Alexus - A 2000 LX470 build thread

[LXMarksTheSpot]

I will start by saying thank you to everyone on here. Past and present. I bought my 470 in February and thought I was way in over my head. If it wasn’t for this forum, I do not think I would be happy with my purchase like I am now.
My 2000 LX470 came with just over 188,000 miles. It is in good condition. I had to do some major upgrades to bring it back to stock when I bought it:
• OEM Steering rack
• CV Axles
• OEM Exhaust manifolds
• OEM power steering pump with complete fluid flush
• OEM serpentine belt.
• Oil dipstick o-ring
• Ignition cam shaft replacement
• And I am trying to find a place I trust to replace the windshield that cracked when I got cold water on the glass during a 100 degree day. Totally my fault because the windshield was already chipped.

These were done in the first 2.5 months of ownership, and I was pretty deflated. I am also chasing down a very intermittent starting issue.

I am finally in a place where I have been driving it for about 6 weeks with no issues. I took it on my first overnight trip to Mendocino National Forest last week with my daughter. It was stock and I could not have been happier with the quality of ride, comfort, and capability.

I have been pretty motivated by all the build threads on here and I have always wanted to do my own. Maybe help someone along the way and also keep a good record of my progress so I don’t forget. I just 40 this year and I already know my memory is going….I think. Haha.

I have another trip planned at the beginning of August. Between now and then I will be flushing the coolant, installing new coolant hose 1 and 2, and putting in new coolant. I have the hoses already and will find time in the next week or two. My other short-term goals are new wheels and tires. I already have the FN 5-star wheels in gunmetal gray sitting in my garage. I am deciding between 295s and 315s Falken Wildpeaks. Not sure which way to lean. I also want to put on a 1.5 - 2-inch suspension lift. I am leaning towards the Ironman 4x4 foam cell kit. I know the AHC debate is real. This is the best decision for me and what I want.

I find myself on this forum once a day just checking in to see what things people are talking about. Looking forward to posting more about this new addiction.

My two children kindly took the liberty of naming the truck "Alexus". So I will name the build thread in accordance with their decision!

Maintenance Log:

-Coolant Flush /Heater T / Coolant hose 1&2 - 189,000 miles
-New Windshield/Starter/Water cross-over gaskets front and rear/intake gaskets/coolant burp/Cleaned front sunroof drain-190,000 miles
- 191,000 miles- Ironman 4x4 Foamcell Pro suspension, FN Wheels, Flaken Wild peak tires
- 191,200 miles - Front Driveshaft rebuild and balance

 

[MobiusR]

Best of luck with the build, will follow!

 

[LXMarksTheSpot]

Best of luck with the build, will follow!

Thanks. I just followed yours as well. Gunna check my fuse box o-ring when I get home. haha

 

[Trapper50cal]

Welcome!

That name is going to drive you crazy if you have any Kindle Fires laying around.

 

[MobiusR]

Thanks. I just followed yours as well. Gunna check my fuse box o-ring when I get home. haha

In case helpful, I followed this thread and that fixed it for me. The gasket was in pieces for me when I got the LX.

 

[LXMarksTheSpot]

Had a free hour today after yard work so I decided to do the “insta-lift”. Initially I decided to wait on removing the floor boards until I had the new wheels and tires on. But I felt good after yard work and decided to get it done. Lots of good videos online helped me through it. Took about 1 hour. Driver side way easier than the passenger side. The front support on the passenger side was blocked by a couple hoses. I had to remove the hose shield and the hose brackets so I could get my 13mm socket on the front bolt that holds the support to the front passenger area.

Before:

After:

Definitely happy with the “look”. After pouring over these threads I’m pretty set on getting 295’s on my new FN wheels. Until then my hunger is satisfied with the floor boards removal.

 

[LXMarksTheSpot]

I just came back inside after taking off the first pressure clamp for the heater T. I planned on replacing the Ts today. It looked like (to my 40yearold eyes) that green coolant came out. The radiator and overflow have looked red since I got it. And no one has touched the coolant. I’ve owned it since Feb this year. So I stopped and decided I need to do an entire flush. Why not. I haven’t done it yet, I need to replace the T’s and I have a new hose 1 and 2 with new pressure clamps. So I’ll start draining the coolant this week, flush it with distilled water until it’s clean, then fill it back up with fresh red.

 

[excessive]

there are drains on the block you can use if you are changing from one coolant type to another, good idea to not let coolant types mix

 

[LXMarksTheSpot]

Yeah. I'll be using this video to help me through it. This guy has great videos. I should be able to drain all the fluid today or tomorrow. Then I will flush with distilled water until its clean, then ill pump in the concentrate and 50/50 mix. . New heater t, new up and down coolant hoses and clamps.



Edit 7-19-25

Got all the fluid drained out. Got just over 11 quarts out so almost the entire system! I’m not worried about it being green anymore. It looks red to me. I’m deciding to go to all Toyota red and doing the distilled water concentrate combo. The local Toyota dealership recommend not doing the mixture. So all Toyota red which is OEM spec for my year. The heater t’s were brittle. The heater T hoses were pretty stiff. So I cut those off (only way to get them off) and I have new OEM hoses coming from Lexus.

Edit 7-27-25
Finally got around to getting the flush done. Here is after the first round of distilled water:

I’m pretty happy that I got almost all the first flush out. I let the engine cool about 20 min then drained it.

I flushed with distilled water twice. After the second flush, the water coming out of the block was pretty clear. There was no debris at the bottom of the catch bucket which was nice.

I learned a couple things along the way:

-Jack the car up the entire time because it helps with burping.
-Remove front tires
-I did not need to remove any plastic trim in the wheel well to get to the block drain on the driver or passenger side. I removed the trim to start and only accomplished the need to buy more plastic retainers for the trim because they broke. I could access both from underneath the car and getting the right angle with my small 1/4 inch ratchet.
-Make sure the hose from the block drain is long enough to get all the way into your catch can. Mine was just barely long enough.
-I was able to remove more coolant after the engine had warmed as compared from draining it cold. I don't know why.
-Don't drop the plastic petcock from the radiator into the hot coolant bucket (righty tighty left losey)
-Pressure clamp pliers were key. It was worth $15
-The food grade bucket I used with the measurement was awesome to know exactly how much I was able to get out of the system.

I premixed the Toyota red prior to filling up. I am not sure if this was necessary but I did not like the idea of letting the coolant system mix it for me. The peace of mind that this is completed with the OEM coolant, hoses, and tees is very nice.

EDIT 8/4/25

I just got back from 2 days in Mendocino National Forest and the truck ran great. No over heating issues and no leaks.

 

[hotdawwgman]

You mentioned a starting issue. Are you getting the random “click” but no start from the starter? If so, that is exactly what mine was doing. It would progressively get worse at the most random times. Then it eventually just failed. If that’s it, it’s time for a starter.

 

[LXMarksTheSpot]

You mentioned a starting issue. Are you getting the random “click” but no start from the starter? If so, that is exactly what mine was doing. It would progressively get worse at the most random times. Then it eventually just failed. If that’s it, it’s time for a starter.

I actually have not had any start issues since my last post on that which was June 15th. I hope this doesn’t jinx it! Haha

 

[hotdawwgman]

Oh rad!

 

[LXMarksTheSpot]

Oh rad!

I had to go out and start it to make sure the mention of the problem didn’t start a cascading jinx situation. Haha. It started no problem. I got a good PM from a member telling me to make sure I hear the secure lock sound when I leave the car. He explained that if I didn’t, one of the locks might be stuck in a position that is causing a small electrical draw that kick in that funky start situation. I found that my driver door lock doesn’t lock great but unlocks fine. So I made it a point to make sure I manually lock my driver door when I get out of the car. There is a cool fix I found on YouTube that involved fixing the locking motor. Right now I’m focused on replacing the coolant and the heater hoses. It’s something I’m willing to live with until the more major projects are completed.

 

[LXMarksTheSpot]

I came across this link thanks to ChatGPT.

https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfoPortal/appmanager/t3/ti?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ti_home_search_docs_page

I found an electronic copy of my owner's manual and the service schedule. Thought it was cool to have an electronic copy I can search easily.

 

[LXMarksTheSpot]

I put on Lamin-x amber film on my fog lights. $21 and got to my door in about a week. The fog lights popped out after removing 3 nuts and disconnecting the lights. I gave the lenses a good wiper down and pressed on the film. Went on easy but it wasn’t exactly the shape of the light.

This had nothing to do with function and everything to do with looks. Haha.

I started my coolant flush next. Started draining the radiator and put on the new upper coolant hose with new pressure clamps.all new coolant hoses and heater tees going on.

 

[LXMarksTheSpot]

Just fixing this ticking time bomb…

I got it all out. Had to cut the hoses.

Put the new heater T into the old hoses just to keep the hoses in line.

Edit 7/27/25
I got the new hoses and t’s in. I reused the old clamps because they seemed in good shape. I used P-80 Emulsion to put the hoses and t’s together and boy did it make all the difference. I could really make sure the hoses had the right route by twisting them even after I had the clamps on. It was $10 well spent on Amazon.

I saved a good amount of money doing it myself. Next time I will invest in a top side creeper. My mid section was absolutely fried from leaning into the engine bay to get these tubes off.

 

[LXMarksTheSpot]

there are drains on the block you can use if you are changing from one coolant type to another, good idea to not let coolant types mix

The video I linked he mixes the coolant. After draining it was pretty clear it is the 50/50 mix. Plus the dealership told me not to mix this last weekend when I bought my coolant. I have all the distilled water so I am going to do a complete flush anyways and stick with the recommended red 50/50. Thanks for pointing out not to mix.

 

[LXMarksTheSpot]

I just got back from my second camping trip. The preventative maintenance between my last trip and this trip really set my mind at ease being 20 miles and 2 hours away from a road. The maintenance included:

All new coolant hoses
All new constant tension clamps
Heater t replacement
Coolant flush
Ball joint inspection (boots are slightly torn so coming soon)
Brake inspection

Here is one picture from. Unfortunately I did not get many pictures of the truck. I left my good camera batteries at home and forgot to turn off the live view on my iphone. All good though.

I am in a bind about what to do next although I think I know the answer. Here is what I am going between:

New tires
Roof rack

I already have wheels so that is not a question. I also need a new windshield. I have been putting it off because I can't find a trustworthy shop. There is one in Grass Valley but that is a little far for me. It would require two trips. One to inspect the truck. A second trip to get the repair done. I also have an ironman foam cell pro lift coming too. It should be shipped by the end of this month.

 

[LXMarksTheSpot]

Well what to do next was an easy decision. Getting this windshield taken care of is priority. I found a glass guy in my town who knew what he was doing. He came and pulled the windshield off this morning and wouldn’t you know it…..rust!

He said he has seen much worse and gave me the option of cleaning it up or paying him to do it. I took the free option. Started in the wire wheel after I tapped. Here is the progress after about 2 hours…

The surface rust is cleaned off. But I’m worried about the pitting. Either way I’m going to keep hitting it with the wire wheel. Then I will hit it with POR15.

EDIT 10/14/25:

I got the windshield fully installed. I ran into an issues with the rivet holes. There was no indication the holes had been drilled. When the OEM rivets were used, they would not grab fully which meant the holes were larger. This delayed the process of the job being finished. I sourced 8 rivets that were slightly bigger than OEM. 90269-05034. These were a bit more expensive. $30 for 8 of them. I could have gotten them cheaper but I needed them quick and could not wait for shipping. I had a rain storm coming. The side effect of these larger rivets was that the inner rubber portion of both side moldings, the piece which covers the heads of the rivets, does now not sit completely flush. The side molding though is very secure and completely flus with the a-pillar.

My road noise has significantly decreased. I was chasing a squeak in the truck and that is going now. The squeak was a result of the windshield moving up and down because the old windshield was not adhered properly to whatever silicon was used with the last replacement. I am very happy with the replacement. I am also happy with the thoroughness the installer took. This was done just in time for the first rain storm.

 

[LXMarksTheSpot]

Well the first rain storm came yesterday. I could not have been more excited/anxious to get into the vehicle and see the vehicle dry because of the new windshield. And of course my expectations were completely shattered.

The driver floor board was soaked. It was 4 am and I was leaving for work so I could not investigate the leak with the exception of the following clues:

-Only the driver side floor was soaked. Passenger side was dry. I am not sure if it was soaked up to the peddle area
-The headliner over the driver seat felt wet.
-There was no water on the inside of the windshield.
-The black window silicone(or whatever material it is) was not blocking any of the channel between the window and the a pillar so there was a place for the rain to go when the new windshield was put into place
-The truck is parked on a very slight slope towards the front and driver side of the vehicle. Possible for water to all move to the driver side of the vehicle.

I am leaning towards the drain in the sunroof being clogged. My logic is because the headliner was wet. If water was going through the rivets in the A pillar, the headliner wouldn't be wet. Also, I watched the install. The rivets are tight. When I bought the truck, I checked to make sure there was no debris in the sunroof drain. But I did not fish a line through to make sure it wasn't blocked.

Plan moving forward is to tape up the sunroof with plastic to get me through the next day of rain. Then open the car, get a box fan on the inside, and dry the car out to avoid damage. I'll probably peel back some of the carpet. I just started replacing the starter and knock sensors so the battery is out of the vehicle and I do not want to hoot it back up with ground being disconnected. I wont be able to put the sunroof back until the battery is back in. Hopefully the job is finished in the next week. I am looking at clear skies for the next two weeks. However if I put plastic over the sunroof and it rains again, it will be a strong indication on what the problem is.

As far as trying to clear the drain, I was planning on using weed whacker string, compressed air, and maybe even some water pressure. Ill take any suggestions.

Other than the windshield and sunroof, where else would there be places for water inrustion?

Edit:

Got the sunroof tapped up. I slid open the interior and found water on the rear plastic trim.

The water on the floor board was not behind the pedals. It was restricted to just underneath the seat along the step panel. So I don’t think it was coming in through the a pillar.