Lexus LS 430 Engine Problems

mahalo1

Trying to find out if anyone has had a similar problem. If my car sits for more than a day, when I first start it it makes a loud clattering noise, almosts like collapsed hydraulic lifters, and pours out lots of blue smoke out the exhaust. Its happened 3-4 times over the last 3 years and all I get is dealer bull****, lots of lip service but no repair. I've been told its the buckets over the valve spring hanging up "but its not a big deal or problem". Well it happened again the other day and I'm just tired of the nonsense from the dealer. Has anyone had a similar problem or heard of someone else having this problem, if so please let me know

holew

I have an 2002 LS430 have had zero problems after 74,000 miles.

My suggestion to you is to take it back to the dealer and explain the problem. May be even do a recording using a digital movie camera with sound to make your point.

I have found that the LEXUS dealers I go to are excellent in diagnosing problems.

jerry5505

Can any one tell me what kind of gas mileage they get on the 2004 LS 430? I am getting approx 17.4 miles per gallon in town using Prem gas. I am wondering if I should have the dealer check it out.

pat

There's a discussion which will give you some information. It hasn't been posted in for a while, but you still might find it helpful: Lexus LS 430 Real World MPG. Maybe if you repost there, you'll wake some people up!

nvbanker

That's exactly what I have gotten on my 02 and my 05 - sounds right to me....

devinsdad

Hi! I am new to this forum and appreciate the advice! I have a 2001 LS430 with just over 100k. Occasionally at startup, the exhaust will expel a white-ish blue smoke for about 10 seconds.

Oddly enough, it seems to happen more if I park on an incline with the nose higher that the rear.

Any suggestions would be great!

chickenbone

I saw your message that was posted about a year ago. Did you ever resolve the problem?

chickenbone

Hello, it does seem to matter when I park with nose down in our driveway vs the nose up. It appears to be more smoke when the is up for about the 10 seconds. Were you ever able to resolve the issue or find out the root cause?

kangei

hi, am new to this; I hv a 2000 LS with 107k on it. During this cold season; when I start it up b4 it warms, it makes this continues clattering noise then a diff noise when steering. All this stops when it warms up

Any suggestions will be great

tkalal

In a recent trip from Dallas to Houston I got 29.1 mpg highway on cruse and in the city I get 17.2 mpg with tender gas pedal use.

gm1120

Anyone ever experience just plain losing power while the car is running? I have a '92 LS400 with about 120,000 miles. Occassionally, it would just lose power, brought to the dealer, they can't figure out why. It happens maybe once every few months. Sometimes in stop and go traffic going at 30mph, sometimes on a freeway while going 70+ mph or going uphill from a stop sign going about 20mph. I never know when it would happen, but it seems to happen more when I park the car outside in the sun during work hours and it happens on my way home, sometimes 3 minutes after, sometimes almost an hour after I started driving. All of a sudden it would just lose power, like I don't have any gas, but I pull over and restart the engine and it goes away, but it's scary. Any help would be great!

jerry5505

I have never had that problem with my LS 430

vcheng

I think that you should get the TPS (Throttle Position Sensor) and its associated harness checked out for intermittent failure.

gm1120

Thanks for the response, I'll have it looked at this weekend

tony1022

HI...

I just read your message on edmunds and wonder if you ever got this problem solved.

I own a 98 myself and just start developing that same problem, the engine noise when i start it during this cold weather and when i steer and it all stops when it warms up.

I'd like to get your input as to what the problem was and what you did to get it solved.

thanks,
Anthony

tony11210@yahoo.com

mahalo1

Hi Tony,

Never did get it completely resolved. At the time I made a big deal with it at Lexus, factory, and they gave me an extender warranty for free, I guess to shut me up. They made a big deal about using the factory oil filters which I switched back to. It hadn't happened for over a year but actually just did about a week ago. Just to explain again my noise only happens at start up and sounds like hydraulic lifters that have bled down and then refill after 30-45 seconds of the engine running. When I spoke to one of the mechanics he explained the the "buckets" that work off the cam and actuate the valve springs must be hanging up. He knew what was happening, so they must have seen this before, but told me that he has never heard of engine damage because of it. My car now has about 135,000 miles on it and runs fine, burns no oil and sems to have no repercussions because of it.

Good luck

tony1022

Hi..

thanks for the quick answer. Actually my problem seems to be worse than yours, not only do I hear the noise that sounds like hydraulic lifters bleeding down u describe, what bothers me the most is the loud cranking that occurs when i steer to the left / right.

I own the car for three years and that's the first problem I ever experienced with it, after warm up it runs like a charm.I was very concerned when it start happening and took it to the mechanic right away but they couldn't pinpoint the problem. This is my third winter with it and never had this problem before, i guess that's because this one(season) is really a bad one.Really cold.

In any case you put my mind a bit at ease if ur mechanic reveals that he never heard of engine damage because of that.have about the same amount of miles and always use factory oil and filters whenever I do an oil change. I'm gonna keep on driving it like that and see what happens when the season's over.

I'd like to thank u for the input, very thoughtful . Keep me updated if u have further info. I'll do the same here.

A great year to you and your family.

Tony.

ls430white

It seems I had same problem with you.Brought car to mechanic ,sit in shop waiting for a cold starting in morning.Next day , Called in and he said everything fine, starting very quiet, no problem.Then he drive my car parked outside.It's 32 F outside. In the afternoon, I came to get the car, I start and noisy again.He look at and pinpoint right away that noise came from steering wheel pump,not the engine.No need to worry. Day before car parked inside shop, it's heated space so everything is normal.
Took car home, next cold morning, check again and noise is exactly from steering wheel pump, weired hummy noise when I steer left/right.Tap / warm with hair dryer, still noisy, but as usual dissappeared after couple minutes.
Note that my car parked in unheated carport, And can't explain, after that morning, the noise dissappeared forever.Every thing normal now, 24 or 28 F still no noise.
Can't explain but happy.Share this experience with your guy. My car was a 2001UL / 80K.