Seemed about time to begin a build thread. Purchased this 2007 LS600h nearly a month ago after it was imported from Japan about a month prior. From my understanding, has F-Sport front bumper/grille.
had 24xxx kms, put on roughly 3xxx km since then.
No major issues, but have noticed the following;
1. VGRS warning light comes on intermittently. No real rhyme or reason, car still drives as it should
2. VCS warning light also comes on intermittently, usually alongside VGRS.
3. PCS light occasionally comes and goes, sometimes within the matter of minutes will turn on and off. Less frequent then previous two warnings. May have to do with front radar sensor or wheel speed sensor?
4. Front left air suspension was riding low, back left was raised. Dropped back right sensor to try and level, will be raising front left as well to fine tune balance. Bags hold air just fine, and imbalance is consistant in HEIGHT HIGH.
5. Mark Levinson amplifier shut down while driving the car home after purchase. Having a hell of a time removing trunk liner to access. Not looking to break clips or rip anything. Will bring to local electronics shop for repair. Will keep posted on costs.
Front wheels are 22×9 + 35 w/ 245/30/22. Rear has 22×10 + 37 w/ 295/25/22.
Perhaps slight difference in circumference is triggering warnings (2217mm vs 2219mm)? Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

Not a lot of support for ls600h, will document all maintenance and upgrades as time passes, pictures and links to parts included (especially for those of you in Canada).

Any thought, comments, feedback, or questions are welcome.

Thanks for reading!

 

I recognize that very expensive blue lump of art.

You could just have a voltage issue, you need to see if you have any current codes or just in history. check your battery and connections.
When you adjust with the height sensors it can take awhile to get things consistently even at whatever height you're looking for because of the way the sensors act/react with each other.
You only have to take out the right hand trunk panel (or maybe left being jdm) with the storage net hooks to get to the amp, flip up the plastic tabs and take the bolts out and you will see it in the wheel well area.

 

Fellow Calgarian? Thanks for the response!

I plugged in a generic code reader while test driving the car and got no codes. While driving the car back home the Amp blew and got VGRS, VCS, PCS. A VGRS Code C1289 Control System Malfunction shows up in the reader now. I've read that some older Lexus ( pre '06) can throw a code just by simply using a Generic Reader so Im hoping to try and short out the pins, mentioned in various threads. Researching the code itself hasn't brought many answers thus far.

With the height sensors, I've dropped the rear right quite abit, probably half way down the bracket to get things fairly even. The rear left is pretty close to the top of the bracket, so I need to squeeze into the front and adjust those I think, otherwise just peave the sensors uneven (but car is balanced) until I can get into Techstream and set properly. Was looking at the nano device with V12 Techstream on windows XP 32 bit mentioned in the SC threads.

Regarding the trunk liner.. I've got all of the black Christmas Tree Clips out (without breaking any...woot), and the 10mm bolts under the cargo net anchors as you mentioned, but seems to be a few white fasteners that have square stems and a round face with a hole through the center. Havent found part number or replacements, so don't want to pry too hard in case I break them. Will post pics once home.

Thanks again for your input. Always open to hearing more!

 

I suppose it's possible with all the rain we have been having you could have an intrusion problem, you have a power supply on one side of your trunk under the cargo net anchors and the amp on the other side. you will see when you get the panels off.

I've never seen the guts of a jdm car so those items might be in a different location.

 

You can set the ride height with techstream to whatever you want individually on each corner but there is no way to save those settings and the car will revert to defaults on the next startup.
For me the existing adjusting links were simpler but took a little longer. Measuring from level surface through the centre line of the wheel to the bottom of the wheel arch...with stock 19"s and original tire sizing I have 27.5 inches front and 27.75 rear. Any lower and the car would scrape over some speed bumps. It would be good to know what your height ends up to be.

 

You are correct indeed, power on left, amp on right, just about to take some pics.

Sad days if ride height can't be saved. Guess Ill work with the physical brackets in the meanwhile. Will also send pics of 4 corners before and after.

Cross your fingers that a paperclip in the OBD port works magic.

Im liking your height as well. You say you feel that's the lowest you can comfortably go?

 

Hey Gerf,
Here are some pics for the retainer clip giving the headache. Should be the last one before I can pull back the right side liner the access both ends of the amp (but there's always one more). Last bracket for amp is underneath liner at top right of photo 1. Seems to be quite stiff, but I believe there will be enough room if I can remove this white retainer clip.

Will get photos of height sensors and corresponding ride height tomorrow after work.

Extra info.. during my 20 minute drive home, had absolutely no warning lights on. Clean dash. Will update after commute tomorrow as well.

 

What I do there is just lift up the area about in the middle of the amp and use an extension with a 10mm socket and loosen the bolt that attaches to the back of the wheel well, then keeping the panel lifted just reach up there and take it out by hand... disconnect the neg batt terminal first.
You can disconnect the connectors right there and bob's your uncle.



I think yours might be higher by the way I measure but look more slammed because of the 22's, not sure though. I know after lowering with the links the height high doesn't look so ridiculous.

 

I think when I had mine apart I worked the felt panel over the white retainer and took it out afterwards, you'll need to take the trunk seal off also.

 

Its a bit tight squeezing in, but I could try your recommendation of pulling the liner around the fastener first. I've also been extra careful so as not to bend or rip anything, could probably put some more force into it though.

The front on mine is about as low as Id like, as I already scrape on 50% of driveways into businesses on Normal Height, can maybe afford another 1/4". Would like to drop the rear another 3/4" or so though.

Should get a chance to take another shot at it tonight after work. I hit a pot hole two weeks ago and have a claim for new tires, hoping to get lowered before an alignment that should be included in the claim, so Im trying not to procrastinate haha.

 

If you have the right removal tool for that white fastener it should come out, I put some speakers in a car today and I thought the door panel/card was going to break for a second but it didn't. helps sometimes if you warm them up when they're exposed like that.

Just remember when you lower the rear the front will come up, it's kind of like a dance lol, you have to be patient. The adjusting links won't necessarily be at the same positions either sometimes they are way off and I think that's because of different readings from the sensors due to whatever...that's my explanation anyway because my rears are way off. In the pictures the left adjuster is pinned almost at the bottom and the right is about midway.

edit...what are you trying to do with the jumper pin?

 

How are the speakers sounding so far? Would be interested in meeting up at a car meet one day and seeing your setup for sure.

And you are so right about the dance. At first I was removing the front links completely to re-measure,, what a pain. Decided it was best to keep the tops bolted in and just rotate the bottom of the links as needed (as evenly as possible). But it's funny, my back links look almost identical to yours with regards to "un-eveness", just reverse. My rear right is all the way down, rear left about 1/3 up. Right now Im pretty sure my front left is riding about 5mm lower, where the link itself (front left) is extended about an extra 5mm compared to front right link.
I'm happy with it, but could probably extend front left another spin counter clockwise for more accurate and even ride.
Its killing my OCD that the sensor links arent even, but balanced ride height definitely takes priority haha.

The jumper pin was to reset VGRS/VSC warning light, but since balancing the car nicely, warning lights didn't come on at all today. If lights stay off all week Im calling it a win. If they come back on, will get alignment (im pulling a bit to the right) then try it out. Curious if Techstream can help with clearing those lights as well.

Got 2 VirtualBox VMs ready, 1 windows 10 32bit, 1 64bit. Going to order VXDIAG NANO to try with TS v12, v17, and v18. Will report back with which versions work with which OS and features available in each.

Putting the amplifier on the back burner for now, until all mechanical is prefect. Will maybe poke at it while waiting for VXDIAG NANO to arrive.

 

I took my front height adjusters off and cleaned and lubed the threads/lock nuts etc so I could just loosen the nuts and then adjust with the square in the middle of the threaded shaft without taking anything apart.
You need to find out what codes you have stored, running a jumper wire or pin won't clear them or fix the issue.

The speakers were fairly easy, replaced the originals and I have an Alpine V12 4ch amp to put in next. This is for another car that my grandson thinks he's going to get from me because he is working on getting his license.
I think I saw you car on Stoney last Sunday by the Crowchild exit heading west, looked good.

 

The code is C1289 "VGRS Control System Malfunction". No noticeable difference in drivable though. Went the last two days with no warning light, came back on the way home yesterday though. Thought i heard in a thread somewhere that generic OBD2 scanner can cause the car the throw error, so some members keep a fabricated OBD2 cable with the wires to those pins removed, or those wires seperated in a way that they can connect/ disconnect and use the cable for quick reset. Hoping that TS can shed more light.

Are you coming from the Mark Levinson sound system? If so, do you prefer the new audio setup? Not sure on the XRS, but the Amp in the LS is also responsible for NAV system.

That very well could have been me haha. I live right near there and am often up and down stoney x crowchild! Small world! And thank you. Hopefully i want driving too much like an a$$hole haha. What make/model should I keep an eye for to throw you a wave one day?

 

Some of the earlier model LS's had issues with VGRS but I'm not sure what years, it was associated with problems with the steering wheel not returning to centre after a turn. I believe that the earlier models had the VGRS unit as part of the steering column and separate from the rack but I'm not 100% sure of that. The thing about generic scan tools and the jumper doesn't sound right to me.
On the 460 it was the premium/base system, I just put an Alpine V12 mono amp and a 12" sub plus an LOC to get the input for the amp running the sub. I replaced 6 other speakers in the car doors and dash running off the original amp and it's a lot better. The XRS I just replaced 4 speakers and kept the oem tweeters, it doesn't have Nav.
I'm usually in this car.