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pishta

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Everything posted by pishta

  1. 92 SC400, no codes thrown as its an OBD1 but if failed smog 531ppm of NOx when passing is under 487. I tested EGR stepper motor and it works (goes in and out using battery) and the pintle seems to seal as when its closed I can almost pull a vacuum across the 2 ports. The EGR passage is clean and the tube into the intake manifold is suprisingly clean for 230K miles. I can see there is just a very light scaling on the EGR tube inside the intake manifold. Can stick a 1/4 extension in with ease and it goes all the way in until it hits the little down turn of the pipe. I can also push a rigid wire into the bottom port easily and it goes at least 10" before it hits the 90 on the back of the intake. So I dont think I have any blockage EGR wise. The EGR pipe itself is almost an inch thick so I dont think I have any blockage in that one that runs down the back of the motor. Plugs look decent but Ill buy 8 more as I failed HC also, 73 passing and I blew a 129!!! @ 15 mph. CO passed with flying colors. Would the recommended premium fuel give me lower NOx readings? I never use it but I always passed using it for the last 3 tests.
  2. The valves cannot be adjusted in a normal "turn a screw" manner as they are precision shims that set the lash. When the lifters wear, they require thicker shims to get valves to the recommended .015/.025 lash. The shims cost $$$ for what they are if you can find them as they usually don't wear as they are bathed in oil.
  3. I had a mysterious noise from my 92 SC400's front end when I went over bumps in road (lane markers, cracks, etc) Sounded like a bushing was bad. It was a "snare drum" noise instead of a "bass drum" noise you hear on a new car so I suspected a insulator was shot. While I was down there installing new ceramic brake pads (my semi-metallics were close to wear indicators) I looked at the lowers, uppers, strut ends and sway bar links and all seemed tight and visibly good. The pads went in after I got the pistons retracted, and I vented the brake fluid that was displaced with new pads. While breaking in the pads, I noticed the suspension noise had disappeared! Ive driven it 30 miles since and no more "snare drum" noise when I go over sharp bumps, its now back to the good 'ol Lexus solid bass drum sound. My pads didnt seem loose in their calipers but I wonder if they were at speed? Just a feel good story I thought I would share. Now its to the body shop to get the rear bumber cover repainted after a very mild rear end bump. The clear coat cracked and some paint crazing where the bumper flexed as well as a 3mm gap between the right taillight and the trunk lip. It looks like the frame of the light may have been displaced from behind the steel bumper bar. $975.80 quote..bummer for the insurance company. Guy that hit me was insured under my company so $250 deductible was waived.
  4. Can I use universal 7mm spark plug wires, ie. Mallory Blue or Accel? I noticed the OEM plug wires have the plastic extension and the tube seal integrated into the wire, but at $90 a set? I can get 25ohm/ft 8.8mm MSD wires for less than that and cut to fit. I figured if the tube seals were in the valve cover for oil control and the seals on the plug wires were only for the spark plug wells, I figured I could do without the well seals and just run the wires to the plug. Wire covers need not fit as I like the wires exposed. Thanks.
  5. What exactly does the gasket do , vent pressure at a certain point?
  6. My wifes 91 LS400 gets a hesitation every now and then and she swears that venting the gas tank by loosening the filler cap fixes it. I have done that too and was suprised by how much pressure builds up in there. Is the vent in my cap malfunctioning or is the vent in the tank? If you unscrew the cap like you are going to gas it up, itll "exhale" audibly for about 4 seconds. Is this normal?
  7. That sounds very inexpensive. Let me know if they work.
  8. Just did mine, it is a pleasure to drive again. No noise from the front suspension going over small bumps and undulations in the road. I was getting a "something is loose up there" noise whenever I went over a n oticeable bump. I took mine off, checked them out and didnt really see anything wrong, but the ball joint was as loose as a joystick on a Pacman game. I couldnt feel any play in it but I couldnt put as much force on it as the car does. about 90 minutes total, the first side being 60 of those. I am very happy the shock didnt need to be compressed to be pulled, that would have been a bummer. I would like to advise that if you are doing one side at a time, you need to unbolt the swaybar link so the lower control arm can be lowered enough to unstress the shock and get the bolt out. Otherwise you are working on a still compressed shock, dangerous. Another hint. REuse the original castle nut as the one supplied is thinner and ends up above the cotter pin hole, rendering the cotter pin useless at retaining the nut torque, Or use a washer as stated before. I am going to try and replace the ball joint with a shelf item just to see if I can as the bushings are still tight.
  9. So...it actually ended up being a bad Engine Control Module. Got it rebuilt for $350. Now the check engine light is on and showing a bad knock sensor. I took a look under the intake and saw the lead wire on #1 knock sensor is broken away from the plug completely. Would this cause an intermittent "miss"? Knock sensors are pretty cool. They "listen" for preignition (knock) and when they hear one, they !Removed! the spark a little to correct the problem. The bad knock sensor (disabled) is most likely either causing a "knock" signal to be transmitted to the ECU and that is unneccessarily retarding your spark, cutting power and going to a default "limp" mode as it cant clear the perceived knock, OR it is never sensing the knocks and is allowing the ECU to advance the timing to a dangerous knock level that will eventually destroy rod bearings and pistons. With todays electronically controlled ignition timing, you need these sensors to work properly for designed performance.
  10. Most 4 disc autos have some sort of drum brake for PB function. Much easier to mechanically actuate a drum than a disk setup with a cable. Many rear disk retrofit conversions for older muscle cars utilize a common GM setup that has the integral drum parking brake. And those vented cross drilled rotors, save them for fade prone racing cars. Lower surface area means less stopping power and all those holes and slots make for a weaker disc.
  11. A Snap-On set of 6 3/8 drive sockets, standard or metric, cost around 90 bucks to whom it may concern. Not cheap. Matco makes some nice tools as well as Kobalt (Lowes) and of course Craftsman (Not Sears branded, but Craftsman branded). Here is a tidbit of info. Like it has been said, any tool that has a manufacturers lifetime warranty on breakage can be hunted down at flea markets. Seems people get this stuff broken as scrap metal and sell it for nothing. I mean who wants to buy a broken wrench?? You do if you can flag the Matco truck down a the corner garage and show him the broken part. I aquired a Kreuter (?) 3/8 ratchet and thought it was the nicest ratchet I had ever used. Fine tooth (more "ratchets" per twist so it can be used in very tight spots) and it had a sort of a rounded square handle that felt better than a round one in your hand. Of course a 1/2 inch ratchet with deep sockets will cover 90% of your needs. and last but not least is a 30" Chrome Moly 1/2 drive breaker bar. Hands down the great equalizer when it comes down to breaking 19mm suspension nuts and bolts. I used that Kreuter 3/8 drive with a 3 foot piece of 1/2 galvanized pipe as a breaker for years and I finally lost (got snaked?) the drive, never broke it.
  12. Cool, doesnt look that bad from the instructions. I thought I might have had to get a spring compressor or some other special tool.
  13. You all should catch TV series "The long way around". Ewen Mcgregor (young Obi wan kenobi actor)and mate does London to NYC going across asia on BMW motorcycles and says Mongolia has about 50 miles total of paved roads country wide or something ridiculous like that, and the poor guy spent alot of time dumped in some marshy muddy slop, not easy on a big motorbike. Great series on Discovery or PBS, TLC, etc. I would do this in a heartbeat if I were not married and liable for 3 other mouths to feed!
  14. No, the dark LCD is just an indicator. You can get the LCD for about 150 on Ebay. You have to solder it in.
  15. 92 LS, Just did my rotors and caps. What a PITA! Took me like 3 hours and I of course wired up one of the caps wrong the first time. Coil right to the #4 cylinder instead of the rotor button, DUH! I was having a random slight "miss" or what felt like one in this silky smooth V8. so I immediantly suspected the 106K mile ignition. Specd out all the wired, all under 25K and put new plugs in about 10k ago. The rotor and cap contacts looked like 40 grit sandpaper so I know it didnt hurt anything replacing those, so what is next? Thorough cleaning of the TB? I did the inside and butterfly as well as I could without removing it, wasnt that bad. This car drives me nuts because you can feel every little potential problem because the car is so smooth. If you FEEL anything you immediantly think something is wrong! I am not the primary driver so I only drive it about once a week. I think I may seperate the ignition wire covers where they flow into the black housing part so I can just unscrew the 2 10mm's and pull the now cut covers to see the plugs.
  16. Do I HAVE to take the shock out to to remove the 2 bolts that hold the UCA in? It looks like I may have enough clearance to unscrew those through a spring opening? Just got my New Arnotts, 2 bills shipped, cant beat that!
  17. I was thinking the punch had to be set on the right hand side of the nut like this http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/mastertech/sole.jpg in order to make it turn counter clockwise. What does everyone think? You got the grips on backwards anyway if you are going to push up on them. With vice grips, always push on the side with the adjuster. With all adjustable wrenches, you push on the stationary jaw side.
  18. OK, followed the instructions on lexls about the antenna belt being broken. You press AM and TAPE while putting car in ACC and the Ant shoots up and out. OK, did that but didnt feed the new one in immediantly. I ordered one online (they are shorter by about 4 inches but other than that, pretty close match) so when I put it back in (turned car on, then off while I fed the Antenna belt in) it was going the wrong way! So now my antenna goes down when I turn the radio on and up when I turn it off! There is no way I could have connected anything wrong down there as all the plugs are keyed one way. Do I have to reset a relay or something? HELP! Feeling stupid......
  19. Ok, Ill buy that. So is the traces in the rear window heater elements or antenna traces? My rear window tint is awful, unsafe as you can see nothing at night due to age or just poor material and just looks terrible. Im going to remove it and dont want to damage a heater trace.
  20. 92 LS400, Pioneer cassette OEM radio, no CD changer but I have a coaxial male connector cable taped to my FM antenna lead at the automatic antenna. I also have a little unit right behind the power antenna that says "FCC notice...." that is held in by 2 factory looking 10mm nuts. I found it while repairing my broken power antenna belt. Any ideas?
  21. Disconnect the connector to the ac clutch and put a meter on the side coming from the car (ac button) and see if you are getting voltage. What is the voltage if you are? The connector there is prone to corrosion and VERY hard to reach, so make sure your smallest hand friend is available to clean those contacts! (I am a girl and it was tight even for me.) Remember that the computer will not allow the clutch to engage if it does not see adequate ac coolant pressure. My next question is if you got the oil charge right. 6 OZ of oil I believe is factory spec. Unless the compressor came with the oil aready in it of course.... Yes, I agree with the diagnostics not allowing the AC to engage. Make sure you plugged in all the sensors associated with the new compressor and check the pressure. The AC light will flash if you have any diagnostic errors.
  22. I had a warped CASSETTE in a car stereo and it would not eject either. I would hit the eject button and it would raise it up, attempt to spit itout and then suck it back down. Never had time to grab it so I pulled the fuse at the moment the CASSETTE was at top dead center to stop it and used a pair of needle nosed pliers to gently pull it out. It may be fouled in the capstan rollers, if that is the case, just hope the tape comes out in one piece.
  23. I've got a 95 gs300 and I'm looking at spending 250 bucks on some new MAGNECOR KV85 8.5MM SPARK PLUG WIRES. anybody know if these are just a waste or what? i dont have anything done to the motor but i plan on upgrading things soon(ignition and cams,exhaust) should i get these or just the basic stock ones? Basic stock ones. the 8.5 only relates to the total diameter of the insulation, not any other part of the wire. There are 8.8's made by Accel for hot rods but they run 60KV coils and arcing is a problem. Just go with OEM rated ones and save your money.
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