SRK

Last winter I drove my son's 97 Honda Accord rather than risk the GS with worn summer tires. That Honda was remarkable in the snow, fully capable and safe. Rip roaring FWD, with Goodrich Radial TA all seasons. As much as I'm a highly qualified, hugely experienced, licensed professional driver for forty years, ( and modest) and would like to take credit for the Honda's abilities in the snow, I can't. It's a great little car in slippery conditions.

Thanks from me too for posting back. As I mentioned in my previous post, I advised that your mechanic check the coils, as I suspected a coil from the start of this thread. Apparently he was unable to do this. Find another mechanic and beware those who throw parts at a problem, rather than diagnosing things. For sure you didn't need new plugs, or a timing belt check for an intermittent coil problem. Good luck with it!

There are plenty of problems that do not set a code - hence the term "no-code diagnosis" - especially on a '93 model year car. Tell your mechanic to check the coils and see if he knows how to do that by output, or by resistance. And he won't need a manual -one coil can be compared to the other. If he can't do this, then find a mechanic, because he ain't one.

For a used tank $100.00 is far too much, if the new part is $238.00, which is actually a very fair price. You've identified the used part may fail as well, in the same way, which is true. It's not a part that the aftermarket would normally supply, and if they did, it would not be as high quality as the Toyota/Lexus part anyways. As to repairing, that's not an option, especially if you want reliability. Fiberglass cloth can be used with many different resins, polyester being the one used in boat building, and epoxy. Polyester is not an adhesive, and bonds best to itself, epoxy is an adhesive, but bonds only to certain materials. The tank is probably made from low density polyethylene or polypropylene, and neither will provide a bond to polyester or epoxy resin. Consider that the tank is pressurized and "bloats" up with every heating cycle, so a bond is difficult to achieve over time. Buy a new tank, solve the problem, rest easy.

It might be an idea to place some newspaper or similar under the car when you park it - even a sheet of plywood - to see if the leak is big enough to make a spot. I have found some shops will claim a leak when what's happening is a slow "wicking" of oil under the seal, enough to attract dirt, but do little else. Sounds like you have been doing routine oil changes and that nearly garantees long seal life. So you may be able to diagnose it yourself, and then make a decision.

If both cats are red hot, it's an ignition coil failure.

LOL! You must be my age - late 50's - because I called them the "Fuzz" when I was in high school too! Now I call them things the moderators wouldn't like...... My yellow Z0-6 sure gets their attention and to date I haven't got three gears in succession at full power 'cause around here they impound your car for racing. Glad you had fun!

Where did you take your automotive apprenticeship, at the Bermuda Triangle Vocational School?

You really went to town on the Italian tune-up! That contributed a lot to your test results. Well done and congrats!

Common problem. You don't have to replace the starter, only replace the solenoid contacts which burn and develop resistance. That part is cheap - $30.00 or so. The trick is getting to the starter, which involves removing the intake manifold.

That seems a bit high for a simple flush. Once on the hoist, 30 min. tops. A litre or two of fluid. Did they break down the labour and materials?

It's a scam device that has been around since WW2 at least. Never worked, doesn't now, and never will.

It is entirely true that pumping a master cylinder can damage the seals and destroy it. Brake fluid absorbs moisture, and that moisture will cause rust in cast iron master cylinders ( used for many years, even by Toyota) and as the pistons and seals travel a short distance only, that area remains clean. Further along the cylinder the rust occurs. When you open a bleeder screw, and depress the pedal all the way, the seals over-run the acculmulated rust, and very quickly destroy themselves. Lexus, and many other cars, now use aluminum master cylinders which don't accumulate rust, but can have aluminum oxide corrosion nonetheless. I've bled my LS and GS by pumping the pedal - no harm done. Which is good considering the GS cylinder is hugely expensive. But I would not do it on an iron cylinder. I made a pressure bleeder for the German cars I used to work on when I had my shop, and never pushed the pedal to the floor to bleed them. So it is a concern, even with these cars. But you shouldn't have any trouble. Open the bleeder wide, and use as little foot pressure as possible to move the pedal down. Do it slowly in both directions. I wouldn't rule out the Motive bleeder just because it applys air directly to the fluid. My invention did just that, using about 15 psi on the resevoir. Never mixed air. People make far too much about "tiny bubbles" in brake fluid. Even if they appear, they will find their way to the ports in the master and vent out themselves harmlessly.

No need to break the law - just get to the on-ramp, select second gear, start from a stop at full throttle and let it shift up to second. Here on the west coast in damp environments the tailpipes will spew liquid water and then steam when doing this if the car has not been driven hard. But the big thing is to pass a lot of rich, hot exhaust gases through the converter to make it work hard. It's temp goes up, and it cleans itself. The results of your last test were good enough but NOx and HC were a bit high. That's what converters do though, through an oxidation and then reduction reaction. Good luck.

Easy. If it needs spark plugs, install new ones - the factory recommended plugs. Then take the car for a brisk drive, and use full throttle several times for extended periods. The reason is that most cars use a very rich program at full throttle, in fact most go into open loop at full throttle, as they use a rich mixture at wide open. This heats the cats to clean them, and in doing so the cats will perform better during the test. That's really all you can do. I don't believe in the seafoam snake oil at all, or any additive other than Chevron Techron, which is approved by Bosch. But you don't even need that.

The early LS up to '92 used 15 inch wheels, but in '93 the brakes were enlarged and 16's were installed. So your '95 had 16's. Buy good quality tires for the wheels you have now, and make sure the car has had an accurate four wheel alignment. Going to a smaller wheel diameter is a retrograde step in every sense.

Hey Chief, how does a MAF problem affect the cat efficiency, and not also set a fuel trim code? I've never heard of this.

#4 gauge is usually the smallest found on cars. To my eye Lexus must use #2 or #1 gauge. #0 or #00 ( aught and double aught) are normally found on large diesels.

The fact that the trans is in gear in lever positions it shouldn't be, tells me you have a broken trans mount, or a couple of broken engine mounts. Revving the engine against a trans in gear, with out moving the car, will quickly heat the trans fluid and cause it to vent out. Check the linkage. It isn't the type of fluid causing this issue. And don't bother with manuals - you ain't fixing the insides of that trans yourself anyways, if that's what it turns out to be and I doubt it very much....

Ray, raising the issue of octane around here is extremely perilous. Far too perilous....

Not a sidewall break-in as such. Some claim that the tires need a few miles to wear off the mold release chemical which can make them a bit slippery at first. I don't know if it's true, but it makes some sense. Michelins have about the flimsiest feeling sidewalls of any tire, but I don't know if that's related to ride quality. I do know that BF Goodrich Euro TA's have very stiff sidewalls, and they ride horribly.

The tire pressure is determined by the vehicle, which for your car is more than likely around 30-32 psi, not by the max pressure listed on the sidewall. Hopefully you have been running the tires in the 30 psi range. If not, adjust them to that. Any tire at 44psi will ride hard. I can't imagine a tire at over 50 on a passenger car... The MXV4 would be my choice for a smooth riding tire - I know of no tire that is better in that regard.

Do you mean $300.00 for the whole job - re and re the starter, and overhaul it, parts and labour? The flat rate to re-re the starter is four hours alone. Parts have to be at least $150.00 - coolant, gaskets, starter parts etc.... If true that's the deal of the century. Good luck.

From your description, I wonder if the T-belt is correctly timed? Perhaps both of the sprockets are out one tooth. I've worked on more than a few other brands finding the T-belt off one tooth - they idle OK, seem to run acceptably, but have no power and and just "soggy" feeling. Given all you've done, it will cost very little to confirm correct cam/crank timing. SRK

That sounds a bit too cheap - the contacts are about $20.00 wholesale, brushes he might get aftermarket for about $10.00 and then labour added to that. Your starter doesn't have a Bendix drive - it has an over-running clutch, used on most starters for fifty years now. Last Bendix I saw was on a Ford flathead V-8 I had - a 1949.