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RDM

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Everything posted by RDM

  1. That was too much to read through so I skimmed it all. Getting the alternator wet doesn't hurt a thing. If you submerge it, sure you'll have issues, but water intrusion is fine as long as it can drain out and dry. Water though is pointless to clean ATF since it's oil based. Your best option is to go buy two cans of carb cleaner from any auto parts store and spray everything, the entire area, heavily. They come with a straw to aim it better, reach in and soak the entire pump, hoses, lines, alternator, everything below it, anything that has fluid residue on it, use both cans. That will break down the oil and thoroughly clean it all back to OE spec. Then run water after that's dried a little, flushing everything well to get any debris or chunks of grit off. Let that dry for a few hours. Now you can easily find any leaks as there is nothing residual left over. You'll know the minute the leak begins where it's coming from.
  2. That's kind of gross - I don't think I could do it. +1 to both. Caps lock OFF. Biohazard cars are not fun to tear into.
  3. 90-94, same part.
  4. Seriously? It's the same engine, why would it be different?
  5. I'm really confused as to how this has gone on for five pages. The valve unscrews from the bottom of the pump really easily, I removed mine with the pump in the car, bolted to the engine, then threaded the plug right back in. It's not enough room to climb in and have lunch, but I have reasonably big hands and had no problem doing it. The valve cover gaskets are equally easy as well, they're both fully accessible from the top, only the intake tube needs to be removed from the passenger side. Replace the spark plug tube seals and valve cover securing bolt washers too while you're in there, they dry out from the extreme heat just as quickly. Next, you mentioned a dim brake warning light. Unplug the fluid level indicator on the brake master cylinder for a few days to see if it quits. Mine did the same thing, it would flicker, light dimly, stay on, all kinds of things, the fluid level sensor is bad. I unplugged it for now, I maintain my car well so I'll know when it gets low, it's easy to just peak in and view it once in a while without seeing the light come on all the time. I think you're letting it get to you without really thinking a clear plan of attack first. Calm down, take a breath. It's a big engine in a tight space but everything is relatively easy on this car to do, and it's built better than anything GM could ever roll off the line. True, parts are expensive, but gaskets and tune up stuff can be bought aftermarket and everything is laid out to make it serviceable to a point. And while I agree a Camry or Accord has an easier to service engine, I doubt either of your cars ran that mileage without leaks. You may not have seen them, but I've never worked on a car with mileage over 100k that wasn't leaking somewhere, even a little. Rear main seals begin to leak on virtually every car built at some point but you'll never see the leak as the oil is contained within the bellhousing. An '85 Buick Century? Come on man, would you really enjoy replacing alternators monthly? The old 2.8L V6 is notorious for eating alternators like they're candy, I knew a guy who kept a spare one with tools and a belt in his '87 Celebrity he got so used to changing it. You have a very good car, you just need to realize nothing lasts forever. If the previous owner neglected things on it, it's now in your lap. No car is free from some issues, no matter how good it is.
  6. True, and I've seen cars like that fixed a lot, but it was because they were new and the insurance wasn't ready to write it off yet. I wouldn't want a car that had that much work done, no matter how skilled the repairman is, and I certainly wouldn't keep a nearly 20yr old car that would require that kind of work. The repairs on this car are easily double what it's even worth. If some guy is going to do favors and cut cost, cool, but cutting cost also means cutting corners.
  7. Haven't used my fogs in a while, turned them on today and nothing. There's no power at the lights directly but the fuse is hot on both sides, I plan to do more tomorrow in the daylight but wondered if anyone knew of a common issue before I pull the fusebox assembly and hunt the relay. And please don't ask stupid questions like "are your highbeams on?" or, "is the switch on?" I know how they work. They just no longer do it.
  8. Agreed. No one said it couldn't be repaired, but for the amount of time, effort, money, it's pointless. A competent body man would want a serious favor to even begin pulling that thing straight, and you'd need to owe him for life afterwards. Anyone else is just going to a horrible job.
  9. To answer the question though, the front tubes terminate behind the fenders, just in front of the door hinges. The rear tubes end in the quarter panels in the trunk, just behind the bumper. You can remove the trunk interior side panels and view them easily.
  10. K40 remote radar detector power/volume switch. It was a dealer option on a lot of early generation LSs, you should have two warning lights in the dash as well marked FRONT RADAR and REAR RADAR.
  11. Arnott Air Suspension is a very good company, I've dealt with their parts on other cars and had no issues.
  12. Even if the damage was half that it'd be a total, Lexus parts aren't cheap and quarter panel labor is murder. Part it out, make a few bucks, buy a cheaper car so that next time you crash it you're not out so much money. Because as you've proven, you will wreck again.
  13. Huh? It's a 1993 LS400. They can be found at auction for $800-1000 all day long, good condition ones sell for no more than $4000-4500. They're cheap cars. To the OP, you need to take a driving course. Or a few even.
  14. Definitely a loose screw between the seat and the steering wheel.
  15. Thread a screw into the broken nipple on the intake pipe. Seal it with RTV first.
  16. I have a hydraulic supply store close to me, you should have one too locally. Take the switch in and just have them match the thread pitch. I won't say for certain but it seems like it was an M12x1.75, it's basically just a threaded plug with a hex head on it, they also had an allen head I think. Remember to seal it with RTV well so it won't leak.
  17. Thats good to know because the ppl ive been talking too are all saying its an extra 1000$ or more for shocks and springs and lowering and all... Spending only 300$ on the Tanabe DFs seems just right to me, How much was your car lowered? Is this "stretching" safE? do others do that too? thanks a mill guys! $1000? For what? I bought the DF210s for $190 online and a full set of GR2s for like $230 on Ebay. It's a very good idea to replace the shocks as your OE ones are probably worn out anyway, plus a lot of stock shocks don't work so well with lowering springs, they like to ride the bumpstops or bottom out, especially when worn out. When you factor in the labor (it's not hard but beginners will feel daunted) why do it twice? Swap both at the same time and you're done for another 60-80k miles. Stretching tires has been around for decades, it's just not as common in the US until recently. The only drawback is you run the risk of curb rash to the wheel lip as it's not protected by the tire's sidewall, but if you don't drive like a moron you're fine. My other car sits on 225/40s on a 9" wide rim, it's done to fit the wheel well properly and avoid rubbing. Fits/looks fine and allows for a lower drop on coilovers.
  18. If pressed to keep EGR, all you do is swap the upper intake plenum, and bolt the EGR pipe on. Nothing else is required. There seems to be a lot of confusion here as to the JDM engines being heavily different, they're not.
  19. Why not? JDM motors are just as readily available, usually have less mileage, and are considerably cleaner overall inside. If you're buying a 220k mile US engine you're looking at a good overhaul and cleaning before installing it unless you just don't care. A JDM engine will have 1/4 the miles and wear on it. The only thing you'd need to do to make it visually emissions legal is swap the intake manifold, which should be hot tanked and cleaned anyway while it's off, so there's no effort there. If not, it passes emissions fine in any state with just the catalytic converters in place. I know of three importers locally who each have three or four of these things. They're just as easy to track down as a clean US engine.
  20. I dealt with this right after buying my '92 and can lend a lot of points, don't know how I missed this thread. Mine was leaking too and the nipple on the intake tube was broken off just like yours. I ran a screw into the hole covered in RTV temporarily which sealed it up until I could build a new intake tube, capped the one on the plenum, and removed both lines completely. This eliminated the ATF suction into the intake, but not the leak. Soon after the pump went out anyway, turns out the original owner had filled it up with regular PS fluid so I bought a reman pump for $129 at Advance, during install I remove the vacuum idle up switch and bought a pipe plug the correct pitch, sealed it with RTV, and completely deleted the switch altogether. Flushed and refilled it with ATF and it's been perfect ever since. The car drives completely fine without it, on Nissan cars they use an electrical switch and I've deleted those in the past on numerous cars I've worked on due to leakage, the only change is the idle drops about 100rpm when the steering is at full lock, but how often do you drive at full lock? Maybe .0001% of the time. You'll never notice it gone. After I did my timing belt I had the intake manifold, plenum, and throttle body all hot tanked to clean out the years of soot and gunk as well as having all the extra vacuum ports, included the one pointing out that used to go to the pump, welded closed. I prefer this as vacuum caps can become brittle just like hoses do, especially with the underhood heat the LS puts off. If you can't go that route, a bolt/screw of a larger pitch can be threaded into the port or you can pull the port out (it's just pressed in) and thread something into the aluminum casting of the plenum. The difference after that was very noticeable as they entire intake tract was now clean for once in maybe 120k miles. While I don't suggest you do all those steps, removing the switch and plugging it will solve your leak and not affect the engine one bit. It's also two less hoses to continually check on over the next several years.
  21. The LS has two igniters and two coils. If you don't have spark at either coil, check power and signal to the igniters. You may have a wiring/ECU issue if both igniters are out as it's rare for them to go bad, especially both of them, and when they do it's uncommon they'll work erratically.
  22. A lot of it depends on tire size. I currently run an 18" LS430 wheel but with a 245/45-18 tire from a Maxima, the sidewall height causes it to rub on the inner liners (car is lowered on DF210s and GR2s). A 40series tire would clear fine, I just don't need new tires yet. What size is your tire? Going to a lower profile will give you more clearance without the need to downsize the wheel. Also, what offset are the wheels? A lower offset will set the wheel farther out, putting it closer to the fender lip.
  23. Doesn't matter, the majority of importers supply the harness and ECU with the engine. Even if they don't, the JDM engine's differences are emissions related, no EGR, VSV, and associated items. You can easily remove all these on a US engine anyway so there's nothing to make the swap any harder. I looked at several JDM 1UZs locally when I was planning an upgrade on my own car, the majority of the wiring is identical. The most important thing to look for is the lower mileage, mainly because the harness won't be charbroiled as badly and all the clips won't break when removing them. You'll also find a JDM engine is a little cleaner without the EGR system, the plenums on some of them aren't coated black like a US engine would be.
  24. Sounds like the driver side key cylinder is damaged, or the switch itself is broken or worn. You can pull the door panel and inspect it from inside but you may have to completely pull the cylinder and handle to really know for sure.
  25. Late getting back to this, sorry to hear for those ordering the Adus parts that they're no longer available through mybushings.com. Armstrong Distributors (some random company I found searching) shows them, but they don't have any online ordering capability. I've emailed them to see how to order or what's required. Funny thing is Adus doesn't have a website or any company information online. Several places sell their bushings for numerous vehicles, but mybushings.com was the first place to offer the engine/transmission mounts. I had no clue they were available until finding them on there. Otherwise you could just contact them directly, but that's not the case here.
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