Learn Me LS400

Just want to know any important things to know about the '90-'94 or '95-'00 LS400. I didn't know if anyone here has DDed one.

I've been interested in them for a long time and they seem pretty reliable.

I know there's at least 2 of them here that DD them, and the general consensus is that it's a LOT of car for not much money, and they run for-friggin'-ever.

Bookmarking this thread, relevant to my interests.

We have a 99. Fantastic car. 99 has VVTi. I think VVTi started in either 98 or 99. At about 4K RPM, it's like BOOST. I think my Esprit can take it off the line, but it would be close. It would probably take the esprit up to about 50. I'll have to try that some time. Out on the highway with the cruise control on, we get 26 MPG.

Driving the car is like sitting in the living room, except it's more comfortable, quieter and the stereo is better.

I have a '95 and my wife has a '92. The '92 is actually better built but heavier and slower. The '95 is lighter, faster, and feels more luxurious but has more rattles. (It had a hard life before getting to me, though, so it might just be the various accidents and poor stereo install causing the rattles.)

The '92 is AMAZING from a build quality standpoint. I bought it with a broken timing belt, and it turns out the idler pulley seized and melted the teeth off the belt. The water pump and belt were original - over 10 years old and 239,000 miles on them and they finally gave up the ghost. The wires and plugs were original. NOTHING had been done on that car in 239k miles. They're non-interference (95+ IS INTERFERENCE!) so minor repairs and the car was completely trouble free for 5 years. The only repair I did later was to replace the alternator and battery when it started killing the battery every few months.

The '95 has a starter flaw that tends to kill the starter after about 175k miles. Mine started to go bad at that point, and it's a heavy weekend job to do it. (you have to remove the intake manifold as it's in the valley below it.) Other than that and a scheduled timing belt/wp replacement (when it turned out that the water pump was original, wow again) and brakes, the car has been completely trouble free over ~5 years of driving.

Suspension components are really, really expensive. The '95s bushings are a bit worn, but it would be a couple grand to replace them all as they're not sold separately. You have to replace the entire control arms, times six, plus the strut rods, to do the wear parts. Throwing in factory shocks pushed it over $3k so I decided to let that be the "end" of the car eventually. Keep in mind that's probably going to come to a head at over 250k miles, so that's pretty damn good. Plus a junkyard would probably be a source for less worn parts if I chose to go that route. Or DIY some poly bushings. The '90-'94 models have aftermarket bushing kits available but not the '95+.

The '98 or '99 got VVTi like Hess said and gets even faster still. In 2001 they switched to the LS 430 which got heavier and slower. The '95 - '00 LS400s are surprisingly light for their size. (3500 - 3700 pounds curb weight, and these are land yacht sized cars.)

Over all I have been very, very pleased with our DD experience. The city mileage isn't great (18mpg or so) but the highway is pretty dang good for a car this size (25-26mpg).

Sorry for the info dump, let us know if you have any specific questions!

Yeah, that starter is a PITA. I had to do that at around 80 or 90K. I put a NAPA one on it. I think one computer (seat or steering column) was replaced under warranty. Oh, and the cigarette lighter wire broke at a flex point behind the ash tray. That's been about the only problems we've had in 100K and 12 years.

I have the factory shop manuals for the car. Only way to go. Be sure to buy a Valentine One if you get one of these things. VERY easy to not pay attention and be doing triple digits. Ooops.

The regular coil spring suspension is expensive? Or are you talking about the air suspension?

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: The regular coil spring suspension is expensive? Or are you talking about the air suspension?

I mean the regular coil spring suspension. It's expensive but lasts a long, long time. Our '92 is still original shocks, springs, bushings at 239k miles and it rides fine. My '95 (which again has had a harder life, including one near-totalling rear end accident that involved replacing major structural elements of the car prior to my purchase) has some bushing wear and they're original at 189k miles. They're not BAD yet, but enough that it's a little rough (for an LS400) over bumps under braking.

My warning was just intended to say: don't buy one with obviously bad bushings and plan to replace them without looking up the cost. The shocks aren't any more expensive than regular shocks, and are available after market.

As stated already, starter is a PITA, 95+ is interference. 90-92 are diff than 93-94. Diff headlight bulbs and housings, diff seats, diff brakes, 93+ has pass dash airbag and cabin filters, diff key control modules...

Car is VERY well built, lots of cool features and appointments even by today's standards. Esp for the money.

Some came with air suspension, traction control, phones. Blue, gray, tan, black, red were all interior colors I've come across, in both leather or cloth.

I bought a 1993 for my dad in April for $1300 with 247k on the odo, diagnosed with a bad ECU and have been spending plenty of time over the last couple months junkyard crawling and learning a bit. Also came with full sized spare, toolkit with "Lexus" stamped on them, first aid kit, original body panels, etc...Prices seemed to have jump by $1000 across the board about a month after I bought mine.

ECU is known issue due to use of faulty capacitors (said to be from a company that stole the unfinished capacitor designs of another company which lead to them becoming unstable and failing as the years wore on) These cars are pretty common at my local-ish junkyards. 93-94 are slightly harder to find. Some companies offer a service to fix the ecu by replacing caps, mixed reviews, though. I just bought 2 jy ECUs for $40ish each and the first one has been fine. 2nd is my backup.

Speedometer uses cold cathode type light sticks for needles, the back is coated in a black conductive film that carries the power to light it up, this delaminates and causes partial or nonlighting of the needles, superglue and conductive paint like defroster pens fix that.

Speedo and gas gauge known to flicker/fail due to capacitor failure, 3 capacitors well documented photop DIY and not too terrible to change out. Total cost less than $13 if you know how to solder.

EGR pipe cracks and are a PITA to change out; 2 bolts at the top 2 bolts at the bottom and one bracket bolt in the middle that is just a bear without the right tools. Can block off or replace (depending on your state's emissions standards)

Power steering known to leak at the idleup valve. Can block off or replace. Blocking off just makes steering a touch stiffer, not a bad thing.

Subwoofer (mounted on rear deck) is prob dead by now.

Steering wheel tilt mechanism breaks, read it was a <$10 fix.

Antenna will also prob have worn mast, can replace with autoparts store or oem.

Noticed on my car and plenty of jy cars the seatbelts won't retract fully with age. Was able to find a passenger one that works as it should, not the driver in my color, though.

LCD screen for clock and hvac display blacks out. DIY for ~$40 or farm out for ~$70 total both on ebay.

Lexus keys were center cut back then as well, the original key has a button for lock unlock on the side of the housing.

Leather seems to wear and crack more easily than it's German counterparts.

Hood struts will prob need replacing as well <$40 on ebay.

I've also had to replace the pass side seatbelt adjuster assembly with a jy unit. It's motorized.

My headrests are also motorized, took me awhile to figure that one out.

Rear shocks/springs can come out without taking the axle off. Trick is to unbolt the assembly and then lift the hub assembly upwards which allows the bottom of the shock to slide past the axle and then you can just tilt the whole assembly out. I learned that the hard way after trying to go the opposite way. I changed out to KYB GR2's, new KYB top mounts, California Customs 2" lowering springs and didn't do new strut boots (didn't think to order em) and spent about $600. Probably shoulda just gotten Megan EZ coilovers for that money.

Everything on my 247k car seems to be original in the way of waterpump/timing belt/bushings/motor and tranny mounts/shocks and I feel like I've got a ton of deferred maintenance, but even so, it drives very well.

btw bragging; apparently I have the only known set of Eibach sway bars in existence. Low production/limited run made in Germany. Luck + good eye at the junkyard.

Clublexus + LexLS.com for everything you'll need.

I've been to that LexLS.com and he's got very detailed tutorials.

Okay, thanks to this thread, I want one of these cars and there are a few nice looking ones just at the top of the price range I'm looking to spend at the moment. Is the back seat as big as I think it is? Want to know if at 6'4" I can have a baby seat behind me and not be cramped.

Anyone know how well than can tow? Not looking to tow a Crown Vic or anything, but a smallish 6x12 trailer would be handy.

-Rob

The '95+ LS400 is a longer wheel base (and yet is lighter) and the back seat is almost like a "personal limo." I am 6'0" and a rear facing baby seat fits fine with me comfy in the drivers seat. It's one of those funky quick release baby seats that's pretty big, and it almost touches the seat. I think you would be okay but you might see if you could try one out.

The leg room for regular passengers is awesome. I can be in the driver's seat and my 6'2" friend in the back will have plenty of room in front of his knees. No shortage of leg room in the 95+. The 89-94 is a couple inches shorter, with all that room taken out of the back seat. It's not cramped, but definitely not as roomy.

Thanks dculberson. There are a handful of '98 and '99 models nearby so that should work well!

In reply to rob_lewis:

From what I have found, they only use a Class II receiver. '90-'94 used a hitch that mounts to the rear bumper support and '95-'00 use a regular style "hidden hitch" style receiver.

I'm pretty sure they have a very low tow rating.

Out of the 3 generations, I like the '98-2000 myself. Mainly because of the headlights. But I like them all.

1990-1994

1995-1997

1998-2000

In reply to dculberson:

Hate to bring this back from a long time ago, but you mentioned the 1995 is expensive to replace suspension components. I looked on RockAuto and it the upper control arms were about $117. Looking at Ebay, looks like they have most of the bushings now. However I was confused about the rear upper control arms as they listed for 1990-1995? Is this wrong? http://www.ebay.com/itm/578X2-LS400-Rear-Upper-Control-Arm-Bushing-Kit-90-95-For-Both-The-R-L-Side-/190810450379?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Make%3ALexus%7CModel%3ALS400&hash=item2c6d3069cb&vxp=mtr

And here I thought SBF was going to replace the Durango with something awesome.

justjuiceit wrote: In reply to dculberson: Hate to bring this back from a long time ago, but you mentioned the 1995 is expensive to replace suspension components. I looked on RockAuto and it the upper control arms were about $117. Looking at Ebay, looks like they have most of the bushings now. However I was confused about the rear upper control arms as they listed for 1990-1995? Is this wrong? http://www.ebay.com/itm/578X2-LS400-Rear-Upper-Control-Arm-Bushing-Kit-90-95-For-Both-The-R-L-Side-/190810450379?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Make%3ALexus%7CModel%3ALS400&hash=item2c6d3069cb&vxp=mtr

Hey, that's a new development since I had mine. I don't know if those fit the '95, but if they do that's a great deal.

Hoop wrote: And here I thought SBF was going to replace the Durango with something awesome.

I wanted one something bad for a while and kind of still do, but the ones in my price range are all E36 M3 boxes and need a ton of work.

Plus I'd replace the Jeep not the Durango.