Believe it or not, the 1992 Hyundai Excel is the best car I have, as far as repair history concern up to
95,000 miles, after that I do not know (may be it goes downhill, I do not think so, the power train are built by Mitsubishi, same as the Dodge Colt ), the reason I sold this car because it is manual shift, and my wife and my daughter will not be able to drive it. It creates a lot of inconvenience. My drive-way is first-in last-out, so even if I am sick like a dog, I still have to get up and move the Hyundai to let the other cars out

 

this isn't a story. it's a novel.

 

Hi Denverdog,

Can you elaborate this, it is a true story.

by the way, I test drive my LS400 thorough last night, everything OK, I even take the car to work today, no problem. One big milestone.

 

Thats because I took the time to document every aspect of this task, and add a bit of comic relief here and there.

Aren't you tired of searching and getting half assed posts about PART of a problem you are experiencing? Hopefully this thread will document every aspect of the issue that anyone may have in the future.

Molex, Im gonna take a look at this fuel rail tonight and see whats up. its been cold here, and I gotta get this car back into garage to get some light.... I hope its something simple. that Ican visually identify.

oh well more news to come later tonight.

 

OK .... inspected the car tonight and I found its one of the o-rings that I didnt change on the 3rd injector on the Driver's side bank.



LESSON LEARNED:
If you pull your injectors out... replace o-rings, as car is 15 years old and OEM rubber is shot!

 

This is a huge project and it should not be taken lightly. This project will take 5 hours for a Lexus Tech.

The best tool would be this one:


Its a must otherwise, you must have very small hand. http://www.lextreme.com/starter.html Have fun with this project. Make sure you test your starter before re-installing it and becareful with the injector O-rings.

 

Lextreme,

Is this flex wrench can let you access the two starter mounting bolts without taking out the coolant bridge and loosen the wiring harness?

Did anybody try this wrench? If it works, I have the wrong judgement. I wasted my time to remove the coolant bridge and the wiring harness. I would say, about 2 hours extra work. Anyhow, it was history, I just want to know. I do not want to take the whole thing apart to try this flex head wrench. May be next time when the starter broke.

So far, I have driven the car for a week more already, so far so good.
Let me tell you, Starter replacement in this car is no picnic, you need patience and stamina and the determination to do it. I did that myself, but it is not a job for novices.

 

I can answer that one easy....

The flex head wrench may be able to take it out without removing the coolant bridge. But can you imagine the amount of time you will waste trying to fuss in that tiny space?
Also remember , how in the world are you gonna rethread the starter mount bolts with the coolant bridge in the way?

I thought about that and it just made more sense to drain a little coolant and remove 4 more nuts to make life easy.

Im sure it can be done, but ease vs time spent is a toss up.

In hindsight, I could have removed the bolts if i had a flex head wrench (thin profiled one) , but after removing the coolant bridge I easily got to it with a common open end wrench.

So now the dilemma is $12 for 2 coolant bridge gaskets at the dealer and $8 in coolant or $15-20 for a tool you will use probably once on your LS?

There are various approaches to this task and Im glad we are using this thread to explore them.

And you are sure right.... This is NO easy task.... its very complex.

I have started my car several times wit hnew starter.... and I am tracking down fuel leaks. from a poor fuel rail reinstall on my part. trouble is its so hard to see the rail on the passenger side of car due to TB and Intake on the way... I just notice a tiny tiny seepage that was contributing to a toxic smell coming thru the heating vents.

Hopefully this will be the last one I track down.

Going thru what I have already.. I have honestly mastered working on this motor like I have the 2JZ. I feel pretty confident finding my way around and selecting the right tool for the job.

The thing with me is this car isnt a daily driver yet so I can afford to have the car down and work on it in my spare time (as I am doing now) but if you doing a weekend project, you should pay attention to all the loopholes many of us have fallen into and worked out of.

 

I finally started changing the starter on my 95 LS. Im taking pictures on everything i take apart, hopefully I'll be able to write detailed document on how to replace a starter. When I mean detailed, every bolts, nuts, clips and hoses are documented. Im currently in the process of taking out the upper manifold, i just could not get to the two bolts that connects the egr pipe to the back of the manifold. I didnt have the flex gear wrench, so i guess i just have to buy that and do it this coming weekend.

 

cant wait to see the pics

 

You dont need any special tool to remove the EGR pipe from the upper manifold in ther rear.

All that I used was a 1/4 ratchet (small one) and a 12mm (might be 14mm, but Im almost sure its 12mm) socket and it came off real easy. two bolts then catch the gasket before it falls into oblivion

 

Its the easiest to remove the water bridge. Otherwise you dont have room to turn you wrench. If I remember correctly is only 4 10 mm bolts. Its best to use a standard 14 mm spammer wrench first and use a 14 mm flexable head (try toget the short handle version if possible). Those two bolts will take you an hour.

 

Well I pulled the passenger side fuel rail and I found one horribly mangles o-rings on the 3rd injector from front of rail. and a somewhat worn and squared off o-ring on the 2nd injector.

I will just buy some o-rings from the dealer and fix this side as well.

 

Well I finally finished. Bought the toyota injector/o-ring rebuild kits from NAPA for $5.50 Reinstalled pass fuel rail and intake and TB. Please note that is is handy but not required to have a heat gun. Some of the vacuum hoses and PCV hoses have become so hard and brittle over a decade or more of engine heat and age. It's very easy to simply heat the hoses up and make them a bit soft to remove from pipes.

car started up nicely and warmed up to operating temperature. car felt strong on the road again. tomorrow I will go and get the oil changed and have the car washed.

Id like to thank LEXTREME.COM, CLUBLEXUS and everyone for posting in this thread. your comment and suggestions are welcome. I dont think I would have wanted to pay $600+ to do this job. Shared Information is golden.

I wrecked a few injector O-rings from rushing and not being careful, but they were quickly fixed.

If there are any further questions - I will be glad to try to answer them.

 

Good for you, Diddy, you finally finish the job.

If your next job on this car needs any inofrmation, let me know, I have the whole service manual, including electrical schematic diagram, mechanical specs, diagnostic methods, error codes and so on. However, mine is a 1992 LS400, but I imagine models from 1990 to 1994 are similar.

I believe it is human nature, when it comes to expensive cars, people can put up with this kind of repair, me included.