Hi,
Don't know if anyone out there can help me? I live near Stoke on Trent, close to the Wedgwood visitor center and i'm building a Dodge Viper replica kit car using the trusty LS400 engine (1993ish). Everythings installed and i was going to try to get the engine running on the original loom instead of using an aftermarket ecu as i think it'll run better, but so far no joy. The starter relay clicks in when i turn the ignition, but the engine is not turning over. I had thought if i could take a live straight to the starter this might do the trick, but i can't find the starter to try this.

I basically need to find someone in the area or close by that either has an LS400 that I can have a look at and compare side by side to see if i'm missing anything, or i need to find somebody that knows the loom/engine very well and can tell me what i've missed.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have the guy who manufactures these kits coming on Saturday to help me fit the body, so i'm panicking a bit as it really needs to be running by then. I don't really want to tell him not to come as its taken me ages to tie him down to a day.

Anyway, here's hoping and thanks for listening.

Paul.

Sorry I can't help but it sounds like an interesting project. You'll have to give me a shout when its done wouldn't mind taking a gander at it, i'm just down the road.

Good luck
Lee

Hello mate,

If your looking for the starter it sits inside the V of the engine under the intake manifold. Is the click you are heaing definitly the starter relay or is it the starter solonoid ?? If the click is loud its probably the starter solonoid but contacts might be burnt out.

The way the this 1uz fe engine works is that the starter needs to crank the engine to around 250rpm, once this happens the engine ECU tell the fuel pump to fire up and start throwing fuel into the cylinders and light it up.

Also if ur gonna straight connect the starter or check the starter solonoid plunger dont connect the positive direct for mroe than 5 seconds as you can easily burn out the starter.

Thanks for that. It has been interesting/taxing/annoying etc, but the end is nigh! I'll let you know when its done.
Paul



Hi mate,
The click is definately the relay. Got the missis to stick a screwdriver to her ear. Now I know where the starter is, i may be able to trace the problem.

Thanks for the info.
Paul

No probs man.

If you take off the intake manifold, you might need to replace a few the gaskets which come off, depending on how old and cracked they are.

Hope u get it sorted soon.

Well, after a bit of fiddling, the engine is now turning over, so hopefully tomorrow, i can get the fuel pump connected and fuel in the tank and see if it fires up. Fingers crossed!!

Thanks for the help so far.
Paul

p.s. For those of you who are thinking "how dare he butcher a lovely Lexus", the car had been in more than one decent accident and was about to be scrapped before i rescued her and removed the heart - she will live on in a fantastic new body!

I look forward to the photo's

Jamie

There'll be lots of those and it'll probably be up for sale when its finished, as its taken so long that i've kind of fallen out with it, so you'll be able to see it first hand, but we'll see how i feel.
Paul