Banshee365

When our 1996 LS is cold and under a little heavier than normal acceleration there's a slight tick in the exhaust system. I'm thinking it may be from the EGR pipe? The car has about 200k. As the car warms up the tick under acceleration goes away. The exhaust is still quite, but it's been doing this for a while. What do yall think it is? -Kelly

Bump. :)

1996 LS400. I have a CEL showing a bad temp sensor and bank 1 secondary o2 sensor. The car has been idling irradically and very high, I think caused by the bad coolant sensor. I think there's one in the radiator and one in the block. Which sensor does what so I know which to replace. Thanks! -Kelly

Well, I greased the bushings with white lithium grease from autozone. Did the trick and were quiet as a mouse. For 2 weeks.... Now they're squeaking again like crazy. The car drove in a couple rain showers and now they're squeaking again. I'm guessing that white lithium grease is no good. I need to find some super sticky grease that won't wash off so easy. I would have replaced the bushings with OEM but they won't sell the bushings without the control arm on that one, unlike the strut rods. Any suggestions? BTW I was able to pull the LCA's out of the sub-frame without removing the tire, was a piece of cake. But still a PITA. Thanks guys! -Kelly

Bump please.

Hey guy's. I've searched the forums and couldn't quite find what I'm looking for. 1996 LS400 is leaking it's refrigerant out after about a month or so. A shop has put dye in the system twice and can't find any leaks, it must be really slow. From what I've read the front shaft seal on the compressor starts to leak after a while. The cars has about 190k miles. I priced a new compressor through Toyota at around $700! They have a "gasket repair kit" for like $65, they said it had several round seals. If replacing the seals in a working compressor a job I can do on my shop table or should I have an A/C shop rebuild it? I've read about people replacing all of the o-rings in the system and I was wandering where you could get these o-rings and where they are located, I'm guessing at just all of the connections to the various parts? One more question, the blower doesn't blow very hard at all out of the dash. It makes a bunch of noise like it's blowing like crazy but on high at the vents it feels like it's on low. Does anyone have any experience with this? Thanks so much for the help in advance, we all know how hot it is now-a-day's and how A/C is very important. -Kelly

Can you replace the seals in the compressor or is it not a servicable item. My LS400 leaks it's freon out in about a month and goes warm. Refill and it's fine for a while. Car has 190k, are there any normal things that go bad on these cars to cause a leak? We've put dye in the refrigerant and can't see it coming out anywhere. Thanks!

I'm going to drop one side and lube it and see what differance it makes before spending the time on the other side as well. Should I try to remove the composite tube inside of the bushing and grease it up too? I'll grease the heck out of everything I can at this point, any tips on what grease to use, should lithium be fine? Also, do yall think I can drop the LCA down without removing the balljoints, tierods, strut rods, etc... Would be nice to be able to pull it down enough to lube it without taking the whole front end apart again. Thanks! -Kelly

I would. Would you drive on 9 year old tires if they still had tread? You could take off one or both of the top belt covers and see if there's evidence of cracking or dry rotting. If it's the original belt I would replace it, especially if you DIY. With such a gem of a car with that low of miles I wouldn't spare expense on maintanance.

I havn't checked if there is room or not to put a fitting. The grease that would end up between the bushing and LCA itself did mostly squeegie off when the bushing was pressed in. I guess I'll take it all apart again and grease the heck out of the front and rear faces of the bushings that rub against the mounts and see if that takes it out. I'm wandering if I should try the sli-glide grease or whatever from NAPA instead of the white lithium?

Just installed lots of front end parts including new OEM UCA's, OEM strut rod bushings, and ADUS LCA bushings. The is a VERY loud and unbearable squeaking noise. I read all about this before I installed the bushings and was very generous with white lithium great, which I hope is okay to use. The thing is, no matter how much you grease the inside of the arm and bushing it all squeegies out when you press it in. I'm wandering if the squeaking is coming from the rear flat part of the bushing against the mount. It's very loud and you can actually FEEL is squeaking, it has to be the LCA bushings. Should I just be able to drop the LCA and grease up the front and read ends along with the mount and reinstall to fix it? Anyone tried tapping a zerk fitting in the rear mounting location to grease the area each oil change or something? Thanks! -Kelly

Anyone know what this could be from? Just a sensor or maybe a wiring harness issue. HOPE NOT!

1996 LS400 now has a CEL. Autozone scanned it an said it was a "cooling system circuit malfunction." The temp gauge works like it alway's has. I havn't disconnected the battery to reset the CEL and I'm wandering if something is actually wrong of if it was tripped and stayed on. I searched the board and didn't find anything pertaining to this. Thanks!

SRK, thanks for your advice (twice) and don't think I'm not taking it with the oil filter recomendation. I am looking for more than opinion, however, and yours is greatly appreciated. I will change the filter to a yota filter. Here's another update. The car sat overnight for 9-10 hours. I woke up this morning to take it to an appointment and this morning it cranked up like alway's without a hint of knocking. This only seems to happen when the car sits for a week or so. There is no knocking while driving the car under any condition. I floored it a couple times to clean it all out with some fresh fuel and it runs like a sewing machine. I would think if there was serious bearing issues it would knock more than just 1 second during startup after it sat for a week. 10 hours should have been plenty of time for oil to drain out of the bearings and cause a audible knock at startup on dry bearings. If I ever did run into bearing issues I'd love to replace the bearings because the rest of the engine is in good shape and it doens't burn oil. I'd hate to buy a used engine that hasn't been taken care of that burns oil. Thanks again for all of the help. Does the motor sound like it's alright? Again, hoping I'm not putting all this money into the front end for nothing. -Kelly

Well I just got home to check on the car. WOW does it make alot of noise at startup, for sure main bearings. I'm mechanically inclined and have kept very good care of this car for my mother. She does mostly highway driving and I change the oil at 7000 intervals with mobil 1 10W30. I'll switch to 5W30 with factory filter and see how that does. The car has sat for 1 week without starting. When I went out and started it up it rattled like it had no bearings at all for about 1 second then went totally quiet. I let it warm up and did gunned it to 5k a few times and it sounded as smooth as a Lexus should. I think has some bad gas because it's idling weird and responding slow. It has very recent plugs, caps, rotors, and wires that I did to it, all Lexus OEM parts. I have never heard it rattle like that on start, it sounds really really bad. As I said, it goes away after about 1 second or so. I'm really worried that the bearings are damaged and it has permanant damage. The car doesn't burn a single drop of oil over 7000mi. The car has about 190k on it. I'm thinking about sending in an oil sample to get analyzed but I know it's going to say there's bearing material because of the last few starts with the bottom end banging. I'm letting the car sit for about an hour then I'm going to go back out and start it. I'm getting ready to put $800 worth of parts in the front end with bushings and upper control arms so I'm really hope I'm not wasting my money on a car with a motor on it's last leg. It has NEVER been ran low on oil and there's no reason that this motor should be developing problems that stem from lack of maintanance. What do you guy's think, no one has rolled in main bearings before? Thanks for all the advice. -Kelly

Yea, that's what I was thinking about the engine problems, I havn't heard of any. We've had the car for about 110k and the previous owners used 10W30 but I may switch to the 5W30 if that is what's really recommended. I'm going ot try the filter because I had a Ford Lightning that knocked when I changed to an AMSOIL filter then went away when I put the Motorcraft back in it. Thanks guy's, I guess we'll see when I change the oil again.

1996 LS400 with 190k miles. Regular 7,500mi oil changes with mobil 1 filter and mobil 1 10w30. The car doesn't burn a single drop of oil at all. However, if it sits for several days and you start it you hear knocking on the bearings until the oil pressure builds. I'm wandering if the rod bearings are a common thing to go bad on these cars. I'm also wandering if it's something people replace sometimes or just find another engine. I'm thinking about sending off an oil sampe to get analyzed on the next oil change to see if there is abnormal wear. I did some searching but since you can't search any word 3 letters or worse the search function is sometimes useless because you get so many hits. Thanks again. -Kelly

Thanks, I've had great luck with Carson also with other parts for the car. Unfortunately, even at there lower prices, $200 vs $600 is alot. Does anyone know if the Arnott arms fit the '96?

Called Arnott to get some UCA's for a 1996 LS400 and they said they don't have them. I asked if they would fit and they said it doesn't show it in their books and if they did they would sure sell them. Do the Arnott arms fit the '96 LS400? Replacing almost all of the parts on the front end of the 190k mile car and I'm trying not to lose an arm here. I've heard the Arnott arms don't fit well then others say they do. What's the best option for UCA's for a '96 LS? Thanks! -Kelly

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Are there bushing on the strut bar in the front? When you hit the brakes you see the wheel move ALOT in the wheel well. I know all the bushings are bad I just want to make sure I order everything. Does the Daizen kit come with most of them? I'm guessing I'll need lower control arm bushings, new upper control arms, lower ball joints, and strut bar bushings if there are any. Am I missing anything? -Kelly

1996 LS400 with 180k miles. Front end has been making alot of noises for a while. Jacked up the car and did some inspecting. Looks like every bushing is bad. Lower control arms, upper control arms, and even the trailing link or radius arm whatever you want to call it. The upper and lower ball joints are also bad. I'm guessing maybe I can just replace the uppers totally with the $199 aftermarket ones I've seen mentioned on here. Is there a bushing kit out there or should I just get them all on eBay or something? What's the best way to go about fixing this thing, I'm doing it myself. Thanks!

1996 LS400 with about 180k miles. The A/C is really bad and seems to be leaking coolant because I can recharge it an it's okay. The thought of tracking down a leak horrifies me so I'm wandering what common problems happen to the A/C on these cars to cause these symptoms. Having this many miles I'm guessing maybe the compressor is on it's way out. What should I look at? -Kelly

Is it normal for an LS400 to idle around 1,100-1,200 rpm after start? In gear the car will go like crazy without touching the pedal. Before this I replaced the plugs, wires, rotors, caps, and cleaned the throttle body with a new gasket. After the car warms up the idle goes back down to exactly where everyone on the forum say's it should be. Is this a normal warmup thing built into the car or something? -Kelly

Hey guy's, just did a tune-up on my mothers '96 LS400 including: plugs, wires, caps, rotors, coolant, trans flush, and TB cleaning. The TPS has not moved and after a while the engine idles at 650 on the money. But when you first start it and even after 15 minutes the car seems to idle very high in gear, very close to 1k rpm. I am thinking it's related to the computer, since the battery was unplugged. Is there a way to reset something to try and get the idle normal? She's complaining to me that she doesn't even have to hit the gas to go in gear, it accelerates almost on it's own. And she has to hold the brake alot harder to keep it stopped at a light/stop sign. What do yall think it could be, the TPS is still on the factory mark. When she pulled into the garage today I started it up and it idled right on the money at 650 rpm. Thanks guys! -Kelly