LEXTEK1

Buy Denso and do it once...... If you buy a rotor that can go on the shaft 180 out, buy the right stuff and spend a few bucks more. Your problem is not worth chasing down to find out it's crappy parts...... If you didn't get Denso you are asking for issues...
Thats my opinion, I am sure there are plenty of folks on here that will want to argue my point but.....

Good Luck!

vutown

Lextek1,

Thanks for the advice. I'm not sure what brand my rotors are, but I got them from Pembroke Lexus.

So an update to this problem - I got a call from my mechanic and he thinks he found out what the problem was....get ready for this guys. It was the spark plug wires. (lets out moan...)

But here's where it gets interesting (well at least for me). I guess during the process of putting back on the spark plug covers, we didn't line up the wires into their little holders correctly and wire #5 got too close to the cam sprocket and it got chewed up slowly. This would explain why the check engine light came on 15 mins after initial fireup of changing out the wires and re-assembling everything.

As for the #7 wire, it got pinched.

Hopefully this is the main cultprit. So now I have two bad wires out of a new set. Looks like I'll be using the old wires for now. (yes I shall ohm them out before putting it back on)

I'll keep you guys posted as to how the car runs when my mechanic replaces the wire. Things up next - fuel filter and two engine mounts.

vutown

alright guys, just a little update. I got a call from my mechanic saying that my car is done. Done? Really? Seems like the #5 and #7 spark plug wire were the culprit as mentioned in my past post. He used my old cables and they seem to work fine.

So how does the car feel? I'm speechless! The car feels like it has a lot more power now and is just so much more smoother. Revving it feels like it's got a lot more to offer. Acceleration is brisk and it doesn't feel like I need to stomp on the car to get it to move.

Below are the list of things that I changed out:
Spark plug (Iridium, gapped at 0.044")
Spark plug wires
Electric Coolant Sensor
Fuel Filter
Cap and rotors
Engine mounts
Fuel Filter
Front brakes and Brembo rotors

I ordered all of the parts from Prembroke Lexus out in Florida and the rotors from Tirerack. I must say, it was money well spent.

These Lexus are truly built to last. I would take this car over any new car under $30k. But that's just me.

Now I just need to buy some new tires....

ImWildBill

Yeah, went back to work on the car again and discovered that the #1 spark plug wire was cut in half by the the distributor. Nice.

New wire then all I have to do is fix the brakes and I'm driving Sexy Lexi again!

vutown

Awesome find ImwildBill!

ImWildBill

When I put those new wires on, Sexy Lexi started right up and ran great. After I put the engine covers back on, put everything back together, she ran like crap again. So here a few weeks later, (now that I had time to check it out!) I find the #1 plug wire in two pieces.

I'm not really wanting to buy another set of wires just for the #1 wire, this sucks! And of course, the old wires were so old and deteriorated that they were disintegrating and falling apart before I was removing them, so I was not able to throw an old wire on there just to verify the issue.

Well, hopefully there won't be anymore problems once I replace the master cylinder, my wallet is screaming as it is!

vutown

I still have my old set of wires. As mentioned, my #5 and 7 were damaged due to me putting on the covers improperly. So after my mechanic found this out, he used my old #5 and #7 and my car was running beautifully.

I can give you my old wires so that way you don't have to buy a new set just for one wire.

deanshark

I don't get it, maybe I'm reading this wrong but first you said "I changed out the plugs and wires and it helped a little, the old plugs and wires were very old and shot, but still runs horrible." and now you say "started right up and ran great"
But anyway, if you only need one wire you can always go to the junkyard and grab a wire, probably cost you $1. That way you don't need to buy a whole new set. Bring an ohm meter to test it before you buy it, no sense buying a bad wire. I once got a brand new set of wires for $5. When you put it all back together make sure all the wires are in right and not getting crushed. The one wire that alot of people crush is the drivers side coil wire b/c it goes through the grommet in the timing cover and sometimes comes out. Good luck.