mikaelse

Gratulate you on your purchase. I have two LS400 and do all repair and service DIY. IF you keep it in good order you will see a steady increase in value I think over time.
I have done two cambelts.
I am following a 10 year max rule .In that time I will do about 80K miles. I have so far used the AISIN kits with water pump and Mitsuboshi belt. Temperatures where I live is average 20 F lower than in California for sure. (Sweden).
THat may impact belt life positive. Where I live a belt broken would normally mean a scrapped car. Scary prospect...
The first things to go on suspension was at 100k the front strut rod bushings. A bit of shimmy at some speeds and a little clunking going over rough road slow. They looked pretty OK but were NOT.
If unlucky bolts have seized. Some of mine had. Probably not in California? You can buy the bushings OEM with some searching and exchange them at a workshop. Press needed.
Also check alignment. I did not and rear tires was worne fast due to too large toe in.

benlex400

I was driving my LS 400 today when all of a sudden the battery signal lighted up and it says headlight leveling. Anybody encounter this issue before? Kindly provide some advise on how to fix it. The battery is new about 3 months old.ANy input is highly appreciated. Thank you.

benlex400

I was driving my LS 400 today when all of a sudden the battery signal lighted up and it says headlight leveling. Anybody encounter this issue before? Kindly provide some advise on how to fix it. The battery is new about 3 months old.ANy input is highly appreciated. Thank you.

benlex400

Well guys- just an update. I just changed the tires on y LS and it surely runs nice. I have not addressed the tranny mount yet for the front end vibratiion at 80 miles per hour. Will update everybody as soon as I replaced. But I looked at the service history and it was replaced in 2010 at 91931 miles. It has 145K miles now. So I was thinking of changing the old strut front and rear. Based on my research is KYB the right brand for it? Kindly advise.

400fanboy

Front end vibration - I'm going to assume the wheels\tires are good since you just got those replaced. But just to give pause - were they road force balanced to match the tires correctly? I've personally found my car (or my butt) is quite sensitive and the tolerances seem quite slim to truly getting a smooth ride.

To me - it seems unlikely to be the transmission mount. That affects drivetrain slap going between park and drive, along with some other "phantom" vibration\smoothness things that are super subtle. It shouldn't be shaking your steering rack.

Do you know if the front lower ball joints have been replaced? They are considered a wear item and commonly go even within 100,000 miles. However, normally they will start clunking and don't give vibrations. Next options are potentially bushings or anything that has play in the front end. How are the tie rods?

As for new shocks - as others said, replace everything but the springs unless they have serious rust\corrosion. As for what brand of shocks to get; the 3 most common are: OEM, KYB and Bilstein.

Side note: it's best practice of a "while you're in there" to also replace the shock mounts and boot aka. insulator. I would recommend going OEM here. I put KYB shock mounts on my car and they both completely failed within 12,000 miles or something stupid.

benlex400

I did change the lower ball joints when I first got the car 110K now it has like 145K miles. But will definitely check it again. You said OEM, KYB then Bilstein. Isn't it that the original strut is also made by KYB? In fact I was looking at the original ones at Lexuspartsnow.com

Lexus 48510-59106 Front

Lexus 48530-59097 Rear

So between the three which would you recommend?

400fanboy

OEM strut is made by KYB, that is correct.

But just because the same company makes an aftermarket part does not mean it's made to the same specification as the OEM part. I don't have a good answer for whether it's completely identical, and just rebranded, or if it's got "cheapening" elements added.

I personally went with KYB for the fronts and OEM for the rear. The rear shocks involve pulling the seats and a ton of stuff, so I wanted the best chance of never having to worry about it again. And I paid upfront for that luxury. For the fronts, it's not "easy", but it's way more accessible so I saved a few bucks.

In general, all 3 shocks seem to have favorable reviews from members. I don't see many people having problems. In terms of ride quality, the OEM's will be the softest, the KYB's will be ever so slightly stiffer, and the Bilstein's will be notably more stiff and controlling of the ride quality. Not detrimentally so, but given what I've read from people talking about them, they seem to be the "sport" shock. This being said - I'm not sure if that isn't just from people replacing blown-*** shocks with fresh ones and going from a wallowing uncontrolled ride to how it should be. They may actually be quite comparable to OEM. But I've never seen anyone do a brand new, back to back comparison.

deanshark

The tranny mount shouldn't be felt in the steering wheel. All the ones I've seen bad ALWAYS had a vibration on the shifter, that should be smooth with no feel to it at all.
When the ball joints in my cars (both my old LS400s) went bad they snapped with alot of damage. But before they snapped the steering wheel was very tight and didn't return to center on it's own. They do cause vibrations also.

As for shock mounts, it's a matter of opinion. Although fanboy had very bad luck with his KYB mounts, that's the only time I've heard of them going bad. When I changed my shocks I was on a short budget and put in KYB shocks with Sensen shock mounts and didn't have a problem with them. If I had the little extra money (maybe another $50) I would have put in KYB mounts. So, ya never know.