Any Austin Area Members? Need Handy Ls Mechanic...

[leftfooter]

Hi Guys,

I live in the Austin Texas area and was wondering if prehaps any other members might live here & if so do they work on their own cars?

I've just returned to Austin after a 2 1/2 year hiatus and my 1992 LS 400 has been sitting idle all that time. I have it back on the road now but it's in need of a good service, with the check engine light just after coming on. My old mechanic was a car enthusiast whose wife owned the same car, so he knew it inside & out. I always felt very assured that everything he was telling me was 100%, and he was great at the preventative stuff.

Unfortunately he's not around any more. So, I was wondering, was there maybe another LS enthusiast who might live in the Austin area and be interested in doing some service work on the side for some extra cash??

If anyone knows anyone who you'd recommend, I'd appreciate that too.

Thanks Guys!

Work to be done:

Change out drive belt

Drain & top up transmission fluid

Tighten hand brake cable

Clean the throttle body

Change Spark plugs & Wires if needed.

Any other mechanical work they see fit to carry out after checking the car out.

Finally, the check engine light has just come on recently, so they would probably need access to reader to pull the code as the car is a 1992 model.

Thanks Again Guys!

[KeyKeeper]

Can pull the codes with a paperclip. I work on my Gs all the time. Im in Jarrell, bout 20min north of Austin.

[landar]

Here is how to read the code leftfooter -> http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/intro/codereading.html

Why not consider doing a good portion of the work yourself? It really is not that hard and brings lots of satisfaction (at least to me, anyway). There are many tutorials available, such as on the site above.

[KeyKeeper]

I agree with landar on this one. Seems like pretty routine tasks. The transmission one may be a little more difficult.

[leftfooter]

I would love to attempt it on my own but would be afraid I'd be half way through & something catastrophic would go wrong!

Seriously though, would love to join someone who knew what they were doing & help out/ learn that way. Keykeeper, would this maybe be an option? I'll try to pull that code & post back.

[KeyKeeper]

yeah no problem. Im a diy kinda guy. Im thinking in the next 6-8months about pulling my 2jz out and having it precision balanced and re-ringing/bearing the motor. Fig I could gasket match the head/intake and smooth out the short side radius on the exhaust side while Im at it. I havent had my GS that long, but Ive put a ton of time/money into it and did all the work myself except getting seats re-done.

[leftfooter]

Ok guys, was able to pull the code for the check engine light. the code is 5,1. The Trac light blinked 5 times, then a pause then it blinked once.

lexls.com says"51 - Problem in engine control system".

Any idea what this might be?

Thanks guys.

[leftfooter]

PS. Have not changed the fuel filter yet & had put in some fuel additive (Seafoam) to clean the system. The check engine light came on after I put some cheap gas (got excited using Gasbuddy!) which was probably a stupid thing to do.

[BogeyJH]

I do a lot on my own, and the Lexus forums have been very good to me. Landar and others here have been quite helpful in the past.

I used to have a good shade-tree guy before I bought my LS400, but he doesn't know Lexus and wasn't comfortable taking on the work. I would be very interested if somebody knows a good one in Austin for Lexus cars.

Lately when I'm in over my head or just don't have the time or proper tools, I take my cars to Dan Mize over at Elite Import Auto Service. He is very good, but I always compare his quotes to the dealer.

A couple examples for reference...

Lexus of Austin quoted $711 for control arm bushings for the '02 LS430. Elite quoted $380 using OEM parts, but the final bill was $290 + tax., close to 60% less than the dealer.

A buddy of mine with an '03 LS430 who does not work on his cars got a quote for 60K service and the cost at LOA and Elite was so close that he went to the dealer and got a free loaner car for a day and a half.

BTW, he said that he would take his 10 year old LS over the new RX he drove, hands down.