Starter Or Battery?

[phabej]

Hello everyone, I have a 92 Lexus LS400 which I bought two years ago. At first it was running great and I loved it. But then came the timing belt problem, which cost me $1,400. After fixing the timing belt, it cost me another $500 replacing the idle speed control. It ran great for a month and then there was a loud noise coming from the engine. Rather then spending more money on it, I wanted to see if I could diagnose the problem. So I decided to take it apart and check to see is any part was broken. I printed the instruction of the Internet on how to replace the timing belt and started tearing down the engine. I removed all the sparkplugs, distributors rotars, the fan and down to the crankshaft. I cranked the crankshaft clockwise several times and the timing belt seems to lineup correctly. I didn't find anything broken and didn't have time to put everything back together, so I left everything that way for a few weeks. Now that I had everything put back together the car won't start. The battery was weak and I try jumping the battery with my Honda Oddessy but still it won't start. When I jump start the car with my Oddessy I only hear one click. Each time I turn the key, I hear a "CLICK" and nothing happen. When I removed the jumper cable and try starting the car, I hear several click, click, click but the engine didn't even turn over. So, now my question is do I need a new battery or a new starter? I have read several threads in here and it seems like I may have to get a new starter, but just to make sure that it's not the battery. If the battery was weak, wouldn't you still be able to jump start it with another car? Also, would anyone recommend "do it yourself" on the starter? Are there instruction anywhere on how to replace the starter?

Sorry for writing so much, but I really want everyone to see the problem I have and hopefully you can give some advice or tips. I have spent so much money on this car already, and not sure if I wanted to spend anymore money on it.

[flanker271]

Clicking sound when starting is usually associated with low battery voltage. A bad starter will usually produce a grinding like sound (worn out gearing) or no sound at all (burnt motor). Do you have a voltmeter? Measure the battery voltage WHILE CRANKING and it should not drop below 12V period. Also, based on past experience it seems that LS400s' are particularily difficult to jump start. In one occation an AAA tow truck had to use super jumper to jumper start my car; in another occation a large Dodge RAM diesel truck jump started my car on a WalMart parking lot after a Chevy Malibu failed to do so.

Hope this helps.

[phabej]

Flanker271,

Thanks for the advice. Lets hope that the problem is the battery and not the starter. I can't see why it would be the starter when it was starting just fine before I tear the engine apart. Maybe you are right. My lexus ls400 is a V8 and it has a much bigger battery than my Honda Oddessy which is only a V6. The Oddessy may not have enough juice to jump start the lexus. I will have my cousine bring in his Tundra which is also a V8 and will try to jump start it later today.

[phabej]

Finally got the car to start after borrowing a friend's battery charger and charge it over night. Glad it was not the starter. However, a new problem exist. After getting the car started, I took it for a drive around the block and back. When I parked on the drive way, I can see smokes were coming from underneath. I took a look and the Catalytic Converter was BRIGHT RED HOT like a charcoal. I can hear popcorn popping all over from the cat converter to the tail pipe. So what was causing it to glow?

I see that a few people have had this same problem before, and the suggestions were ignition coil, get a new cat, air intake, spark plugs, fuel injector and filter, distributor and cab. But what about the coolant system? Does flushing the coolant has anything to do with it? The car has 157K miles on it and I don't think the previous owner had the coolant flushed before, so I decided to flush the coolant when I was working on it. Could this be the source of the glowing cat converter? If it is, how would I resolve the issue? I want to rule this out before doing trial and error on the others. PLEASE HELP... THANKS.

[flanker271]

Is your coolant color green or red? It should be red. Also what does your temperature gauge read after the drive? I highly doubt they are related.

[mehullica]

A glowing cat. would indicate it's working too hard from raw fuel going into it. Sounds like you have a ignition misfire on the bank that the cat. was glowing on. You may have damaged the wires/cap/spark plugs when removing them to check the timing belt.

[phabej]

The coolant are green. Just those regular one that says for all type of cars. Got it from WalMart. The temperature gauge stays normal after the drive. However, I did hear a loud puff from the engine when I started the car for the first time after charging the battery, but the car startup alright. After that the car starts fine each time and sounds pretty normal. Could it be that when I cranked the crankshaft, some fuel might have leak into the cat converter?

I was careful when putting everything back together and didn't seem like anything was damaged, but I could be wrong. I suppose I have to set aside a couple hours just so that I can tear it down and check everything over again. But what should I be looking for on the spark plug that would tell me whether it's good or bad? Also some people had mention about he ignition coil and fuel injector. How would I be able to determine if its bad? I don't really want to buy a replacement for it just to find out that it's not the problem. Thanks a million to all of you.

[larryp]

Start by pulling the plugs and checking for "wet" plugs which is a sign of unburnt fuel. Make sure to note which cylinder each plug is removed from. If only one plug is bad, you may have a bad plug, spark plug wire to that plug, a distributor cap problem, or a stuck injector. If more than one are bad, you may have a bad coil, distributor, or distributor cap & rotor. There are 2 coils and 2 distributors, so if it's coil or distributor related affecting several cylinders, you'll be able to trace the bad plugs to one coil or distributor.

Without any other information, my wild a$$ guess is your timing belt is slightly off causing improper firing (and excess fuel being sent out the exhaust).

[RFeldes]

The green coolant is not the one you should be using. Go to Toyota and get the RED. As far as the CAT, It may be that you flooded it when trying to start, as you suggested.

[phabej]

Alright, I think I had it figured out. I think it was either the distributor rotar or the air filter that causes the cat to glow bright red. One of the original rotar has several chipped on the outside edges so I replaced it with a new one bought from Carquest. After swapping the new rotar with the old one and removed the air filter which was very dirty, the car ran fine. I took it around the block couple times and no more red hot cat. I'm thinking that either the new rotar was not charging or the air filter is to dirty and the engine is not getting enough air. Anyway, I'm so glad that it's finally working the way it should now. Thanks for all your helps.

[etex]

Don't forget to put in a new filter.