New LS400 purchased - let the fettling begin!

[Razor61]

Correction………650 rpm not 625 rpm🙄

[Razor61]

Front lower ball joints replaced today, took 4 hours for both sides taking my time. I also fitted a new pad wear sensor as it had been cut and a terminal block used to make the circuit. By the way, the little clip that holds the sensor to the pad is over £10😬 I bought an anti squeal shim kit which includes the clip for £35 and used the little clip. The rest of the kit will be used when I change the discs and pads.
I planned to do the drop links and anti roll bar bushes today but changed my mind, I’ll do them tomorrow if the weather is decent.
Went for a drive and the niggly suspension noise has changed and I’ll do my best to explain.
Before changing the front lower ball joints the noise/clunk was noticeable  coming off a speed bump or into a pot hole, more on the left hand side. That has now gone but it wasn’t really bad in the first place.
However, there is a noise/clunk going onto a speed bump on the right hand side side. Maybe it’s the front drop links, I don’t think so as they look in good condition but they will be replaced tomorrow.
I suspect it’s the front UCA ball joints, I have a new OEM set so will replace them if it’s not the drop links.
I think, and it’s only my opinion, noise/clunk going onto a speed bump points to upper ball joints. Noise/clunk coming off a speed speed bump points to lower ball joints. This is due to the loading on the suspension I think.

[Malc]

Blimey .....  hope your suppositions work out to be well founded ......  you're doing a huge amount of work

Well done whatever

Malc

[Razor61]

Just one thing to note about removing the lower ball joints.
The first one I did I removed the nut completely, attached the ball joint splitter, wound it up and the ball joint flew off upwards with considerable force……
The next one I loosened the nut and left it on, attached the ball joint splitter, wound it up and the ball joint separated without flying off. But I couldn’t remove the nut cos it was rusted on so ended up grinding through the shaft.
No big deal though, what I should have done is remove the nut completely and made sure it screwed on and off easily, put the nut back on and then split the ball joint.

[Razor61]

28 minutes ago, Malc said:

Blimey .....  hope your suppositions work out to be well founded ......  you're doing a huge amount of work

Well done whatever

Malc

Cheers, the work I like doing to be honest and I can do it no problem. Body doesn’t agree with that anymore though so I spend the morning doing it and then recover the rest of the day……with a few beers as a reward.
I think I’m on the right track with my suppositions, replacing parts in sections and testing must reveal where the problem lies.
 

[Razor61]

So after replacing the ECT temp sensor the mpg going to work and back has improved, now averaging 25mpg rather than 20mpg before.
As mentioned earlier, after replacing the front lower ball joints most of the suspension noise/clunk has gone when coming off over speeds bumps etc. I've also noticed that when driving over rough surfaces the 'rattling' suspension noise has gone, its feels/sounds tighter and no suspension rattling means less rattling in the cabin if anything is slightly loose. I put that down to the new ball joints 100%. Looked like they have not been replaced for a long time and maybe not replaced since new. I didn't need brute force to batter the ball joint off using a fork splitter because I have a proper removal so I didn't damage them when removing and could inspect them. I'm not an expert on how to tell if a ball joint is worn too much, apart from it being really obvious and a massive amount of play, but when wiggling and moving the ball joint after removal there didn't seem to be a lot of play at all.  Moving side to side though there was a metal on metal noise so they were worn but not totally knackered.

 

[Razor61]

Front sway/anti roll bar bushes replaced today. Tore a rib muscle or something  along the way. It’s a job that seems straightforward, getting them off is ok but fitting the new ones is not so easy working under the car on your own.
New antenna fitted as well today, needed the ‘Boss’ to help….. guide the old antenna out then turn the ignition to off while I fed the new antenna in. Some things are a 2 man job or a 1 man and 1 woman job today.😀

[Malc]

14 hours ago, Razor61 said:

are a 2 man job or a 1 man and 1 woman job today.😀

c.mon now, be sensible, it's simply a one woman job all the time really 

Malc

[Razor61]

Update on the 'VSC Off' issue and this only applies to just the 'VSC Off' light coming on not VSC and ABS lights on....................I'm convinced it is temperature related. Warm weather now and it hasn't happened as much at all, sometimes first thing in a morning when it's cold it will happen (my drive is very much shaded from the morning sun). After that when driving home after a warm day it hasn't happened and it did happen before then throughout the cold days over winter when leaving work.
After a bit of searching on the web I found some posts that pointed towards the Battery being the issue, the Battery not being 100% and maybe a cell or 2 in the Battery is a bit dodgy. Car cranks and starts ok, probably too many cranks at the moment which points towards Battery issues maybe. This morning was pretty warm and the car was on the road in direct sunlight rather than on the drive and shaded from the sun, car fired up quicker than normal. More or less on the first crank rather than a few cranks, if that makes sense. Lexus Bolton have a new Battery in stock for £100 so will pick it up at lunch, fit it then see if that really is the issue. I've no idea when the Battery was replaced so for £100 it's worth doing anyway.
I may be clutching at straws but the more I think about the symptoms the more I think it could be just the Battery.

[Razor61]

I’m not going to mention the VSC Off issue for now because I’ve noticed something that I need to make sure of before I commit myself.
On another subject, front strut bushes, mine are not as bad as the last LS400 mk3 I had but they are on the way to being knackered.
I have new OEM bushes but rather than take the strut bars off, get the old bushes out, clean, degrease and paint, press in the new bushes which takes time I bought a pair from eBay with knackered bushes. Plan is to remove the old bushes, remove all the rust, degrease and paint, press in new bushes ready to swop out when the time comes.
so today I removed the old bushes, scraped off the rust, applied Deox gel and wrapped in cling film. Tomorrow they should be totally rust free and ready to paint.
Removing the old bushes is not an easy job, on my LS400 mk3 I tried to press them out and even with a 10 ton hydraulic press they wouldn’t budge. It even bent the thick 1/2 inch metal plates on the press. A guy at work did me a favour and sent them to an engineering shop to remove, I don’t know how they got them out but I’m sure they used a similar method to me today cos I could see where they had sawed through in one place at the top.
This time I drilled through the rubber all round and removed the inner section.
I then cut through the inner metal ring and removed it, that left the outer metal bushing.
I then sawed through the outer metal bushing in 2 places 20mm apart taking care not to go too deep and into the arm itself. You will tend to cut into the arm a bit at the top and bottom but so long as you don’t end up up with a deep groove all the way through it’s fine.
Using a punch/drift I then knocked out the 20mm section, again taking not to gouge the arm, once that was out the rest of the metal bushing was just knocked out with punch/drift.
Sounds easy but it took a couple of hours of careful work.

[Supafly]

A note for future reference, when doing the front upper arms they can be changed without taking the strut out.

Just need to jack the suspension up slowly until the gap in the coil spring aligns with the inner bolts, you can then pull the bolts through and out.

[Razor61]

10 hours ago, Supafly said:

A note for future reference, when doing the front upper arms they can be changed without taking the strut out.

Just need to jack the suspension up slowly until the gap in the coil spring aligns with the inner bolts, you can then pull the bolts through and out.

Good tip thanks, I had been told about this by Phil (Ambermarine), it saves a lot of work. I'll be removing the struts anyway to clean/paint the springs, fit new top mounts and I may buy some new KYB struts/shocks depending on what condition they are when I remove them, I've found you can't tell 100% if the shocks need replacing until you remove them completely and check.    

[Razor61]

The VSC Off issue……….

I was convinced it was a temp issue, for whatever reason. Fitted a new Battery and that didn’t cure it, nothing much lost and it has a brand new Battery now. I also suspected it happened when the car was started on a slope facing up, my drive has a slight slope and I always park it up the slope so water doesn’t pool in the corner boot area. I know it sounds bizarre but I am trying to figure out a pattern of when it happens.
I purchased a used ABS/VSC ecu, which I received a few weeks ago but to fit it means removing the glove boxes and I wanted to wait for the used VSC Yaw Sensor I bought from the USA which is a piece of cake to fit. VSC Yaw Sensor arrived yesterday and fitted it this morning. It’s in the boot and I just needed to remove the lower boot linings, disconnect the Battery, 2 x 12mm nuts for the Sensor, reconnect the Battery, start the car without pressing the brake pedal and leave it until the VSC light goes off to reset the VSC and that’s it.

I needed to go out in the car after anyway and the VSC Off light didn’t come on but that doesn’t mean it’s fixed. For the past month or so it hasn’t happened as much at all but it does happen. Time will tell and I’ll know after a few weeks if it’s ok or not.

[Spacewagon52]

Your persistence and resilience is brilliant. If my old girl starts to play up, I will be making a trip "t'up North" to see you! Beer tokens in pocket of course!

[Razor61]

On 4/23/2022 at 12:50 PM, Razor61 said:

The VSC Off issue……….

Small update and I hope I’m not tempting fate. Since the Yaw Rate sensor was replaced with a used one from the USA, the ‘VSC Off’ issue hasn’t occurred at all since. I’ve done a fair few miles since as well, a couple of 200 mile journeys and to work and back for the last few weeks. So far so good and hopefully it stays that way.

Next job in a couple of weeks is a full front suspension rebuild, I have all the new parts ready and just waiting for a week off work at the end of the month to get cracking. Meanwhile I’m painting all the new parts ready.
Strut bars, lower arms, UCA’s, drop links, shock mounts, insulators, tie rods and all new nuts and bolts to go with it all which have been painted as well. I have also bought new KYB shocks for front and rear. Didn’t buy new springs though.

Got all the same stuff for the rear as well but the rear suspension rebuild will be done another time.
 

[Razor61]

On 4/23/2022 at 1:21 PM, Spacewagon52 said:

Your persistence and resilience is brilliant. If my old girl starts to play up, I will be making a trip "t'up North" to see you! Beer tokens in pocket of course!

Thanks, feel free to visit the North West anytime if you bring beer tokens😀

[Malc]

Paul, have you mentioned somewhere your £20, 000 budget for all this stuff 

Malc

[Razor61]

11 hours ago, Malc said:

Paul, have you mentioned somewhere your £20, 000 budget for all this stuff 

Malc

Not quite 20k but judging by todays prices I should get my money back 😀
Most of the stuff I already had in the garage. I bought it all for the last LS400 but didn’t fit the bits. I did put all the bits up for sale on here, sold the rear UCA’s and rear insulators and that was it.
Seeing as nobody wanted the rest of the parts I bought a car to fit them to🤣

[Mikaelse]

On 3/29/2022 at 12:02 PM, Razor61 said:

Update on the 'VSC Off' issue and this only applies to just the 'VSC Off' light coming on not VSC and ABS lights on....................I'm convinced it is temperature related. Warm weather now and it hasn't happened as much at all, sometimes first thing in a morning when it's cold it will happen (my drive is very much shaded from the morning sun). After that when driving home after a warm day it hasn't happened and it did happen before then throughout the cold days over winter when leaving work.
After a bit of searching on the web I found some posts that pointed towards the battery being the issue, the battery not being 100% and maybe a cell or 2 in the battery is a bit dodgy. Car cranks and starts ok, probably too many cranks at the moment which points towards battery issues maybe. This morning was pretty warm and the car was on the road in direct sunlight rather than on the drive and shaded from the sun, car fired up quicker than normal. More or less on the first crank rather than a few cranks, if that makes sense. Lexus Bolton have a new battery in stock for £100 so will pick it up at lunch, fit it then see if that really is the issue. I've no idea when the battery was replaced so for £100 it's worth doing anyway.
I may be clutching at straws but the more I think about the symptoms the more I think it could be just the battery.

When temperature is higher Battery gets a slight bit more oomph. 

When I had intermittent VSC-off issue it was resolved with a new Battery. The old Battery was good enough to start the car without problems and I was delaying on changing it. 
I got a tip in a forum that the reason for "VSC off" sometimes could be a weak Battery.
And Yes. 
It disappeared for good when I put in a new one. I used a AGM Battery with ample cold cranking AMPS but a standard one would .
The AGM batteries charge back up several times faster than old school stuff. Many short trips to the shop etc will not drain as badly.
I actually use a 70 Ah Battery instead of 95 Ah. It had good enough cold crank data.  
I Use same type in both my LS400 since several years. Works fine even in winter here in cold Sweden. I park outside and do not use a block heater. It always starts. 

[Razor61]

New issue with the car which I knew I needed to look at it. The Aircon isn’t working but it was working 5 months ago when I bought the car I think.
I booked the car in with the AC specialist for yesterday morning, same guy I used on the last LS400.
The issue with the AC on my last LS400 was the magnetic clutch on the compressor, I didn’t know this at the time and replaced the whole compressor including the clutch. Now I know how to check if the clutch is working I checked it before going to get the AC looked at. Applied 12v to the clutch connector and I hear it clicking into place and could see it engaging, so clutch is working and compressor isn’t seized.
Off to see the AC guy.
First check was to see if there was any gas/pressure in the system, no pressure and was empty.
Next thing was to pump nitrogen into the system and watch the pressure to see if it dropped while spraying soapy water around the condenser, compressor, drier assy/pressure switch and all couplings etc. Could’t see the pipe work under the Battery at the time.
Pressure didn’t drop at all and no leaks found anywhere apart from a tiny leak on the pressure switch that screws into the drier assembly. Nice one I thought, test it again, fill with gas and away we go!
Pressure switch removed and O ring replaced, old one was flat as a pancake, switch re fitted and tested again with nitrogen and soapy water. Tiny leak on the pressure switch was sorted. However, there was now a tiny leak from the sight glass on the drier assembly, smaller leak than on the switch coupling. This only became apparent after the other leak was fixed. Can’t fix the leak so nitrogen removed and a bit of gas pumped in to check that everything works. The system works and compressor now kicks in and works so it’s just the tiny leak to sort.
Disappointing but I know where the very tiny leak is. Problem is what to do about it and fix it.
To fix the leak with a new part means replacing the drier assembly along with the pipe going back to the bulk head/firewall. Not the biggest of jobs at all.
Obtaining this part isn’t going to be easy, I seem to remember another member needing the same part for a different reason and it wasn’t available anymore. The exact part isn’t available as far as I can tell. What is available is the same part for an LS400 with rear cooling which was available in Japan but not UK. The difference is a ‘T’ at the bulkhead end of the pipe with an extra piece of pipe with a coupling to connect to the rear cooling. I hope that makes sense.  Approx £100 delivered from Amayama iirc. I suspect the previous owner had fixed the AC by replacing the condenser with a used ‘good’ one, had it re gassed and it all worked but over time the gas has escaped. It would have taken months for it all to escape as the leak/s are so small. So the options for me.

Option 1
I’m pretty confident that buying the part for the LS400 with rear cooling would work by blanking off the extra bit of pipe with a ‘stop end’ coupling. That’s one option.

Option 2
Fix the very tiny leak on the sight glass, the sight glass is pressed into the aluminium drier assy, it’s raised up and is leaking round the edge of the glass. Because it’s such a small leak and I’ve nothing to lose, I have a plan to fix it.
After measuring up the diameter of the sight glass area, I’ve ordered a 18mm x 1mm flat sapphire watch glass and some clear Gorilla epoxy glue. Plan is to clean up the area and glue the watch glass over the sight glass area which will cover the sight glass, where it’s joins and a mm or so past. The Epoxy glue drys clear so if I do it right I’ll still be able to see through. Get it tested again see if it works, if it doesn’t work it will be option 1.
 

 

[Razor61]

One other point before anyone mentions it should have a dye put in to detect leaks, which is true to a certain extent, the nitrogen plus soapy water method is used as a preliminary check for leaks. If obvious leaks are detected, remove nitrogen, fix leaks and repeat until no obvious leaks are detected. When no leaks are detected using this preliminary check then nitrogen is removed, system re gassed/pressurised with correct gas including a dye then checked again for any signs of the dye as the final check.
Doing it as said above removes the time and effort to gas it properly only to find leaks then reclaim gas and start over again, maybe quite a few times until all the leaks are sorted.

[Razor61]

Pic of the drier assy, sight glass and pressure switch.

[Malc]

4 hours ago, Razor61 said:

plus soapy water method is used as a preliminary check for leaks

you're doing amazing stuff you know 

where are you in Lancashire ???

When i come visit my cousin in Kirkham I'll happily swan over your way for your ministrations with my " dead " aircon .......... now then, when was I last visiting her ....  must have been several aeons back  

Malc

[Razor61]

18 minutes ago, Malc said:

you're doing amazing stuff you know 

where are you in Lancashire ???

I know I am😂

I live about 15 miles from Kirkham, I can check if the AC clutch is working but that’s it.

[Malc]

3 minutes ago, Razor61 said:

I can check if the AC clutch is working

Paul, that could be the start and I thank you .............. you can then see how ropey my ancient steed looks in the flesh 

I'll give you heads up when to put the coffee on 

Malc