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Alright, I think I had it figured out. I think it was either the distributor rotar or the air filter that causes the cat to glow bright red. One of the original rotar has several chipped on the outside edges so I replaced it with a new one bought from Carquest. After swapping the new rotar with the old one and removed the air filter which was very dirty, the car ran fine. I took it around the block couple times and no more red hot cat. I'm thinking that either the new rotar was not charging or the air filter is to dirty and the engine is not getting enough air. Anyway, I'm so glad that it's finally working the way it should now. Thanks for all your helps.

The coolant are green. Just those regular one that says for all type of cars. Got it from WalMart. The temperature gauge stays normal after the drive. However, I did hear a loud puff from the engine when I started the car for the first time after charging the battery, but the car startup alright. After that the car starts fine each time and sounds pretty normal. Could it be that when I cranked the crankshaft, some fuel might have leak into the cat converter? I was careful when putting everything back together and didn't seem like anything was damaged, but I could be wrong. I suppose I have to set aside a couple hours just so that I can tear it down and check everything over again. But what should I be looking for on the spark plug that would tell me whether it's good or bad? Also some people had mention about he ignition coil and fuel injector. How would I be able to determine if its bad? I don't really want to buy a replacement for it just to find out that it's not the problem. Thanks a million to all of you.

Finally got the car to start after borrowing a friend's battery charger and charge it over night. Glad it was not the starter. However, a new problem exist. After getting the car started, I took it for a drive around the block and back. When I parked on the drive way, I can see smokes were coming from underneath. I took a look and the Catalytic Converter was BRIGHT RED HOT like a charcoal. I can hear popcorn popping all over from the cat converter to the tail pipe. So what was causing it to glow? I see that a few people have had this same problem before, and the suggestions were ignition coil, get a new cat, air intake, spark plugs, fuel injector and filter, distributor and cab. But what about the coolant system? Does flushing the coolant has anything to do with it? The car has 157K miles on it and I don't think the previous owner had the coolant flushed before, so I decided to flush the coolant when I was working on it. Could this be the source of the glowing cat converter? If it is, how would I resolve the issue? I want to rule this out before doing trial and error on the others. PLEASE HELP... THANKS.

Flanker271, Thanks for the advice. Lets hope that the problem is the battery and not the starter. I can't see why it would be the starter when it was starting just fine before I tear the engine apart. Maybe you are right. My lexus ls400 is a V8 and it has a much bigger battery than my Honda Oddessy which is only a V6. The Oddessy may not have enough juice to jump start the lexus. I will have my cousine bring in his Tundra which is also a V8 and will try to jump start it later today.

Hello everyone, I have a 92 Lexus LS400 which I bought two years ago. At first it was running great and I loved it. But then came the timing belt problem, which cost me $1,400. After fixing the timing belt, it cost me another $500 replacing the idle speed control. It ran great for a month and then there was a loud noise coming from the engine. Rather then spending more money on it, I wanted to see if I could diagnose the problem. So I decided to take it apart and check to see is any part was broken. I printed the instruction of the Internet on how to replace the timing belt and started tearing down the engine. I removed all the sparkplugs, distributors rotars, the fan and down to the crankshaft. I cranked the crankshaft clockwise several times and the timing belt seems to lineup correctly. I didn't find anything broken and didn't have time to put everything back together, so I left everything that way for a few weeks. Now that I had everything put back together the car won't start. The battery was weak and I try jumping the battery with my Honda Oddessy but still it won't start. When I jump start the car with my Oddessy I only hear one click. Each time I turn the key, I hear a "CLICK" and nothing happen. When I removed the jumper cable and try starting the car, I hear several click, click, click but the engine didn't even turn over. So, now my question is do I need a new battery or a new starter? I have read several threads in here and it seems like I may have to get a new starter, but just to make sure that it's not the battery. If the battery was weak, wouldn't you still be able to jump start it with another car? Also, would anyone recommend "do it yourself" on the starter? Are there instruction anywhere on how to replace the starter? Sorry for writing so much, but I really want everyone to see the problem I have and hopefully you can give some advice or tips. I have spent so much money on this car already, and not sure if I wanted to spend anymore money on it.

It does look black like oil too, but I'm sure it was gasoline that leak into the intake.

I have a 1992 LS400 which I had the timing belt, water pump and idle control module replaced couple months ago. The car was running great up until recently when the engine started to make loud noises and running very rough. I listen to it and sounds like it came from the right distributor, and so I thought the distributor rotars might have chipped. I removed all the neccessary parts to get to the distributor rotar but there was nothing wrong with it. I checked all the spark plug and none of them was wet. They all seemed to be fine. However, when I looked into the Air Intake, I noticed that some kind of liquid had been leaking into the intake. After smelling it, it was gasoline. I lifted up the intake valve and took a look at the inside of the intake with a flashlight and it looked like fuel had been burning inside. Could this be that there is something wrong with the fuel injector or the pistons? How would I troubleshoot what causes the fuel to leak into the air intake? Open to any suggestions and advice. Many thanks in advanced.

About two months ago, the timing belt on my lexus LS400 broke. Had it fixed by a mechanic and then the idle problem arised. The idle keeps jerking up and down between 1800 and 2000 rpm. Took the car to a Toyota dealer this morning and they found that the Idle Speed Control was not working. It will cost about $1000 to get it fixed. I already spent $1,500 to have the timing belt put back on. Now another $1000 to fix the idle speed control. It's just too costly to fix it especially the car is already 14 years old. Has anyone attempt to replace their Idle Speed Control? What's the difficulty level of fixing it? Are there any documentations anywhere? Please help. Thank you in advance for all your thoughts and inputs.

I agreed with you. At first, I thought if he could replace the two heads plus putting the timing belt and everything back on for $1200, that is a great deal especial it would cost around $1500 going to Lexus to just have the timing belt put on. Appearantly, I was wrong. He lied to me and now he also create another problem. To be honest I don't think he knows what he's doing now. I remember he told me that he couldn't figure out why the idle is jerking. He told me to drive it for a while and it should go back to normal, but so far it still doing the same thing. I just dropped off the car this mornning for him to look at it again. This time, I wrote him a letter and include all the suggestions that everyone have given me here on how to fix it. I gave him until Monday to have it fix. If by then he still cannot fix it, then I am taking the car to Toyota to a have a look. It's been going on for too long and I am running out of patient waiting for him to get it fix. He told me it will only be a week, and now it's been 4 weeks and I still don't have my car back. THANKS MUCH FOR YOU INPUTS.

Yes, I did get a received from him showing that I paid $800 for the two heads, $400 for his labor and $66 for shipping. He made it sound like he did replaced the heads, but I have a feeling that he didn't. And now this problem of the idle jerking which he doesn't seem to be able to fix it. Let me ask a question, if he can't fix this idle problem and I take it to a Toyato dealer to have it fix. Who is responsible for the cost incurred from the toyota? Can he be liable for the cost because he screwed it up and cannot fix it?

After driving the car for a while, I noticed something is very wrong with the car. As soon as the gear is switched to driving, the car starts to accelerate and continue to increase in speed even though the foot is not on the gas pedal. While driving on highway the speed thermometer will remain at the same speed even though the foot has been moved away from the gas pedal. It's like having cruise control ON. Step on the break and the speed drops. As soon as the break is release the speed goes back up again. I'm thinking there might be a short somewhere. Anyone has any suggestions? I'm taking the car back to the shop tomorrow for the dealer who fixed it look at it again. He had my car for 4 weeks before he could fix the timing belt. And now this new problem after he put on the timing and supposely new heads. I'm starting to lose confident on him that he can fix my car. Any ideas or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Ok. So you are saying that I got ripped off for the heads. There is no need to replace the heads since it is not an interfaring engine? Is there a way tell if the heads had been replaced? One thing I forgot to mention on the car is that when I picked up the car, I noticed the plastic coolant tank is completely empty. The tank if now filled with coolant, but not sure if there is any bubble inside the coolant system. Would bubble inside the coolant system cause the idle to behave that way?

Thank you very much for the information and advice. My car is a 1992 Lexus LS400. The idle problem only appear when parking. While driving the car seems to run normal. I have not had a chance to look at the engine closely yet. Will do as soon as I can.

The timing belt broke on my LS400. I took it to small dealer nearby and he said the valves were bent. He did a compression there was none. It cost me $1200 to fix it. The fixed include replacing the two heads plus labor for putting everything back on. Now the car is running, but the car idles very rough at parking. The RPM jumps up and down constantly like crazy. The engine is making loud noises like you press on the gas and release. The machanic told me that it was because the computer did not reset itself yet. It will go away after driving it for a while. I'm just curious if this is normal after replacing the heads and timing. I'm open for any suggestions or advice. Thanks.