LS400 Help Needed

[The-Acre]

This is from a US forum and it shows the earlier LS but I'm guessing it's still in the same place.  It's the one with the green plug.

 

[Verbout]

OP, you said you have home breakdown assistance, why aren't you using them to diagnose the issue?

[Titch LS]

John, on your 1998 mk4 the CTS is even easier to get to than that shown in the above photo of an early LS in Phil's post. See photo above. (No distributor wiring harness to have to work around on a 1998 model).

[Fringfordjohn]

Again, thank you all for your help. I can buy one of these sensors on line manufactured either by Contitech or Lemark or SMP. or should I drive over to Oxford and see if I can get one from the Lexus dealer? Is there any preference here.

Thank you Phil and Brian for your picture and advice, when I've finished the office work this morning I'll go out and see if I can find it.

Thanks again.

 

[runsgrateasanut]

A word of advice John, I'm sure that most will agree - use the Air con regularly unless you want it to pack up. A very costly repair should it do so. 

 

Also a tip, always use the handbrake when parked up, even at home - although, that might not apply if you are leaving the Car for a long period of time, unused.  Don't want to find it won't release in the Garage

[The-Acre]

2 hours ago, runsgrateasanut said:

A word of advice John, I'm sure that most will agree - use the Air con regularly unless you want it to pack up. A very costly repair should it do so. 

 

Also a tip, always use the handbrake when parked up, even at home - although, that might not apply if you are leaving the Car for a long period of time, unused.  Don't want to find it won't release in the Garage

Good advice, if it's designed to be used it should be.  They say air con should be used for a minimum of 30 mins per week, I keep mine on permanently.

And John, I don't see any reason for buying a genuine part in this case, unless you phone Lexus and the price is comparable. 

[Fringfordjohn]

Hi Stuart and Phil, I normally run the air-con for the first ten minutes of any journey and then turn it off for the rest of the day. I understand that I have to do this to circulate the oil and to keep the seals wet, otherwise the gas will leak out. It must be doing the job as the air-con still blows very cold when you want it to. I used to have it on all the time when I first had the car, but I was continually suffering from flu like symptoms after any reasonable length journey. I believe that this is caused by mold build up in the system whilst it is standing, which then blows tiny spores out into the car which you inhale when the blower comes on.  At least that's what I have been told. Certainly since I have stopped running the air-con I have had no further trouble. I think that the trouble is due to my only using the car on a very occasional basis, if I used it every day I sure the problem wouldn't occur. I did try an aerosol of air-con cleaner which cured the problem for a short while, but it soon came back again. Its not the fault of the Lexus, I think I must be allergic to it as I have the same problem in other air conditioned cars.  

As my garage floor is flat I normally leave the transmission in park and the handbrake off. I hope this is the right thing to do. Being old school this used to be to prevent the brake shoes from rusting onto the drums, but I know that this is completely irrelevant today but old habits die hard.

 

[Fringfordjohn]

Hi Brian and Phil, is this the CTS sensor that I am looking for? As you can see its just underneath the throttle mechanism. Also I thought that the plastic part of the sensor should have been green, but without taking it out my one looks black. The top of my engine also looks quite different to the one in Phil's photo, presumably because mine is a later model. I have taken the wire off so you can see it more clearly.

Just in passing, I thought that one of the differences that came in with the Mk4 was that the throttle was changed from cable to"fly by wire" but as you can see mine is definitely cable operated. I'm very happy with that, as its less to go wrong.