Razor61

Well………….went out this morning to put the car on the ramps and check the steering pump leaks. Car wouldn’t start, turned over ok but not fast at all with symptoms of a drained battery. I immediately decided to remove the steering pump, couldn’t take the risk of knackering the alternator. I suspect all the diagnostics of starting, going for a short run a few times and checking for leaks then leaving for 4 days have drained the battery. Of course it was peeing down but cracked on with removing the pump after removing the battery and putting it on charge - it took 6 hours to charge fully, pump is off the car now though. In theory removing the pump is straightforward but getting a good grip on the rear mounting bolts is a challenge due to getting a socket and ratchet on square without rounding the bolt head which I 100% did not want to do. Lower one was no problem but the top one took me an hour or so taking my time and needed a 1/2 breaker bar with 3/8 adapter and socket to crack it loose. All due to the access under the car on ramps, pipe work in the way and getting p1$$ wet through in the process. I looked at the alternator and it was dry with no signs of steering fluid in it all so I probably would have been ok charging the battery and driving the car until the seal kit and other stuff arrived, I didn’t want to chance it though. The pump…… The O ring on the reservoir connector has been leaking 100%, I could see corrosion on the pump round that area. My original diag where it is was leaking is also correct plus round the bearing and the flow control valve area didn’t look great. Car will be off the road until I get the rebuild kit and other bits for the pump. I didn’t document stuff cos of the urgency of the job but did take pics of where stuff goes for my benefit. What pics I did take are below. Area of corrosion under the bracket for the resavoir connector after cleaning up a lot with degreaser, carbide scraper and scotch pad. Before it was pretty bad to be honest.

I’m not a specialist but I have had a 3D printer for around 6 months. I’ve printed lots of stuff, mainly toolbox tidy stuff i.e. spanner and ratchet organiser stuff and a few Lexus coasters. All the stuff I’ve 3D printed is from downloading the 3D printing files from Thingiverse and there are a couple of Lexus wheel caps on there plus Lexus Logos. Problem is that the material needed for this needs to be durable, flexible and reasonably strong. General printing is done with PLA afaik which isn’t good enough. Other filaments are available that fit the bill but need more expensive 3D printers and extruders. There is the possibility to scan a reference object and then 3D print in whatever filament type and colour you choose using the correct printer. Buying a scanner for this isn’t cheap at all and paying a 3D printing company to do the work is not cheap.

Not going to happen, I always build in an exit strategy/fallback/backup plan. Normally it includes passing by the beer fridge on the way out😁

I couldn’t possibly comment on that🤣

I was a BMW guy which is what attracted me to M539 Restorations. Started with a 1976 2002tii in Henna Red, then the following cars - E23 728i manual - Jag XJ 3.6 manual - E28 528i auto - Saab 900 EMS - Saab 900 Turbo - Saab 9000 - E46 318i - 2003 Lexus IS200 as a company car for 4 years - 1996 E36 M3 Evo - E36 318ti compact as a project while running the E36 M3 - 2003 E46 M3 - then the big mistake of trading in the E46 M3 in 2016 for a shiny new M140i in Valencia Orange on PCP which was an expensive mistake in the end after it was stolen, police chase in the West Midlands - stinger, crashed, recovered, ‘repaired’, handed back to me. Then came an Audi A4 2.5Tdi Quattro Sport - IS200 and 95 LS400 - IS200 and IS250 and currently a 98 LS400 and IS250.

Yep, couldn’t agree more. Not looking forward to removing the pump but looking forward to rebuilding it. I’ve even tidied/rearranged the garage, created a ‘workspace’ on the workshop bench (normally stacked with parts and stuff) and bolted down the vice in preparation😁 Something I intended to do but never got round to it and struggled with the vice on a workmate or the floor, silly really when I think about it. Sorting the garage was also prompted by watching ‘M539 Restorations’ videos on YouTube, very interesting videos. Worth a look and you may get hooked on it. The guy produces quality interesting videos of rebuilding older BMW’s and bringing them back to life. Not Lexus/Toyota of course like The Car Care Nut but are just as good, the principles of the work are the same and done by a guy who started off as a DIY mechanic who worked in IT, father was an engineer and he quit his IT job to restore BMW’s full time with a YouTube channel. Sounds like me but I haven’t quit my job yet and started a YouTube channel about restoring older Lexus cars🤣……….well not yet anyway😉

I expect it would go kaput, the leak in mine is pretty small at the moment and will be fixed soon. If it was worse then I’d drain the power steering fluid and remove the pump. Car has been stood for a few days so will have a look at the leak again just to make sure. I admit to not checking the power steering fluid level on regular basis like I do with everything else, strange why I haven’t but is very very common according to the specialist. Maybe last checked 18 months ago or when I first bought the car. It was the noise first thing in the morning that prompted me to look at the fluid level. Probably leaking for a long time. If I had checked regularly or had the car serviced regularly the fluid loss would have been noticed and investigated before now. MOT wouldn’t pick it up unless it’s really really bad, but then the car would probably be KAPUT anyway and not drivable to the MOT station…………..

Small update on the pump leak, I’m off work this week so have plenty of time. Rather than try and work out where the leak is coming from I decided to eliminate where the leak was ‘not’ coming from. Cleaned all the areas, went for a drive, black on the ramps and had a thorough look. It’s not the O ring for the reservoir, it’s not the banjo connection to the steering rack, it’s not the connection to the idle up valve, maybe the flow control thing on the top but if it is then it’s a very very very small leak, not the bearing or seal at the front as far as I can see. Doesn’t look like the leak is from the top or front. I’m pretty sure it’s at the back and leaking from the O ring where the main assembly mates to the the rear mounting assembly. And even then it’s a small ‘weeping’ leak, I thought about nipping up the assembly bolts but decided against it because I didn’t want to disturb anything and make it worse. Pump will be rebuilt anyway but I wanted to know where the pump is leaking so when I do the rebuild I can look at that area. Pic of the O ring and area I suspect is leaking.

£40 for each pulley/idler from Amayama, bit cheaper if buying both. I’d guess that isn’t far off ‘Nissan Primera budget’ prices.

After some more thinking and talking to a steering rack/pump specialist, parts ordered to rebuild the steering pump from Amayama plus other bits while I was at it keeping the cost under £150 excluding carriage. Steering rack can wait for the the time being. When the pump rebuild parts arrive I’ll rebuild the pump and document the process as best I can, in the meantime I’ll look for a used steering rack to use for a rebuild. Reason being it’s 4 - 5 weeks lead time for a steering rack rebuild.

If the total price excluding carriage is less than £150 there is no tax to pay afaik, it’s classed a gift or something like that. I’ve ordered stuff under £150 and it’s been delivered straight away with nothing extra to pay.

RockAuto is approx £500 for a recon steering rack, the leak is small and the boot was not full of fluid so will keep an eye on the fluid level. Had a good look around the pump after removing all the air intake. Leak is not massive at all and won’t drip directly over the alternator as far as I can tell. There is a small pool of fluid on top of the pump, pic illustrates this with the red circle and you can see it glistening. You can also see where the reservoir hose connects to the pump with a retaining bracket, red square. Leak could be from the flow control valve O ring. Had a good look behind the pulley and looks dry. So in view of all that the plan is to order a gasket/seal kit and bearing for the pump plus the reservoir hose and clips. Maybe also order the idle up valve, pipes and clips, not decided on that yet. Rebuild the pump which will solve the pump leak. I’ll price up everything from Lexus tomorrow, if it’s just a few quid more than Amayama I’ll get the stuff from Lexus but I suspect I’ll be ordering from Amayama. Steering rack can wait until I decide what to do, pump leak is more important to fix initially, then maybe order the OEM seal kit, remove the rack and take it to Preston Power Steering for a rebuild or it’s RockAuto for a full recon steering rack. Just a side note when doing this, the air filter was manky so fitted a new one I had. The OEM air filter is no longer available in the UK it seems, £50 from Japan though, so it’s a another make in future.

Good shout, I forgot about RockAuto.

A few weeks ago I noticed a noise under hood when starting the car from cold and then it settled down after a few secs. Power steering pump type noise so checked the steering fluid level and it was low, topped it up and it has gone now. Did an oil change a few weeks ago and checked the passenger side steering rack boot, it was split with some greasy/oily residue round it. I noticed this residue quite a while ago, made a mental note to check it out but didn’t get round to it until a few weeks ago when doing the oil change. Anyhow, ordered both steering rack boots and fixings from Amayama and fitted them this morning. Jacked up, wheels off, calipers off, tie rods off, locking nuts off to remove the steering boots. Drivers side was dry but passenger side is leaking, not gushing out by any means but it’s definitely leaking which explains the steering pump noise when the fluid got too low. It was on the ‘plan’ of work for today to check the power steering pump for leaks as well, there is fluid around the idle up valve and below on the sway bar and other pipes where is dropped down. Not really bad but it’s coming from somewhere. Wiped it all as best I can and will take the car for a run tomorrow and check to see if I can located the source of the leak. It’s not from the reservoir area, it’s different from the mk3. Steering rack needs sorting and the leak around the pump. As I see it I have a few options for the steering rack. Buy a new one from Amayama - £1100 plus import duty etc. plus any pipe work needed. Remove the existing one and have it refurbished/rebuilt or buy a used one and have it refurbished. There is a specialist near where I live that can do the refurb/rebuild. Buy the seal kit from Amayama and refurb the rack myself, never ever done this so not kean on this option. More or less the same options for the steering pump if needed, new pump, have existing one refurbished or rebuild it myself. I would be quite happy refurbing the pump myself. If anyone has experience of rebuilding the steering rack or the pump or advice in general I would be grateful. Thanks in advance.

There is a used unit for sale on ebay, it's malfunctioning but if the lcd back lights work ok then the board could be swopped over rather than replacing the miniature bulbs. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/266176983327

Very very nice 👍

That is a stunner right enough and 40k miles. Antenna looks knackered though so not for me, only kidding of course🤣 - it looks a cracking car. Not always good to get an older low mileage car but for an LS400, at least mechanically, I don't think it's an issue plus it has done mileage in between MOT's. Talking about low mileage LS400's, I looked at a 48k miles iirc Gold LS400 in Leeds a few weeks ago and some of you may have seen it on Autotrader for £3750 Long story short...ish. Fault where the car wouldn't run for more than 10 mins and no MOT, it was worth a look so I had a nice drive over, had a look and took my laptop with 'diags' installed to plug in. Engine running fault as above. Alternator had failed, new alternator and battery fitted then the engine running issue since. No mot, AC has a leak so not working, wheels needed refurbing, a few rusty paint chips which is to be expected, bubbling rust on the bottom of the drivers rear arch (boot end) which was a real shame. Plus points - engine was very smooth with no untoward noises when running, interior was excellent and would come up like new, gold paintwork wasn't as faded as most and very good, original electric antenna and working fine, no signs of the boot leaking.....yet. Overall pretty good, apart from the bubbling rust on the bottom of the drivers rear arch which is normally a sign of bigger issues when investigated. The bubbling rust on the bottom of the drivers rear arch put me off and I was disappointed to be honest so plugged in TeschStream and there was a 'current' Crankshaft sensor error so the running issue could have been an easy fix but it could also have been an ECU issue after the alternator issue or something else. AC could have been a leaking 'O' ring but could also be an expensive fix. MOT........who knows - I wouldn't have expected it to be bad but you never know with bushes and ball joints etc. I figured the car needed £2-£3k spending to fix get it into decent shape and fix all the issues, could also be a lot more though.

looks like someone else has had the same issue https://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/127966-ls430-coolant-leak/

Forget that, just re read the original post. The floor mat isn't wet on the top so it can't be that.

Could it be the vent on the transmission tunnel spitting out water/moisture?

Couldn’t agree more, fully stamped main dealer service history isn’t ‘the holy grail’ and only shows that the recommended service has been carried out. It doesn’t mean that any issues or potential issues detected when carrying out the service have been rectified, invoices will show this.

Yep, I trust the service guys at Lexus Bolton. As for the cost, I'm not 100% sure but I think it's £175 for a full AC service - checking the AC in general - more gas if needed - replace any O rings leaking and the Anti- Bac treatment.

A very good link and explains things better than I did🙂

We have a 2010 IS250 as well which was in for its service a few weeks ago, the AC bacteria levels were measured and were very high, they recommended the AC service thing and I said I would think about it. I can’t remember the figures but it was way into the ‘red’ zone. It’s back in for its MOT in a couple of weeks so will have it done. No smells or anything in the car, if the Lexus dealer tells me the bacteria levels are very high and above the acceptable levels then I have to believe them and do something about it.

Just to clarify something, the ‘smell’ I mentioned wasn’t a bad mouldy smell. It was more of a humid taste, if that makes sense. This has now gone and the ‘old car smell’ has gone, maybe because the AC treatment has acted like a giant air freshener or it’s done it’s job fantastically well. Air conditioning does just that, conditions the air, heats when needed, cools when needed, dehumidifies when needed, controls the flow of air from outside or inside and maybe humidifies. When it dehumidifies the moisture has to go somewhere, it goes into some kind of tray then drains out under the car. So there is moisture/water in the ‘system’ and around the evap coils (I think that’s what they are called) and it drains into the tray thing. Turning the AC off stops the moisture accumulating and then the ‘normal’ air flow going over the coils etc helps dry everything, that’s how I understand it. I was told by an Automotive AC guy that when people don’t use their AC for a long while then suddenly start using it, the moisture goes into the tray thing and reacts with the dried residue and causes the smell. Also residue on the evap coils probably.