1994 ls400
Last edited by Thatguybob; Jan 6, 2023 at 08:42 AM.
Or, 9 out of 10 people will tell you, ECU; https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...capacitor.html
Do you have any service history on the car, was something done to it by the previous owner which caused him to just park it and not fix it? How many miles?
This has nothing to do with a diagnosis but we all like to know; how much ya pay for it?
Last edited by Thatguybob; Jan 6, 2023 at 08:45 AM.
Have you checked for any codes? That can point ya in the right direction. If the ECU isn't sending any communication to the engine light, then you have a bad ECU. I would still check the timing marks to see if they all line up together.
This will show you the timing marks and where they are supposed to be; http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/engine/timingbelt.html
Check out all his tutorials, there's alot of info good there.
Here's the numbers for the OBD1 codes; http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/intro/codereading.html
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If there are no codes stored then the light will blink continuously, every .25 second. If the light stays on solid with no blinks then there's no communication with ECU.
The ECU is a very well known problem, meaning if it's not bad yet, it will be soon.
Do you have any other symptoms listed in the ECU link I posted?
When I was having alot of those symptoms on my old 93 I was thick headed and didn't want to believe that was my problem, but when I changed the ECU everything turned out good so now I'm a true believer.
It's best to use the method deanshark mentioned for checking codes.
I just posted about this here -
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...l#post11421993
A misfire could still be an air, fuel, or spark issue. You may need to check everything from vacuum lines, to cylinder compression, igniters, coils, plugs, plug wires, distributors, fuel injectors, etc. And I don't mean replacing all of these parts because what you might put on could be worse than what's on the car. It is also possible that the ECU is bad, but there are too many variables to say whether if that's the culprit or not right now. However, I would also review the info deanshark shared on the ECU. It's a good point that capacitor failure in the module could cause a variety of problems.
To see if the problem is related to ignition, I would suggest doing a cylinder drop test.
If you are learning, I would consider talking to a mechanic who has worked on older cars. The basic diagnostic steps between OBD-I and modern OBD-II cars are very similar, if not the same, but OBD-I often will not point you directly where to look for each issue, and instead will give you an idea of which systems in the car are problematic and require diagnosis.
I would suggest to do a cylinder drop test with your current ECU before changing any parts.
Swapping out more parts on the car without testing will only complicate the issue as there are more variables being added into the mix









