New '91 LS 400, a couple quick inquiries
04-15-13, 05:53 PM
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New '91 LS 400, a couple quick inquiries
Hello to the fellow Lexus owners on here, I recently purchased a UCF10 and I do have a couple quick questions regarding the car and routes of action I'm planning to take with it, so any advice/help is much appreciated! I'll also update with pics I took from my phone shortly.
I bought this car with 191K km's on the odo, lowest mileage I've seen yet for one of these, I've owned German cars in the past and my e34 5 series got written off a couple weeks back, I had an interest in the older LS 400's for years now but the rare time one was listed for sale, I always felt they were asking too much for the high mileage they would have. This one popped up at 2700$ in great condition so I could not pass it up.
I have now put on 5K km's on the odo since purchasing this car, haven't done anything to it except for charge the battery and change the oil with 5W-30 M1. When I bought the car it did have a check engine light which I have yet to diagnose, but judging off resetting the CEL I believe it's a misfire that isn't at idle, nor RPM's past 2000. The car also has the ABS/TRAC indicators lit, and to be honest, I've come to prefer not having the TC or ABS systems active, although I'm not sure why or how they've been disabled/aren't working.
Car has great power, great fuel economy, and the smoothest v8 I've ever driven, hard to believe it's a 91. Now I am looking to delete the cat(s) and straight pipe it ASAP, research has shown me this should not throw another code for the UCF10, I'm also planning on replacing all 8 plugs and the wires.
The real area I'm concerned with is suspension, I highly doubt the suspension has seen much work on this car because of it's low mileage, I was wanting to go with coilovers but that just won't fit my budget right now. For some odd reason if the car sits for days and then I drive it the front suspension will make a deep "creaking" noise when hitting more than mild dips in the road, oddly this will only occur for the first half an hour or so of driving, I am in Canada and the temperatures here easily fall below -20C so that may be a factor.... Regardless I want it gone. Another issue that was not present when I bought the car but now is rearing its ugly head is that when I'm doing tight maneuvers that require maxing out the steering such as parking, I can hear clunks in succession until I get out of the spot, sometimes this is accompanied with a slight feeling of the front suspension being "loose". I am looking for suggestions on what this may be directly related with.
I don't want to start the thread off with endless paragraphs, but one last concern I would like to mention to finish my OP here is that under heavy acceleration on highways that aren't perfectly "flat" the rear end will feel like it doesn't want to stay straight, it occurs around speeds of 90 MPH or more and is more apparent with lots of wind present, I am led to believe this is simply rear carrier arm bushings?
Previous owner had 205 Michellin's in the front, 195 Mult-Mile's on the rear, I found the tire setup a little odd, but not a big deal overall.
I bought this car with 191K km's on the odo, lowest mileage I've seen yet for one of these, I've owned German cars in the past and my e34 5 series got written off a couple weeks back, I had an interest in the older LS 400's for years now but the rare time one was listed for sale, I always felt they were asking too much for the high mileage they would have. This one popped up at 2700$ in great condition so I could not pass it up.
I have now put on 5K km's on the odo since purchasing this car, haven't done anything to it except for charge the battery and change the oil with 5W-30 M1. When I bought the car it did have a check engine light which I have yet to diagnose, but judging off resetting the CEL I believe it's a misfire that isn't at idle, nor RPM's past 2000. The car also has the ABS/TRAC indicators lit, and to be honest, I've come to prefer not having the TC or ABS systems active, although I'm not sure why or how they've been disabled/aren't working.
Car has great power, great fuel economy, and the smoothest v8 I've ever driven, hard to believe it's a 91. Now I am looking to delete the cat(s) and straight pipe it ASAP, research has shown me this should not throw another code for the UCF10, I'm also planning on replacing all 8 plugs and the wires.
The real area I'm concerned with is suspension, I highly doubt the suspension has seen much work on this car because of it's low mileage, I was wanting to go with coilovers but that just won't fit my budget right now. For some odd reason if the car sits for days and then I drive it the front suspension will make a deep "creaking" noise when hitting more than mild dips in the road, oddly this will only occur for the first half an hour or so of driving, I am in Canada and the temperatures here easily fall below -20C so that may be a factor.... Regardless I want it gone. Another issue that was not present when I bought the car but now is rearing its ugly head is that when I'm doing tight maneuvers that require maxing out the steering such as parking, I can hear clunks in succession until I get out of the spot, sometimes this is accompanied with a slight feeling of the front suspension being "loose". I am looking for suggestions on what this may be directly related with.
I don't want to start the thread off with endless paragraphs, but one last concern I would like to mention to finish my OP here is that under heavy acceleration on highways that aren't perfectly "flat" the rear end will feel like it doesn't want to stay straight, it occurs around speeds of 90 MPH or more and is more apparent with lots of wind present, I am led to believe this is simply rear carrier arm bushings?
Previous owner had 205 Michellin's in the front, 195 Mult-Mile's on the rear, I found the tire setup a little odd, but not a big deal overall.
Last edited by Sewpra; 04-15-13 at 05:58 PM.
04-16-13, 05:30 AM
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Hey, welcome to the club and congrats on your purchase. Let us see some pictures of your ride!
About the CEL being on and TRAC light lit I suggest to look through this page for a HOW to check your current codes if you have any.
About the CEL being on and TRAC light lit I suggest to look through this page for a HOW to check your current codes if you have any.
04-16-13, 01:49 PM
#3
I have deleted my CAT's also, BUT you should know that the factory CAT's are very good and high flowing. And it will throw a CEL but thats it. If you run straight pipe and no CAT's you will most likely loose lower end power, so keep that in mind.
It sounds like you need to replace the bushings in the front end also. I would guess that is causing the creaking sound your hearing.
Not sure whats going on with your rear end, but if it were me I would try to get the same sized tires front and back. Not sure why someone would put smaller tires on the rear?
When I was running my factory 16inch wheels, I ran either a 225/55 or 225/50/16. Can't remember which one, but they were a little bit lower profile than stock and handled better.
It sounds like you need to replace the bushings in the front end also. I would guess that is causing the creaking sound your hearing.
Not sure whats going on with your rear end, but if it were me I would try to get the same sized tires front and back. Not sure why someone would put smaller tires on the rear?
When I was running my factory 16inch wheels, I ran either a 225/55 or 225/50/16. Can't remember which one, but they were a little bit lower profile than stock and handled better.
04-19-13, 11:38 PM
#4
Lexus Champion
deleting the cats on an LS400 is unnecessary and just a bad plan
better plan: take that effort and do something that the car truly needs such as the following that it needs or will need soon:
1. replace your tranny mount (or ideally, all of your motor mounts)
2. replace the lower EGR pipe that is cracked or soon to be
3. save up for that power steering leak repair that is in your immediate future
4. read my ECU capacitor repair thread (you will likely need to do this soon)
5. change your likely 23 year old Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor and thermostat using the factory parts
6. drain & fill the tranny with genuine T-IV from the dealership
7. replace all of the the worn suspension parts, such as strut rods, upper control arms, etc.
these things will make your LS like brand new, deleting the cats just makes the car run with less power and wastes time and creates an annoying error light
better plan: take that effort and do something that the car truly needs such as the following that it needs or will need soon:
1. replace your tranny mount (or ideally, all of your motor mounts)
2. replace the lower EGR pipe that is cracked or soon to be
3. save up for that power steering leak repair that is in your immediate future
4. read my ECU capacitor repair thread (you will likely need to do this soon)
5. change your likely 23 year old Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor and thermostat using the factory parts
6. drain & fill the tranny with genuine T-IV from the dealership
7. replace all of the the worn suspension parts, such as strut rods, upper control arms, etc.
these things will make your LS like brand new, deleting the cats just makes the car run with less power and wastes time and creates an annoying error light
Last edited by LScowboyLS; 04-19-13 at 11:48 PM.
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