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2000 LS400 questions

Five months ago I bought a 2000 LS400 with 185,000 km (aprx. 115,000 miles) on the odometer.

Here in Denmark Lexus is a rare automobile. We have two (2) authorized dealers in the entire country! I got the car from one of these dealers. I'm the second owner, and the same dealer sold the car as new, and has carried out all service and maintenance on the car since new.

It is well maintained, and basically drives wery well.

However. I have two issues with the car, that seems to puzzle the dealer:

  1. It is very sensitive to cross winds. Unlike any other car I've had (among others two Camry V6), this Lexus requires a lot of steering in windy conditions. Especially at higher speeds (80-100 mph). Having the wind in from the side, and passing trucks can force the car to almost change lane.

The dealer have checked the car, but found nothing he says. The car is equipped with air suspension, and I have noticed that it is not quite at level when parked and looked at from behind (little over half an inch). The local Toyota shop here in town had a look at it, and tried to adjust on of the rear sensors, but it didn't appear to change anything. They advised me to take it to Lexus. Perhaps this could have something to do with the wind sensivity?

I can se from other posts, that the air suspension on this car is not very reliable. How would a problem with the air suspension show itself?

  1. Transmission hesitation My car has a problem with rolling starts, exactly as described in this quote from another posting regarding an ES300:

Quote I also notice it when doing the "California roll", or turning a hard corner without ever coming to a complete stop. The tranny gets confused, and I either sit and wait for it to accelerate, or I have to press the pedal down farther, causing the engine to race. Unquote

On the internet I found out how to reset the transmission memory (disconnect the negative terminal on the battery for 5 minutes), and this cures the problem for the next few days. Then it returns gradually as the transmission memory gets refilled with data - I guess.

The Lexus dealer here in Denmark had never heard of the problem, not on any Lexus model, and he didn't know of any software update for my car, or whether it could be updated at all. He's been 'investigating' the matter now for 14 days.

With so few Lexus cars on the road here, I guess our mechanincs never build up a deeper technical knowledge about these cars.

I would very much appreciate if anybody have information or comments to these issues. I expect that this authorized 'we-cannot-find-anything-wrong' Lexus dealer will need a little pushing.

Thanks Erik Rudbeck Denmark

Reply to
Erik Rudbeck
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A problem with the air suspension usually results in the car sagging in one or more corners. If the compressor is working properly, the car will self-level after the engine is running.

I never had a problem with stability at highway speeds or with cross-winds in my 2000 LS 400 with air suspension (U.S. spec). Check the tires to make sure there is sufficient tread remaining (at least 2 mm), that there are no broken belts in the tire, that the tread is wearing evenly. If all appears to be OK, then have the alignment checked, particularly the caster specification.

I also did not have any problems with the transmission, and there have not been many complaints about the LS 400 transmission. Most of the complaints have been for other models. Check the transmission throttle cable for proper adjustment, and if premium fuel is specified for your car and you are not using premium, try switching to premium fuel.

Reply to
Ray O

Thanks for your reply Ray.

When I got the car, I had a local tire shop install quality Goodyear winter tires in the cars original size. The dealer acknowledged the instability problem, but said that when they couldn't find anything wrong, it might be due to the tires. I doubt it, but currently I'm awaiting delivery of a complete new set of summer wheels (with Bridgestone tyres), so I will just wait and see.

They did make a 4-wheel alignment during trouble shooting, and found nothing off spec. I guess this includes camber and caster check as well.

Regarding the transmission There are some reports on the internet about transmission hesitation on the LS400. I wonder why some have it and others do not. I'm sure you would notice it if you drove my car. In Denmark we have 92 and 95 octane gasoline available. I use 95 which I belive at least matches the octane rating of premium gas in the US.

Would you say, that I should check the transmission throttle cable eventhough I can make the problem go away by resetting the ECM memory according to a TSB I found?

/ Erik Rudbeck

Reply to
Erik Rudbeck

A proper 4-wheel alignment shuld include checking camber and caster checks. Hopefully, the new tires will solve the problem.

I am not sure if the 2000 LS 400 had the "adaptive learning" feature, and most of the hesitation complaints I've seen are for cars equipped with that feature. TSB's issued by Toyota used programming upgrades, check the throttle cable, and recommendations to use premium fuel to reduce the hesitation. Since the hesitation complaints are not universal - not all drivers experience the problem, I think the problem may be related to driving conditions and/or driving habits and the computer's inability to adapt to certain conditions or driving habits. Hopefully, your dealer can resolve the hesitation issue.

Reply to
Ray O

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