Mike523

JPI How do I check the ball joint and strut. When the car is up and the wheels are free, I can't feel any play when grabing the tire with both hands. In & out, right, left, up or down. Hopefully you understand what I'm try to say. Do you think I have separate problems? Leaking rack & steering wheel woble. Thanks! Mike

FYI - It's a 92 with 102,000 miles. Mike

Hi, The steering wheel moves or rotates left and right rapidly. Only felt while driving straight and most notiably 25-35 mph. It’s not enough for a passenger to feel or really even the driver, except the drivers hands are on the wheel. It does move enough to see though. I’m also losing power steering fluid. I rebuilt the power steering pump a few years ago. I was losing fluid back then, the rebuild fixed that. Now I have a leak at the rack, specifically out the seal directly below the u-joint from the steering column. I turned the rotors, new brake pads and had the tires balanced. At first I thought this reduced the problem with the rocking steering wheel, but no. After doing this work, the car is pulling to the right now. QUESTION – Can something failing in the power steering system cause the steering wheel to move like this? Also, how difficult is it to rebuild the rack/valve assembly? Thanks in advance!! Mike

Hey, Same thing with my car 18 months ago. Seems like that 700 something is just what I paid. Though I had a new timing belt, plugs, wires, basically the 120,000 work over, it ran $2,500. I can't answer you on the issue of not repairing it, but remember it was just as you've explained, even the costs. Regards, Mike

The new fuel pump with tax and shipping ran $440. A lot for such a small part. But worth it when such a fine car isn't running.

I guess no one reading has had similar problems. I've got my car back on the road, so I'm going after the tach problem now. I'll let you know what I find.

All is well. A new fuel pump fixed the problem. So when your car acts as I mentioned above and you don't get an engine lite, beware of a failing fuel pump.

I pulled the pump out and hooked it up to the battery as the manual said. It spun just fine. For some reason, luck I guess, I tried it a couple more times and it wouldn't work. So, I'm waiting on a fuel pump from Lexus. I have the pump that someone said fails quicker. Aisis or something like that. Called Napa, they said they have a "best line" in stock. So, I went down to look at it. First off it wasn't the one I have and second, it's not nearly as well built. So, I'm spending the extra $170. I'll let you all know. Mike

I'm interested in hearing about the tach also! About two weeks ago I noticed the tach needle was only half lit and the tach was very sluggish. Really not going above 2500 rpm at all. The service manual seems to simply say replace it. That's ok if that's the problem, but of course I'm wondering if it could be anything else. I can't do anything right now as I'm waiting on a fuel pump from Lexus. Regards, Mike

I have the cover off the tank and don't see any water or debri. In order to get the car to a Lexus dealership, I would have to trailer the car. Denver is 350 miles away. I checked the resistence on the pump and it's within spec. Is the "union" to check the fuel pressure a special part? I emailed Lexus in Denver, but haven't heard back yet. Seems like the pressure test would give me a clear answer on the fuel pump. I'm going to go and check to see which pump is on my car also.

Thanks for the advise! Mike

HI, I have a 92 LS400 with 99,000 miles on it. The engine barely keeps running, almost dieing then reving up to 1000 - 1500 rpm. Driving is awful, you jerk down the road with top speed of 20 mph. It seems just like a problem I had 1 1/2 years ago. I changed the fuel filter and the car worked fine for about 10 miles, then started again. Took the car to our Toyota Dealership, a pretty good mechanic worked on it for a couple of hours. When I changed the fuel filter I was catching as much gas as I could and noticed how watery and dirty the gas was. Not knowing what else to do at Toyota, the mechanic drained the gas tank and installed another filter. The car ran fine the next day all the way to Denver, about 400 miles. I dropped the car off at Lexus to have a traction control problem fixed and get the 120 work over. They did the timing belt, plugs, wires and all the other stuff. Ouch! We quit buying gas from the same place and haven't had any trouble since. No engine light. Took it back to Toyota, mechanic before is gone and the new guy looked like a deer in the headlights. He struggled for two days and gave up. But, after he changed the fuel filter and drove it out of the bay the car died and wouldn't start at all. Thats where he spent all his time. He finally found that the 20Amp EFI fuse behind where the battery sits was blown. Then they were happy to get rid of me and the car. QUESTIONS: What do the fuel pumps act like when they fail or begin to fail? Has anyone ever had this problem? If it's fuel, I should be able to measure a severe pressure problem, right? Though I don't have the tools. Any other suggestions or thoughts? Thanks! Mike