I just bought this 96 LS, and its awesome so far but I've found a couple things I may need help on!

The car has a wobble at around 75-80 mph and its kind of scary so I dont go near that speed. I've heard this could be anything from the strut rod bushings, to the rods themselves. This car has had no work on the rods at all and I hear they should be checked at around 100k.

And there is a groaning noise when I make turns, as well as a weird wobble when slowing down kinda quickly. I estimate power steering pump leaks, though I'm unsure. I was in Texas for the past few weeks and drove it tonight when I got back and the groaning (what I assume power steering issue) has gotten worse since I haven't driven it.

Need help

 

I'd take it to a couple of different shops and have them lift up in the air and inspect all the components, they might even do it for free, otherwise you will be spending a lot of time speculating.

 

I agree, sounds like you have some loose steering / suspension components. Only way to figure that out would be to put it up in the air and inspect. I would do it before something bad happens, ie, you get in a wreck

 

Wobble at 80mph? As in the car wants to turn direction on it's own? Or a vibration. Where is the vibration coming from? The steering wheel or the seat? Strut rods typically don't present problems at speed, a wobble suggests either tie rods or lower ball joints to me. A vibration at speed could be any number of things.

Strut rods, if they are original, they are almost guaranteed to require replacement. The test is to hit the brakes at 5mph, if there is a clunk, it's the strut rods.

Groaning from turning? Does it make the noise when turning the wheel while parked when the power steering assist kicks in? Or is it the suspension making noise when moving.

In general, lower ball joints are a good first place to start - my car was vauge and all over the place on the highway until I replaced them. Fixed a whole host of other issues including clunks too - but visually they were in perfect health. But it could be a whole host of other issues (control arms, shocks, sway bar bushes\endlinks, tie rods, warped brake rotors, etc) - best to get the car to an expert and get it in the air to see where the trouble is coming from. At the end of the day, any way you slice it, it sounds like you've got quite a few different problems that are probably overlapping. It won't be cheap to fix and get the car to a point where it's safe. Be aware of this.

 

Tie rods and/or lower ball joints would be my guess from your description. I'm new to the LS, just got my 1995, but I've owned a few ES's and my local Toyota dealership has always taken care of them and done the same work as the Lexus dealer for a fraction of the cost. They ran through my 1995 LS when I got it. Fortunately it's solid. Nice car!