RDM

Yes, and yes.

More than likely the axle carrier bushings, they're at the end of the long rod that runs front to back from the chassis to the rear upright. Mine are shot too, just haven't had a nice day to replace them yet. You can buy urethane replacements like the Adus 505 bushings, or the dealer sells a repair kit with new rubber ones. There's a writeup somewhere on lexls.com.

"You should be using ATF, automatic transmission fluid" what is the full name? let me try it, I usually just buy the regular power steering fluid, i didn't know it will have problems. what is a 'rack boot'? sorry for all these noob questions, thanks for your help. I really appreciate this. ATF is automatic transmission fluid. I don't know what full name you mean, there's no other way to call it anything else. There's no point going to get any now if the system is full of power steering fluid unless you plan to fully drain and flush it. Adding ATF on top won't do a thing. The rack boot is the rubber accordion looking piece on either end that slips over the tie rod.

This does not apply to the '95-2000 brakes, as they use a fixed caliper. Only the earlier model floating calipers need this to be addressed.

What kind of fluid is in it? That is the number one cause of issues, if you're running regular PS fluid, go ahead and replace the pump, flush the entire system, and refill with the correct fluid.

Well to begin with, if you're adding fluid, it's leaking somewhere. Fluid doesn't disappear. Secondly, if you're adding power steering fluid, no wonder you have problems. Toyota/Lexus power steering systems are NOT designed to use regular power steering fluid. You should be using ATF, automatic transmission fluid. A lot of Japanese cars are this way. The owner's manual clearly states that if you read it. So you have a leak, and you're using the wrong fluid. My guess is if a qualified mechanic can't find a leak, it's the steering rack seals that are leaking, I bet if you pulled a rack boot loose on one end you'd get a nice pouring out of fluid. The boot is sealed to the rack so when the inner seal leaks, the boot just fills up with fluid. Mine does this but it's a very slow leak, not enough to warrant pulling and replacing the rack. The leak has been caused by age and wear, but also due to the wrong fluid being used, as regular PS fluid doesn't have the same properties as ATF. It boils over sooner and faster, breaks down easier, and doesn't have additives to reduce varnish buildup. So pull one of the boots and see just how fluid is leaking, then decide if it's ready for a new rack. If so, go ahead and flush the entire system thoroughly and refill with the correct fluid.

I've seen a few salvage LS400s in yards with burned engines. What caused it, don't know. Any oil leak though is warrant enough to repair, and the valve covers are easy enough to pull. I did mine with the timing belt change two years ago, nothing difficult at all if you know your way under the hood. Do the spark plug tube gaskets and valve cover bolt gaskets too, they're usually sold as a set.

I doubt that's the problem. If it's pulling air into the system it has to be leaking fluid back out, there's very little possibility of one without the other. The o-ring on the bottom of the reservoir sits down into the pump, so there's little chance of it pulling in air anyway. Air bubbles are common when the system is bleeding itself, have you recently done any repairs or had the system opened at all? I'd drive a few more days and see if the air disperses before performing any disassembly.

I aim to please. Seriously though, my other car is a 240SX, I autocross it and run HPDE often, so I've spent quite a bit of money on it to make it competitive in legally sanctioned racing. That's the difference though, it began as a lightweight 2dr sports coupe and I race it legally with full safety equipment on real tracks. It's not a 4dr luxury car that I drive really fast on local expressways chasing Honda Civics. Street racing of any form, even on a deserted road, is just the stupidest thing a person can ever do, period. I see probably 20 new forum members a week with 240SXs wanting to be the next king of drifting, drag racing, or just plain cool. Just like this kid. They're all full of themselves, talk tough, and refuse to listen to common sense or good judgment. A good bit of them fizzle out after they realize their pipe dreams will never take place, the rest throw a JDM engine in their car, cut the springs in half, and race it into a ditch. Good riddance to all of them. The import sports car world gets enough bad press, let's not transition that into luxury cars.

A 2JZGTE with harness, ECU, and manual transmission cannot be had for less than $2000. That's being nice. I've seen some go as high as $5000. Now you still need to buy the clutch, pedals, driveshaft, etc to swap to a manual. So let's say being nice again you've got all your swap parts total for $6000. Now you have to get it installed. No offense here, but I don't see you doing it yourself. Even if you have a good friend who knows his way around a wrench, you're in for minimum another $1000 in misc. parts. So now with all this done you've managed to acquire another 70hp. From a heavier engine I might add. Awesome. Now that you've made a mediocre increase in power, you want more. Turbo, manifold, upgrade parts are going to run another $2000-3000. With this the car will now be pretty quick, but you're also making this power on a nearly 20yr old chassis with worn out parts. To safely put down that kind of power you need to upgrade even more. Brakes: The OE brakes on a 1st gen LS are not very good. With more power behind them you'll want to upgrade to 2nd gen or Supra brakes, if not a Brembo or bigger setup. $2000 more. Suspension: You've added coilovers. Wow, so it's dumped on blown bushings. To be able to handle well you'll need to replace and/or upgrade all of the remaining suspension parts. Ball joints, tie rod ends, bushings, etc. Since the LS isn't designed to ride extremely low you'll want either extended shank rod ends or custom spindles, as the angle of the tie rod when lowered introduces a ton of bumpsteer. Ikeya Formula in Japan makes full replacement parts with adjustable length, spherical bearings, all these parts run about $3000. Even if you go OE you're looking at $1000-1500 in new parts to bring it back to the OEM spec. Differential: The stock open diff can't put down that kind of power effectively. A Supra LSD with ring and pinion are said to work in the LS case, so get another $600-1000 out for that. That may not even be accurate, you might have to adapt other parts over or make custom parts. So now that you've gotten the car back up to spec and it can actually handle the power upgrades you've made, you want it to look good. You'd want to, right? Otherwise it's just an ugly, janky car that's really fast. So $5000 for aero, paint, and better wheels. Congratulations, you now have over $15,000 in a car that's worth on the books $3000 on it's best day. And the first time you drive it, because you're a know it all, you'll stuff it into the side of a canyon or worse, another car. Now you have lost four years worth of cooking fries at McDonalds and all you have to show for it is a stack of legal bills that is ten times what you could have ever spent on the car. There's nothing wrong with thinking outside the box. But you're so far out you can't even see the box. Like you, when I was your age I was a cocky little prick too. I thought I was so cool driving around in my first car like a fool until I netted three tickets in as many months. I thought I was the most hardcore, badass dude on the block. And if I had the internet then, I would have come on all tough and beat my chest just like you're doing now. I then realized though I was nothing more than a jackass behind the wheel and wised up. You should too. You're only digging a hole that you can never begin to get out of. Rebuttal?

I have a problem with poor typing skills because it makes the person typing appear to be an ignorant !Removed!. It's really hard to help someone with technical questions when you're certain they're too stupid to understand the answers. Going to a school in the ghetto has nothing to do with it, school is school, any decent educational system is able to teach at least the most basic English. Your excuse just tells us you didn't pay attention, didn't try, and don't care now. Still, I would give that diploma back, you clearly didn't deserve it. But let's move on.

If you're going to continue with this, please buy a dictionary or go back to high school and try again. I certainly hope you don't have a diploma, you don't deserve it. I've tried to read that gibberish above four times and I simply cannot decipher it at all. Maybe I'm just not ignorant enough, or maybe I took what I learned about common English and proper grammar to heart and actually heed it, either way your post looks like one big run-on sentence full of words from another language. All I can get out of it is you'd rather your car be really fast but unsafe, unable to control, and look like absolute garbage. Well, you've succeeded. Congratulations. As pointed out, you could have bought a 5spd BMW for the same price and had a much better platform to build on performance wise. True, there is a strong following of the 1UZ and people get a ton of power from that engine, but they usually put it into a smaller, lighter car. Gutting and stripping a nice, big four door luxury car just to make it faster it like taking a really beautiful girl and dressing her in rags and and painting her face with mud. You've taken something nice and ruined it. And for what? It's not like it's any faster or handles any better unless you've removed several hundreds pounds from it. You're better off driving without doors and bumpers if you want it really fast.

Clear packing tape. $1.89 roll at Home Depot. If you can't afford to replace the parts that wear/break from age and neglect, how do you plan on affording upgrade parts? These big plans you have in your head actually cost money, I don't see a 2JZ-GTE just falling in your lap for free. So what you're saying is, you're willing to blow money on something you don't really need, but you can't afford to replace the normal wear parts, like ball joints, tires, etc. Let me guess, you're under the age of 21?

No, I'm saying your horribly poor typing skills leave a lot to be desired. I cannot begin to read whatever it is you typed above and I'm really trying hard to do so. I guess I just can't comprehend gibberish. If you're old enough to drive a car you should have at least had a few English classes in school. If you failed them, maybe you should consider retaking them before you spend money on the clear packing tape to repair your broken lights. Just a thought.

I was going to suggest clear packing tape, but an even better idea is to just replace the broken lights. I guess that's not the cool way to do it though. I don't know what his last reply said since it wasn't in common English, but I think he referred to racing it somehow. I don't know, I can't read Ebonics.

My '92 LS and a '94 SC400 I did both had amazingly tight crank bolts. In fact, a 2.2L Camry I just did was the same way, seems Toyota has some magical impact wrench that goes to 600ft-lbs. On both of the Lexus cars I did I took one of the bolts out of the torque converter, then threaded a much longer one in so that it would hit the bottom of the engine when rotated, even one of those jobs the bolt bent a good bit before I broke the crank bolt loose. On the Camry I had the engine out and actually had to drop the oilpan and wedge a prybar into the crankshaft to keep it from turning, my impact couldn't touch it either. I've never had to go through that much trouble on any other vehicle I've ever worked on. I like the allen key idea a little better for the next one I end up doing.

If you delete the EGR completely and bypass the throttle body coolant passage it makes the removal a ton easier. I've done mine twice now (first rebuild was janky), the first time with it stock it took four hours, second time with that stuff eliminated it took 35 minutes (plus I had the experience). I know a lot of people don't like to delete emissions equipment, but it passes fine without it. My biggest issue was every clip and electrical plug broke apart when touched, so now all my injector plugs are ziptied down to prevent them coming loose. Lexus didn't put much thought into the amount of heat the 1UZ puts out, it cooks anything plastic/rubber under the hood. If you look at a JDM engine the coolant lines that loop from the back of the engine all the way around through the EGR, idle air, and throttle body aren't used fully, the coolant for the idle air motor comes from one side only, the entire driver side line isn't there. Small thing like that cut down on time because it's that much less stuff to disconnect.

Umm, ok. Why do you feel the need to X out the lighting? Are you mad at it?

The second generation LS uses a fixed caliper, those instructions above are useless. Remove wheel. Remove retaining clip, slide pad pins out. Gently compress the pistons in by prying on the pads a bit, the pads will lift right out. Compress all four pistons in by prying with a block of wood to keep from scratching the piston face or rotor, slide new pads in, reassemble. The caliper never has to come off the spindle. As soon as you look at it you'll clearly understand unless you're the type of person who eats glue for a living. A fixed caliper really is the easiest thing on Earth to work on.

And not all of them have the traction control either, it was an option, the majority of the 1st generation cars were sold without it. All it does is limit throttle application when wheelspin is detected, it's a very archaic design and does virtually nothing that a good driver couldn't do by just lifting off the throttle. Otherwise you're stuck with a typical open differential like most big cars are fitted with. VB- clearly you don't know the difference here. Go watch "My Cousin Vinny" again then drive your car uphill in the rain.

I've always tied in behind the radio for hardwiring devices, but you could also hit the key switch, the lower dash panel is easy to get off and gain access to the column harness. And don't assume color codes will match anything typical, 99% of manufacturers don't use the standard ME color codes like red for power, black for ground. In Toyota/Lexus cars, the grounds are white with a black stripe.

The bolt hole on the rotor should be an M10x1.25, Toyota generally sticks with the same thing and all the Lexus/Toyota brakes I've done in the past are that thread pitch. But if you're replacing the rotor it doesn't matter, just hit it harder with a bigger hammer.

It's as easy as you think. There's nothing else in the way, simply unbolt it, drop it, clean it up (if you're not replacing it), seal, and install. If you're buying a new pan it's even easier, no cleanup needed.

One screw is indeed behind the tweeter. The other two are behind the rubber weatherstripping on the outer edge of the door that seals it to the body. Gently pull it back near the mirror and you'll see the screw heads.

You can buy a pair of the upper arms for $199 from Arnott. True, trying to save your existing ones is less money, but a lot of people don't have the patience to drill their own joints for fittings. Even then, you're still faced with replacing the bushings too to get them back to OE spec, and with the cost of fittings, bushings, and labor time to do it all you're close to the 10 minutes it takes to swap in new arms. Not to bring your idea down, I'm a mechanic and applaud it. But how many other forum members do we have that even do their own work, much less pay a side shop to do it? Most of these guys from what I've seen are not the DIY types, they're the dealer only pay full price types. Nothing wrong with that either.