jdog0411

Finally picked up my 90 LS this weekend. It's in good shape for the year, and only has 84,000 miles on it. It's bone stock right now, and is a one owner car with full service history. No skeletons in the closet.

After driving it for a few days, I've made some observations on some things that need attention, and am looking for some guidance from the forum as to what should be done. I am totally new to Lexus's although I have been studying up on the forum for about a month now so I'm coming along in getting familiar with the car.

First of all, the engine and transmission run perfectly with no issues. Timing belt and water pump have been replaced at 58,000 miles as part of the 60K service, but that was back in 1999. This car hasn't been driven all that much, only averaging about 4K miles a year over it's lifetime.

Potential issues:

1. I've noticed that the steering feels very "light". Going around turns (either slowly or quickly) it takes almost no force to turn the wheel and it's basically "too easy" if that makes any sense. It turns fine, I don't hear any noises, everything seems to be functioning as it should but it is just a very light steering feel that makes me feels a little skiddish to me. It also has a very slight play in which I can move the wheel a little bit in each direction without much change in direction of the car. Is this normal for a 90 LS? I may just be used to the steering feel in my BMW 325, but if it isn't the norm I need to find out how to fix it. Does it need a new steering rack? If the power steering pump was failing (common problem I'm learning) wouldn't the steering be stiffer, and not light? Just trying to get opinions on this.

2. The car also seems to float around corners. I don't want to corner this car too quickly, because it has quite a bit of body lean and doesn't feel all that stable in turns. Again, no noises or anything out of the ordinary. The car does have the air suspension, so I don't know what that is supposed to feel like. I also realize this is a big vehicle that is designed to ride quietly and softly, so it may be normal for the car. But I definitely want the suspension tightened up. I want to lower the car a bit, and increase the handling capability of the car. What parts will need to be replaced in addition to coilovers? Control arms? Bushings?

3. The driver's seat is very comfortable...but has quite a bit of give on the sides when turning...almost like the springs may be worn out. How much support to the seats give normally? Again, may be a normal thing for this car.

Otherwise, besides a bad LCD readout on the climate control (another common problem I will get fixed) it's a great car and will be a great project car for a slow restoration/modding.

Thanks for your help.

JAndersson

For point no. 1, no the steering shouldn't be super light and you shouldn't have any play in the steering. My car behaved the same when I bought it except from the play. It doesn't anymore. This is what I did;
1) Flushed the power steering. See http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/steering/psflush.html for instructions. Helped a little.
2) Then I tried this mod, http://autospeed.com/A_110778/cms/article.html . Works good if you driving around 60 mph. At lower speed the steering get to stiff and at higher speed you hardly felt any improvement. So deactivated the resistance. But even after the resistance have been bypassed the steering felt better at speed. So I'm guessing my solenoid was a little bit stuck and this mod made it move better. My recommendation is just to clean the solenoid. See this post on how to do this, https://www.clublexus.com/forums/1144607-post1.html
3) But my steering was still not good enough. Felt like it was to easy around the middle point. Checked the steering damper but it felt ok.
4) Always had a small leak in my power steering. Had to top of the reservoir ones a month. So just for fun I tried some gasket "renovator" and leakage stopper called Omega 917. Actually stopped the leakage for a while and the feeling of the steering improved a lot. But be aware that this is a short time fix. Can give worse leakage in the future (see point 7)
5) Then I saw that my summer tires was unevenly worn when I was putting on my winter tires. So I did a full wheel alignment. This improved the feeling a lot to because the car was more stable.
6) On the annual vehicle tests they found that I had a small backlash in the right lower ball joint in the front. So got that one changed out. Improved the steering a little bit. So I would recommend that you have your lower ball joints and the tie rods checked out.
7) Recently my car started to leek massively from the steering rack. So had it replaced with a remanufactured one from Ebay. Worked perfect. This improved my steering the most. Now it feels perfect. I would guess that changing your steering rack will improve your steering to but it's hard to say.

Hope this helps. For your questions under point 2 I would say, yes the car leans in the corner and have a somewhat floaty feeling. The car should feels stiffer if you put the suspension in sport mode. But I would have the bushings checked out if I was you. Especially the sway bar bushings. Daizen has some in polyurethane that are stiffer then the original ones, http://www.tmengineering.net/suspens...n/make/ls.html . Here do you have some information on how to install them, http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/suspe...enswaykit.html

For question no. 3 I can only say that my chair feels the same. Never bothered me. It's not like I'm slipping out of the chair in corners.

LS1993

Hey....I have a 1993 LS400 with only 47K miles on it and the seat spring thing is the exacty same. I am guessing by you telling me yours is that way too that in 47K miles that it has not worn out yet and that its just made that way. I am a decent size guy though (5'10 250lbs) too so was wondering if it was just that fact but maybe its just normal.

vespa

Minor Problems......Nice car!