pgupta

Just finished removing the tint film on my rear window as visibility was fogged up. (94 LS400). I used http://www.autodetail-school.com/window-tint-removal.html - worked great. Just regular windex, one razor blade, one black plastic yard clipping trash bag. Start before lunch (!) Cut the bag, both sides so to spread it into a single film, cover the entire rear window. Spray the windex on the inside and spread the trash bag on the inside of the window. This traps the windex between the trash bag and the tint film. Let the sun shine on the window for couple hours. The heat and windex sweats and separates the film. Peel it out gently with the help of the razor without damaging the antenna / defroster heater lines (0range). Keep soaking with windex and wipe off the glue layer wherever necessary.

its a bad capacitor in the intrument panel. easy to replace. search this forum for exact part value and instructions.

.. the reason I say that is once you look at the hardened deposits, baked varnish inside the engine block, and see how difficult it is to scrape it off, the minor oil left over appears to be the least of the worries.

Oh my god. That has got to be the worst advice I have EVER heard. ← There is more than enough oil resting for this procedure. Turn the car on and off do not let it run. You get an extra 8-10 oz's of the old oil out. Don't be so shocked it occurs everytime you start your car. :P ← better safe than sorry - get some regular oil, fill, run and drain one more time if you want to be so thorough. there are also "cleaning oil" quarts available. You are supposed to run the engine for 5 to 10 minutes with this stuff and then drain the whole thing out. IMHO, Utility is questionable for both the procedures.

For what its worth, I change Mobil 1 on my two LS400s (94 & 96) once a year, every 20K miles -- have been doing it for the past 8 years+ ... engines run beautifully. Even after a year, the oil has good viscosity and drains out well. I started with every 5K but judging from the quality of the oil coming out, I gradually kept increasing the interval from 3 mos to 6 mos till I finally settled at 1 year. However, I do believe that you should start with synthetic at very low miles - right from the get go. Switching to synthetic after 100K .. the benefit may be marginal.

I have been using Mobil 1 on my cars from day one (first one is a 1994 LS400, next is 96 LS400) and I have had no engine troubles. I stand by Mobil 1. I fell in love with Mobil 1 when I bought my first new Toyota some 18 years ago. I had that vehicle for 10 years, used only Mobil 1 and never had engine trouble. I sold it to a friend who still drives it to work everyday and hasn't had engine trouble. Ofcourse, I learnt my lesson the hard way. I bought my first used car (100K on it) The selled did not believe in changing (regular) oil every 3K miles. Soon, I had engine trouble and opened up the valve head cover. I scooped a few pounds of oil sludge, more like hot chocolate fudge, residue from push rod, cam shaft linkage area. So, in my opinion - if you are switching to synthetic after the car has seen 100K miles of regular oil, you are getting very little return on your investment unless the previous owner religously changed (regular) oil at less than 3K mile interval.

Or do what the dealer's mechanic does -- they use a vise grip on the rod at the end of the cylinder which keeps the strut from retracting back!

Search for "Fuel Gauge Fixed" in the LS400 forum. I couldn't find a easy way to locate posts by their reference number.

Lexls is right. I suggest you read post #109959. While you are at it, replace all other caps and one transistor mentioned in the post. Gas gage is the begining - next thing will be flickering needles, loss of speedometer and all speedo lights etc. Do replace all the suspect parts mentioned in the post. If you prep well, read all instructions, buy the parts upfront, it should take you about two hours total - assuming you know how to solder surface mount tantalum caps!

Your problem seems to be a choked up throttle body. When was the last time you had it cleaned?

Dare I suggest "clogged fuel injectors" ? Sorry to hear about all what you have gone through.

Me too! Thanks for starting the thread. ← I still have idle problems, only hesitates at complete stop. ← You need to do a throttle body cleanup. I used some oven cleaner to dissolve all the carbon deposit and the car runs great after that. No more stalling at idle after a long drive. see www.lexls.com for procedure to get to the throttle body.

Quite likely, you need new spark plugs and cables. If so, you will find that over time, the problem will get worse at around 45 mph, 1800 - 2000 rpm.

Me too! Thanks for starting the thread.

Well, it was a nice sunny weekend and I decided to get under the hood. My intention was to just replace the spark plugs and see if that fixed the problem. Once I opened the covers, it was evident that I was duped some 4 years ago! I had the plugs and cables changed the last time around. I found that I still had the original cables from 1993 in the car. Needless to say, I snapped two of those just trying to pull them off the plugs. The plugs still looked very clean which tells me that everything else is running good in cylinders. Special tools needed: You need a 5/8th inch deep (6" deep) spark plug socket (had the rubber catch to snugly grasp the plug) to do this job right. Also, use dielectric grease at the cable contacts. Check plugs for 0.044 inch gap. A long slender pair of nose pliers will be handy if you snap the cable end on the plug. You will have to pull the broken piece off before you can reach the bottom of the plug with your socket. All said and done - the hesitation, jerking, shuddering is all gone now. The engine runs smooth. Conclusion -- old and bad spark plug cables was the likely cause. I did not have the patience to mail order NGK-Iridum and Vitek cables. I went with the local AC Delco after market cables, autolite double platinum plugs from the local parts shop. Will see how long these last. While I was at it, I did my annual Mobil 1 synthetic oil change. I change engine oil every 15 to 20 thousand miles, have always used synthetic oil only. Every year the old oil flows out smooth and clean with good viscosity still intact. This is one of my first LS400s (1994) and I have now over 200K miles on it. Still runs like a champ! As you can see, I am pushing the limits of sanity here with oil change etc. This engine is very well designed. The less you muck with it, the longer it will last!