xndr400

At this moment, I would say check the transmission mount, then engine mounts. The trans mount seems to be a common complaint. The rubber deteriorates and compresses over time, changing the drive train angles, which in turn throws the drive shafts out of kilter. Use the search feature for trans mount discussions. I'm replacing my trans mount next weekend.

Does it happen all the time? Only when engine is hot? Only when cold?

For those of you who have tackled starter replacement, you're better men than me! I'm putting a few bucks aside for that job, if it ever happens. I can't do that type of job anymore, just dont have the time or the patients.

You beat me by a few minutes! :D

1995 thru 1997 uses a one piece caliper and does'nt have to be removed from the vehicle in order to replace pads. If you have to replace rotors, then you will have to remove the caliper. It's attached to the knuckle by two hex head bolts. Take note of how everything comes apart so it can be re-assembled correctly! To replace the pads you first remove the wire retaining clip on the backside of the caliper. This wire clip goes through the small holes in the two pad retaining pins, be careful you don't break or bend it. Then pull out the two pins, they are under slight pressure from the anti rattle springs, just push down on the springs and you may have to grasp the head of the pin with a pliers and pull with a slight twisting motion. Next, remove the anti rattle springs (take note how they lie on top of the pads) and then pull the pads upward from the caliper, doing so slowly so the anti squeal shims and spacers don't fall out all over the place, take note how they go back together. On the passenger side pads, the inner pad will have the brake wear sensor attached to it with a small retaining clip, you will need to remove the sensor from the pad (unless you are replacing the sensor with a new one). If you are re-using the old sensor, you may need to purchase a new retainer clip because they almost always break. To install the pads, first clean and apply an anti- squeal lubricant to the shims and assemble the new pads, shims and spacers and install the sensor and retainer into the passenger side inner pad. The sensor fits into the pad only one way, if at first it does'nt fit, turn it around and try again. Don't force it because it WILL break. Then drop them into the caliper. If they won't drop in, you may need to push the brake caliper pistons in a little. There are two pistons on each side of the caliper, a tool like a long screwdriver may work, wrap the end in tape to prevent damage to the piston. You need to push them in just far enough to slide the pad assemblies in. Once the pads are in, set the anti rattle spring on top and then insert the pins, you will need to push down on the spring as you slide the pins through and into the backside of the caliper. Once the pins are all the way through the back of the caliper, align the holes near the end of the pins so you can re-install the wire retaing clip into those holes. Check to make sure all parts are installed correctly, then install the wheel, torquing the lugnuts a little at a time until they are tightened to 76 ft-lbs. Check the brake fluid level, then start the engine. Step down on the brake pedal several times to seat the caliper pistons and new pads. If all seems well in the driveway, take the car for a test drive. Take it easy on new pads, no hard high speed stops (unless it's an emergency!). After returning from your test drive, check brake fluid level again.

Did the "tire" noise begin immediately after the installation of the new tires? Or did it come on gradually? If all of the other suggestions fail to solve the problem, you might want to have the front or rear hub bearings checked. When I purchased my 96 LS with 153,000 miles on it, the car had an irritating noise which I swore was from the Bridgestone tires. I took it to the dealer and after inspection they said it was the left front hub bearing. I replaced both bearings and now the car is nice and quiet, with no tire noise.

Have any owners here that had to replace their bad catalytic converters used a Catco converter. If so, what did you think of the quality and if you installed them yourself, how easily and how well did they fit? Also where did you purchase them from? So far the best price I have found for my vehicle is from partstrain.com I need to replace them on a '96 LS400. All the oxygen sensors have been replaced with OEM and all the other systems on the car have been checked over. Yet it continues to set a PO430 code. So any information on Catco or experiences buying from partstrain.com would be really appreciated!

My '96 had the same problem. What I did before tearing the steering column apart is to check out the micro switch on the ignition lock cylinder. The switch is attached to the underside of the cylinder by two very small phillips screws and has a button that fits up into a slot near the opening of the cylinder. When the key is inserted into the cylinder, it pushes the button down completing the circuit and energizing the tilt/ telescope motors. After years or use, dirt accumulates around the switch button and it can become sticky. I took out the screws and carefully pulled the switch down and away from the cylinder, and by using a small brush and blowing on it, I was able to clean the dirt from around the switch button and the hole in the cylinder. Be careful not to blow dirt into the cylinder. I reinstalled the switch, inserted the key and the column worked properly. You can acess the ingnition switch by removing the lower insturment under cover, then dropping the lower safety panel, this is the panel below the steering column and contains the switches for the trunk lid release and fuel door release and has an air duct, which is just below the column. These coverings are held in place by screws and clips. Then you will have to remove the lock cylinder finish plate, this is the round bezel that surrounds the cylinder, pull it straight out, it's a press fit. Then pull out the cylinder surrounding cover, the square shaped cover that fills the space between the steering column and the center console, it has the round hole for the cylinder and is held in place by retaining clips. This will give you full access to the cylinder and you can remove the switch without removing the cylinder. Just something to check before disassembling the column. Good luck.

I did. They said the material is there to collect worm gizzards, road kill and highway paint. :D

I just noticed this also several days ago. I was working on a 2010 RX350 and while looking at one of the wheels the material on the inner wheel well cought my eye. I felt it and you're right. It feels just like trunk lining material. This material is on all 4 wheel wells. I looked at a new LS460 on the showfloor and it wears the material also. It looks nice, but it seems strange that Lexus would use this type of material on areas that are exposed to dirt and oils, festoons of ice, snow and salt, worm gizzards, road kills and highway paint. Is it there to lessen road noise? Sorry, don't have any information for your bonus question.

If you don't want to read comments about your viewpoints...don't post them to a discussion thread on a discussion forum. I have no problem with readers posting comments. That is what discussion forums are for. I wanted to to present information to show that my information wasn't from the "Republican smearbook" as had been suggested. But after reconsidering, perhaps Obama would be a better choice. He wants to raise taxes on those with household incomes over $250,000. I say let him. Those people make too much money as it is. All the pro football, basketball and baseball players with all their multi-million dollar contracts, all those movie and TV stars in hollywood that make millions, they all are pulling for Obama. It's their patriotic duty to pay taxes, just like Joe Biden said. All those corporate owners with their big salaries, it's about time they start paying so we can get some tax breaks. I hope we can go to a national health care system just like Obama had suggested in the past, I'm sick of paying for my own health care. I say let the rich folk pay for it, it's only fair. I've worked hard all my life and the government keeps taking more and more taxes. The only time they ever went down was when Bush instituted his tax cuts. Now hopefully with Obama, I wont have to pay taxes at all. Obama is also correct about Iraq. He should pull all the troops out and let those people go back to fighting among themselves. They've done so for centuries and will continue to do so long after we're all dead. His plans to cut the military is a good idea too, they just suck too much tax money. As far as Isreal is concerned, it's none of our business. If Iran nukes them off the planet, well that will be a shame, but what can we do about it. There are alot of Dems in congress that would be happy to have full gun control laws. Obama now says that he's for the 2nd amendment, but I think his mind could be changed. He was always anti- gun while he was in Illinois. A complete gun ban would probably be best. Nobody needs guns for protection or hunting. Thats what the police and grocery stores are for. I have also read Obama is for ending manditory sentencing for certain crimes. If thats true, it will take the pressure off judges. They will be able to let criminals go much easier, with either a slap on the wrist or probation and get them back to their loving families and on the street.

I posted here to the question "Anyone voting for Obama" and gave my reasons. I did'nt post to try and change or affect anyones decision. This is a free country, you can belive and vote for whoever you want. But it created the above response which has a few things in it that need to be attended to. First, you are assuming that I am a supporter of McCain. You are wrong. I am neither Democratic or Republican. I'm a conservative that belives in small government and low taxes. That government is more of a hinderance than a help. McCain sucks as bad as Obama, only for other reasons. Let's take the above responses from the top. First, the phrase "Pals around with terrorists" is a bit ridiculous, but I said "tied to terrorists" which is a fact. According to factcheck.org, Obama did in fact work and spent time with William Ayers, who had been considered by the U.S. government as a terrorist. Wether he is reformed, only Bill Ayres and those close to him know for sure, and only he and Obama knows what they discussed and belived. Let's be honest, if a Republican Presidental candidate had been accused of "palling around with terrorists", the media would have hounded him and his candidacy would be over. Second, lets look at ACORN. I said that Obama's campaign gave $ 800,000 to a front group for ACORN, which factcheck.org shows as being Citizen Services, Inc. for a "get out the vote'' effort. Factcheck.org also shows that Obama did in fact work for ACORN and represented ACORN in a lawsuit against Illinois. This is the same ACORN that is now being investigated for voter fraud by the FBI. Acorn has been implicated in Missouri, Ohio and at least 12 other states. Wether you belive ACORN is involved with voter fraud to help Obama is up to you. The readers can draw their own conclusions. Third, Obama has never come out with a stance against 2nd amendment rights. This is true, he never came right out and said it. But you can look at his voting record and his own statements. Here are just a few. Illinois senate vote 219 7/29/05- Obama voted to allow reckless lawsuits designed to put the firearms industry out of business. Illinois senate 3/25/04 - Obama voted to allow he prosecution of CITIZENS who use a firearm for self defense in the home. There are so many other instances that show that he has always been very anti-2nd amendment, way too many to list here. Sure, he may say now that he will protect your rights, But once he gets into the White House, will he succumb to those anti-gun groups that have donated large sums of money to his campaign, or will he keep his promise to the American people. Fourth, He's not against offshore drilling. Well not now! But he was until his campaign discovered it was very unpopular with the American public. In fact, the left and the enviros just about had a stroke when he flip-flopped on the subject. Wether offshore drilling will solve our problems is a useless debate. The fact is this world runs on oil and we will need oil until alternatives can be economically and feasibly created. And the truth is that Obama was against drilling as late as August 2008. As for giving tax credits for companies that create jobs, it looks good on paper, but in the real world it does'nt work. What company would take on an employee and pay them anywhere from $12,000 and up for a $3000 tax credit? And please remember, anything that Obama proposes are just that, proposes. He will have to deal with congress on any tax cuts or credits, and there are those in congress who feel the taxpayers don't pay enough. I'm too tired to continue with this. Each of us have to decide who to vote for with the information we have, wether it's truth or lies. I need some peace and quiet away from the TV and radio. I'm gonna' go out and sit in my LS.

On my '96 LS400, the rear seat cupholder was stuck in place, probably from dirt and soda from the previous owners kids. I finally forced it to pop out. Now, after a bit of cleaning, the cupholder retracts and extends freely, but now it won't lock into place inside the armrest, which means I can't put the armrest up. I've done a search and have seen several posts on how to get the cupholder unstuck, but nothing on how to get it to lock again. I know the cupholder and rails assembly can be removed from the armrest, because you can order a new cupholder assembly from Lexus. But I can't find any information on how to get the darn thing out. The service manual has absolutely no information on servicing the armrest. The parts catalog shows several screws that hold the rails in place, but I can find no info on removing the cupholder to gain access to the screws. Has anybody here ever dissassembled the rear armrest and if so how. Thanks

I absolutely WILL NOT vote for Obama. He is the biggest liberal and socialist to ever run for office. If he wins and democrats take over in the house and senate, it will be like giving the fox the keys to the henhouse. They will be able to pass every liberal bill they can come up with. Obama says he will only raise taxes on those who have an household income of $250,000 and over. Raising taxes on anyone is never a good thing. It eventually effects everyone. He and the democrats are looking to increase the size of government with more and more programs, and they will need much more money to feed the beast. Look at his tax proposals, they don't add up. Obama is anti nuclear energy, anti drilling. He has talked about how we are addicted to oil, and we're sending so much money to foriegn countries for oil and then tells us to properly inflate our tires, yet the democrats stood in the way of drilling for our own oil. And when they did let the drilling ban expire, they began boasting how they were all for drilling. And now that the ban has expired, the enviros and their lawyers are holding up drilling. You want gasoline to power your Lexus, be prepared to pay much more. You want to heat your home and power your lights, be prepared to pay much more. Because of higher taxes on businesses, you WILL NOT see jobs coming back to America, in fact you will see the number of jobless increase because companies will be looking for ways to offset the increase in taxes and still maintain their profits. Middle class tax cuts will not happen because we may go into a recession. On March 13th, Obama and the democrats voted to reject extending the Bush tax cuts and began working on a $3 TRILLION democratic budget blueprint for 2009. They can only achive this by the increased taxes recieved after the Bush tax cuts expire. That means a tax increase on EVERYONE that has an income. Liberal adgendas they will try to push through are cap and trade, the fairness doctrine and for those of you who may keep a firearm for protection or sport, you can bet there will be assult after assult on the second amendment. Obama himself has absolutely no experience in anything that would make him eligible to be President of an entire nation. He has been never been in charge of a budget. In fact, he doesn't even qualify for most managerial positions in corporate America or in government. Sarah Palin has more experience in a government managerial position. He has been tied to terrorists. His campaign has given over $800,000 to a front group for ACORN, which is now under investigation by the FBI for massive voter fraud. His campaign has been shown to be lying about McCain's plans and proposals in TV and radio ads. I could go on but you can probably guess how I feel about Obama. Here is some interesting reading. http://online.wjs.com/article/SB122420205889842989.html

She's a beauty. Now you need to get a Zippo lighter like this: