my mechanic calls it the water pump bracket, mine went bad a few days ago, he says he can do the whole job for about 300
115 for the part, and rest is labor because he has to pull out a whole lotta stuf to change that.

 

Hello. Where did you find the part for $115? Cheapest "Lexus" part I could find was $165. I found them as cheap at $58, but it was not a Lexus part.

My Lexus mechanic supposed to call tomorrow with a price on how much to change.

Since the water pump and timing belt only have 17K on them, should I not change them now, despite being all the way down to them practically?

 

Idler pulley bracket? My gosh, how much more does that cost? Dang dollering me to death!!

I am not sure of my mechanic is onto pressing bearings off and on. I guess I will just go with the $165 Lexus part. I would go with that $55 ebay part, but how good are they? I imagine not as good as the Lexus part. Thats alot of work and money to put it on, then have a crappy part go out a year from now isnt it?

Your right- they are not no Honda Accord. I had a 1991 Accord LX 4dr automatic with even more miles than this LS400 and never had any costly issues. The only problem I had other than changing the timing belt @ 189K and CV joints at 195K (CHEAP!) was a speed sensor that was $20 at a junk yard and took 10 minutes to change. Wish I had that car back. Sold because in 2002 a major hail storm we had totalled it out. It had 247K, still ran like new. NO power steering leaks either.

Where did you get the part for $115? Was it a new Lexus part? My Toyota mechanic is going to do the labor for $120.

 

Hello all, got questions pertaining to the fan bracket that seems to be bothersome at times. I am wondering if it is possible to bypass the fan bracket setup via the serpentine belt with a little shorter belt? Also if this is possible, would it compromise any, the water pump functioning? Reason I'm asking is,I'm planning on running electric fan anyways on my '90 LS, so the fan clutch bracket really isn't necessary if the serpentine belt isn't snaked over it-unless it is connected to the water pump, which I can't see anyways...please inform.
BTW-Timing belt was replaced by PO, dunno 'bout the water pump yet! Trying to buy some time before I take these issues myself...

 

Welcome to CL, as far as replacing the mechanical fan with an electric one, here is a tutorial. http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/cooli...onversion.html The water pump is drive by the timing belt, so if that was replaced recently, I am assuming that the person also replaced the water pump. You mention to bypass the fan pulley, the tutorial keeps theirs functional, but I am sure you can figure out a way to do it, however you HAVE to make sure that all pulleys are spinning the right way. It isn't that troublesome of a task to do the bracket yourself, just a little bit of time and patients. Hope that helps some.

 

I just realized I meant to say idler pulley, the bracket the pulley bolts onto is the fan bracket.

You cannot press in a new bearing for the fan bracket though - it's the same thing as a water pump bearing, shaft and all - unless you have access to some heavy-duty presses and a bearing supplier.

 

Thanks a mil for the intro and info, the part on the electric fan for my 90 LS is really a done deal as far as the set-up, quite familiar on how to do this, so judging from your response to bypassing the fan clutch set-up, I will assume that the water pump wont be compromised if I route the serpentine belt (not the timing belt, of course) to not include it in the functionality of the belt set-up assembly. I do take into consideration the direction the pulleys are supposed to orientate as far as spinning, that is one reason why I'm seeking just a shorter serpentine belt to compensate for the soon to be obsolete fan clutch pulley. I see you mentioned that the tutorials kept the fan clutch functional, and that is fine, but out of curiosity, if running an electric fan, with a possibly shorter serpentine belt, and all pulleys running in direction intended by manuf., why should fan clutch pulley be needed? I know this is not going the OEM route, but theoretically it should work, right?

 

Simply stated, he left it intact for less work. He can now run an e-fan, without having to make it difficult and measure for a belt, and he can also convert back to an mechanical fan without having to purchase another belt. That being said I modified this picture to show you the easiest way to route your belt.
Instead of going from the a/c pump, up the the fan bracket, and then down to the crank, just run the belt from the a/c pump to the crank, and you'll be cool. Everything runs the same way, the factory tensioner can be used, etc. The best way to measure is a peice of string or wire and run it around all the pulleys the way the belt would be routed, otherwise you can put mark the belt where you wouldn't need it, i.e. between the a/c pump and crank, 12 inches or so. Not that it's anyto be concerned about, but the crank and a/c pump will also have about half of the surface area the belt used to touch, might slip, might not. Either way, good luck with your set up. Hope I helped. Ps. The fan clutch, IMO is never going to obsolete, however due to emission and such and ease of control, it's easier to have the computer throw the fan on when it gets hot, but the fan clutch has been around forever, and will continue to do so, because it's effective. If it were me, i'd just replace it, but hey, who am I to judge.

 

Great info, before your diagram, I figure that it would be the most logical way to route a shorter serpentine belt. Your diagram just confirms it! I measure the original belt by marking with a white-out the surface are of the fan pulley, then matched one up at Autozone that fits real close to the specs. So far everything else seems functional, so its now on to the next, building a cold air intake: note, from the AFM I'm installing a u-bend (downwards).I circle cut a hole thru the metal behind the left headlight which accesses the empty space between the fr. left wheel well and bumper. A 3" dia. extension to hold the conical air filter was placed in, with the factory bracket holding it in place. If water gets by this, I'd already installed a foam baffle by the AFM to help stop this. All this can be hidden by OEM airflow if I choose to revert. Wondering if this will throw off the AFM signals to computer, which can't be compensated? Not seeking radical power (obviously), just a little better than OEM performance, that is somewhat hidden.

Once again-thanks for infos!

 

I kinda got lost reading this, but since your car is not forced induction, I wouldn't use any U bends or anything that constricts air flow, even 90* bends, as you want as straight of air flow as possible, with it not being pressurized and all. Umm about the MAF, if all your custom work is done before the MAF, it will not throw anything off unless it dirtys your MAF, with a cheap filter. If you do however
put your custom work after the MAF, well then of course it will throw off your A/F ratio, as the computer can't compensate for what it doesn't see. Make sense? The foam stuff might restrict the air flow. The stock air intake isn't bad, but can be improved. Do a little research, and plan your attack, either way it's and another day another thread. Good luck. Glad I could help.

 

Question,
check eng. light was on for awhile on 90 lex ls, had bad egr and bvsv valve (broken nipples, very dirty filter, etc.) Did the junkyard thing, took from a 94 Camry I believe-both parts (once read they share some of the same parts)... Does it mean things are OK now the check eng. light is gone since I put these parts on the lex?

 

Since the vehicle is OBD1, it will turn the CEL off if the problem that was detected has been solved. 1996 and newer, is OBD2 and will store the codes for a set number of key cycles, until it was ran enough checks and it doesn't reset. Where you have seemed to solved your CEL problem, the car can verify that, and turn the light off. and the bvsv, won't turn the light on as I don't have my connected, nor do I have an EGR, so sorry to say I don't know about the different parts compatibility.

 

In my seemingly never ending chasing gremlins in the Lex, got the radiator and the orange oil ind.(not the red one) light staying on even though oil is at right level in engine, as well as anti-freeze. Upon research, some people seem to have the same problem(s). What can I do to get rid of these lights?
BTW-'90 LS 400, 127300mls.on the odo.
It kinda idles rough, trying to adjust to find the 'sweet spot', but so far in continuance...apart from the throttle position sensor being moved ever so slightly, what or how else can I adjust the idling for smoothness??