Top 20 2005 Lexus LS400 - Page 5 Questions & Answers

More often than not this is caused by a large vacuum leak on the engine, the surge up and down is the computer trying to slow the idle. Use a bottle of propane gas and a torch adapter with a rubber hose on it, spray the gas around the top of the top of the engine and alos around any vacuum hoses from the engine, if you hit a vacuum leak the engine will sound much different, repair as needed.

idle control motor its on the inlet manifold and either needs renewing or a good clean

First, make sure your battery is fully charged.Next, check your plus and minus connections on your battery posts. Don't just check them, clean the clamps on the inside and the posts. They make a tool that is a battery post wire brush tool for under $6 bucks, get one so you can clean them well. This may help the issue. Once they are clean and it still is slow starting, my conclusion would be you may have a bad starter. The slow start means you typically have a dead spot on the starter armature which you cannot do anything to fix, replace it. .Their is only other reason it could be slow to start and that is if you had a compression issue, and your car actually runs, so that is not it.

u can get in the car correct? If not you need a locksmith or the dealer, but if you can get in. I found a great method to get the trunk popped if your car is still open and the trunk lock is activated. Drop the under dash. 2 screws under the gas tank/ hood/ trunk release cluster. The panel left of the steering wheel pops off with safe prying. 1 more screw and another tab. Then you have access to the backside of the trunk release. Unplug the relay behind the switch ( Should be the blue/black wires) Use a paper clip to touch both the positive and negative points of the relay. Pop and wallah the trunk should open. Worst case situation you can remove the rear seat or subwoofer to gain acces to the trunk. pop the subwoofer out and get a coat hanger or remove the seat to get the keys. If you type in( how to remove the back seat of my 96 lexus ls 400) in your google search bar there are several posts on how to do this.

Hi.

There is no document showing a single procedure for vacuum hoses, fuel hoses and wiring in the engine. The procedures are illustrated in the single document of ENGINE MECHANICAL, SFI, IGNITION, EMISSION CONTROL, COOLING, CHARGING and AC sections of service manual (e.g. see individually vacuum, fuel system, EGR, IAC, cooling system etc.) . The whole diagrams and the single procedures to reassemble the hoses and wiring in the engine compartment are in the service manual. The service manual has been uploaded here. Click on the rapidshare download page and in the page use the Green button to download for free to your computer. Any other option will ask you to pay extra to download the file (sorry but the free file repository service works in this way).

Regards.

Ginko

DRAIN COOLANT SYSTEM.DISCONNECT THE RADIATOR INLET HOSE FROM INLET PIPE. REMOVE THE TIMING BELT FROM THE WATER PUMP PULLEY. REMOVE THE RIGHT SIDE IGNITION COIL.REMOVE THE WATER INLET HOUSING AND THERMOSTAT.REMOVE THE MOUNTING BOLTS AND STUDS. LIFT OUT THE WATER PUMP BY CAREFULLY PRYING BETWEEN THE PUMP AND THE CYLINDER HEAD. REMOVE ALL THE OLD PACKING AND CLEAN THE MOUNTING SURFACES. INSTALL NEW SEAL PACKING TO THE WATER PUMP GROOVE AND A NEW O - RING TO THE WATER BYPASS PIPE.INSTALL THE TIMING BELT AND CONNECT THE INLET HOSE TO THE INLET PIPE.THEN REFILL THE COOLING SYSTEM. RUN THE ENGINE CHECK FOR LEAKS.

The two are unrelated. First the no power is the catalytic converter, it is clogged up. Second is the purge solenoid is not working. The solenoid could be bad or the wiring. Check engine light on?

First you have to determine weather you have a FUEL problem or (ELECTRICAL)Spark problem ??

Pull the coil wire off or a easy to get to spark plug wire, Lay it close to were you pulled it off of (Do not hold or touch you may get SHOCKED) and crank motor (need two people) look and listen for a spark, if you see or here a spark, then go to next step which will be to check for Fuel (gas). Be very careful when checking fuel, as most lines are under pressure and may cause bodily harm such as BURNS to EYES and SKIN!! Loosen or pull the inlet fuel line off and put rag over line. Some fuel injected vehicles have a fuel rail the has a valve that looks like a tire valve. Put a rag over this valve and push it in with a small screw driver and have someone crank motor a couple of times to see if fuel is coming out.

If NO Spark---Could be a lot of things Points (older vehicles) Modules, Coils, Crank Sensors, ECT......

If NO Fuel---- Could be Clogged fuel filter, Fuel Pump, Fuel pump Relay, Fuse, ECT..........

Hope this helps you ??

GIve me some more details

I don't think I've ever worked on one of those... I can give you general instructions, though. First of all, you probably have some plastic covers on your engine - remove them first. Then remove your plug wires. NOTE: it is a good idea to mark them first; normally they are in specific lengths and will only fit back on one way but you do not want to mix these up! Find out what the pug gap is for your engine (most cars have the plug gap included in the info on the engine decal stuck to the underside of the hood or elsewhere in the engine compartment) and gap your plugs. If you cannot get them exact, a bit smaller is better than a bit bigger - gaps grow over the course of use from all the heat. Taking care NOT to get any dirt in your cylinders, (best blow with compressed air around the plugs first) pull your old ones using a spark plug socket (regular deep sockets lack the rubber boot that protects the ceramic). Have a look for any abnormal conditions when they come out: are they black? wet? white? all different? these conditions will tell you if there is something else going on in your engine. Check the box of new plugs for torque: usually the package will say something like 18 ft-lbs or quarter turn past snug or something like that. This is very important - tighten just a hair too much, you pull threads out of your head - tighten not enough and you risk having them be blown out. IF package doesn't say: is there a crush washer? If so, go finger-tight then 1/4 turn; if not, go finger-tight then 1/16th turn. If you can't get your fingers in there to turn the plugs in, use a piece of rubber hose stuck on the tip of the plug and spin the hose.

levers are usually connected to cables. can you reach under the car to the cable and pull it manually?

Hi, you probably have a loose linkage inside the door that connects the lock to the handle. You have to open the door panel to trace and replace the loose linkage and if you need a picture diagram for this purpose, you have to get your car repair manual from Haynes manual.....

Try first to jump start the car with another idling car. If you get the car running it is likely a power supply issue. To test if it is the battery or the alternator, remove the jumper cable and then the negative terminal. If the car dies after awhile then you may have a weak alternator or the lines from the alternator may be bad. If it runs it is the battery that may be weak.

If jump starting the car does not help then it may be an electrical issue. It may be a bad starter relay or the starter may be going bad. Heat affects the starter and the wiring. Inspect also the wiring for loose connections or exposed conductors.

This is a known problem and is due to excess lubricating oil on the needle spindles drying out over time and mixing with dust making it more viscous.The suggested remedy is to strip out the pod remove the plastic front and gently remove the excess oil with a cotton bud (UK) Q-Tip (US)
The speedo is electrically driven there is no cable drive involved.
The speedometer is sticking.---------- Try this :--- 1: Wack the top of the dash over the gauge cluster when it sticks.Not very hard, but wack it few times with your hands.-------
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2: Take cluster apart and wipe excess lube off of the needle rest with a q-tip. ------- But if you wack/tap/hit on the dash and your speedo starts working, this indicates problem with instrument cluster board itself.---------- The cost of new cluster board is approx $1200.But there are few online sites who deals with cluster board repairing .They charge very less for repairing this board as compared to new.--------Click this link below to get your cluster board completely repaired. http://www.mrwhizard.com/ -------------- If you want to repair your instrument cluster board yourself, then you can also do it.To go through the repair guide, click the link below:--- http://technoanswers.blogspot.com/2011/08/lexus-ls-400-speedometer-starts-working.html ---------------
This will help.Thanks.Helpmech.

hello unless your car is a diesel fuel it does not have an accelerator thermal sensor....to me your concern sounds like a fuel pump or a fuel regulater....As for your catalytic convertor your not suppose to clean them period who ever charged you for that I would get your money back they have to be replaced they can not be cleaned also you have to replace your o2 sensor when you change your ....cats...sorry that they were dishonest ...but i hope i helped you out ..write back if you have any more questions..ty

First. Storing anything that is Gasoline powered for a long time ( typically over 6 months) should have a full tank of fule with Stabil or simmilar product in the tank and fog the engine. ( inducing a engine fog according to product lable)
As for your car I show that the Lexus LS400 has no external fuel filter. ( Poor Choice by Toyota in my opinion) the only filter that AllData shows for your car is in the fuel tank. If you have not *** of yet. I would find a place that sell Castle FireBall. It is the best injector and fuel system cleaner I have found. Try that first. If no luck you may have to try a professional injection cleaning. That would be my first try, if you have ruled out vacuume leaks. Letting a car sit can also cause dry rot of vacuume lines. Look it over good. Spray carb cleaner while engine is running on vacuume lines and see if you hit a spot where engine smooths out. if so that is a sure sign of a vacuume leak in that area.

Give some more details of the problem.

the smoke is from engine oil, it is caused by leaking valve seals , after the engine is shut down for the day oil is leaking past the valve seals and getting into the cylinders then when you start up the engine the oil is burned off, this is a common problem, and there is a couple of things you can do to help the problem with out taking the engine apart and replacing the seals, try this first at your next oil change add some Restore to the engine oil it will soften the seals and give them a little more life, if this does not cure the problem after a few 100 miles then you will need to have the seals replaced, and this is a costly repair, but you could just live with the smoke it wont hurt any thing just keep an eye on the oil.

Okay this one one of two things, first this car uses two distributors and the rpm signal which is the code 13 comes from one of the distribntors i forget which one but it could be a bad distributor but note that ive run into this and replaced with aftermarket one and the check engine light kepted coming on until i got a factory distributor for dealer, the only other reason would be the timing belt is off a tooth or two, i would make sure that timing belt is dead on. good day.

This usually indicates that the engine has a leaking head gasket. Do not run the engine with this problem, it will damage the cylinder head(s).