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00 LS400 Overheating

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Old Jul 23, 2017 | 06:28 AM
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Default 00 LS400 Overheating



Hey all,

Make a long story short, 126500mi, 2 months ago replaced timing belt, water pump,radiator , coolant fluid (red) and a thrmostat, the car drove great (i have an ultragauge scanner connected to the obd so i can see the water temp in digits, regular work temps were 80-95C') for 2 monthes and then started to overheat rapidly, no matter if i drive or standstill. took it to the garage, gagrge said its the fan cluth, ordered from amazon an aisin FCT014 new fan clutch, installed it. so now if i drive the car at minimum 20mph everything is fine, but if i need to stop, in three minutes the heat needle gaguge starts to rise so i cant go with the car anywere. there is only one odd thing, i remember that with the previous fan clutch, when the engine was warm, you could here the fan spins at faster rpm, and now even when the car is warm there is no change of speed of the fan. maybe there is a tuning to the fan clutch or some thing else?
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Old Jul 23, 2017 | 08:52 AM
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I'm guessing the weather was cooler out when you had that work done. Now that it's hotter outside this problem is showing up. If your not low or loosing coolant I'm going say that your system was not bled properly and you still have air trapped in there.
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Old Jul 23, 2017 | 03:51 PM
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Make sure there is not any debris between the ac condenser and radiator. Fans all working etc.
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Old Jul 23, 2017 | 10:38 PM
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probably needs a rebleed. my 97 did this right after i replaced the upper and lower hoses and when i thought i had enough coolant, I was actually about half a jug low.

make sure you fill through the 17mm fill bolt and not the overflow tank.
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Old Jul 23, 2017 | 11:43 PM
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Originally Posted by Losiracer2
probably needs a rebleed. my 97 did this right after i replaced the upper and lower hoses and when i thought i had enough coolant, I was actually about half a jug low.

make sure you fill through the 17mm fill bolt and not the overflow tank.
Thanks for the help, which 17mm bolt do you mean?
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Old Jul 24, 2017 | 01:12 AM
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Update: we bled the system but still when the car is standstill it warms up slowly, but when i applied gas (2800~ rpm) the engine temp decreses to normal figures (88~C') i belive that there is a defective with the fan clutch because i doesnt spin fast when the engine is warm. garge said there might be an engine head failure that causes the overheating at standstil.
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Old Jul 24, 2017 | 01:23 AM
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Originally Posted by shlomy2000
Thanks for the help, which 17mm bolt do you mean?
It is the one indicated by a red arrow You need a 10mm Hex wrench to remove it. It would be easy to use a funnel as is shown in the second photo. It also helps you to remove the trapped air filling the LLC up to a few inches higher than the bottom.
Attached Thumbnails 00 LS400 Overheating-llc-filler-plug.jpg   00 LS400 Overheating-how-to-fill-llc.jpg  
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Old Jul 24, 2017 | 02:56 AM
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Originally Posted by Yamae
It is the one indicated by a red arrow You need a 10mm Hex wrench to remove it. It would be easy to use a funnel as is shown in the second photo. It also helps you to remove the trapped air filling the LLC up to a few inches higher than the bottom.
.hey, that exactly what the garge did an hour ago,thanks anyway, but the problem remains.
when i applied gas (2800~ rpm) the engine temp decreses to normal figures (88~C') because the fan spins faster.
i belive that there is a defective with the fan clutch because i doesnt spin fast when the engine is warm. garge said there might be an engine head failure that causes the overheating at standstil.
any opinions? i think modding an electric fan and finish with this..
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Old Jul 25, 2017 | 12:22 AM
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Originally Posted by shlomy2000
.hey, that exactly what the garge did an hour ago,thanks anyway, but the problem remains.
when i applied gas (2800~ rpm) the engine temp decreses to normal figures (88~C') because the fan spins faster.
i belive that there is a defective with the fan clutch because i doesnt spin fast when the engine is warm. garge said there might be an engine head failure that causes the overheating at standstil.
any opinions? i think modding an electric fan and finish with this..
yeah i had an issue with my fan clutch as well. Only mine, would never unlock and was always on. Sounded like a freight train when idling. I looked and the previous replacement was aftermarket so it seized and the thermostatic clutch was no longer working. I found a used Aisin OEM one in the JY for $10 and my car is now whisper quiet at idle, can't even hear the fan. Its possible that you could've received a defective clutch.

The fan should be free spinning at idle while cold, or basically unlocked and would be spinning much slower than the engine. As the engine heats up, or requires more cooling, it locks via the fluid inside the clutch and spins with the pulley its mounted on at the same speed.
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