MrEggRoll

Well this is my first post here on CL and finally decided to post because I am completely stumped except for an obvious couple of solutions. I bought a 1996 LS400 in August 2014 and have yet to drive it 20 miles. Before the break down, the vehicle ran great.

I had the white smoke on start up power steering ACV problem from the start of owning this car, so I went ahead and plugged the ACV last weekend. Along with this, I removed the cats( the driver side was burning red hot), added 2 o2 extenders to pass emissions, deleted the resonators, replaced the broke intake tube, air filter, spark plugs, caps, rotors, and ignition coils.

After start up, the white smoke was still there and there was next to no acceleration. Very sluggish. I smelled an extreme amount of gas also. It sounded like a fuel injector was stuck open possibly and did some more research as to what the problem could be. I decided to open up the ECU to check the common capicitor issue that could be causing the mayhem and of course 2 of them were leaking.

I went ahead and bought a rebuilt ECU, installed it tonight and the white smoke has reduced significantly, but it is still there. I test drove it and the acceleration is still very sluggish. At this point, I wanted to turn to you guys for some assistance, which I rarely ask for.

What else could I be looking at? And what tests should I run overall?

I am a bit low on coolant, but the oil came out dark and not milky at all. I need an oil change, so the darkness doesn't really bother me since the oil is about 6-9 months old. I do have a valve cover leak, so valve cover gaskets, spark plug grommets, bolt grommets, tb gasket, intake manifold gasket, and pvc grommet/valve are already on order.

After working full time, going to school, raising 2 children, and working on this car...I'm exhausted and a frustrated with the way the LS has been for me. I love the car, just wish it ran well. As soon as I figure out this issue, I plan on doing a few mods, but maintenance is always done first.

By the way, here are a few of my past vehicles for reference







I appreciate any help that you guys can give me, I plan on being an active member here on CL and the LS forum. Kids have changed my priorities, but I'm still in the game!

MrEggRoll

Also, the rear o2 sensors have been replaced as well, if that helps.

cobalt91

Check the timing belt. It may have skiped a tooth.

ejthomp

Coolant Temperature Sensor?

bgalarpe

Any Codes?

MrEggRoll

I actually just read my OBD2 scanner, and it says that it's running on 7.5* of timing. You sir, are most likely correct. Not sure why I did not think of that earlier. I will be breaking it all down and replacing the timing belt while I am in there over the next few weeks.

I don't feel that is the issue, but I will probably replace just to be safe. I read up on the ECT thread, and will go ahead and see what it can do for me.

No codes yet, but the car has not been driven far enough for one to pick up yet. I wanted to drive the car long enough for the readiness codes to set in so I can get emissions, but I didn't want to until the problem has been fixed.



Now here's the question, since I will be replacing the timing belt, valve cover gaskets, etc....would it be beneficial for me to just go ahead and replace the head gaskets? Not really what I had in mind, but the LS has 155k miles on it, and I honestly don't want to have to tear it all apart again within 50k miles. Opinions welcome.

Sidenote, never replaced a head gasket yet. I am mechanically inclined, but the timing belt would be my most difficult project aside from motor swaps and tranny swaps.

cobalt91

Head gaskets normally are not an issue on these. I wouldn't worry about it.

cobalt91

Head gaskets normally are not an issue on these. I wouldn't worry about it.

zpunout

Hi all. My name is Shane, this is my first post here. I too am having the white smoke, smell of fuel issue with my 1uzfe engine. An injector pair is intermittently flooding my engine which has then caused a gasket to leak due to a piston trying to compress a liquid. Anyway, the reason I am writing this post is that MrEggRoll was wondering whether it is worth replacing the gaskets now, before making sure the issue of a possible injector/s being stuck on is resolved.
I think it might be better to make sure there is no flooding injector issue first (if that's what the problem is) so to avoid damaging a new gasket seal (and bending connecting rods). Also, I think it would be a good idea to not leave the ignition on without the engine running as the fuel pump pressurises the fuel rails for about the first 2 seconds. If there are flooding injector/s issues, it could cause hydrostatic engine lock (which is what happened to my engine 3 weeks ago). A locked engine can cause other expensive problems. I have learnt a lot the hard way these last few weeks. There is an interesting series of videos which I found on youtube about injector testing which was uploaded by ScannerDanner. I hope my post is helpful.

MrEggRoll

Well I checked the timing and it it spot on, so I will be putting it all back together with a new TB kit. After checking the TB, there is only 1 source of a problem I can think of and yes, it is probably an open injector. When I put it all back together, I will most likely pull the injectors and prime the pump to see if 1 of them is going bad. Hopefully this solves my problem. I will update as I go along! Thanks for the help fellas, much needed and appreciated.

zpunout

I hope you got your flooding issue sorted. Mine is fixed now. I suspected it was a short to ground somewhere in the wiring harness but it turned out to be the ECU. Although the capacitors were replaced recently there was still a bit of corrosion shorting two pins on a silicon chip when the weather was humid. Cleaned it with a dry toothbrush and has run perfectly for a month now. Including during wet weather. Hope this gives you some clues. Shane