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At the weekend I liberated a ls400 from a scrap yard. It didn't cost me a lot so if it turns out bad I won't worry about it. The thing was misfiring badly had a damaged front bumper and light cluster. Luckily there was another there which was in a bad way so I took a bumper (wrong colour but not too bad) and its cluster. I was unable to do anything at the time about the misfire. I nursed the thing home (with the overdrive off as it was able to get up hills easier) for over forty miles on what I thought was half an engine. On Sunday I discovered that it was only running on four cylinders as one of the rotor arms was actually just dust inside the cap. That's right, it was gone, the other one was in a shocking state with a bit cracked off and all coked up. How it got home is amazing, I bet when this cars is running sweet it must be fantastic. Anyway, I have purchased new plugs, leads, caps and rotors from a good company in the states (loads cheaper than I could find them in the UK) and shall be fitting them as and when they arrive. I can't wait hee hee, living the dream. Well, if this hasn't bored anyone too much I'll post a continuing saga to keep interested people informed.

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Hope it all works out great for you.

If it does you will have a cracking car that new, cost more than the average home.

The engine on these cars are bullet proof so fingers crossed that it isn't too serious.

BTW what did you pay for the car from the breakers ?

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Welcome to LOC mate!

Does sound very interesting, if the engine was that much of a mess before you started it is amazing it got you home. Have you got any pics of the current state of it?

Yep you should continue this thread with pics of how you bring it back to life :whistling:

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Hello everybody. Thanks for the interest and the moral support. Below should be two pictures one of a cap and its rotor arm ( the bits in the bottom of it ) and the next is of the other rotor arm ( cracked and a nasty piece missing ). The other cap has been cleaned so makes for a useless picture, however it was very coked and took come cleaning ( I shall not be re using it). The car cost £525. It came with six months tax and three months MOT. When It isn't pouring down and daylight out side I'll take some pictures of the car. I won't be doing anything to it until the bits arrive from America. As for the general condition of the car I am quite pleased. It has done over 130000 miles and certain parts look like it has, however the bodywork ( as far as I have inspected on one rainy day) looks in good condition. The only concern I have is the cam belt. All these bits of rotor must have gone somewhere especially that big bit. I've just checked my inbox and the replacement parts have been dispatched and should arrive early next week. I shall endeavour to keep a record of what I do so others can benefit as well. I can't wait to get this running properly ( like being a kid waiting for Christmas ).

If the pictures aren't below then I'm more useless at this than I thought and you will have to look at my gallery.

gallery_28190_607_134662.jpg

gallery_28190_607_19695.jpg

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Hello everybody. Thanks for the interest and the moral support. Below should be two pictures one of a cap and its rotor arm ( the bits in the bottom of it ) and the next is of the other rotor arm ( cracked and a nasty piece missing ). The other cap has been cleaned so makes for a useless picture, however it was very coked and took come cleaning ( I shall not be re using it). The car cost £525. It came with six months tax and three months MOT. When It isn't pouring down and daylight out side I'll take some pictures of the car. I won't be doing anything to it until the bits arrive from America. As for the general condition of the car I am quite pleased. It has done over 130000 miles and certain parts look like it has, however the bodywork ( as far as I have inspected on one rainy day) looks in good condition. The only concern I have is the cam belt. All these bits of rotor must have gone somewhere especially that big bit. I've just checked my inbox and the replacement parts have been dispatched and should arrive early next week. I shall endeavour to keep a record of what I do so others can benefit as well. I can't wait to get this running properly ( like being a kid waiting for Christmas ).

If the pictures aren't below then I'm more useless at this than I thought and you will have to look at my gallery.

gallery_28190_607_134662.jpg

gallery_28190_607_19695.jpg

yep need replacing mate :lol: should run better then :)

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I knew where to look when I saw four plugs hadn't fired for a while and the leads all went back to the same cap.

P.S : This is a great forum. I've also gone gold, now waiting for my gold card. Got to laugh, if you didn't you'd cry.

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Hi and welcome to LOC.

Only a Lexus could have damage such as shown and still drive you home!

Good luck with the repairs.

I hope the oxygen sensors and cats are not damaged by the unburnt fuel flowing out of one bank.

BTW was this car on eBay as I seem to remember a description of one with a "misfire" if it was misfire was being generous.

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Hi, and welcome,

What colour is your LS ? i live in plymouth as well so will keep an eye out for you. Dont seem to be many ownwers in the club down this way.

cheers steve.

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Unbelievable, according to the fedex tracking number the parts are in Stansted. They say that the parts will be delivered tomorrow. Wow that is some service for you.

Reply to steve2006: Yes it was on eBay. The guy said it wasn't like that when he got it in and that it developed that fault while it was sat around. Dubious at best.

Reply to floggit: The car is a very very dark green I think, might as well be black. It also has the wrong colour bumper and is M reg. I'll be going up the A38 at the weekend to blow out the cobwebs. I hope it will anyway.

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Yes I did. I found their website to be excellent. It's a pity I couldn't find them for a reasonable price in the UK. When I say reasonable I include in that the time and effort navigating around google and various rubbish UK sites. One glimmer of hope has been http://www.japtec.com they are based here in plymouth. I only found these guys through a friend saying that I should have gone to them. I was wondering if anyone here had any experience using them as I shall look at them for air filters and other bits when the misfire is sorted.

P.s : I have looked into a new cam belt. They seem cheap enough, however, the kit and water pump are going to sting. Does anyone have advise as to where to go for good quality parts at a sensible price. They seem ok from Rock auto and I have seen them on eBay but every little helps.

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Yes I did. I found their website to be excellent. It's a pity I couldn't find them for a reasonable price in the UK. When I say reasonable I include in that the time and effort navigating around google and various rubbish UK sites. One glimmer of hope has been http://www.japtec.com they are based here in plymouth. I only found these guys through a friend saying that I should have gone to them. I was wondering if anyone here had any experience using them as I shall look at them for air filters and other bits when the misfire is sorted.

P.s : I have looked into a new cam belt. They seem cheap enough, however, the kit and water pump are going to sting. Does anyone have advise as to where to go for good quality parts at a sensible price. They seem ok from Rock auto and I have seen them on ebay but every little helps.

I got Blueprint ADL for my timing belt kit and a Quinton and Hazel Water Pump.

Both are as good as or better than the OEM equipment.

Together they where £195 from Kevin Cooper.

Also for parts try www.cheaptoyotaparts.co.uk

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I'm still here. I apologise for the delay.

As things stand the car runs much better than before. Below is a list of parts I have changed so far.

Distributor caps and rotor arms. "Bosch parts"

Ignition leads "Denso"

Spark plugs "Ngk iridium ix"

I have the following coming tomorrow.

Air filter

oil filter (and the oil)

Fuel filters.

During the changing of the ignition parts I have inadvertently introduced an engine ecu fault code. It is 1-3, rpm signal number 2. During tomorrows work of changing the filters and the oil I shall look into this fault. If anyone has had this fault code I would appreciate any help you may have to offer. I am presuming I have damaged a sensor wire, but we shall see. When I get this thing running I am going to drink a toast to the diy gods and no mistake.

P.s I am dreading the first MOT.

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Did you clear the original fault codes,by removing the EFI fuse for 10 secs or more.?

Fuse under bonnet in large fuse box[ junction box2]

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More bad news. The ecu is also reporting a knock sensor problem. Before I try and find it can some kind soul tell me where the number one knock sensor is. I have found a replacement in America ( yes, more money) that will arrive only days after ordering. Before I go and buy it I would like to eliminate any wiring fault or fitment problems. Any advice on this fault would be greatly appreciated.

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If anyone knows where I could buy a Haynes style manual for this I would be most grateful. All I can find are cd-rom types, not that that is a problem I can print it out but if it has to be a CD can someone recommend one.

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I think the only thing that Haynes did for Lexus was for the Toyota Camry (Lexus ES300) which has got nowt to do with the LS range. I've been looking for a while. The CD-ROM, if it's anything like that for the LS430, is quite detailed.

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Thank you everybody for your replies. I think I'll purchase one of the CDs from eBay. The knock sensor looks to be difficult to get to. I shall take pictures and make notes of the job at various stages. I'll post them here and use them to put the thing together again. It won't be done next weekend maybe the weekend after.

P.S. The fuel filter was a nasty job.

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