Sluggo

If you have no compression in one bank of cylinders (odd cylinders are on one side, evens are on the other) it's indeed possible that the camshaft is improperly synchronized to the crankshaft. The crankshaft and the camshaft have to work in perfect synchronization so that the valves open and close when they are supposed to. The thing that keeps them synchronized is the timing belt. The timing belt is cogged and engages on a gear on the end of the cam and crank shafts. If the belt "slips" one tooth on the gear it's enough to lose all compression. If it slips several teeth you can damage your engine, as the piston and valve try to occupy the same space at the same time. I don't think he's taking you for a ride. If the guy that did the original work did not set the tensioners correctly, the belt could easily have slipped. Count your blessings that it didn't slip more - the damage you can do to an engine with a misadjusted timing belt is truly awesome.

Ask your mechanic what he meant when he said the pump was okay. He may have been testing the pressure and bearings and thought nothing of the leak. I'd hate to think he could miss something like that, but you never know. The leak is often at the connection to the high-pressure hose, and replacing the hose can sometimes fix the problem without having to buy a new pump. Luck, mate.

"Rumbling" sounds like you might have some misfiring plugs or other ignition problems. Check your plugs, rotors, and coil/plug wires.

The bottom roller is passive - it's not driven by a motor. If a CD gets pulled in it gets pulled in by the top roller and the bottom roller just freewheels. If your bottom roller is not turning then you've got a stuck roller or it's so worn that there's no "pinch" (they're called pinch rollers).

I lost my alternator to a leaky PS pump. You don't want to let that go too long - the fluid can short out the alternator. Short-term you can just cover the alternator with something until you get the pump fixed.

About your 12-disk changer ... I posted here some time ago a procedure for cleaning the rollers on the 12-disk changer that solved the problems I was getting. It's not a guarantee that you are having the same problem, but it's worth a try, I suppose. Just search on my name/ My symptoms were a display that would read "ERROR" or "OPEN", and the disk would sometimes be stuck half-in and half-out of the magazine. Luck, Sluggo

Auto parts stores sell the replacement struts for about $25 each. I used Meguiar's #17 plastic polish on the lenses and they look as good as new.

Take a look at the hoses on your power steering pump (or is it the ABS pump?). In any case, one of those two may be dripping onto your alternator. This happened to my 92 SC400 and eventually shorted out the stator in the alternator. This problem is not uncommon in these cars. Cleaning and re-crimping the battery cables may also work if they are corroded near the battery.

Hi - I had my transmission mounts replaced at the dealer and it wasn't too expensive. Symptoms were a consistent vibration and associated noise that showed up when decelerating down from 30-20 mph. Haven't done the engine mounts yet, though they probably need it at 135k miles. sluggo

I was able to get my 12-disc changer working again by thoroughly cleaning the pinch rollers and treating them with Vinylex (like Armor-All, but safer for rubber). I was getting error messages as well, turns out the rollers were too dried up to grip the CD well enough to pull it in and push it back out. sluggo

Aye, very certain that the rears (and the door speakers, for that matter) are 4" units, as I replaced mine a few months back. The rear deck cutouts are large enough to accomodate up to 5.25" drivers easily and maybe 6.25" units - depends on the frame of the 6" and you may have to drill some new screw holes. It'll probably sound like the very best boom box you've ever heard. Good high end and midrange, with as much bass as it's possible to get from a 4" cone. The subwoofer already has it's own amp - it doesn't use the amp module that's under the CD changer. The sub amp is mounted on the rear deck near the sub. If your head unit has a seperate sub out or a full-range line out, you would connect that to the sub amp's input. If it only has powered outputs, take it to an installer shop and they can hook you up. sluggo

I would not try to connect the head unit to the amp directly. The head unit uses bridged outputs and the amp expects inputs with a common ground. An installation shop can wire it up that way, if you want, but it'll likely be noisier and may have reliability issues unless they put in some additional parts. Personally, I would use the head unit to drive the speakers directly. This page shows the amp output pins - your head unit could be wired to the amp harness to simplify matters some. http://www.intellexual.net/faq/lexusstereo.swf You will have very little bass without the sub. The midrange speakers are 4" cones and simply can't make much bass below 100 Hz. BTW, a MOSFET is a Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor. It's like a regular transistor but safer for high temperature applications, so head units and amps use them a lot. sluggo

That's a problem I found when I was looking for the source of a different problem: mildew smell on the driver's side (LHD) seatbelt. Somehow, water gets inside the rear body panel on that side and collects in the lowest spot in the car. I'm not sure how it gets in or why it only gets in on the driver's side, but I put a small bead of clear RTV along the plastic rear window trim and it seemed to get a lot better. The water may also be coming in around the sunroof seal, but I won't be sure until rainy season starts again here :) I fixed the mildew smell by blocking the water from dripping onto the belt. Duct tape uber alles. sluggo

There are some problems which seem to pop up pretty often. The most common include: - power steering hose drips onto alternator, shorting it out - transmission mounts - coolant overflow tank cracks - condensation inside the headlamps - AC / heater display going dark - gauge lights flickering / dead - water under rear seat causing some temporary electrical problems with stereo - CD changer woes on early models - steering wheel leather deteriorating This is actually all the problems I could think of. Of these, only the first two or three are something that even requires fixing. The rest are in the cosmetic/annoying category. IMHO, this is a damn short list for a 13 year old design. People moan (maybe rightfully so) over the price of Lexus parts and the labor charges at dealers, but when you look at the number of times you actually have to BUY parts/labor (in my case, once in 6 years), I can't think of a cheaper car to own. sluggo

My '92 400 has 135k miles and needs: - new rear seat headrest leather - new AC panel display - new overflow tank - valve adjustment - new steering wheel leather ... plus all the stuff I'd like to do to dress it up. I'm hanging onto mine because the drivetrain on these cars is pretty much bulletproof and will run forever. It started out as garage queen and has become a daily driver that's also fun to drive. Washed and waxed, it looks no more than 2 years old. What you do with it is entirely based on your needs and wants, but the SC seems to be a very reliable car, and I would say keeping one past 100k miles is as cheap or cheaper than keeping almost any other car past 100k miles. sluggo

With summer coming up, I'm thinking about the air conditioning system in my 92 SC400. It seems like on a hot (90+) day, I have to run the A/C on max or close to it just to keep my car comfortable. In my BMW, if I run it at max under those conditions I get frost on my nose. I don't know if my car is low on refrigerant or if the SC400 is just one of those cars with weaker AC. I know most of the Volvos I've been in have had poor AC, for instance. How would you all rate your AC? sluggo

Just an FYI - when the one rear 4" speaker went out I replaced the rear pair with some Infinity 4" 2-ways. They fit almost perfectly and sound quite a bit better than the stock units. The only fitment complication was that the OEM units use a somewhat wider stamping for the frame, and so there was about a 1/16" gap between the frame of the Infinitys and the OEM mounting ring. I used some latex caulk to fill the gap and waited a day before mounting. These speakers go for about $40/pair on ebay. sluggo

No skin off my nose, I'm not trying to sell the things - just letting people know what my experience has been. Although, to be honest, I don't see much of a difference in brightness in the hi-lites, just a big difference in color. Some additional pics ... sluggo

Here's a couple of shots of the lights. Stock is on passenger side, HIR on driver's side. I think the difference would be even more dramatic if my refractor glass wasn't so dirty on the bulb side. Just noticed that tonight, I don't usually look at my lights from the front of the car, lol. sluggo

I'll try to shoot some pics tonight with one side stock and one side HIR. sluggo

Open the radiator cap (when cool) and check the coolant level directly. Sounds silly, I know, but it's the first place to start. You should not have any cooling fins visible above the coolant. If the coolant level is low and the over flow tank is full, check the hose to the overflow tank and make sure it's not cracked or split. You may have a bad water temp sending unit. If you start the car and let it warm up at idle and the temp seems okay, drive around a bit, keeping an eye on the temp gauge. If it rises very quickly then you know it's probably the sending unit. I haven't seen too many water pumps that stop pumping unless there's not enough coolant to pump. If you're not leaking anywhere around the pump, I'd make it the last thing to suspect. sluggo

Short answer is no. The CD changer reads the CD, generates a stereo analog signal, then applies the frequency modulation (FM) for attachment to your antenna. All of this happens internal to the changer, so it's not going to work unless the changer happens to also provide line-level outputs (doubtful). The signal you want is in the changer, but getting to it is another matter. You would have to open up the changer and figure out where the inputs to the FM modulator are. You'd then have to bring those signals out of the case and make plugs for them. It would take someone with experience in this sort of thing to make it happen. sluggo

My site? I don't have a website. I was just linking to the info you asked for. If Candlepower says they don't work, it's news to me. I can only guess they say that because they don't sell them and/or because they're only approved for Dodge Viper applications. I can assure you they that they work very well in my SC400 and BMW 850 (after trimming one tab a bit). Thanks to Barkat for the additional info.

I was going to suggest vinegar as well. Maybe you could just fill the reservoir with vinegar (it's real cheap) and pump it through? Keep a towel over the jets so as not to spray your paint job - the vinegar won't hurt it but the schmutz it cleans out might.

They work by capturing the infrared spectrum of the light (which is what we feel as heat), and reflecting it back onto the filament. The filament thus gets hotter without requiring any more current from the car's lighting system. Hotter filament = more light output. And unlike the bulbs that burn hotter/brighter the conventional way (with more current) these actually keep the headlamp assemblies cooler. The bulb, instead of being cylindrical, has a spherical bulge around the filament. Looks like a snake that ate a rat. The bulge section is coated on the inside with a material that reflects the IR and focuses it on the filament. Light output on the low beams is 87% higher than standard, and the high beams are 50% higher than standard. A link with some photos: HIR bulbs I'm using them on my SC4 and my BMW. sluggo