glenmore

As wwest mentioned, most differentials have a vent. But I've never heard of one getting plugged. Also no crush washers, just a tapered plug. glenmore 1990 LS400

So the car was stalling, you read the code, it indicated o2 sensor and you replaced the o2 and nothing has changed? Then after you changed the o2 sensor you got another code for the air intake temp sensor? I just had a problem with my air flow meter. I believe I sprayed it too heavily with a MAS cleaner and this caused a low RPM stalling condition. Complicating matters is that I had just done the plugs, caps, rotors and wires and it is usually a good bet to review your most recent work if something is not right. I would start the car. It would idle perfectly at 1000 in the warm up stage. Then after a minute or so, RPMs would drop to the normal 500 and then jump around and stall. After checking my work, the stalling was still there but happened after more idling. The next day I drove the car and no stalling. I am theorizing that my air flow meter finally dried out. I took the car (no stalling) to my indie and he pulled a fault code for the air flow meter AND the air temperature sensor and he asked if I had started the car without it plugged in, and indeed I had. He reset it and all is fine. He said that both sensors are in the same part, a black rectangular box attached to the aluminum housing just inboard of the air filter. Work very carefully around this unit. It is VERY expensive to replace. My indie told me to never spray any cleaner on a Japanese air flow meter, that they are a different animal than the typical US air flow meter/ mass air sensor. A cursory look for this part came back with the entire unit, the whole plastic piece with steel honeycomb, black box and aluminum housing and attached bellows but ebay has just the important part. This is what mine looks like: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Lexus-LS400...emZ230272287976 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LEXUS-LS400...emZ110270571690 glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

Update. Turns out I probably did all my repairs correctly. What I probably did improperly was spritz the air flow meter with too much MAS cleaner. I took the car in to my indie after another day of rechecking everything that I had done, but by then the car was running near perfect. No stalling or RPM hunting. The RPMs seemed a bit low at 400, IIRC it was usually around 500 at idle before. I spritzed the air meter twice. I think I may have turned it upside down at one point. FWIW the indie said never to spray cleaner in a Japanese air meter. They are different than US type air meters. If you check the cost of a new air meter, you want to be very careful around this part. I just drove the car home on the freeway and gave it a good blast. The RPMs are back to about 500 now and all seems well. Thanks, glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

Go to the lexls.com site>tutorials>Engine Mechanical>How to change timing belt and water pump>picture 10 shows one squarish coil between the RH distibutor cap and thermostat housing. The other coil hangs on the left side of the engine to the left of the LH distributor cap. The middle wire from the distibutor cap leads to it. This is for a 1990-1991 US LS400. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

There is a rubber bushing in the linkage under the car. Looks like a minature sway bar bushing. I have a 1990 also and after changing them on my 1991 Mercedes I thought to check my Lexus. The Mercedes ones are a hard nylon plastic and disintergrate over time. On my 1991 Mercedes, this led to a loose shifter. On my 2000 C280, this led to a really stiff shifter. The rubber Lexus bushing was still in very good condition. If you find that you need this bushing, I'll sell you my used one for shipping costs. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

Actually haven't been able to drive the car yet. Just before the tie rods, I did the plugs, wires, caps and rotors and now I'm stuck as the car is not idling right and I need to figure out what went wrong. glenmore

I just changed tie rod ends over the weekend. I was experiencing a bit of noise over bumps so I too looked at the tie rods boots. I could have swore they were cracked and split but after changing them, the boots were intact and the joints were still smooth but easily moved around. The new ones I put it were very stiff compared to the old ones. I bought the rod ends on ebay for cheap ($40), and them seemed of reasonable quality. AutoHaus was about $90 and Lexus $105. So try and wipe away the gunk around the boots and make sure they are really split before changing them. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

Now I've gone and done it. The car (1990, 160m) had been running perfectly but I decided to do some routine maintenance before my daughter took the car up north for a few months. I put in new caps and rotors. The old ones were cracked but worked fine. Put in new plugs (Denso PK20R11 ND), old ones looked just fine. And new wires, the originals were still in there marked 1989. Two vacuum lines broke off this small brass sensor so I had to replace that. In the emissions part of the manual it is referred to as the EVAP BVSV. While I had the coolant drained I finally got around to replacing a leaking heater control valve at the firewall. I start the car and it sounds fine with the initial warmup RPMs at about 1000. After a minute or two the RPMs drop to 500 as it usually does, but then it starts missing or misfiring, and then the engine stuggles to keep from choking off. I checked all the wiring layout, made sure all the wires were fully connected. Did not tear all the way back down to check the caps and rotors. Checked all the hoses that had to be reconnected. Earlier I did spritz the air flow sensor with special MAS cleaner. It seems like a vacuum problem. Any suggestions guys? Thanks, glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

Is it in one of the lower corners? Sounds like it is delaminating. This is happening on my 1991 Mercedes rear window. So far still isolated in the corner, but it has enlarged a tiny bit over the years. Also started to corrode the wires from the defroster. Probably no choice but to either live with it or replace it. glenmore 1991 300CE 1990 LS400 2000 C280

I had one side done at a shop and the cost was very reasonable $35 for parts and $90 labor. I had noticed the spun out grease underneath the car. If you wait too long, the joint will go dry and also there is probably a tear in the boot to let in dirt and moisture. Replacing the joint will run into much more money I'm sure. As a DIY, there is a special tool plus you'll probably need large tools to torque it back in plus it would be infinitely easier if you had a lift. Turns out I also needed rear brakes so at least one side was already torn apart for that. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

Jeff, Ohhhhhhh, that's annoying! I recently replaced a new Mercedes belt tensioner because it was a crap non OEM part. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

Gen I, 1990-1994, tranny mount is easy, just replace. Gen I motor mounts takes some doing, nothing technical, but you'll need a good set of tools and time. The quote I got from my indie was very reasonable for all the work that I did! Don't know about Gen II 1995+. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 MBZ 300CE 2000 MBZ C280

Thanks for the update. I have not seen very many non OEM Lexus parts on the internet and I look everytime I need a repair. Lexus parts are high quality parts. I always end up having to go to a dealer like Plano. Whereas with my older Mercedes, there are parts available everywhere between crap and OEM in quality. I got a knockoff fan bracket for my 300CE for $70 where a MBZ one would have been $250. Not the greatest quality but close enough for government work. If the bearing is still relatively tight on your used part, its probably good for at least 50m. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

Search under my name. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

Jeff, Sounds like you've got it. Go for it! I suppose the worse that could happen is that it'll start growling again before long but if everything is straight and true you should have no problems. If you can ascertain the rough mileage on the junkyard one you can use that one as last resort. How bad was getting the bracket out? glenmore 1990 LS400

My fan bracket went out on long road trip so it was pretty chewed up. You could see a pile of aluminum fillings piling up. Mine went at about 150m, pretty good life for the part. If you plan on owning the car for awhile, it would be silly to put in anything other than a Lexus part. As you may have found, for the most part you are stuck with getting Lexus/Toyota parts for this car. That part price is about right, it is expensive, I paid 266. This shop gouged me on the labor though $365, but I was stuck 500 miles from home. If you are a pretty good DIY, this is a perfect job, tedious but I beleive nothing too technical. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

I get the same sound and it is exactly as how you describe it, like a hard drive. But my sound would be just once or twice and then stop, always at startup. I suspect it is the air dams that control the mix of air from the outside that are electronically controlled. For instance if I have the heater on, hot air will come but after turning off the heater, the hot air still comes. To get it back to no hot air, I have to flip on the AC for 30 seconds and the flaps move to shut off the hot air. At least that is what I THINK is happening. No air suspension in my car. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

Check all your pulleys along the fan belt path. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

I would guess that a failed/failing tranny mount would show up as a jerk when shifting from P to D or D to R, etc. My old tranny mount was maybe squished a little but for far from failing. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

The Lexus tech does not know what he is talking about. These mounts typically shear the rubber part. In hindsight, my failing motor mounts made my hood flutter. You could see it easily from the drivers seat. If your mounts are original, they are surely shot by 209k. I changed mine out at about 150m. The tranny mount is an easy DIY, the motor mounts a bit more work. Plenty of writeups about this procedure, including mine. There is only original Toyota mounts available from the Lexus dealer. I haven't seen any aftermarket and wouldn't use any either. You do not want to repeat this repair. The parts were not cheap but they are typical Toyota beefy high quality. This is a straightforward repair for a good independent. When I got a bid from my guy, it was extremely reasonable for the amount of work that I did. You will be amazed at the ride quality improvement from good motor mounts. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

It is probably your alternator but start with the cheap, routine stuff, like checking the battery and terminals. Places like Sears will check your alternator for you. A sure sign of alternator problems are idiot lights being triggered when after checking, there is no fault. I changed my alternator with a rebuilt and the repair is very routine. A helper comes in handy to start the attaching bolts as you juggle this heavy item into position from below. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

DanW, Thank you for the notes. Have you noticed any change in performance, i.e. fuel economy? Thanks, glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

Let us know if the new brushes repair your alternator. My alternator recently went out and it was suggested that new brushes probably wouldn't help. The armature itself wears out. I was lucky enough to have a local source that had a rebuild for only $50 or so. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

Was the battery charging fault light on while you were idling? Rebuilt alternator is not too $$. There is an ebay seller from Southern California that is inexpensive. IIRC it was like $50 with your core. The repair itself is simple, the only time consuming part is juggling the new one into position. Don't drain your brand new battery without checking your alternator! Most places selling batteries (like Sears) will check your charging system for free. glenmore 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280

Regarding your parking brake light. This idiot light refers to two things, your parking brake and brake fluid level. Make sure your brake fluid is at the correct level. If it is and the park brake light stays on even after you release the parking brake, it may be a precursor to your alternator failing. With anything hinky with your idiot lights, check the fault first and if there is no fault (i.e. low fluid level) check the alternator. My alternator failed about 150m. Before that the park brake light would dim a little after I released it but would remain faintly lit. Later all the idiot lights went on while my son was driving and the batterey completely drained resulting in no start the next morning. A new battery cured some of the idiot lights but the battery charging light was still lit. That's when I checked the forums and narrowed it to the alternator. 1990 LS400 1991 300CE 2000 C280