93lexusLS

so a couple months ago I bought a 93 lexus ls400 for 1200. It has 238K miles and was running alright. Heater and AC work great, all electronics work expect the LCD screens for the clock and heater/ac. seems to shift fine too. After buying it I quickly realized it was leaking coolant. ( I bought it when it was raining and it was hard to tell if there was any leaks) I took it to a lexus/Toyota shop and the guy was nice enough to do a quick and free look at it. He confirmed the water pump was leaking coolant, said my timing belt is shot and listed a few other things he recommend I replace. I did some searching online and starting buying parts when I came across a good deal. A friend at works boyfriend is a mechanic at a Mazda/Kia dealership and was willing to work on it at his house for a pretty reasonable price. Heres a list of everything I had replaced

timing belt, water pump, idler bearing and pulley, timing belt tensioner, fan bracket, fan clutch, drive belt, radiator, top and lower radiator hoses, thermostat, battery and coolant.

He got the car up and running. he said he idled it in his driveway for a while and then took it for a spin to the bank and back. It used to have a bearing kinda noise and when idling in drive like at a light it would shake kinda, but now that's all gone. but it does still hesitate, stutter when accelerating at certain rpms and I cant tell if it has a lack of power or im just used to my Camaro lol.
Anyways I came over after work and they were gonna help me get it back to my house, I live about 18 miles from where they live. It drove alright on the freeway, just the annoying hesitating/stuttering when I needed to accelerate. Then I got off the freeway and was driving down a 45mph road when it all went bad lol.

I first noticed both my rpms were jumping a little, and it was surging it felt like. I immediately got in right lane and as I turned onto a street to pull over to tell my friends (there were following me in my other car and theres) it died. I tried to start it and it cranks, has spark but then dies a sec later. We thought maybe it was fuel, it was very low but not on E. so I went and filled up a few gallons in a tank and put it in, but that's not it. my mechanic tried starting it a few times and he could get it running for a couple seconds, I think with pushing on the gas but it sounds terrible and then dies.
luckily it died a few streets over from a friend of theres house, so he towed it with a strap over to there house. He said on Monday he will call a tow truck and have it towed back to his work. and they will figure out whats wrong. I told him I have the $400 that we agreed upon for the work, ( I haven't paid him yet) but that I don't have anything else. he told me not to worry and he will let me know whats wrong. anyone have any ideas? similar issues? he did seem kinda hopefull since it does crank, have spark and fuel it maybe something small.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Check if some of your symptoms are described here:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...capacitor.html

A high probability this will cure what is occurring with yours.

Michael

It may be the ECU capacitor but in this case the car was running fine until the timing belt and whole other front component has been replaced. I do agree that the capacitor should be replaced on the ECU but this problem is related to timing belt replacement work. Your friend being a mechanic, should take ownership to resolve the problem.

I too have 93 LS4 but never experienced such issue. I too have replaced all of those parts when replacing the timing belt at 100,000 mile mark. It may have cost you bit more but that was a wise thing to do.

LScowboyLS

I couldn't have said it better myself!

93lexusLS

thanks for the help guys. I was reading that post about ECU capacitors, was it $20 for all 8 or per each? I should hear tomorrow what he finds is wrong with it. But regardless will get these replaced as precaution. Are capacitors only what go out in the ECU or will the ECU ever just have to be replaced completely? How much have others paid to have these replaced including labor of soldering and reinstalling the ECU?

From what I gathered from Lexus.com service history, the first 150k miles of the cars life was well maintained, then after that who knows, I know the timing belt was done originally at like 80 or 90k miles and my mechanic said by how bad it looked that it was the only time it was done, so that second belt had like 150k miles on it prolly lol

Michael

Cap replacement God is the LScowboy. There are few posting done by LScowboy and one particular is "All my crazy Lexus...", which explains the procedures. I have 93 LS4 and I ordered following from DigiKey 800-344-4539:
2 x 35ZLH100MEFC6.3X11 CAP ALUM 100UF 35V 20% RADIAL $0.33 each
2 x 565-1718-ND CAP ALUM 15UF 63V 20% RADIAL $0.33 each
1 x P15285CT-ND CAP ALUM 47UF 63V 20% RADIAL $0.51
2 x 565-1702-ND CAP ALUM 10UF 50V 20% RADIAL $0.30 each
1 x 565-1709-ND CAP ALUM 220UF 50V 20% RADIAL $0.71

93lexusLS

so on Tuesday I got my LS back. He said it was the crank sensor, that the tab is broken and it had came loose and out. he got it secured so I wont happen again. and best of all the tow to his work and him finding the issue was free, I just paid him the $400 I owed him. He did say I need plugs, wire, caps and rotors. so I will be saving for this, then with tax return i'll get me ecu caps done.

LScowboyLS

that is the way an honest and competent mechanic is supposed to respond - you may just have a good one there