jpourcy

Hi Killerfatty, I'm a professional collision repair technician. Show me some pictures and I will look them over for you and tell you what to expect. Jerry

Confirmation: On a '91, only the master key will open that lock, the valet key will not open it. Tried it about 3 minutes ago. As far as I know, there were no changes made between '91 and '92. Jerry

Have you checked for corrosion in the bulb sockets yet? If they are not getting a good contact, they will not work. If they are clean, get a test light and see if you are getting power to the sockets. If you are getting power to the middle brake light you should be getting power to the outer brake lights. Jerry

If it will make everybody happy, I will apologize for everyone: "I'm really sorry guys, it won't happen again." There, are we good to go now? :lol: By the way, I agree, the rear seal seems like the culprit from the beginning. Jerry

I do, but it is not online, it is in book form so I will not be mailing it to you. If you are planning on keeping your vehicle and doing a lot of work yourself I highly recommend purchasing the correct service manuals for your vehicle. You can get them from: Toyota Publications 1-800-622-2033 The price for a 1991 Lexus LS 400 manuals are (American dollars): Engine $91.44 Chassis $94.75 Electrical $26.99 Your 1994 should be about the same. Power steering is in the chassis manual. The manuals will pay for themselves after the very first time you use them. I highly recommend getting them. It cost me $250.00 for the manuals and that is nothing compared to paying for mechanic labor on a Lexus. $250.00 amounts to just one small service fee at a Lexus dealership. Get the same manuals they have and do it yourself. These manuals are huge. When you stack them up together they are about 6.5 inches thick. Tons of information. Definitely worth the money if you plan on doing a lot of work on your vehicle yourself. It will save you tons of money. The tutorial on the LEXLS website is pretty good and follows the manual very close. The flow control valve controls the pressure. If it is not working properly, Lexus recommends changing the valve. There is no rebuild procedure on the valve, you have to buy a new one. Rebuilding the pump does not rebuild the valve, it has to be replaced if it is bad. This is what the manual gives on checking and replacing the control valve: "If the flow control spring is not at least 36mm long, it needs to be replaced. They can compress over time. To inspect the valve for proper working order: (A the valve must be able to move in the valve hole of the pump under its own weight. (B To check it for leaks, close one of the holes in the side of the valve and apply compressed air (57-71 psi, 392-490 kPa) into the other side, and confirm that air does not come out from the end holes. If necessary, replace the valve with one having the same letter as inscribed on the front housing. The inscribed mark will be: A,B,C,D,E or F. In the flow control valve, there is a relief valve which controls the maximum pressure of the pump. The amount of this maximum pressure is very important; if it is too low, there will be insufficient power steering assist and if too high, it will have an adverse affect on the pressure hoses, oil seals, etc. If the maximum pressure is either too high or too low due to a faulty relief valve, do not disassemble or adjust the relief valve, but replace the flow control valve as an assembly." If you have already rebuilt your pump, and everything seems to be OK, then your low pressure problem might be coming from a faulty relief valve inside of the control valve. This calls for changing the whole control valve. This is all the manual tells us about the flow control valve. If it is bad, all you can do is replace it. I hope this helps. Jerry

Standard procedure at a Lexus dealership to change the timing belt is to change the water pump, crank seal, cam seals, idler pulleys and possibly the tensioner. Preventative maintenance. Tear down the front of the engine once, take care of business, then you are good to go for another 90-100 thousand miles. If the front crank seal goes out anytime soon you have to tear the front of the engine down all over again. Of course, this is OK for people that love tearing engines down and putting them back together all the time. Some people enjoy that, but I am not one of those people. I made the mistake of replacing one of my distributor rotors and not changing the other one. Then the other one went bad so I changed it. Then one of the caps went bad. Instead of doing a tune up and changing all the rotors, caps wires and plugs like I should have done, I tried to get by as cheap as possible not knowing if I was going to keep the car or not. Since I made the decision to keep it, I changed it all. Runs like a charm, and I shouldn't have to fool with the ignition system for a while. If anyone decides to keep a vehicle, preventative maintenance is the way to go. I would rather change a half-worn lower radiator hose at my home or at my shop than change a busted one on the side of the interstate. Jerry

Hi Bill, What kind of time frame did it take to get your timing belt changed? Over 4 hours? Did you change the crank and cam seals also? Just wandering how much down time it's going to take to get mine done. Jerry

My steering is too hard. Could you mail me a service manual or tell where to download it? I can't solve my ps pump problem for a few month already. Tryed everything. alfor-4@yandex.ru. Hi Forsash, I do not know where an online manual is but here is a parts breakdown of the pump: http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_E_1994_LEXU...EPGKW_4502.html Jerry

I suppose you mean the under engine cover or the splash shield. Yes, it needs to come off and then the valve can be reached from the bottom. You will need a 17mm open end wrench. You might need a short (stubby) wrench, a long one might not be able to access it. I used both. It was too tight to break loose with the stubby and I was just barely able to get the long one in there to break it loose and then used the stubby the rest of the way. When you take the valve out, the fluid will pour out of the hole so be sure to cover your alternator with a piece of plastic and be sure to put a catch bucket underneath. I have never blocked one before so I do not know if you need some type of special bolt or just one that fits the hole. If the fluid is actually leaking from your valve, then this might fix your problem. But I recommend putting it back like factory if at all possible. Did the smoking ever stop? If so, how long did it take? Jerry

Mine came loose. I just glued it back in. Jerry

I changed my idle up valve out about two weeks ago. Now I'm smoke free, and I didn't use a nicotine patch! Mine had almost an immediate effect, no smoke the next day. It had been smoking and using power steering fluid since the day I got it and now no smoke and NO POWER STEERING FLUID LOSS! The old girl is starting to shape up. I had took the car to a mechanic and he said the power steering pressure hose was leaking and the steering rack was leaking and the 2 parts combined would be $800.00. If I would have let him change the parts my car would still be smoking and losing power steering fluid. He had no clue what was wrong with my car. So hats off to all you good people here at the Lexus Owner's Club Forum where I learned about the idle up valve on the steering pump. It seems that Lexus owners know more about their cars than mechanics do. Jerry

Hi 90LS, The idle up valve only comes into play when you have the steering wheel fully turned to the right or left. This is when it has maximum pressure and puts a little more strain on the engine. It just raises the idle on the engine when you have your steering wheel maxed out to the left or right. Other than that, you will not notice a difference. Did your car quit smoking? Is your PS pump still leaking? Are you using Dexron ATF for your PS fluid? From the pictures you posted, the leaks on the ground didn't look red like ATF should look. Jerry

Hi dougs, Is the relief valve servicible or adjustable? Thank you for your help and reply. No. According to the service manual it says to not disassemble or adjust the relief valve but rather to replace the flow control valve as an assembly. Here is a quote from the manual: "The clearance between the flow control valve and the pump body installation hole is very important. After manufacture, the factory measures the size of the installation hole and outer circumference of the flow control valve, and punches a mark accordingly. Therefore when replacing the flow control valve, be sure to do so with one having the same mark in order to insure the proper clearance." It sounds to me that the hole in the pump and the diameter of the flow control valve have to be very precise. The illustration they give shows an "A" marked on the pump and an "A" marked on the flow control valve. Obviously you have to make sure that the pump has the exact size flow control valve. The inscribed marks should be A,B,C,D,E or F. If your pump has an "A" on it and your flow control valve has a "D" on it, then it is not right. If the one you have is rebuilt, they could have messed it up. If this valve is not correct, it will cause your pressure to be too low or too high. Of course, the marks could be the same but the relief valve could be faulty. According the the manual, the line pressure should be a minimum of 1067 psi at idle. It does not give a maximum, but obviously if it is too high, then your steering will feel a little squirrelly. If this problem came up right after they changed your pump, it would seem to me that the flow control valve could be your problem. Jerry

Hi Everyone, I just changed the LCD on my climate control on my 91 LS 400 and it looks great but I noticed that one side of LCD on my Pioneer stereo is dim. Where can I find the backlight bulbs for this? Is there a tutorial somewhere for changing the backlight bulbs on the pioneer stereo? Thanks, Jerry

Hi Holly, If you open your trunk and look under the packing shelf you should be able to see the speaker. On mine I can barely make out the name "Pioneer". Even if it is not Pioneer, the packing shelf was made to hold 1 size speaker so regardless of what brand it is, it should be an 8 inch speaker and you will need an 8 inch surround foam. I do not believe they made two different size subwoofers for that vehicle. When I repaired mine I noticed that the metal frame of the speaker was specially made to fit the packing shelf, so just looking for another regular speaker is not going to work. It will have to be one made for that vehicle or be modified. Best thing to do is repair the old one. Jerry

Hi 90, Where does your grandma go to church? Jerry

Jerry - Glad to see my thoughts and sentiments are echoed by someone of your knowledge and experience. I was going to send my speakers out, but based on your post, I will do them myself. Hi Jeff, Glad I could help. Changing the surround foam is fairly easy. You shouldn't have any problem. The instructions that come with it are very straightforward with pictures. Good luck. Jerry

Hi Bill, Did it seem to help out on any vibration or noise? From your picture I could not tell if it was rubbing metal on metal. It did not seem to be. Jerry

Hi AzHotLS, I didn't pay any attention to the date. jimid posted to this thread and brought it back up to the top. I guess I need to look at the dates more often. The original author of this thread did ask questions for help on other items besides the hood struts. When I get my leak fixed, I will post a new thread how to fix it. Jerry

Try this before you buy a new pump. There are two vacuum lines going from your engine to the power steering pump. This is how the fluid is getting into the engine. Take these vacuum lines loose and plug them up and also plug where they came loose from on the engine. If it quits smoking then your idle up air control valve is bad on the power steering pump. Change the valve and it should fix the problem. They are about $100.00 from the dealer. Part # 17630-16040. Takes about 20 minutes from the underside of the vehicle. Change the vacuum hoses on the valve while you are at it. More than likely they will be brittle. Jerry

Hi Dougs, Was it a brand new factory steering pump or a rebuilt one? If it was a rebuilt one it seems like they didn't get the flow control valve correct. This valve can cause pressure that is too low or pressure that is too high if it is not done right. Sounds like your pressure is too high. Inside the flow control valve is a relief valve. It could have a faulty relief valve. The service manual says to change the whole control valve. Jerry

Hi Chheng, 2. My power steering is leaking, but my mechanic can't find the leak, should I just replace it since I kknow that this is a common problem with them? Does your car smoke sometimes when you start it up? If it does, the reason he can't find the leak is because the control valve on the power steering pump is leaking and it runs off of the manifold vacuum and it sucks power steering fluid into the engine thus blowing smoke and causing a loss of power steering fluid. Change the valve and it should fix the problem. They are about $100.00 from the dealer. Part # 17630-16040 Change the vacuum hoses on the valve while you are at it. More than likely they will be brittle. 4. My sunroof leaks when it rains sometimes, how do I fix that? If I had to guess, it is leaking at the left front (drivers side) and causing the headliner to start coming apart. I have the same problem on my 91 and I saw it again on a 92. I blew out all my drain lines and they are flowing properly but my sunroof still leaks. I tried to seal it up but I realize I am going to have to pull the headliner down to fix the leak. To save your headliner until you get your leak fixed, just get a tube of silicone rubber and seal the sunroof at the top of the car on the roof. It won't be pretty and you will not be able to use your sunroof until you get the leak stopped, but it will save your headliner and whatever else is getting wet. I'm planning on fixing mine when I paint my vehicle and I have to pull all kinds of stuff loose. Hopefully it will be within the next month. I will post a fix as soon as I know what it takes to fix it. Jerry

It is possible that it might not be all the way in park. Most cars have a neutral safety switch which only allows them to start in park or neutral. But if it is not all the way in park it will not start. See if you can put it in neutral and try to start it. If it starts in neutral without any problems you might need to adjust your shift linkage a bit. I have seen a lot of cars when they get older you have to wiggle the shift lever while it is in park to get it to start. Just a guess. It could be a couple of dozen things wrong with it. Jerry

No pictures. It wasn't mine. It belonged to Leon Pickard of Leon Pickard Chevrolet. I just restored it for him. I do not remember how long it took, but it seems like a couple of years on and off. I remember them painting it a real ugly color though. Some kind of pale yellow and black. It was also a frame off restoration. It had wooden spoke wheels. An old guy I use to work with told me back in the day when these vehicles were on the road that when the steering got sloppy they would run these cars through water and the water would make the wooden spokes swell up and tighten the steering up. You know, high tech stuff. Jerry

Hi killerFatty, I got your personal message, hopefully you got my reply. A quick test to see if your mounts are bad: I noticed before I added the new mounts that when I went to jack up the car by the suspension crossmember I had to get really low to see beyond the oil pan to place the jack on the crossmember. Now that I have changed the mounts, the engine sits up much higher. I can see the crossmember very easily. The engine is sitting about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch higher. So if you look under your vehicle with the engine splash shield off and look level and you cannot see the crossmember behind the oil pan, then your engine mounts are going flat. The new mounts cause the engine to sit up higher and you can clearly see the crossmember behind the oil pan. This is not a definite, but it will give you a basic idea of what to look for. As the engine mounts wear out, they get flatter and lower the engine. As they get flatter, you have less cushion between the engine and the body which will give you more engine vibration. In order to change the engine mounts on a 1st Generation LS 400 there are a few things that must first be considered. The engine has to be supported. I used an engine hoist which is probably the best and safest way. It might be possible to use a floor jack from underneath, but I do not recommend it. I have seen many times where certain engines can be supported by the oil pan, but I do not know if the 400 is one of them. It is best to use an engine hoist. Supporting the engine from underneath will also get in the way since all work has to be done underneath the vehicle. The legs of the hoist are bad enough. I decided to start on the right side (passenger) for it looked the easiest and had the most clearance. RIGHT SIDE 1. Jack up the vehicle and support the vehicle with stands. Be sure to apply the parking brake. Allow yourself enough room to climb under it and work. Put the stands under rocker panel or the frame rails behind the front wheels. Disconnect the battery. Remove the engine splash shield. 2. Unbolt the engine mounts at the bottom at the suspension crossmember with a 17mm socket. 3. Using the hoist, attach the chain to the hooks on the engine and hoist the engine up. As you hoist the engine up, grab the cooling fan behind the radiator at the top and move it until it hits the fan shroud. After it touches the fan shroud, you can apply just a little more pressure to the hoist but this is the maximum height that you can go with the engine. 4. Unbolt the suspension crossmember. (17mm) It's only four nuts. Drop it as far as you can on the right side and this will give you the clearance you need to get the old mount out and the new mount in. 5. There is a grounding wire attached to the engine mount bracket in the front. Unbolt it with a 12mm socket. 6. There really is not enough room to get a wrench in there so I used a swivel socket to unbolt the bracket from the engine. It is a 14mm head on the bolt but I did not have a 14mm swivel socket but I did have a 9/16 swivel socket that worked fine. 7. After you unbolt the bracket from the engine, you can remove the bracket/mount assembly from the rear of the crossmember. The front is too crowded. 8. Change the new mount onto the bracket and reverse the order for installation. Do not bolt up the crossmember yet. Note** There might be a different way to do this which I will explain shortly. LEFT SIDE This one is a little bit more complicated. 1. At the top of the steering rack there is a bolt that holds the steering shaft to the rack gearbox. If you wheels are pointed straight, turn the steering wheel a half a turn and the bolt will line up where you can unbolt it from the left side. The shaft will have to slide off of the gearbox just a little. 2. Unbolt the left shock absorber at the bottom. This will help you get a little more clearance to lower the crossmember a little more. 3. There is a wire harness that goes to the steering rack. Close to the steering rack there is a connector in the wire harness. You do not need to brake loose the connection but rather just unclip it from it's mounting bracket. This will help give more clearance. 4. On the front of the crossmember there is another wire harness attached by three bolts. Take these loose so you can move the wire harness when the time comes. 5. There is a small bracket attached to the crossmember that helps to hold the engine splash shield in place. You will know which one it is when you go to take the mount out. It's in the way, just one bolt. 6. Now you can look at the mount and say, "There is no way that is coming out!" That's what I said. It doesn't seem that you can get to the 4 bracket bolts. **But here is what I tried and it worked. I left the bracket alone and used a 17mm wrench and went directly to the top of the mount where it bolts to the bracket. If you have your wrench facing the rear of the vehicle you can get in there and just barely put your wrench on the nut. Try to use your finger to hold the wrench on the nut. Use the box end, it has to have a slight angle to the wrench and be sure it is a 12 point. Very slowly I was able to get it to turn and work it little by little and I finally got it off and the mount came down from the bracket. Now instead of the mount coming out from the rear as it did on the right side, it is going to have to come out from the front of the crossmember on the left side. Before you put the new mount back in, take the nut and run it up and down the threads a few times to make sure it is nice and easy to turn because you need to use your fingers to get it hand tight. As on the right side, don't forget to put the heat shield and brace back in. NOTE** I did not try this method on the right side. I suppose if it works on the left it should also work on the right. After both mounts are put in place, you can now try to raise the crossmember back to its original position. You might need to pry the engine forward or backward to get the mount studs to line up with the holes in the crossmember. Tighten the crossmember nuts and lower the engine into place. After the engine falls into place then you can attach everything back like it was. DON'T FORGET THE STEERING SHAFT BOLT! If you also had to change the transmission mount, you will notice a completely different ride than you had before. Before I changed all my mounts the car was noisy and vibrated really bad. Now it is smooth and quiet like a Lexus should be. It was definitely worth all the trouble and expense to get it done. Just one more step to restoring my 1991 Lexus LS 400. This week I changed the transmission mounts, engine mounts, power steering control valve with new vacuum hoses (no more smoke), gave the transmission a fluid transfusion, and changed the differential oil. Next week (hopefully) I'll change the climate control LED and maybe by the end of the month have a fresh paint job. Little by little, one step at a time. The old girl is really starting to shape up. Jerry