Brett in AK

A few months ago I had posted a very positive review of my experience at the service department of Lexus of Fife, Washington. It was somewhat amusing to read some of the negative responses to that posting. To those who posted in a negative manner I suppose you are of the ilk that would complain about being hung with a brand new rope! As you may recall the jist of the posting was that the PCS and cruise control had gone out on my 06 LS430 and they of course had repaired it under the CPO warranty. My remarks were meant to reflect my satisfaction with the way in which I had been treated not so much that it had been repaired under warranty although that made the situation even brighter. They replaced the sensor and when it went out again they replaced the ECU as well as the sensor once again. Evidently there is a TBS out there addressing this issue so I submit this as a heads up to those of you who might suffer the same problem. Now once again I want to say how politely I was treated and it is quite refreshing in todays age to experience that. It was suggested I was naive, young and mechanically inexperienced and I wish to assure you that is not the case in any manner. I've been around for quite a few decades and didn't fall off the turnip wagon yesterday! Would I take my LS back for service when it's no longer under warranty? Probably not as long as it's something I could handle, and then I would probably shop around for a reputable shop for a little better deal on the labor. That being said I have always performed all the preventative maintenance on all of my vehicles and planes. So for all the naysayers out there, try to accentuate the positive things in life once in awhile. You can always find fault if you look hard enough, but it usually results in the grim outlook you seem to have in life. Good luck to you all and we'll see you back here again from time to time.

I recently shipped my 2006 LS 430 Ultra down from Alaska to Washington. When I went to the port to pick it up the PCS warning indicator light was on, the ride height was at full up and I couldn't lower it. I also had a service engine light on, whew! Expecting the worst I took it over to the Lexus dealership and dropped it off. I bought this car as a CPO and am so glad I did as the entire repair bill of over $5400 was completely covered under warranty. The most expensive part was the PCS sensor to the tune of over $4,000. The service department writers could not have been more pleasant and courteous. I would highly recommend this dealership to anyone in the area or traveling through needing assistance. In my experience this was by far the most positive experience I have ever had with a dealership of any kind. Still trying to learn all about the GPS system. Quite an automobile and am very satisfied with it. Brett in WA (nee AK)

David, My view on car bras is more con than pro. If you live in a dusty area, the dust will get beneath the bra and gradually scuff (read "sand")the nice shiny finish. As a little proof when washing your beautiful Lexus, do you start at the bottom and wash up, or at the top and wash down? Then ask yourself why do you do that? It is because you don't want to pick up all the dirt and grit from the lower reaches of the car and scratch the finish! Even if you have the straps and velcro as tight as possible it will still allow some movement. Now some may say that the backing is nice and soft and will compensate for that and they are absolutely correct up until the dirt or grit becomes lodged in the pile or backing. You'll never totally get all of the dirt out. Also if left on for a very long period of time the rest of the car will fade whereas the paint beneath the bra will remain darker. I believe bras serve a purpose in protecting a car in a race or rally event and although they might look pretty cool they cause more harm in the long run than good. Just my 26 centavos worth! Regards, Brett

Hello Micah and welcome to the Forum. If your budget will allow it I would start looking for a LS430 rather than the LS400. And I would look for the 2006 as I believe they had probably worked most if not all of the bugs out by then. Also as it was the last year of the LS430 it "may" IMHO be worth a bit more further down the line. All things being equal it will more than likely have substanially less mileage than the LS400 as well unless you find a garage queen. I haunted EBay and was never able to pull the trigger quite fast enough and always felt an undue amount of pressure about the whole transaction. Kind of like buying a proverbial pig in a poke. I decided I wanted to buy the Ultra so that made the search a little more lengthy. I bought mine after locating it on Cars.com. I bought it from a dealer and it was a CPO unit and had the remainder of the original warranty as well as the CPO warranty. Personally I'd rather buy from a reputable dealership. I feel as though the CPO could be worth its weight in gold if you ran into some repairs. Do your homework and take your time. Now is a great time to be looking. Good luck and let us know which one you wind up with. Brett

"Is a loose seat belt safe" - Absolutely not!!!!! Unless Lexus is feeling particulary benevolent I seriously doubt they would cover replacement unless the car is under warranty. The exception might be if there had been a TSB or a recall.

I don't believe I would ever spray silicone on the serpentine belt or for that matter any other type of drive belt. Silicone is a lubricant and would cause it to slip a little more. Yes you may benefit momentarily, but personally I don't feel that would be in your best interest. Belt dressing is also a temporary fix. Best bet is to determine why it's squeaking or squealing and remedy that situation. If it's not a mechanical issue such as worn out tensioner, pulleys out of alignment etc, then normally the belt is worn. A shiny belt is usually a good indicator of one that is or has been slipping. It's always a good idea to give the belt a quick glance when checking the oil. Glad to hear the replacement worked out for you.Brett

If you're lucky it will only be a blown headgasket. Since this has been going on for quite awhile it may have turned into something more serious. Hopefully it will not be a cracked block or head. What was the purpose of pulling the spark plugs and "seafoaming" the cylinders? Hope it works out for you, but I'd be prepared to get the checkbook out and start practicing writing BIG numbers! :(

I ended up buying the car since it is a CPO and after doing the research as you say, on edmunds and KBB. It was a good deal and just an amazing vehicle - I totally lucked out being at the dealer, right place right time. The only thing it didn't hae were the SAT RADIO and IPOD hookups, but the dealer is installing these at no charge. And since it has only 17,000 miles, I opted to add 3 years to the 3yr 100000 warranty. It's kinda expensive at $2750, but they will refund the entire amount if the warranty is not used in the first 3 years (maybe I got ripped here - seemed like a good idea). Thank you all for the help - This is really a terrific site - very helpful and informative - i guess I'm now officially part of "the club". Congratulations! You'll get a lot of pleasure and satisfaction out of it. I also bought an 06 LS430 with the Ultra package. Couldn't be more pleased. I "think" I've attached a couple of photos. Brett Brett - that is a beauty! I actually pickup the car today. Me and my family are really excited, especially because our last car was a Audi A6 Avant 2008 and I made Audi settle with me under lemon laws - the car needed an engine replaced at 23K miles! So, it will be great to have a luxury car that is dependable and one I can keep for 7-10 years or more. Thank you! I really like the black although there is something about the platinum or silver that just "oozes" class! We bought ours with the idea it would be our retirement car when we move out of Alaska. I figured we ought to go ahead and buuy it now while we could afford to do so rather than wait until later and have to agonize on whether or not we should get it on a set income. So we jumped in with all four feet and couldn't be happier. We probably won't drive it that much up here as the roads are far from the best and in the winter they don't sand the roads, they gravel them. You're just about guaranteed to get a chip or two in the windshield on the way up to Fairbanks. Same thing for the Screaming Eagle Ultra Classic in the background, (you see the trend there?)you have to wait until they get the roads swept before you dare get out on them. Well enjoy your new car and take good care of it. I believe it is a sound investment.

What does your owners manual say?

Run, don't walk away from Maaco! At the most they will throw on a couple of coats of color and probably one of clear coat. Their prep work is atrocious. Rather than remove molding, they simply do a half "donkey" job of masking it off. For the non-believer's simply take a look at one of the cars they have done. Look for the overspray on anything they masked off. This isn't so much a slam against Maaco, but applies to any of the paint, drip and run specialty shops. Check with some of the restoration shops and they can probably hook you up with a reputable painter. Don't be fooled that a fade-in job will look good. It will never match no matter what they tell you. A quality paint job is going to cost you a good quantity of money. But if the car is worth it, you'll be far ahead in the long run. This is one area where you truly get what you pay for. A few months down the line you don't want to see the paint lifting or peeling due to "PPP&P". Regarding changing the color, that is almost impossible to do a quality job without a frame off restoration. It'll look okay to the bystander until you open a door, trunk or hood. You're much better off sticking with the OEM color or if you really don't care for the color then go looking for one that you like. Just my 2 centavos worth!

I ended up buying the car since it is a CPO and after doing the research as you say, on edmunds and KBB. It was a good deal and just an amazing vehicle - I totally lucked out being at the dealer, right place right time. The only thing it didn't hae were the SAT RADIO and IPOD hookups, but the dealer is installing these at no charge. And since it has only 17,000 miles, I opted to add 3 years to the 3yr 100000 warranty. It's kinda expensive at $2750, but they will refund the entire amount if the warranty is not used in the first 3 years (maybe I got ripped here - seemed like a good idea). Thank you all for the help - This is really a terrific site - very helpful and informative - i guess I'm now officially part of "the club". Congratulations! You'll get a lot of pleasure and satisfaction out of it. I also bought an 06 LS430 with the Ultra package. Couldn't be more pleased. I "think" I've attached a couple of photos. Brett

Killer, The green lights you mention are dash lights! What you probably have is a blown fuse(s). Get your owners manual out and see which one(s) are used for that function. Brett

Rex,For someone with your logo ie. RexAt "HighSpeed" why are you concerned with how fast they may have driven your Lexus? Don't you remember the old adage of "Neither a borrower or lender be"? To address your question your GPS is set up to display how to get there, not where you've been. I think we've got enough big brother syndrome already. However, if you were really serious about your quest for information your dealership "may" be able to download the speed/RPM from your cars ECM. Brett

You're kidding, right? Read it again. A T F . AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION FLUID. Every single auto parts store sells it. KMart sells it. WalMart sells it. Target sells it. It's FLUID. Where do you buy your power steering fluid? Go back and buy ATF instead. Seriously? A part number for a bottle of liquid??? Am I the only one who thinks this is the most bizarre request ever? RDM, if you go back and re-read his post I believe he was asking for the part number for the seals not for ATF as you surmised. Take it easy on the guy, he's obviously quite new and not very mechanically inclined. A car as complex as ours can be pretty damned intimidating to many. This is a great and informative forum, but if we flame someone who is asking for what appears to be very basic information they're not going to be very encouraged to come back. Go have a seasonal hot toddy! Regards, Brett

Ran across a listing in Ebay. 160386762162 Appears to be a nice one and the price looks pretty good!

Don, see the attached for a cure for your blacked-out LCD. Looks as though he is very satisfied with the results! Merry Christmas!http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=61655 Brett

Very nice! It's always a pleasure to see someone who takes care of their equipment. I've wheeled and dealed a lot through the years and never had a problem selling anything I put up for sale. I've literally sold some in a matter of a few hours! We once owned a beautiful 1992 Lincoln Mark VII LS. It was a stunning electric current red. We placed it on a resale lot over one hundred miles away and I received a call from a fellow who wanted to buy it. I wasn't able to meet him until two weeks later due to my work schedule, so this guy drove down and paid cash. He said it was the first car he ever bought without at least hearing it run or taking it for a test drive. His comment to me was "as good as the car looked it showed the care I had given it". He later called me and said he was perfectly satisfied. It's a testament to taking care of what you own! Congratulations on a fine job. When you make the move to a 430 I'm sure you'll take as good care of that as well. From a "little further up north"!

January 1991, Kansas City (your town), driving down 119th in Overland Park to school in the morning (Blue Valley North), 1987 VW GTI, wind chill of -40 "yes, that is MINUS 40 degrees". Two blocks from Metcalf "in front of the fire station", with about 1/8th of gas in the car....it died on the road. Reason being? WATER in the tank froze in the fuel line. The $300 fix? A $3 bottle of HEET, via the tow truck and mechanic at the VW dealer. My dad was not too pleased.. It had been that cold all week, with no problems with the car, until I got down to the last few chugs of gas...then the water hit the system. leftfooter - take it from someone who's had a LOT of experience with water problems in gas tanks (remember, I use to live along the NC coast for 10+ years, worked my way through college in marinas, and have had 4 boats), what you're describing with the surging power, the sputtering, and the power swings, sounds EXACTLY like water sitting on top of the gas hitting the system...EXACTLY like it. PS: you're not the first one to post up this problem. There have been others over the years, with 90% being caused by water, and fixed with a cheap bottle of seafoam or HEET, or any of the other countless water in gas treatments at just about every gas station.... Interesting quote about the -40 wind chill! Trust me on this, wind chill has absolutely no effect on inanimate objects, like a gas tank. So, if it's -20 ambient with a wind chill of -40, the inanimate object surface temperature is still -20. A wind will help wick a warmer temperature away but it will still get no colder than the ambient -20. Sometimes you will see wind chill expressed as "feels like", hence the animate v.s. inanimate. Run a search on this for verification. Lived in Alaska now for about 26 years and endured some pretty brutal temperatures so have a little knowledge of wind chill. FWIW I always add a bottle of HEET every other tank and as was offered earlier I never run the tank down less than 1/2 in the winter. Where you really run into problems is parking the car overnight in a heated garage, and then taking it out onto the road again afterwards. The Ultra remains parked in the garage ALL winter long doesn''t see the road until spring.

Hello David, Welcome to the forum! I became hooked on owning a Lexus after riding in a friends LS 400. Once I decided on a 430 I did a little research and settled on the 2006. I missed a couple on EBay and then tried Cars.com where I found my 06 at a Lexus dealership and it was a CPO. It had just under 25k on the clock and was in overall immaculate condition other than a few rock chips. I paid about $35k for it plus the cost of having it shipped up here. Long story short, I love it and have no regret about "pulling the trigger". It's a garage queen for the winter months and only out on several trips during the summer months. We bought it as a "retirement vehicle" so will baby it until we move outside (lower forty eight) and it will then become our main vehicle. Take your time, don't get in a hurry. There are some great ones to choose from. Brett

You know when I was looking for my 06 LS430 the dealer tried to talk me into the LS460. Although the 460 is also a great car I just preferred the overall lines of the 430. The 460 IMO was a little "boxy" when compared to the 430.

Next time you have the tires in for rebalancing ask them to show you the bent rim! If indeed it's bent it will be very obvious when they spin the wheel/tire on the balancing machine. If it is bent and one is available at your local salvage yard, then ask them to spin it before you purchase it or at least buy it with the understanding that when it's checked and not straight you can return it. If you can, try and buy the spare! I'm always a little leery of buying an aluminum wheel from a salvage yard. In a collision the wheels can be easily damaged due to the stress placed upon them. Might be better to try and buy some takeoffs on EBay.

107k on the clock is not very much for these cars. But keeping the wife happy is best. You didn't say what year you own, but if it's getting a little long in the tooth and you like it, then why not look for one a little bit newer? You ought to be able to find a cherry 06 for well under your budget cap. Just an idea, but why reinvent the wheel?

What does your owners manual recommend for scheduled maintenance? If it doesn't address it as most owners manuals do then swing by the dealership and I'll bet the service manager or scheduler would be happy to print the applicable check sheet out for you. Brett

'm not sure, but I believe a dealership has to do it? Brett

Hi Randy, Not a stupid question at all, but one that has been hashed over many times. Personally I'd have it changed. Never heard that after a certain mileage you shouldn't change it. Eventually the fluid will break down. There are pro's and con's regarding the flush as some say it can dislodge a little debri that might become lodged in a valve body or some other orifice. Those that advocate never changing the fluid are probably in favor of never changing the oil in the engine as well. Brett