badfish667

I'll make this long story as short as possible.

So my kid (17) sells his Acura. Has money in hand and takes off with a friend to drive 150 miles to buy this 1992 LS 400. I get home from work to see it sitting in my driveway. The car looks OK. Interior smells like a smokehouse. I take it for a drive and it runs like crap. I start doing my research and find the ECU capacitors are a common problem. Since I'm no stranger to replacing capacitors, I ordered them and replaced them with the correct ones (not the fakes), Nothing changes.

The car sputters horribly at highway speeds. Caps, rotors, plugs, and wires have all been replaced with new. When I say sputter...I mean that as a 1/4 of a second "miss" in the engine.

There is no "check engine" light on the dash (like its burned out) to diagnose the OBD system. There is a light on the dash that appears to resemble the White House. My kid says this is something to do with the radiator?

The tach does not function at all.

The battery goes dead after 4 days of a full charge.

The drivers seat is laid back on the one side...making me feel like im in one of Snoop Dog's videos.

The car also dives to the right when applying the brakes. GAH!

The brake problem will come after I can get the thing to run correctly.

Now, if you Lexus educated folks would like to chime in on any or all problems, I'm all ears!

Meanwhile, I'm going to go put my foot in my kids @$$ (Red Foreman style) for purchasing this thing!

dicer

Is the miss most noticeable with a load? Going up hills etc. ? On hiway do you have to have power like pedal into it, how about a slight coast? How about going slowly up a nice hill and step on it and see what it does.
Next thing to replace is the fuel filter. It would be nice to do a fuel pressure test, volume etc.
And finding a known good ecu would be nice too. Do all the lights work normally?
So how much did he pay for the Junker?

badfish667

It misses after it is warmed up. uphill, downhill, sideways, and even when you pass tan houses with brown roofs.

Fuel filter...got it.

About the ECU, If I swap it with another won't I have to reset the key (or something like that)?

As for the lights, yes. As far as I can tell. He paid $800 for it.

The check engine light is the one that bothers me. If it worked it would help alot. Is it well known for these cars to have dash light problems?

python

iTrader: (4)

lol..someone with a sense of humor!
this dude is from my home town..V-town

dicer

Its a 92 right? All the key reset stuff is for all the way newer cars. This is old school car stuff kinda.
Only thing that is important with the ecu swap is if yours has Trac or no trac. You can pretty much use an ecu from a 1990, 1991, or even a 1992. Just make sure the battery is disconnected before playing with the electrical connectors on the ecu. If its a constant miss, then a compression test is in order especially when warm. And yes these cars have known instrument cluster problems. How many miles on the thing?

badfish667

Yes, it has traction control....and those lights are on all the time on the dash. Pushing the T/C button does nothing.

Is it possible that someone swapped the ECU with one from a non-Trac vehicle? Is there a way to tell what the original ECU numbers should say being its a Trac version?

DOBones

When I picked up my '93 a year ago the "track off" light would come on and stay on while driving, as well as the radiator light. A used refurbished ecu from eBay was under $100 and fixed both warning lights coming on. From what little I understand, the gauge cluster uses similar capacitors to the ones you changed on your ecu that can cause much of the gauge cluster and other interior lighting components to not illuminate, fixing that portion might be easy work for you since the ecu repair seemed to be no problem for you. Best of luck!

cgawelko

That issue you have -check the timing. Line up the cams and I bet you have some variation. Its an old car, and the timing jumping is no stranger. When my car is cold - no issues. When it warms up - code 13 which is rpm signal #2 comes on and TRAC OFF stays lit. Cams are on point, crank is 12 degrees retarded.

Also. TRAC light will come on from the EGR. Bypass EGR, check timing, and report back.


Second recommendation. Take the cats off the car and try again. When they get clogged up, they make the car run like ABSOLUTE DOG POO