pdadams

Hi all - I'm in the UK and have just moved into Lexus territory with my first LS400 1994 (UFC11?).

I was wondering if I could get some help witha couple of niggles about the car - mainly the gearbox - the car itself is not short of grunt, but when I accelerate slowly and keep the throttle constant - up to about 40mph - when the car reaches the speed relavent to the throttle position, it seems to judder and 'spit' a little - its not really noticable at motorway speeds, but when just pootling in traffic, its really quite annoying and offputting - considering these are reknowned for their smoothness.

Its just that its not something that I picked up on the test drive, an its spoiling my enjoyment of the drive.

I also have an LPG problem as it has a conversion - are there any experts in this forum?

Many thanks for any help/info - or even just talking to me about it! - I like to know as much as possible about the car I'm driving - just so I know when to worry about anyhting going wrong...

Cheers

Phil

Spyder78

iTrader: (7)

Sorry I'm not british as most people on this forum are not. So I am sorry if this sounds stupid to you, But what does niggles mean? What is LPG? Also considering your problem, you would have to give some specs of your car. Mainly mileage, what kind of services have been performed.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

first of all, who did the LPG conversion? 9 times out of 10 the smoothness problems comes from a poorly done LPG conversion with low quality parts and a crappy install.

for the tranny try this.

1-Reset the ECU by removing the battery cable for 5-10 minutes. if that helps then its an ECU problem, if it doesnt then something mech. is the problem. most likely its either the driveshaft/rear carrier bushings, or the engine/tranny mounts.

Tammy

LPG = Liquid Propane Gas

How many kilometers have you on the odometer?

Does the transmission fluid seem fresh, with a good color and non-burnt smelling?

AussiLS400

I am supprised to hear of a LPG conversion on a ls400 as Lexus Australia strongly reject it and the conversion places around here don't really want to do one in fear of it not working properly with the computer system. Also where do you place the LPG tank? What price is your LPG to your petrol? Spyder, niggles is a polite British way of saying small problems that simply give you the shi*s. Lpg is used in some countrys as it is ussually less than half the price of standard gas. You have to weigh up the cost of the conversion to fuel saving as the cost to convert can be expensive. Most cabs and small couriers run on LPG in Australia. Gas (petrol) price here is $1.40 litre, LPG price is $0.56 per litre. Conversions range around 2 to 3 grand.

Spyder78

iTrader: (7)

first time I have ever heard about these types of conversions. Thank you for the education. But still waiting for the thread starter to chime in on the maintence of the car.

pdadams

Hi all, many thanks for your inputs (sorry for delay in reply - I'm not always at my 'puter).

The car has 118,000 mile son the clock, with dealer history to 90,000, but the last year or so has been lost by the seller, although he's adamant that the 'necessary' stuff has been done.

Anyhoo, having taken it to a garage, it seems that the lpg system may be suffering from a 'diaphragm' problem, which I will find out about later on today, when I also get the results from the MOT (fingers crossed!).

Once I get it legal and I get some time, I'll hopefully be able to try the ECU reset as suggested, but am trying to find a radio code, in case I pull the battery and the radio locks up and needs a code - I can't seem to see one in all the documentation, and I'm sure there's a way of checking if the radio even has the security mode enabled...

The LPG kit has been on the car for at least a couple of years, and although the tank takes up most of the boot, if I can get it to work properly, it'll save me almost half the fuel bill of running on petrol (lpg = 43 pence per litre, petrol 95pence per litre!)

I really appreciate you guys taking the time to reply - many thanks!.

Phil