treehan77

Theyre like 20 years old lol. Buy the simplyspeakers.com reform kit and reform them.

808Man

Good Advice! Thanks!

Fastguynum

i’ve had this nagging light throttle acceleration issue with my 2001 LS 430. Under light acceleration from a stop, the transmission will upshift, and then downshift even though the throttle position did not change. This was especially problematic when changing from second to third and third into fourth gear.
I thought it was a transmission problem since it was not staying in gear long enough before each gear change.
The problem turned out to be the ACIS, which is basically the variable intake runner length mechanism, in the intake manifold. There is a bellcrank for the mechanism on the back of the intake manifold. I used a piece of safety wire and wrapped it around the bellcrank to hold the valves closed. Now, it accelerates very nicely off of light throttle, and no longer down shifts unnecessarily. I will fix the ACIS permanently if I need to remove the intake manifold for any future service, since the system is under the intake manifold.



The butterfly valves will close when the engine starts and open when over a certain RPM and throttle position. When the valves are open, the intake runner length is short and direct.

Duck05

Cleaned up the engine bay and will have the shop replace the serpentine drive belt tomorrow. When cold there was a lot of clicking/clacking and the belt looks a bit worn.

Update: Belt installed. The shop replaced a failing radiator cap and topped off the coolant…. Hood struts failed (after 9 years) but under warranty so “free” replacements on the way.

white_lx

Unfortunately the doors rusted (through) just above the chrome trim at 450,000 km, despite Krown & Fluid Fllm applications. Most LS's that I see driving around here have this problem. Corrective action: Bondo, followed by primer and paint to 'repair' up the affected areas. The rear wheel wells and trunk also had some rust spots that also received this treatment minus the Bondo. Pretty happy about the result.

Good for another 150,000 km. Timing belt & WP later this week. The 3rd set (4 including the factory set).

jhancock

Replaced all the mark Levinson speakers with new ones. Sounds great!

10LS

Bored and started engine mount replacement. Now questioning why I didn't trade it in on an LS500. Anyone

able to point me in direction of all the torque values?

Duck05

Replaced the failing hood struts. These were the Strong Arm brand that were installed Dec ‘14. They have a “limited lifetime warranty” which ends up being they (the distributor) will replace them but I had to pay shipping ($9.80).

The replacements showed up Tuesday and installed them today. Fairly straightforward since I had already used the slightly larger ball joints so did not have to do that step. Getting the containment band open is a bit tricky so about 10 minutes. The current models feel “beefier” and being new are quite stiff with the hood popping up all on it’s own (at least for a while).

sdwtchlvr

iTrader: (1)

Please share more. All my ML speakers are blown. Did you use ML replacements or something different?

ARCHIVES

iTrader: (1)

Little Front end Upgrade Nothing fancy

thellmer

Got my '03 back from the Lexus dealer today and it drives like the day it drove off the lot. Front suspension completely replaced. New ball joints, new upper and lower control arms, new springs, new shocks and shock mounts, new LCA bushings, you name it they replaced it. Steering and ride feels like a brand new car. Glides over bumps like glass and the steering is so tight and on-point.

intermec

Sounds like an expensive job from Lexus dealership

MickTheQ

I am interested in doing this. if you don’t mind me asking, how much did you spend in total?

thellmer

It wasn't cheap - however it was a lot of parts and labor at the Lexus dealer which has a new rate of like $229 an hour. The total parts, labor and taxes was $5700. However it literally feels and drives like brand new again even on rough NYC streets, and if it lasts another 20 years and another 167k miles then it will have been worth it. I'm sure you could get it done cheaper at an independent shop, but I like the dealer experience - loaner, OEM parts, warranty, etc... and given it's rare to need to spend any money at all other than preventative stuff like this then I'm ok with the price. I plan to keep this car forever so the peace of mind and quality were what I was looking for.

MickTheQ

Thank you. I would consider doing something like this - my only fear is that if the car is stolen or gets into a serious accident, the insurance carrier would total the car, which means that all of the investment will be flushed down the drain. I am always mindful of that, because the parts are scarce and expensive for this (at least) 16 year old car in relation to its fair market value. I am tempted though; that sounds so good.