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The issue of the PS leak resulting in alternator failure is only an urban legend.
The PS pump is highly prone to leakage and the alternator slip rings are of a marginal design.
Many, most(?) owners folks ignore the realtively "minor" PS leak until the alternator fails and so the "technicians" have concluded that the leak leds to the alternator failure.
Simply not the case.
So yeah, you're getting a bit of a deal on it.
Decided to look for possible move to a hybrid SUV to replace this 19mpg 430. Just drove the RX450h. Really made me appreciate the LS all the more. RX is a "really" big truck and the hybrid side of it steals any thought of rapid acceleration. Found that I lost the sense of a "safe cocoon" around the vehicle - too much to watch out for.
Anyway, the reason for writing this note is that trying "on" other car(s) made me return quickly, and with a continuing high regard, for 430.
saborg
But in truth I'm holding out for a hybridized Venza w/Atkinsonized DFI I4 and F/awd.
Or maybe even an LS350 using the new GSes HSD system.
Lower is NOT safer insofar as being T-boned.
At my age my driving style is always more in the range(***) of making judicious use of the brakes, not the accelerator. So our 1st gen Prius suits me just fine and I think the acceleration rate of the RXh & HH is a bit much.
*** Not "fast" except on the highway, unless I'm driving the C4. Still not "fast" in city, except for often an acceleration level that makes my wife wish she had stayed home..
I wish to go the other way, a hybrid Venza or maybe the upcoming Porsche Macan R/awd. I've been hoping, probably a waste, for a hybrid C-max with the Escape style F/awd.
I was forced to give away (family, friends, employees) our '91, 2 '92's and most likely now our '95. Sell or trade is impossible since very few buyers/dealers appreciate the true/actual value. No one but a long term owner will understand the true value of a high mileage LS.
Exactly right.
Thanks so much.
This summer is a lot warmer than the last. It got hot early in the spring, and I turned on the air conditioner, but after about 10-15 minutes I began to notice an overwhelming musty odor. I would later realize it was the odor of an overheating radiator, but at the time I could not place the smell, an the engine was not smoking. I stopped at a random repair station (lets call him mechanic R), and the mechanic R did me a favor and sprayed some anti-mildew spray in the air ducts. This did not work, because the next time I used the air conditioner, the smell was back. I was told by a fellow who worked for an air conditioner company, to change the air filter and let the air conditioner run for a while. I let the car sit while turned on for a few hours, and let the air conditioner run with the windows open to avoid the stench problem. This seemed to solve the problem, temporarily, as the smell issue went a way for a while.
The next hot day I put the air on, about 10-20 minutes later the smell was back. I drove around with the air on and the windows open, the smell went away. I went to run a few errands and when I went to turn the car on again it began to stall. I decided to take it to my mechanic (lets call him mechanic M), it took me about 10 minutes to get there. As I pulled into the mechanic M's station, the car began to smoke like crazy. I popped the hood and we let it cool. I left the car overnight and mechanic M said the radiator had a hole in it, he said he replaced it and that was that.
Now when I drove the car, the engine was making a louder sound. It was no longer quite and purring like a kitten. It was sputtering and would seem to want to stall when I would start it and accelerate in the morning and after work. Yes, It had trouble accelerating, but it would be fine after I drove it for five minutes. It would have trouble accelerating every time I used it, after a few hours of non-use.
Any use of the air conditioner would produce the same overheating after 20 - 30 miutes of driving with the air on. The fan clicked on when I used the air conditioner. So it wasn't that. I took it to the mechanic who repaired it for the original owner (lets call him mechanic O). He said he had tried to figure it out but could not. He said the original owner had given up on them and went somewhere else. He took the car, said he ran it for 30 minutes with the air on, said he ran it in the shop with the air on as well. He said he could not find anything. He told me the radiator looked old, and like it was the one that came with the car. I had suspected my first mechanic had not replaced the radiator, this confirmed my suspicion. I also believed my first mechanic had not changed the oil much earlier. This newer mechanic also did not have time to change the oil. So how much attention could he have given the car, other than running it. A friend had suggested that a lexus has a second speed setting on the fan that clicks in on extra hot conditions and is sometimes affected by the fuses. This newer mechanic said this wasn't it. But how much time could he have dedicated to it to know that.
I was running out of options, the previous owner had experienced the same issues and had brought it to two different mechanics with no success. I had brought it to two different mechanics with no success (although one had been used by the original owner and one simply cheated me.) I thought about going to Lexus, but tales of high prices were discouraging me. I drove another week with no air conditioner use and for the final 3 days of that week it was very hot outside. A strange vibration was coming from the engine, I could feel it through the steering wheel when I started the car after work. The temperature gauge always seemed in the middle so I figured I could get by for a while if I didn't use the air. I stopped at a store on my way home from work and the strange vibration I had felt through the steering wheel was back. I shut the engine off, and as I began to walk from the car, I noticed smoke coming out. I went and got some water from the store. The radiator was so hot and empty if I added water it would evaporate and shoot back out. I left the car at the store. The store is close to mechanic R (who had first helped me with the smell in the air conditioner. I now recognized this smell to be an overheating engine. It must have sucked the vapor into the air conditioner system.
Notes:
- Initially the car would only overheat on a hot day when the air conditioner was in use, but now additional damage has been done with the engine being louder.
-The water level must be dropping, but my ride two and from work is not filled with traffic. I must have slowly been loosing water for the car to overheat without the air on.
-The car doesn't overheat when I am driving. Only when I stop and turn the car off. Then the fan is off too.
-The oil needs to be changed
-Mechanic R is close to the store I left the car at, but I am confident when I fill the car up with water, I can drive to the lexus dealer.
-It is a busy summer season where I live, and mechanics are busy making fast money on out of town customers, not spending time on people from the area who have problems that don't have a simple solution.
-I don't have a lot of money to burn.
Any hints or suggestions or solutions are welcomed at this point, I believe I will take it to the lexus dealer.
-Thank you
I am/was well aware of the propensity of the PS "idle up" valve sucking PS stearing fluid into the intake manifold so the first thing I did was close off the tube to the intake manifold.
Fluid still seemed to magically disappear, no serious visible leaking anywhere.
Finally dawned on me to check the idle up valve atmospheric inlet tube downstream of the MAF. Sure nuff, PS pump pressurizes fluid and forces it, via the valve internal leak, out the inlet tube. No manifold vacuum "sucking" required.
Next up, replace the idle up valve, dirty greasy job I'm not looking forward to.
Guess which I'm going with.
I would agree that "eventually", the car may appreciate, but not if you keep driving it. In fact, you are probably already WAY over the mileage limit for a classic. Condition is great, but use is also a factor. How many miles do you see on your average Pierce-Arrow or Duiesenberg in collections? Also, how long is "eventually"? Right now, it's worth $3850. If you keep driving it, it won't appreciate. With 200,000 on the clock, probably never will. Enjoy the car - it's worth more to you than to anybody.
However, it has real value to you, and would probably command a premium price as a used car--but even that premium price is not likely to warrant holding onto the car for value. If I were you, I'd use the car up and enjoy every minute of it.
If you want to see the effects of "wasted" cooling capacity have a look at the return line to the compressor just under the bottom of the radiator after a long drive on a hot and humid day. Up to 1/2" of rhime ice.
As of ~95 Lexus moved that line to the firewall behind the engine in order to improve the compressor life, engine heat "absorbs" the excess cooling.
Also if you have a highly reputable broker in your area (someone who sells "classics" or special cars in a nice indoor showroom and who takes perhaps 15% off the top), that's a good way for a hassle-free sale.
Mr. Shiftright, thanks for the great, specific suggestions, in case I want to sell the 1990 eventually. Your suggestion actually reminded me that I have a friend on the west coast who is a manager for AutoTrader.com. It will be great to touch bases with him again.
Craigslist is nice because it's all local, but some of the people you attract, plus all the scammers, makes it a tedious enterprise.
Up until ~95 the system would go into rapid cooldown mode, close to the maximum level of cooling when you initially started the car on a HOT day. Apparently this was deemed somewhat discomforting for some buyers, northernish buyers(?).
When we purchased our '00 F/awd RX300 I was mildly surprised that I now had to "manage" the system on my own if I wished to more rapidly cool the cabin down to our comfort level.
Turn the system to MAX cooling, or closely thereby, lower the blower speed to a more comfortable, more quiet level, until the cabin was more comfortable.
THEN you can put in fully automatic mode.....EXCEPT...
Being extremely careful to not allow the system to switch into cooling mode automatically on the coldest night in the dead of winter. Somewhere about '05 Lexus came out with a C-BEST option that when set other than the factory default would force the system to stay in heating mode when the OAT was coolish/COLD.
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au contrare - my 2009 LS460's A/C blows ice cubes. I'll put it up against your old R-2 system anytime....
Is there an authoritative source of information on the minimum amount a car needs to be driven to keep the battery healthy?
As long as he drives it once monthly, all is OK...I have never seen that with any other car...
But the recommendation of a "maintenance charger" is a good idea---this may not be the same as a simple"trickle charger"----a "smart charger" maintains a battery at an optimal level by use of a microprocessor, while cheapo trickle chargers may not have a microprocessor at all.
Here's a REVIEW OF BATTERY CHARGERS that might help you decide which is best.