lennylexus

i have a 2 problems with 95 LS and im wishing someone can please help me!

i live in ny and it snowed yesterday (feb12)

as soon as my traction goes on it dies...my trac light start blinking and no longer catches traction this is causing me constant drifting lol...when i turn the car off and then back on it goes back to normal until my wheel slips...
does ne one no what this can be?

also my heater isnt working... it only works for about 30 seconds after at least a half hour drive? ne ideas?

Och

iTrader: (3)

Well, the way the TRAC system works, it actually has a separate plate in the throttle body, and a separate cable, and a separate TPS. When your wheels start slipping, the TRAC system actually closes the plate within the throttle body so that the air stops coming in to the engine to cut off the power, but it only does it for a fraction of a second and the re-opens it. Maybe it gets stock in the closed position and your car dies.

You should try to adjust/lubricate the cable and plate, maybe even clean your throttle body to make sure they are not sticking in the closed position.

Also make sure you have no vacuum leaks, and test the TRAC TPS.

Can you provide more details? Does the air blow, but its cold, or the unit doesn't work at all? Does your car reach the normal operating temperature?

lennylexus

my car blows air but its cold

also by the way do u no how to clean the plate that block the air for engine for my trac?

ems

iTrader: (1)

my heaters the same way and its been cold as hell lately..

Och

iTrader: (3)

Well, if your heaters are blowing cold air, the first thing to make sure is that your car reaches it's normal operating temperature. Sometimes you have a thermostat that is stuck in open position, and it will let the coolant flow all the time, and your car wont ever warm up to the recommended temperature.

If the car does reach the recommended temperature, the second thing to check is coolant level. Sometimes it appears that the coolant level is fine if you look at the reservoir tank, but the coolant system may have air bubbles, and not enough coolant. If that's the case, you should bleed the system. The best way to do it, is to keep the radiator/reservoir cap on, remove the water inlet bolt, start the car, let it reach operating temperature, put the heater on full, rev the car to around 2500 rpms and add coolant until all the air is out of the system and you can't add anymore coolant. Replace the bolt.

The next thing to do, is to check the heater valve. It is in your engine bay, right next to the firewall. I don't have a picture handy, but it's easy to find. Have someone sit in the car and raise/lower the temperature - and look at the valve, it should move as the temperature is being adjusted. If it isn't moving, check the cable that operates it, maybe its stuck or broken. Try moving it by hand and see if it starts letting hot air into the cabin.

Other posibilities are bad water pump, clogged up heater core, or bad cabin temperature sensors.

If the water pump is bad, it may not have enough power to push the coolant through the heater core, but thats unlikely - usually when the water pump is bad you will have overheating problems and leaking coolant.

If the cabin temperature sensor is bad, the easiest way to check it is to put the heater on max heat - it will then ignore the sensor. If it still blows cold air, it's not the sensor.

And lastly, if it's the heater core, that would be your biggest problem. The heater core is kind of a "mini radiator" located under your dashboard, and it requires you to remove the dashboard completely to replace it. See, our cars require Toyota red antifreeze, however when you take the car for service, the mechanics often add green or whatever other antifreeze they have. Toyota red antifreeze is different from any other antifreeze out there, even the red on that is sold in auto parts stores. When you mix this antifreeze with any other antifreeze they start turning into gel, and can clog your radiator, you heater core, can cause your water pump to fail and worse yet, clog up your engine coolant gallery. Of couse dirty coolant can also cause these problems.

So if you determine that your heater core is clogged, before you replace it, you can try and see if your mechanic can try and unclog it by running water under high pressure through the coolant lines that are connected to the heater core. You can also try doing coolant flush - there's a tuturial on www.lexls.com.

1UZFE

i'm picking my 1993 ls400 from lexus of kendall (miami) in an hour. loooooooong story short (b/c i'm in class), my heater/ac was blowing only cold air. all fan speeds worked. they thought it was a bad blending door motor...turned out to be a leak in my heater core.

i'm bringing it to another mechanic that i trust for timing belt work, and now, to look at that. lexus quoted me almost $3k for timing belt and heater core work. my mechanic quoted me under $1k for timing belt, cam seals, cam shaft seals and a few other things. i'll let you know what he says about the heater core.

not loving life right now.