vroom8

thanks.....it's my fans! how do i quiet them?

belt seems to be ok.

B) sort of a squeaking coming from my belt area...just had the pulleys replaced and new belt...about 1 year old....has anyone ever sprayed belt oil on the belt??...does it work?

hey how are u guys???? :D

my mechanic cleaned mine~ IACV ~with Lucas upper cylinder and fuel injector cleaner, and it works great....It has an oily base, and is a great lubricant also. That stuff is great to add to your gas...keeps everything clean.

ummmmm....... turbo-charged Lexus... sounds like fun!

Tight tolerances and a well sealed Lubricating system. the results speak for themselves on these well thought out and well engineered Drivetrains.

I have rebuilt a few engines in my lifetime, and im here to tell you that most engines ive rebuilt only made it to the 90k to 150k mark and the compression is totally gone...and its usually the older american or even domestic engines.

after breaking into the Toyota/Lexus V8, checking compression at 180k - only 2% - 5% drop still well within the compression limits - i am blown away at the tight tolerances these motors were built...from the factory. my oil stays clear after 5k as well.

usually loss of compression is part of what gives oil that black color, among other reasons, it seeps into the combustion chamber past the worn rings, gets toasted, then comressed back into the lubrication process, this happens usually when the motor drops below 15% of the minimum compression spec.

These cars are easily capable of going 5k before changing the oil...i would say 7.5k is pushing it, but more for heavy footers. if your light-footed, this should be a fine interval.

Cheers to the Lexus engineers!!

wonder if they knew these cars would go this long with so few problems??

Fabulous!-- here I was changing every 3000K...nice to know I can go at least 5000K !! Interesting to know why the oil gets so black.

Yes, these engines are exceptional....

i just had a power steering issue, and the guys here gave me some fabulous advice...look up my thread...alot of great info there.

...found a new great mechanic who knows Lexus....and he cleaned out the system..air valve...solenoid screen....and I now have ''' one finger steering''', no smoke, no drips, no fluid loss....he also mentioned that he thought it might be a "Temperature" problem...that that little air valve does not like the cold SW winter.......i'm going to get an oil pan heater for next winter .

To celebrate I am going to SPEED ......somewhere..... ...remote and exciting

for being as heavy as they are...they sure are fast!............................................................................

..............

:D hey- does anyone else have super clean oil after 3000mi?

this is the second time i have noticed this....crystal clean oil, like i just changed it a few miles ago.

should be sort of brown/black after 3000 miles of dirty driving...feels like it has just been changed too.

not complaining, but is this odd?

all of my other vehicles have filthy oil after 3000mi/ jet black.

doesn't burn a drop either.

(burns everything else tho)!! ;)

No problem, vroom8, glad to help. One more suggestion.... to make your replies easier to read when quoting someone, type this at the beginning of the quote: "[ quote ]", then at the end of the quote type "[ /quote ]" (remove the spaces after and in front of the brackets and don't type the litteral quotes - I added them for illustration purposes only). You end up with something like this:

thanks again, blacktop, 90Lexus, AZhotLS, killer, jc.. and everyone who has been so great answering my questions!!

You guys have probably saved me a small fortune....

OK- :)

No, never. :P I will still be here.... unfortunately I will have to keep the Lexus (I could never sell it for what I have invested in it) and will have to s l o w l y repair it as funds permit. :(

As far as the Mercedes forums go, despite my Mercedes being 3 years older, it has never gave me any problems and I paid much less for it than the Lexus. Also the Mercedes is unbelievably easier to service than the Lexus, but the MB is an inline 6-cylinder. The Mercedes is a much less complex car as well. However, had my Mercedes been a 1992 or newer, it would probably have more problems and be incredibly complex. My current MBs design dates back to 1981, so its pretty simple. I have owned alot of Toyotas, Mercedes and two Lexus and I have loved my Lexus and they are good cars, but out of the three different 1980s Mercedes I have owned, all have needed less maintainence than my current LS400. Perhaps its just where I bought my LS at a time that everything was falling apart? Perfect timing on my part.

Whats strange is that I have owned 1987-1993 Toyota Camrys and Toyota trucks with mileage as high as my Lexus cars I had and never had issues with those.

More with my PS issue, my steering was heavy yesterday and I added fluid this AM, but put too much, so had to take another car to work, but suctioned out some of the fluid when I got home and drove the LS to town. Fluid is full, but steering is still heavy.... takes much more effort to steer even though its full of fluid. Perhaps air in the line? Or the pump is totally shot?

Hey, another Mercedes owner a while ago, the small 280 Baby Benz, loved it!!!......there's something about that German engineering ..... rarely had any trouble with it, and god, did it handle the curves!!! Also had a couple other German cars...that's where I would go again if I ever got rid of the Lexus.

will it damage anything not to replace it?....soon...i will eventually

Not really, but I imagine it would hasten carbon buildup inside the manifold.

Rather than replacing it, you can remove it and plug it up with a bolt. You can find several threads here on how to do that.

thanks- that's probably the route i will go. i'll have it cleaned first, and then plugged.....those valves are $1000.00!! ( and seem to be out of stock everywhere)

has anyone tried the asian ones??...they seem quite a bit cheaper@ 300.

saw one at autowarehouse...for $188....wonder if it would fit.

:D thanks again, blacktop, 90Lexus, AZhotLS, killer, jc.. and everyone who has been so great answering my questions!!

You guys have probably saved me a small fortune....

The Idle up valve that is mounted on the PS pump in all first gen cars has a vacum hose that runs to the block. When fluid leaks throught that valve it goes into the engine to be burned. the IACV is not connected to the PS system. The IACV can usually be cleand and seeing as it's almost a $1K is not normally replaced before it completely fails. The Idle up Valve on the PS pump is about $80 and can be replaced or bypassed.

thanks....i guess that's next.

thanks everyone for the information!! B)

it doesn't seem to be dripping on the alternator....hmmmm..wonder where it is going???Through the Idle Air Control Valve into the intake manifold and out your tailpipe as blacktop suggests.

From what I've read PS pumps don't come with the IACV. So more than likely yours was taken off the old pump and put on the new. That's why your problem persists.

I don't know if the IACV can be cleaned or if it has to be replaced. I replaced it on my 90 to get rid of the smoke on startup.

will it damage anything not to replace it?....soon...i will eventually.

ok- just an update on the pump problem...took it to my mechanic, who put in my water pump last August, and he said he had drained and cleaned the ps pump res, when he did the water pump. he mentioned that it was leaking a bit then, but i was aware of a very slow leak....anyway...he said that the lucas was in there now, so see what happens.

i will probably need a new pump anyway.

so far, so good....it seems to have slowed the leak, but not completely stopped...however, this is just my first bottle, and it says to put in 2.

No.

no? ...mine probably needs cleaned too, thnx.

I just put a new water pump in- a few months back...he took out everything!!---would he have removed my throttle body, anyone?

these cars seem to have alot of character

yep- hope it works.... it says it reconditions the rack and pinions, and seals...so it only works if that is where it is leaking.

i will get it cleaned, too, and see what happens. it doesn't seem to be dripping on the alternator....hmmmm..wonder where it is going???

yep- crappy pumps in these great cars, water pumps too, just replaced that last spring.... never seen such a 'leaky' car!!

but, ......the performance.....how can we ever drive anything else???

just an update on the Lucas PS conditioner---well I put some in (before black top told me maybe better not)- but it seems to have stopped or slowed the leak....it is very thick oil type fluid, and the whole car seems to run smoother.

dunno- hope I didn't muck something up...i guess time will tell- and i will keep u posted.

thanks 1990- the pump seems to be working, as long as there is fluid in it....i sure hate to replace it again!

thanks, blacktop- there is smoke at startup- that would be nice if it just needed a cleaning!

ummmm- its dissappearing from the reservior...slowly. hoping just a vaccuum hose leak.

put in some lucas ps conditioner...anyone else used this???

might be seals.

just replaced pump in 2003...can't believe it would be gone again!!

B) won't go over 100, but the 1st generation will go 150! :o

anyway....so i changed it and added lucas tranmission additive.

the guy at auto zone told me he had put it into his older infiniti, and it had worked great.

i notice a difference already....the trans slids easier....smoother.

i also have used the gas treatment, for quite a while, and notice a big difference in mpg and handling.

my lexus really doesn't like the cold weather. it is from texas, and is now in northern new mexico where it gets -5 easy, and she screams at start up. i think the belts contract in the cold.

now that the weather is warmer, it starts up quieter.