ck42

Car is now stranded in a parking lot. Behavior is now it will sometimes just crank and not turn over...sometimes it will turnover for a split second...and sometimes it will turn over and do a proper smooth running high-rev for about 2 seconds and then die. - and various iterations of these. I'm really suspecting fuel pump or fuel filter at this point now, based on this latest behavior. Where's the fuel pump located on this car? Difficult DIY? Guessing it's sitting in the fuel tank like most others and I need to pull the rear seat...

Couple hours ago, car started but was running at about 100 rpm. Just went out now to check for codes. No codes have been thrown. Tried starting and it kicks over for a FRACTION of a second and immediately dies. ...does seem like a fuel related issue, but don't have any starter spray right now to use for a test.

All very good feedback guys. Very much appreciated. This is the FIRST time ever this car has done anything like this. The only other malfunctions the car has ever had is a broken belt, broken timing chain tensioner, and two failed O2 sensors (at different times). I've had a fair amount of self-diagnostic experience trying to diagnose a problem with a Ford that I had, so I learned a LOT at that time about all the various ways that the sensors work and how the engine behaves when certain things go wrong...so thankfully I'm not totally in the dark on this one. But, being the first time I've had to troubleshoot on this car, I certainly need some help from some veterans here. I do have a ODBII plug-in diagnostic module (with the matching Android app called 'Torque') that will spit out real time diagnostic info and engine stats, so I'm hoping that I can get some useful info from it while it's acting up....as well as go out and read any codes that might have been generated (haven't done yet). If it's the ECU and caps need to be replaced, no problem. I have YEARS of professional level experience working on electronics at the component level and replacing parts. For me, this would be an easy and fun fix.

Just got back from picking up the wife's LS400, after she'd gotten a ride home. Got to the car and started it. Cranked fine. Normal high idle (when engine is cold) After a few seconds it dropped down to about 600rpm and then back up to a high idle again. Did this several times. Somewhere in there the idle dropped to a 'burbling' 100-300rpm and felt like it might die....but would shoot back up again. During one of those low 100-300 RPM idles, I tried pulsing the throttle to see if I could get the idle to come back up. It didn't seem to want to respond to my input. Finally decided to see if I could hold the engine high enough to get the engine warm...to see if I was simply dealing with a cold motor related issue (something not telling the ECU that the engine was cold and putting it into an open loop condition). Tried putting it into reverse to back up and the second I hit the throttle, the RPM's dropped to the point that I though it was going to stall. Let off the gas. Tried again. No luck. Put it in DRIVE...rolled forward on its own a little, but as soon as I tried to give it a little gas to go up a very slight incline, it wanted to die again. Kept trying and it did finally die. NOW....tried to restart the engine several times. No go. WEIRD! Wouldn't turn over. Strong cranking though. Wondered if maybe I got some bad gas. Opened the fuel cap for grins. Put it back on. Got back in the car. Tried to start it again and it cranked fine. WEIRD!! Idled a little high and no idle bouncing. Waited a couple minutes. Was able to get the temp gauge almost to a warm condition. Put it in drive and drove around the parking lot a couple times. Acted perfectly normal. Drove it home. I've self-diagnosed several problems 'similar' to this, but the behavior in this case is a little unusual to me...and I've not ever had to deal with anything like this on THIS car. Some guesses: Bad gas Coolant temp sensor IAT sensor TPS sensor MAF sensor ECU??

Looking for the climate control section for a '96 LS400. (in very good condition)

RDM...appreciate the info. Looks like I should be good to go then. New handle ordered from parts.com.

Just hoping that the '96 model door procedure is the same as the online guide, which I noticed is for 1st gen models.

Man you guys rock! :) Thanks, Steve, for the links!

$83.81 for OEM from http://www.parts.com Retail is shown as $121.22 Nice! Thanks for the parts # webiste. That will be VERY helpful going forward! Great price on the parts.com site too. Much appreciated guys. At this point, anyone have any DIY guides for replacing these door handles?

Driver's outer door handle has cracked in half. Are there any online retailers to buy these from or am I going to have to buy it from the dealer? What's the typcial price? ('96)

Just had this same problem about 2 weeks ago. I also was having a slow coolant leak somewhere mysterious...so it went in the Indy for both issues. Turned out both problems had the same cause. it was the heater control valve. Malfunctioning...AND it was leaking. Something like $80 for the valve and .5hr labor to install. All is well again. With mine though, it took revving the engine to about 2700RPM before the heat would suddenly start flowing. It was really weird how it went from ambient to instantly hot as soon as I hit the magic RPM point. (Coolant level was not low when it was behaving like this...despite there being a slow leak - I was keeping it topped off)