monarch

I don't know why everyone makes such a big deal out of the drain plug gasket. I've owned all kinds of Toyotas with automatic transmission from 1972's to my 1991 LS400 to my 1993 pickup and never have replaced the metal gasket and never had any fluid leakage problems. I am careful not to overtorque the drain plug and it doesn't need much torque. A drain and refill on your SC400 should take about 2.1 quart so you should buy 3 quarts of Type T-IV fluid from a Toyota dealer to be on the safe side.

Replacing the power steering pump is often not a complete solution for a couple of different reasons. For example, there is an "air control valve" attached to the power steering pump and there are 0-ring seals inside this $75 valve that are often the source of the "pump leak". Since new power steering pumps do not come with a new air control valve, the old valve gets transfered to the new pump and then the new pump still has a leak! So the first step is to see if the leak is coming from the air control valve. This thread tells you how to do that http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...opic=6583&st=15 Another step is to clean a couple filters in the system that get clogged over time and cause abnormally high system pressures which in turn cause / aggravate leaks. One filter is inside the power steering solenoid control valve and another filter is at the bottom of the power steering system fluid reservoir. Search the archives of the Club Lexus forum as well as this forum for more details about these filters. So replacing the power steering pump is kind of like the last resort. In other words replace the pump only if the leaks continue despite having cleaned the filters and replacing the air control valve. Even though you are not seeing fluid spots underneath the car, it's highly possible considerable power steering fluid has already leaked into the alternator and could soon short it out leaving your stranded. Since you have to remove the alternator for good access to two of the four the power steering pump mounting bolts, you might think about removing your alternator right now to check it out and make a protective cover for it like this out of a 1 gallon clorox bottle: http://www.saber.net/~monarch/Alt2.jpg Or, if you can see the alternator is already soaked, replace it before you are suddenly left stranded. Here's what's involved in removing the alternator: 1. Remove battery negative terminal & jack up front end. 2. Remove battery cover screw and 12 mm 3. Remove 10 mm battery cover nut and lift cover out. 4 removed the air intake duct, 4. Remove coolant jar cap. 5. Drain coolant through radiator drain !Removed! 6. Remove 17mm coolant filler nut above the thermostat housing. 7. Remove upper radiator hose 8. Retighten radiator drain !Removed! after draining. 9. Remove two transmission cooler hoses at radiator. 10. Remove lower radiator hose. 11, Remove hose connecting radiator to coolant jar. 12. remove two two radiator support and radiator & fan electrical connector, shround strap 11. Remove serpentine drive belt. 12. Loosen 14mm upper alternator mounting nut and lower 14mm alternator mounting bolt. 13. remove lower alt bolt then top nut 14. disconnect stuff to alternator and pull out alternator

The other side of the story may be related to emission controls. I heard somewhere that Canadian ES's and Camry's with the 5-speed automatic don't have the noticable hesitation, but all USA 5-speed ES's and Camry's have it and Lexus may not be able to fully fix it because any complete fix would increase emissions. The 2004 ES V6 is Lexus's lowest emission engine - it's emissions are less than half that of the LS 430 V8. However, I do not know why Lexus chose to make the ES engine so clean burning. In any case, it appears the hesitation may be a side effect of the ultra low emission engineering that went into the 5-speed ES and Camry V6 destined for the USA.

I believe SW03ES (who owns a '03 ES 5-speed automatic) once said that Lexus's own surveys indicated only 10% of owners notice the momentary lag in response in some driving situations. So it appears the lag is objectionable to young, performance enthusiast type drivers. What I can't figure out is why would aggressive drivers even want to drive a conservative car like the ES to begin with? A GS would be more appropriate.

Some K&N users go back to the factory filters once they find out - the hard way - the consequences of using K&N's http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread...threadid=124324

It's routine for Toyota engines to last 400K+ miles IF they are driven gently and scheduled maintenance is never neglected. Like here is a currently running newspaper ad for an LS400 with 418,000 miles: Description — $4,500, LS400 1990 Good to Exc cond. 418k mi. A Must See To Believe $4500 obo 916-580-9036 ... GET MORE DETAILS Listing Date: June 20, 2004 Listing Source: Sacramento Bee

Factory original tires on the '90-'92 LS400 were Goodyear Eagle GA's These are still available cheaply priced at tirerack.com. These tires were a special joint venture between Goodyear and the Lexus engineers. These tires combine good handling with a smooth, quiet ride. Recently Goodyear came out with the ultimate tire for owners seeking the smoothest, quietest ride possible: Goodyear Assurrance Comfortred tires - only about $80 a tire at tirerack.com.

http://www.saber.net/~monarch/typet.jpg

I agree with GS400jon that the GX470 is a TRUCK (based on Toyota 4-runner chassis). So that means the ride and handling will be slightly less civilized compared to the front wheel drive RX330, Acura MDX, etc. On the positive side, the GX470 is a mans SUV - it's inherently more rugged than any of the front wheel drive SUV's. So years from now the GX470 won't be having all the suspension / steering linkage, etc. wear out problems that are typical of front wheel drive vehicles.

Has the factory required scheduled preventive maintenance been performed on time using factory original parts? If so, what work has been done in the past 60,000 miles?

There is no recommended mileage. Replace brake pads when they are worn at or near the minimum thickness specification listed in the factory repair manual. Thickness can be measured using a metric ruler. Or just ask the dealer "are they 30% worn? 90% etc? etc. Dealers & car repair shops, however, are sometimes sloppy and tend to exaggerate, so one may tell you your brakes are 50% worn and another will say 80% worn. That's why I measure the pad thickness myself.

Since you decided to retrofit without replacing the existing R12 hoses, 0-ring seals and receiver-drier with R134a compatible ones you'll be faced with major refrigerant leaks in the months or years ahead. Leaks so severe that whatever R134a you add to the system will leak out in a matter of minutes. When this happens, don't blame the Toyota engineers for your problems - blame your American mechanic who disregarded the advice of the Toyota engineers when he did the retrofit http://www.saber.net/~monarch/ammechs.jpg

Remove your alternator and make a protective cover for it like this: http://www.saber.net/~monarch/alternatorcov.jpg The alternator is easy to get to if you first drain the coolant, remove the radiator and transmission cooler hoses and then remove the radiator. I agree with 99LSGuy that another inexpensive thing you should do is get the PS solenoid filter screen cleaned. A clogged screen causes high pressures in the system which in turn aggravates leaks.

What repairs? Typically, the owner is to blame for many unexpected repairs. For example, AC compressors are extremely durable if operated properly - mine has lasted 445,000 troublefree miles so far. But some owners do abusive things like not running the AC system at all for 4 months during the winter and then come spring they turn the AC system on for the first time while driving 80 MPH down the freeway which causes a great amount of strain and mechanic wear to the compressor. Or the failure to operate the compressor at all during the winter caused the compressor shaft seal to deform and leak out refrigerant & compressor oil which in turn might have caused the compressor to overheat and burn up. Things like that. Another common unexpected repair is replacement of brake rotors due to rotor warping. Driver abuse of the rotors is the cause, not poorly engineered rotors.

If you value peace of mind and want 300,000+ miles of transmission life just drain and refill the 2 quarts of this fluid http://www.saber.net/~monarch/typet.jpg in your transmission oil pans every 15,000 miles. Just $7.00 worth of fluid every 15,000 miles = $140.00 worth of fluid over 300,000 miles to protect a $3,000 transmission and optimize fuel economy. While Toyota usually overengineers components, once in awhile engineering mistakes are made; e.g. the '90-'94 LS400 power steering system suffers from premature deterioration of important seals in the system and premature clogging of important filters in the system if the power steering fluid is never changed. However, '90-'94 owners who occassionally changed their power steering fluid since their cars were new would not have had hardly any filter clogging and seal deterioration problems.

The 2004 Sienna V6, like the Lexus ES330 V6, uses the Toyota 90915-YZZD1 filter. All Toyota/ Lexus V8 engines use the Toyota 90915-YZZD3 filter. The 20004 filter is now an antique filter approved for use only with Toyota/Lexus V8 engines. The YZZD1, YZZD3 and 20004 filters are all designed by Denso of Japan.

You AC system will break down within a few years if you let people talk you into a cheap priced ($30-$150) R12 to R134a conversion / retrofit. The Toyota Technician Training Manual on Air Conditioning Systems, Course 750 Update lists several reasons why converting / retrofitting R12 systems to R134a is a major, expensive undertaking (if done properly). Here are some quotes from the Manual: "R134a attacks the nitrile butyl rubber found in R12 system hoses." "R134a requires special carbon-filled iso-butyl rubber parts." "The conventional silical gel dessicant used for R12 may break down when exposed to R134a. R134a requires a molecular sieve type dessicant." "R12 systems use a highly refined mineral oil lubricant. R134a systems use synthetic "PAG" lubricant which can cause swelling or foaming of conventional rubber gaskets and seals used in R12 systems. Be sure to special RBR rubber O-rings during assembly and repairs." "R134a hoses not only have the special RRB rubber, but also have an impermeable inner lining of nylon to reduce seepage of the refrigerant and to prevent moisture entry into the system." Now even if you spend all the time and money for these special hoses, O-rings, dessicant, etc., you still won't get the cold 37-42 degree F air coming out of your AC vents like you did with R12. You'll get more like 45-55 degree F air, which means the interior of your car will be about 10 degrees warmer on a hot day if you convert to R134a.

The truck didn't have these problems when it was new. So factory original engineering is not at fault. Therefore the solution is determing how the truck was altered from factory original mechanical condition and correcting these alterations. "Alterations" including the use of anything aftermarket in the truck since it was new (thermostat, antifreeze, tune up parts, tune up specs, etc.)

Switching to R134a is huge, $500+ project (if done properly). By contrast, getting one 12 oz or 14 oz can of R12 on ebay to top off your system plus the required charging hose costs only $35 total. You can get around the licensing problem by simply telling the ebay seller you are purchasing the R12 for resale, not for personal use. Yesturday the owner of a Toyota specialty repair shop had this to say about R12 refrigerant conversions: Subject: Re: [Camry] RE: AC on an 87 Camry wagon Date: Sun, 13 Jun 2004 08:17:57 -0700 (PDT) From: Phil <webpilots@yahoo.com> Reply-To: Camry@yahoogroups.com I agree with Paul on the R-12 issue. If you car was delivered with an R-12 system, it was also engineered for an R-12 system. We have done dozens of R134 (and other) retrofits at customer's requests, and I have yet to see one perform to R-12 standards if it was originally an R-12 system. Phil

Does not sound like a bad radiator cap. Sounds like air in the system. Could be because coolant wasn't refilled properly (i.e. idling the car for 10 minutes with the heater turned on and radiator cap removed). The air pressure and overheating could also be due to a leaking head gasket or crack in the cylinder head(s) Although you say the car was "well maintained", if an Asian car is maintained with aftermarket coolant, thermostat, water pump, hoses, etc and the servicing mechanic does not follow factory recommended servicing procedures then the long term reliability and durability of the car will be seriously degraded.

I'd get a 4 door, 4 cylinder, 5 speed manual RAV4 if you can find one. 30-34 MPG and good power. A well maintained Camry station wagon from the mid-1990's is another option (25-30 MPG). The Camry offers a substantially more comfortable and refined driving experience than the RAV4. Third option: A 4 cylinder, 5-speed manual 2 wheel drive 4-runner from the mid-late 90's. 23-25MPG.

Those are all symptoms of a bad alternator. You might want to have the car towed because your battery could end up getting discharged after as little as 5 miles of driving and then you'd be stranded (unless you carried a spare battery with you)

Same thing happened to my '91 LS a few months ago when I started it up except I wasn't playing with the power window switches. Found out a leaking power steering pump had slowly dripped fluid into the alternator over a period of weeks/months. Quick fix solution is to install a new alternator with a home made cover to protect it http://www.saber.net/~monarch/alternatorcov.jpg. Long term solution is to rebuild or replace the power steering pump and it flow control valve. Also the power steering solenoid filter needs to be cleaned. Its located on the steering rack. The power steering system is a routine trouble point on the '90-'94 LS400's after 12-15 years of service.

The dipstick is the ultimate authority and the owners manual has a diagram of the dipstick that indicates ANY amount of oil above the FULL mark is TOO FULL. Further, the manual says in big bold letters DO NOT OVERFILL.

Here's a post from a Camry forum from an ownner who used Mobil 1 10W-30 high mileage formula in an older engine: Subject: [Camry] Mobil 1 oil damaged my engine. Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 17:03:17 -0400 From: "Sternbach, William [iT]" <william.sternbach@citigroup.com> Reply-To: Camry@yahoogroups.com Hello, In addition to owning a Toyota, I own a 1994 Ford Econoline E150 with 78,000 miles on it. It has the 4.9 Liter Inline 6 cylinder engine. 2 months ago, I decided to switch to Mobil 1 Synthetic 10W-30 multi-vehicle oil (for both newer and older vehicles (certified by Mobil to be ok with older vehicles with over 75,000 miles on the oil seals)). At the time of that oil change, I asked my trusted honest mechanic to inspect the engine for leaks. He said there were no oil leaks. After 2 months with the Mobil 1 oil, I started noticing a foul smelling smoke from under my hood. I took it back to the same honest trusted mechanic, and he said I now have a rear engine seal leak that started right after I changed to Mobil 1 synthetic oil. The mechanic mentioned that Mobil 1 Synthetic is a fast acting oil, and that it penetrates oil seals in a short amount of time. So if I had saved almost $5 a quart by buying the Wal-Mart Store brand oil like I used to use, I would be fine now. But because I tried Mobil 1 Synthetic (which was guaranteed to be safe for engine seals), I now have a $500+ repair to replace the rear engine seal (they have to replace the transmission to do this). So my advise to anyone is to never use Synthetic oil (even if it says on the container that its safe for engines with over 75,000 miles). Using it will damage your oil seals. - Bill