landar

You might try replacing the reservoir cap. Sometimes they go bad and do not hold the proper pressure on the system.

You do realize that 'clicks' is a slang term for 'klicks' which means Kilometers? So 270 'clicks' would be 167k miles. Is that what you intended? Welcome to the club!!!

...and for posterity sake, exactly which fuse did you replace? Thanks.

Does the display look all darkened (blackish)? This was (is) a very common problem on the earlier LS's. If so, you have to replace the display. Not hard to do. We(son & I) replaced the display in my 92 LS because of this very issue. This tutorial shows the procedure. Take a look and see if you might have a similar issue(BTW, it might help in troubleshooting if you took a pic of yours and posted it for us) -> http://www.lexls.com...eLCDscreen.html [EDIT] Disregard this post. Not for a 95, only 90-94. Thanks Jim.

By 75k miles, most LS's would have the front pads changed but the rear *usually* last until 100k or so. Again, without actually hearing the squeal/squeak/whatever, I would think it is the brake pad material. About the only option you have left is to have new, high quality (OEM) pads put on the car along with (perhaps) having the rotors trued up. Either that or turn the radio up.

Were the brake pads replaced prior to you buying the car? How many miles on your LS? Hard to say but could be glazed pads, perhaps ceramic.

It could be an intermittent power connection somewhere, however, if it were say, a ground or fuse connection, I would think that the entire panel might blank out and come back on. You do not mention this so it leads me to believe that the issue is in the HVAC control itself. Perhaps a connector to the control module. With that said, you might check the voltage at the blower fan fuse to make sure it is always present.

I cannot claim any input here but glad you got it resolved Hbbarron. I will just give you a "beer-chug"... Welcome to the club!

Even if there is no check engine light, I would still do the jumper trick to check for codes. If you hear a sucking sound then a vacuum leak could be your problem. Get a stethoscope at CVS, Walgreens, etc and start "sniffing" around the intake components. You can also use a short length of garden hose held up to one ear. Other ways are to use a propane torch around various hoses or intake ... you turn the torch on so that it is spewing gas without being lit then direct the flow around various intake areas. If you hit the spot where the vacuum leak occurs, the engine RPM should suddenly change. From your description, it sounds like there is a vacuum leak after the MAF which results in a lean mixture and poor performance.

So you mean a mechanic made you two new keys and reprogrammed the ECU to accept the new keys? Then the old key would no longer work but that is the key you were using when it would not start?

The anti-theft is a long shot. It probably would not even crank if that were activated. So, it is now at a point where it will not start at all? BTW, be very careful with running your battery down cranking it. Lead acid batteries do not 'like' to be run dry and can fail forever after that. So, put a charger on when not using it to keep it from going completely dead or you will be buying a new battery soon. If you do not have access to test equipment and do not want to invest in same, I would probably start with gathering more symptoms. You said that it started for the mechanic. Was the battery disconnected prior? What happens when you disconnect the battery overnight then reconnect and try to start? Can you locate the ECU and wiggle on some connectors while trying to start and see if anything happens? Just wiggling various wire harnesses in general (while cranking) might provide some clues. Does it start when it is warm? Or cold? I know it is getting colder with Fall in full swing. You might bring it into a heated garage or use a hair blower to heat certain parts/sensors. And finally, I agree that replacing the crank sensor is a reasonable thing to do. And even though you have done a DC resistance check on the Cam sensors, that does not mean the dynamic portion is working. That is why I mentioned the oscilloscope which will show you a waveform from the sensor.

It could also be as simple as a worn distributor cap/rotor. If due for maintenance(ie tuneup) in that area, perhaps consider R&R of both caps/rotors. For that matter, it may be time for a general replacement of plugs, wires, caps and rotors. When was that stuff last done?

Don't you just hate when that happens? ^_^ The sad thing is that your mechanic seems to be out of ideas as well. It sounds like he took the "shotgun" approach to throwing a part at it. Sometimes that works but its generally a crapshoot. If you are certain that there is no spark then I would suspect a bad connection, perhaps at the ECU, or a sensor. It will take some sleuthing to get to the root cause. If it were mine, I would have an oscilloscope on points of interest (like cam and crank signals). You have a vehicle with coil-on-plug so it is something common to all eight cylinders of course. You might consider hooking up a some diagnostic software to the OBDII port which will give you some active parameters whereas a cheap scanner only gives codes. I also wonder about anti-theft acting up. With any intermittent situation such as you have, it is vital to have everything (that you want to see) instrumented at all times so that when an 'event' occurs, it is captured.And finally, WELCOME, DigitalBuddha! (is that vs. an AnalogBuddha? :whistles: )

Good info on page 88 -> http://www.toymods.o... comparison.pdf

fireboy, a silicone-based lube is said to be best for lubing the slide pins. It sounds very unusual to me that you have had to replace the calipers 3x already. Old, contaminated brake fluid can gum up any new caliper piston in a hurry so I am wondering if you have ever flushed the system. Also, if the flexible brake hose feeding the caliper is old, it can begin to collapse internally(may look 'ok' from the outside) but will not fully release the pressure when you let off the brake pedal. Gives the symptoms of a sticking caliper. BTW, what are the symptoms/braking characteristics that lead you to replace the caliper?

Have you ever checked the trunk wiring harness? Does weird stuff.

Shane, the "trick" to not breaking vacuum hose nipples is to use a dental pick (or similar) tool to loosen the hose before attempting to pull the hose off. Here's how: Once the clamp is off or loosened, gently insert and run the pick around the internal diameter of the hose (between the hose and nipple) to break it loose. Then removal is a piece of cake. Take a look at the first few pics of my 98 being disassembled for a timing belt change. It *might* be helpful -> http://www.flickr.co...57622883357340/

Actually, "not running at all" is good. It is almost always easier to resolve a problem when it is completely dead. The spark tester which curiousB shows could help with spark diagnosis. The Toyota vehicles have a rather deep well for the spark plug due to being OHC engines and I doubt you could use this tool on a particular plug. However, the good news is that your "no start" will allow you to test each coil for spark and you will not even have to remove them. Just remove enough plastic to gain access to the coils then take a spark plug wire and spare spark plug and hook the plug up to the coil output. With the spare plug grounded on the engine chassis, you should see a blue flame jump the gap when you crank the engine. An orange flame would mean "low" high voltage (it will still raise your hair but may not be enough to light the fuel mixture in a compressed cylinder). You might even plug the wire into one of the distributor ports to see if high voltage is making it through the rotor and out.

Bogey, I have been around a lot of years and troubleshot lots of systems and I can tell you the biggest downfall in finding the root cause is "assumption". Assume nothing, let everything be suspect. You can eliminate things one at a time but there can also be wrong assumptions made even then. As you can imagine, it is extremely difficult to troubleshoot your situation from a forum. I have not heard enough information to be able to offer much pinpoint advice other than check the spark. Rather vague but thats where I would begin. In general, I tend to try to separate the problem into two distinct areas: spark and fuel. If you were to spray some starter fluid into the intake while it was trying to run and the engine suddenly takes off, then fuel delivery is the issue. Else, it is probably spark. The last part of the equation is timing and compression but these are not as common. So, can you describe the operation of the vehicle in more detail? You have said in your first post that you can get it to run at high RPM's. Does it run very rough(like shake, rattle and roll)? Or is it smooth once you get to higher RPM's? That kind of detail is important when troubleshooting. You might even consider taking a video of the engine attempting to run and upload it for us.

Despite best efforts, static tests (like DC resistance) are not always telling. If the engine runs but runs really rough, like it is only hitting on half the cylinders, then I would really suspect spark. The distributor cap, rotor, or main coil high voltage wire could also be breaking down. Any significant reduction in high voltage could cause the problem. You might see a spark with your igniter bypass test but that does not confirm proper high voltage is being delivered to each spark plug. Don't let the code coming up (without running) throw you off track. Could be that it really was never completely cleared. Verify proper spark right at the plug(s).

It would appear, from your description, that coil #1 is out. A very common issue for your year. I would try swapping the two coils and see if the code switches to 15. How did you verify that coil #1 was good?

The way the original system works, the current draw is sensed and, if not sufficient, causes a message. Apparently, the computer is sensing the press of the brake pedal and expecting current draw. This Kahtec kit also apparently puts the circuit break (to cause the flashing) beyond the point where the computer senses the pedal press and therefore the fault logic 'thinks' that something is wrong. Kahtec should have thought of that beforehand. I would advise against adding the dummy load resistor (BTW, your calculations are correct) because, while it might foil the current sense, it would put undue current draw on the braking system. Unless you can ensure that the dummy resistor is only powered during the 'off' period of the brake bulbs, the system will be drawing double the power(and current). Definitely not good. Maybe contact the company?

Jim, just curious...what kind of multiple instrument cluster warnings are you getting with the brake light kit? I would think you might just be getting the "lamp out" warning.

Well, for one thing, you cannot really determine the age or condition of the belt just by looking. Many have reported that even at 90k miles, their timing belt looked good. You could reuse the belt but personally, I would caution against it. The belt is only about $60 new and would be well worth the added cost. And yes, the belt has to come off to gain access to the pump. Once you get things torn down to that level you will see that the backside(smooth side) of the belt is actually driving the pump. You really should replace the pump, belt, tensioner and two pulleys while you are in there. I would also recommend a new front crank seal and perhaps cam seals as well. Those seals could be left as is if you first determine that they are 'dry' (no oil seeping). There is a tutorial on the 90-94 timing belt water pump replacement that you might find helpful. It is a fairly involved job with lots of labor. That is why I recommend all new parts. You do not want to do this again anytime soon. Heres the 'toot' -> http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/engine/timingbelt.html

It might be worth taking your car to a competent exhaust shop where they can put it up on a lift and look over the situation. They usually know what can and cannot be welded back together and how to do it. Even if you do not have it repaired there, they might do a quick inspection and estimate of cost for free or a small charge. Then you go from there. Nothing like having another set of close-up eyeballs and ears on the problem, something we cannot do from cyberspace.