landar

Pat, Oh yes, very common but need more detail as it is very important in determining the exact cause. Is it a series of rapid clicks when you turn the key or just a single 'click'?

Wait...having the VSC light come on and dying is a somewhat different story from your first post. If your VSC light comes on, you need to get an OBDII scanner on your cars diagnostic port. It may contain some valuable info and point to some faulty sensor. Don't go tearing into things without more clues. You could make it worse and could cost you more time and money in the long run.

When you say it will not re-start for 4-5 minutes, does it at least crank (turn over by the starter)? And is it consistently 4-5 minutes? What if you do not fully warm the engine, same thing? If it will crank but not start, that is the perfect time to check for spark or fuel. At least it divides the path you must go down.

Seaform is often touted as a 'fix all elixir'. But it is just that...snake oil, IMO. Do not buy it. As 1990LS400 said, mileage will often drop in the winter months due to cold engines and reformulated gas. Now, things you might check are temperature related. Does your cabin heater seem to work ok? Is the temp gauge coming up to the proper place in no longer than 10 minutes? If not, your thermostat could be staying open and that results in a cooler engine with a richer gas mixture. Another might be the temp sensor in your MAF unit. If it is reading low when the engine is really hot then the computer will pour more gas into the engine than needed, thinking it is still cold. Other things could be a coil that is starting to go bad. However, you should definitely feel roughness in the engine performance. You could also need general maintenance like new rotors and caps, plugs, maybe wires. It is not uncommon to have dielectric breakdown and arcing(especially on these cold, damp mornings) which goes away once the engine warms up due to drying out the components. Any of these could wreak havoc on your gas mileage. Did you try pulling any codes? How many miles on your car? Just a couple of places to start.

You got me to wondering if the trunk wiring on your car has ever been examined for defect? Your '91 is a prime candidate for weird anomalies caused by this wiring. It may not be the cause but would not hurt to take a look.

Oh no, Denny! You did WHAT? Like selling your own child. lol Maybe you can pick up a newer LS later on. Happy retirement (I "ain't" that far behind you). ^_^

It is quite common for the fuel injectors to 'tick' and they are toward the middle of the engine. If you want to pinpoint a noise, you will have to use a mechanics stethoscope.

Once you initially fill the block, you put the inlet screw back in and tighten. Any additional filling will now be accomplished via the reservoir. To purge, you start your engine and get it up to operating temperature. Put the heating system on full heat (hot) with the blow fan running. Keep the RPMs up around 2,000 - 2500 for a couple of minutes. Keep an eye on the reservoir level and keep it between the Hi and Low levels. You should soon feel heat coming from the vents. You will have to watch the level in the reservoir over the next few days of driving to ensure that the engine is filled and that there are not leaks. Thats it. Pretty easy.

I would do both. First fill thru the bolt hole in the thermostat inlet housing and then adjust the reservoir as needed after the engine has been 'burped' (temperature cycled and all air purged).

The protrusion of the rotor is the brass tab and there is a groove on the camshaft pulley. Align the protrusion of the rotor with the groove of the camshaft timing pulley. At TDC, the LH rotor should be pointing to cylinder #1 which is the front-most, drivers side. The firing order is 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 so right after 1 fires, number 8 is up next, which is in the far back on the passenger side. The RH rotor should be pointing to 8 with another quarter CW revolution (45 degree) of the crankshaft. Remember that the crankshaft has to rotate two times for every revolution of the camshafts. This thread has a diagram which might help -> http://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls400/354217-93-ls400-firing-order.html

The coils are not meant to be changed on a maintenance basis. You change them only if they fail.

Oh no, here we go http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/topic/46621-ls-400-high-miles/

Ok, so the plot thickens. You should not have white smoke nor much of a gas smell. Now I am beginning to wonder if one of your two ignition coils has, or is going bad. White smoke usually indicates a blown head gasket yet is rare on an LS400. Does the engine seem to be running pretty rough? Can you look underneath and see the catalytic converters(at night) and determine if one looks to be glowing red hot after the car is up to operating temperature?

Unless you put it on a dyno, how do you know what HP you are getting? With 226k miles on the clock, you probably are not getting the factory rated HP but so what? It is not a hot rod and if you can accelerate reasonably well, count your blessings. You may not have the compression that the engine had when new but thats understandable given the mileage. Lucas in the gas tank is not a problem. You probably just flushed the price of a bottle of Lucas down the drain but thats ok. Now, at the mileage you have, your cats could be getting clogged, valves could be worn, piston rings worn, etc. There are a number of things that could reduce your engines output but it most likely would take some serious money to get the original ratings back. Not worth the cost, IMO. I would just continue the maintenance and live with it.

Best advice that I can give is DO NOT flush. You do not want to disturb all the crud that may be in there. Just use a good quality oil (and there are many) and let it be.

That's quite all right, old chap! We really do appreciate all the good advice from over the 'pond'! Cheers,

Just my opinion that it will do no harm to manual set the valve so that you have heat for the Winter. Then, in the Spring, determine and fix the actuator that moves the valve.

In American English (not the Queens) I think he means find a junkyard...get a salvage connector from a junked car.

Well, Randy, I really do not think you are going to find that the sparks plugs are the culprit. All of them fouled at once..not likely. Verify your ignition and valve timing as mentioned above. Holy smokes...from those pictures it looks like a squirrel or chipmunk set up house and chewed thru your timing belt? Are all the sensor wires intact? What a mess that was!

I would check carefully for spark. You say coil packs have spark but did you check at the actual spark plug end? Maybe you inadvertently left the rotors out of the distributors? Go back and verify spark on both sides down to the plugs. If you have spark at the plugs, check the timing with a strobe light. See if you get a spark at approx. TDC +/- on cylinder #1. Or pull the distributor cap to verify that the rotor is pointed to spark plug #1 on TDC. If that checks out ok, spray some starter fluid into the throttle body and crank. If that makes the engine sputter then you have a fuel delivery issue. And finally(or maybe first), go over the timing belt marks with a fine tooth comb and make sure that is all correct. Pull a valve cover and verify that cylinder #1 valves open and close at the right times (all 4 cycles...intake, compression, power, exhaust) as you manually rotate the crankshaft by hand. BTW, that is a very good price for an Aisin. Almost wonder if it is a Chinese knockoff.

Personally, I would stay the heck away from Autozone hoses. Particularly the Duralast stuff. I would spring for the Toyota OEM but even NAPA has better hoses than AZ. Why your hose would shift position is a mystery unless it was always off position. You can loosen a connector and twist the hose end slightly to gain more clearance. But if it is already messed up, it must be replaced. You burp the LS by simply letting the engine warm up and, with the heater on hi heat, rev to 2-3k RPMS for a few minutes. The air will find its way out.

Maybe this will help? -> http://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls400/183789-gen-1-ls400-knock-sensor-replacement.html Welcome, Joe.

Welcome to the forum, Timothy. Right off hand, I would suspect that the mechanic did not reconnect the ABS speed sensor or damaged the wiring while replacing suspension components. Could be a loose part that is rubbing on a rotor and that is what you are hearing. All speculation on my part but I would pull the wheels and have a close look.

Well, Daffy, I fear you have let air get into the ABS or Accumulator and are not able to purge it via "traditional" methods. To get air out of the ABS modulator, you have to cycle the unit while bleeding. Most people just take it to the dealer where they have the proper equipment to bleed the system and I have heard some say that they find a slippery road (like gravel or snow) and just lock up the brakes to activate the ABS system. A few times of that supposedly clears the air but I have never done it. I just very carefully make sure that I never let air into the master cylinder side. I do not think synthetic fluid is to blame (DOT 5 ?). But you need to get the air out of the system and you might want to check with the dealer (Toyota or Lexus) to see if they can just purge the system and how much it might cost. Heck, even a good brake shop should be able to do it for a nominal fee. I also would not use the vacuum pump to bleed anymore but the more traditional "press the pedal while opening the bleeder valve" approach with a helper -> http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/brake/bleeding.html

Have you tried clearing the stored codes? And code 19 still comes back?