Got A 1995 Ls400 172K And Need Some Advice

[brybo86]

So here is my most recent addition to the fleet. $3k, originally from Racine, WI. Must have been a summer only car given the condition.
1995 LS400 172k dark gray/Tan interior, moonroof, trac control, nakamichi sound, heated seats, (I think all the options except air ride susp)
Garage kept 1 owner from 0-165k miles then sold Aug 2013 driven for 7k miles and sold to me Aug 2014 w 172k (lady said she didn't like how it drove in the snow with bald rear tires)

The Good
No Rust (hard to find in Chicago/Midwest)
non smoker
Trans shifts smooth, fluid is nice and red
No sludge or cream under oil fill cap
all fluids are at correct levels
no smoking from exhaust
Leather is in good shape no cracks
Idle is butter smooth
Engine has great power
MPG seemed "good" on my 60 mile drive home with it (needle barely moved, I haven't done any formal calculations yet)
Instrument Panel is nice and bright
Power antenna works correctly
Cruise control works correctly
No CEL/MIL lights on (nothing stored in ECU when I checked with my scanner)

The Bad
1. Starter seems to have a worn/tired bendix (sounds like starter isn't disengaging immediately giving me a high pitched "ching" for a 1/2 second upon starting, this happens when the engine is warm and cold. (new starter or lube starter bendix?)
2. Vibration upon deceleration from about 50mph and over. Vibration is slight if I slowly ease off the gas, but worse if i take my foot completely off it. (new tires for sure, possibly new rear shocks, diff fluid?)
3. Rear tires at the wear bars left rear tire has some mild cupping which I believe is contributing to and/or causing my above vibrations (new tires)
4. I get a sudden forward jerk/thunk when turning off the cruise control or suddenly letting off the gas pedal. (misadjusted throttle/trans cables, dirty throttle body? trans mount, driveshaft/diff bushings? or I hope not, new ECU?)
5.Squeaking in right rear moonroof when driving over certain terrain, it goes away if I push up in RR behind moonroof (I read something about adjusting rubber gaskets/seals in the moonroof and mb some lube?
6. Coolant gauge doesn't move at all. (with engine warmed up my bluetooth OBD/torque/android scanner says coolant temp is 181F/83C so I think the temp sensor and ECU are fine, inside fan runs constantly with drive belt/normal viscous fan? and secondary outside fan comes on and off periodically, normal? it is either the gauge caps(plz no) or temp sender/wiring)
7.Right rear taillight has a hair line crack in it (no moisture inside)
8. plastic cover over front spark plug wires is missing as well as cover over wiring harness on right side of engine parallel to spark plug wire/TB cover
9. Plastic nub on air intake pipe has broken off see pic below (credit marlon)( im not sure if this has anything to do with my P/S leaking, turning the wheel feels fine at all speeds)

10. I have a decent power steering leak coming from directly underneath the fluid reservoir (im thinking it is the orings? or broken plastic ACV valve connections? I don't have any smoke coming from exhaust)
11. Lightbulb illuminated on dash (tailight or blinker prob?)
12. broken left rear ashtray cover, (seems to be integrated with power window switch)
13. CD changer error ( I forget number exactly)
14. Timing belt and serpentine belt have cracks in them!

My Game Plan, rockauto and sewell with CL discount
1. Aisin/mitsuboshi/koyo Timing belt/water pump kit TKT030
2. Cam and crank seals OEM
3. distributor caps and rotors OEM? (spark plugs and wires were replaced last year per owner)
4. new thermostat and orings/gasket OEM
5. new temp sender OEM
6. new serpentine belt bando OEM, maybe i should get new idlers and tensioner as well?

7. Power steering, I ordered the reservoir o ring, hopefully this is my problem

8. new air filter, and oil change at some point

9. clean TB and adjust throttle cables/TP sensor

10. I am fearful about cracks on TB so after I do that I will address trans/throttle adjustment, starter, vibrations, tires, change trans fluid/oil/diff/brake fluid, etc etc

I am confident i can do the TB myself, I have the service manual downloaded
I am pretty mechanical and do my own maintenance, brakes, fluid changes, valve adjustments, moto carbs, clutch replacement, new pistons/rings on 2 strokes etc
On the other hand this will definitely be the most complicated maintenance/repair I have done.

Thanks,Bryan

[landar]

Welcome to the forum, Bryan and congrats on your 'new' LS.

You have covered a lot of territory in your first post and I am not quite sure what your particular question may be. You are right about wanting to do the timing belt ASAP and you can do it yourself. Do a search for the Aisin timing belt kit (rock auto, I believe). It will come with most everything you need for around $250. You also want to use the so-called Toyota Red coolant when you refill the radiator.

[brybo86]

I recieved the aisin TB/WP kit with tensioner yesterday.

I have also ordered the otc 4754 pulley holder to aid in removing and installing the crank and cam pulley bolts.

As well as the lisle 58430 seal puller.

I was quoted $30+ per gallon for toyota red concentrate from the dealer, seems high but it is what it is I guess.

I have found differing opinion on the use of red rtv sealant on the water pump gasket? Should I use the new gasket by itself or should I use the gasket along with extra red RTV?

also is red RTV the best method to seal the themostat housing/water inlet housing to the water pump? I dont have a gasket for this.

I'm am looking for the sizes of the crank pulley and cam pulley holding bolts. I have read that the autozone rental harmonic balancers usually dont have the right sizes.

Edited August 24, 2014 by brybo86

[landar]

Sounds like you are off to a good start. I can tell you will do a great job because you are being very thorough in your research.

I always like to use a gasket if one is available. I have used the gasket in the water pump kit with no RTV (also known as FIPG...Form In Place Gasket). It is hard to beat RTV for sealing but I find it messy so I avoid it when possible. There is a water bypass pipe that takes an O-ring for the water pump. Sometimes getting the pump to pull off the water bypass takes some extra muscle but it does come apart.

One thing to remember when using RTV is to apply it carefully and let it set up for a good 15 minutes or so(depending upon temp and humidity) before torquing the part down. That way, it will not ooze out too much when tightened. You can assemble the parts but just snug the bolts until the RTV sets. Then torque.

It is also important to torque the pump in cross pattern to ensure even pressure. I like to torque in 3 passes, starting with very light torque and working up to the final value.

Off hand, I do not know the size of the two threaded holes in the crank but I bought an inexpensive crank puller kit from Harbor Freight which is pretty nice. It had all of the bolts that were needed to pull the crank. The cam pulleys came right off with just a little prying and without using a puller.

[brybo86]

So I got started late this afternoon and this is what I found....

Quite possibly the dirtiest radiator ever?

Ohh Shiiiii !!!

I knew the timing belt had small cracks but I didn't know it had actual chunks coming off the back... this thing was literally on the verge of snapping.

Shot showing RH cam time and crank time

Shot showing LH cam time, ^^^ the RH cam has much clearer marks

A shot showing my PITA P/S leak

Overall getting this far wasn't too bad.

Intake/resonator was practically glued onto the throttle body.

The worst part was that blasted PS fluid on everything lol (what is the best way to clean that stuff off?)

The water bypass pipe was a pain to slip the RH timing cover around.. I thought I was gonna crack it off.

A few of the dumb little electrical connectors that slide onto metal holders have broken, mb i will put them back on and put a couple wraps of electrical tape on them?

The alternator has a decent amount of PS fluid on it, Im not sure how much is condemning, ill get a shot of that tomorrow.

Crank bolt came out with impact after about 4 hits. Just a stubby 1/2 drive impact. I didn't even hold the pulley. I was a bit worried but the crank/time didn't even budge. (my pulley holder isn't here yet...inpatient i guess)

It doesn't come until tuesday and I guess i cant install the crank bolt without it.

I have the crank bolt out as per the lexls.com tutorial ready to finish the removal tomorrow :)

[landar]

wow, that belt is in sad shape! You caught that in the nick of time and saved Lexi. The radiator being filthy on the outside is no big surprise...it happens. Just use some dish soap and garden hose to clean it off. I find using CRC Brake Cleaner works well for removing petroleum buildup on parts.

Looks like you are doing a nice job so far.

[sha4000]

Good job so far. That belt is crazy and so is the radiator lol.

[brybo86]

I finished removing the TB today and started putting it back together

Removing the old TB, not sure why the lexls tutorial has you remove the belt before removing the fan bracket?

There were a couple hiccups

the fan bracket was pain to get off, mostly because it is bolted to the AC unit, and the bolts are on the side and down like a few inches below the battery.

Then there are those tiny screws holding an electrical bracket on the top of the AC unit.... had to use a 2ft long extension and socket phillips bit to get at them so that the fan bracket would be able to pull out

I changed the PS reservoir o ring, the old one was very brittle and hard like plastic, I hope that solves my leak

I zipped the cam pulleys off with an impact and went at the seals using the genius special tool...

its crappy metal, kinda soft, which is good so that it wont scratch the shafts, I filed the back side of the paint opener using a rough metal file then used a finer grit sandpaper to get a nice flowing curve on the backside.

The RH camseal was the tightest, the LH was OK and the crankseal just popped out. The paint can opener worked great, I put the opener on top of the shafts just like when using it to open a paint can then got the sharp edge to cut into the seal as i pushed the handle down parallel to the shaft. No scratches.

I put the cam seals in using a huge socket, they went in fine.

I used a big piece of PVC to install the crankseal... until I noticed that I pushed in the bottom too far!!... DUMB. I was ticked, luckily there was a dealer 20 mins away that had one in stock.

The one they gave me was the exact same part number but it was black, not brown like the one I got from Sewell.

Water pump reinstalled using the OEM gasket only no RTV

water inlet housing reinstalled with new orings, RTV, new thermostat and oring.

idler #1 and #2 installed.

and she is ON!

sorry i forgot the alternator pic,

waiting for my adjustable spanner to torque the cams and crank

drivebelt tensioner is squeaky, I'll prolly buy the gates one tomorrow.

[sha4000]

Most ppl just bend that bracket back to create enough room to pull the fan bracket off.

[vassiton]

I always thought a "paint can opener" was called a screw driver. Never knew there was a dedicated tool for that. Looks like you know what you're doing. Thought I'd mention that in my research on this car I found a post somewhere that showed a P/S rebuild. It mentioned that the cause for the failed o ring is the worn bearing in the pump. If you have any more trouble with that new o ring you might want to check that out.

[brybo86]

SO...

here is the alternator, outside had some spray on it but the inside looked clean, i just cleaned it off a bit and reinstalled

OTC 4754 universal pulley holder used to torque cams and crank, highly recommended

cam, not actual positioning but u get the idea

crank, again not actual position, i had the car on the ground and let the pulley holder rest against the ground

broken connector on coolant sender wire

I should have taken pics but I took a dremel and cut back the plastic on the old sender then soldered a piece of wire to the small tab inside, then twisted it together with the old wire... almost looked professional.

Now the BAD

I put everything together, filled with coolant, reconnected everything, turned the key and all I get is cranking...

it smells like gas, no codes, I am 100% confident the timing is set correctly.

Im thinking the ONLY part of the job that I wasn't 100% sure of my self was the distributor rotors,

"47) Install the distributor rotors. Align the protrusion of the rotor with the groove of the camshaft timing pulley. Torque the 2 bolts to 34 in-lb (39 kg-cm, 3.8 Nm); see step 12, then press backspace to return here."

HUH?

where is the protrusion is this pic? top or bottom?

the groove on the back of the rotor is in line with the arrow side not the pickup/contact side

this isn't my pic but I aligned the rotor with the arrow side pointing to the left in this pic...... with the arrow lined up with the "groove" at the 9 o clock position behind the center bolt in this picture.

did I install them incorrectly?

basically is the "protrusion" the friction pickup side or the arrow side?

is this pic from lexls.com correct?

[landar]

That pic from lexls looks correct. Basically, the RH rotor wiper(and I mean the tip with the metal) should be in the 9 o'clock position and the LH rotor tip in the 5:30 position when the cams are at TDC. Notice in the lexls that the RH is about 3 1/2 "hours" ahead of the LH cam position(3 o'clock vs 11:30, though the cams are NOT at TDC in this pic).

Another thing to check is your wiring, especially sensors (like crank). Could be as simple as a missed connector. Go over those again very carefully.

[brybo86]

thx for the response landar

So in the above pic

the cams are at timing marks(little white lines) and the crank is at TDC 0', it definietly looks like TDC to me, if you look again and think not please explain to me thx,

the RH(passenger cam) wiper is pointed to the 3 oclock position not 9 oclock as you say it should be.

also the LH(driver cam) wiper is pointed to the 11:30 position not the 530 position.

I installed them exactly as shown in the above picture, but the picture shows differently than you are describing,

thanks again for your prompt responses, I really appreciate it

Where did u learn the description you gave, rotor wipers set to RH@9 and LH@5:30? is there a manual I can read?

I spoke with a senior mechanic at the dealer and he said the "protrusion" is the wiper, not the arrow, which means the keyed groove on the RH cam pulley(@9oclock in the second from bottom pic), should line up with the wiper side of the rotor,

If this is true the lexls pic is incorrect(im not trying to insult whoever made the turorial)

In the lexls pic the cam timing marks are lined up as well as the crank mark, the belt is not lined up with cam timing marks but that just means that the engine has been rotated at least 2 revolutions since the timing was set.

[landar]

I took pics when our 92 LS400 was torn down for a timing belt replacement and that is where the rotor tips were pointing at TDC (9/5:30). You would, of course, get the 3/11:30 positions if the crank was one full revolution out because the cams align every two revs of the crank.

[brybo86]

So...... Of course I thought about my no start all day at work.

I came home and decided that the only thing possibly wrong is the distributor rotors.

I changed the LH rotor by only removing the air dam and slightly twisting the upper rad hose up.

The RH rotor required the air intake to be removed as well as the top of the lower rad hose.

I removed tension on the serpentine belt and removed it from the power steering pulley and left it on the rest of the accessory pulleys.

When I removed the rotors this is what I found. See the difference? New rotor is on the left and old is on the right. The tiny tab is smashed on the new/left rotor. I couldn't find this information anywhere other than calling a dealer in Milwaukee and talking to him. He described a small tab on the back of the rotor that aligned with the cam pulley. He also said the "protrusion" is the metal rotor wiper. I would recommend this be added to the timing belt tutorials. I also believe the lexls.com picture is incorrect. cams and crank are set at timing marks but the rotors are not in correct alignment/orientation.

I put it back together and VRROOOM! A bit rough for the first few seconds but then it settled down to the Lexus purrrr.... I was ecstatic.

My ghetto solder job worked on the coolant sender too. Amazing.

Thanks for all the advice and the tutorials helped a ton!

-Bryan

[landar]

Glad to hear you got her running, Bryan. So, you inadvertently put the rotor on 180 degrees out of position initially and smashed the tab down?

Just for the record, what positions do you now say the rotors should be in when at TDC? 9/5:30?

BTW, this also felt like "Deja Vu". Good write-up/pics there too. -> http://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls400/753413-new-to-me-1995-ls400-172k.html

[brybo86]

Glad to hear you got her running, Bryan. So, you inadvertently put the rotor on 180 degrees out of position initially and smashed the tab down?

Yes, on the initial install, I put them in according to the picture on lexls.com thinking it was correct. After talking to the mechanic at the dealer he mentioned smashing and or cracking the tab on the back of the rotor.... and then I remebered a faint crack when I put them in wrong, felt more like plastic shifting slightly and I didnt think much of it at the time (dumb i know)

Just for the record, what positions do you now say the rotors should be in when at TDC? 9/5:30?

Yes definitely, with both cam's time marks lined up and crank at 0 TDC the metal rotor wipers should face towards RH 9 and LH 5:30.

BTW, this also felt like "Deja Vu". Good write-up/pics there too. -> http://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls400/753413-new-to-me-1995-ls400-172k.html

You got me, responses on each site have been very helpful. its also on bitog if you want to read there too ;)