tanyet

Hi Everyone

I just purchased my second Lexus (I had a 91 es250) and I was wondering what maintenance I should be doing at this point.

It is a 2000 Black Platinum LS400 with 160000. It is almost immaculate. It drives and rides great. The only criticism I have is that the steering wheel shakes a little at 50MPH or higher. I did a search and most people say to look at changing the motor and transmission mounts and to make sure the tires are balanced and correctly aligned,

I will be driving this car for a very long time so are there any suggestions of what to do to make it ride and drive as good as it can? Is there any set list of things to do?

Kansas

Yes, check the tire balance but a very common cause of vibration at highway speeds are worn out front strut bar bushings - they rarely last more than 75,000 miles. If they are worn out, don't cheap out and buy bushings and have them pressed in -- get OEM strut bars (a.k.a. semi-longitudinal tension rods) with the bushings already pressed in for best results. If you don't know what the strut bars are, look under the car for bars that run from each front wheel suspension member towards the front of the car.

I waited way too long and had the front strut bars replaced at something over 80,000 miles. I'm at 140,000 miles now and suspect they (the bushings) are getting worn again. Replacing the strut bars the first time completely eliminated some pretty extreme vibration at highway speeds.

Otherwise, just follow the maintenance schedule. If you don't know the car's maintenance and use history, replace all fluids (brake, coolant, transmission, differential) immediately.

deanbrown

PS fluid. Engine oil.

Steering wheel shake I would suspect a wheel needs balancing. You can swap the wheels front to back to see if it makes a difference.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

sounds more like tire balance than a strut rod bushing.

feetsies

Mine just recently started doing this. I haven't looked into it, but you're not alone! Before I bought it I got a tech here to look at it, and said the rod bushings needed to be replaced soon.

parkerjs

Congratulations on your new ride. I have 136K on my 2000 LS400 on the original strut bars and they're still going strong... I guess I've been lucky, I have had some highway speed vibration that wheel balancing took care of. If swapping fronts to back don't make a difference as deanbrown3 suggests, strut bars or wheel bearings are the next likely candidates.

Enjoy your LS.... it will serve you well for a long time.

tanyet

Well I got the tires rotated and balanced today and it still has the slight steering wheel shake at 55 to 60 mph. Looks like the strut bars might be the culprit.

Thanks for all your suggestions. It's really appreciated.

parkerjs

I was hoping the simple fix was going to work for you.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

the LS is VERY sensitive to tire balance, some older machines just don't balance accurately enough.

the strut rod bushings don't cause vibration alone.

Kansas

I beg to differ. I had an extreme front end vibration on my 2000 LS400 that was instantly and completely eliminated at about 83,000 miles by the replacement of the strut rods and bushings. Previously I had my tires and wheels balanced over and over at different shops, including specialty wheel shops, with no success in eliminating the vibration.

But, yes, the LS is VERY sensitive to tire balance. There is no substitute for a "road force" balance. Don't bother with anybody who says a road force balance is not necessary.

tanyet

I'll probably have the strut rods replaced in a few weeks. I just checked the lexus service site and looked at the service records. Apparently this car got service only from the local lexus dealership for its entire life. There are tons of service entries and it looks like the last time the strut rods were replaced was about 80k miles ago. I'm sure it's just time.

I'm now getting the dreaded sticky speedometer but at this point I don't really care. This care is in such good shape and drives so well it doesn't matter. I don't think I've ever owned a vehicle that I've enjoyed driving this much.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

i've always had the thumping/clunking issues with strut rod bushings, and even (currently...damnit) a little wandering due to uneven caster, but never vibrations.

also, avoid polyurethane bushings.

Kansas

Apparently the symptoms vary. I didn't have the "thumping/clunking" but I did have significant wandering and horrible vibrations (a bad "shimmy") at highways speeds which was worse in cross winds. The pathetic aspect was that I had the car's alignment checked at a large tire store (Shore Tire, Lenexa KS) and the alignment tech didn't identify the problem.

A few weeks later I decided to take my car to the Lexus dealer to have the alignment checked. The dealer tech said he could not do an alignment due to the strut rod issue. Replacing the struts rods/bushings transformed the car back to the way it drove when I bought it at 38,000 miles.

My 00 LS is now at 140,697 miles and I'm leaning towards having the strut rods replaced again for the 2nd and last time at the 150,000 mile service when I have the front brake pads replaced for the 2nd and last time. I'm "scheduled" to move to my next car in 2015 when the 00 LS is at about 200,000 miles so the 150,000 service "should be" the last time I have the strut rods or brake pads replaced.