95 Ls400 Performance And Repair

[DanteMc]

I bought a 95 LS400 this time last year with 130k miles. Other than radio pooping out the car has run fine but I think for a V8 the car is a bit slow on acceleration. I drive a lot but not hard but when I stick my foot in it I think the car should speed up faster.

I am around 150k miles and it is time to replace tires and a ball joint. While I am at it, I am thinking about getting a tune up and timing belt replacement (mileage driven).

Car runs smooth. I will probably drive for another 6 months and give to my parents. Before I dump a lot of money in the car I am concerned with the performance and I am getting lifter tapping.

Thoughts?

[landar]

Well, not knowing any thing about past maintenance, it is hard to advise you, Danny. That you think it might be a bit sluggish for a V8 is highly speculative. Your expectations might be too high for this V8. And consider that with 150k miles, the old gal is probably at least a little bit tired. It might be good to get a new timing belt and water pump, spark plugs, wires, distributor caps/rotors. If you can do the work yourself, you can save a lot of moola.

It is not unusual to have some tappet noise on a 150k mile car. You can fix it with some tappet shimming but that is fairly involved. Again, it all depends upon previous maintenance and who knows if the engine was abused or not (limited oil changes)? Maybe go with a slightly higher viscosity engine oil.

[DanteMc]

Thanks for the reply. Not sure about maintenance. I bought it from an older lady that could no longer drive. For this I am strongly leaning toward timing, water pump, etc.

Thanks!

[landar]

A little old lady who only drove it to church on Sundays? ^_^

It sure sounds like you got a nice vehicle. Maybe you can post some pics? We would like to see it.

[dcfish]

A little old lady who only drove it to church on Sundays? ^_^

It sure sounds like you got a nice vehicle. Maybe you can post some pics? We would like to see it.

I agree 100% ;)

[pj8708]

I bet it was "The Little old Lady from Pasadena" that Jan & Dean sung about! lol

Paul

[DanteMc]

Little old lady was second owner. The car cosmetically was not in "great" shape. Tan interior was stained/dingy/dirty/warn and bad clear coat on hood to trunk. I did buy a '94 last year with 78000 miles that was immaculate (black/black). When I bought it, it had the bog down problem on acceleration. The used car dealer supposedly fixed it. About two weeks later it did the same thing. After some investigation on the dealer's part, they bought it back from me. I bought the '95 a week later. I wish the '95 had the black/black and condition of the '94. If so, I would splatter all kinds of pictures on here. <hahaha>

[DanteMc]

BTW, I did figure out how to replace the felt washer in the tilt steering gear box. Motor was working but steering wheel would not go up and down. Both cars had this problem. Plastic gear was in good shape but the felt washer holding it in place had deteriorated. After watching a YouTube video, I got a rubber grommet, sliced it in half (two round halves) and used that to hold gear in place. Been working like a champ for 11 months.