I have a few questions that I hope somone here can help me with.

First, when I turn on/off the factory alarm using the factory remote, about 90% of the time the front/rear lights don't flash. About 10% of the time they do flash. I don't think I'm doing anything different with the remote. Is there a way to set it to flash the lights?

Secondly, I've noticed that when I accelerate hard on the freeway and the car downshifts there seems to be a noticeable cloud of smoke I can see in the headlights of the cars behind me. The car only has 45k miles on it and dosen't burn any oil or water. The car also dosen't put out any smoke at any other time (at idle or under normal acceleration). It's only when you accelerate really hard. I'm assuming it's just excess fuel, but wanted to get any input from some more knowledgeable people.

Thanks.

 

with the factory alarm i noticed it only works when i arm it when the light switch is on "auto"

and the smoke is common i have it also on my 96, think its also common on the 90-94 also

 

Security system operation is described in the owners manual.

If you push the remote LOCK one time, the doors will lock, the security system will beep once, but no lights.
If you push the lock button again, it will beep once and the lights will flash twice.
You probably pushed the button a couple of times without thinking and noticed the lights.

I have a 96 with 106K and no smoke on hard accel. Do you burn premium?
I've noticed that acceleration is more sluggish on regular as the ignition timing retards to minimize detonation...perhaps this adds to incomplete ignition and black? smoke??

 

The smoke is probably not smoke, but moisture in the exausts, dont worry about it.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I may have hit the alarm button twice and just never noticed.

As for the smoke, I do run premium fuel. However, in CA that means only 91 octane.

I did call a Lexus dealership and was told that smoke in the exhaust could be caused by a faulty VSV valve. The technician said that is could pull Power Steering fluid into the engine??? I've checked my Power steering fluid and it's never changed so I doubt that' the problem.

 

when u say smoke has it only been happening lately?

coz the weather we'v been having may just mean that your noticing more of the usual condensation than you have been.

 

Well, I don't really have allot of driving time in the car yet since I only bought it about a month ago. Plus, since my commute is short I've only put probably 350 miles on it. So it has been recent.

However, when I've noticed the smoke the car has running for at least 15 minutes, so I would have thought the smoke, if it's condensation, would be gone by then???

 

For whatever reason Lexus, most Lexus vehicles always have a lot of condensation coming out of exaust pipes, especially during winter. There's no reason to be concerned. In the cold weather both my LS400 and GS430 have water vapor coming out of the exaust continuously, no matter how long the car has been running, and my old GS300 did that all year long.