New LX 470 Member (1 Viewer)

[magikaram]

Hi All!

I posted a thread last week with questions on what to look out for regarding an LX 470 I found, and then passed on. However, last week on Friday I test drove a different LX 470 and got what I think was a good deal on it. Paid the owner today and brought her home this evening. Hoping to get more and better photos tomorrow morning in the Sun, and pending title & tags.

She's a 2000 LX 470 with 270k miles, and a maintained transmission/engine, with a couple minor battle scars from some prior accidents from the two most recent owners.
Previous owner had a local shop install new quality speakers with the factory headunit, and a pretty poor power steering pump that's already going out.

The only work I'll need to do to make it properly driveable is to replace the power steering pump. The steering gets stiff, and then not, and then stiff again while turning the wheel. Going to buy OEM and make sure I don't have to do it again. I'm just thankful that the power steering pump isn't located by the driver side wheel well like my Isuzu.

I've been looking at Land Cruisers and LX's casually since I first got my Isuzu Rodeo 5+ years ago, and I finally had the money & timing to get one.

I'm also not new to working on my own vehicles, I've spent the past year and a half restoring my '94 Mazda Miata M-Edition. Keeping up maintenance on my '99 Isuzu Rodeo, which sometimes could be overwhelming with the stress worrying about the 4L30 in her, and performing all my own maintenance on those two, plus my current daily driver, a 2022 Subaru Impreza.

Anyways, I'll share photos tomorrow, and hope to contribute and learn from all of you guys here.

 

[magikaram]

Here's two photos from this morning following the title transfer and registration.

Discovered this morning that the liftgate lock loves to stick, so it seems I'll need to keep an eye on it and likely disassemble it to see what it would take to fix.

 

[magikaram]

I've now become more acquainted with the LX, and now see that there's quite a few more things that are 'off' about it - but nothing that seems to scary.
Going to make a To-Do list to go through and show the progress I'm making on the truck.

1. Power steering pump replacement.
2. Replace airbag clock spring. (84306-60050)
3. Replace front differential mount/bushing. (41651-60010)
4. Replace telescoping wheel motor/slider/bushing/washer. (45768-60011, 45768-60010, 45766-60010)
5. Replace hood supports (gas strut bolt missing need to use 68961-30020)
   • Only can get 2 of the bolts/nubs from partsouq, grabbed two from a totalled Avalon & LS400 at the junkyard. Still need to get two more, but figure the exact replacements from partsouq will work.
6. Repair/Replace passenger door handle, loose on key barrel side.
7. Read on and learn about the key fob/master key/valet key thread to understand how to get the fob & keys setup.
8. Replace hood release cable (53630-60060)

9. ---

   Repair horn wiring - one of many PO's added an air horn but removed the air supply.
10. Repair fog light wiring - again, someone added some harbor freight looking LED pods into the bumper.
    • Either a new ARB/similar front bumper
    • Replace fog & turn signal assembly then repair wiring to factory spec.
11. Repair front driver AHC sensor - the connection to the UCA is bent terribly, and the sensor is completely disconnected from any real suspension travel.
12. Diagnose reason for push-fan to be hard wired & without a fuse for constant power when ignition is in the on position.
13. Add missing battery hold down.

Getting some parts tomorrow and hope to show some progress in the evening on what's been done!

 

[magikaram]

Airbag clock spring replaced. Also got the column opened up, and found the true cause of my non-functional telescoping wheel:

Motor and screw work great, just the retainer and bushing are likely going to need to be replaced and greased.

 

[excessive]

Great looking truck, i think the color matched front and rear bumpers were rare on these, most LX470s i see are two-tone, which really dates them. This truck looks so much younger than 23 years old. Great find! Sounds like you 've got a good list to work from.

 

[magikaram]

Thank you! I've been spending a lot of time reading other threads to identify issues that I'm seeing and things to keep in mind as I go about fixing the truck.

Looks like she's gone through quite a lot, and has been modified in some... less than satisfactory ways.
Currently the worry is that I'll have to add to the list quicker than I can strike stuff off it.
Was hoping the Cruise Control/Airbag Light/non-functional horn were symptoms of a failed clock spring, and though they were, the horn still needs to get repaired.

Spent a Saturday a week or two ago fixing the headlight on my Isuzu, so I still have the electrical work tools out to solder and do proper connections for things, just didn't want to have to do so since that would necessitate playing ring-around-the-rosy with two of my cars to get the Lexus into a garage space with a socket available.

 

[magikaram]

Horn problem halfway? resolved. Connections at the horns themselves were cut, directly on the end of the connector. Couldn't get the proper connector quick enough, and spade connectors fit, so I've temporarily got some spade connectors for the horns.

Still not working - checked fuse and relay, fuse was blown, grabbed a pack from Napa. Horn works, only it didn't turn off, so I proceeded to have my ears blown out for a solid 10 seconds while I fumbled with the fuse puller.

Guess is that the switch in the airbag is probably dead, on its way out, or having some sort of short.

Previous owners had an air horn on the truck, but no air supply that I can see, and no visible signs of a second button installed for it, is it likely that for a "OEM" looking air horn to have a constant pull to ground for the air supply?

 

[magikaram]

Horn fixed!
Nylon washer isolating the two sides of the button at one of the spring loaded switches had broke and allowed the retaining screw to short the horn switch. I've now insulated the screw from the plate it was contacting and now my horn works as expected.

Also installed new hood struts, and hood strut ball joints to no longer need a stick holding up the hood for my safety.

Received the bushing and nut for the telescoping wheel, but still waiting for the strap that holds the two to the column.

Got two new master keys from Ebay, had them cut, and they start the car & unlock the doors, remotes work too, but unfortunately they're not great range remotes, so I'll need to source OEM keys & remotes to get actual good range that isn't directly next to the doors.

 

[magikaram]

I've now become more acquainted with the LX, and now see that there's quite a few more things that are 'off' about it - but nothing that seems to scary.
Going to make a To-Do list to go through and show the progress I'm making on the truck.

1. Power steering pump replacement.

Not necessary - issue is likely related to alignment and steering rack.

1. Replace airbag clock spring. (84306-60050)
2. Replace front differential mount/bushing. (41651-60010)
3. Replace telescoping wheel motor/slider/bushing/washer. (45768-60011, 45768-60010, 45766-60010)

Ordered, waiting for one more part.

1. Replace hood supports (gas strut bolt missing need to use 68961-30020)
   • Only can get 2 of the bolts/nubs from partsouq, grabbed two from a totalled Avalon & LS400 at the junkyard. Still need to get two more, but figure the exact replacements from partsouq will work.
2. Repair/Replace passenger door handle, loose on key barrel side.
3. Read on and learn about the key fob/master key/valet key thread to understand how to get the fob & keys setup.

I'm going to need a new chip for the ECU, or a 'virginized' ECU to get new master keys programmed.

1. Replace hood release cable (53630-60060) Ordered - need to finish installation

2. ---

   Repair horn wiring - one of many PO's added an air horn but removed the air supply.
3. Repair fog light wiring - again, someone added some harbor freight looking LED pods into the bumper.
   • Either a new ARB/similar front bumper
   • Replace fog & turn signal assembly then repair wiring to factory spec.
4. Repair front driver AHC sensor - the connection to the UCA is bent terribly, and the sensor is completely disconnected from any real suspension travel.

Ordered a new front left AHC height sensor & front left upper control arm, going to replace both just since the UCA looks like it took a good whack to bend that sensor arm mount.

1. Diagnose reason for push-fan to be hard wired & without a fuse for constant power when ignition is in the on position.
2. Add missing battery hold down.

Battery tied down, though it may appear the battery tray is missing a piece at the bottom since the battery is sunken down lower than the height of the tie down & J hook can hold it.

 

[magikaram]

Telescoping wheel fixed! I replaced the bushing, the slider, and the bracket. Took about 25-30 minutes. Probably would've been a bit quicker if it wasn't so dang cold outside.

Added a bit of general purpose grease along the threaded rod before initially screwing the slider on, since it looks like the old bracket broke somewhere in the middle of the telescoping range. Very happy with the result.

 

[magikaram]

AHC Fixed too! Replaced front driver sensor with a new Aisin unit. Had some winter weather blow through, so I'm still waiting to receive the techstream cable to actually run through the AHC system for pressures & adjustment. Just happy that I no longer have the truck sitting on the front bump-stops.

Hood release cable has been replaced - no more motorcycle clutch cable to release the hood. I also no longer have to struggle to close the hood.
I also replaced the secondary hood release that's attached to the lever on the grille.

I also have two new headlight assemblies on the way, since the original glass ones are cracked & plastic tabs are broken. PO seems to have zip-tied them to the front support... which I'm a bit more than unhappy about.

In installing the actual license plate, I broke one of the bolts, so it seems I'll need to use a bold extractor and/or drill out a bolt sooner than I had hoped.

Pulled out the Nakamichi headunit! - found 6 discs stuck in the changer, with two shattered ones, fortunately a Bowie CD survived the carnage, though Sade did not. Ordered a 22-pin connector to install a Sony headunit. Old headunit is now useless, since I've pretty much ripped it apart to figure out what failed and how.
Headunit will be the Sony XAV-AX3200 that I got used off Ebay, which I appear to be missing the Mic for, so hopefully I can find one to replace it.