Hey guy's. Mother has a '96 LS400 with 162k miles running strong. it's idling a tad rough, my thought it plugs and wires, since they are probably original. I do not think the timing belt has ever been changed. Since it is an interference engine (I think) in this year and model a timing belt failure is not desirable. Being mechanically inclined I'm thinking about doing alot of maintanance on the car over the next few weeks including possibly:

*Brakes need some work
*Timing belt
*plugs and wires
*possible transmissiong flush, although it was changed at around 100k I think


Does this look like a good start, doing the plugs, wires, and timing belt at the same time would be a must. What else would you guy's recommend. The car just got repainted and we would like it to run a while longer. I don't hear really any odd engine noises and it drives like a new car. I'm changin the engine oil today and want to catch this stuff before a major failure occurs. Does the water pump have to be replaced with the timing belt or is it just a good idea to do so? Thanks guys.

-Kelly

 

By all means change the water pump. You would hate to have to tear it all down again when it does it fail.

 

I would also change the PCV valve of course, clean the Throttle body, and MAF (optional), and reset the ECU fuse (you need to do that if you clean the MAF.)

I would at least do one or two drain and refills to the transmission. Then check power steering, and brake fluid.

Moving to the maintenance forum...