96DWPLS400

I bought my LS400 (Fiona) 5-6 months ago and have put a couple thousand miles on. She has about 135k now.

Haven't done anything to her except check the oil (level holding steady with 5W-30 synthetic put in by PO) and coolant. All has been working great. I make about a 450 mile trip every 3-4 weeks which is what I bought the car for.

Recently the brakes started squealing and the steering is very heavy. So I took her to a shop to check the brakes and get the $100 check up. Good news is the brakes could easily take another 40k miles (pads just needed grease). Bad news is..

Both LBJ need to be replaced (leaking) - estimate $513 with aftermarket parts
Oil pan has big dent in the bottom but just seeping a bit around the gasket - estimate $600 with aftermarket parts for oil pan and gasket and oil/filter change
Shocks (KYB) all around and swapping over the coils, etc... - estimate $1517
2 engine mounts deteriorated and need replacement - estimate $609 with aftermarket parts
Replace cam shaft seals and valve cover gaskets - estimate $462 with aftermarket parts (I honestly don't remember why this is on the list - don't recall discussing it)
Power steering pump (hoping this fixes the heavy steering) - estimate $600 with aftermarket parts
I did get them to do a brake system flush (fluid was dark) and power steering flush (trying to fix the heavy steering) - spent $300 including the inspection

I didn't expect to buy a 23 year old car and not have to replace parts.

So, not wanting to spend on all this the same amount I spent on the car I've decided to start a thread here, do my research, depend on the kindness of strangers (a lot) and get my hands dirty doing this stuff myself. I've got the FSM and I have another vehicle to drive so Fiona being down for multiple days doesn't bother me. What could go wrong?? I'll do my best to update here as I move through the list as well as all the other things that inevitably come up in the process (just writing this the trunk struts came to mind).

I think first on the list is the LBJs - they are pretty gnarly looking. And, I'm hoping replacing them might help with the heavy steering (anyone know??). I found them at JP-Carparts but after shipping to USA they're only about $20 cheaper than getting them from LexusPartsNow and the amount of duty due on import is unknown (at least to me). Any other sources for the OEM anyone can recommend? I checked out the Moog on RockAuto but not sure I like the nyloc nut versus the caste nut with cotter pin. Anyone have experience? Or even opinion (you know what they say about opinions)?

On the power steering pump..... I'm just not convinced that's the issue causing the heavy steering. No noise from it, no screeching turning lock to lock, etc.. Might be, of course, but I'm not convinced yet. Can that air control valve "fail"? Thereby not "jjuicing it up" at slow speed? That make sense? $100 (ish) part veruss $500 (ish) part?

And a couple pics just cause everyone likes pics - Fiona when I brought her home and Shrek and FIona in the garage.




Shrek and Fiona

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

welcome and love the play on shrek! you have two of the most bulletproof Toyotas on the planet...kinda like ogres I suppose!

sounds like you know what to look for and I would certainly take care of the lower ball joints ASAP. on my Tacoma the days leading up to a catastrophic failure of the driver's side LBJ, I started noticing heavy steering especially with the steering wheel not returning back to center after a turn. the LBJ was binding and after a good hit on a highway expansion joint at 60mph, the BJ completely separated! thankfully I was able to pull over.

lower BJ's are pretty easy to replace and I recommend Moog for aftermarket, if OE is not in the budget.
there are many dealers out there that sell OE parts online.
steering should improve dramatically!

96DWPLS400

Thanks and glad to hear you were able to keep it under control when the bj went. I have a 1st gen (2004) Tacoma as well and recently replaced the lbj's on that at about 200k miles. Thinking about it now, the OE lbj's for the Lexus are less costly than they were for the Toyota. Bet you don't hear that often! With any luck, replacing them will fix my steering as well and won't need a new pump. Just saving money like a mad man here.

96DWPLS400

Ordered the OEM lbj's online and they should get here Monday some time. I'll be taking a trip Wednesday for the holiday and would prefer to drive Fiona. So I figured I'd go ahead and get everything prepped.

I didn't get any history from the PO (he promised but never followed through) but the early years of Fiona's life she was maintained at a few different dealerships so there is some info available via the Lexus Driver site (or whatever that is called). According to those records both lbj's were replaced at a Lexus dealership less than 50,000 miles ago. However that was in July of 2005. Per the records she didn't get driven much. Purchased in Jan 96. 50k miles in mid '99. 100k miles in mid '07. Then 3k-5k per year till the end of '10. Then her history goes dark til mid '17 when she pops back up with 132k on the clock and I bought her in mid '19 with 135k. She's now at 139k. So either time is as bad as miles on the lbj's OR somebody between 2010 and 2017 monkeyed with the odometer. Either way, it is what it is.

I did pull the driver's side and after cleaning all the caked on grease off it seems to be in not bad shape. No in and out play and swiveling it around is met with pretty good resistance. Can't figure out why they both puked up so much grease (see pics). I found a part number on the one I have pulled. It says 43345-50010-A. I tried googling that to see if maybe it was the wrong part and couldn't find any info (none of the Lexus or Toyota parts websites have any info.

Tomorrow I'll get the passenger side removed and try to get everything cleaned up in the area and hopefully be ready to install the new ones soon as they arrive. I did notice that the boot on the TRE on driver's side didn't look too good either (didn't inspect the passenger side yet). Have to save that for another day. It has begun....

96DWPLS400

At 139,244 miles replaced both lower ball joints with OEM parts from LexusPartsNow. Part number 43330-59036 and 43340-59036. They both came with castle nuts and cotter pins. They both had the same part number on the boot that I found on the ones I removed.

Possibly a little improvement in the power steering (or maybe just wishful thinking) but definitely not effortless one finger cornering. Wheels do center themselves after a turn though.

The biggest improvement seems to be in the ride. I swear it takes potholes a little better than it did.

At least it only cost me $190 for OEM parts (shipped) rather than $513 for aftermarket parts that the shop quoted. And I have peace of mind that I've got new lower ball joints.

96DWPLS400

Couple weeks ago found a coolant leak on the garage floor. So I will replace the radiator, upper and lower hoses and I should do the timing belt service since the only record I have on it is being done 15 years ago. Order kit from aircabinman (or something like that) on ebay. New, aftermarket, ECT switch since I broke the old one removing it from the old radiator. Standard Motor Products TS329 from Rockauto. Tight fit into the Denso 221-4101 radiator but once I lubed the sensor with a little bit of coolant and gave ti a firm push it popped in.

While I've got the radiator out I'm going to try to sort out the power steering issue. Lots of ps fluid all over everything in the general area so I'm going to pull and rebuild the pump with OEM rebuild kit, new OEM acv and a Gates high pressure line from Rockauto.

Pulled the PS pump today. Alternator looks well lubed ...but I don't think that's a good thing

nvturbo

had to replace both the P/S pump and alternator last weekend. Wished Toyota engineers would have placed the alternator at a different location. Or at least better P/S pump that doesn't leak.

96DWPLS400

I haven't had any problems with the alternator but I'll pull it and clean it up and test it. Hopefully don't have to replace it.

mikaelse

The alternator contains two graphite brushes that slide on two copper rings. They really do not like oil . if it works well for a good while after you stop oil drip it may continue to work. Otherwize at least put in new brushes and polish up the copper where they glide a bit.

deanshark

I'd say that alternator doesn't look too healthy. But I've had different experiences with alternators that looked that bad. For my 93 one tested fine but wasn't good enough. Bought one from the junkyard for $20 which tested about the same and looked almost as bad, worked fine. Removed from 93 and installed in my 94 and still going strong after 4 years of use. I haven't thought about it for a while but wow, $20 for 4 years ain't bad. Lucky me.

Side note: I like seeing a service manual on the bench instead of a computer screen.👍

96DWPLS400

I've been at a standstill for a little while now due to shortage of time and funds. Hoping I can get back in there in a couple of weeks. Everything on the bench and under the hood looks as it did about three weeks ago. Frustrating but I don't want to get too far ahead pulling things apart as I have little space to work and even less memory to keep track of where everything goes back.

I've got electronic versions of the manuals for a couple other cars but I find the relevant pages and print them out to take into the garage. When I found the hard copy for this one on ebay I jumped on it. So much easier for me to use.

deanshark

Hope ya get the time and $$ soon to get it back on the road. I know what that's like, I feel your pain.
The downloadable manuals are cheaper but I like to have a full book in front of me to get info faster. Mine is in the trunk so it stays with the car and I have it if it breaks down on the road. Plus, when I use my manual, I always write in the correct size sockets I used for each step of the job I am doing on the pages so if I ever need to remove the same thing in the future I'll know exactly what to grab. (This deep socket, or that ratcheting wrench) Even though there's only a few sizes ya always need, 10, 11, 14, 17mm, memory fades with age.

96DWPLS400

Geez, where does the time go? Been a little more than 3 months but I think I have my ducks in a row and ready to resume. Got everything laid out ready to start the rebuild on the ps pump and I can't get the damn 17mm nut holding the flywheel to budge. It's only supposed to be torqued to 32 ft/lbs I believe but I even tried sticking the wood handle of a small hammer in the holes of the flywheel to help hold while loosening the nut. Cranking on it enough to feel like something might break if I go more and the wheel is putting pretty good gouges in the hammer handle. Still won't go. I'm soaking it with some PB Blaster and gonna try my google-fu to see if I can find any tricks. Wait, it's not reverse threaded is it? No... don't think so.

96DWPLS400

I got it.

96DWPLS400

So I'm following the lexls tutorial on rebuilding the ps pump. I have the it completely disassembled but then noticed that it appears the "rear side plate" did not come out when I removed the front side plate, cam ring, rotor and vane plates. I put a 1/4" extension in from the back side and gave it a "little tappy tap" and everything came out in my hand just fine. Then I noticed the back side plate is still in there with one of the alignment pins in it (I don't know what those 2 pins really are but that's what they look like to me). There is a small lip to catch form the back side so I've been beating on it with the 1/4" extension and then a screwdriver and it won't budge. I see mention in the tutorial of the o-rings on the outer circumference of these front and rear plates. I believe these o-rings are in the "rebuild kit". Is that all that's holding it in there? If so, it is firly well seized to the walls of that cavity because it didn't fall out with the rest of the guts and I beat on it pretty good and it didn't move. Sprayed it with some PB Blaster to let it sit overnight but I don't expect that'll do much. Is there something else I can soak it with to melt the o-ring maybe and let ti come out?

Front side plate on bottom, cam ring, rotor, vane plates...no back side plate

There's the back side plate and it ain't letting go without a fight (and it's winning so far).