djamps

Sorry for the late reply. Unfortunately after a few years and 30k miles, it's leaking again. appears to be out of the front seal and/or case halves this time. With the price of an OEM 3-4x higher, I still might be going with another reman lol.

valex

I changed the 3 o-rings OP talks about. Here are the pictures.

nvturbo

Had to replace the small o-ring on mine as well. That was the culprit to the leak I was dealing with.

LS400FAN

Well I did the rebuild thing (o-rings and bearing), it took up a lot of my time mainly just to get the bearing out, once I put everything back together again it started leaking more than before so I simply replaced it with a reman and its been doing great for the past 7 years or so. Btw, I'm using remans on both my '98 and '95, still going strong, no issues. I'm usually up for the challenge of rebuilding things, but this was a no-brainer just in terms the time savings. Good luck.

spuds

The oem pump is 44320-50030. I got mine for 411.00 dollars from Longo Lexus.With tax and shipping was 455.00 dollars.

Too many horror stories on the rebuilt pumps now,dont go that route,same story on any china rebuilds,alt,starter,just freaking pure junk.I had three dead alternators on my truck in a row,the third one caught fire!! From carquest about 2-3 years ago.Nephew had 3 bad starters in a row on his jeep.

Pay the money and get the OEM,or if you are clever,rebuild it yourself.ONLY options IMO,FWIW.

Sherl

I put in AC Delco rebuild from RockAuto and it has been a year and 13k miles now, seems still solid.

ls400newbs

If you have a leak, but it still hasn't killed the alternator, would it make sense to replace it?

The car has 200k miles, I just bought it and it was leaking when I got it. Who knows how long it had the leak for. The whole engine is full of oil dirt grime lol, I gotta clean it..

But the car has worked for the month I've owned it. Drove it over 1k miles with no problems, it just had the leak but nothing happened.

Now I'm doing the timing belt and wonder if it's worth replacing since I'm there. Or should I just leave it since the car still works?

spuds

I would not only replace it I would upgrade to the ls430 alt,denso rebuild is about 230 dollars,its a beauty,looks brand new.Many threads for alt upgrade here.You need to buy an extra bolt for it.I also made a cover for mine.For ME,I would do it all at once,cant hurt putting on new OEM/denso rebuilt parts.So,whats your budget I guess will determine route you take.Good luck,and beware the serpentine belt tensioner,it righty loosy,lefty tighty.Do that wrong and cry,BTDT.

Sherl

If alternator is dry and not dying then I would keep going. On other hand as the other member said upgrading to higher output alternator like from 430 is wise choice. My power steering pump didn't leak but the tube from reservoir did but I ended up replacing the PS pump as it was time for it but not the alternator. I did my PS pump at 236 and now I'm at 251 with original alternator.

ls400newbs

Ima write it down on things to do. I'll see if I can afford it after buying all the other critical maintenance items first. I'm at ~600 right now and I haven't gone past pulleys, belts, water pump and plugs lol.

As for the cleaning of the oil grime, does it matter what I use? Any recommendations on what to use? I got Simple Green on hand, or is that a bad choice?

Also, when I removed a pulley, it had a bit chipped off. Does that make a difference? Or should I just keep it? They did the timing belt at 90k, 110k miles later and it's been there. I'm assuming it's safe to reuse, but I don't know how sensitive these things are.

That's the bit that chipped off. I'm assuming it's nothing important.

Also, does the alternator look in good condition? I'm assuming when they go out, they're drenched in ps fluid? Like I can, the car starts still no problem. Thanks

deanshark

That alternator looks pretty new. I wouldn't even think about changing that. (spend the money elsewhere) They must have changed it cuz of the PS leak. It might have been one of their last repairs before selling the car. I would definitely fix the PS leak so it doesn't kill that alt. While you're changing the T-belt and cleaning up the grime, you should look to see where any other oil leaks are and fix those while you're in there. The valve covers are known to leak from loosened bolts over the years which, most of the time, can just be tightened down (not too tight) to stop the leak. Which pully are you talking about that has a chip in it? It'd be nice to also see a pic of that so we know which one and how big or small of a chip it is.

ls400newbs

It's actually the one in the picture lol.

It's a tiny chip I suppose, on one of the walls(?) of the pulley. The back one. You can see it in the picture, the pulley on the left, it has a little rust spot at around 2 o'clock I think. The chip is about 3/8" wide at the most. I didn't hear no noises from the belt while driving. I'm just trying to make sure I'm not missing anything

ls400newbs

What's the reason you said not to use type iv atf and just regular atf? That has me confused. I remember reading that the car calls for type iv in the ps system.

bradland

The LS power steering system uses Dexron II or II specifically, not T-IV.

Mobil1 full synthetic ATF is a popular choice.

spuds

This bit should clarify the question for you.

My experience on a pump replacement and flushed completely NOT using Dexron III but synthetic which doesnt work,It buzzes/whines.Done on a new OEM pump from Lexus.

EDIT-Actually Im NOT happy with the synthetic Valvoline fluid.There is still a very slight buzzing and even my stinky brown Dexron II or III mineral ATF did a better job.I couldnt find Dexron III locally so find out the plain Toyota ATF is dexron III.So go to Toyota,he doesnt have it,we use STP,and they dont make Dexron III any more.So show him Toyota part number,he looks it up,Oh,they do make it but we dont carry it.So get him to check other places,one has like 66 qts of the stuff.Wound up just ordering 4 qts off ebay and cheaper delivered than Toyota.Will get that changed,it wants dexron III and thats what it will get.
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Yup,mine had a nasty buzz with the synthetic that didnt get better but actually got louder,thats not good.This was a pump change and complete fluid change with synthetic.Car calls for Dexron III.Ive no doubt you can top off with synthetic and its compatible as in it wont hurt it and probably be just fine,as in a small amt no problemo.

BUT,complete flush it will buzz like bees.I flushed with Toyota ATF and it quieted right up after a bit of driving and now functions nice and quiet like it should.

So I flushed with this stuff,TOYOTA AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION FLUID. In the black qt container.Says right on it "Formulated to replace Dexron III in applicable Toyota models.Make sure you get the right fluid that says right on it its the dexron III replacement,with net research shows it is Dexron III and further people use it in the Dexron III Toyotas that call for it in power steering with perfect results.
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https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...ing-noise.html

Toyota Genuine Automatic Transmission Fluid.
The premium ATF specifically designed for Toyota automatic transmissions

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