Just hanging on

I wouldn't let a shop do a power flush on your car. If you aren't going to do it yourself just stick with a Toyota dealer. Stay far away from jiffy-lube type places with your LS, regardless of the age. They'll top off you power steering with power steering fluid, flush with Mercon fluid and put some trashy oil filter on it. Is your transmission causing you any problems? I'll suggest you something that's easier than an oil change if you do your own oil changes, which I highly recommend. Just drain your tranmission pan and refill during every oil change, which I do every 7,500 mi with synthetic oil. I don't recall the exact number of quarts but it's a few. It's better than nothing. It will at least give you piece of mind that you're getting some of the old ATF replaced with new. Make sure to use ONLY TOYOTA TYPE-IV FLUID.

Some people will swear not to flush ATF in older cars if the transmission is working fine because they think that flushing it removes metal particles that the trans is depending on for friction and will cause it to slip. I've flushed a 1996 Taurus with over 100k myself that had the original ATF in it and the trans felt better afterward. I didn't not do a power flush, however. I have flushed my 1996 with 200k by removing the line into the radiator and letting it fill up a bucket while pouring in new Type-IV to replace it. I had more piece of mind by doing that, the trans runs great, but it didn't give me any problems before.

If I was in your shoes somewhat unsure of what to do and wanted an easy and cheap way to get a little bit of piece of mind about your transmission I would just drain the pan every oil change for a while and refill with Type-IV and know that you're at least better off then you were before. That will at least get some new fluid in there with the full strength, new additives to keep the seals pliable and such.

-Kelly

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.!

For those who do the drain 2 quarts then top up with fresh and repeat a few days later.

Here is the graph of fresh transmission oil as a % of total. Since each drain you are taking away some fresh fluid it becomes a case of diminishing returns. It takes 12 quarts to get 80% clean fluid (or 20% old fluid). Similarly it takes 18 quarts to get to 90% fresh. Still better than leaving it 100% old fluid. I wonder why transmissions don't have a better scheme to drain them. With all the technology in a modern Automatic Transmission some way to let most of the fluid gravity drain (when powered off) doesn't seem that daunting.

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.

I noticed this a month or so ago -- some days it's louder than others, but the one thing I can say for sure is that the problem is not going away. It's a loud creaking (or sometimes not so loud) noise on turns. Sometimes it sounds like a "pop". Pop and creaking about sums it up. I haven't tested out if it happens on both right and left turns, but I believe it does. What could be causing this?

My mechanic is a good hour's drive away. I am concerned that I waited too long and the car may no longer be safe to drive on the freeway to get to him. Is the axle going to fall off? I don't hear much if I am driving straight ahead. I notice it more at low, around town driving where I have the window down and can hear the creaks on slow turns. Thanks in advance for any input, suggestions.

Whatever it is, I am looking for the cheapest fix (i.e., can I replace a bearing or a bushing, not the whole part).

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.

Guys, I am getting the dreaded P0340 code. My car (96-ls400) would start and then the RPMS would go to 2000 then 1000 back and forth several times and after few seconds it will die. same thing when I restart.

If i give throttle, the engine will not die but The car shudders and the rpms still keep on going up and down. eventually if I let the throttle down the engine will die.

Here is what I have done till now.

a) traced wires for shorts. They checked out ok.

B) Tested resistances for both camshaft sensors and the crankshaft sensor, all came out to be within the right specs.

c) tested ignition coil resistances, came out to be within the right specs.

Do you think my timing is off?.

My car was running perfectly, this only started with the below 20F tempratures we are getting in Florida. do you guys still think it is the sensors going haywire because of the cold?

Help definately needed from the gurus out there. Please Help. Thank's!!!!!! :)

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

Well guys i'm tired of the weak headlights of the first generation ls and i was wondering if i can upgrade to these silverstars or these other brand of headlights. I dont want to get HID's i know they will not work with the stock headlight's, and i dont' want to buy a whole new assembly. TIA

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

If you didn't know to check the fuse I think you should know something. If you find that the fuse is blown, and it blows an exact replacement again. That doesn't mean that installing a bigger fuse fixes the problem. If the fuse keeps blowing there is probably a short or something in the receptical somewhere. I had the same problem and I noticed little pieces of metal down in the receptical that came from a broken accessory and they were causing the fuse to blow by shorting the circuit. Exactly why the fuse is there.

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.

With 94k miles on the clock and 11 years of service, I decided to retire the old timing belt and water pump along with pulleys, tensioner and thermostat. It took me about 10 hours to disassemble and about 8 hours to assemble. Not to mention the countless hours researching everything. Now that I know, I could easily cut that time in half. I took lots of pictures along the way and put together a little tutorial for the 98 LS400.

The 98 does not have distributors or high voltage wires like the first gen. so that is a major difference and there are other smaller changes.

Total cost for parts was around $450 with all Toyota OEM parts (got them at the dealer).

My old belt was definitely getting tired but of course could have gone longer. How much is anyone's guess.

I have included a photo of it for those interested. Of particular interest to me was the fraying threads around what looks to be an assembly seam.

And there was a lot of belt "dust" all over the place. Material shaved off the old belt. The belt markings were completely gone with a shiny gloss to the

backside.

The old girl runs fine now. No different than before but now she's got new innards.

This job is tough but not terrible. Do a lot of studying before attempting and you will do fine. However, it is not for the beginner or faint of heart, thats for sure.

I have two links to the tutorials. One is for removal and one for installation of new parts.

If you have any questions, let me know. I have tried to point out some of the "stickier...maybe trickier" aspects of the job.

Hope it helps.

Removal -> http://www.flickr.com/photos/landar/sets/72157622883357340/

Install -> http://www.flickr.com/photos/landar/sets/72157622886015670/

This is a great explanation of timing belt replacement!!

On my drive home from work this evening when on the highway, my check engine light illuminated! It stayed on steady. The light stayed on, but the car is running better than ever now. To recap, I had the throttle body cleaned two days ago and the car runs so much better. Not sure if the issue is connected or not. I did disconnect the battery, restarted and it didnt come back on. I am wondering if it was just needed to be reset or something?

If it comes back on, can somewhere like Advance or Autozone read the codes on these cars?

Naturally this would happen three days before I likely had it sold! <_<

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.

Hey what are the best brakes to purchase for my car guys?

I need front brakes.

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.

There is the link for everyone else. Did you ever figure out what the problem was?

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.

The serpentine belt has nothing to do with the water pump. Nothing. The serpentine belt drives the alternator, PS pump, A/C, and the clutch fan. The water pump is driven directly by the timing belt. Why would creating a 'weaker' serpentine belt do anything? That's like saying they should create a weaker tire so when the shock blows out, the tire gives way. Two completely unrelated things.

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!!

I, myself am not an A/C guy but someone suggested it to me and I tried it and it worked....On my LS though, I had a garage do it and Im sure they used a vacuum pump to evacuate the system.. but the conversion only cost me about 80 bux so I dont think that it was that involved, versus over 200 bux just to add R12. They told me they had to evacuate the system even to just add R12. They say the R134 is not as cold as R12 but I live in South Florida and it keeps me nice and cold!!!! B.

The rules might have changed but back in 2000 when I got my license to handle Freon, no license was required to service your own vehicle. However, if you're doing A/C work on others vehicles for pay, you must have a license. One also is required to have a license to legally purchase Freon.

There are as many theories on how to convert from Freon 12 to R134 as there are stars in the sky. There's no consensus even among technicians as to the one correct method. I've heard from techs, whom I believe, who say they have successfully simply refilled R12 systems with R 134 and they worked perfectly. I'm not advocating this method, Im just sayin"....

I have a 91 LS 400 and had it retrofitted to use the R134 for I think 80 bux including the freon or you can do it yourself by buying the kit at Wally World for 32 bux (its only the fittings you have to change) and a few cans of freon (R134) @ about 4 bux a can, the cans come with the necessary oil for the conversion...I did my other car myself and didnt have to evacuate the system because it was totally empty.. If it had any R12 left I would have just released it from the system.. Not environmentally correct but it works!!!! B.

Hello I recently purchased a 92 ls400 with 147k miles on it. Seems to be in really good shape considering the age. .....

Sometime I will need to get the AC recharged as it is not blowing cold enough...i know R12 is a pain. Not sure what i will do. My brother said r-134 wouldnt really hurt it....

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.

I'd say before spending the money on a mechanic to look at it, try a $5 bottle of Seafoam from any autoparts store first. Maybe there is water in the tank that is sitting on top of the fuel. As the fuel gets low, the water is getting pulled into the system. Seafoam will fix that, and will also clean out the system of crud build up. I'd pour in the Seafoam, and then fill up the tank to about 50-60%, leaving you with a higher concentration of Seafoam/gas mixture. It's $5 bucks, that could possibly save you a few hundred! ;)

I would think that if there were dirt and such in the tank, it would always be at the bottom of the tank near the pump, and you'd probably have a clogged filter by now. The fact that this happens when the fuel gets low, makes me think it's something capable of floating on top of the gas....which is what water does.

In fact, after rereading your post again, I'm almost certain you've got water in the tank. What you describe happening, is EXACTLY what happens to boats, which get water in their tanks all the time!

PS: I note you're in Austin, TX, and you've had the car for about a year. Did you run carfax when you bought it to make sure it wasn't damaged by any of the hurricanes of the past few years? If you've got a lot of water in there (1/8-1/4 tank), then this might be something to look into?

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'm a longtime ASE certified 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.

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.

I would like to add to what Bill said about OEM parts. We purchase OEM parts on a regular basis and most parts are made by different suppliers and not the car manufacturer.

You would think that GM cars sold in America use American made parts. Think again. We get OEM parts in that were made all over the world, Canada, Mexico, China, you name it. They are OEM parts but GM did not make them.

The factories where cars are made are just assembly plants. They just assemble the parts together here and paint them. Most of the parts are shipped in from suppliers.

The same goes with almost every car manufacturer. I was working on a Nissan Altima yesterday and on the engine it was stamped, "Made In Mexico".

There is no telling where the car manufacturers get their parts from. It's not like it used to be.

I used to be a GM person. Loved Chevrolet. Wanted to support American people by buying American products. Well, that's out the window. Now I just go for reliability regardless of where the car is made or where the parts come from. Japanese, German and American cars are made in the United States with parts coming in from all over the world. When it comes to cars, it is very difficult to try to support American people by buying American products.

Regardless of what brand of vehicle you buy, the parts are being made all across the globe. If you can find the supplier that supplies the manufacturer, then I don't see any problem buying that part regardless of what the label says.

I purchased aftermarket motor mounts and a transmission mount several weeks ago and they had the OEM part number stamped into them which tells me that this company supplies the manufacturer with the OEM part. Lexus did not make the motor mounts. They paid a supplier to make the motor mounts for them to their specifications. This same supplier sells to aftermarket companies. Same product, different label.

The same goes for many appliance manufacturers. Even though many brands of manufacturers sell a standalone ice maker, only Whirlpool actually builds them. When I built my house I bought a Kitchen Aid ice maker, but it was built by Whirlpool just like all the rest of them.

So who makes the best ice maker? They are all the same, made by Whirlpool, just different labels.

So buying OEM/aftermarket parts can be an iffy proposition. You can actually by OEM parts under a different label but made by the same manufacturer that supplied the car manufacturer.

BUT by buying the parts from the dealer, you can be absolutely sure that the part was made to OEM specs. You might pay more, but this way you can be absolutely sure without the guesswork.

Jerry

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.