curiousB

If you have a sticky caliper it seems somehwt unlikely more than one would develop this problem at the same time. Did you mean to say both right and left front were hot? Since you say the pads and rotors were new it doesn't sound like a bedding in thing as there wouldn't be too much surface variance with all new. I don't think this is normal nor do I suspect it will just go away. I guess if the old pads were pretty worn the pistons were extended for a long period of time. If moisture got behind the seal that part of the piston could have had some rust and corrosion. Now that it has been pushed back into the caliper it could be binding some. This would have the effect of not allowing the pistons to fully release after you let off the brake. In effect would keep a constant drag on brakes and coud explain the heating you are seeing. It might be a lot cheaper to get a caliper rebuild kit. Take out the piston clean them up and then restore all with new seals and o rings. A bit of work but a lot cheaper than new calipers. Depends if you've got the time to just into this minutia.

Well if the system is leaking that fast then it should be somewhat easy to detect. A tricky leaks take a whole season to leak down. I assume you mean they added UV dye. Can you look at every coupling and the evaporator and condenser cores? In home AC units the evaporator is common point for very subtle leaks. Unfortunately in your car its not too convenient to inspect due to awkward location. Hope about use the UV light in a dark garage or in evening in the driveway in case ambient light is causing you to miss fluorescing dye. Failing a solution with the dye most AC shops have refrigerant sniffers. They are like electronic Geiger counters for ac refrigerants. Very sensitive devices so maybe they could sniff around all the couplings and all soldered joints on the evaporator coil. I'm a bit surprised you do see some oil leaking give the severity of the leak. Of course the oil is more viscous so wouldn't necessarily leak where a gas would. AC leaks can be subtle and expensive to track down. I spent $1000 and 4 service calls to fix one on my home AC. In the end they replaced evap coil and its been fine for 3+ years..

What is dealer quoting to do this work?

I recently had front rotors turned and new pads added. My recent set of new tires came with a 17 year old tire installer and his air impact wrench playtoy. The rotors were warped within 6 weeks of the new tires. Anyway when I went back and told them about this they were good enough to assign a senior tech and turned rotors on their dime. Since then the vibration (and pedal pulsing) is gone and stops are very smooth. So I have just had front rotors turned (after they were warped so probably had to be cut a little more to get warp out) and it all worked out fine The rear rotors were another story. Absolutely rotted out with holes in them. Don't know if its the winter salt they use in IL or just bad castings. Anyway went to dealer to get new rears and after quoting the lexus ones at $180 each he also quoted me a non Lexus brand. I viewed it as an admission of guilt that (a) Lexus rotors are crazy expensive and (B) other branded rotors can work just as well. I ended up getting off brand rotors at a foreign car parts shop for about $60 each and they have worked well going on 4 months. I did replace pads all around with genuine Lexus pads as they are priced fairly at various internet parts outlets. So turning rotors can work just fine. So too can secondary brand rotors.

Sidegapping.... Oh come on, get real. Don't you think the spark plug manufacturers’ would be all over this if it truly added more “power” and as a result more efficiency (better gas mileage). They could market these as a premium or upgraded sparkplug. As for the claims of spark "power" I think it shows a lack of understanding of what a spark is. Once the (high) voltage is applied to the plug (via the ignition coil) it quickly rises to a point where the gap no longer is large enough to withstand ionization. This is when the “spark” occurs. It’s the ionization of the gas between the electrodes. At this instance the resistance (impedance) of the gap suddenly drops as the ionized gas becomes a very good conductor and current flows. The nature of the ignition coil and the circuit of the primary side of the coil will determine how long that arc will be maintained. Since the creation of computerized ignition systems the spark firing is fine tuned each cycle of the engine to fire at the exact right position. This intelligence factors in (or compensates for) wear items such as spark plug gap enlargement and, in the old days, distributor points wear (but I’m dating myself a little). Anyway the whole point of this meandering is to state that spark plugs are less of a contributor to reliable firing of the cylinder than they were in days gone by. This is why you can go 50k+ miles on a set. The electronic ignition has overcome many of the limitations of the past. As such it’s hard to fathom how side firing plugs would do anything. Sounds like junk science to me. You’d be better off checking your tires for proper inflation than grinding down spark plug electrodes. It’s easier too. :)

..."Prejudice and preference aside, engineers, scientists and the federal government say there's little need for premium."... ...""I personally use regular even though my owner's manual says you'll get better performance with premium," says Lewis Gibbs, consulting engineer and 45-year veteran at Chevron oil company. He's chairman of Technical Committee 7 on Fuels, part of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Fuels & Lubricants Council. Gibbs knows gas."... ..."The main advantage of premium-grade gas is that it allows automakers to advertise a few more horsepower by designing and tuning engines to take advantage of premium's anti-knock properties. But auto engineers generally agree that if you use regular in a premium engine, the power loss is so slight, most drivers can't tell."... ...""I go back and forth, and I'm hard-pressed to notice" whether there's regular or premium in the tank, says Jeff Jetter, principal chemist at Honda Research and Development Americas. He drives an Acura designed for premium. Import brands, especially, use premium fuel to distinguish their upmarket models. Most Toyotas, for instance, are designed to run on regular or midgrade, while the automaker's Lexus luxury brand prefers (i.e. market positioning of brand rather than science) premium. Same with Honda and its Acura luxury line."... ..."Gasoline retailers and refiners like high-test because it's more profitable than regular-grade gas is. The retailer paid about 8 cents more for the premium you pay 20 cents more for"... ..."Today's engines use highly evolved versions of a device called a knock sensor to adjust settings automatically for low-octane gas. The engine control computers keep pushing to maximize performance on whatever grade of fuel is used."... ..."The only modern engines that should really need premium are those with superchargers, which force-feed fuel into the cylinders. "You're driving along and just !Removed! the gas and the knock sensor cannot sense the knock fast enough in some cases," because the supercharger boosts pressure so fast, says Bob Furey, chemist and fuels specialist at General Motors."... ..."Burning regular when the owner's manual specifies premium won't void the warranty, nor damage the engine, even the most finicky automakers say. "You're giving up perhaps just a little bit of performance that a customer wouldn't really even notice, it's so slight," says Furey."... ..."High-test does have a potential fuel economy benefit. It is slightly denser than lower-octane gas, meaning there's a little more energy in a gallon. But the small difference is hard to measure in real-world use, and that same density can contribute to undesirable buildup of waste products inside the engine."... ..."Guilt plays a part. Some people feel almost guilty, as if they are abusing their cars, when they don't burn premium, says gasoline retailer Jay Ricker, president of Ricker Oil of Anderson, Ind., which operates 28 stations. "They go all the way down to 87 (octane), but maybe every fourth tank they put in the good stuff.""... So I'm voting to use regular and spend the money on an extra car wash or dinner out here or there. Emotions asside there doesn't seem to be very strong data to justify premium fuel.

Directly from the owner's manual: "Select premium unleaded gasoline with an octane rating of 91 or higher for optimum engine performance. However, if such premium type cannot be obtained, you may temporarily use unleaded gasoline with an octane rating as low as 87." Yes, your car's computer/emissions will adjust for fuel more prone to pinging. HOWEVER, in so doing, your engine is NOT operating at optimum performance due to the adjustment that is made to correct for the fuel. Generally, this will result in a slight decline in horsepower and fuel economy. In all likelihood, the use of regular unleaded will not damage anything, just lead to the aforementioned losses. FWIW, the octane rating has NOTHING to do with "energy", as you say. The octane rating is a measure of the fuel's ability to resist predetonation (pinging). Well yet another contradiction in the debate. Octane rating has nothing to do with energy yet you say regular fuel will be less optimum and slightly lower fuel economy. Well which is it? No difference or a difference? Sounds like doublespeak to me. Anyway others have posted that fuel mileage difference is imperceptable so if you want to pay +15% premium for the rest of your life to feel better go ahead. I have better places to spend the money.

:)Easy. 1) Turn key on. 2) Press trip button until the trip odometer line is blank (showing only car odometer in top line). 3) Turn key off 4) Press and hold reset button down 5) Turn key to on and keep holding reset button 6) After about 5 seconds of holding the reset button down the maintenance light will be reset for another 5,000 miles.

I bought a 2005 LS430 new a few years ago. Have 76k miles on it now. No major problems. Beautiful riding car if you like a smooth effortless ride. Fantastic for a long highway drive. If you like sporty feel like a BMW this is not the car for you. I had two friends get the same car as me and they have since got ride of theirs since they like the ride of BMWs. The repairs I have done: 1. The passenger side mirror stopped working in auto hide away mode. Lexus replaced it but did not cover on warranty as they said it was user damaged (clipped side of garage). This wasn't the case but I wasn't going to spend my life arguing it. About $900 repair. 2. Backup camera failed (water leaked in and it corroded electronics. Covered by warranty 3. Rear axle height sensor failed a couple months (out of warranty) ago which made the auto leveling (AFS) system fail and headlights pointed downward. I changed the part myself so saved a few $$. Part was $400 though (for something that should cost $50). 4. On third set of tires. 5. Now on second set of brake pads. Replaced rear brake rotors 2 months ago as they rotted out and warped. I would consider this fairly normal wear for a car of this age/miles. 6. Just had emissions tested by state and passed with no issues. Dealer oil changes are $79 a trip as they do some "inspections to justify the fee". That is about it though. So considering what can go wrong these cars are well engineered. Much like the Germans I think Lexus engineers generally over design so while expensive repairs are less common. Dealer service is expensive when you go but you’ll go less often so I guess it evens out. Parts are more expensive but you also need fewer of them. Offsetting this is that the car is complex with a lot of features so the potential system for failure is higher (than a less featured car). In comparison I’ve had 3 Ford vehicles going back a few years and two of the three had major engine repairs (just off warranty). One was a head gasket replacement the other was a replaced engine head (blown exhaust valve). Total repairs for these two was $5-6,000 although Ford came back later and comp’d a chunk of one of them. So I would buy another Lexus. I am not in love with the car like some on this forum but it’s a good car.

I've been doing more work on my ’05 LS430 of late and wondering best way to use jack stands to hold up either front, rear or entire car on stands. The issue is this small area defined for the Lexus scissor jack is very small. If I use this area to for my shop (hydraulic) jack to raise car I can’t get a jack stand in close before I lower the car back onto the jack stand. Is there another spot to lift the car with my hydraulic jack away from the “jack points” so I can use these points for the jack stands? Is there a better way to do this? Any input appreciated. Thanks

Hi guys, Just negotiating for a new RX350 and wondering what is a good price? I hate the car buying game but will put up with it. Is it realistic to pay invoice price or below (as we never see all the credits back to the dealer). Or btter to expect some type of discount off of MSRP? I want NAV but Lexus nav is 2X the price of other brands. Seem like they're gouging on some options... Thanks for any guidance.

This is beside the point but there truly is no point in using Bayer aspirin vs the Wal-Mart brand. It truly is exactly the same thing... This only gives further evidence of my point. Acetylsalicylic Acid is a chemical. Anyone can make it and to suggest one brand is better than another is just silly. That there is some unwarranted feel good aspect to using premium fuel is also silly. Budhah seems to think it is better for the car. What if it was the case it made ZERO difference the entire life of the car and you chose to spend a few thousand dollars that could otherwise go towards better tires, more car washes/details (make your baby prettier), more frequent oil changes, or an extra dinner out a year with your significant other. I think the premium fuel issue is a revenue and margin grab by the oil companies. The car companies add to it because they can quote slightly higher MPG on the EPA stickers. In the end we all pay for a marginal and unnecessary advantage.

I really wonder how important premium gas is. Most of the comments I read are conjecture and warm feelings. “My Lexus deserves nothing less” is hardly a scientific argument. What evidence is there that premium is any better for the engine? Modern computerized engine controls adjust and optimize air/fuel/spark each cycle. These engines are already very finely tuned. Sure premium fuel has slightly more energy available but does it translate to better MPG? Maybe a bit but the true test would be $/mile that would balance out the extra cost of premium over standard gas. Has anyone done a clean A/B test and computed the $/mile of each? I’ve run regular for >1 year in a 2004 LS430 with no perceptible difference in performance. Last time I checked the engine was still under my hood.

The 10A rating of the inverter is likely its maximum input rating. The actual current draw will depend on what you connect on the AC side of the inverter. With 10A @ 12VDC that is a 120Watt inverter. These devices aren't perfect converters of power so they lose a bit of energy as heat. So assuming 120W in, then it can handle around 100W out on AC side (probably could go a bit higher, maybe 110W but lets play it safe). That means you can plug in AC appliances up to 100W on the 120VAC side of the inverter. Now let’s turn to the car outlet. The 3.5A is probably the fuse for this port. If you try to pull 10A it will pop the fuse. So in your example the limiting factor will now be the 3.5A port rating. 3.5 x 12 VDC = 42Watts, and derating for inverter efficiency gets us to around 35W @120VAC. So that is about you upper limit of AC load you can hang on the inverter without popping the car port fuse. So if you use the 3.5A port keep your usage below 35W on 120VAC side, if you want more out on AC side plug the inverter into the cigarette lighter which is probably fused around 15A or so. Plugging the inverter in that port would allow you to get the full power out of the inverter (around 100-110W on AC side). Lastly, don’t put the inverter in a closed compartment like the glove box or arm rest compartment. The lost energy as heat has to go somewhere or the inverter might overheat. Keep it somewhere where it can breathe a bit.

Not really. Up here in Midwest we see small craters every freeze thaw cycle. You could lose a small pet in some of them. Hitting one at 35 MPH will surely do a number on a rim. The impact is just to fast and severe. Also in snow and ice very easy to get into a side slide on a turn and slide right into the curb. This way the rim hits the curb on the side where it has virtually no rubber cushion. Either case one messed up rim. Possibility to balance = 0.

I don't think the issue is brake pads or rotors for the humming at speed. Warped rotors would be the problem if the vibration came as a result of applying the brakes. You mention the vibration just comes by driving at speeds above 35 MPH. You also mention vibration when you apply brakes so maybe you have multiple problems. That can make diagnosis difficult so fixing that will maybe make the residual issues more diagnosable. Any chance the tire hit a pothole or curb lately? That could bend rim and make it severely out of balance and vibrate at a certain speed. If kids drive car you always have to factor in the “dent fairy phenomenon”. You’ll know when they put new tires on as they won’t be able to balance that rim and you’ll get hit up for a new one. Again moving front tires to back would be a simple test to see if problem goes away. I have a rim that is slightly bent and every time I get wheels balanced or tires replaced the guy complains about getting it balanced. Mine is small enough they can eventually get it back in balance but I am thinking I should pick up a new rim for next new set of tires. Failing out of balance wheels or a broken cord in the tire then I think its got to be wheel bearings or UJoints.

Power drain of that list of products is inconsequential to the car power system. The blower fan on the A/C probably consumes more power than all the items you’d use in the car (I didn’t see pancake skillet on the list, it could be a load). It’s really more an issue what the alternator can deliver than the battery. The battery stores energy, the alternator creates it (or more properly converts mechanical to electrical energy). The alternator is designed for worst case electrical load plus some safety factor. The total electrical loads of high beam headlights, fog lights, running lights, audio system, wipers, window defoggers, engine ECU, A/C blower motor would be in excess of 1000 watts. Your trusty iPod is probably less than 10 watts

I think you have to invest a little more time diagnosing it. Is the engine stopping due to fuel or ignition? Do you have any tools to test for spark or measure fuel pressure or if injectors are getting signal. Its strange changing starter would induce this type of result. Was engine showing any early signs of stalling prior to the starter change out? If you open throttle after start is it apt to run longer or always the same 8 seconds? If it runs longer on partially open throttle it may indicating an idle problem or gummed up throttle body. The possibitlities are many, you need to narrow things down some.

Well it sounds like mechanical resonance. At a certain speed vibration hits resonance and it becomes significantly amplified. As speed increases resonant condition ceases and vibration goes away. Could be resonant window is narrow enough that speed change doesn't amount to much of a pitch variation. Source could be poorly balanced tires, wheel bearing, or U-joints. You mention the sound doesn't change over speed but are you really sure? The fact you feel it in the steering wheel suggests front wheel balance. If you're game for a test, rotate tires front to back and see if the problem changes profile. If the problem moves I'd get tires rebalanced. I've heard of tires breaking a cord (internal to rubber) and that causes tire to go out of balance and vibration issue. If the problem moved in the test above but re balancing didn't fix it then maybe rotate in spare tire until you find which tire is the offender. If its a broken cord then looks like time to get new rubber=NOW. Might be more work than you're up for but until you'll probably have to invest some experiment time to narrow down the possibilities.

2004 LS430 Brakes I replaced my brake pads several months back with some after market semi metallic bands (Bendix brand). I didn't replace and I didn't resurface the rotors at the time. Just recently I noticed a slight grabbing of the brakes at very slow speeds (just before stopping). I don't think its warped rotors because I don't feel any shimmy in the steering wheel (at any speed) which is more typical for warped rotors. A few questions for some of the experts out there: 1) What does Lexus use for the OEM pads? ceramic, friction, or semi metallic pads? 2) Does this grabbing symptom sound familiar to anyone? I am wondering is the metal in my replacement pads has somehow contaminated the rotors? 3) Are these cars know for easily warping rotors? I had a Volvo many years back that was notorious for warped rotors. 4) Anyone got any good suggestions for replacement pad brand (I guess I could get Lexus OEM pads but probably 2-3X the price). Any help appreciated.

Yes that’s the way it failed for me. It started as an intermittent problem and then became more frequent until it was failed all the time. You might be just earlier on in the same failure profile. The part number for the rear axle sensor I replaced was part number 89408-50060. It’s called a Sensor Subassy. It cost $384.21 before taxes. As I said earlier it’s a potentiometer sensor with an actuator arm connected to the axle to sense the axle height. Mine was obviously broken as the arm was bent and the bracket broken. Once removed the rotating arm wouldn’t rotate so diagnosis was pretty obvious. Yours may be more subtle. If you have a VOM meter (volt ohm meter) you can measure resistance to see if the sensor has continuity end to end of the potentiometer and then from the wiper to either of the potentiometer (pot). The key is that there are no dead spots where the resistance has worn away inside the pot. So you need to measure resistance from wiper to either end of the pot and turn sensor to be sure it has a reading all across the range of travel. Since the sensor spends 98% of its time in one position that area can get more worn and cause an intermittent break so you have to check to see this isn’t the case. There is a similar sensor in the front left wheel well for the front axle height. Mine was ok but your failure could be the front one. It is a different looking part but serves the same purpose and is similar electrically. Good luck

Just to add on. I drove vehicle last night and indeed the low beam headlights were pointed more upwards so I could better see the road ahead. So the annoying blinking AFS light is gone away and the low beam headlights actually light up the road. I’m glad to have this working properly now. The only open question in my mind now is if the headlights are properly aligned and if I skipped a calibration step with the new sensor. If anyone knows if there is a special calibration step when you replace the axle height sensor, please chime in.

I just fixed this problem on my 2004 LS430. The blinking AFS light was due to a faulty ride height sensor on the rear axle. On my LS430 it’s on the driver’s side rear axle just behind brakes. My symptoms were the AFS light would flash all the time independent of the AFS off switch setting. It didn’t even matter if the lights were on, the blinking occurred day or night. When head lights were on they tended to point too low so they didn’t light up enough of the road (on low beam). I suppose this is the way they are designed so if the mechanism fails the lights don’t point too high an blind oncoming drivers. The replacement part was $422 and that’s after I called 4 dealers in my area. One dealer had price at $496 before taxes!! So parts pricing is far from standardized. It pays to shop around. This part has a manufacturing cost no more than $40 so you can see the margins dealers make on parts. The failure mode was the bearing on the sensor arm seized due to water ingress and corrosion. Frankly it’s a poorly designed part and it isn't a surprise to me it eventually failed. Anyway with the bearing seized this caused the actuator arm to force and eventually break the sheet metal mounting bracket for the sensor. This occurs because up and down motion of axe moves the actuator arm and if it can't rotate something else had to give. The sensor is a pretty simple variable resistor (potentiometer). The position determines a resistance divider that sends a voltage signal out proportional to the sensor position. When I opened up the resistor portion of the sensor you could also see the resistive material was worn badly so even if the bearing hadn't seized it was possible the inside was going to become an electrical open and fail soon anyways. Installation was pretty simple. Removed old sensor and mounted the new one via two bolts on the mounting bracket. Then connected the cable harness. The actuator arm (via a linkage) is held in a locked position presumable for shipping purposes so it doesn’t be turned beyond intended travel range. I also wondered if it came locked in a specific position for initial calibration. So I turned on the car before I connected the actuator arm so the computer could read the factory set position. At this point I could see my flashing AFS light went away so I knew I was on the right track. I then put rear wheel back on and lowered car off jack to level position. Now I connected the actuator arm to the axle bracket. I had to shimmy a bit to get at it but it was not to difficult to reach. I first removed the small screw with that held the actuator frozen and discarded the screw and the small holding bracket. I the fastened the actuator arm aligning it to the same marks one the axle bracket where the old sensor connected. Tightened up the locknut and I was done. I took a test ride and no more flashing AFS light. Tonight I’ll see if more of the road is lit up. I don’t know if there are additional steps to calibrate the sensor after an install. Maybe someone reading this can add on if there are additional steps to calibrate. I expect I’ll be doing this repair again in the future (because of poorly designed sensor) but next time it won’t be as much a mystery. I now know why each of the four dealers I called had this part in stock and were quite familiar with what it was. Can you say frequent failure scenario? ;)