it is a decent lysol scent. Leave the windows down for the rest of the day and you should be fine. It will go through all the AC ducts and kill any odor. There is nothing else to fix it. Even a new evaporator might not get rid of it all.
  2. The dealers are always happy to deal with warranty work. They get to charge the manufacturers every time something is replaced and even though a head unit takes about 15 minutes to change, they get to bill for whatever the labor manual says. It is great for them, but crappy for you because they actually have a vested interest in you coming back again, while you would just rather the thing work. Your best bet is to contact the warranty company and tell them what the dealership has been doing. They will make sure that it gets fixed right because it will save them money. Who is your warranty with? Is it an extended Lexus warranty or another warranty company. If it is Lexus, call the regional office and ask to speak with a supervisor. They will send a Lexus tech that is ungodly adept with fixing ANYTHING wrong with your car. They have guys trained on specific cars that teach all the other techs what they are doing. If you can manage to get ahold of one of these guys, they will not only be very intelligent, but they will also be glad you called. If it is just a warranty company though, they will have specialist places to take you car to. It wouldn't hurt to try
  3. Yeah, I have pictures. I don't have most recent ones, but I will clean my car up today and take a bunch. Reply with any specific pics you want to see. I also can give you names and numbers for people and businesses that do all of engine work and such if you need it. The car is a dream. I also had it repainted for $10,000 and the new paint is gorgeous. It is stock scheme, pearl on silver and has gold pinstriping and gold emblems that make a subtle ring of gold that just adds a whole lot of class to it. Also if anyone needs their car worked on in and around Houston, I can drive out and work on it for you or refer you to some great mechanics that solve problems with these LS400s quicker than Lexus techs. My car has an exotic tone to it and doesn't really sound like any other with the exhaust. I honestly believe that anyone with an LS would enjoy the sound of it. Although it is louder than most trucks, it is a really clean and powerful sound. And on the highway or with the windows up, it is quiet inside. (Dynamat suggested for anyone putting an exhaust on one) Anyone who says these things are slow are just not letting its potential out. These engine have lots of room for small power adders. I am considering fabricating a supercharger kit for mine this summer. I was going to see about the one that someone is building online (I forgot the site), but it just isn't enough with not nearly the power I want. It also is going to cost too much for what it is. RWHP ~270 HP w/o nitrous (14.0 quarter) RWHP ~400 HP w/ nitrous (13.2 quarter) RWHP I am hoping to achieve ~650 If I remember correctly, these cars have a 17.9 quarter stock. I think the money and time was all worth it. And it sure as hell isn't over yet. ONE QUESTION FOR ANYONE ON THE BOARD... Does anyone know how hard it is to remove the entire 91 front clip and replace it with a 98 front clip? I have seen it done in Japan but no indication of how hard nor what kind of price range it would be. I am excellent with welding, wiring, fabrication, and body work so how would this stack up? I am VERY interested in doing this and may just do it out of trial and error if no one knows anything about it. Also, does anyone know where I could find cheap parts from the front end of a 98. A few months ago I considered purchasing an insurance totaled vehicle that had everything from the front except the driver fender but decided against it because it was $8000 and I felt that it was too high especially since the entire rear end from driver to trunk was crushed in a rollover. BTW, I was a member before the whole computer crash problem and my username was erased and so I had to re-register, thus the reason I have no post count. Anyone who needs technical or performance advice can ask me. If you PM me, I will give you my cell phone number to call too. I am at work right now but I will be home in about 2-3 hours and I will check any replys to this then for specific pictures. -Sean Gillette -1991 Lexus LS400 (Yeah, it's stock... :whistles: )
  4. I also had vibrations problems with my 91 LS from 70-80 MPH. It has a little over 200k on it, yes. I just want to give everyone a good heads up about dealing with the vibration. I bought it about two 1/2 years ago with 80K miles. It began having trouble about a year after I got it. First, I was sure it was the suspension. BUT, I have replaced every suspension piece on the car with FACTORY Lexus parts. I went from every front end bushing, bearings, springs, struts, upper control arms, lower control arms, and every piece that attaches to the suspension. Total parts about $8000 Next, I thought maybe the transmission or engine mounts. Replaced all of those with FACTORY Lexus mounts. Total parts about $600 Then, I thought well driveshaft, differential, or maybe axles. Replaced all of those with Factory Lexus parts. Total parts about $3400 Then I thought about the wheels/tires. Got a set of Helo 17" Satin Chrome wheels, with Goodyear Eagle F1 Tires. Total price $2500 Finally, after more of these antics, I wound up with rebuilt engine that was bored over, head glassbeaded to flow 80% more air with a three angle valve job, Rod Millen Intake, Rebuilt tranny with Rod Millen Valve Body, computer reprogramming, New AC compressor, evaporator, condensor, expansion valve, drier, PS pump, rack and pinion, alternator, and then full dualed out exhaust with race cats, 3" pipes, 2 Forza Flow mufflers, middle cat removed, and resonator 3A Racing tips (pencil style that resemble the originals but are slightly larger) Oh yeah, and nitrous. Total price $Don't Ask. When I got done with it all, the vibration was gone. Just a craptastic spark plug and a faulty distributor cap that only missed when it was at a certain RPM and was moving and a slightly cracked flywheel. FYI check the cheap stuff first, but man do I love my car now. I also put a really nice stereo system in it Pioneer P720 Premier H/U Pioneer 150x2 Watt RMS amplifiers (2) MB Quart Components w/ crossovers, tweeters, and midrange (4) (8 speakers total) Rockford 800.2 Punch Power Amplifier MX Autotek 1222 subs (2) 1 farad capacitor XM Radio Navigation Unit I would recommend buying a car with vibration troubles, it worked out for me. I never would have spent the money to make my car so damn enjoyable and now I don't think I will ever get rid of it unless it gets stolen or totaled. (Seriously) BTW, none of my problems can be attributed to Lexus. The car functioned as a drag strip racer, road racer, tow truck (I towed 2 different Ford trucks, twice each about 50 miles), mudding vehicle, a car that would fly (and I mean that in the aviation sense) over the crests of any hills or large bumps in the road (Dukes of Hazzard style, no joke), and most importantly, my daily driver to work. Now I am being dead serious about how poorly I treated my car (I have video). But nothing honestly ever broke. It never once didn't start or wouldn't drive. I replaced everything only preventatively and had no other reason for fixing everything. The only thing that broke from all of my abuse was the flywheel. My garage is filled with the old parts that are still good. So I refuse to believe anyone who says that their Lexus has something seriously wrong with it. If there is any problem with a Lexus, it is the person or place that services it. I did almost all my own work. Also, just so no one leaves this post crying about some poor LS400 getting ragged out, I no longer tear it up and it is in near mint condition. So I know first hand that you can repair ragged on vehicles. I honestly do not think the way people treat these cars matters much at all. They just seem to go forever.
  5. Alot of gen I LS400s have courtesy (dome) light switch problems. But the quickest way to check to see why your car won't start is with a voltmeter. With the car off, place the leads of the voltmeter on the battery. It should read anywhere from 11.8-12.69 but no higher and less means a partially drained battery. Then, have someone turn the car to the ON position with the AC fan on low and radio on. The voltage could drop as low as 11 volts. Any less means weak battery. Now try starting the car. Voltage can drop as low as 9 Volts on the battery. Any less and there is your problem. Many batteries will do fine under moderate load and appear to be charged, even take a charge, but then under stress will seem to be almost non-existant. Like other people said too, corrosion is a big problem that can cause weak starts, but another major thing to check is your ground wire. It can come loose and would create this type of situation where it has plenty of contact to supply things such as stereo, lights and ac fan, but then will fail under higher loads such as a starter. To directly check the starter to see if it is a problem, get a wire and solder it to a needle. Connect it to the positive terminal and find your starter relay or actually get to the back of the starter and connect it to the positive starter terminal to make it try to crank. If it doesn't, either starter is out or battery is bad, if it does start, there is a bad connection somewhere along you starter relay/ignition switch/wiring/fuse/or even could be a kill switch problem. Good Luck!
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