LS400's ?

[Exhaustgases]

Since this site is pretty dead, I'm either thinking that everyone got rid of their LS400 s or they are so good there not having any problems. Maybe the coolness has worn off and they just sit there collecting dirt, or everyone is making thousands sending them to cuba or something like that?  We need some updates on fixes and how the cars are going.

[CELSI0R]

Well, I wouldn't consider this specific section of the forum as being dead, but it does have less activity than it did a decade ago.

It's not that everyone got rid of their LS 400s or aren't having problems; I think it's along the lines that these cars are getting older now, so fewer in general are around than there were when the site was formed. A decent amount of new owners don't even frequent these sites either, so that contributes to the activity as well.

Fixes and updates will come as they go, but the rate at which they are published has changed.

[TrevC]

Hi,

Maybe we should rename this Forum section to 'LS400 - Classic & Modified' as this is generally what is occurring to the one's over in the UK.

Just a thought  :-)      Trevor 

[LSPaul]

I've been too busy working and daily-driving mine (4k miles/month so far this year) to say much here.  However, I've done some things as maintenance and repair items in the last few months that are worth sharing:

1) Earlier in the year I read about a fellow in Kansas City who's gone through his '93 with lots of repairs/updates on a Jalopnik sub-blog...  One good tip I saw is that a steering stabilizer/shock from a W140 Mercedes Benz (1990s S-class) is readily available and works well as a substitute for the original one. The Bilstein unit I subbed in was $~50-ish.

2) An auction site seller is now carrying generic strut rod bushings ("front strut cushion") for the early LS with pricing around $60/ea.  The cheapest I've been able to find an OEM one is in the $150 range.  I'm trying one out and will see how well it holds up. It's certainly quieter and tighter over small bumps now.  It'd be interesting if someone made a polyurethane version of this... 

3) As the spring driving season started, I stripped and re-sprayed the original Enkei 5th Anniversary Edition rims before getting my three-season tires mounted this year.  The finish on the rims had worn/faded badly and the logos had pretty well faded from the center caps.  Commonly available Dupli-Color wheel finish is a bit darker than the original color and has slight metalflake, but turned out nicely after a few coats of base and two coats of clear.  To replace the Lexus logo on the center caps, I had a copy/print shop make me a batch of Lexus logo stickers in the exact matching size, done in black Scotchcal decal material, to apply to the center caps of the rims.  Turned out nicely, and the paint's been reasonably durable so far.

4) Repaired a cracked EGR tube by using MAPP gas and flux-coated brazing rod (three different cracks in the flex section).  Getting the EGR tube out was possibly the biggest automotive PITA I've dealt with in years (thanks to the center bolt on the back of the RH cylinder head).  It took me about three full days of messing around to get that bolt out!  To break it loose, I used a cut-down a 12mm 6-point 1/4" socket (took about 9mm of depth out of the socket with the angle grinder and bench grinder, as clearance in that space is VERY tight), used a 1/4" u-joint, a 1/4" wobble extension, then transitioned to 3/8" extensions running diagonally along the length of the transmission (!) and a 3/8" drive to break it loose and remove it.  The job was slightly easier with the RH cat converter removed, but not by much.  The center bolt? Didn't go back on the car. :-/

5) At that same time, I had to deal with a flaky throttle position sensor (threw codes, thought it was the EGR tube at fault and CELs drive me nuts).  An emergency fix was done by prying the cover off it, using DeoxIt D5 electronic cleaning spray to clean the contacts and wipers in the sensor, then goo'ed the cover back on with RTV gasket sealer, taping it to keep the cover on until the RTV cured.  It worked long enough to source a new TPS and install it.

6) Over the last year I've had to repair all of the original Nakamichi speakers in the doors (but not the sub or tweeters), due to the usual foam surrounds breaking down.  I've re-foamed plenty of stereo speaker drivers over the years, so these drivers are very straightforward to repair if the voice coils haven't blown.  Replacement foam surrounds are available on the interwebs fairly inexpensively and the finished product sounds good.  I just need to find a few more unblown junkyard Nak speakers to re-foam and keep around as spares. 

Paul

[Exhaustgases]

Good stuff Paul, keep it coming, so is the steering damper not available from lexus anymore?  If I have to fool with taking the exhaust apart I'll likely remove the engine and transmission.  With all the hard to access stuff at the rear of the engine I'm real curious if there is a time savings just removing it.

[LSPaul]

New parts availability isn't necessarily the challenge for the cars--it's pretty amazing the level of OE parts support that's still available for a 20+ year-old car!  The steering damper is still available from Lexus, $160-180-ish online.  $50-something for a Bilstein that fits and works is a nice workaround. 

As for the exhaust, one of the many things that never ceases to amaze me on these cars is the insane quality of the materials that went into these cars.  With a pre-soak of PB Blaster, the nuts on the cat (as well as for most of the exhaust system!) came right off without drama. The shop manual says to drop the transmission for the EGR tube (OEM part readily available new, $160-ish), so even messing with that bolt was far preferable to doing a transmission R&R.   I have a couple other cars at home in the queue for transmission dropping (doing a clutch replacement on a Saab 9-3 followed by my vintage Saab 9000 in line after that for a gearbox replacement), so I don't need to drop any more transmissions than I have to. ;-)

Paul