Hi all,
I've been reading this group on and off for several years and I was hoping someone could help me out with a problem.
A couple of months ago I needed a car for work and came across a 1990 LS400 with 255K miles for $3K. It drove beautifully and because I've always wanted to get an LS400 I snapped it up. Well it drove fine all the way up until a couple of weeks ago when where we live got flooded. The car had water running past it up to the middle of the headlights. When the water level went down I moved the car to higher ground and let it dry out. I know I should have taken it and had the fluids changed but because out of all of our cars it was the only one that would drive, we used it to move ourselves to a hotel and get everyone to work etc, over the next few days.
So things are still going ok with the car and then one night it starts to hesitate and then the transmission starts to slip and eventually it will not get out of first. I limp it to my mechanic and leave it there overnight. The next morning my mechanic calls and said that the car is driving fine and they can't find any problems. So we drive it again for about a week and then I had to break hard to make a right turn into a parking lot and since then the car runs a little rough and accelerates like a glacier. It will not accelerate at all and takes forever to get any speed. It will shift through the gears and eventually reach a decent speed but you can't get there in less than a few minutes.
Now I am not driving it just now because I want to try and fix it if possible and not risk wrecking it even more. I posted this to a forum and was advised to get the oil and transmission fluid changed. Both were ok, except the tranny fluid smelt a little burnt, not too much though. The car still drives bad and sometimes it will not start. There is a "clunk" (but electrical sounding like a big relay) from the passenger side when I try to start the car. I think it's where the ECU(ECM?) is located and it might be that. Sometimes when it doesn't want to start I lose all electrical power to the car. No lights or anything works. Then a few minutes later I get power back and it may or may not start.
I know the car is old but I love my car and I haven't had anything this enjoyable to drive for years so I would like to keep her running but I have no idea where to start. I am suspecting the ECU/ECM could be bad and maybe that has activated some "limp home" feature which stops the car going anywhere fast? So could it be something as simple as that? Maybe dry out the ECU/ECM (assuming that there may be water or moisture inside) or replace it from an old LS400 if I can find one? Or has anyone come across this symptom before and can confirm that the car is dead or not financially viable repairing?
Kind of miss the old gal and would love to keep her running for another year at least. Can't believe that she could end her days like that, with a whimper while sitting in a puddle. Just not a dignified ending IMHO...
Any and all advice welcome as I'm kind of out of ideas, and money...