nfernandez

Hey Club Lexus Forums, I drive a 97 ls400 that smokes when I start it, idles rough with the air conditioner off, and has a leaking power steering pump. The smoke(chalky white with a blueish tint) has got me a bit worried, it does this only when I start it and not while the engine is at normal operating temperature, unless I remove the cap from the oil reservoir where I am again greeted by a small amount of smoke, which leads me to believe that I have a bad valve stem seal, if so how much should I expect to pay to replace it? What else could it be? It's my only way of getting to and from college, and I really don't have much money to fix it, so hopefully its not too exorbitantly high. Also, I don't know if this will help or not, but I use Synthetic Oil.

Thank You,
Nick Fernandez

Mugen_1

If your power steering pump is leaking, I'd put fixing that high on your list of priorities, as it will drip onto the alternator and cause premature failure (I speak from experience). A re-manufactured pump will run you around $190 from Rock Auto (but you get a $60 core fee returned when you send in your old pump) and might as well throw a new high pressure line on there for another $40-$50.

New alternator ran me close to $500.