curiousB

I just took at look at my car. The swing travel is about 50% of the back and forth motion that the vanes can be manually adjusted to. There is some sort of clutch or slip mechanism so you can manually move the vanes. I guess the idea is you can determine where you want that 50% of travel to be. By moving vane you can have that travel centered in the middle, from extreme right to about center, or extreme left to about center. It doesn’t appear you can get complete swing from extreme right to extreme left. So might be nothing is wrong at all and you should just adjust vanes so the swing portion is directed where you want it. I would just play around with the setting and see if you can get it like you prefer. As there is a clutch I don’t think you have to worry about jamming the mechanism and bending a linkage (as I previously thought).

You mean your "Intelligent Swing Register Assembly" (ISRA) isn't working? Got to love the names they come up for these assemblies. If you have NAV just check to be sure the setting under climate is the one with the vanes moving back and forth as some of the climate modes don’t enable the vanes in motion. It looks a bit involved to get the ISRA out. You have to pry out each the driver and passenger temperature switches. They have plastic claws so you need to be careful not to break them and not scratch up the opening. This exposes a screw on each side that holds the panel in place. Then the panel comes out but there are four more claws that hold it in that have to be gently persuaded. This is if you don’t have NAV. It’s probably more elaborate with NAV. This may be a lot of trouble to fix for a minor feature. I guess it depends how mechanically mind you are and willing to take on the disassembly and repair.

You might find this useful. You can subscribe for a day, month or year. On it you get access to all the service bulletins, training manuals and service manuals. Some very helpful info. I just signed up for a day and spent a few hours (1,900 files and 390MB of data) downloading the entire service manual for my car. It took a while but now I have a service/repair manual specific to my car and not just a generic one like Chiltons. The manuals have very good diagrams. They show where everything is located and the procedures to maintain, repair, and replace components and all the test procedures. Here’s the link: https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfoPortal/...el=ti_home_page

p.s. I have read a few posts suggesting that bushings wearing out in the suspection can create a hard ride. You might want to check those posts out before you spend a lot of $$$. Those parts are inexpensive but the labor would be fairly steep. You might want to do bushings with you stut/spring job since you're already doing a major repair to do springs and struts. Maybe just add bushings to the list.

There is nothing special about the battery. I would go to a car parts place or a Canadian Tire and get one. They'll have cross reference tables to find a match for you. Being Canada they may upsell you to a higher tier battery but if the car isn't garaged in the winter that maybe be a good idea. Cold cranking amps is more important when its -40 degrees. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Hi Craig, I lived in Vancouver 8 years many moons ago. Beautiful place. You can try www.parts.com to get a benchmark price for these items. Its a beautiful site that sells Lexus OEM parts (in fact many OEMs). Good online catalog and diagrams when you might not have part name exactly as Lexus calls it. From there you can either order parts and deal with the complexities of importing to Canada (maybe its easier than when I lived there) or use this to negotiate some discount from your dealer. I doubt you'll get dealer to match price but maybe you can get some type of price concession. Other option is get a quote from a Seattle dealer and drive down to US and spend a weekend at Carillon Point while your car gets fixed....

Nice post oldskewel. This looks very relevant. I see the part at www.parts.com is priced at $70.48 so not excessive. The pump is $414.05 so not as bad as a pump. There seems to be some discussion on this forum and elsewhere that this valve is not really needed and you can just disconnect and plug permanently (both ends). What is your take on that as a permanent solution? dj90laser you were right all along. PS fluid can do a Houdini on this car. 1763016040 $70.48 Emission system - Emission components - Air cntrl valve

If you have no external leaks but constantly need to add fluid, it is getting sucked into the intake. The pump has an idle control valve that is vacuum operated. The valve leaks after a while and pulls ps fluid into the intake and burns it. Replace the valve or remove it and seal the port off. The valve is not needed for operation. Probably best to just replace the pump. That might explain things. As a temporary test could you just put a clamp on the hose (I assume it is rubber) to stop the vacuum to the PS Pump valve to see if the steering fluid usage drops? Wouldn't be permanent but after 1-2 weeks and if PS fluid stays steady then at least you know you're attacking the right problem.

I have never added a drop although dealer checks it at regular services. Dude, your fluid loss is extreme. Nowhere near normal usage. You must have a serious leak somewhere. It isn't getting burnt up in the engine. I would think you garage floor would have a serious puddle on it with that kind of leakage. If the pump is dry then look to the hydraulic lines, especially the connections or look for a leak in the rack and pinion system. You may find it something simple like a loose fitting or a cracked hose. A new pump wouldn’t be the end of the world. A rebuilt rack and pinion could be pricey…..

I have always been frustrated that you can't enter any destination input on NAV while the car is in motion. I know its a safety feature but as long as someone is responsible then it should be the users decision. I saw this thread elsewhere that explains how to disable that feature so you can input destination info while moving. It works as I did it myself yesterday. How To Enter Map Destinations While Driving In sequence Press the Menu button on the dash. Press the Volume button on the screen. Press the upper left corner of the screen. (Where the speaker icon is located.) Press the lower left corner of the screen. Press the upper left corner of the screen again. Press the lower left corner of the screen again. On the screen that appears: Press the Override button and hold it until you hear a beep. The Override letters turn black in color showing it is deselected. Press the Back button to get back to the previous screen.

This thread was titled "Need your opinion on brakes". Well my opinion is that putting $800 high performance brakes on a twenty year old car worth $2,000 isn't exactly crisp decision making. Its only my opinion though. It seems clear cappakazi will do as he sees fit. No big deal. He asked for opinions though. That was mine.

3 quarts in 10 days? Wow! There has to be major signs of leaking. That is a BIG leak. It might not be the pump. Maybe get a big piece of clean cardboard and put it under the car front. Then start it up and have someone turn wheel lock to lock a couple times. This may allow you to see leak. Put on emergency brake and maybe some blocks on rear wheels to be safe. Look at all the hoses (supply and return) and the connections and also the rack and pinion assembly.

Dealers know how to look at this. They have specific training for Lexus and their particular AC implementation. If the car is being sold by dealer though it may not be most objective review. Maybe negotiate an extra warranty on AC only to get resolution.

You added PS fluid 3 times over what period of time and much much in total do you think you've added? I haven't added any in 50K miles so your usage sounds extreme. So extreme there has to be fluid on the underside somewhere. It isn't disappearing. Maybe plastic pan under engine is hiding the leak and you should remove it to get a better look.

Welcome and congrats. Sounds like you got a good deal and an 11 year upgrade. I have the '04 of your car and am quite happy. NAV system is terrific. I've been pretty fortunate with few repairs so far. Normal wear and tear for the most part tires, brakes. A couple things broken but not bad. Dealer service bugs me a bit as they seem to do unnecessary things at 30k and 60k miles (pump up the revenue balloon) and it looks like they kill you at 90k (timing belt plus). Through this forum I've learned enough to start doing some maintenance myself. Anyway you must be familiar with the service regime due to your past car. Here's to 250k trouble free miles!

Never heard it in my '04 LS430. Not sure its a problem anyway. Refrigerant is compressed into a liquid by the compressor. It does through a metering valve inside the car (picture an atomizing spray bottle in your mind) and this then feeds the evaporator. Its is the conversion from liquid to gas that creates the cooling (or absorption of heat) that goes on in the car (behind the dash in the blower box). You might just be hearing the gas atomizing at the metering valve of the evaporator coil. Maybe you should turn up the radio.

I looked in service manual for '04 ls430 and couldn't find a procedure for adoption. I thought there may be a micro switch to detect closure but couldn’t see one. I think the "sliding roof system" ECU looks at motor current to detect closure. When the mechanism closes (reaches shut state) it senses an abrupt rise in motor current and stops the motor. It could be this detection circuit in the ECU isn’t working properly. In the '04 there is a safety reversal system that detects if there is a blockage and then reverses the motor. Not sure if your year has that feature but if it does it might be useful to test with a book or something fairly soft to see if once jammed the ECU detects and reverses. I’d bet this uses some of the same detection circuitry as the close detect function (ie motor current detect). Anyway I know this isn’t a solution but maybe lets you move the ball forward some.

Glad to see its resolved. $590 isn't bad for that amount of work done. Still a good chunk of change but seems a fair price.

I would double check the fuses as well. For the wiring harness to burn like that somebody probably got frustrated with popping fuses and instead of fixing the root cause of the problem put in a larger rated fuse. Instead fo the fuse popping the wiring became the fuse... You got stuck with the results.

I am just guessing but I would zero in on the ground signal to both sensors. It is the common line that ties sensor and control signal. If it were corroded and not making a good connection it could create such a result. I would start with the connection back at the ECU as that is where it is common before it splits to the separate knock sensors. I am not familiar with the wiring configuration of this car but if there is another connector pair enroute to knock sensors I'd pull that plug apart too. Maybe get some of that electronic contact cleaner spray and spray some on each end of connector when you have them apart. I really doubt it’s the actual sensors because as you note how likely is they both failed at the exact same time? Highly suspicious. My 2 cents is a cable problem between sensors and ECU. Also might be a very inexpensive thing to try before you start buying new sensors. Good luck.

Is the problem fixed now? I would suspect if you had a faulty alternator you'd have many other symptoms like not being able to start the car, lights dimming, blower motors slower. If you have a digital voltmeter (DVM) measure battery voltage (at the battery) with engine running and as many electrical items turned on as possible (high beams, rear window defrost, A/C and blower motor on max, seat heat, audio system cranked..... If alternator is faulty you should see something less than 13V on the battery.

Well I doubt it has anything to do with the fuel. There are numerous examples on this site and elsewhere of users running regular when premium is called for. I've done it for > 1 year and no problem. Could it just be a connector or cable fault. Its a bit mysterious that the code is both sensors at once plus the control signal. Maybe a connector wiggled free or has become corroded so connections are poor. Just plugging and unplugging the connector pair may be enough to get a better connection (at least temporarily). You might want to search on knock sensor as I recall other people have had trouble with these sensors.

OK but a car of that age is going to have things go. Engine, tranny, suspension, .... Those brakes might have stopping power but if the car doesn't go then it seems a little misplaced As for the currency the $222USD is around $300 AUD so quite a bit less than $800

Looks like the cameras auto exposure could have skewed things a bit. Look at the front left running light in the before and after. It’s under exposed in the before (making overall picture darker) and over exposed in the after (making overall picture brighter). Anyway camera probably doesn't give the true effect anyway. I love the HIDs in my ’04 LS430. Not sure drivers coming the other way are as thrilled about them though.

Why sell it? You're just reaching the phase where the reliability of Lexus is going to reward you with low ownership cost. A 2005 is still a very current car, hardly dated looking. There are people on this web site that have run these cars 200-300K+ miles!