Crazy lexi problems.....newbie here

[jeepguy88]

Hi,

Im new to the forum. This might be a long story so I will start from the begining.

Just got myself a 92 Lexus LS 400. I bought it wrecked. Thought v8 rear wheel drive, built by toyota, I cant go wrong.

The car was hit in the front, just at the top of the bumber, breaking the drivers side headlight and pushing the radiator back just far enough to touch the fan to make it stop.

Well, when I got into the car, it was running fine, no problems, after driving the car for 30minutes, and one burn out...(just to see )The raditator hose hit the drive belt, thus leaking all my coolent out. I was able to repair the hose with a maglite bought from wal-mart. I then drove the car the rest of the 200 miles home with out a hitch.

The next day, I wraped a chain around the front core support and jerked it out a bit, looks good to me, the fan is now operational. Drove another 45 miles no prob. Picked up a friend for lunch, we was completely floored I was driving a lexus... I had to show him how well it could bust the rear lose, so I gave it some juice, well.......burn out #2 was as bad as burn out #1. This time, the radiator bounced back and hit the fan, draining the coolnt agian. Radiator is toasted. My friend had to get back to work, I figured no prob, I can drive maybe one block throught the mall parking lot and leave the lexi there. Didnt make it to his work. She just died.

I figured being as smart as a lexus is, it might have an automatic shut off or something if I ran out of coolent? Well I left it there for the night.

I bought a used raditator swaped it in the parking lot, filled it with some coolent, and started it right up.

It was running smooth at 1000rpsm. I wanted the thermostat to open so I could finish filling the coolent, pressed my foot on the pedel and all heck broke loose.

The car was jumping rpms from 1000 to 3000, then she died, and would not start agian. At this point my check engine light is on.

I thought maybe one of the distributor might have gotten wet? Well I had it towed back home last night.

This morning, went out there, and poof, she started right up. I let it run for a bit at her own warm up idel, and then I held it at 2000rpms, was doing great for about a minuted when it started to cough. let it go back down to its own rpm. Ran smooth, no check engine light. It ran here for about 3 to 4 minutes and then it statred coughing and had a pretty bad idel. I shut it off. and now it wont start agian.

Any ideas? Places to start looking? Anyone have a smilialar problem? I dont have any wheels and need to get this thing back on the road asap.

What kind of connecter do I need to check the CEL? Its not obd II is it? If I could find a cable and some software for the labtop that would be great.

Thanks in advance for your help.

-Chad

 

[Lextreme II]

First of all... stop all of the abuse.... This is especially when you don't know your car yet. Take a easy with it. Learn more about your LS400 and its history before doing burn outs. Do you think you over heated your engine? Cracked head or gaskets might be a good place to look into.

Burn out put alot of stress to the cooling system....... so stop that until you fix your problems....

 

[jeepguy88]

lessoned learned

Hey, thanks for the reply.

I havent had a car that could spin tires sense highschool. I couldnt resist.:006: . The pavement was wet, so it wasnt that bad, I didnt sit there and smoke the tires. Lesson learned, its out of my system.

I did not over heat the motor. The radiator hitting the fan happened on the way to lunch. From the place I picked my friend up, to the place we droped him off was maybe 600 yards. I didnt run the motor more than 2 minutes after lunch. It was three small holes in the radiator. Im thinking some electrical got wet with antifreeze while going from one side of the parking lot to the next. Normally I would not have driven it anywhere but my friend needed to get back.

Yesterday I replaced the radiator with a new one. And it is secured in place, now.

I was able to start the car, long enough to get it in the garage just a few minutes ago. It ran for maybe 4 to 5 minutes then it started running rough and died.

I took some of the plastics off to check the distribiturs for moisture. nothing. I took the coils off, and they both tested the same about of resistance.

What kind of elcrontics are in the front of this motor that could have gotten wet maybe?

Any more ideas? places to check? This doenst take on obd II does it? Where can I find something to check the check engine light? Im wondering if there is a place I can buy a cord to hook up to the car via my laptop? Any such place or thing with software?

-Chad

 

[jeepguy88]

Morning,

I shearched all morning, on how to pull the codes. That was not easy to find on the forum.

I did the little jump thing and my check engine light blinked 4 times. Is this a cam sensor?

If so, where are they located? How do I go about testing them?

thanks,
-Chad

 

[jeepguy88]

I tested the camshaft sensors and they are both reading 1200 ohms of resistance. They are good.

I started the car, let it run, and then it started to do its teaking thing agian. It ran for maybe 4 to 5 minutes and then I got some belt squealing and it was jumping tack for idel up to 2000k. Very spradick like. The she died. I wanted to double check the codes, I looked under the hood and I had some slight smoke coming for the water pump area, smelled like anitfreeze.

I pulled the codes agian and got a flash, a slight pause, then 3 flashes, then it just repeated.

Im completely lost, any help would be great, thanks.

-Chad

 

[Zuffen]

If you have belt noise and a coolant smell it sounds much like a waterpump.

If the waterpump is seized the smooth (outside) of the cam belt will try to slide over it and give you the squeal.

My guess is replace the water pump, cam belt and idlers (do it all at once) and see what you get. I suspect the idle is erratic as the pump starts to seize it loads and unloads the engine hence it won't idle. Once it finally seizes it stops the engine.

I should have added the cam sensors may be on the CEl as the cam belt may have jumped a tooth through all the stress and one cam may be one tooth out of phase.

 

[jeepguy88]

Hi,

Double checked the codes agian, Im getting a code 13. Anyone one else have this problem? Whats is it and how do I fix it.

Perhapes a lose wire? where do i begin to look?

Thanks agian,

-Chad

 

[Lextreme II]

Listen to the wiseman above.........

 

[jeepguy88]

"cam sensors may be on the CEl" what is cei?

Im with you on the timing theory, Im looking into that.

If had jumped time, would it run smooth for a while then just die? I had a friend over just a little while ago, to see if he noticed the water pump, nothing. The car ran good for about 5 minutes, then spuddered some and died. Wont start now, but if I wait till tomorrow, it will, im sure, this is bizarr car behavior.

I checked the cam sensors, and the idle sensor, all good.

I know where the ignitors are, but what do they do, and how can I check them?

thanks agian for all the help

 

[jeepguy88]

HI, replaced the water pump, and the caps and the rotors, put it all back together and now I cant get the car to start, I have no spark.

Replacing the caps and the rotors seemed pretty strait forward, I dont see how I could have screwed that up, but I did.

Now that I have no spark, where should I start looking now?

That battery was disconnected for two days, would this have triggered the theft system maybe?

-Chad

 

[Lextreme II]

Double check your timing and cam position.

 

[jeepguy88]

Hi,

I double checked before I put it all back together. A theory was it had jumped time a tooth or two. It didnt. All the timing marks were lined up, when I put the rotors back in, and the caps on.

Starting from scratch, how would I check the timing? I know how I did it, but I would like your instructions, maybe I did it wrong.

Also lets pretend the timming is good, then what?

Thanks agian,

-chad

 

[mshawari1]

Check the power going to the igniters .. ​

 

[Zuffen]

Maybe the clue is "sputtered and died"?

Ignition usually doesn't sputter it just stops dead or runs like a dog.

Crack a fuel union open and see if you have fuel pressure in the rail. Could it be you have a dying fuel pump that will run for a while and then slowly lose pressure causing the sputter and die?

Double check you have the coil leads plugged in both ends. It's unlikely you would have 8 ignition wires wrong. Even having a couple right would give you a motor trying to start.

 

[jeepguy88]

Code 13 Driving me NUTS!!!!!!

Hey All,

Got the car started fine,

ran for about 5 minutes, and then started the sputtering routne, like she is missing, and then dies, computer pulls a code 13.

Code 13, how do I fix it? Where do I look, I want to drive the car so bad.

Thanks,

-Chad

 

[miwise]

Check your plug wires. Mine did a lot of sputtering and dying b/c the engine had been washed. The water had gotten down into the spark plug holes and corroded the wires. Bought new set and worked perfectly. Good time to also replace rotors, distributor covers, etc. Check vacuum hoses and make sure you didn't leave any disconnected. Also check the maf sensor. Maybe it got wet? It won't run long if there is no air flowing over the maf, at least mine won't run. I forgot to hook my intake back and found this out. it was hard to keep the car running w/out it. I would suspect wires, though, if all of this is ok. I'd also check the waterpump and timing belt along with timing marks on the timing belt to make sure they all line up correctly like zuffen said to do. Its a big job getting to that. I had the dealership replace my timing belt and waterpump (maintenence item, wasn't overheating or anything, just preventive maintenence). This cost me 1100 dollars, but I don't have to do it again until after 300000 miles.