IS400

Let's see, a part that costs $40 and designed to start the car when it is cold and my car does not start on the first crank when it is cold. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck... I spent a long time (almost a year) asking on this forum what my issue could be and lo and behold my latest blind search on the web let me to a BMW site that had a former lexus mechanic. "It is your cold start valve, they are over $100 at lexus, find a seller on ebay..." At least someone knew there even is a cold start valve. How many others here knew about it? I bet not many. Don't forget that when the car is very hot in blazing heat while I am at work, is starts right up too. If the fuel pressure in the rail was leaking down it would leak down no matter what the outside temperature is. Kind of like our failed climate control displays showing perfectly in the same kind of heat soak conditions. Increased resistance due to increased heat gives the capacitor the right output to fire the display. I am betting on the valve solving the cold start issue...

You loss of coolant was the first symptom I had that the water pump was going. It became a steady drip after about six months and was a lot less in the winter. I'd take a look under the car and wipe off all the grime behind the crankshaft pulley and take a flashlight to the spot after coming back for a spirited drive. I bet you will find the coolant is coming off the area around the waterpump bearing/shaft. Better to plan for the repair if that is the prob IMO.

I finally got a straight answer about why my car takes either a long crank or two short ones to start if it has been sitting for more than a half hour. There is a cold start valve that can go bad. I ordered one just now that is new in box off the net and wanted to know where I should look for it on the engine and what tools/time I should be lining up for the replacement of the valve. Is fuel going to be spilling all over me or anything? Thanks for any info you guys have, my Dad loves that his daughter can work on her cars, but I won't tell him where I get the best tech advice; it certainly is not from him! (No Dad the shop was wrong, your muffler bearings did not need to be replaced... )

Sachin, Take a close look at my avatar and then go to my profile and look at the pics. My wheels are stock IS300's. They were given to me by an, ahem, admirer! B) They are from the first year the IS300 came out I think. Others on here can identify the year better than me since I never owned the donor car. The rears fit perfectly and bolt right on. I had no clearance issues on the front but the lugs seemed to bottom out before they tightened the wheel to spec on the hub. I got some stainless spacers made about the width of a fender washer you get a hardware store. That allowed me to torque the fronts to safe specs. Let me know if you like them after you view the full size pic on my profile in the gallery section.... The wheels, not the other 'them's' you will see! LOL!

Sachin, I am partial because I chose them myself, but I think 1st gen IS300 wheels look much better on these early 400's

If I had a turbocharged tube frame lexus I would have pictures of it all over my house, even if it was apart and at someone elses shop. If... it exists.... why do you NOT have pictures of it? <_<

Yup, and the air intake is above the headlights anyhow. It is not a bottom breathing car like a pontiac or others.

You actually would be surprised how hard the windshield is to break. The windshield is laminated safety glass and when you strike it it will shatter but not break through. You'd need to bash it repeatedly and then peel it around to open up even a small hole. If you were going to break a window the window to break would be the drivers window. The side windows are tempered glass and they'll shatter into very small peices rather easily. Schedule a guy to come replace the windshield and then crawl in when it is out. Unless the windshield is new, you have got a lot more for your money than just the keys you already own. I bought one of those black plastic magnetic key boxes and found a trick place to keep it. (Everyone keeps them in the wheel well and it is the first place I would look if I was a thief.) If you look at the passenger wiper on the first gen 400's, there is a spot just behind where it rests, a void if you will, where you can attach the box upside down against the hood (bonnet). To get at it just move the wiper to the side a little and reach in with a reversed palm and grab it. The neat thing is that there is a lip to the hood that prevents the box from skidding off or away under hard acceleration. The shadow of the box can just be seen from the drivers seat if you look hard and it always reassures me that I do not have to panic if I lock the keys inside. :)

I'd check the trunk ground wire (Black) that runs along the drivers side hinge. My car runs amazing after I resoldered that wire. It is a common problem as you will find if you search for 'trunk wire' or something similar on this board. ;)

Amen! Mine had a split 3/4 of the way across one section and a lot of them 1/2 way across. The quote of $400 is really low, if it is a good mechanic and japanese parts I'd jump at it! Make sure he/she does the water pump too! ;)

After thinking about this for a few days I remembered that mine gave me a scare too when I replaced my water pump and timing belt. It started to spike the temp gauge during my first start up and I then tried to fix this and the lack of heat in the cabin by placing the car on a dramatic incline to 'burp' the system. That did not work. I let the car sit, then after it was cool I took off the connector by the thermostat (don't remember which one) and then ran the car and watched it bubble and observed a drop in the coolant level almost immediately. I added more coolant mix (to the connector I detached) and found the car then had heat in the cabin like before. So many other things going on at the time I almost forgot that little snag... again I hope this helps. I'd call lexus and ask them how they fill the system and advice on burping it too.

I wrote up my DIY waterpump/timing belt repair. In it I mention the thermostat has to be installed properly. There is a little loose piece with a hole that has to be oriented right. If it is not installed properly is could be contributing to the problem? Lexus warned me when I picked up the thermostat to install in right and not just toss it in the first way that it fits. Just a thought. Good luck!

IMO this is the upper control arms. The big wishbone pieces of metal that connect to the upper part of the strut/shock absorber mount. My 'clunk' was bad on the right side as you described and after replacing with arnott industries pieces out of florida the noise went away completely. It is back a little now and annoys me but it is on both sides and mostly on deep potholes or irregular approaches to drives. I just go real slow when I have people in the car that would make a comment about the car being junk if they were to heard it. People look for reasons for you to buy a new car just because they are stuck with payments themselves it seems! The other could be the lower ball joints but that can be checked pretty easily when the car is on jackstands. The upper control arms are hard to get any play out of unless the car is in motion and going over uneven ground. Hope this helps!

Thanks! I noticed the car just seems more 'fresh' in acceleration and braking. I agree with your 'grabbiness' description, but as a woman it usually is used to describe you boys! I just think the ten minutes it took to do the job is one of the cheapest and easiest performance mods I've made so far on the car.... ...worth checking to see if anyone else has a worn or frayed ground themselves.

On my trip to the beach last weekend the electric trunk latch failed. I noticed the repair method you guys listed and found the black wire in the bundle coming from the left side trunk hinge. The black wire was indeed broken and I repaired it with solder and shrink wrap. The latch is LOUD now compared to before! Wham! The trunk releases. I guess it was so frayed that it was barely getting any juice. What I have noticed though, is that my brakes feel a lot tighter. I was wondering if this a ground for more than the trunk latch. Does it have anything to do with abs sensors in the rear? Maybe they were offline and giving the computer an issue that affected braking somehow. Just a guess. I have been messing with my left front speaker in the drivers door and cannot get it to work. The meter says it is getting no signal from the radio and I suspected it was part of the cell phone (speaker phone) system in these Gen 1's. That led me to the fix you mentioned in the bundle from the cell phone that was to take the yellow and black wires and combine them. Nothing changed. No signal, no front left speaker. Though now the cell phone will not turn on. Not that i use it or anything! Any hints about getting a signal to the front left would be greatly appreciated! (I have noticed the front right cuts in and out sometimes too if that is any help.)

I agree with Threadcutter. I changed the mast twice and it kept failing either all the way up and grinding or down all the way and not rising. Took the whole unit apart and it was fragged plastic everywhere. New unit is the way to go unless you want to take apart the old one and clean out all the old silicone (yellow goop that stains everything it touches!) and then check the condition of the drive gears and shims/guides before sticking a new mast to the old drive unit while packing new grease while guessing at the right amount of so it will not go where it does not belong. I tossed the damn thing and ordered new. Too many cheezy wear items in that unit IMO. ;)

I did a write up on mine. I do not know how to search it other than 'water pump replacement'. It is in the tech section also. Do NOT even consider doing this job without getting schooled on what is actually involved. Makes sure to have 2-3 days set aside where you do not need the car for transportation. I highly recommend getting a true oem japanese water pump kit for this job.

I've done more brake jobs than you've had hot lunches. Many times, because they didn't NEED it, I didn't re-surface rotors. And I delivered the cars back to the customers who put women and children in them. And I sleep well. Safety eh? So you work for Midas maybe? Ha! That is funny! Midas always wants to change my 'muffler bearings' or some other such crap! I tell them no and they say it is a 'safety' issue. Yup...whatever, service manager guy.

I think the IS300's are too ricer. I want a man to be interested in me; not teenage boys! I love the wheels though as you can see. The ISF is OK but needs to be more BMW M3ish to get me to spend that kind of money on a small car. It needs to look like a future classic like the 400s did when they came out. If I had space for more than two pictures in my gallery I'd show you more of me, the Infamous IS400, but the program says I have exceeded my quota with just a couple of uploads. Have a great night guys! P.S. I run regular all time. The computer compensates fine. Not all octane is exact from station to station IMO so that variation must be written into the EPROM architechure as a protection because I have never had a knock or hesitation. Full premium, does give me a little more of a performance kick in the pants though... ...make sure to check your battery and alternator. These cars lose performance when the voltage is not up too snuff I have heard. They run a high demand ignition system.

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....

If there is no space for grease what will a fitting do? Are you going to grind a channel or void? You did say all the grease lith grease comes out when you install the bush right?

This statement you made gets to the meat of the problem with your results. "I know the catalytic consequences if you ride too low on E but as soon as the light came on I made sure to put gas..." O.K. I know you probably intended to write 'catastrophic' instead of 'catalytic' but lets move on... To measure your mileage more accurately try this. Fill the car until the pump automatically clicks off. Do not add anymore. Period. Reset your trip computer to zero and drive away. Drive only in the city stop and go if that is what you want information on. Drive only on the highway if this is the data you need. Do not warm the car up at home during these trials and do not change the way you drive. When the car gets to around 50 miles or so (it really does not matter much, but it is a nice round number) on the trip computer go back to the same gas station and fill using the automatic stop method as described above and write down the exact gallons it took to get the pump to click off. Get the calculator out (or use the computer accessory) and divide the miles driven by the gallons used to fill the tank back up to full using the automatic click off method. (make sure to seat the nozzle fully each time and use the trigger stop so there is no human error.) Your math is most likely what is getting your result screwed up. Here is quote for you that I have always liked, that addresses the problem. Do not get offended though. I think it is hot you asked for help. Very sexy! (I am a girl BTW) "Those who do not understand the importance of mathematics are not human, but merely sub-human in that they have only learned to bathe and not make messes in the house." -- R. Heinlein 1969. (from memory, but the gist is the same.) Here is one of mine. "Opinions are for politicians, give me your facts and to how many decimal places." Good luck with your figures and remember women LOVE a man with a big brain most of all!

I tried to find inexpensive fixes and they just do not exist in my opinion. The upper control arm is a beefy unit for a reason. There are tremendous loads on those bushings and they tear apart due to those loads. I had to bite the bullet and get replacements and that is my suggestion. Sorry! :(

My IS300 17" wheels are fine since they have a decent sidewall to tread ratio. The 20's have to have a thin sidewall to just fit. The guy I got the wheels from put 19" wheels on is IS and hated them except car shows and highway driving. LOL!

Take a length of 1" pvc pipe and hold it up to your ear and isolate the squeek. When you know where it is coming from you can better understand what is needed. A couple of bucks and you can use it over and over for engine noises when they creep up. I'd start near the idler pulley near the top of the engine. Make sure to take the big plastic air cleaner snorkle off so you can get a better view of what is going on and point the pipe where you suspect the noise. It is easy to take off just a few little bolts and lift it up out of the way. After you find your culprit spray a good squirt of wd-40 on the pulley near the bolt in the middle. If the squeeking goes immediately away, you have your bad part. The idler pulley or alternator pulley near the bottom of the car, are my two guesses as to what your problem is. Good luck! B)