Soon to be a new owner of 2001 LX470

[katit]

Hi all!

I'm long time BMW owner/driver. Now I decided to try something completely different

Truck I'm looking at got almost 200k on it. However, it's clean and what is most important to me accident and rust-free.
I'm 100% DYI person (except for tire/wheel and alignment). I have lift and all of the tools in garage.

Questions I have as a new Toyota owner:
1. What is a stance on buying parts? Good aftermarket brands or go with OE Toyota parts? With BMW we kind of knew what parts we need to use OE and which is good aftermarket stuff.
2. Best online source for parts where I can shop by PN?
3. Any website with visual parts catalog so I can get list of stuff I need? I used realoem.com for BMW.
4. List of stuff to check at this mileage?
5. What I know is that car is due for Timing belt. I will do that, what else is a good idea to replace "while I'm there"?
6. Interior-wise all looks pretty decent. 2 things I would like to fix is speaker grill material ripping out on driver's door, gear selector indicator has film peeling (looks bad). Is there fixes for those?

From this forum it sounds like I will be bored with a truck (in comparison to old BMW) as it should be pretty reliable

 

[Cola]

1-3. For most things Toyota OEM, but you can search and see when aftermarket is acceptable. Partsouq is really good and so is Camelbacktoyota for OEM parts. I like camelbacks parts diagrams then compare prices between the two.

4. Heater Ts (search) and TB
5. Search TB job. Generally all seals pulleys and fan clutch mount and bearings. Maybe check your AHC pressures and system health. Lots of info on that here

While these trucks last forever and are incredibly reliable there is always some type of preventative or add on maintenance/upgrades. I don't see you getting bored anytime soon lol welcome to the madness

 

[khymel5]

Hi all!

I'm long time BMW owner/driver. Now I decided to try something completely different

Truck I'm looking at got almost 200k on it. However, it's clean and what is most important to me accident and rust-free.
I'm 100% DYI person (except for tire/wheel and alignment). I have lift and all of the tools in garage.

Questions I have as a new Toyota owner:
1. What is a stance on buying parts? Good aftermarket brands or go with OE Toyota parts? With BMW we kind of knew what parts we need to use OE and which is good aftermarket stuff.
2. Best online source for parts where I can shop by PN?
3. Any website with visual parts catalog so I can get list of stuff I need? I used realoem.com for BMW.
4. List of stuff to check at this mileage?
5. What I know is that car is due for Timing belt. I will do that, what else is a good idea to replace "while I'm there"?
6. Interior-wise all looks pretty decent. 2 things I would like to fix is speaker grill material ripping out on driver's door, gear selector indicator has film peeling (looks bad). Is there fixes for those?

From this forum it sounds like I will be bored with a truck (in comparison to old BMW) as it should be pretty reliable

Hi Katit, excellent choice of vehicle. IMO the 100 series is the best all-around 4x4 ever made. It would be really sweet having a lift at home, I'm jealous. I'll try to answer your questions:

1. It's a safe bet to stick with OEM or Denso. Denso is a major parts supplier to Toyota, Toyota owns roughly a 30% stake in Denso. Here and there, you might go with known high-quality aftermarket brands, like NGK for spark plugs, or Timken for wheel bearings, etc. Take it on a case-by-case basis, but mostly stick with OEM or Denso.

2. I typically use parts.olathetoyota.com, parts.mcgeorgetoyota.com, partsouq.com, or the local toyota dealership.

3. The three website above all have visual parts catalogs. When you go to a local dealership, they have a visual catalog you can look at also.

4. You already mentioned timing belt. I'll mention a few other high priority items that you should look at soon:

-Heater T's should definitely be replaced ASAP. They're a plastic t-pipe in the heater coolant circuit that are known to fail suddenly and cause a loss of coolant. They become brittle with age. Search on this forum, there's a ton of info about them, easy, cheap diy job.

-Another Achilles heel of the 100 series is the windshield seal. It has an odd design, and windshield replacements are frequently done improperly. The windshield seal then leaks during rain and water can get on the electronics under the dash. Someone sadly just posted that their 2007 LX with low mileage was totaled because of this. I recommend pulling the A pillar trim and looking for any signs of water ingress (slight rust). If you have an original Lexus windshield, you're probably fine.

I would say the above two are the most urgent things to address. Some other things below:

-AHC is another common pain point on the 100 series. The part that wears out is the accumulator spheres. It's best to change the AHC fluid soonish if you don't know when it was last changed.

- Front wheel bearing inspection, set preload correctly. This is tricky, and the FSM instructions are badly worded. When you do wheel bearings, read this thread carefully.

-Transmission fluid, front diff/transfer case oil, rear diff oil, brake fluid, grease the driveshaft spiders and slip yokes.

5. While you're doing the timing belt, replace the water pump, serpentine belt, all of the pulleys and bearings, thermostat, any gaskets you encounter. I'm probably missing something, see scottm's post here and see 2001LC's post here. These guys are more thorough and knowledgeable than most, if you copy what they do, you'll be fine. Most people end up using the wrong FIPG during this process. You need to use the expensive 1282B silicone liquid gasket on the water pump inlet.

6. You can likely use the links from #3 to order new parts.

One more thing to know: here's a link to download the factory service manual. Welcome to the forum, keep us posted on which vehicle you end up buying and your baseline maintenance!

 

[RoughOne]

Congrats I own the same rig and love it! Enjoy it!

 

[katit]

Ok, I officially purchased it. Like this truck a lot. Going to pull history and see what it needs.
So far I can hear some funny whistle noise when accelerating harder and over 40mph some tire(?) noise. Other than that - very nice.

Windshield does not say Toyota, so it was replaced and I will need to check.

Is this piece PRND2L replaceable? For some reason those bubbled drive me crazy

 

[RoughOne]

Very nice!

 

[khymel5]

Very exciting, blue vapor metallic is one of the best colors in my opinion.

Take a look at these two assemblies on partsouq: center console and shift lever. Double check my work, but it looks like you would want to get:

58843-60010 - BEZEL, SHIFTING HOLE - $5.06
35975-60100 - COVER, SLIDE (FOR POSITION INDICATOR) - $4.39
35921-60210 - PLATE, CONTROL POSITION INDICATOR - $66.36

Edit: on further googling, the relevant part is definitely that control position indicator, but you should maybe try disassembling yours and pressing the bubbles out

 

[katit]

Thank you! I doubt pressing it will do much. Currently it's one of the pieces that sticking out in interior. To get interior to my liking I need:
1. Speaker cloth (already found here on forums)
2. Seat covers (will do myself)
3. Steering wheel leather. Might try to do myself as well.
4. Deep cleaning of everything and maybe new carpets. Any suggestions for really good ones?
5. This control surround

Those 5 items will bring interior close to 100%.

 

[katit]

Interesting.. Drivers.lexus.com is nice. I know more about car now. Some stuff is really funny. Seems like front and rear bumpers were repaired and repainted at least 3 times Looks like whoever drove this car at beginning wasn't able to manage size properly.

Also it doesn't look like Lexus is super-reliable. Radio was replaced twice, ABS computer was replaced. Oil leak issues.

 

[95Fantasma80]

thats the best color combo, and I'm not biased at all:

View media item 83726

 

[hickuptruck]

Yup 6s5 paint. Guess our LXs are twins. Mines a 02. It's my fav color scheme too, tied with the Navy blue LXs.

I at first didn't like it at first but it grew on me when I saw it in the summer sun. It's the rarest of the colors offered on LX.

 

[katit]

1. Speaker cloth (already found here on forums)
2. Seat covers (will do myself)
3. Steering wheel leather. Might try to do myself as well.
4. Deep cleaning of everything and maybe new carpets. Any suggestions for really good ones?
5. This control surround

Ordered #5, also found #1 in forums, here is summary of order. Not sure where is my $0.90 after I paid almost $70 for piece of cloth...

Products
------------------------------------------------------
1 x 100 Series Speaker Grill Cover = $50.00
Color of Interior Oak/Tan
------------------------------------------------------
Sub-Total: $50.00
United States Postal Service (Priority Mail™ Medium Flat Rate Box): $16.35
Total: $67.25
Reward Points earned: 50

 

[97 AZ LC]

Questions I have as a new Toyota owner:
1. What is a stance on buying parts? Good aftermarket brands or go with OE Toyota parts? With BMW we kind of knew what parts we need to use OE and which is good aftermarket stuff.

One of the first things to learn here is that this forum does not recognize the term "OE" part. What most people would call an OE part, or genuine Toyota part, is called an OEM part here. A true OEM part, e.g. a Denso part in a Denso box sold through non-dealers channels, does not have a distinct name here, but some people refer to that as an OEM part too, while others don't, leaving that distinction only to dealer parts. While most forums, especially European, would say an OEM part is by defintion NOT purchased at a dealer, here an OEM part is purchased at a dealer and branded Toyota. This creates a great deal of confusion and ambiguity, and eliminates any possibility of debating the merits of OE versus OEM parts, but most here seem to be fine with it. Sometimes you've just got to go with the flow.

 

[katit]

OE/OEM. Yes, I'm well aware of this. Lot of people even on european brand forums confused.
Good explanation here: OE Academy | FCP Euro

When I said OE I refer to items with "Toyota" box. Other stuff I'm not sure I care if it's OEM or not.

 

[katit]

Car passed inspections and I got plates. Driving around more, some things I'm liking, some things I'm sure I will get used to. So far car itself is very nice. Rear whole owner manual. Ok, maybe not all, but I now know what every button means

Should I keep posting new stuff here in single topic or it's preferred on this forum to start new topics for each and every question?

1. Dash gear lights. When in "D" - letter "D" not lighted up in instrument panel. All other positions lighted. Is there DIY? I assume it's a bulb/LED in cluster?
2. Central console. Height up/down lighted, mode thumb (comfort/sport) is not. Should there be light?
3. Seat heater switches. One has light and one doesn't. Easy DIY?
4. Radio (Mark Levinson) CD Changer does not have light behind LCD. I know (from manual) it should be lighted. DIY for that?
5. Gear selector surround (the one I'm replacing - see posts above). Should it be lighted as well?

So yeah, bunch of tiny stuff need to be sorted inside. I decided to tackle interior first to make it really pleasant and then move on to mechanical things. Gear surround coming, speaker cloth coming. In process of selecting leather for front seats and steering wheel.

 

[CanadianRockyCruiser]

Car passed inspections and I got plates. Driving around more, some things I'm liking, some things I'm sure I will get used to. So far car itself is very nice. Rear whole owner manual. Ok, maybe not all, but I now know what every button means

Should I keep posting new stuff here in single topic or it's preferred on this forum to start new topics for each and every question?

1. Dash gear lights. When in "D" - letter "D" not lighted up in instrument panel. All other positions lighted. Is there DIY? I assume it's a bulb/LED in cluster?
2. Central console. Height up/down lighted, mode thumb (comfort/sport) is not. Should there be light?
3. Seat heater switches. One has light and one doesn't. Easy DIY?
4. Radio (Mark Levinson) CD Changer does not have light behind LCD. I know (from manual) it should be lighted. DIY for that?
5. Gear selector surround (the one I'm replacing - see posts above). Should it be lighted as well?

So yeah, bunch of tiny stuff need to be sorted inside. I decided to tackle interior first to make it really pleasant and then move on to mechanical things. Gear surround coming, speaker cloth coming. In process of selecting leather for front seats and steering wheel.

1.) The bulb may be burned out. Some owners prefer to eliminate the bulb. It's pretty straighforward to replace. Search the thread below.
2.) I'm not sure if there is a bulb in this switch. But if so, the bulbs can all be replaced.
3.) These bulbs can be replaced. Easy to do yourself.
4.) I've not run into the bulb on the Mark Levinson. I took mine out because the amp was intermittent: I replaced the whole stereo head unit, wiring, and all speakers.
5.) Yes. This should have a light underneath the panel you are replacing.

Let us know what you do for leather.

Check these out:

LED instrument panel/gauge cluster

Are the seat heater switches supposed to be illuminated with the headlights?

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[katit]

Let us know what you do for leather.

Ordered some samples to see how colors will match. I want to make covers myself, I am sure I can do decent work. 2 front seats will probably take whole hide to do. And then question comes up how good of a leather I want. Color matched top quality leather will be $700-800 for the hide! Now I wonder how they make those $300 covers? For how old truck is I think I will go with "close match", not "custom match" color and go with cheap <$200/hide leather.


Another set of questions:
1. My brain will blow up soon. Stereo. I read all FAQ and tons of topics. Seems like ML junk. I will go with 2din replacement but then I need to decide if I bypass amp, if I fix or replace speakers(sub definitely blown), etc. I wish someone told me "Get this radio, speakers, etc". Any suggestion on decent Android-based (or not) head? Good sound, Rear camera, BT, ApplePlay, quick startup is a must. Ideally need a way to run off a stored maps (not sure Apple play can do that) as I will be taking truck where there is no internet.

2. Diagnostics. What is a "affordable" and "complete" system that does all of the modules? Similar to dealership? For example, for BMWs I used DIS software. If not, then what budget OBD2 reader works best? If it's Android based, maybe I need to go with Android stereo to have both paired full time..

 

[ipxih12]

search for "techstream ", super easy / cheap on amazon if you're familiar with dis... someone already created a download for a parallels system to literally make it run within few minutes.

steering wheel wrapping was also very easy / good results using amazon cut to fit cover. maybe few hrs tops to restitch.

bmws are way over complicated compared to these beasts

 

[CloudCity]

Yes the comfort/sport switch has a small bulb nd you simply lift the switch straight up (can use a plastic trim tool if needed) and then you use a small slotted screwdriver to remove the bulb by twisting 90-degrees. You will need to keep the small blue rubber cover and transfer it to the new bulb. (I got mine at a Toyota dealer so maybe the Lexus version has it already.)

Bulb PN is: 90011-01018 and I paid $13.38 through the Toyota dealer since it's a small part and I wanted it that day, but it's like $5 on one of the discount sites such as McGeorge Toyota.

Also congrats, I have an '04 in Blue Vapor Metallic, but one difference is that the later models like mine have the lower cladding in a much lighter color.

 

[katit]

@CloudCity Thank you for PN, will use on next "order".

Next question stereo-related again:

I was going to install 2-din radio and use factory speakers/amp. Read more about speakers needing repair and sure enough I noticed BASS was set to -1. I cranked it to +4-5 and I can hear rattle. Without looking into it it's obvious those need to be refoamed. Ok, I can do that.

Then I noticed following: When I turn volume up I get silence for about 1-2 seconds, then sounds comes back and as soon as music needs to push more "power" through it shuts down again. I think it's "clipping"? Is that common issue and if so, is it amplifier or head unit issue?

And, bonus question.. If I decide to bypass factory amp, which double-din with built-in amp you recommend? I need stereo with:
Good screen, preferably knob (stereo), apple play, camera input, BT.