'90 Ls400 W/ 130k Maintenance

[cityylightss]

hey everyone. i'm new to the forums obviously. my '90 LS400 is starting to get a little older so i decided its time to join up and starting tackling problems before they get bigger.

i purchased the car in 2005 for $2,500 from a friend who was leaving the country. it had around 90k miles on it. yes i know it was as great deal! i've loved it ever since.

i've recently decided that its time to do a little work on the car to prevent major repairs. i have about $400 leftover in my budget for this month (it was a cheap month) and decided that I'd like to put it toward the car to try and prevent a $2,000 repair in the near future. it current has 130k miles on it. i haven't done too much work to it in the 4 years i've had it. the only major problem i've experienced in the past 4 years is replacing the alternator. it burned out when the plugs to the battery were lose and the alternator could not send the electricity back to the battery (or so i was told).

here is a list of the current problems i have and how i deal with them.

1. Radiator fluid leak. I was told awhile ago that I had a small leak and every so often I'll have my radiator light comes on. I usually just wait for it to come on and then I pour in more of my 'Toyota Red.'

2. Power steering fluid leak. Every so often I start to hear a suspicious noise when I first turn on my car and start turning my wheel as I'm driving. I just add some power steering fluid and it goes away for a couple months.

3. Antenna won't go up. I hear it trying to go up/down every time I turn my car on/off.

4. RPM gauge in dashboard doesn't work. The indicator just stays flat. I think maybe this is as simple as replacing a fuse?

5. Front windows struggle going up and down. I've had problems with this in the past. I'm not sure if whether there is anything stuck down there such as pine needles from a tree I used to park under, or if the electrical system is having issues.

6. Check engine light came on for about 10 mins about 2 months ago. Don't know if something is on its way out, or if it was simply a small, brief malfunction.

I can live with these issues, as I have been for a couple years. But I'd rather fix them if they are going to lead to bigger problems. I haven't done any 'real' maintenance to my car for a good amount of time. No real differential fluid flush. No transmission fluid flush. Etc etc. Basically I turn down any offers for additional services when I go to Jiffy Lube to get my full synthetic oil change, except my air filter when its looking dirty.

Honestly, I don't want to perform any unnecessary maintenance...but I want to take care of my car. I'd say I find mechanics fairly untrustworthy, but I know that I'm going to have to let them do what they need to do eventually. Before telling me to do something myself, take into consideration that I have no garage and I have no tools. However, I am willing to purchase (cheaper) tools and learn how to fix something if it will save me cash in the end.

My question is...where do I go from here? Do you recommend me going to get some sort of an inspection to figure out what problems I have and their severity? Is there some maintenance/fluid flushes/etc you would recommend I do immediately? What would be the best use of my $400? Is there anything you recommend I do myself?

Thank you very much for reading the post, and thanks even more for any advice. I really appreciate it.

Pete

[4howard]

hey everyone. i'm new to the forums obviously. my '90 LS400 is starting to get a little older so i decided its time to join up and starting tackling problems before they get bigger.

i purchased the car in 2005 for $2,500 from a friend who was leaving the country. it had around 90k miles on it. yes i know it was as great deal! i've loved it ever since.

i've recently decided that its time to do a little work on the car to prevent major repairs. i have about $400 leftover in my budget for this month (it was a cheap month) and decided that I'd like to put it toward the car to try and prevent a $2,000 repair in the near future. it current has 130k miles on it. i haven't done too much work to it in the 4 years i've had it. the only major problem i've experienced in the past 4 years is replacing the alternator. it burned out when the plugs to the battery were lose and the alternator could not send the electricity back to the battery (or so i was told).

here is a list of the current problems i have and how i deal with them.

1. Radiator fluid leak. I was told awhile ago that I had a small leak and every so often I'll have my radiator light comes on. I usually just wait for it to come on and then I pour in more of my 'Toyota Red.'

2. Power steering fluid leak. Every so often I start to hear a suspicious noise when I first turn on my car and start turning my wheel as I'm driving. I just add some power steering fluid and it goes away for a couple months.

3. Antenna won't go up. I hear it trying to go up/down every time I turn my car on/off.

4. RPM gauge in dashboard doesn't work. The indicator just stays flat. I think maybe this is as simple as replacing a fuse?

5. Front windows struggle going up and down. I've had problems with this in the past. I'm not sure if whether there is anything stuck down there such as pine needles from a tree I used to park under, or if the electrical system is having issues.

6. Check engine light came on for about 10 mins about 2 months ago. Don't know if something is on its way out, or if it was simply a small, brief malfunction.

I can live with these issues, as I have been for a couple years. But I'd rather fix them if they are going to lead to bigger problems. I haven't done any 'real' maintenance to my car for a good amount of time. No real differential fluid flush. No transmission fluid flush. Etc etc. Basically I turn down any offers for additional services when I go to Jiffy Lube to get my full synthetic oil change, except my air filter when its looking dirty.

Honestly, I don't want to perform any unnecessary maintenance...but I want to take care of my car. I'd say I find mechanics fairly untrustworthy, but I know that I'm going to have to let them do what they need to do eventually. Before telling me to do something myself, take into consideration that I have no garage and I have no tools. However, I am willing to purchase (cheaper) tools and learn how to fix something if it will save me cash in the end.

My question is...where do I go from here? Do you recommend me going to get some sort of an inspection to figure out what problems I have and their severity? Is there some maintenance/fluid flushes/etc you would recommend I do immediately? What would be the best use of my $400? Is there anything you recommend I do myself?

Thank you very much for reading the post, and thanks even more for any advice. I really appreciate it.

Pete

[4howard]

sorry about that blank.

I have a 95 with 130k and the car is good. I would recommend you fix the leaks and keep driving. My engine light has been on for the last 40k miles, I have been told to change the catalytic converters but that would cost $2000, or so they told me. The car passes emissions inspections so I just keep driving.

[TA in KC]

If you have a power steering leak, I suggest you start by fixing that.

Most likely, the leak is coming from worn-out seals in the power steering pump itself. Rebuilding or replacing the pump will eliminate the leaks, if that is in fact where they are coming from.

Not fixing this problem usually leads to a failed alternator, turning it into a much more expensive problem. The alternator is located directly under the power steering pump. When the pump leaks, the alternator is the first place the fluid goes.

[cityylightss]

thanks for replies!

i've been browsing around and came across the 'power steering above the alternator' issue. i really only hear the sound and replace the fluid every 4 months or so. do you think its leaking enough to actually cause any damage to the alternator? my current alternator has been there for 3 years?

[steve2006]

Hi,

Most of your problems seem minor and easily sorted.

1. Radiator fluid leak. I was told awhile ago that I had a small leak and every so often I'll have my radiator light comes on. I usually just wait for it to come on and then I pour in more of my 'Toyota Red.'

Try and locate the leak it may be just a hose clip but check the expansion tank as these have been known to split even a new radiator is pretty cheap if it comes to that.

2. Power steering fluid leak. Every so often I start to hear a suspicious noise when I first turn on my car and start turning my wheel as I'm driving. I just add some power steering fluid and it goes away for a couple months.

There is an O ring seal on the reservoir which causes most of the problems have a look on lexls.com for more info.

3. Antenna won't go up. I hear it trying to go up/down every time I turn my car on/off.

Look on Ebay.com for the rebuild kit and lexls.com for the fitting proceedure.

4. RPM gauge in dashboard doesn't work. The indicator just stays flat. I think maybe this is as simple as replacing a fuse?

Could be the dash itself ( can be repaired) or the sender unit

5. Front windows struggle going up and down. I've had problems with this in the past. I'm not sure if whether there is anything stuck down there such as pine needles from a tree I used to park under, or if the electrical system is having issues.

Wipe the rubber window sliders with some silicon based polish ( do not get any on the glass!) this usually improves the window action. Probably not helped by the sap from the pine needles.

6. Check engine light came on for about 10 mins about 2 months ago. Don't know if something is on its way out, or if it was simply a small, brief malfunction

If it hasn't come back on don't worry about it if you want to do a diagnostic check for any stored codes relating to this follow the proceedure in the link below

http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/intro/codereading.html

Good luck.

[cityylightss]

thanks for the tips. in regards to the problems i've identified, it seems that most people would suggest fixing my power steering pump first.

as i've browsed the site i've found that a common maintenance procedure that i might be faced with soon, if not immediately...is going to be the timing belt/water pump issue. is this something i should be looking into if i haven't had it done already? i need to go through the documents left by the previous owner to see if he had it done at 90k. can i get away with not replacing this for some time...or should i look into it immediately?

are rear differential and transmission fluid flushes/refills an issue at 130k?

thanks for all the replies. everyone has already been very helpful.

[oldskewel]

thanks for the tips. in regards to the problems i've identified, it seems that most people would suggest fixing my power steering pump first.

as i've browsed the site i've found that a common maintenance procedure that i might be faced with soon, if not immediately...is going to be the timing belt/water pump issue. is this something i should be looking into if i haven't had it done already? i need to go through the documents left by the previous owner to see if he had it done at 90k. can i get away with not replacing this for some time...or should i look into it immediately?

are rear differential and transmission fluid flushes/refills an issue at 130k?

thanks for all the replies. everyone has already been very helpful.

ATF and differential oil changes are easy and unrelated to all the other stuff. If you're not sure when they were last done, you should do them. A lesson I learned on the first car I ever bought was to not take any fluid changes for granted (when I bought it, the manual transmission was bone dry, as I found out 4 months later when I finally wore down all the teeth on the input gear). Led to a good story though ... I completed my ~200 mile trip using only 4th gear (which was still there since it did not use the lay shaft at all). No reverse or anything.