And again
Thanks for your great page in Unique Cars. I often want to write in but k now I would waff le on about too many t hings. Is it possible for you to send t his on to Nigel Dunlop re his email to you in t he Februar y 6 edition about the LS400 gauges?
I have a late 1994 LS400 and it is an astonishing car. I’ve had it for si x years and as much as I like to var y cars, I can never quite conv ince myself to sell such a smooth and unbreakable bit of engineering for t he $4000 or so I’d get for it (no matter how hard I tried). Mine has 276,000k m and as far as non-ser v ice items go, in t he past f ive years/70,000k m I had to do t he rocker cover gaskets because of lea ks and chose to do the engine and transmission mounts to end a slight v ibrat ion. Thats it.
It has a slight lea k from the power steering which would cost $2500 to f i x, but I just top it up ever y t hree to si x months (it’s now a 3000-5000km-a-year car). It has never had a breakdown except due to t he batter y fa i ling.
I can’t help wit h Nigel’s temp gauge but on my LS400, t he tacho sticks. After a lot of research on US sites I understand t hat t here is a bit of ‘gloop’ behind t he dia l on t he rear of t he tacho. One site said the gloop was some t y pe of lube t hat, wit h age, congeals in cool weather to be ver y hard t hen softens in t he heat, when it becomes ver y stick y. One post said t his a lso happens to the speedo sometime after t he tacho, but mine is still OK.
When the heated-up car stops, t he back of t he needle/spindle (or whatever) sett les into t he gloop. When the car stops and cools down overnight t he gloop hardens, stick ing t he needle in place. It can’t move until it heats up again and softens. Unfortunately I looked at t his a few years ago and am no longer sure about t he sites I read t his on, but none have had a photo or more detailed description t han what I’ve given any way.
I haven’t yet t ried to f i x mine as it is intermittent and non-essentia l, but ever y t hing about its behav iour suggests t his explanation is ver y likely (ie ra rely st icks in cold weather; driv ing over cats eyes will f ree it, but only if the car has been in the heat for quite a while etc etc).
“THERE IS A BIT OF GLOOP ‘ON THE REAR OF THE TACHO”