RA40

iTrader: (6)

Make sure all the connectors in the dash are connected. There are plenty up there that can get dislodged when removing the ECU. You won't have to run it for a week. The moment ours was plugged in and taken for a drive, it was noticeable.

Glad you got it fixed. What is the production date on yours?

HIxUZZ80

Hawzit from hawaii.

I have a SC400 and ive been chasing cel lights and codes and problems for the last 2 years and i think the caps could easily be the issue. i read this whole thread yesterday.
quick history on my car. im the 4th owner, the owner before me got some DUIs in the car, then it sat for 6years untill i found it rotting away. picked it up for 900$ the fuel tank was full of rust, changed it and the fuel system thing starts right up, but really rough and loping real bad. fast forward 2years car cant connect to scanners, sluggish sloppy shifts, weird idle up one day down the next and many other small problems.

its pretty easy to pull the ECU on my SC im thinking about pulling it today and visually check it. i just did it too when i put my SAFC II on. but ive already been calling around to find a skilled solderer. pretty confidant the caps are the issue.

any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

surfRider

It turned out my intermittent ECL appears to be the O2 sensors. I replaced both pre-cat sensors and the light has not yet come back on. The car still runs badly but at least that part is now fixed. Thank you.

KawiLex

Took me 4 hours to remove and solder new caps on.. that time would be cut down greatly had I done it before.. and had I not been partying while doing it(half way through the job I freaked out momentarily as I forgot which cap I was on hahahaha). Thank God my friend was there to remind me. Also had a cap that didn't want to solder on.. probably because the contact got too hot when I removed the cap, thus causing the solder to not have anything to bond to?? only had 1 cap with a bad solder job.. but made it work.

The method I used to remove solder was to first remove it from the cap on the backside of the board using de-solder wire.. then after most of it was removed, I would put the iron right on the contact point where the cap wire goes into the hole and hold it there for a few secs to heat up the wire.. then pull that wire through from the other side by yanking on the cap.. usually that would pull out real smooth... then do the other cap wire the same.

I'd then heat the hole up one more time for a couple secs to ram the safety pin through the hole to clean it up.. then remove any solder on the other side with the de-solder wire..

quite simple once you get a few done.

Car runs killer now.. at least for a week since it was done.

Yamae

Thanks for the update, KawiLex.

When I did it for the first time, it needed me about 2 hours to complete the job, may be because I was good at soldering and I already had some experience.

Incidentally, were all your problems totally gone now?

> I replaced the caps today on a 98 LS!! So far the car is running perfectly, where it previously wouldn't start intermittently and had speedo issues, as well as supposed tranny issues.

As far as I have experienced, the tranny shift issue was the initial problem for models after 98. Was it so in your case too?

Dinocards

Ordering my caps and going to replace... Wish me luck

I have Very few of the problems in this post....most significant is the trans issues...shifting from second to first.... And perhaps a little of the idle at initial startup
Nothing else that I can tell. But will post results when I recieve and replace caps

Posting this to help push others to replace even if ya don't have bad issues and caps n board look good

Dino

HIxUZZ80

Has anyone had any experience with these guys in South Carolina? Circuit Board Medics, they say they do this repair very often and use only Panasonic Low ESR Caps. 200$

KawiLex

Yamae, thanks for responding..

I will say this.. I replaced the caps and everything ran very smoothly. No throttle issues, or shifting issues, or speedo issues. I decided to keep the car after replacing the caps..(it's a friends car)... and drive it for a week to make sure it was good. The car ran excellent and powerfully.. I gave it back yesterday night... then first thing this morning she reported that it was running rough and was lunging when she gave it throttle. She limped it home and then couldn't get it to start!

I ran an entire tank of gas through it in the week I had it and had ZERO problems.

Things to note:
- I kept it outside in the freezing weather while I had it. She parked it in the warm garage when she got it back.. Clearly that shouldn't be an issue.. but you never know.
- Before I took the car and replaced the capacitors, she replaced the battery.
- Supposedly a mechanic tested the fuel pump and found no issue, but the car stopped acting funny while he was in possession. Sound like pump issues? Maybe TPS? Timing?

Basically, it seems that replacing the capacitors didn't fix the issue.. though it may have fixed some other things that didn't keep the car from running.

I am completely amazed I had it for a week, ran a full tank through it and found no problem.. the car ran great, always started strong and ran strong, then she gets it and it's not working!

I found the following thread, but want to know what you think!! This LS has multiple mechanics and 3 of my tech friends rather confused..

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...ml#post8263261

samsung201

About the Capacitors after replacing.

What i notice is. That needs more time to let the car with ignition on. And dont touch. Leave em alone in this time!
I think the capacitors need a lot of time to become fully loaded.

I notice also that 5 minutes after reinstalling the ECU. You cant find anything of all the ECU System informations. But you can start your engine and drive without problems.

Next 4-5 ours later you get, after reconecting and reading the canbus again, more and more System Informations! I get from beginning, in the first 5 minutes, only one, after 4-5 ours 11 Information points!

HIxUZZ80

that only means that the car is relearning how to operate.., right?

ejthomp

This is such a great forum! There are some amazing resources here.

Just spoke to a friend that has been having all sorts of strange issues with a 97 Camry. I read the list of potential issues from the leaking capacitors and he was like, "Yes, yes, yes, yes"

My 97 LS400 is running fine, but I want to do this before it becomes an issue because it is obviously a ticking time bomb. Has anyone found a trusted resource to do this work? My big thumbs couldn't manage the soldering.

SoarerTim

Hello from uk
Just bought a 98 soarer 1jzgte vvti. Only symptom I have is the car won't rev past 4000.
I've looked in the ecu and can't see any leakage from the caps, but does this mean they could still be bad even though they don't leak?

Running out of ideas now to fix this problem!!

Caseyjones

I know they can be bad and look good. I was just sitting down to order up this capacitor to test mine before I split it open to replace caps. Check this link, may help diagnose the issue. I have only slight issues but I want to see if the ECU is the culprit before I pull it apart.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...-by-yamae.html

KawiLex

So the 98 that I replaced caps on is now getting a new fuel pump..
The pump is working intermittently apparently and the shop it was taken to before I was brought in to replace caps said they checked the pump but I guess it was working at the time. Getting 10lb's of pressure while acting up.

INTERMITTENT PROBLEMS SUCK, AYE ! ?

Atleast a few other problems were fixed by replacing the caps, like the speedo and shifting issues. Caps looked perfect.

Ryan2015

Hey guys! Ls400 from Australia, I have a 94 and my ecu has a
22uf in place of the 15uf and all the voltages don't match up, perhaps someone has tried to replace them before?
Symptoms are,
Lacking power a lot, slow to free rev and auto trans doesn't kick back and is just lagging.

1993-94 LS400 needs 8 caps as follows:

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