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Removed the Throttle body assembly during the weekend for in-depth cleaning. I used CRC cleaner together with soft wide round brush attached to the drill. Removed the idle port cover, soaked all the passages with the cleaning compound.
Once all the dirt has been removed and the interior gently “polished” with the brush, I lubricated the throttle plate on each side to ensure smooth operation. I also applied silicone grease to isolate each vacuum rubber tubing from any possible leaks.
After I installed the throttle body, I also used Electronic cleaner for the TPS electric connection to remove any dirt which can interfere.
The result is outstanding, smooth and responsive acceleration.
I finally got my windshield replaced after jacking around with State Farm about it for the past few years. They ended up not helping me out at all and I was left to pay for it all myself. I ended up getting a crazy deal on a new OEM windshield and used the installer from the Lexus dealership I worked at.
It came out really nice! I can’t believe how clear the windshield without scratches, chips or cracks. I think I’ll tint it a little bit lighter this time around. Maybe 50% tint instead of 35% like I had before.
It seems a constant struggle with insurance companies over correct OEM glass.
The aftermarket glass is substandard (crap)
So-called top tier insurers are taking cues from the fly-by-night insurers.
Constantly hearing about car owners suing their insurance companies for not paying claims within the terms of the policy.
Post the letter State Farm sent, and redact your personal information.
One thing to do here is alert forum members who not to do business with.
It seems a constant struggle with insurance companies over correct OEM glass.
The aftermarket glass is substandard (crap)
So-called top tier insurers are taking cues from the fly-by-night insurers.
Constantly hearing about car owners suing their insurance companies for not paying claims within the terms of the policy.
Post the letter State Farm sent, and redact your personal information.
One thing to do here is alert forum members who not to do business with.
Better, start a new post on topic.
It took a long time for them to agree to go with an OEM and a different installer. In the end, State Farm closed the claim and didn’t pay a dime. I plan on switching to a different company for this reason. My installer said they quit doing jobs for insurance companies because they never want to pay up.
The installer does all of the windshields at my local Lexus dealership and said that many customers go with aftermarket windshields due to price. He says it’s not too much of an issue if you have a good installer. They fix a lot of cars that were worked on by Safelite, so I recommend avoiding them.
State Farm didn’t bother to send me a letter other than a notice of me filing the claim. I’ll follow up with my agent next week and see if I can get some sort of reimbursement on the windshield. I got a crazy deal on it but I’d still like to get some of that money back.
I highly recommend using the OEM windshield but I wouldn’t pay $2,000 for it. My price as a Lexus employee was less than a $1,000 for everything and I still thought it was high. An aftermarket windshield will be alright as long as you have a good installer.
Took the car for a little drive since it was nice and dry out and realized that there was some wacky **** going on with the new arms. When cornering with a decent bit of force, the car feels like it wants to oversteer once it "settles in" to the corner. Got home and put the rear tires up onto ramps and it looks like there's a little issue with the design of the figs arms. It was pretty clear that the force of the sway bar was causing deflection of the camber arm which led to the sudden oversteer.
Because the arm is designed with heim joints on each end, its allowed to rotate freely a couple of degrees. When downward force is applied at the connection between the sway endlink and the arm, the arm wants to rotate away due to the force applied by the sway. When the arm reaches the end of its range of rotational motion, the force begins to transfer into the sway bar, stiffening the rear end and causing the feeling of sudden oversteer.
Another issue that this deflection causes is that the camber arm seems to want to deflection in the direction that the heim joint jam nut at the end loosens. When it reaches the end of its range of motion, the rotational force seems to loosen the locknuts. Overall, a little unhappy with these. Going to contact figs first, but might have to track down a set of the t-demand or the megan camber arms. The megan arms seem to solve this issue best since the inner rotational element is welded at a fixed angle relative to the sway end link location.
The other option, if I wanted to keep the figs arms would be to track down a set of rubber bushing or poly bushing rod ends that would fit the figs arms. This would reduce the range of motion of the inner rod end down to a single axis (not sure if that's the right term) like the megan arms and remove the sudden oversteer issue.
Edit: Poly rod end, like this
Would also need to find a way to lock it tight enough so it doesn't come loose from the force of the anti sway trying to twist the camber arm. Maybe doubling up on jam nuts like the t-demand arms?
Removed inner door cards on all the doors and CorrosionX’d the holes and lower plugs that perforate the lower half of the outer steel shell on our ‘new’ ‘01 UL. These will blister and eventually trash the door if not attended to (preferably before the rust has a chance to start). All were clean and nice on this one! Car was southern history, 80k miles, and always garaged. Also found one speaker that needs refoamed, perfect time to do it. I use the standard (thin viscosity) CorrosionX initially (hard to see, as it is essentially clear / see through with a light greenish tint) and let that soak in with a couple treatments over an hour or so, and follow up with CorrosionX XD (amber) that is much thicker for long-term protection. There is one plug that ‘hides’ under and behind the crash bar, so inspect carefully if you do yours so you don’t miss it. (Ignore all of the drips and runs...I was shooting through a long straw, so they were inevitable). Couple pics toward the bottom show what they were like before hitting them with the XD. I was really happy how clean they were.
Cleaned up and painted the CV axle I got from a 04 LS430 with approximately 50K. It had some surface rust from sitting in a junkyard for a few years. I have a vibration that the local independent diagnosed the left wheel bearing and CV axle are bad. So I will be replacing them along with new rear brake pads and rotors in a few weeks.
Slowly sorting out suspension problems and was trying to track down this horrid smell that popped up a week or two ago. Been to the carwash and hosed down the undercarriage in hopes that whatever I may have accidently run over would be washed out, but the smell was still there. Luckily, it was only when I was outside of the car. After going to the carwash for the second time after this'd popped up, it was still there, so I opened the hood, and sure enough, a rat had gotten itself stuck and was being roasted against the engine cover and intake. Nasty stuff. The rat is gone, but the smell is still there, even after lots of cleaning products and degreasers and what not. Gonna have to sort this out next week.
On the bright side, I installed my all4swap ECU. Swap out the ECU, bridge pin 5 and 13, and wait. Easy install. Easily the best value for money upgrade with this car. My butt dyno says that their 20 hp claim is pretty valid. It also improves the biggest drawback with this car which is the responsiveness of the engine. It no longer waits and downshifts and waits some more when you mash on the throttle. It just goes. It also feels like a more usable powerband since it seems to make use of that 4000+ rpm range a lot better than the stock ECU. The pedal/throttle curve is a little touchy at low speeds so I think that could use a bit of work, but otherwise, it's good stuff. Well worth the money.
Also installed my winter tires and replaced the front brake pads. Had some EBC yellows, and it just wasn't good enough to justify the greatly reduced life, brake dust, and price.
Winter tires are really quiet and comfortable compared to the PS4S. Narrower and taller seems to do the trick. Also applied shin etsu to the window seals today which made the car nice and quiet again. I should do that more often...
Poor car has been neglected while the inlaws have been here for the holidays. Due to their age we've been quarantining with them and working from home so the car has barely moved for weeks. That being said I was able to get the first of my new projects completed for the car. Had to ditch the plan of restoring the old Lowenharts I had as the jack wagon who sold them to me didn't know (or didn't care) that they were 5x112 and not 5x114.3. Since they're now on the back burner I picked up another set of 20's for now and finally got them mounted yesterday. Unfortunately due to winter sunlight I only have one half assed picture now and not sure when the car will move again to get better pics.
Rain has just been pouring down here so the car hasn't left, but was able to take a brief second to get out and verify that the rears tuck when lowered. Front wheels are narrower than i'd have liked (9" instead of 9.5") and don't have near the same stretch as the rear and may need a spacer. Ultimately this may just be an interim set of wheels while I work towards a better setup.
Well, I didn't do this today, I did this on christmas day, but still, it's a nice DIY.
I haven't seen some pictures of an LS430 with the 6 spoke 17 inch rims painted black, so I did it myself, here are some pictures for reference if someone wants to it.
11-25-20, 10:25 AM
