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Note: My original post from last week somehow got corrupted & couldn't be opened so I'm re-posting it to share w/ you all.
I have a 97 Lexus LS400, bought it when it was a year old so I have it for 19 years now. Car has been great with zero defect for so many years but being a 20 years old car and at 235 Kmiles, a lot of parts have finally reached their end-of-service life. Last week, the power steering pump in my old Lexus LS400 leaked then it took out the alternator too as it's mounted right underneath the pump. Toyota makes great cars but they have such a screwed up design in the Lexus by having the alternator placed at the wrong location. Since the car is old, I couldn’t justify spending over $800 for OEMs so I went with aftermarket parts & sorted of paying the price for it. It took me the entire day to remove/replace both components & prime the pump only to find out the newly installed pump was defective so I went & got a replacement & wasted another half day to remove & install it again. I was nervous about the 2nd pump but it works fine but then the next day, the starter crapped out on me. Most auto makers would place the starter underneath the engine right next to the flywheel so when the ignition key is turned, the signal triggers the starter solenoid then the 12v from the battery is routed via the solenoid to the starter to engage the pinion then turn the flywheel & start the car. Once again, Toyota stupidly placed the starter on top of the engine but underneath the plenum & the upper intake manifold. In order to get to the starter, all of these parts plus many of the vacuum hoses, cruise control, throttle cable, throttle body, fuel injectors & fuel rails had to be removed. I was tired of working on the car the day before so was going to take the car into a shop but couldn't get it started so I had no choice but to do the tear down myself. This turned out to be a major job. The canister that you see in the 2nd photo is the infamous starter. This sucker is mounted so close to the firewall w/ two 14mm bolts facing the wall, in order to get to it, I had to lift the rear water bridge, EGR pipes & came up w/ some custom made tools to slip them through the little crack to remove the bolts. The disconnecting & re-connecting of the rear water brigde & EGR pipe #2 (there are 2 of them), the one that connected between the plenum/upper intake manifold & the exhaust were such a pain as there was no space at all to place sockets & wrenches to remove the nuts & bolts. Since I have already tore down the top half of the engine, I went ahead & cleaned the inside of the throttle body, the plenum & upper intake manifold. I've also did a major tune up by replacing all spark plugs w/ NGK Iridium IX, Denso OEM spark plug wires, distributor caps, rotors & ignition coils. It took me the entire week after work to complete this job w/ the help from my oldest son whenever he could. I've finally got her back in 1 piece last night. There were so much disconnecting & having all of these parts, nuts & bolts laying around for the entire week (I only bagged the plenum/upper intake manifold's nuts & bolts & the rest were put back by memory), I was concerned & nervous but also excited at the same time before I turned the key but she fired right up. What a wonderful feeling to hear that beautiful sound coming from the engine & a sense of accomplishment so thought I share w/ you guys. Just to give you an idea of how difficult this job was, the dealer wanted to charge me $800 just for the labor alone. If I had known, I would be more than happy to pay them to do it for me even if it’s cost $1000 in labor. All these years, I have done most of the maintenance on all of my cars & my kids' cars, I've gained so much knowledge & saved lots of money at the same time but the sense of accomplishment is priceless!
I've considered myself a car guy & currently own 5 cars including a Mercedes-Benz CL500 & a C6 Z51 Corvette, purchased brand new & both in pristine condition. Each car has its own personality & it's a pleasure driving each one of them but out of all, I have to say I love my 97 Lexus LS400 the most. She's timeless, a piece of art work, still runs silky smooth & handling like a new car. I've promised myself to keep her forever.
I feel your pain my friend, but once you fix her she will served you many years to come. Like you I also had to replace my starter, I choose to take it to Lexus dealer and only after 20k mile it fail again, so I was upset and wrote to Lexus of North America and got a 50% coupon for my next starter, my motor mount and transmission went as well so had that replaced, last month my power steering pump went so I had that done as well all at lexus dealer. I think once you fix these well known issues in the ls400, it's bullet proof for many many miles. I love my ls400 that it deserve nothing but oem lexus parts.
I sort of feel your pain. I had to replace a cracked EGR pipe on my 97, luckily, it cost only 20 bucks for the guy to weld around the accordion sections to seal it up.....took me about 2 days since I got frustrated with a frozen catalytic converter bolt. I eventually had to drill through it and use a nut/bolt since no amount of propane or Mapp gas would free it up. I've got 277k miles on mine, just did another oil change on it today after 7k miles, the oil still looked clean on the dipstick. These cars will last hundreds of thousands of miles with even basic maintenance.
Here are some photos of the car I've just took recently. My kids told me it still look exactly the same as the day I've brought it home almost 20 years ago. It's hard to believe it still look so good after all these years. She's indeed timeless & a piece of art work.
Great back story and good to hear about your perseverance. There's no feeling like accomplishing a job like this. That being said, I hope I never have to deal with swapping the starter.
Out of the 8 connectors, the plastic clips on 6 of them broke so I used the cleared RTV to keep them in place. The reason I used the cleared RTV instead of rock hard epoxy is I want to make sure they're soft enough just in case I need to remove the connectors again. Good as new.
2KHarrier- If your starter happens to go out, take my advice: Don't do it yourself. Pay the indy or even the dealer & let them suffer on your behalf but prepare to pay an arm & a leg for it.
Out of the 8 connectors, the plastic clips on 6 of them broke so I used the cleared RTV to keep them in place. The reason I used the cleared RTV instead of rock hard epoxy is I want to make sure they're soft enough just in case I need to remove the connectors again. Good as new.
Those connectors are still available from Toyota no problem. I haven't had to do the starter on any of my LS400's yet, but I have had the intake out. Like you experienced, those connectors alway's break. Broken connectors are a huge pet peeve of mine so I alway's replace them with new OEM connectors.
If you are interested, I'll fill you in on how Toyota/Lexus connector part numbering works. Connector part numbers are 90980-*****. They first 5 of the number is alway's 90980. The last 5 digits are embossed on the connector somewhere. Go look under your hood and find a random connector that you can get a good eye on. If you look you'll see a 5 digit number on the connector. Add that to 90980 and there is your part number. The common ones I end up replacing as I work on these cars is the coil connector on the front top of the engine, cam sensor connectors (especially the drivers side), alternator connectors, MAF connectors, and of course the fuel injector connectors as those see lots of heat over the years.
All you need is a really small pick and some decent eye sight. The terminals are held in the connector with little tabs in the connector. Release those tabs and the terminal slides right out. Take a photo of the back of the connector before taking it apart to make sure you rewire it correctly. The connectors are usually so brittle by this point that they like to break apart as you're prying on the tab. That's fine, but don't tear up the terminals.
Thank you, very nice and not modded, other than the exhaust tips. Looks like a perfect body and paint example as well. And wow no crap tinting, what a nice kept and good example of an LS. Great work keeping it so nice.
01-25-17, 04:31 PM
97 Lexus' Painful Repairs but Still Love Her
