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Question about preemptive maintenance on a 1997 LS400
So I've had my 1997 LS400 for just about a year and it's been pretty solid and good to me. I will likely do the timing belt in the near future since it was done at 129,863 in 2012 and I'm about to hit 180k miles. There's nothing currently wrong with my car but I had a couple of questions regarding preemptive maintenance.
1 - Apparently, the ECU capacitors leaking is a very common issue on the pre 97s. I was talking to someone who rebuilds these and he recommended I get it addressed now before it becomes an issue in the future. According to the maintenance records, the "Computer were checked" back in 2013 & 2014 but I have absolutely no idea what that means. Should I send out the ECU in the near future before it becomes a thing or are there drawbacks to this?
2 - The transmission fluid was changed in 2002 at the lexus dealer at around 30k miles. I told my mechanic to change it, but he told me that a lot of times when he changes the transmission fluid on cars, the transmissions usually go to **** right after so he was a bit hesitant to do it. Do you guys think I should change this now since it's pretty much 17 year old fluid?
The car has been taken well care of for the past 22 years and the plan is to continue that and so I can have a smooth, reliable and comfortable car for the next 3-5 years. I don't mind spending a bit on it since maintaining this one is likely going to be way cheaper than buying a newer car and having payments. It would be sick to hit 500k on this.
Was the water pump changed with the timing belt? Lexus did the timing belt on mine back in 2002, but not the water pump. I recently had my Toyota dealer do both. Mine had 12 years on it and yours has only 7, but your up north and mine was a southern car until I purchased it. I've read that temperature extremes affect the belts, but no matter, Lexus recommends 7 years or 90K miles. Not sure about your ECU, but if it ain't broke... This post lists symptoms to be aware of:https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...capacitor.html if it has any of those, then I'd think about seeking help. As far as the transmission fluid, your mechanic's statement is probably spoken a lot because they do not want to be responsible for messing with (or messing up) a high mileage transmission. That does in fact happen sometimes and on certain cars more than others. On our cars it is simple to change the fluid: remove the drain plug, catch what comes out, measure amount caught, and put that exact amount back in using Toyota T-IV fluid. Do this a couple of times over a period of days or weeks, driving 50-100 miles between changes.
If you afraid of changing the AT fluid all at once, do it incrementally: every oil change, open the screw at the bottom of the AT fluid pan and about 2qts will come out. Measure exactly how much came out and put that same amount of brand new, ONLY ORIGINAL TOYOTA AT fluid. Then, next oil change you do the same and so on. This is probably the best way to keep your AT in great shape and never have to worry about it.
Important note: that screw on the AT fluid pan is easily overtorqued (I did it, so I know). I think the max torque is something like 20-30lb if not less... so be careful there. And it uses a crush washer, so order a bunch of them first, because every time you pull that plug, you need to put in a new washer.
EDIT: just saw the post above, and I agree: you can repeat the AT fluid change every few days and after about 5-6 times you will have changed it pretty much all. I think the total capacity is around 8qts.
what i did which i felt was much less of a hassle and more accurate than getting down there and draining the pan, was get some rubber tubing and suck out fluid through the dipstick guide, then simply replace exactly what i took out
did it on a cold engine to avoid any rubber possibly getting too hot and melting, the tubing cost like $1.04 for the few feet i got
what i did which i felt was much less of a hassle and more accurate than getting down there and draining the pan, was get some rubber tubing and suck out fluid through the dipstick guide, then simply replace exactly what i took out
did it on a cold engine to avoid any rubber possibly getting too hot and melting, the tubing cost like $1.04 for the few feet i got
This is also useful if the transmission is overfilled and you need to take a little out. I've purchased several cars over the years that were overfilled!
Question about preemptive maintenance on a 1997 LS400
