Problems with 1990 LS400
04-23-03, 05:15 PM
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Problems with 1990 LS400
Guys, I'm hoping you can help me diagnose some porblems that a friend of mine from the USA is having with his 90 LS400. I know a little about cars, but I'm not an expert mechanic, and he's definitely not a "car person", which makes his explanation difficult to diagnose. Hopefully, together we can help him out.
To cut and paste his explanation in his own words : "I've got an old 90 Lexus in the garage that heats up the thingy next to the catalytic converters to white hot after being driven more than a half mile (plugged converters?) and I now I can't get the damned thing out of Park, even after jumping on the brakes and hitting the override switch. Ideas? "
I would assume that the "thingy" that heats up underneath the car would be a blocked cat or faulty O2 sensors ? I asked him if his check engine light is flashing, and to take his car to a dealer to see if there are any fault codes, but he said the "engine light isn't flashing". What does everyone else think ?
I will also cut and paste this paragraph that he sent to me :
"So ... one day, I'm driving the beast out and after a 200 meters, it feels
like it lost 80% of its power ... bang, just like that. I thought it was
the transmission going out. A buddy of mine came by and we drove it around
the block, and he said it didn't feel like the tranny. I pulled it into the
garage (it was dusk) and the damned thing GLOWED from underneath, ... just
about where the thingy comes down from the manifold into the exhaust system.
It was white hot. Actually, it could have been two thingies, ... I've since
looked at the exhaust system with it's half-dozen cat converters. I called
around and somebody said that maybe one of the two front cat converters had
become blocked (something about the webbed core collapsing and blocking it
or something) and then when the second one blocked, there was nowhere for
the exhaust to go. A knowledgeable dealer I called said that he'd never
known this to happen. "
(ignore the "half-dozen cat converters" comment !
)
Any ideas on why the transmission refuses to move out of park ? Tranny mounts, or a more serious transmission problem ?
Thanks in advance for any help.
To cut and paste his explanation in his own words : "I've got an old 90 Lexus in the garage that heats up the thingy next to the catalytic converters to white hot after being driven more than a half mile (plugged converters?) and I now I can't get the damned thing out of Park, even after jumping on the brakes and hitting the override switch. Ideas? "
I would assume that the "thingy" that heats up underneath the car would be a blocked cat or faulty O2 sensors ? I asked him if his check engine light is flashing, and to take his car to a dealer to see if there are any fault codes, but he said the "engine light isn't flashing". What does everyone else think ?
I will also cut and paste this paragraph that he sent to me :
"So ... one day, I'm driving the beast out and after a 200 meters, it feels
like it lost 80% of its power ... bang, just like that. I thought it was
the transmission going out. A buddy of mine came by and we drove it around
the block, and he said it didn't feel like the tranny. I pulled it into the
garage (it was dusk) and the damned thing GLOWED from underneath, ... just
about where the thingy comes down from the manifold into the exhaust system.
It was white hot. Actually, it could have been two thingies, ... I've since
looked at the exhaust system with it's half-dozen cat converters. I called
around and somebody said that maybe one of the two front cat converters had
become blocked (something about the webbed core collapsing and blocking it
or something) and then when the second one blocked, there was nowhere for
the exhaust to go. A knowledgeable dealer I called said that he'd never
known this to happen. "
(ignore the "half-dozen cat converters" comment !
)Any ideas on why the transmission refuses to move out of park ? Tranny mounts, or a more serious transmission problem ?
Thanks in advance for any help.
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