91 Ls400

[iamfredman]

I am the new owner of a 91 LS400 and love the car. I'm hoping to get many years of relativly trouble free use out of it. The timing belt was changed in the last 30,000 miles, so that should be good for a while. Does anyone know if the 91 is an interferance engine? I'm also thinking of upgrading my wheels. Will wheels from a new LS430 fit? Thanks for the info.

John

[ToddLS400]

Here we go again....Well, a lot people here say the LS400 is not an interference engine. I found data saying that it is. I'm tending to believe that it is not after reading here.

[VBdenny]

I have never heard of a timing belt on an LS400 breaking. I have heard many people worrying about it though. Has anyone ever actually had a timing belt break on their LS400? On my car the timing belt was changed at 90K per dealers suggestion and I don't worry about it at all.

[mapman]

I have only had my Ls400 for three weeks and just had mine changed last week. Mechanic said he had never seen one so frayed and that i had been running on borrowed time. Previous owner must have thought they didn't need to change it. They went 140,000 mile with no belt change.

[SW03ES]

I've still always heard that it is an interferance engine...

As for the wheels, the LS430 wheels will bolt right on.

[csamos2]

I've still always heard that it is an interferance engine...

As for the wheels, the LS430 wheels will bolt right on.

Hello!

I'm a new member with a 1991 LS 400, 72k. Great car...best I've ever owned.

No one seems to be able to answer this question---will the 5 spoke GS 300 wheels (I think they are late nineties vintage) fit my car? What other Lexus model wheels will fit on my car? I keep seeing wheels listed on eBay that say they fit 1992-1995 LS400's, but arent the 1990-1992 models all the same?

I definitely want to keep stock wheels, so your info is appreciated!

Thanks!

Chris

[VMF]

happend to my friend on sc400. his timing belt broke but engine didnt die!!!

[1990LS400]

The timing belt on my 90 LS400 broke at 84,000 miles when the water pump seized. My local independent repair shop, specializing in Lexus, said it is not a problem because it is a non-interference engine. I think the first interference engines were used in 1999 which is how they got 290 hp from the LS400 engine.

16" 5-spoke GS300 wheels fit fine on a 1st generation LS400 although the the speedo reading will be off a little if you don't use lower profile tires - my next door neighbor used them for his snow tires. The 2nd generation LS400 (93-94?) came with 16" wheels standard instead of 15".

[wandawoods]

I know this may be a tiring subject already....

the timing chain shall last at least 120k on my Mercedes 400SEL, but it broke at 90K! since it's inside the engine so I can understand why the bent valves occured and costed me about $3K to get it going again. so I'm super sensitive to anything starts with 'timing' after that incident.

so, few days ago, I just spent about 2 hours watching my mechanic removing bunch of stuffs under the hood of my LS400 to expose the timing belt which is entirely external to engine.

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/albums/LS/ti...timing_belt.jpg

so I can't really comprehend the suggestion that a broket TB can damage internal valves. but what do I know....

anyway, both my 'personal' mechanic and lexus dealership told me that 1UZ-FE engine on my 94 LS400/96 SC400 are 'non-interference', and broken TB will not and should not doom the engine itself.

[1990LS400]

This string of posts isn't getting tedious at all.

Having owned several Mercedes, including a V8 450SEL way back in the 70's, with chain driven cams and having personally rebuilt an SL engine just for fun, I think I am accurate in saying that the chain is within the engine block and head housing, bathed in oil, but works just like the LS400 belt in turning the camshafts to open and close the valves. A chain driven camshaft in a non-interference engine is probably no more likely to bend the valves than a belt driven camshaft in a non-interference engine although I hate to think what the chain might do to other components when pieces of it flop around in the housing after it breaks. Maybe timing belts aren't so bad after all although I'm glad to see Toyota start to use chains instead of belts in some models.

I'm guessing that one reason repairing your 400SEL chain costs $3,000 was that is a Mercedes. In the 13+ years with my old LS400, it has rarely been in the shop except for scheduled maintenance -- and only every 30,000 miles at that since I do all the intermediate maintenance myself. Gosh, it seemed like my Mercedes cars were always in the shop with some strange problem and the repair cost often seemed so outrageous it was almost funny. I knew the Mercedes 380 V8's had a bad chain breakage problem but I hadn't realized that the problem continued into all the way into the 1990's with the 400SEL - bummer! (I know this is a Lexus forum but I still love the 400SEL of the early 90's.)

[wandawoods]

I'm guessing that one reason repairing your 400SEL chain costs $3,000 was that is a Mercedes.  In the 13+ years with my old LS400, it has rarely been in the shop except for scheduled maintenance -- and only every 30,000 miles at that since I do all the intermediate maintenance myself.  Gosh, it seemed like my Mercedes cars were always in the shop with some strange problem and the repair cost often seemed so outrageous it was almost funny.  I knew the Mercedes 380 V8's had a bad chain breakage problem but I hadn't realized that the problem continued into all the way into the 1990's with the 400SEL - bummer!  (I know this is a Lexus forum but I still love the 400SEL of the early 90's.)

$3K was including new chain ($700!)/rail/rebuilt all valves/labor to disassemble & reassemble upper engine. I thought it was already pretty cheap considering all that.

must agree with you regarding mercedes! they seems AWLAYS have some problems one after another!

before the 400SEL, I also had a '88 420SEL which was just about the most disasterour car ever own! again, broken chain before it should, and I changed alternator, starter, steering pump, motor mount, radiator, all 5 belts, suspension, brakes...button/switch here and there, that was $6K in 2-year span, and you are right: IT'S ALWAYS in the shop for something to be fixed up! this IS the major reason I swithced to Lexus by Toyota. no more German cars (no offense to BMW, Audi, VW), enough is enough!

hope Lexus will fare much better!

[ccf913]

To answer the question about the LS430 wheels fitting on your 1991 LS400, the LS430 uses 16" wheels. The 1990-1992 models were 15" standard. I, luckily, have the 1994 model, so I was able to get some beautiful LS430 wheels for my car. Any questions about what various wheel sizes will do to your speedo reading can be found at: www.autotrixx.com. Unfortunately, they are under construction. But when they come back up, you should be able to get the specs for wheel size, bolt patter, offset, hub bore, and the suggested tire size. So, for instance, a 1994+ LS 400 per their site states that for the following, the bolt pattern is 5 x 114.3; offset ET40; hub bore 60.1. So at wheel size 16x7, the suggested tire size is 225/60 x 16, same for 16x7.5. At 17 x 7.5 or 17 x 8, suggested tire size is 245/50 x 17; and at 18 x 8, suggested tire size is 245/40 x 18. Hope that helps!

[mikeandd]

I have 16 inch '98 LS wheels with 225x60 tires on my '91 LS. They work fine. The speedometer is 5 mph slow (checked by GPS) at almost any speed and the odo is 5% slow.

Mike

[ToddLS400]

I have 16 inch '98 LS wheels with 225x60 tires on my '91 LS. They work fine. The speedometer is 5 mph slow (checked by GPS) at almost any speed and the odo is 5% slow.

Mike

Look at a plus size chart on a tire website. I would assume that you would need to go down to a 50 series profile to get your speedometer accurate? You want to match the same diameter of the OEM 15" tires with the larger 16" rims so you decrease the profile of your tire. I have 18" 40 series tires on my '90 LS400 with no speedo problem.

[Bwilliams]

Todd, how much did you pay to have your bottom panels painted?

[kamtra]

90-94 are non interference. 95 introduced a new head that due to design will cause valves bashing into piston. From then on (95) all LS400 are interference engines.