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Keep going its a lot more interesting than some of the stuff here. What you need to do is show some how too's, like how to get the ecu out of that year LS.
That I can do, I'll also post progress of the timing belt job. I've done a few on the 1UZ. I do it as the manual states, most DIY's I see do NOT do it that way. It's alway's hard for me to explain so maybe a nice semi-tutorial on this thread will help out with that.
The viewers of this thread can expect some pictures and notes on the timing belt job, ECM removal and possibly repair if I feel like doing it myself, maybe the radio and CD changer install, and anything else I need to grab the tools for. Some photos from the junkyard may be of some entertainment as well.
Today's lesson learned brought to you by Banshee365.
Study your wiring diagrams and connector locations prior to going to the salvage yard to salvage some wiring.
After splicing in a new connector for the radio I found the smaller of the two antenna cables cut. Stupid me, knowing what antenna wire is made of all along, thought I would go back and snip an antenna pigtail off the junkyard LS400 that I raided the other day and splice it into the wiring in the dash of my white car. Like I said, knowing all along that antenna cable is just very small co-ax. Which means an effective splice really isn't possible/feasible. I jumped into my manuals to see what it would take to salvage a new antenna harness from a salvage yard car after another one comes in as I cut the pigtail off the one in the yard already.... Doh..... Come to find out, both antenna cables are wired together and named No. 1 Antenna wire. They connect to No. 2 Antenna wire which runs up the A-pillar and back to the back of the car. Where do they connect you may ask? Right behind the freakin radio slightly hidden behind the dash frame... Son of a.... If I just would have looked at the freakin diagrams prior to heading to the yard I would have seen that and been able to salvage the No. 1 Antenna harness intact...
Long story slightly shorter, I robbed the No. 1 Antenna harness from the black car and will leave it apart until getting another from the next salvage yard car.
The radio is now installed and works perfectly. The backlighting is out on the mode selector buttons but the display is nice and most all of the backlights are intact. Good enough for me for now. I'll install the CD changer another day as we have a family trip planned for tomorrow and Tuesday in the mighty LS400.
Please keep the posts coming. I love seeing these cars rescued from the junkyard and we will all learn from your efforts. One item I would recommend getting from a junkyard car are the CV axles. These do occasionally fail and can be hard to source. Keep up the great work!
Please keep the posts coming. I love seeing these cars rescued from the junkyard and we will all learn from your efforts. One item I would recommend getting from a junkyard car are the CV axles. These do occasionally fail and can be hard to source. Keep up the great work!
for whatever reason I have not had any half shaft issues in my over a decade working on LS400's. It's usually all about keeping the grease in the boot. The boots are pretty hearty as they're away from most of the heat and the outer joints don't have to turn. The outer boots I replace on other cars are torn from turning and the inners are always dry rotted from heat from an exhaust pipe that will run right next to it. I'll have to inspect the half shafts now that you mention it though.
I got some parts in from RockAuto. I've still got to get the front crank seal from the dealer and another gallon of LL red Toyota coolant. I've got a thermostat and ECT sensor from Toyota, a timing belt and water pump kit from Aisin, hood struts by Stabilus, intake manifold gaskets for the black cars starter job from Fel-Pro, and the crank counter hold tool I purchased off eBay after the seller used it once. I've done a few timing belts on the 1UZ and I'm tired of mickey mousing the crank locked, I will be doing it the right way from now on. I've never done the starter removal method or impact the bolt back it. I've alway's torqued it to 181 ft/lb's per the book but holding the crank for that torque was alway's difficult with the transmission in place. Not anymore...
Excluding the Fel-Pro intake manifold gaskets, every other part is either OEM or from the OE supplier. The timing belt kit is composed of parts from the OE suppliers to Toyota, all for $175. This is really the only timing belt kit to consider for the 1UZ. The idlers, pulleys, water pump, and tensioner are all made in Japan. The belt is from Mitsuboshi and is made in the USA. The belt over the Lexus counter is also made by Mitsuboshi (not to be confused with Mitsubishi.) A more modern water pump gasket is supplied rather than using the FIPG to seal it. The most popular timing belt tutorial around shows using red RTV for installing the water pump and honestly he used WAAAYYYY too much. It looks very sloppy. You do have to use FIPG for the thermostat housing to water pump though. A very small amount is needed. The belt has the factory cam and crank timing marks for install just like the dealer belt does. It also has instructions in the kit but I do it the factory way which lowers all 8 pistons down into their bores to prevent any possibility of valve contact.
I'm going to price out the correct ECM capacitors and replace those as well. I have another ECM for a '96 laying around and may just rebuild that one instead of the one in the car, but the one I have laying around had a capacitor leak out so it will require some cleaning. I sometimes get a low idle and cat efficiency codes for BOTH cats as well as lower fuel economy than I think I should be getting. It all adds up to the fuel mixtures running too rich. We just did a 1.5 hour each way interstate trip and I only got 23 mpg at 70-75 mph. It's not too far off but I think it should be a little better than that in those circumstances. It's 19 mpg around town.
This is how the kit is packaged.
With the paper packing material removed.
Made in the mother land.
Shot of the parts including the Stabilus hood struts by Sachs. Stabilus is the OE for MOST hood and lift gate struts for most all manufacturers. They are the real deal and only $11 each from RockAuto.
Schley crank counterhold tool. This tool is much larger and heavier than I expected. You can see the size relative to the hydraulic tensioner and pulleys in the shot of the parts.
Might seem stupid, but check the pump impeller thoroughly. Mine was packed similar to yours (impeller facing down) and ended up with a hair-line crack from the box being dropped. Lucky to have caught it in time. In the end I had no issue with the metal water pump gasket supplied, just make sure you get 100% of the old FIPG off. I ended up using a wire brush, whoever did the last job used about 5x too much FIPG and used it everywhere, even on the o-rings lol.
Regarding the crank bolt, my impact takes it off no problem without locking anything. But to put it back on I just used a medium size wrench jammed between one of the flywheel nuts and the bellhousing to lock it in place (the wrench was larger than the bolt so as to not catch on and loosen it). Seemed a better idea than the allen wrench that could accidentally shoot up inside the bellhousing.
Might seem stupid, but check the pump impeller thoroughly. Mine was packed similar to yours (impeller facing down) and ended up with a hair-line crack from the box being dropped. Lucky to have caught it in time. In the end I had no issue with the metal water pump gasket supplied, just make sure you get 100% of the old FIPG off. I ended up using a wire brush, whoever did the last job used about 5x too much FIPG and used it everywhere, even on the o-rings lol.
Regarding the crank bolt, my impact takes it off no problem without locking anything. But to put it back on I just used a medium size wrench jammed between one of the flywheel nuts and the bellhousing to lock it in place (the wrench was larger than the bolt so as to not catch on and loosen it). Seemed a better idea than the allen wrench that could accidentally shoot up inside the bellhousing.
Yea, I checked the impeller out and all looks well. I also like the metal gasket better. Cleaning the old FIPG is absolutely key as you said. I was going to lock the crank by locking one of the flex plate nuts as you mentioned but I think for the price I paid for this tool it will be absolutely worth it to me to not have to deal with that.
Yea, I checked the impeller out and all looks well. I also like the metal gasket better. Cleaning the old FIPG is absolutely key as you said. I was going to lock the crank by locking one of the flex plate nuts as you mentioned but I think for the price I paid for this tool it will be absolutely worth it to me to not have to deal with that.
No doubt. I was half tempted to impact the bolt back on, but knew It'd be over the 181ft lbs and am not familiar enough with these engines to know if it would matter or not.
No doubt. I was half tempted to impact the bolt back on, but knew It'd be over the 181ft lbs and am not familiar enough with these engines to know if it would matter or not.
Yea, I've got a Milwaukee 2763 1/2 impact that has absolutely nuts power. It would pull that bolt out in one second but I'd like to get the right torque the proper way going back on. Even though you and I both know impacting it back on would probably be just fine.
I got P0420 bank 1 cat inefficiency code on my 1996 Lexus ls400. It ended up being a leak past the first cat at the flange. I replaced the gasket there, but it still leaked(too much corrosion). Ended up patching it with a muffler patch material that worked quite well. You could hear/feel the leaks at the flange.
I've got 2,000 miles on the white LS400 now. Overall I'm very pleased with how it is running. But it's not perfect.
I'm still getting a mix of P0420's and P0430's usually once per day.
I'm also still getting a low idle of just over 450 rpm occasionally.
The thermostat still acts like it get's stuck. It will run around 205 degrees if sitting stationary and down to 170-175 when rolling down the highway. I have a new one that will get replaced when i do the timing belt soon.
The fuel economy doesn't seem to be that great but maybe someone with more driving experience with theirs can attest. I'm getting about 18mpg mixed city/hwy and 22-23 max on the highway.
The low idle and cat efficiency DTC's do not correlate with a low engine coolant temperature readout like the usual ECM capacitor failure goes.
Today it did something that was a safety risk if my wife were driving. This evening, after a 1h20m interstate trip, the engine completely died while rolling down the off ramp. The rpm was still 1,500 or so while coasting in gear so it didn't die from low RPM. It was coasting around 30-40 mph then all of a sudden I got the CEL, battery, and low oil pressure lights all at once. Then I noticed the tach red zero. I popped it up to neutral, restarted on the roll, and placed the trans back in drive and continued on normally. There was no interruption for me but my wife said she probably would have freaked out if that happened to her. This is making me suspect the ECM capacitors even more as it's never done that in the 2,000 miles I've driven it so far.
Sometimes the transmission engages into reverse or especially drive a little too harshly than normal. Other times it engages nice and smooth like it is supposed to. Even with the idle at 650 rpm like normal, it will engage a bit harsh. Another thing pointing me to some ECM problems starting. Keep in mind a visual inspection showed none of the capacitors leaking but people like Yamae have said that a capacitor can not be leaking and still be bad so that is not always the best way to tell.
As cheap as the capacitors are I think I'm going to commit to replacing the 6 along with the ECT sensor and thermostat. If that doesn't cure the cat efficiency DTC's and such I'll have to replace the 2 upstream o2 sensors. I'm sure one of those will fix her up. I'm busy with work Monday-Wednesday so I'm not going to tear the car apart until after that. I suspect later next week I will drain the coolant, fill with distilled water, drive it until the thermostat opens, drain the water and start tearing it down for the timing belt and water pump job. There is a mix of Toyota LLC and regular green coolant in there now so I'm going to drain the radiator and block drains to get as much out as I can then refilling with distilled water should dilute the coolant to nearly 100% water. Today I also picked up a new Toyota front crankshaft seal, another quart of T-IV ATF, and a gallon of LLC concentrate. Next week should get lot's of new parts in this thing and it will be much better off. I'd really is driving like a dream other than the bulleted issues. The ride is very smooth, the interior is wonderful, the radio is working great, there isn't a peep from suspension components, and the HVAC is working wonderfully.
Also, I'm going to put the black LS400 on jack stands and soak the cat studs in penetrating oil for a week or so then pull the exhaust system off so I can get to the EGR tube. I think I may purchase a new part from Toyota for $120, remove the EGR tube from the white car to put on the black car, and put the brand new one on the white car. It's hard for me to spend $120 on a little part for the flip car so I will feel better with the white car getting the new one and the black car getting the original off the white car that is intact. I need to spend a few days on that black car so I can get my money back and then a little bit. I'm really waiting for a nicer interior car to hit the junkyard so I can replace the front seats and arm rest. They're very torn up on the black car and I feel I could get way more money for the car with nicer seats than it will cost me to buy them at the yard.
Do you think I would be better off creating a new thread for my timing belt DIY and link to it in this thread or just put it all in this thread?
I get about the same mileage as you and the 98 and up is supposed to be better (I think) so honestly I think you're doing OK. I dip as low as 15 when pure city for a week. If it were mine being a '97 and older I'd do the caps then go from there.
09-13-16, 06:38 PM
