I am helping my brother bring a 1992 Lexus Ls400 back to life. It is not damaged in anyway but has sat for the last 5 years. last weekend we got it running by

Changing the oil, pumping fuel from the tank, changing the fuel filter and cranking the engine with fuel and spark disabled to prime it with a little bit of oil. It started up right away sounded wonky for a couple seconds then sounded perfect and smooth.

our next plan is to drain the transmission fluid and fill with toyota fluid, this will have to happen 4 -8 times to get it clean, after the first or second drain and fill I will be dropping the pan to change the filter.. 30$ wix vs the stealership trying to charge me 200.

then the rear differential will be changed to synthetic 75w90 and the brakes bled and calipers greased.

After that I need to fix play in the wheel at the 3-9 position that I believe is the inner tie rod. Currently stuck waiting on a mcgard lock to arrive for the car to disconnect it and confirm.

Once I eliminate the play in the wheel we can finally get to road testing it. it has sat for 5 years because of a clunk in the front suspension and possibly a failed air bag in the rear.


The car will need to be converted to struts if the air bags are bad because that seems like a massive headache, I realize we will compromise ride quality with that I am wondering if people have suggestions on the best kit to buy.


But its a 92 with 122 xxx miles on it, now living in Canada it hasn't seen snow yet its a pristine undercarriage and is black.

I have another question is what are peoples experience with aftermarket thermostats? I am a Subaru owner and anything that isn't oem doesn't work properly but the dealership wants 43 and 12$ for the gasket...

 

I've used an aftermarket thermostat with no problem but I order all my parts online from various Lexus dealers now so I would probably go with them. I think it's like $15 online. Be sure to flush and refill all the coolant since it's been sitting for 5 years. I would also go with the Toyota long life coolant. congrats on getting her up and running.

 

Welcome to Club Lexus.

+1 to what sha4000 mentioned. Look online, even at full retail down south of you, the thermostat is $18-$22 and gasket ~$7.

http://lexus.sewellparts.com/

They will ship internationally and a call to verify options will get you going. By registering, they offer a Club Lexus discount so your savings can add up to be quite significant. Start your parts list.

 

Sounds like a very rewarding project with a great start so far. Good luck and welcome to the club. Definitely register with Sewell to get the discounts.

 

Excellent . Resurrecting and old car can be alot of fun.
Some recomend that you not flush the fluid on an old transmission.
To avoid risk of "shocking" the system, you may want to drain and fill once with 3 quarts or so to the correct level when warmed up.
How big of a job is the airbag suspension conversion?

 

I think that's what he plans to do.

 

OEM red coolant longlife and OEM type t-IV auto trans fluid is a must. also i would just bite the extra cost and go with an OEM thermostat as it isn't significantly that much more expensive.

a good thing to note is the timing belt/water pump service which should be done at 90k intervals. if it has not yet been done, that would be an opportune time to replace the thermostat and coolant. there are good threads for a DIY on here!

 

Thanks everyone here is an update,

I have done the first drain and fill of the transmission. I feel like it missed a change or two and is probably all or mostly type 2 fluid still..

But I have 6 litres type IV fluid left after this drain and fill and planning to do the transmission filter and gasket after the third.
and the rear diff will get whatever synthetic 75w90 is the best deal.

the car never got past 1/3 on the temperature gauge and cooled down when i used max heat so the thermostat needs replacing and for coolant was going to use prestone dexcool as i read on lexls tutorials wondering is this a bad idea? Asking because i got a quote from the toyota dealership and the coolant is like 24 dollars a jug and its pre mix... If Toyota fluid is best ill need to source it elsewhere.

 

I just paid $31/gallon full-strength at the dealership. Amazon was right around that price as well. As long as you don't have any leaks (cause that's pretty expensive to just have it all leak right back out ), I would go with the OEM as it will most likely pay off in the end imo. Good luck!

 

Just get the coolant from the dealer. If its premixed you will need 2 jugs. Small price to pay for piece of mind.

 

we are kind of doing this on a budget but without sacrificing quality so ill order the oem coolant and thermostat online right now and will do it whenever it gets here to save a few bucks, since the car has never been registered in Canada we need an out of province inspection done so the car legally cant be driven on the road until the ride height issue is fixed that has become the priority

What is the coolant capacity? are you sure I only need 2 Gallons? the price infuriates me because the newer red long life coolant for my moms 07 corolla was 17$ a jug, any harm in using the newer higher spec fluid?

My brother wants to purchase coilovers and I am leaning him towards the megans due to the low cost and decent reviews

Will also need to remove the front window tint before we can complete the inspection

will be doing ngk v power copper spark plugs as well as cleaning the cap and rotors and checking the resistance of the wires while doing a compression test on the old girl im hoping for perfect numbers I have access to Prodemand and Alldata at school and will post the results compared to spec

Using the cheap v-power so that in 10-12k miles when we pull them we can see how each cylinder is acting on re-break in. then move up to iridium or whatever is recommended.

 

The overflow tank should have directions for flushing and refilling.

 

2 jugs is plenty, just make sure you use real distilled water to mix with it 50/50 with the pure 100% Toyota long life red coolant

don't bother with the Toyota premix (pink stuff), you are paying a huge premium to use their distilled water!

 

thats the problem they will only sell me the premix. I may just go with zerex asian vehicle coolant

 

zerex asian vehicle is probably the best of the aftermarket coolants, but what kind of Toyota dealership does not sell Toyota full strength long life red? - I have never seen such a dealership!

don't be fooled, the bottle of coolant below confusingly states pre-mixed , yet I have seen this bottle on the back state to mix at various ratios, so read the back of the bottle!

the bottle on the right is always correct! (and the one on the left may be too, so check the part number on the bottle!)

the correct part number will be 00272-1LLAC-01

or sometimes just 00272-1LLAC - it will be on the back of the bottle!

if you negotiate, you should be able to buy it from your dealership for the equivalent of US$22-$23