stoney1997

I'm not car savvy by any means, but I'm getting into the game and I'm determined to be hands on with everything that needs to be done to my "new" land yacht aka, my '92 Ls 400.

I temporarily "fixed" my wet headliner issue. Preciate all the help on that one. Now my barrage of questions.

1-- Anti-lock light turns on after a few minutes when i start the car, and just makes the steering a tiny bit stiff. No biggie but if I could fix that, great.
2--Oil light randomly pops on and off. We changed the oil immediately after purchase along with a new oil filter and it's still topped off so maybe just a sensor going out?
3-- I've seen problems with peoples AC but none that relate to mine. If I just press the AC button, the car will bog, then revs back up before it kills itself, then ac light blinks until i turn it off. AC compressor? Seems logical I guess.
4-- Bothers me the most... When I brake, the front right side of the car will dip down, while the car simultaneously pulls slightly to the left, then when i get off the brake it thrusts itself back upright.
5-- Least of my worries because I hook my phone up to my radio, and the antenna doesnt extract/retract anyways.. but! Is there a tutorial out there to delete the power antenna and replace it with a normal antenna? Or can I just take any old one and screw it on?
6-- What are the cleanest/meanest stock wheels to get? And any cheap-ish coilovers?

Apologies if I seem a tiny bit slow, I've always loved the car scene, but was never hands on and I'm using this car as a learning experience.

thanks-- K

CELSI0R

Hi stoney1997,

I will try to help you out with a few of your questions:

1) With regards to the ABS light, this is unrelated to the power steering system on your car. This isn't an easy question to answer, and will need further diagnosis to determine the where the problem is. Check out this tutorial on how to read the diagnostic codes from your car to figure out what the ABS light is indicating.

Your power steering may be a little stiff because the idle-up valve delete was previously performed. There are a lot of threads about this on the forum, as well as this video by Scotty Kilmer, that you can use to check if this modification has been made: [Note that the car in this video is a 1995. However, the drivetrain is mostly the same]


2) If the low oil pressure light is going on, this could be a failure with the oil pressure sensor or a potential problem with the flow of oil in the engine itself. Wish I could say more from here

3) For the idle speed issue when the AC is engaged, this might be an Idle Air Control Valve issue (IACV). Perhaps it's dirty and needs cleaning.

4) From your description of the braking problem, it sounds like there is an issue with one of your front calipers, front brake hoses, or front suspension components. This will need further diagnosis to determine the issue.

Here is a good general read on uneven braking troubleshooting:
http://www.tomorrowstechnician.com/p...e-diagnostics/

Your car could have a seized caliper piston, seized slider pins, clogged or damaged rubber brake hose, etc.

5) I have not performed the power antenna replacement/repair myself, but there are many tutorials on replacing the mast with a new telescoping module or a stubby antenna:

Antenna mast repair/replace:
http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/audio/powerantenna.html
http://www.lextreme.com/antenna.html

Stubby antenna replacement by EricTheCarGuy (general guide):

I hope this helps you out! I wouldn't worry about coilovers or rims yet until the car is functioning 100%.

[Personally, I'm a fan of the stock setup] - haha

stoney1997

You're a saint on many levels Celsior. This is goibg to help me greatly! And imo, some decent stock rims from another car could make it look cleaner, but i havent found my style. Most people have the 7 series wheels but i was thinking of some stock new style camaro wheels.

peterls

There is an antenna built into your rear window, it's there for the analog cell phone (at least my LS has it), and you could maybe connect your stereo antenna to that antenna and delete the retractable one all together?
I remember some people doing it, and they loved it.
I have been planning to do it, but no time for anything lately.

stoney1997

stoney1997

mini-update//
Found this out when driving home from work. But to add to my oil light issue.. while going DOWNHILL it flicks on and will stay on until I go back UPHILL or drive on a flat plane for long enough.

AlaskanLS

"4-- Bothers me the most... When I brake, the front right side of the car will dip down, while the car simultaneously pulls slightly to the left, then when i get off the brake it thrusts itself back upright."
Change your front struts, worn out struts cause the dip down when you depress the brakes. And for pulling to the left side, check the front left and rear left brake caliper to make sure it's not stuck. Whenever you take your car for a drive and when you bring it back home, check the temperature of disc with a temperature gauge that will show you which disc gets hot the most, that's how you will be able to find your jammed caliper. You can also tell the difference of temperature by touching each rim of the tire. But be careful if it's too hot it can burn your hand.

CELSI0R

When you're going uphill or driving on flat road versus going downhill, are the RPMs staying about the same? Are you giving it more gas via the throttle in one position versus another? [I'm just trying to eliminate another variable]

Given your description, it's starting to sound like the problem has more to do with with the oil pressure sending unit. I wonder if the switch is changing position based off of the engine's tilt. It's probably worth a try to change it.

[Note: Do not confuse the oil pressure sending unit with the oil level sensor]

stoney1997

CELSI0R

Not a problem. I was asking about the RPMs, because the higher the RPMs, the higher the oil pressure should be, because the oil pump is driven by the crank. So logically, going uphill with higher RPMs means higher pressure, which could put the switch in an acceptable position (turning off the warning light). Meanwhile, cruising downhill at a lower RPM means lower oil pressure (but not no oil pressure, because that would be bad), and the low oil pressure level light will illuminate in your case because the switch is outside of the acceptable range.

I would definitely look into changing the oil pressure sending unit - to me, it sounds like the switch could be partially clogged. The unit is also inexpensive to replace (around $10 I think).

Before you go and replace it, you can test the unit and also check the condition of it when removed on the car. Any build up of old oil sludge on the unit could lead to a false reading.

[Note: Oil becomes sludge and builds up in an engine as the oil ages. This is usually the result of infrequent oil changes in the past. The sludge will dissipate over time if you continue to change the oil on time]

Also, I may be able to help you diagnose your tachometer issue on your instrument cluster - even though this is the least of your worries right now.
- Does the cluster fully illuminate?
- Do the speedometer, temperature gauge, and fuel gauge operate properly?
- Does the tachometer needle move at all?
- Does the tachometer needle sit at the 0 marker or below 0 when the instrument cluster is on and/or off?

stoney1997

That may just be it. Mine was a one owner car, but it wasn't treated the best which is why i got it so cheap. So the possibility of sludge being built up cause of the lack of oil changes wouldnt surprise me.
For the cluster. It fully illuminates The Speedometer works (seems a little slow though) and the fuel gauge work. The RPM gauge and temp gauge don't work though, RPM stays below 0, Temp stays just above Hot even with me turning the car off. The car had a aftermarket temp gauge though near where my right knee sits but i'm pretty sure that's shot too.

CELSI0R

Given your description, an old tutorial that I found online a while ago may work for you:

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums...comment=493445

If that works and you want the repair to be even more permanent, you can do what Amskeptic did recently on his cluster, which was gluing the needle onto the motor shaft once the steps I previously linked were perfomed. I performed the same fix the other day and have yet to post a more in-depth write up on the procedure:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...l#post10062216