New 96 LS400 owner - 224K miles - questions...
 

Hi guys,

I just picked up a nice clean green/tan LS400, 1996 model year. The car has 224,000 miles on it. I got it from a close family friend who is a doctor since he upgraded to a newer one.

The car runs and drives like new. I am stunned it has this amount of miles on it and runs like it does. I am very new to lexus, so excuse my ignorance. I have a few questions regarding this car and if you guys could point me in the right direction, I would be most appreciative.

Some of the problems I have noticed:

1. Heated seats dont work- the lights in the switches light up, but nothing heats up. New heating elements?
2. Check engine light is on. Anyway to check code without an obd II code reader?
3. The radio LCD is a little distorted in some spots.
4. At night, the entire radio doesnt light up, nor does the gated shifter, also, one heated seat switch is unlit. How do I fix these? fyi- the speedo cluster works perfect, without defect.
5. The transmission seems very reluctant to downshift unless floored. Is there a cable you can adjust?
6. Timing belt. What is the recommended service interval for this? Is this a big job, $$$?
7. Any other maintenance item I should perform on the car, or potential problems that might arrise?

Thanks in advance! This is truly a remarkable car.

1-check fuses
2-no.
3-no fix aside from finding a replacement LCD or a new radio.
4-fuses and/or dead bulbs.
5-no, thats how it is, disconnect the battery for a while and itl re-learn the way you drive.
6-every 90k. Not really, www.lexls.com has a decent tutorial.
7-search.

Welcome to CL!

Thanks for the info! I checked all the fuses, including the heated seat 20 amp fuse. They are all good. It would seem to me that the heating elements are shorted out inside the seats themselves. Has anyone DIY replaced these?

As far as the radio goes, are the bulbs user replacable, or are they soldered in on a circuit board?Same for the gated shifter?

And lastly, is this an interference engine?

Thanks again!

My understanding is that 90-94 is NON-interference while 95+ (2nd gen) IS an interference engine, thus changing the timing belt is even MORE important.

#5 There is a barrel adjuster on the throttle cable that can be adjusted to a position called for by the service manual. All I vaguely remember is that the indicator is supposed to extend between 1-3MM for proper slack. This interacts with the Throttle Position Sensor so it may be part of the tranny downshift issue.

Flip the ECT-PWR switch, this should make your tranny more responsive.