mikes7ke

iTrader: (1)

He wants to lower the engine? I'd rather raise it out.
Yes, the rods still move. They're connected to the rotating assembly at all times. Whether the ignition is working properly or not, all rods are moving when the engine is running. If a rod isn't moving, it broke free from the crankshaft.
He said it will take 30 hours? I could probably do it by myself in my backyard in half the time.

python

iTrader: (4)

out and in with swapping parts from the old engine to the new one..will take quite sometime to do

nthach

If the coils went bad, your cats will be reduced to slag and your car will run like crap. Although in some cars like Nissans, a bad injector can cause the engine to hydrolock in extreme cases.

MD1963

Update..car is at new mechanic's place...so far it does sound like a bad rod... Yes- he said engine also has to be dropped from bottom.. and it does sound like a bigger job than regular engine replacement because of this? At this point I am at the mercy of this person. Since I can't do the work myself- I have to believe someone at some point. I can't beat the labor price he is giving me since this is the only car he will work on and works on cars at his pace. Lots of lessons for me recently..

MD1963

Does anyone have a different time frame to replace engine?

Yamae

Sounds like an ECU issue to me.

Measuring the ripple voltage at the coolant temp senor can give you the answer easily without removing and checking the ECU itself. The voltage supplied to the sensor should be quite stable. It only varies in accordance with the temperature change. Ripples are very quick voltage change and they contain wide range of audio energy from Hz to KHz or even up to MHz order.

This requires to use an equipment which can show you the waveform such as an oscilloscope or equivalents that are commonly used these days at auto repair shops.

If your mechanic / shop is not familiar to this, you simply check the ECU inside or use an audio amplifier and speaker / headphone to listen to the audible noise obtained at the sensor. Be sure to use a capacitor between 0.01uF to 0.1uF in series with the hooking line to avoid the DC sent to the amplifier since only AC should be picked up.

As far as I have experienced, those failed ECU gives the coolant temp senor more than 100 mV of ripples. This means that the DC regulator in the ECU is not working properly and most of the case, new caps can fix the problem.

I must add one more. Depending on the way to pick up the ripples, the cable sometimes also picks up spark energies. In this case, just disregard them.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

this isn't a fwd car, nor a 4wd car. standard protocol for engine replacement in the LS is out the top. Doing it out the bottom because the mech doesn't have a lift/is too lazy to do it right shouldn't be grounds for him to charge you more. Dropping it out the bottom is more hassle than it's worth.

find a better shop.

MD1963

Good news! It is not a bad rod! Very good Yamae- it is probably ECU...thanks for info on checking..forwarded to mechanic.
In addition - the cats are bad......is it possible to bypass them since emissions is not an issue - or will it effect how the car runs?
We are also replacing timing belt and water pump..
Thanks Puredrifter for the help..that makes sense..

LScowboyLS

bad ECU capacitors can sound like a bad rod - lol

this problem is so common on the older Lexus's, that is why I wrote the ECU cap thread, and yamae is my great technical consultant! - a junkyard ECU won't help (it is equally old), and a new one is $2400, so you need to find an MIT student who likes to solder, so it can be fixed for less than $100!

MD1963

Well- lol- isn't that not so great news..
Good thing MIT is only an hour a way...
Guess we should check out the ECU thread..

LScowboyLS

many women work in jobs soldering at electronics manufacturing companies, which are plentiful in Mass.

companies use women because they are better solderers than men!

find one of these women, she will appreciate the extra income!

MD1963

Just read your ECU thread..wow...we may be better solderers..but that sure was alot to take in.. I want to order the capacitors- are these correct for 93 LS400?
Qty. 2 of 10μF-50v
Qty. 2 of 15μF-35v
Qty. 1 of 47μF-63v
Qty. 2 of 100μF-10v
Qty. 1 of 220μF-16v
If I order through Ebay or electroniccs supplier- they should be able t make sure I am getting the right ones? thanks again..

LScowboyLS

I would order from Digikey, using the links in post 131 in my thread, the reason is that DigiKey is very cheap, and they are an authorized distributor of Rubycon, Chemicon, Panasonic, and Nichicon (they only brands you should be using)

ebay is full of counterfeit caps, you are taking a chance with your $2400 ECU

I believe those are the correct cap values you listed, but I don't have a 93 in front of me, so I believe if I were you I would pull the ECU and double check before ordering, the value is listed on each cap, and they are all typically on the same board (you have 2 mainboads inside the ECU) - be careful with they gray ribbon cables, they won't take any rough horsing around! - don't worry if my recommended voltage on a cap is higher than what yours say, that is fine, but the cap values must be the same and the caps need to be those brands and from a low ESR series.

heck no - they just ship what you specify, like dumb monkeys, you need to depend on your own research!

MD1963

lol- dumb monkeys shipping.. I will do research and make sure not a dumb monkey ordering.. thanks for the link!