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XDarkRivalX

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  1. Hi! I'm 27, and have a '92 Lexus SC400. Idk how many previous owners its had, it came 'new' from the 'dealer' with 170K miles on it, maybe six months ago. I bought it through a roommate, from his friend, who, I guess, buys and sells cars and that's his thing. I paid 2k for it, plus some 200 in fees, and I've had it for about six months. I drive it to work and back every day, and twice a week, I take it into the next county to visit my daughter. The check engine light was on when I bought it, my roommate claims that's why I got it for such a good price. His claims that these vehicles normally sell for twice that, or more, seem supported so far by this thread. The usual issues were present (ie. LCD screen bottom half doesn't display, needles don't light up, speedometer takes random sporadic holidays) and he claimed the reason the check engine light was on was because a sensor related to the exhaust gas recirculation valve was malfunctioning. He recommended removing the check engine light's bulb, which I didn't for multiple reasons that I felt, and still feel, should go without saying. Besides all that, and the tranny wanting to jump a bit around the 2k rpm mark, I don't remember it having any other serious issues. (I'm now told by friends that they COULD already hear it backfiring) Fast forward to today, it's Friday. Last Sunday, I started it to find it'd lost most of it's power (struggling to go above 60mph). It also began backfiring and lurching when stopped while having difficulty maintaining an idle. I'd experienced similar issues (never as severe) when running the tank low, so I figured it'd just sucked some crud out of the bottom of the tank, and gave it a bottle of fuel line cleaner and a fresh tank of gas. It didn't help, and the damning detail was on the next trip to the neighboring county, it started visibly venting exhaust fumes into the cab (At first I was concerned I had wires burning, but I'm told, were that the case, I would have a whole slew of other electrical issues by now). I now drive with my head out the window, and cannot take my 2.5 y/o anywhere (I won't put her in the thing like this). At this point, I phoned a friend, and we read the trouble codes, 25, 26, and 71. 25 and 26 were fuel mix too lean and rich, and they disappeared when reset. 71 is the EGR valve malfunction, and it persists through resets. My friend's thought was that all these symptoms stemmed from the EGR valve, so we disconnected it, to no avail. At this point I took it to the local mechanic, who hoisted it up and immediately declared both catalytic converters disintegrated and recommended that I replace both, and get a 'tune up'. He also said the vehicle was dropping a lot of raw fuel, which come to find out, disintegrates catalytic converters in record time. He quoted me 450 for each caty and 575 for the tune up, and said that continuing to run it in this condition would be increasingly hard on the engine. I had maybe 100 to spare, so I left. I guess my immediate question is, how do I get it to stop venting fumes into the cab? I can deal with the loss of power, at the end of the day I just need a vehicle that gets me there, and can carry my daughter. I've been told by several people since, to pull both catys off for an immediate fix, but will this make the fumes stop? I've begun the search for the service manual, as I figure there's no way to avoid getting intimate with the engine, and I need to know how to do a tune-up myself. This is a process though, I can't keep missing my visitations, and god forbid it quits getting me to work. Then I'll REALLY be in trouble. Any help would be appreciated! ~Christopher Quote
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