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I was very mistaken. I haven't even looked over this car that much as I have another project going on before I can start on these LS400's. But, I assumed the door handles were plastic based on the photos while I was uploading them and how the drivers handle broke. The handles are metal as I'm sure all LS400's are. I'd love to know how in the hell someone broke a metal door handle like that... They just look plastic in the photos because the paint is a shade lighter than the rest of the car. I will probably just salvage a door handle and rattle can it.
Thanks for coming back and clarifying your statement. When I read it I was wondering what the heck you were talking about. I've changed my handle recently and this is a common problem. Whether it's a design flaw or just wear and tear is up for debate.
Thanks for coming back and clarifying your statement. When I read it I was wondering what the heck you were talking about. I've changed my handle recently and this is a common problem. Whether it's a design flaw or just wear and tear is up for debate.
I try to be the first to admit when I'm wrong. Once I get this VW TDI project out the door that has all of my jacks and jack stands tied up I'll get cracking on these two cars. I'm going to remove the ECM on the white car this evening to check the capacitors and then replace the power steering vacuum valve as well as the rear bumper cover in the coming days. I'll report back.
I checked out the ECM and no capacitors are leaking. That doesn't always mean any are not bad but it's at least a good visual inspection of them. I havn't been able to even drive the car faster than a crawl as there is the power steering issue to fix before doing that. I'm hoping that around Monday I can get that fixed and take it for a spin around the neighborhood.
Well, I hit a milestone with the white LS400 today. My jack and jack stands were tied up with a TDI head gasket and camshaft job I had going in the other garage. I finished that so I was able to get the LS400 up off the ground and sort out the power steering issues. It had them all. I replaced the air control valve with a new Toyota part I bought off eBay for $50. I had to purchase a single 17mm crow foot to remove the thing but it was well worth the $16 as it made it a piece of cake. I have never come across needing a crow foot on all of the stuff I've worked on, I've always found another way. But with the ACV you either remove the sway bar or use a stubby wrench on it. I don't have a set of stubby's either as I've never really needed any of those either. I only buy USA made SK tools for the most part now so the $16 Carlyle crow foot was a better option than a $130 set of SK crow feet or stubby wrenches.
Then I removed the power steering solenoid to clean the filter. Most of them that I have worked on have the screens completely torn, then the solenoid get's trash in it and starts acting up. This one had most of the screens in tact with a few breaches on two of them, but they were pretty well clogged up and partly pushing through the solenoid holes. I cleaned it by spraying some carb cleaner at full power from the inside out. It's not spotless but it's pretty clean.
Next I wanted to get the power steering fluid that someone had put in it rather than the proper ATF. It was empty from removing the solenoid but I still wanted to flush it. I decided to flush it without running the engine. To do this I removed the serpentine belt from the power steering pump, hooked up a clear nylon tube into the power steering return line on the back of the reservoir, and turned the pump pulley with my Milwaukee M12 ratchet and 17mm socket. It fits by slightly pushing the lower hose out of the way. I turned the wheel to each stop while pouring new ATF in and running the pump to flush it into my bucket. It worked pretty well this way and you don't have to worry about running your pump dry with the engine running, you just let go of the electric ratchet trigger. After being happy with what was coming out of the return line I topped the fluid off to the proper level and closed it up.
There was quite a lot of fluid pouring out of the ACV vacuum hoses so I knew it would smoke for a minute after starting it again. I cranked it up, topped off the power steering fluid again, and backed it off the ramps.
I was told it 'may' have a transmission issue so I didn't know what to expect on the test drive. Upon backing out of the area the power steering felt fantastic. It has zero mechanical slop and turns like an LS400 is supposed to, problems solved. The car then went right into drive and off I went down the driveway. I live on a 2.2 mile rural loop so I can test drive stuff without a tag or insurance. The car went through the gears effortlessly without any signs of a mechanical issue with the trans. I've got a lot of recent experience with transmission problems of all kinds on an LS400 and a subsequent successful overhaul so I'm pretty in tune lately with how it is supposed to be. It seems to run absolutely perfectly. There is a slight shutter at certain speeds and RPM's so I'm going to support the trans and remove the rear mount bolts and check out the trans mount for separation. I noticed there is a large crack or chunk missing out of one of the prop shaft isolators so I'll keep an eye out for a nice one in the yards, most have this condition though... And. they are pretty pricey from Toyota if they are still available.
The plan tomorrow while I insurance and register it will be changing the oil, doing a splash and dash trans fluid change (just the pan drain), replace the broken tail light assembly, and swap the rear bumper cover with the one I got from the salvage yard a week or two ago.
It's possible that a trans issue may show up after the car reaches full temp for a while or something but so far it seems to really drive fantastic. I'm not hearing any leaking from the EGR tube yet either.
Alright, so I have found out why the car was listed as 'may' have a transmission issue, Although it's operating perfectly, once I got it up to full operating temp today a noise developed from the pump area. It sounds sort of like a starving power steering pump. I've seen this before and it's usually a clogged strainer in the trans. I'm going to drop the pan right now and see how it looks in there. It will be a good chance to look at the bottom of the pan as well.
The transmission whine cause has been located. The strainer is full. The inside of the pan doesn't look terrible but there is definitely some clutch material floating around in there. Continuing to run this transmission this way would end in a loss of forward gears I'm sure. I am going to replace the filter with an aftermarket unit as it comes with a reusable rubber gasket that I have had good luck with in other vehicles. I'm going to replace the strainer, clean the pan and reinstall with a couple quarts of new TIV and see how it does. It could very well likely clog again in the near future. I'll keep an ear out for any whining coming from the trans, that's the tell tale sign. Sometimes they will also kick in and out of lockup with the reduced line pressure. This trans still shifts very very well so maybe it will survive with a new strainer. If the strainer clogs again I will probably just stop right there and order the overhaul kit. I've been down this road a few times, once being lately, and continuing to clean the strainer and reinstall just wastes time if it happens on a repeated basis.
I also found someone had stripped out the engine oil pan plug for me. I removed the plug for the oil change today and the threads came with it. New ones are $200 from Toyota if they are even available but I'll pick one off a car at the salvage yard for $30 when I've got an afternoon to spare.
Yea dicer, it has certainly been off before. The pan was released with your run-of-the-mill red or orange RTV, not FIPG like Toyota uses at the factory. The pan design is not intended for any gasket other than FIPG so if you are not careful you end up pinching the pan holes down towards the case threads. To go back using the proper sealing method after that you would really have to beat the pan sealing surface back flat again by tapping the holes with a hammer to straighten it out. But the rubber gasket is much easier for repeat removal. The factory torque on the pan bolts is 65 in-lb but I'm just going to tighten until the rubber gasket just starts to squish out and stop there.
I have never been a fan of rubber gaskets, they always leak. The thick paper or composition type is better, and I still would use a sealer of sorts on them, I hate leaks.
I have never been a fan of rubber gaskets, they always leak. The thick paper or composition type is better, and I still would use a sealer of sorts on them, I hate leaks.
I could tend to agree with you. But, they don't alway's leak on the A340 trans pan. In fact, I've never had one leak. The only issue that it causes is the same as a cork one would cause, the metal around the bolt holes getting pinched down into the gasket slightly deforming it around the bolt holes. I reused a rubber gasket on the last overhaul that I did, but if I were to have to overhaul this trans I think I would go the factory route and FIPG the pan on to the case as the factory did.
I took the 80 mile each way trip to the junk yard that had the LS400 that I robbed the rear bumper cover off a few weeks ago to see if it still had the engine. I wanted to get the oil pan. To my pleasure it was still (mostly) there. The top of the engine was dismantled quite a lot but the pan was there and the yard didn't pop a hole in it to drain the fluids like some like to do. I had it off in a couple of minutes. Before paying for it I removed the drain plug and closely inspected the threads, they looked good. That engine hadn't been maintained very well I don't think. There was a 2mm or so thick layer of what felt like clay but was probably more of a brown sludge caked into the bottom of the pan. I got it home and went after it with a pressure washer and many scrubbings with dawn and purple power. I got it as clean as I could really, but the sides are still stained with a varnish. The pan was $30 so I'll take that any day. I ran out of time to apply the FIPG and install it, maybe tomorrow I can do that.
I also had the chance to see the routing of the dip stick to see if a top extraction method for oil removal could be achieved. On some engines there are baffles that prevent the tube from being able to reach the bottom of the pan leaving some oil in the bottom. I probably wouldn't use this method any as you still have to access the filter from under neath, but I use it on some of my and others vehicles with the filters up top and it really works great and saves lots of time and effort.
While I was at the yard I removed the passenger side power window and lock bezel and interior door handle bezel. Someone had been into the door at some point and didn't have a clue how to remove these items so they are broken. The bottom bezel is hooked on the rear and clipped up front. They must have pried hard on the rear and broke the plastic hook. The interior door handle bezel is removed by sticking a small screw driver or pry tool between the chrome door handle and bezel on the bottom and between the manual lock switch and bezel on the top. This releases the plastic bezel from the pin that actually hinges the door handle. Someone went nuts on that as well and broke a small part of it. The yard gave me that part for free.
If the LS400 is one thing, it's predictable. I got the white LS400 insured and tagged today. I took it for a drive into town. I experienced a pretty bad driveline vibration at cruise speeds that was indicative of a separated transmission mount. I was nearly sure of it. I also ended up with a P0135 code when coasting to a light. I wasn't sure what the code was as I had left my scanguage at home so I decided to turn around and head back to check it out. P0135 is triggered when the fuel trim circuit doesn't go closed loop in relation to coolant temp in the proper amount of time. Instead of going straight for the B1S1 o2 sensor I may replace the ECM's ECT sensor and retest. If it triggers again I'll swap a sensor with the black car and retest. Otherwise the car is running and driving great.
I will say that I don't have high expectations of this transmission for the long term. The fluid had a very slight metallic tinge to it that looks like clutch material. Some of that is normal but it seems a bit excessive to me. The strainer clogged and experience tells me that it will PROBABLY continue to happen. If it clogs again the trans is getting an overhaul and the car is getting a new radiator. That will fix that... It's my opinion that the strainer may have clogged from a pressure leak at some point lowering the line pressure and partially engaging one of the clutch drums, the pump started starving for fluid, the line pressure decreased, one or more drums became partially engaged, the owner continued to drive it this way, excessive heat built into one or more of the partially engaged clutch drums, and the friction material was compromised as a result of too much heat. On the last A340 overhaul I did the forward clutches were totally smoked and the direct clutches had signs of pretty high heat too. Most of the other clutch packs were in new condition, you could still read the printing on the disks. The direct clutches were so cooked that the snap ring that retains the pressure plate in the drum lost its temper and could be spun in it's groove with one finger. The friction material was jet black not the normal light brown. The friction material in most of the other drums was very durable and could hardly be removed with a pick. The material on the cooked clutch disks on the other hand could be removed almost with a finger nail. It came off with a sand like texture. That is what clogs the strainers, and there is NO stopping the disks shedding that material once they're cooked. With the vast difference in condition and durability of friction material between the different drums the only factor that can vary is great differences in heat. You can clean strainers every couple of hundred miles, but eventually the clearance will become too great in that cooked drum and the piston will not be able to engage the clutch pack. That's when you no longer have forward gears.
But, maybe this one will be good for a long while with a new strainer. Most of me doubts it!
The OEM trans mount came in today and the car now rides like butter. I swapped both upstream o2 sensors with each other. The code came back today and it followed the sensor to bank 2. Denso sensors are $40 so I may end up ordering one if the new OEM ECT sensor doesn't fix it. I watched the water temp with my scanguage while driving it today and felt I needed a new thermostat as the car didn't appear to be warming up. I then see that the OEM thermostat is 180 degrees. I didn't know they were that low. Knowing that the thermostat seems fine and I bet I end up having to replace the sensor.
Other than that the car is running and driving fantastic. I don't have any repetitive clunking from the front end but may have heard a clunk when turning into a parking lot earlier. With the hurricane approaching I replaced the wiper blades with some Michelin units to get them quiet again. Slowly I'm getting the car in tip top shape.
I also replaced the rear bumper cover with the one I pulled from the salvage yard a week or two ago. That is when I noticed something I wasn't too happy with. Along with the bumper cover damage as it came when I bought it, there is some slightly crinkling of the body behind the bumper cover. The right tail light housing was broken so I replaced it with one from the black car for now. It doesn't fit well, there is a 1/8" gap or more on the front part of the tail light. When looking down in the corners from the inside it's obvious that there is some crinkling of the sheet metal. It doesn't appear to be from a force acting directly at the rear but more-so quartering on both sides. The right side is worse than the left side. The right side that had the hole in the bumper cover is pushed up a little bit that doesn't allow me to line up one of the bolts for the bumper cover near the pressure vent. The spare tire well is straight as an arrow as is everywhere else but the corners. I got the bumper cover on minus one fastener and it looks a lot better but the tail light alignment issue bothers me. I may get a quote to do a slight pull and massage on the rear end to get it perfectly straight again. I'm assuming that whatever did this damage also misaligned the trunk lid. I do not currently have any water leaks so it's not a huge deal. With how well this car is starting to turn out I may look into getting it professionally fixed up. It won't need any paint work prep or spray until I repaint the bumper covers so hopefully it wouldn't be an insane price to so a slight pull and pound the metal back where it is supposed to be.
The ECT sensor will be here Monday. I may go ahead and order the Denso upstream o2 sensor as well to get that cleared up. After that I'll keep driving it and see how the trans does. If the car seems to get into pretty reliable daily driver shape I'll probably look into the Aisin timing belt kit for $175 to reset the timing belt interval and get the Toyota long life red coolant in there and the generic coolant flushed out
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Yeah not fun finding dents you didn't know about. I have 2 with spare wells dented something happened at one time, I think off the road from snow or something. Its not easy finding perfect.
08-17-16, 10:43 AM
Once I get this VW TDI project out the door that has all of my jacks and jack stands tied up I'll get cracking on these two cars. I'm going to remove the ECM on the white car this evening to check the capacitors and then replace the power steering vacuum valve as well as the rear bumper cover in the coming days. I'll report back.
