Just hanging on

I had my 1991 Taurus tranny power flushed for the first time when the car had 91,000 on the clock. 2,500 miles later the tranny blew and it cost me $2,400 to get it repaired. I traded the Taurus after it was repaired and got $1,900 trade in on the car. I'd say if you have that many miles on your car, DO NOT HAVE A POWER FLUSH TRANNY OIL CHANGE.!

A complete fluid drain by gravity is problematic because of the fluid contained in the torque converter. Unless the engine is running the oil in the converter cannot drain as well as oil contained in servos and fluid passages. At present we're limited to oil change parlors that offer a power flush (T-Tech) to get a complete oil change.

Suspect a worn bush in the front suspension if your noise is coming from the front, maybe the upper control arm ball joints. Easy to check , just raise and remove the front wheels and put a pry bar between the upper control arm and the steering spindle and work it up and down to judge free play (wear). Pretty easy to correct by just popping out the upper ball joint and removing the bolts in the inner mounts of the upper control arm and removing it . A replacement control arm/ball joint assembly will correct the loose, noisy condition in this area. This can be accomplished without removing the strut or spring. It's best to replace these in pairs (both right and left) even if only one is badly worn and doing a four wheel alignment.

Suspect a faulty sensor, they're usually the culprit when wiring, etc. has been eliminated.

You might try e-bay, I just did an internet search and was sent to an e-bay site that has xenon HID lamps for 1st gen Lexus ls 400. Good luck Just hanging out

Banshee365 makes an excellent point. NEVER upsize a fuse because fuses are sized by engineers to protect your vehicle's wiring, not the devices connected to the wiring. If there's an electrial short and the fuse has been upsized, your wiring is in danger of melting it's insulation and starting a fire some place in the vehicle.

This is a great explanation of timing belt replacement!!

Sounds like your Lex might have experienced a "transient" failure in the emissions system. Transients will hit the MIL light and then go away. "Hard Codes" will illuminate the MIL and won't go away unless deleted by a scan tool.

Speaking as a retired ASE Master Auto Tech, I say that you never go wrong with OEM parts, so when in doubt go OEM.

Could it be the "HEATER fan??

Sounds suspiciously like a squeaking drive belt. Before I'd invest in anything else, I'd try some belt dressing from your local auto parts store.

No clue as to what it is but I agree with the previous respondent who said not to take the car on any kind of long road trip. It's hard to accurately diagnose noise sources without having one's head under the hood in real time and it's sometimes difficult even then. This one's LOUD. Let us know what you find and good luck.

My mistake I thought the water pump had an extended shaft and pulley off of the serpentine belt for drive. That’s why I didn't understand the damage to the TB. So now I have to revise my priority of engineering blunders on this car. I had previously ranked the starter motor (an electromechanical component prone to fail) buried underneath the intake manifold as the dumbest design flaw. I have to say burying a water pump underneath an already overly complicated progressive assembly of the TB was a close second. Now I better understand the TB also drives the water pump and past the early 2000’s this became an interference engine, this now tops my list of design blunders. I somewhat agree but this arrangement of the timing belt driving the water pump is widely used across many engine designs. It's not exclusively a Lexus design. It's repair industry practice to replace the water pump at every timing belt replacement, if that practice is followed, one should never have a water pump issue.

If you still want to SCAN TOOL the data port, just go by an AutoZone store, they'll do it for free!!

Hopefully you already know it's not as simple as just topping up you system with a can of R134 from Walmart. You will have to do a conversion to R134 which may be more trouble than going to a registered guy and have him top up the R12. I thought there was more to it. I thought a different drier was needed for R134. Also that the system had to be flushed with some type of solvent to remove the old oil (R12 compatible) as that oil isn't compatible with R134. Furthermore I thought you had to run system on a vacuum pump to draw out any air and humidity before recharging it. I'm not an AC guy maybe someone more knowledgeable in these areas can chime in. If its just changing a couple of fitting and filling it with R134 charge then that sounds pretty straight forward. There are many reasons why your A/C system may not be cooling the car well. Low (or too much) refrigerant is just one. No, you absolutely can not add R-134a to R-12. The conversion to a reliable, durable R-134a system is not simple. But you can add R-406a to an R-12 (Freon) system as a drop-in replacement. It isn't really hard to do but you will require a license even to do your own car's work. They aren't difficult to obtain. But you should really get an accurate diagnosis first...several opinions...from A/C specialty shops. I would advise you to read about A/C systems and learn as much as you can so that the questions you ask your tech. are sensible. You're less likely to be cheated that way. Guess that's a general truth in life, for better or worse. Oh, Freon isn't always as expensive as it used to be because there is relatively little demand for it any more. Would always avoid the stuff from Mexico, which I'm told is often not R-12.

Water weighs two pounds per gallon more than gasoline, hence any water in the tank should be on the bottom of the tank.

Also consider that the road speed indicated by the Garmin GPS is not exact but an approximation. I've had three different Garmin GPS devices and none have been advertised to be perfect.

I am not an ASE certified master auto tech, never was, because I started my auto mechanic career in the 50's, 20 years before they came on the scene in 1972, by then I had my own 7 stall garage in Richardson, Texas. I retired in '96 and my shop had a low ceiling so we used floor jacks and jack stands ALL the time with NEVER a mishap or injury. So I am a believer in jack stands. My son in law gave me a pair of ramps but my 400 just pushed them along so I sold them and went back to my stands..... I like being able to scoot around under the car without the ramps... just my 2 cents.. Hey, billydpowell, I too began my career in auto service in the 1950's, my dad owned a Shell station and did all types of auto repair. We repaired anything that came to the door, nothing was turned away. (we didn't do body repair) I was 64 (1999) when I got my ASE Master certification and I'm now long retired and nearing my mid 70's. I still have an interest in what's going on in the business but because of nagging arthritis I am no longer able to do anything of any note but I love to look over the shoulder of the young guns who can still do the work. I see you were in Richardson, TX in 1972. I lived in Arlington, TX for a while between 1968 and 1971 when I was a Manufacturing Engineer with LTV Aerospace. The wife and I really enjoyed our stay in Big D.

I'm a longtime ASE certfied Master Auto Tech and I only use a three ton floor jack that I can roll to whatever point I want to raise. And ALWAYS add a high quality jack stand when I'm under the vehicle. I share the sentiments on ramps, unless they can be secured to the floor..., they will scoot out from under the wheel when one attempts to mount them.

Guys, I worked quality control in two different GM assembly plants (BOP and Chevrolet) way back when and even in the 1950's and 1960's GM parts came from many non-GM fabrication plants around the country and globe. Even two assembly plants building identical model vehicles might have received the same parts made by different non-GM fabricators. Parts like hoses and body cushions, drive belts, batteries, steering wheels dash pads brake pedal pads and on and on ad-nauseum are made by non GM fabricators. I must agree though that the use of world wide suppliers has likely expanded in recent years. The fabrication of the myriad of parts necessary to build a vehicle boggles the mind, no assembly plant could possibly do all its fabrication and subsequent assembly. Henry Ford tried it in the early part of the 20th century and failed.