wolfy53

No harm no foul here

Love the Lexus and love my chrylser

wolfy53

Got a chance last night to give the LS a good bath. Hopefully tonight I will have a chance to get my Zaino polish and sealant on it. Also a nice thing it is getting some door dings repaired tonight after work. I hate door dings. It just amazes me that people do that to another persons car. I tried this at a car junk yard and even there I tested it on some doors that were already beat up. It takes A LOT of force I mean a lot to dent a car.

Anyway, Last night I got the headlights polished as well. I use the 3M kits. These weren't too bad but it was letting the look down. Here are a few before and afters.









Oh and one more thing, I drove the car around 140 miles yesterday round trip. Reset the MPG calc and went on my way. Driving 65 MPH, averaged 57 MPH averaged 29.7 MPG. Crazy I am very happy with this car. It drives awesome. Car is a joy to drive. The new Pirelli's are amazing tires, very happy with them.

wolfy53

I got the transmission fluid flushed out at a local toyota dealer, price wasn't too bad around $160 bucks. My transmission was shifting fine, Fluid looked okay. I like it to be just perfect so I had it flushed. Will be getting some of the door dings taken care of next week. A nice PDR guy is taking care of it for me.

So far I am loving this car!

One other thing I could use some help with is getting another key fob and key. One works fine, the other I replaced the battery and it doesn't work still. Maybe I will try programming it just in case as I did see something lit up on it. The case is buggered up pretty bad on it though. I am currently searching for some repairs or replacements. Since it will be my backup I am considering just an ebay one that you can send them your code and they will cut it as well. Any inputs or thoughts on this?

ddiddle

Car's looking great! You're doing all the right stuff.

The fob not working - you might try carefully cleaning the button contacts.

djamps

Headlights look great. Now at least! I'm a huge fan of the 3M kits but you can't expect more than 6-12 months of clear if you do it right. Next time you use the 3M method in about 6-12 months skip the liquid polish portion and do this instead:

wolfy53

You are absolutely right. I've always wanted to try that method just never have. Usually I can get hem to stay clear for 11-18 months by re applying my sealant. But still a pain. Have you tried this method? Thanks for the tips! I know I will be doing this again😉

Thansk for the tip on the key fob. I will see what I get.

djamps

Yea I did it right away when I got the LS. It came out really well, and the best part is you don't have to sand it down as many times, you can stop at the heavier grit since the clear fills it in. It's been a year since I did it and it looks the same as day 1. I did not color sand it as I put a heavier coat on last, just thick enough to hide the orange peel but not enough to run.

SW17LS

Your car is really nice, looking forward to some full car shots once you get everything sorted out.

One thing I really miss from my LS400 is that the front bumper had a cutout for the front license plate as opposed to just a stick on mount. Annoying for folks who don't have to use a front plate, to me it really made the front plate look a lot more built in vs just hanging off of a mount that only sits behind half the plate at the top like I have on my LS460.

wolfy53

I know what you mean. I am glad Kansas is a rear plate only state. I love the looks of the 460's they are very nice!

I hope to get some nice pics up here soon. If I ever find the time. I did get the old 17 year old tint removed and new fresh put on. Much better, I can actually see out of the rear window now The old stuff was just wavy in the rear and the side windows had spots missing and damaged. All is well now!

New battery installed after the tint place ran it down in 15 min they said. So a new interstate batt from costco and life is better.

Got a key and fob cut and ordered from ebay. Got the key programmed to work! Not by their instructions but by some from this site. So huge thanks for that.

Next to try to program the remote portion, as I can't get their instructions to work. Surprise surprise...

I will probably create a thread on this one, but in case its an easy fix here it is. So on to my latest issue. The car has an aftermarket viper remote start. It did work before my battery replacement, now it will flash and crank the car over but it won't start. I am assuming from the security light blinking. I know nothing about these aftermarket remote starts. Nothing.
Any suggestions on how to make this work. The remote has a 7211 number on the back. I will try to get some more information as I gather it. But is there something easy to check perhaps Thanks guys! I know this isn't much information to go off of...

djamps

When you learned the new key, you may have purged the old key from the ECU which the alarm was programmed to use to bypass the security device. So basically the alarm probably needs to be reprogrammed with your new key. Try to find a local viper dealer who can do it for you.

EDIT - some older remote starts actually placed a key somewhere under the dash near the ignition to 'permanently' bypass the security device, worth looking into your alarm model. If it uses that method, locate the key and program it to the ECU like you did the new one and put it back where you found it.

wolfy53

Very interesting. Thank you for your help. I will do a bit more digging around. I wonder where the viper system is installed at...

Interesting point about the key being there. Now when I do try a key that wasn't programmed the car would NOT start. IT would crank but not start and the security light would blink. So I think the key wouldn't be present as it would have started right??? Im not sure. I don't care that much for this aftermarket stuff. Especially when I don't have much if any information on it and how it was installed.

Thanks!

wolfy53

Well I haven't had much time so I haven't messed around with the New key fob or the viper remote start.

But I did have the window tint removed and new installed. So much better! Also I got the door dings out of it. PDR guy does great work. There was about 5 huge dents in the drivers rear quarter panel. The drivers door had about 15+ small dent's in it. and the passenger side had 15+ small dents and a few larger ones. He got all of them out. Car looks like a million bucks now! I hate door dings.

So many years ago I was helping a buddy fix his car. I went to a few pick and pulls. And I did some tests to see how hard you had to hit a car to leave a dent. Now I only tested this on a few cars that already had door damage. Yes even in a junk yard I can't get myself to leave a dent in a nice door

It is very VERY VERY hard to dent a car. Simple bumps won't do it. You have to hit them really hard. That means whoever left the dent, knew they did it. Anyway sorry for my rant. It drives me crazy that someone would do that to someone elses car.

Now on to some pictures. Car is dirty. This color hides it very well. But I have come from black vehicles, my last 3 actually, so this car is a nice change. The interior came up nicely though. Car was very well cared for.

ddiddle

Looking great!

SW17LS

Very nice! Man its hard to believe that car is 18 years old!!

AJT123

Beautiful....the last of the 400s sure did look elegant and luxurious. That interior especially looks oh so buttery.