monarch

yes the pulley with the 4 bolts should turn freely with little resistance. After all, this is the pulley that the fan is connected to. Maybe the reason the serpentine belt snapped is because the pulley froze. I've don't know what would cause the pulley to freeze

Why take chances? Time and time again I have found the monster odometer mileage Toyota owners don't use oil or fuel additives. Example: Here's an owner on another forum who told us today about his family's 800,000 mile 1986 Toyota Celica: Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 09:16:22 -0700 From: "Alex Lau" <lau.alex@gmail.com> Reply-To: Toyotas_Only@yahoogroups.com Its an 86 stick. My dad, aunt and uncle all bought one at the same time. My uncle crashed his, my aunt's got stolen so that leaves my dads. It is still running today with the orginal engine, transmission, clutch. The main thingd that were done over its life were regular oil, filter and spark plug changes. It is still running to this day. Now we use it to hual dirty stuff around. It is a little rusty and the lights go out if you go too fast around a left corner, but the engine and transmission is still running smooth. On a side note, I know of a few Previas that are closing in on the 800K mile marker. Alex

Remove one of the valve covers to determine if you have sludge. You may be pleasantly surprized at how clean the engine is inside. Also, I believe your 1996 owners manual advises to have the engines valve clearances inspected at 60,000 miles. The valve cover needs to be removed to perform this inspection so the valvetrain could be inspected for sludge at the same time at no extra cost. Incorrect valve clearances are far more harmful to engine life than a little sludge, but oil additive and oil analysis salesmen will not tell you that because they would rather see you develop a "mechanic in a can" and philosophy about car care.

Screech noise + burning smell is a symptom of a bad magnetic clutch on the compressor that causes the compressor belt to burn, but the compressor itself could be fine, especially if there was at least some fairly cold air coming out the dash vents . The clutch can be unbolted from the compressor and a new one installed, but a special tool is needed to keep the clutch from rotating as you try to unscrew the clutch mounting bolt. An AC shop or Lexus dealer could do this, BUT, 9 times out of 10 they will either say you need a whole new compressor (lots more profit for them) or insist it would be a waste of time to just replace the magnetic clutch. I can't think of any more corrupt and dishonest segment of the automotive repair business than the AC repair segment. The huge advantage (in $cost) of just replacing the magnetic clutch is that the refrigerant in the system doesn't have to be removed and rechanged and the compressor doesn't have to be removed either (if there is enough working room to remove the clutch). You can either get a new clutch from a dealer or a used one from a recycler like taprecycling.com or a neighborhood auto junkyard if you live near a big city.

I searched the ES forum using "overheating" as my search word and came up with 4 pages worth of posts on the subject. I searched the ES forum using "head gasket" as my search word and came up with 5 pages worth of posts on the subject. I searched the ES forum using "power steering pump" as my search word and came up with 4 pages worth of posts on the subject. I searched the LS forum using "overheating" as my search word and came up with only 2 pages worth of posts on the subject. I searched the LS forum using "head gasket" as my search word and came up with only 2 pages worth of posts on the subject. I searched the LS forum using "power steering pump" as my search word and came up with a whopping 10 pages worth of posts on the subject. The lesson here is that even though all Lexus models have virtually identical factory maintenance schedules, the mechanical components of the different models vary in their ability to withstand the effects of delayed or neglected preventive maintenance or the use of aftermarket parts and fluids to maintain those components. So for example, whereas many LS400/430 owners will not experience engine overheating or head gasket failure from using green antifreeze, many ES owners will. And whereas many LS owners will not ever have to deal with engine sludge even if they delay / extend oil changes, many ES owners will. Conversely, ES owners will not likely experience as much power steering pump trouble as LS owners. Therefore owners who want to minimize their chances of ever having to deal with catastrophic mechanical component failures should not take chances by delaying or neglecting preventive maintenance or use aftermarket parts and fluids to maintain those components. And 9 times out of 10 the owners who do take chances in this regard end up wrongly accusing Lexus of building defectively designed engines and transmissions.

Same old story. Owner complains of transmission failure yet says nothing about fluid change intervals, type of fluid used or about personally verifying the transmission fluid level and condition.

Running, operating temp, shift slowly from park thru all gears ending back in park. Remove, wipe off and reinset the dipstick 5 times before attempting to read it. Level should be WITHIN the Hot range. "Operating Temp" = car has been driven at least 15 minutes

Your car already has 2 electric fans plua one big mechanical fan. The mechanical fan free wheels most of the time at freeway speeds so it doesn't rob horsepower or gas mileage. At the opposite extreme - climbing the Cuesta Gradeon a 100 degree day in July the mechanical fan is more powerful than any aftermarket electric fan and cools the engine better.

The paint on my '91 LS400 is pearl white and still looks showroom new. The car was rarely waxed, never clayed, but 90% of the time the car was garaged or under a Tyvek car cover ($40 at Walmart). Tyvek keeps the paint and interior cool even on a 100 degree day.

How in the world are dealership techs like yourself going to be able to keep up with all the cutting edge technology found in the newest cars, especially hybrids with AWD? The factory repair manuals of the newest Lexus's appear to be about one to two feet thick !

Freeze-12 is a mixture of 80% R134A and 20% R142B so it has all the potential problems associated with R134a conversions like long term incompatibility with the rubber seals and hoses used in R12 systems, incompatibility with the compressor oil used in R12 systems and similar problems which may not show up right away, but will several months or a few years later.

If you run the engine for a minute and then shut it off and remove the spark plug on cyl #5 is the plug all wet from the unburned gasoline? If so, that means the problem is with the ignition system, not the fuel system.Do the spark plug wires, distributor cap & distributor rotor have more than 150,000 kilometers on them? If so, it's time to replace them using genuine Toyota parts.

What symptoms did the AC system exhibit that prompted you to have it diagnosed? The compressor won't turn on if the amount of refrigerant R12 in the system gets too low, fooling you (and maybe your mechanic) into thinking the compressor is bad. Maybe all you have is a minor seepage leak of R12 in which case you save a ton of $$$ by getting a couple of cans of R12 on ebay, plus a recharging hose with a can tap valve and recharge the system yourself: http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/mast...echarge.jpgMost Ebay sellers want to see proof of a 609 refrigerant certification and you can get certified for $15.00 by passing a short, 25 question exam online that's offered at http://www.macsw.org/certification.php Oops, here's the right link: http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/mast.../ACrecharge.jpg

If your car was really getting only 12-13 MPG, your tailpipe emissions would soar and your check engine light would come on.

Yep, seems like 90% percent of the time the cause of shifting wierdness is a failed shift solenoid. The odometer mileage when solenoid failures occur seems to vary greatly from as low as 125,000 miles to 300,000 or more.

A few days ago while on the freeway I thought I saw a brand new 2007 ES pass me by. I accelerated to catch up with it so I could get a better look. As I got closer I thought it might be an Infiniti M45 instead of an ES. Then when I got really close, look at what it turned out to be: http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/mastertech/cam.jpg

You can get certified to buy cans of R12 on ebay for only $20 a can by passing a 25 question test at http://www.macsw.org/certification.php. The R12 charging hose and can tap valve is also only $7 on ebay. Since Toyota / Lexus compressors won't run of the refrigerant level gets too low, often they will start working again if you add one can and then start the engine and try turning the AC system on. To add a can with the engine if off, first locate the two metal refrigerant lines running to the AC condenser in front of the radiator. Somewhere on the length of these lines a threaded schraeder valve can be found with a black colored cap. Screw the R12 recharging hose onto this valve and turn the handle of the can tap valve counter clockwise to release refrigerant gas into the system. Keep the can upright and partially submerged into a pan of 110 degree F water to force R12 vapor into the system. Don't use water hotter than 120 degrees or the can could burst causing blindness or frostbite. Using any refrigerant other than genuine R!2 is a DOWNGRADE in terms of system performance, reliability and durability.

Ross, what is your normal average? I think there are thousands of '90-'94 owners who would say the '90-'94 LS400 can only get 22-24 MPG highway. And that's with a perfectly tuned up new or near new engine that has a sparkling clean throttle body, new caps and rotors and everything else. And possible only if the car is driven no faster than 65- 70 MPH on level ground or going downhill.

Recently a 41,000 miles grandma owned 1991 LS400 sold for $15,000 in California so a 22,000 mile first generation LS400 would command $15,000 - 20,000.

I can't imagine the engine would run fantastic with a bad ECU. I'd replace the two distributor caps and two distributor rotors and the two oxygen sensors that are ahea of the catalytic converters (not the ones behind the converters) . Then your emissions will go down noticably, but if the NOx still stays high then you have trouble with the EGR vacuum modulator or EGR valve itself. Replace catalytic converters as a last resort.

I'd have to see it in writing to believe it. Do you have a photo or link to the European version of the Factory Scheduled Maintenance Guide? When I traveled to Australia, Brzail and Mexico I checked Toyota owners manuals and found they required slightly more frequent oil changes than USA Toyotas.

Toyota didn't build any 7.0:1 compression car engines in the 70's. They were around 8.5:1. In any case, numerous owners of the similar 3VZ-E engine know it can run pretty smoothly with 130 PSI compression on some cylinders. Witness how many of these 3VZ-E owners - including even one auto shop mechanic I am acquainted with - never noticed any engine roughness until compression had fallen below 100 psi on some cylinders due to burned exhaust valves.

Remove, wipe off and re-insert the dipstick several times before trying to read the fluid level.Measure the amount of old fluid drained to take the guesswork out of the amount of new fluid to add.

Could be out of round tires, or tires with irregular tread wear, could be warped brake rotors (due to overtightening of the wheel lug nuts) , could be a bent wheel rim (from driving with a flat tire). Age of the car doesn't hardly matter. If there is no vibration when braking then the rotors might be OK and a shop with a Hunter road force balance machine might be able to cure the vibration by balancing the tires better.

To pull and replace a valve cover takes only 1/2 hour of labor. Ditto for a cylinder compression test. Auto, truck and aircraft mechanics do not use oil analysis to determine whether or not an engine has sludge or has suffered mechanical damage due to sludge. They use physical tests such as compression testing and physical inspection of the internal parts.