My 91 Ls400 Check Engine Light Problem

Cliffs400 · November 2, 2009

Hi all, just want to begin by saying i love my new used 91 LS400.

Here's the story, I was looking on craigslist.com and found a 1991 Lexus LS400 for $600 dollars, I thought to myself that this would be perfect if its worth buying.

Well i call the guy up to see if i could go check it out, guy says ok so i go, I get there and the car is practically on the ground, it has 4 good tires but the all 4 air shocks are busted, it didn't mention that in the add so i was a little surprised but not discouraged. The body is in great shape, the guy told me that it was parked for over a year and a half, he put a battery in it and it started right up after a couple ether shots lol, I said to him that i would need some time to think about it and to see if i could find something that's freeway ready lol. I went home and started searching the net to see how much it would cost to replace those air shocks and the first page i seen said OEM air shock $660 + tax for one shock, I was think holly crap lol thats why its been setting for over a year. Well i kept looking around and found out that you can get a 4 coil shock conversion kit from Strutmasters for almost the same price as 1 air shock, then i called a mechanic shop i know to see if they could find something a bit cheaper and quicker. They found me a complete coil shock set for my car for only $450 used of course.

So i went back to the guy and bought it for $600, took it to the shop and spent $560 after tax to install all 4 coil shocks, fuel injection cleaning and the alignment. Ok lol sorry for the long story but i think i got one hell of a deal, now down to business, While i was there i wanted to get it smog checked so i could register it, the mechanic pulled it into the bay, shut it off and turned it back on a couple times, he comes over to me and says he cant smog check it because someone has removed the check engine light or it has gone bad. I have been searching to find out how to replace it and find the part i need but with no luck, I found this guys website from reading these forums the first day i brought the car home, its Lexls.com which is a pretty darn cool site but nothing about fixing my type of problem lol, I think i one of his totorials shows you how to take out the speedo cluster but i still dont know what im looking for if i open it up, the mechanic said it was a projected image but i still dont know what to do.

Anybody got some advice on this matter?

Thanks all and happy motoring

1990LS400 · November 2, 2009

If you don't have an owners manual and don't know which warning light is the CEL, register in the owners section on the Lexus corporate website to look at the manual online and order a new one: https://secure.drivers.lexus.com/lexusdrivers/home

I doubt if cluster has to be disassembled to see if the bulb for the CEL is burned out or it's wire has been cut. Pulling the cluster out must be easy a repair shop pulled the cluster in the 90 LS I used to have in a very short time to replace the odometer. Maybe a previous owner got tired of looking at the lighted CEL and removed the bulb or cut a wire to it.

Cliffs400 · November 2, 2009

If you don't have an owners manual and don't know which warning light is the CEL, register in the owners section on the Lexus corporate website to look at the manual online and order a new one: https://secure.drivers.lexus.com/lexusdrivers/home
I doubt if cluster has to be disassembled to see if the bulb for the CEL is burned out or it's wire has been cut. Pulling the cluster out must be easy a repair shop pulled the cluster in the 90 LS I used to have in a very short time to replace the odometer. Maybe a previous owner got tired of looking at the lighted CEL and removed the bulb or cut a wire to it.

Thank you for the advise, I will check into that. Im going to take out the cluster today, hopefully i get lucky, i do hope its only the bulb, i was thinking that i could replace it with the seat belt bulb until i get the smog check completed.

Thank you and have a great day

90LS400Lexus · November 3, 2009

If you don't have an owners manual and don't know which warning light is the CEL, register in the owners section on the Lexus corporate website to look at the manual online and order a new one: https://secure.drivers.lexus.com/lexusdrivers/home
I doubt if cluster has to be disassembled to see if the bulb for the CEL is burned out or it's wire has been cut. Pulling the cluster out must be easy a repair shop pulled the cluster in the 90 LS I used to have in a very short time to replace the odometer. Maybe a previous owner got tired of looking at the lighted CEL and removed the bulb or cut a wire to it.

Thank you for the advise, I will check into that. Im going to take out the cluster today, hopefully i get lucky, i do hope its only the bulb, i was thinking that i could replace it with the seat belt bulb until i get the smog check completed.

Thank you and have a great day

I think the light for that can be see/accessed once the cluster cover (the black surrounding) is removed, since it the projected light. The dealer replaced my blown airbag light on my old LS400 for $15. You can buy the bulb cheap from the dealer.

Confused though... why does the mechanic need to light to check for smog? We dont have that here, so I am wondering.

Cliffs400 · November 3, 2009

If you don't have an owners manual and don't know which warning light is the CEL, register in the owners section on the Lexus corporate website to look at the manual online and order a new one: https://secure.drivers.lexus.com/lexusdrivers/home
I doubt if cluster has to be disassembled to see if the bulb for the CEL is burned out or it's wire has been cut. Pulling the cluster out must be easy a repair shop pulled the cluster in the 90 LS I used to have in a very short time to replace the odometer. Maybe a previous owner got tired of looking at the lighted CEL and removed the bulb or cut a wire to it.

Thank you for the advise, I will check into that. Im going to take out the cluster today, hopefully i get lucky, i do hope its only the bulb, i was thinking that i could replace it with the seat belt bulb until i get the smog check completed.

Thank you and have a great day

I think the light for that can be see/accessed once the cluster cover (the black surrounding) is removed, since it the projected light. The dealer replaced my blown airbag light on my old LS400 for $15. You can buy the bulb cheap from the dealer.

Confused though... why does the mechanic need to light to check for smog? We dont have that here, so I am wondering.

Well, i just took out the thing before you get to the actual cluster, on top was a row of small light bulbs that light up to show whats wrong with the car and stuff, anyways it appears to have been just a loose bulb thank god lol, at first i took it out and looked at it, it looked ok so i put it back in, turned the key and it lit right up. and the good thing is lol that the light didnt stay on!! so hopefully got no problems under the hood or the car lol.

Over here i believe the smog check guy has to type it in on the computer if there is a check engine light on or not, i think its because California is a stickler on the hole smog=pollution thing. but it was a pretty simple fix, at first when your pulling on the plastic you get that paranoid effect where you think your going to break it lol but other than that it pops out and goes back in no problems.

thanks all and have a great day, this problem is taken care of now.

Only thing left to do is figure out how to put the sunroof back on its track, the passenger side of the sun roof has fallen in. It still works but it doesnt set it self back into position.