My new find... 1999 LX470 (1 Viewer)

[TEXAS 57]

Well, after restoring a 2002 TLC and handing it to my wife a year ago (due to 3 kids and needing a larger vehicle), I decided I need to get something bigger. I actually started this process a few months ago in mid Dec 2018.

I am redirecting from my previous thread just to keep the two trucks separate.

Builds - I happened upon a 100 Series 4 month build

Hello everyone. This is my first post. I have been a lurker here for a while as I am a Toyota guy. I have a 1997 3rd Gen black 4Runner SR5 4WD with 277,xxx miles Toytec 3" lift, Tundra 231mm calipers and perfectly maintained. I live in Houston, TX in the Meyerland area so our neighborhood...

forum.ih8mud.com

I had been looking online for my brother in law (he wanted a 4Runner) for a while and I thought to myself if something comes along that is too good to pass up I will grab it (a cheap LC or LX 80 or 100)

This one popped up on OfferUp for $5,000 and I was at a janky little car lot within hours. He said it had an odometer discrepancy (it read 97k miles but looked like 250k). I had my buddy pull a Carfax while I explored it. Crawled underneath and it looked bone dry except two torn outer CV boots. Inside, the carpet looked clean, it had new front and middle seat covers (except headrests... kinda odd) and the third row was very worn. Steering wheel was worn through but it had a nice cover. Shifter leather was decent and all the lighter wood was there and not faded or peeling. Door panels looked rough, especially the tops.

So I started it up and it ran just fine with some whining (maybe Power Steering Pump or pulleys) but ran pretty smooth. On the test drive the suspension handled fine (although the AHC did not work) brakes had a slight shimmy from a high speed stop and the pedal feels better when I double pump the brakes. Everything works electronically except the AUTO AC button. Rear air is fine, ice cold AC and Hot Heat.
My buddy gets me the CarFax and it was corporately owned from day one to 40k miles and the rest of the time it was owned by the same person in Colorado. Almost every maintenance record was at a Lexus dealership in CO until 296k miles. I am still going through the Toyota Owners site over all the work done. It had a cluster swap at 347k miles but no documentation.

I felt like it may have been a flood car that was not documented so I aimed low at $3000. They said no. I told them to make me buy it today. They said $4500, I said, “I will drive it home with $4000 in cash in your hand right now.” I drove home with paper plates 20 min later.

The driver side headlight has a chip and moisture.

Pic of the seats and console:

 

[TEXAS 57]

I have spent some time on my beloved 3rd gen (sport hood, ARB Bumper, Snorkel, new grille, 99-02 Headlights, door weatherstrip, and redid my driver seat foam and seat cover) but I sure do like the ride of the LX / LC. I was thinking of baselining and going through the LX and putting a lift on it (or fix the AHC) and sell it but I know the cluster swap / odometer discrepancies will hurt the resale. Decisions, decisions...

 

[TEXAS 57]

Started Shopping:

Brass Heater Tees (I see some brown but would replace anyways) - EBay $6.50 Ea free shipping.
Radiator looks newer but there is green coolant so I need to flush it all out.

ATP-AT205 Stop Leak for preventative Power Steering
Brake Fluid for flush
Oil
Tranny Fluid - Valvoline MaxLife
80W-90 Gear oil
Upper Center console latch lock tab is broken so I picked one of a Camry / ES300 on EBay. ~$25
Covers from LSeat for the third row will be $300 so I am going to hunt down some lightly used ones.

I need to find a LC/ LX in a junk yard for better door panels / Middle Row Headrests

Toyota items -
Outer CV Boots

Now, I need to learn about the AHC system. The Normal light is on but I get no response from the switches. I have verified all the pieces are there LOL.

I pulled the third row to see if there was any saving it without recovering and it just looks bad. There are tears, rips and scratches.

I found many for $300-400 but I could recover it for that price. OfferUp scores for me again. These were listed for $100. They have been in storage since 2002 and just had some scrapes from being moved around. Sold!

You would not believe all the dirt that came out of those seats...

Dec 10, 2018:

I have a headlight issue... They stay on all the time...Even with the key off. I started a separate thread about that here:
Headlight electrical issue

I ordered some parts from Camelback Toyota:

0449360330 Master Cylinder Piston
PT34702030HK Cargo net panel fastener
7321902020 Seat belt stop
0442760120 CV Boot kit
Sillblades Wiper Blades (Can't see anything in the rain)

I have the double pump syndrome in the braking system so I will rebuild the Master Cylinder.

The AHC "LOW" light will sometimes blink when pressing the "LOW" position. Not sure if that means anything.

I also ordered that little Techstream Cable.

 

[TEXAS 57]

Dec 15, 2018:

Diagnosing that headlight issue:

I have switched all the relays (DRL3, HEAD relay, DIMMER relay and the MAIN DRL relay) out with working ones from the LC. Nothing has worked. I still have the same symptoms.
The only other item in the headlight system from the EWD is the Instrument ECU and the switch.

Got some parts in:

Dec 18, 1018:

Before I put the new wipers on, I noticed the wiper arms were weather beaten so I cleaned them up and painted them. I pulled the plastic cowl trim off as well. They are grey and I need to blacken them.

I also picked up a ARB lift kit from @meatloaf feom the classifieds.
ARB 2860 Old Man Emu Coil Springs ~2" lift, Front/Rear Nitrocharger shocks with recent bushings, and OEM Torsion Bars.
Not sure if it will go on the LC or LX right now. It will be a good replacement if I cannot diagnose the AHC on the LX.

I got the Techstream cable and realized I have a 64 bit OS and I need a 32 bit OS. I followed the online instructions and could not get it to work. I will need to dig further.

Dec 23, 2018

Wipers were torn up. Bought some Silblades. The plastic cowl pieces looked so faded so I whipped out the heat gun and revitalized the black color. (Hindsight - DON'T DO THIS - It works with stuff that is kept indoors but after 4-6 months in the sun they look white-ish again).

Halfway done

All reinstalled and looks great.

The black paint was looking thirsty and a little rainbowed. I gave her a Dawn bath, clay bar, light compound, polish and wax. It still needs another coat of wax. Again the Meguires Ultimate products are awesome.

In other news, I put a Gibson cat back exhaust on our 4Runner and did a complete tune up, belt / pulleys, valve cover gasket change to my Sis in law’s 2004 Expedition.
The Toyota is twice as easy.

(Our old 2008 Rav4 V6 in the background. We traded it for 6 months of babysitting our newborn. We outgrew it.)

After a few hours over the last couple of days I finally got Techstream running through my 64 bit laptop. I started playing with it but had to leave due to our annual Christmas Eve Eve oyster fest with some extended family.

Hopefully, I can get this headlight electrical issue sorted out.

Also bought the 1999 Lexus LX470 Wiring Diagram

 

[TEXAS 57]

I did not want to put too much work into the truck until I find out this headlight issue so I have been tearing it apart:

So I will now direct you to here:

Electrical Woes - need direction

Hello. Sorry, this may get lengthy. I recently purchased a 99 LX470. It had some headlight issues that I thought I could clear up pretty easy. I am in Houston, TX so I thought the truck may have been a flood car but after a good rain, I think it just had a bad installation of the windshield as...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[TEXAS 57]

So while I am in there... haha...

I am fairly sure these have not been changed.

Look at all the debri

I cleaned this all out and ran some Home Depot AC coil cleaner until it was pretty.

 

[TEXAS 57]

I also pulled apart the telescoping column motor and AC fan.

The motor worked with 12v so I pulled it apart to see how it looked. It looked like burnt rubber powder. I cleaned that out

I cleaned them both up and got them ready to reinstall

 

[TEXAS 57]

This was all the corrosion I found which tells me there have been no long term leaks and it was not in a flood.

Here is how I kept my hardware straight for the dash. Notes and all...

 

[TEXAS 57]

My steering wheel had a looseness to it. It would shift up and to right slightly. It annoyed me so I got the pivot bushings to replace the bad ones. You can see the broken one.

X2

90389-08124

Steering column hinge Bushing

Those bushings go on the the shoulder on these bolts.

I also replaced the slider and bushing for the telescoping column.

X1 EA

45768-60011	Telescope Bushing
45761-60010	Telescope Washer

See the little contact? Make sure you put that on the new bushing.

 

[sammybones]

Nice work. I’m enjoying your thread.

 

[TEXAS 57]

I was having the “double pump the brakes to get a good feel” thing going on so with the dash out I figured it would be easier the pull master cylinder with access from the interior side.

0449360330

Master Cylinder Piston (Repair Kit)

Old piston on the right, new piston on the left. No visible damage or wear.

Cleaned out the reservoir with Alcohol and put it all back together. The reservoir didn't look like it got very clean while I was doing it but looking at the pictures now I see a difference.

Reinstalled then went to the rear brakes to find one bleeder broken and the other had no obvious hole on the seating side. I bled the front brakes so at least I can have some peddle to move the truck around.

 

[ClassyJalopy]

Wow! ripping out the entire dash is pretty balsy. Please share any tips and tricks as you put this back together. Best of luck on your project!

 

[TEXAS 57]

With the dash off, I disconnected and inspected every single connection and removed every single ground (I could get to). I hit each ground with a wire wheel and reattached.

I am thinking that the little contact in the Telescoping Slider Bushing may have fixed the electrical issue.

I CAN TURN MY HEADLIGHTS OFF NOW!!!!!!!! They now work just as they are supposed to...

I always took that for granted.

 

[habakkuk007]

Man, there should be a show of folks doing projects like this! This is great stuff - I want more!!!

 

[TEXAS 57]

Wow! ripping out the entire dash is pretty balsy. Please share any tips and tricks as you put this back together. Best of luck on your project!

I almost wonder if I should have done the Heater Core while I was in there... I haven't heard of many failing so I will wait.

 

[Beauski100]

It is encouraging to see another high mileage lx purchase and restoration. Gives me hope!

 

[BillZ260]

When I bought my truck, headlights worked fine, but, the dash lights were intermittent. I got lucky in that it was just dirty contacts in the headlight mast switch. I turned it back and forth maybe 20 or so times and the dash lights have worked fine ever since.

 

[TEXAS 57]

When I bought my truck, headlights worked fine, but, the dash lights were intermittent. I got lucky in that it was just dirty contacts in the headlight mast switch. I turned it back and forth maybe 20 or so times and the dash lights have worked fine ever since.

It is interesting that you say that because this morning I noticed that center cluster (Radio, AC Controls, etc.) flickers but never turns on with the headlights on.

 

[cj10]

Love your builds, amazed at the time you get to work on them with 3 little ones. I have a '99 TLC and I think I have a ground issue behind the dash. Do you have any more details or pictures of the grounds you cleaned behind the dash?

 

[TEXAS 57]

Love your builds, amazed at the time you get to work on them with 3 little ones. I have a '99 TLC and I think I have a ground issue behind the dash. Do you have any more details or pictures of the grounds you cleaned behind the dash?

Thanks. It's tough, and usually an hour or two of work per night, weather permitting. President's Day, wife had to work and kids went to day care so I got the whole day.

I bought the Wiring Diagram and went in there to find the grounds. I started in the engine compartment at the battery and worked my way into the dash. I would start by taking off the two main junction blocks (one in each kick panel on either side) with the 10mm bolt. Inspect, clean, reinstall. Those junction blocks have grounds on them. Check those. Sorry, I didn't take many pictures as I am usually in a hurry...