swordfish

also check the big rubber strip seal that goes across back of engine bay and seals the rear of the hood against hot air from engine bay being sucked up into the fresh air intakes to your cabin cooling system. mine was missing, probably from a previous accident repair. cost about a 100 bucks oem and you can install in 10 mins yourself cheers

hey canada craig good to see you still got your LS! still got that performance problem under acceleration? swordfish

check the big rubber seal strip that goes across the rear of the engine bay just in front of your wipers. It seals the under hood area from expelling hot and oily air from under the hood getting sucked up into your fresh air inlets. It seals up against the rear of the hood when it is closed down. Mine was completely missing- likely left out after a previous accident repair. the faster you go the less hot air makes it into you vents. Dont take this as a reason to speed though! Just check your rubber strip and replace if missing or broken in places. Lift the hood up to inspect it. Good luck. it cost me 100 bucks in australia and i fitted it myself in 10 minutes, no tools required. cheers

i tire of telling the tale, but it is true, the Lexus LS 400 is a unique vehicle- the fact it is one of the quietest and smoothest cars ever made is due to the extensive and unbelievable lengths those 1400 Japanese engineers went to over the 8 or something years they developed the car. It is so smooth and quiet because the sound and vibration isolation techniques used were very sophistocated and cutting edge. Fact: vibration at 110kph = 70 mph on highway, in seats and body, not in steering, balance rear wheels to fix. note: balance very accurately- have been to experts at Goodyear shop and they say, " buddy the balance isnt out enough to cause a vibration, you must have another problem, bent rim or something" and i say, "thats ok, just go ahead and do the balance as accurate as you can" they say "ok but it wont do any good" Go onto highway, guess what ?? problem fixed. Reason: LS 400 is so smooth and quiet because suspension bushes and rubbers are very soft and complient to absorb all those running vibrations, a small out of balance wheel, tyre or tailshaft bearing and it blows the whole game. And as we see above, a exhaust Y pipe putting pressure on rear mount also causing a vibration drama. I have also had a rear trans mount collapse and that caused horrible ammounts of different vibrations and even if you revved engine in neutral the car would suddenly accelerate, because the clutch plates in the auto were vibrated into gear momentarily. All the moving masses: engine,transmission, suspension etc, they are like a finely pitched tuning fork, one touch at the wrong place and you cause a vibration trauma. everything must be in harmony. The point here is you cant diagnose these problems by saying " i had a subaru once and it did so and so" this car is unique and experiences with other makes do not necessarily count for much.

hey man where are these sensors?? what do i have to remove to get to them??

whats the benefit of ls430 over ls400? cant make up my mind. will i save any fuel?? swordfish

my repair is still going strong , couldnt live without cruise control!

hi guys 246,000 km down here on 92 ls400. done steer pump and rack recondition, plus starter recon, new fan hub, belts wires plugs and w pump. shocks are a bit soggy on the highway, as are the bushes in the rear uprights. Passengers always comment how quiet and smooth the car is. still have a low power problem over 4000rpm that drives me nuts. Am thinking wiring to cam and crank sensors could be the source. any thoughts??

will do, but it will be tomorrow now, its dark and raining here at the moment. the seal just clips on to the raised edge along the rear of the engine bay, no tools required, i did it in about 10 minutes, just make sure it goes up the right way, dont press it down on the clips till yu are sure you have it about the right way. swordfish

i just did it the easy way they show on lexls.com, put the breaker bar on and place it against floor and hit the starter quickly once, works a treat. swordfish

to check timing you only need to remove air cleaner and piping, wire covers on both cam covers and one spark plug at no. 1 cylinder. turn engine till a screw driver poked down no1 hole( right hand bank as looking into engine bay from the front) is at top dead centre( dont jam it against the sides) and then check timing marks on cam gears are aligned with marks on the backing plate behind them. Look at lexls.com tutorial for timing marks. Crank pulley should be at 0 mark as well. Doesnt matter where belt marks are as long as all above are lined up. cheers swordfish

hi there I had this problem and fixed it as follows: THere should be a big rubber seal goes across rear of engine bay to seal against underside rear of engine hood and top of engine compartment when hood is closed. Mine was not there. Probably lost after a accident repair, or became hard and someone took it off. It is like 4 foot long and 3-4 inches wide. If it is not there or is seroiusly deteriorated, hot air from the engine bay is sucked into your fresh air intakes which are under your windscreen wipers, as car goes along. Usually if you go faster highway speeds, enough cool air is sucked in you dont notice the heat so much. Also you can get oil fume smells as well. Jus t get a new seal, about $100 I paid in Australia as a genuine part, ex Japan. Put it on yourself in 5 minutes, happy days! swordfish if u are lost I can take pictures of it and post for you, let me know.

the squealers are the built in wear indicators. They are on front and rear brakes of LS400. It means you have to replace your pads pronto! swordfish

incorrect, it is not reverse thread. Go to lexls.com and loook at the tutorial for easiest way to do job. I did this and it worked a treat. cheers swordfish

hi craig and the rest of you guys, I have the acceleration problem after 4000rpm, and get about 15mpg (imperial , which is less in US gal) around town. Pure highway set on cruise gives about 27mpg, but i hardly do hwy, just mostly around town for work. My mechanic always thought it felt like timing was out, or not advancing. Ihave had static timing checked several times, and alll marks align as they should, with no. 1 piston on top dead centre. Since fitting the new genuine spark plug wires engine is much smoother, and a hot idle miss in gear has been cured, but power problem persists. It does drive superbly, until you try to accelerate hard. Overtaking on highway back roads where full throtte power is needed at speed is just dangerous and almost impossible, you have to back off and let it change up a gear and keep rpms below 4000 to accelerate. Have changed;;; belts, idlers, w/pump, fuel filter air filter, cats, exhaust from engine pipe back,wires, plugs, leads, rotors, caps, cleaned throttle body and injector and fuel sys cleaned. Lexus have done scans and found nothing, as have 2 other good mechanics. They say o2 sensors are fine, and tps, while worn, is still ok, temp sensor seems to work fine, starts on high idle cold, and ramps down as it should. any more ideas appreciated. :(