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r_ls400

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Everything posted by r_ls400

  1. I don't disagree with you there. My point was that it's not unsafe to drive with VSC off.BTW, I would be very surprised if your shocks are bad if the car has only 85k miles! Took the car back from the shop after lunch. Did a tire rotation and the better pair is now in the rear. Since the wheel alignment includes a "thorough" inspection on suspension system, I didn't specifically ask for any particular checking. This shop has been very aggressive in asking for extra work in the past and this is what I need this time. The result is the rear right wheel was the bad one, per the tech. Toe was 0.27 (range 0.00 to 0.20 degree) and was brought back to 0.11. The other three were off in some areas but not too much. Hope the rotation and the alignment work will put the right amount of traction back in wet condition. The budget crisis and pot holes on the California roads are giving a lot of alignment busienss to the shop folks. Thanks again for all the help.
  2. Thanks. I'll have the items checked even though the car is doing fine on dry surface. The car was also doing fine in my entire trip to lunch 2 hours prior, when it was raining. It's the unpredictability I have to deal with here. How long does a wheel shock usually last? I don't quite recall if I have replaced the shocks before. I need to be more organized in my service record. Memory fades away fast.
  3. That's what I had been doing since the last message. I drove around the empty streets and made sharp turns with and w/o VSC. So far, I cannot reproduce the problem. The road surface has partially dried up since the last shower. The rear wheel alignment is a bit off as I can see from the wear on the edges. Can the combination of wet surface and bad alignment trigger the VSC? I wasn't driving aggressively when it first happened, especially in the left turn the 2nd time. Just wonder if anyone has any similar experience. I was driving the car in snowy and wet condition just 2 months ago and nothing like this happened. It was a good shock in both times.
  4. 1999 LS400 with 85K miles on it. The road was wet after some light showers. The car swayed bit time when I almost completed a U-turn. A beeping sound was on for that 2 to 3-second duration. I didn't have the leisure of checking the warning lights then. Parked the car, checked the tires, things looked OK, tires are in the middle of their useful lives, drove around the parking lot without noticeable issue. Went out to the street and drove in an alerted mode, the car wobbled and swayed toward the lane to the right and back at the end of the first left turn after signal. It was a good thing that there wasn't any car in that lane. The car behind me must be scared and kept back. I immediately turned off VSC and proceeded home since I was only blocks away. The VSC acted before on very wet conditions (with standing waters) when I stopped and went straight. I thought the VSC was too sensitive at those times. Is this just the VSC and something else (power steering?)? Is turning off VSC the right thing to do and is the car safe to drive under this condition? I am not much of DIYer and don't have the scanner to scan the error code. Please help. Thank you.
  5. Just helped a friend buy a 02 LS430 a couple of days ago. The car was well garage kept with 60K on it except the trunk struts had been out for some time. The ex-owner went to the dealer and was intimidated by the high price it quoted. I searched the Forum and found this vendor "Liftsupportsdepot.com". They have the strut for $40+. My friend will order a set of it. I purchased a pair of hood struts for myself (99 LS400). My hood support was out for some years and I got by with a lift bar till now. The hood strut is $24.50 a piece. They are on the way. I'll see how good the product is (vs. $120 a piece from the dealer and it wasn't good from what I saw). I was surprised that my hood strut went out 4 or 5 yeas ago. I thought mine was just a bad apple before reading the posts. Even though it is noe critical, I guess the hood and trunk support is one of the areas that Lexus ignored. My 10-year-old Jeep is still going very strong front and back.
  6. I went thru a similar routing on my 99 LS400. The rear window tail light has two bulbs and one was all black but the other one gave me the false signal of "no problem here". Don't know if yours is the same.
  7. You can check out this article: How To Diagnose Faulty Starter I'd hate to be the one to changing/rebuilding the starter will fix the issue then it turn out to be something else. I only had my car about a month before the problem started. But it had significantly cooled off by then. Maybe temperature affects the voltage/amps/resistance the contacts in the solenoids pass through them. While not from a LS400, this thread has some great pictures showing the difference between new and worn contacts. http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/98-5-02-...nt-2nd-gen.html With the surface area/mass of the contacts being greatly reduced on the worn contacts/plunger, it's not enough to keep the plunger in contact with the contacts to drive the starter, hence the click sound. It makes sense to me at least. If temperature does play a part, it takes a long time for the starter to cool off because it's in the valley between the cylinders. This could explain why it works better the rest of the day. Even with your "cooling down periods in-between" the starter is still warmer than when it sits overnight. I think I've seen other threads were the starter causes an increased draw in amps which could explain the voltage drop you're seeing. Again, this could be because of the reduced mass of the contacts. I'm not an electrician but I do know that you need larger guage wire to handle higher loads. To me, as the contact wear the guage goes up (smaller) and is able to handle less load. Ooooh..... here is another great thread I found with lots of pics of the contacts: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12746 Good Luck!! Thanks again. I don't know why the mechanic likes my starter that much and it's time for me to insist on it. I guess the alternator and starter were both marginal and it's time to get to the other one. I happen to be an electrical person and things like worn contacts and increased resistance all make sense to me. Too bad that a lot of things are not "plug'n play" in the auto world, especially when we all know we need to replace some experienced parts at some intervals.
  8. Some interim feedback and some additional question/confirmation. I worked with a neighborhood mechanic who drives a '90 LS400 himself. After some testing, he thought the starter was alright but didn't like the unstable charging voltage (dipped below 13.8V at times) of the alternator and replaced it. He checked the wiring and electrical system and concluded there is no leakage problem. Remember this has been a "once a week" starting problem. Things went well for a week or so. Then, the click-and-nothing came back one morning but I was able to start the car on the 2nd attempt. I went over to the garage and asked him to check again. He started the car several times while watching the voltage meter. The battery dipped down to 11.5V the lowest and he thought it was still far above the 9.6V threshold. We decided to keep watching and will target the starter the next time. 3 days later, I has the same thing came back - click-and-nothing on the 1st attempt but started nicely on the 2nd trial right afterwards. After the 1st starting of day, car started ncely for the rest of the day even with some cooling down periods in-between. My question now is "Will changing/rebuilding the starter take care of this problem?". Is there anything else between the key switch and the starter (something like relay?) that I need to consider before the innevitable? Thank you all for the responses and sharing.
  9. I have the "Tail Lamp Failure" warning message on my panel for some time and just can't find which Tail light the message is refering too. All the lights look OK to me. Any insight, anyone? It might be the lights in the back window. It was the bulb at the back window. There are two of them and one is burned and the other was giving me the false "no problem here" sign. I changed both. Thanks.
  10. Is the starter taking more current to start the more you wear and tear it over time? This was a once a week problem. The starter did give a week of good starting in-between jumpings. Things all get old and useless. It's been 10 years and I'll be happy to put in a new starter if that's the case. Thanks.
  11. I have ths 99 LS400 for 10 years and put 84K on it. I was a frequent traveler in some of the earlier years. It's a good car and I can't recall any single issue with the car. I drive 20 miles (50% freeway) daily recently. The problem started a month back. I put in a new battery after some checking upon 1st couple of starting failure. I drove 6 hours on I-5 to LA, did some local driving the next day and the problem came back the 3rd morning on the first attempt of the day. It wasn't too cold there and then. After jumping, it went problem-free for the rest of the week-long trip till a week later. I had an auto parts store tested the battery. Per the technician, alternator was OK and the battery was OK too but needed some charging. The easier way was for me to blame on the weak battery. I returned the 1-month old battery and put in a "better" battery a week ago. The problem came back again this PM. The starter gave the click but nothing else. I tried to charge the battery for 30 mintues with a heavy duty power supply (14.0V, 9A and dropping). The same charging worked several times before, but not today. It finally started after I jumped and battery and gave the other car a good stepping on the pedal. It's about time to send the car to the shop. Beside my curiosity, I am preparing myself in my talks to the mechanics. What can be the cause of the problem beside the battery and alternator? The alternator was giving from 13.7 to 14.4V when engine is running and everything is ON in my own tests. I have searched the forum for some education but still don't have any solid idea. Please advise if anyone can. Thanks a lot.
  12. I have the "Tail Lamp Failure" warning message on my panel for some time and just can't find which Tail light the message is refering too. All the lights look OK to me. Any insight, anyone? It might be the lights in the back window. That's what I thought when it first started. The light comes on beautifully when I step on brake. I am not sure how Lexus senses the failure. I can only deal with the bulb replacement myself. The sensor electronic is beyond me at this point.
  13. I have the "Tail Lamp Failure" warning message on my panel for some time and just can't find which Tail light the message is refering too. All the lights look OK to me. Any insight, anyone?
  14. size is important the larger oem battery has a bigger reserve for all for all the acc's and for emergencies. the bigger the father apart the cells are and the battery will last longer too. I would go with oem that you can buy at any toyota dealer for about 90 dollars Just returned a Group 35 battery to the store. The 1-month old battery died once a week on my '99 LS400. Costco doesn't carry Group 24 (a bigger) battery that I used to have. Battery test showed that alternator was good (14.35V at idle). Battery was OK too but needed some charging. The suggestion from the auto shop was to replace with a better battery. I have just put in a Group 24 (675 CCA) battery. I hope it will take care of the problem. The problem can still be something other than the weak battery. I ran some tests myself. One question that I have and don't know if anyone on this Forum have any better idea. I took the battery off the car and hooked a power supply (set at 12.6V as the battery) to the cables. The Amp meter read 50mA when things were all off. The current then jumped up to 9.4A when the ignition is on (panel on, low-beam headlights on, A/C off, stereo off, engine not started yet). Is this the right amount of current for this car model?
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