Hey guys,

I have a 90 LS400 with a blown headgasket (or so DAS tells me). I was wondering if there were some shops in the area that you guys can recommend and what you think they'll be charging for the job. K THANKS

 

1st gen LS rarely blows a HG. make sure its not the power steering fluid being burned. hows ur coolant looking? oil?

oc is in socal right? post up in the regional forum and someone will hook u up.

 

The ICV valve was bypassed by the previous owner. The waterpump was recently changed and so were a couple other things (coolant flush, by-pass hose). Dynamic Auto Services did some work on it and although they didn't do a leakdown test, the tech there said it was fairly obviously to him a blown HG. I'm planning on having it towed tomorrow to get a second opinion (and ideally a leakdown test).

 

SOUTH COAST AUTO CLINIC IN COSTA MESA, CA. LOOK THEM UP ON YELP.COM

Great guys over there.

 

I would get it rechecked. LS400's, especially 1st Gen, almost never blow head gaskets.
Unlike a few Acura Legends I owned. lol

 

Just because it smokes, doesn't mean it's an HG. Like they all said, have someone knowledgeable and you can trust look at it. Doesn't mean that it's not a HG, but it's likely that it's something else too.

 

any mechanic that says..."its fairly obvious to me" isnt going to be working on my car

 

First of all, I wasn't quoting the first mechanic, just paraphrasing. But he was a mechanic for Lexus dealership for quite a time so I figure he's seen a few first gen LS400's in his time.

Second of all, I got a leakdown test done and it's a blown head gasket. Also, the car doesn't even smoke at all... Not all cars with blown HG's smoke and obviously the reverse is true: not all cars that smoke have blown HG's... I never even mentioned a smoking problem...

Anyway, thanks to killsnake for actually answering my question and not making some random *** assumptions.

 

so now you're going to have an attitude because guys questioned your mech?

gg.

a low clt doesnt necessarily mean a bhg, could be a host of other things incl. poor cylinder ring sealing, burned valve, etc....all of which given the 1uz's resiliency to bhg is more likely.

 

Son has seen a lot of cars and he's been straight forward in his diagnosis. There is the chance it my be some other symptom similar to a BHG. So it is worth it to get a second look before committing to the expense.

If you really like the car to fix it, otherwise I say it is a car killer.

 

did the car overheat? u left out so many details that we question the mechanic because its rare on these cars....only trying to look out for u. why u have an attitude about that is beyond me! i would just put some KW BLOCK SEALER IN IT

 

put a egg in the oil, it works.

 

I'll replace your head gasket, as it's fairly obvious to me it's a head gasket.

 

Thee is a shop at the area where the 405 and 5 meet at the irvine spectrum the shop is called vtech they are accross from the volvo dealer where the circle of cars is just off lakeforest drive the owner is jim at 949-206-9108 these guys only do toyota honda and lexus and they do a great job at fair prices a lot of lexus owners go there and i have never heard a complaint and i have sent several people there good luck

 

Sorry guys, but basically I didn't post to hear online diagnoses from people who haven't driven or seen the car. I'll get diagnoses from mechanics who can see and drive it in real life. I was just asking if there are any shops in my area that could be recommended by the people around here for a head gasket job. Thanks for putting in an effort to try to help though.

Also I can't give THAT much information because I've owned the car for only about 10 days so far.

Anyway, I found a second shop to look at it (the same one that did the leakdown test). Thanks for the help.