Hello From A New Owner

[c33]

Afternoon folks,I bought a ’93 L plate LS400 last week so have just signed up to the forums and thought I’d best say hello. The car is fundamentally sound but there are a few niggles which no doubt I’ll be boring you with over the coming months. The main ones are

- It has the dash board needle light and fuel gauge issue so I’m off to Maplin later to buy some capacitors

- The PAS pump leaks like fluid is going out of fashion – gasket kit on order from my local dealer, its had a new alternator fitted recently but they didn’t think to maybe investigate why the alternator failed. Ho hum!

- When I accelerate hard (as in foot flat to the floor hard) the rear end wanders noticeably, last MoT both rear hub bearings were replaced however I’ve seen on the forums it mentioned that tired trailing arm bushes can produce the same effect as worn bearings. Is it worth replacing the bushes for the trailing arms to see if that has an effect before attacking the whole rear end? I know the hub end bush is a new hub unit from the dealer, however I’ve seen Superflex do replacements, are the any other alternatives will a Delrin bush work or is that too harsh for this application? (I have a lathe so can turn small bushes and the like quite easily)

Other minor things are a heavy scratch to the NSR door in the lower trim, the stereo doesn’t work properly (aerial mast – common fault I believe, drivers side speakers, CD changer only plays #5 CD and only then intermittently, tapes don’t play at all), the “D” light in the instrument panel doesn’t work, neither does the door open light, I’m guessing these are both blown bulbs, any clues as to what is the correct type of replacement bulb?

Other than these sortable issues I’m really enjoying the car so far.

Regards

Iain

[steve2006]

Hello and welcome to the LOC.

Sounds like you have the fairly "standard" problems which can be sorted at minimal cost,as you can solder,and rebuild a PS pump.

It's normally just the reservoir O ring that causes the leak onto the alternator but while you are in there a complete rebuild makes good sense,the bearing doesn't come with the kit BTW but these are normally sound anyway.

Get some PS hose and replace the return pipe at the same time as it may get damaged when you try and remove it.

If you haven't seen already there are some excellent tutorials on www.lexls.com.

[ManicMark]

Hello & welcome

[sir john]

Hi there and welcome. You have the same year as mine.

While you are looking at the PAS pump seal (i did the o ring last year and it worked a treat) id suggest you look at the pipes that take the PAS fuid to the cooling pipe just under the radiator. If you get down and look through the vents in teh bottom of the front bumper you will see it. If it hasnt been replaced it will go any time soon. I also had a leak in one of the pipes just behind the OS head lamp. I put up a tutorial a few months ago. Do a search for it.

Re the electrical faults; theres a common failure of one of the wires in the boot lid hinge. That on here too and the lexls site Steve mentioned. It causes all sorts of wierd faults.

When you find the casue of your rear end wander let me know. Mine does it a bit.

One last tip. Under the accelerator pedal is a buttom. When you floor it, press a bit harder/through the button. She really flies then. :winky:

Happy driving.

EDIT; heres the link http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=70681&st=0&p=742107&hl=sir%20john&fromsearch=1entry742107

[c33]

Cheers folks, the fuel gauge is all sorted, interesting that previously it max'ed out at about 1/4full and apparently I have 1/3rd of a tank. While I was in there I noticed some kind soul had removed the break warning light from the dash cluster so I've re-instated that (needless to say it lights up! I had noticed some wiring bodge behind the OSR wheel so will investigate that more fully)and replaced the "D" bulb. The rev counter needle is still totally out though however the speedo has stopped flickering so that's progress of sorts!

Thanks for the link, I've made a note of the write up and will take a look when I rebuild the pump.

Regards

Iain

[steve2006]

Re the brake warning lamp there are sensors on all four sets of pads ( later models only have 1 front 1 rear),if the pads wear down o the limit the sensors attached to the inner pad is normally destroyed and that's why the warning light comes on.The sensors are over £40.00 each from Lexus but the other way around it is to connect the 2 wires together,this will remove the warning light but you will obviously have no pad wear warning.having said that it only takes a few minutes to visually check pad wear during a service.

[Scribe]

Iain, I've got a Mk.IV and in any case am pretty clueless about mechanical things, but I just wanted to say hello and welcome to the club. I'm sure you'll love your LS as much as we all love ours - I've never regretted buying mine, nor indeed joining the club, which has been a great source of information and reassurance.

[c33]

Re the brake warning lamp there are sensors on all four sets of pads ( later models only have 1 front 1 rear),if the pads wear down o the limit the sensors attached to the inner pad is normally destroyed and that's why the warning light comes on.The sensors are over £40.00 each from Lexus but the other way around it is to connect the 2 wires together,this will remove the warning light but you will obviously have no pad wear warning.having said that it only takes a few minutes to visually check pad wear during a service.

Grief, and I thought the BMW ones were bad from the dealers - same theory though, use once but £2.50 online of the local tame autofactor!!!

Talking of BMW, I've just come off the back of 3 years of owning an e30 325 Touring, very different car, however is there a Lexus equivalent of www.realoem.com ??? I've found BMW dealers much happier to deal with you buying legacy parts if you have a part number and just say I want this number please.

Regards

Iain

PS I've already found the warp drive engage position for the throttle pedal :D

ETA Went for a run a moment ago, at full brightness the needles other than the rev counter are fine; when dimmed the speedo still flickers. Any pointers before I take the panel out again, is the lighting via filament bulb, LED or other and controlled via a traditional resistor or PWM or other? Regards Iain

[ROYT]

Re the brake warning lamp there are sensors on all four sets of pads ( later models only have 1 front 1 rear),if the pads wear down o the limit the sensors attached to the inner pad is normally destroyed and that's why the warning light comes on.The sensors are over £40.00 each from Lexus but the other way around it is to connect the 2 wires together,this will remove the warning light but you will obviously have no pad wear warning.having said that it only takes a few minutes to visually check pad wear during a service.

Grief, and I thought the BMW ones were bad from the dealers - same theory though, use once but £2.50 online of the local tame autofactor!!!

Talking of BMW, I've just come off the back of 3 years of owning an e30 325 Touring, very different car, however is there a Lexus equivalent of www.realoem.com ??? I've found BMW dealers much happier to deal with you buying legacy parts if you have a part number and just say I want this number please.

Regards

Iain

PS I've already found the warp drive engage position for the throttle pedal :D

ETA Went for a run a moment ago, at full brightness the needles other than the rev counter are fine; when dimmed the speedo still flickers. Any pointers before I take the panel out again, is the lighting via filament bulb, LED or other and controlled via a traditional resistor or PWM or other? Regards Iain

Hi and welcome

Apparently the needles are cold cathode[whatever that is] and appearently work at quite a high voltage.

[beavisrules]

I thought the needle lights were a high voltage flourecent type device , hence the failing capacitors making them not start up.

my Mk3 rear would wander too ,sure most of the time due to wheelspin . greasy roads and cheap tyres :duh: never did it again once I'd stuck the dunlop D8Z's on there.

[c33]

Hi there and welcome. You have the same year as mine.

While you are looking at the PAS pump seal (i did the o ring last year and it worked a treat) id suggest you look at the pipes that take the PAS fuid to the cooling pipe just under the radiator. If you get down and look through the vents in teh bottom of the front bumper you will see it. If it hasnt been replaced it will go any time soon. I also had a leak in one of the pipes just behind the OS head lamp. I put up a tutorial a few months ago. Do a search for it.

Sir John, the PAS cooling pipe, would that be the one which comes over from behind the drivers headlight in rubber, transfer into rust do a single loop with a bit of a kink near the C/L of the car and return back up to behind the headlight leaving a pool of fluid dripping off the front edge of the under tray? What size pipe should it be? and you've had no vibration hardening issues with using copper?

Regards

Iain

[sir john]

Hi there and welcome. You have the same year as mine.

While you are looking at the PAS pump seal (i did the o ring last year and it worked a treat) id suggest you look at the pipes that take the PAS fuid to the cooling pipe just under the radiator. If you get down and look through the vents in teh bottom of the front bumper you will see it. If it hasnt been replaced it will go any time soon. I also had a leak in one of the pipes just behind the OS head lamp. I put up a tutorial a few months ago. Do a search for it.

Sir John, the PAS cooling pipe, would that be the one which comes over from behind the drivers headlight in rubber, transfer into rust do a single loop with a bit of a kink near the C/L of the car and return back up to behind the headlight leaving a pool of fluid dripping off the front edge of the under tray? What size pipe should it be? and you've had no vibration hardening issues with using copper?

Regards

Iain

That the one mate.

I used 10mm micro bore plumbers pipe. it bends really easily. The piece i used was a second hand bit that i found in my scrap box. I fitted it 2 years ago and its never leaked or fractured. You probably know though that copper pipe becomes brittle if you play about with it too much. By the way, the original pipe has olives soldered to the ends to help secure the rubber to it. My replacement pipe hasnt. I always ment to replaceit with a new piece of copper pipe with olives by never got round to it.

Have fun. IMHO we have he nicest LS there is.

[c33]

Cheers, that looks like an easy enough fix, I've a flaring kit that does 3/8" pipe so will do a double flare in the ends and sort that at the same time as the pump. Hopefully the dealers ETA is accurate on the seal kit.

Regards

Iain

[steve2006]

Re the needles,apparently the electro phosphoric coating (think that's what it is called) on the actual needles cracks and causes poor or no illumination,there have been various remedies to correct this,apparently Chris Vince (member on here) can sort this problem.

[c33]

Right, Lexus Chester have come good with the gasket kit, I've got hold of some copper microbore, initially I'd scavenged a length of tube from work 10mm OD near on the perfect length, then realised it was Titanium tube and a bit too expensive to scavenge! I've also got a length of 100R6 hose from my local Pirtek to replace all the low pressure flexibles while I'm at it - I never fail to be impressed by the staff at Pirtek btw, both the Wrexham branch when I used to get stuff for my racer and today the Ellesmere Port branch, always willing to help and be sensible (I asked for 2m of hose, he had a 3m end of roll/offcut and let me have that for what he'd quoted over the phone earlier)

Thanks again for all the pointers, I've messaged Chris so hopefully he'll get back in touch, but next on the list will be stopping the rear end from messing about under load and heavily cambered roads. I was impressed a second time today when crawling along in a traffic jam I could hear the movement of my watch ticking away!

Regards

Iain

[Nitmoi]

For the pad indicators. Remove the wire assy. carefully pull the wires through the plastic plug and add a drop of solder. You then have a fully functioning wear indicator for 20 mins work saving around £40 on parts. I have done this 2 times to mine.

[c33]

Thanks for the tip.

Sorted the PAS, all quiet and happy now. I've found two new noises in the engine bay though. One right at the front of the engine, dead centre towards the top. Any ideas sounds like a steady tick a couple of times a second at idle, water pump was replaced late last year with a dealer part so I doubt its a pump bearing or such like... the second one sounds like NS bank valve noise, how are the valves adjusted on these engines are they hydraulic or buckets and shims? That said on TVR Griffs and Chims a blowing exhaust gaskets produces a very similar noise and catches folks out, do these engines have a similar trick up their sleeves?

Next on the list is trailing arm bushes, then start figuring out an LPG conversion!

Regards

Iain

[BaxfromNZ]

Iain,

Your illumination problem might be affected by the light dimmer potentiometer. A cheap fix is to flood it with CRC or similar - I know this used to work on volume control pots on transistor radios when they got scratchy and made the volume hard to adjust so it should work on the dimmer pot if that is indeed the problem. Try to get the CRC inside the pot if you can. It is more likely though that the capacitors in your intrument cluster need replacing.

Regards,

Ian.