Hi, Just bought a 1995 LS400 with 142,000 miles on it. It appears to be well cared for with pages and pages of service records. Everything works except steering wheel power tilt and radio illumination. Was hoping it was the easy fix (which I researched here), but turned out to be the motor. I'm driving 3 hours this Saturday to a salvage yard that has a 1996 LS steering column assembly. My question is, while I'm there, should I stock pile a few parts on things that are known to go bad? I know it may be a weird question, but I see that parts are starting to become a problem and these cars keep getting more popular so shortages will just get worse.

From the previous records, I can tell you the rack and pinion, the timing belt, waterpump, and engine mounts have already been replaced. Should I grab control arms or used ball joints, etc? Suspension has a single clunk when I hit the brakes and car bucks went I lift off gas abruptly. The drivers door is a touch harder to close compared to the other doors, almost like it sags just a hair. Other than that, I can't believe the shape this 95 is in. All the door seals, exterior window trim, including sunroof, are perfect and the only interior issue is a small 2 inch rip in the driver's seat. The carpet looks new and the back seat looks like it was never used. (The owner even replaced the power antenna 3 times, and yes- it works).

One last question- does anyone know if the window pillars were originally glossy of matte? I need to touch those up and don't know what their original state was.

Thanks for any help.

 

I wouldn't recommend buying stuff just because you're there. The most value of used parts are in the interior, seats, trim, etc. Nobody is swapping in used ball joints because they're probably more ****ed than the ones already on the car.

For the suspension, the order of operations is: New OEM, new aftermarket, mystery ebay bushes. Junkyard is the last resort.

Quote:

Suspension has a single clunk when I hit the brakes

Most likely the front strut bar. Parking lot speeds, hit the brakes, clunk? 48660-50041, 48660-50040.

Quote:

and car bucks went I lift off gas abruptly.

This one is a bit perplexing. Was the transmission mount done as well? It's the "3rd motor mount".

Sounds like this:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...g-off-gas.html


Mine's like that too. In theory it can be adjusted:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...ml#post5487433

I have personally never bothered.

Quote:

does anyone know if the window pillars were originally glossy of matte?

They are on the glossier side.

_________

You should give this a lookover btw:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...l#post10411641

 

Thanks for the info. Very helpful as well as the link too. Big Bertha (her temporary new name) will become basically a highway driver to get me back and forth from Hollywood to Mt. Dora and Winter Gardens to see my parents. The folks are divorced so its alot more often than it should be. I'm hoping Big B can handle my 90-95 mph lead foot, plus some highway down shifts. Anyone who's driven the Florida Turnpike and been behind "THAT PERSON" that can't read all the signs that say "slower traffic keep right", know you have to gun it to take the only chance you will ever get to pass THAT PERSON.

 

Other things that may go eventually: cluster, ECU. I was reactive with my LS when it came to both but if I were ever to pick up another LS which I am constantly tempted to do, I might have them proactively refurbished. Not cheap but both can impact the driving experience, albeit in different ways.

 

The LS performs best on the highway and should be fine. The problem you will run into is the Florida Highway Patrol between Jupiter and Orlando. They will be more of a problem at those speeds than the LS. If you keep it at 85 and below they usually leave you alone IME.

 

The car handles extremely well on the highway, I think you will be super pleased. I find people who hang out in the left lane to be extremely annoying. Like I want to run you off the road annoying. However 90-95 is extremely fast to be going around other traffic, really a reckless speed if there is any meaningful amount of traffic. Hopefully you are only going that fast when you have a lot of open road. Enjoy the ride I love my LS on the highway.

 

I've had my car up to about 125 or 130, it feels quite stable even at that speed which surprised me considering how "boaty" it otherwise is. I'm not really addicted to speed in which I want to actually max the car. I've been to the autobahn on Germany and did 6 hours of 220-250kmh (130-150mph). Nothing in America even comes close!

The LS400 does just fine on the highway even at speed.

@ others - it depends on your area. I-15 in Utah has a 80mph speed limit, and the standard pace of passenger car traffic is 90mph. Not uncommon for *everyone* in the left lane to touch 100 now and then.

Obviously this driving environment is very different from the Ohio turnpike or some other East Coast interstates where road design, traffic levels, and traffic enforcement, are far far stricter. If the limit is 55 or 60, the general VMAX you'll see is what, 70-75? 90 mph there is the "anomaly" who the cops are looking for. Where out west, that's not really the case.

 

Waiting for my mechanic to give me an estimate for changing valve cover gaskets, changing sparkplugs, fuel filter, and a couple of other minor things. It's got a small oil leak and small leak from oil filter. Other than those things, he said mechanically, it's in surprisingly good condition for a 28 year old car. I'm so glad the previous owner kept up with the maintenance as evidenced by the pages and pages of work done on Lexus website. My concern was it apparently wasn't driven much in the last 10 years. I will say, the more I drive it, the smoother it seems to get.

I think I may have found out why certain wind directions at highway speeds affected the car, or at least why it always sounded like rumbling wind noise coming from under the car at highway speed. The plastic underbody shroud is split in half, side to side. Its all bolted and doesn't hit the ground, but the back part, behind the split sagged, kind of creating a flappy upside down spoiler (ordered a new one so fingers crossed).

 

If you're doing valve cover gaskets, there are a lot of while-you're-in-there's!

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...asket-job.html

Your 95 will be different part numbers from this 98, but some food for thought.

 

I actually read that and was going to mention it to the mechanic.

A couple of things he told me had me wondering if true or not. Of all the things the previous owner had done, the last 40,000 miles, Lexus dealership kept mentioning differential fluid service. The owner kept refusing. When I asked the mechanic about changing it out, he said if it hasn't been changed, not to touch it because it could cause more harm than good. Is this true?

When i asked him about switching to synthetic oil, he said not to do it since the car runs fine with what its been using for the last 28 years (something about viscosity changes).

I'm no mechanic, but I can do minor stuff. I learn quick and I'm pretty handy. I am trying to absorb as much as I can from reading these and watching videos. This is how I was able to drywall, plumb, tile, and do electrical work in my old house.

Thanks to you and everyone else for your help and these threads.

 

Just did window tint. Night and day improvement in heat reduction
She isn't perfect, but she's in darn good shape for being 28 years old and having 144,000 miles. I haven't had her a month yet, but in time, I'll have her looking even better.

Thinking of removing the vinyl tan pinstripes. I read old posts where the majority say "no" to pinstripes. Is this still the true?

 

• The "mechanic" tells you changing the differential lube could do more harm than good. Your next question should be, how can this be harmful? Maintenance schedule states differential lube should be inspected every 15k miles under "normal" driving conditions; changed every 15k miles under "special" (severe) driving conditions. Most will default on the conservative side and follow severe maintenance schedule.
• There's no harm in switching to synthetic engine oil after running conventional "dino" oil. Just depends on how deep your pockets are. Yes, engine oils will shear but they're formulated to minimize shearing with additives, as long as the oil is changed at reasonable intervals. https://bobistheoilguy.com/effects-of-shearing/

 

I've heard this line before from transmissions, but never from a differential. I would also ask what his reasoning is.

So, let's go over reason why "this is a thing" to just leave the fluid in a transmission. If the transmission is already slipping & having problems shifting and there is old, degraded fluid in it, refreshing the fluid will only cause it to slip more. Because the metal particles and clutch friction material suspended in the old fluid actually help the clutch discs grip more. It's helping it stop slipping. It causes even more accelerated wear, but, it's still drivable. So, if you want a few more months of life out of the box, it's best to just leave the fluid in there. However, this is only a temporary solution. The transmission is on borrowed time. A rebuild is inevitable once it starts slipping.

If the health of the transmission is unknown, and it is not slipping, it's *always* the best option to change degraded transmission fluid. If you change it, and the transmission is healthy, you will get more life out of the transmission. If you change it, and it starts slipping... it's not like it wasn't ****ed anyway. It was probably just about to start slipping, and you'd have to be rebuilding it soon anyway. So, you may as well try and get more life out of it by changing the fluid.

However.

This doesn't make sense to me with a differential. Maybe, perhaps, on a good day I could see an argument about metal shavings getting introduced which were otherwise collected around the magnet or in crevices... but it's better to get that **** out of there in the first place. The LS400 doesn't have a e-diff with clutch packs to control slip. It's just a box with gears in it. I see no benefit at all to leaving old fluid in it as this will only cause accelerated wear of the internals of the differential. Instead, to me, this raises concerns about your mechanics judgement.

On my 98', the recommended interval for the differential (and transmission) is very frequent under the "special operating conditions" as Paulo said. I personally would just replace it every 40-50k miles or so, with the transmission at 3yr\36k (or, when needed, which for me, has been more frequently). The differential is probably neglected in 98% of these cars & its fluid never changed. I wouldn't sweat it too much. As long as it's done even a couple of times in the cars life it should be fine.

 

Thanks to you both! I'm beginning to think I need to find another mechanic. I've never actually used him before and I'm still waiting for his estimate which he said he would give me Monday (6 days after inspecting it). Hard to find a good mechanic in South Florida these days, but I know if I take to Lexus, I'll get an outrageous bill.

 

Here is my advice about finding a good mechanic:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...l#post11549693

6 days for a quote is outrageous. They should have the quote finished when you pick the car up. None of this 1 week later bull****.

I would move on. And yes, finding a good mechanic is hard. It took me years and 4 different businesses before I found one whom I think is the best.