Howdy Everyone,

My name is Matt, I'm from California and the best thing about me is that I now own a 1999 LS 400

I purchased the car form my dad about 3 months ago. He is a total believer of these cars. He used the money I gave him to put a down payment on another LS 400 with only about 120k on it. Anyway, I've been reading on here non-stop about what all of you guys are doing to care for your beloved vehicles. I am 18 and want to get into the DIY aspect of the maintenance for this car because I am young and able as well as very interested in keeping this car going for years to come. Call me boring, but I'm not interested in racing this car around. I respect the car and engineering too much to race it around and jeopardize its longevity.

I have only done VERY minor DIY projects on the car so far. That being the fog light dampener removal, restoration of the headlights, and fixing of the pop out cup holder(There may be more I am forgetting). I just finished reading a thread about the coolant sensor and would definitely like to replace that. Also, the throttle body I'm sure could use some love.

I have heaps to learn about cars; especially our 400s. I can't wait to get cracking on this car and getting it running as clean as a whistle.

A little background:
The car has ~212k
lower ball joint was done around 210k
Timing belt was done at 198k
5w-30 Mobil 1 synthetic oil change every 5k for the past 7 years.
I'm still trying to get all the maintenance info so I can plan MY future repairs.

Thanks for giving this lengthy post a shot.

Matt

 

Welcome to Club Lexus and congrats on the LS!
Plenty of reading in the FAQ to acquaint to the various maintenance procedures and common issues. And for any modifications, the top two stickies covering pics and wheels.

 

Congrats and keep us posted. Ask all the questions you want but try to search first since most have been asked and answered before. Most of the regulars are really helpful and easy going.

 

Welcome. Hope you've been learning as much as I have

 

welcome and at 18 you sound like you have the right mindset already. that alone is hard to teach.

i hope they replaced both ball joints as it is good practice to do them in pairs. also consider replacing the transmission mount if you get driveline vibrations at speed. other issue that cause vibration are the strut rod bushings. all of these are covered in various threads here so you're in the right place! it sounds like the car is well on it's way to being able to hit the 300k mark.

 

Welcome to the show! Nothing wrong with keeping it stock. I'm the same way, and it makes it easier to carry out repairs.

Do yourself a favor and pick up the factory service manuals from Lexus. They are a little pricey, but they are the best investment you can make in the car.

Check these ones out, prices are pretty decent for Lexus manuals, alot less than what i paid for my 95's books!:

http://www.faxonautoliterature.com/Search.aspx?c=136827

 

What part of California are from man?

 

Thanks for the warm welcome guys. I'm from southern california miles. Yoshi, looks like I'll have to get one of those. I'm sure it would help me from asking thousands of questions. Like I said, I'm new to cars. All the terminology and repair procedures I could want in one book seems like the deal of deals. As a min wage college kid I'll have to be mindful of future repairs and such so I can save accordingly. $170 for the entire thing huh? Yikes

 

it's a two book set, actually, and be glad it is $170, they have the 6 volume set for the 2008 LS on sale for $799

 

Southern California eh? Groovy! I'll actually be down there next week (Disneyland baby!!) and am going to stop by that same place to get manuals for my 04' GX470. I believe it's in Riverside. That and i'm going to sell them my Factory service manuals for my old Escalade (which NOBODY wants, Since they only last 9 years before you huck them in the junkyard!!)

 

i'm 3 miles from disneyland haha. and riverside is a good 50mins-1hr drive from there so keep that in mind, though for us californians a 30 minute drive is considered "down the street".

matt where in socal are you in?

 

I'm over in Rancho Cucamonga... You anywhere near there?

 

Chino - anaheim hills is my daily.

 

Welcome!

I've now had my own LS400 close to a month. No matter that it's ugly, starting to rust a bit and needs a lot of work due to previous negligent owners, I still love it. So far I found it a pleasure to work on - most things seems well thought out for maintenance, just like an older Mercedes-Benz.

This far I've changed the oil, some lamps and the hood shocks. More to come.

 

Just a tad south down in Orange. Indeed I did the hood struts as well forget to say that.

It's pretty sweet that the 400s have a pretty tight knit group of guys. Unlike, say, civics or something. Is it a general consensus that the repair manual is a must? I'd love to be able to look st something tangible while doing repairs and for learning en generalmente