Recent content by chilkoot

it gets a little softer, turning either way as soon as I start to move the wheel. The noise doesn't change, just drops a little bit, almost like the engine's RPMs are dropping slightly (tach doesn't work).

Whenever my car is on there's an obnoxious whine that comes from my engine bay, and it gets a bit louder with any throttle at all. It almost sounds like a very large electric motor whirring. I can't hear it above wind noise once I get to 15mph or so, so it's not outrageous, but it bothers me...

agreed, from everything I've read a rebuild is not worth it unless you are planning to run high boost and are beefing up the pistons/rods, or trying to boost a 300k mile motor. A decent mileage motor will likely be in fine shape, if you're planning to boost do a compression test first if...

I can see why an SC, very ambitious (and cool, and respectable, and holy wow) project, but in an LS you'd have some breathing room under the hood and the sleeper factor would jump by an order of magnitudes, with room for remote turbos at a modest 6-7psi? bigger tires would also be less noticable...

Toyota Celsior, it's a japanese LS400.

Not in the same form as it originally had, not without 8 TC throttle bodies. You'd have to use some kind of solenoid setup to cut the throttle directly at each throttle body instead of using a secondary TB to cut down the air supply.

as far as the strength of the gen1 bottom end goes, it is the beefiest of the 1uz's. IIRC the stock ECU will compensate for ~50% more fuel (~6psi) and one member on the LOC was up to 500HP crank on his stock bottom end (Justen) with extra fuel management. Added bonus, 1st gens are also...

Never heard of it. SeaFoam is the most commonly recommended engine treatment, of which I myself have perceived improvement with only the oil and fuel treatments about 1/2 tank after treatment. 1/3 huffed up the vacuum line, 1/3 in the oil (drive 50 miles and then have it changed in the...

i didn't notice that mention of a miss. open your hood at night with the car running and see if there's any arcing in the engine bay, it could be a bad ignition wire. are the plugs original? if one of your coils were going bad you'd probably lose a whole bank from what I've read. as a...

i would check the coil/crank sensor/cam sensors/knock sensors with a voltmeter. there are several wiring clips you have to go through to replace the wp/tb and on a car that old the clips will be possibly cracked and definitely very brittle, I broke at least one of the buttons on the clips doing...

same thing my '93 LS400 did until recently, the vibration at idle is your engine mounts. the hesitation is your transmission mount. i would guess you also have minor vibration in your shifter and steering wheel, again the transmission mount. about $600 from an indie mechanic for all three...

for the time being slam a plastic mat in the door and drape it over the outside of the window (a towel will work, but isn't impermeable and will let some moisture into your car). i swapped a '90 motor into my '93 and it works like a charm, so any 90-94 motor should work - check out a junkyard...

It should also be noted that when changing the engine mounts it is appropriate to replace the transmission mount as well if it has not been already. I had moderate vibration from all three mounts, replaced the two engine mounts, and judging from the vibrations and shifting hesitation my rate of...

this contradicts what I have read here about the LS thermostat and my own experience, are you speaking specifically of our cars or thermostats in general?

that sounds correct, it's a common problem for 1st gens. The smoke was PS fluid burning up, and your engine should be fine now that you've gotten the ACV fixed. The guy at the Lexus Shop was blowing smoke up your ass, even if your engine was toast $5000 is far too high to get another engine in...