fisher9720

I love my 1991 Lexus LS.. But as with any car, there are a few things that that need updated on the car.. I will address these here.. Mainly the hard seat bottoms on the front seats only and the rearview mirror and the LCD temp/time display...

Here is a journal of the ever so talked about older LS front end clunking if you front end clunks, or creaks in the cold, read on brother... Let my experience work for you..

As with any problem, alway start with the most obvious, and work to the more obscure..

Replaced the obvious.. Worn out lower ball joints... Handling improved lots, but still clunking over small bumps, potholes.... these big cars, all weight is on lower ball joints, replace those first, if not for the clunks, do it for handling/wandering..

Went to the next most replaced, the Sway bar bushings.. They were a little loose, as cheap as they are you all should just replace them.. LOL.. Handling a little better again, but still small clunking...

Strut bar cushions.. replaced these, but I think these are more common problem on the 1995+ LS's.. The old ones in mine didn't look worn, no difference, they were like $120 each, kind of expensive.. WIsh I didn't do that... LOL...

Still clunking.. New tires, old tires really worn.. THen I noticed my driver's side strut was really oily..
Original struts, 157000 miles, time to replace..
Replaced the Struts, put ina new strut bumper, driver side one was all chewed up..LOL.... Fixed...
Car drives like a new car.. The clunking noise was the driver's side strut, was so worn out that I really think the tires were "Slapping " on the little bumps.. That's my only solution, cuz I doubt it was the 'bumper" because again that is just to prevent bottoming out over hard bumps..

Better than a new car, it rides sooooo awesome.. Love it.. But I can tell when I have 4 or 5 people going down the interstate, the rear struts are a little worn.. But I can replace those later.. and most of the time I'm by myself..

If anybody is in the Des Moines, IA area and needs help with these front end parts, let me know, it's really not that bad once you figure out the procedure...


For example on one strut, i accidentally loosened the top bolt holding the tension of the strut/spring and the strut unsprung while it was sitll in the car.. LOL :chairshot: : ... Of course it was stuck, so I had to take my grinder and cut the strut in half.. But then I replaced hte driver side in about 30 minutes, it was soo easy......
Just rent a strut spring compressor from auto store, no special tools except the torque wrench of course...

other issues with my first generation ls400.

FIxed AC, that was expensive $1600 and my brother did the work.. Wow, that complressor is expensive..

Hard seat issue.. Fixed , I found some nice grey leather seats from a 1987 Lincoln continental.. THe lincoln town cars seats are tooo big, but the smaller continental seats fit like a glove and the interior grey tint is an exact mathc... The seat bottoms are soo soft and comfy, I love them.. not bad fix for $20/each at the junkyard wrench and go....WHat is it with these newer cars.. I mean cars from the 1980's had the softest most comfy seats.. My buddies Lincoln LS has hard seats.. My buddies brand new Honda Accord with leather, has kind of hard seats... I don't get it... The seats from those 80's lincoln's and caddies are the best.. Acutally newer caddy seats minus the little ones have compfy seats, hard to beat a continental or deville.. Those japanese should take heed on seat design..

Auto dim rearview mirror. My LCD rear view mirror sucked.. when my car gets hot, it has spots that go black, plus I like those auto-dim mirror's with the compass built in them, who has time to push the button on the lexus one..LOL.. Get the automatic dim.. Go on ebay, buy yourself a Gentex mirror.. The compass mirror I bought was a Gentex 177 and it cost only $35 dollars.. It was from a ford taurus.. Also you want the older mirror because it has a green compass display, it perfectly matches the Green LCD on the lexus radio/tmep.. Looks factory guys... Dont' worry about all the wires.. All you need is power/ground.. The plug is labeled as to which wire does what, the #1 wire is the power and #2 is ground. The power has to be ignition switched, lol, you dont' want the mirror on all the time as the car sits..LOL... Or the ground is the all black one.. All the other wires you don't need.. THey are for the backuplight sensor and all that, if you need to back up and absolutley can't see just turnoff the auto-dim feature with a push of a button.. THe mirror calibrates after you hook it up and as long as it stays mounted in the car, when you power up again as long as the car hasn't been tower or something, will remember the last position.. It's really cool.... I took off my factory mirror, and glued on the mirror chip thingy, and ran a 12 volt power/ground along the headliner and wallah... compass auto dim mirror..:cheers::cheers:
I also painted the mirror the exact color of the original mirror.. Simply take the old mirror to the hardware store and have them computer match the grey color.. mask out the compass mirror.. Get the little plastic track thing to hide the wires, and it looks very , very professional.. Get some sharp razor blades, cut the scott's painters tape away on the edges of the mirror.. Brush on the paint with one of those foam paint brushes.. The texture in the gentex mirror will hide any brushmarks.. Plus with the foam brush, you won't see any marks... It'll look Lexus factory... Your passengers will wonder? Wow, what year is this car.. I thought they only put compass mirror's on newer cars...

Total cost of the mirror changeout with the brush and paint and mirror, is about $45 dollars..LOL well worth it and a few hours of your time, I'll try to put on a picture of how it looks for you guys..
Plus the compass ligths look really neat with the cool LS guages.. It really looks good because the lexus is kind of boring at the sunroof controls and such.. I wish the sunroof contrrols had some type of courtesy lights so yo could see those buttons at night..LOL

ANyways.. Of my ls has been great.. I do al the mainenance, the fuul filters, oil changes, brakes and such... The only other problem I've had with the car is the LCD temp display issue that everybody is aware of.. I sent mine to the guy reommended here and for $230 dollars have my LCD temp/clock back.. That is nice also....

fisher9720

Here's another picture of the comfy lincoln continental seat bottom installed.

fisher9720

Here's my auto dim compass mirror.. I love this mod, for only $45 and a little time, it's worth it.. I have some touching up to do on the mirro nad clean it up and fix the bad cut on the plastic piece that hides the wires, but this is right after I installed it..

fisher9720

u guys can't believe how comfortable the lincoln seat bottom is in this lexus.. Lexus reliabitiy and lincoln comfort.. I'll get a picture of the pancake that once was the seat bottom cushion on my passenger seat that was flat as a board..

fisher9720

Here is a picture of the lincoln seat bottom and cushion.. I don't know why but my driver seat is much softer... But I'll still replace it with the driver side from the 1987 continental.. The continental seat is much thicker, but by the time you sit on the seat, all the cush sucks in and the height in the lexus is the same as the original seat,,

I tried puttin in the original one, but it's too big for this place I guess... BUt trust me, it's like 1' thick and it sucks..>LOL...