Tinonline

I should add my 2000 LS 400 passed MOT. Tester said just change the rear tyres for next year. That’s all. And on advisories: well clean the steering rack of a bit of oil seepage. (Doesn’t need top up) and wire brush top rear spring and suspension mounts and apply some Q rust. I was gutted…🧐🤣

Classic! Fails even non trade description requirements. Value scrap. 👍🧐

Great idea and keep the car. 😂

That’s hilarious…like you can borrow a cat.😂 A ratter dog would do it… Buy a plastic rat poison box…use only dark chocolate for a few times: then introduce a large trap that fits exactly to box. Get you’re rat. You can buy as a set. Take out trap and replace with poison. Include chocolate. Leave. Be patient…there’s more than one rat…go looking for the nests.

Oh boy…a rat…my nickname was pied piper of Selborne court…we had a massive rat infestation and I volunteered to tackle it…wiped them out but it took a lot of cunning and months…damaged 2 cars. Seriously also, is there a smell under the bonnet? They will get there and chew on the wiring and cables. Sounds like a main cable in the supply is at fault. If problems started since mechanic touched it that is suspect and I’d be expecting him to check his work or a rat has caused specific damage and may continue so keep opening the bonnet and make noise. Best to set a rat trap too with dark chocolate as bait if it’s a snap trap. I think this is a very annoying issue rather than a show stopper. As long as no further damage ensues. 🫣🤞

You do right not driving the car. So following that you replaced battery cables…and fault remains? You replaced battery after the fault too? Sorry I’m not clear on events sequence…

Hang on…you wiggled the negative lead and it came on? Sorry you did say not a spark ie spark of life. Earth lead and or clean effective earth. there are a number of Earth points but none would cause complete power loss. Except a main power lead. Isn't there a restart sequence following a battery disconnect? If you don’t need to do that then it’s a main connection issue…

Oh woe, woe etc. Get to garage, wife in convoy to lift me back…Oh didn’t I get their text, call? Engineer done his back in, a ramp down, receptionist off sick…’how easy is it to access’ question raised…” Drive back home in convoy. Don’t want it do they… Picked up a small tap & die kit from Screwfix… Going to have the proverbial “ bl***y good go “ at recutting the thread… 🧐

Battery terminals don’t usually misbehave much as said but I suppose like every car something unexpected can come up. What is the battery make and spec? Alternator failure is a more likely issue but if the battery is still in good charge you have a system fault. Diagnosis is best done when the car is not operating correctly. When the car fails what exactly fails and what works and doesn’t work? Everything off - every lamp and light, dash? The more you can describe, increases chance of someone else recognising the problem. 👍🫣

Yup needed a second jack. The wheel jack worked fine and it hasn’t been used to date…spotless and I had to wrestle it free from the mould! It went under the cross member and did the trick. Knowing that Razor61 had to use a second jack took a lot of stress out of getting it to fit.👍😉 All back in, bar one bolt. I managed to get an appointment at a local garage where the specialist visits - he would not do a mobile visit as he’s quite rightly given up crawling under vehicles. I know the mount replacement is going to make a big big difference…I’ll keep you posted on the bolt thread repair. Will be a week’s time.

How many times do you read of repair jobs that take folk minutes…and your experience points in a different direction? This is a long story… Having bought a gearbox mount from I can’t spell it Aramera or whatever as usual I got a bargain for a bit over 30 quid OEM. Jacked the car up, propped gearbox with the Jack and dinner table place mats in a bag to spread the load and set about the job. My newish fabricated Y exhaust section is a bit off normal location so the big bolts had to come out with a spanner and even then one bolt: longer front one on one side would come clear so I manoeuvred the alloy cross member about to get clearance to the mounting bolts. Nothing. To buy more space I took the Jack away from the gearbox noting minimal drop but… Back around to other side of car…wiggle and bolt drops out…cross member free so I have clear albeit close access. No idea how that happened but it’s a result. But not good. Big faff. Time ticks. First bolt out ok. (Securing mount to gearbox.) Now for second…snap. That was enough for one day so I ordered a new set of bolts and went to screw fix for drill bits, punches, extractor bits. So. Get broken one sorted in situ now or try other bolts? Called a bolt removal specialist: sorry trade only, please? No trade only. Another mobile mechanic failed to call back and another thread man doesn’t do my patch. Classic garage I know said they do t do that sort of thing. Right. Next day and a rest: sprayed the remaining 2 bolts that looked in worse condition…so slowly and gentle small movements commenced their undoing. Luckily it wasn’t my undoing. They came free and so did the mounting. Mounting looked ok and I wondered where the vibration and slight noise was coming from, everything else in ok order. Now looking closer…after 22 years and just about to hit 100k…just have a look at this… pictures below… Snapped bolt: Drilled a pilot hole after punching a hole. A bit off centre I drilled and after ages cut a small hole. Tried the extractor: nothing useful happening at all. Drilled more, tried again: no result. Sprayed top end of the bolt - it’s hard to reach. Pipes are close and I can’t smack anything with a hammer. Upsized drill bit after ages drilled through the bolt. Tried extractor: useless. Tried again: useless. Don’t want to break it. Upsized drill bit again and that’s the limit: drilled though the bolt. Managed to chip out lower piece of the bolt from one side but the threads seem mostly covered by the husk of the old bolt. I can’t tell if some shoulder damage is old bolt or shoulder… Ok now tap and die time. But I’m trying the thread specialists again now I have everything exposed…so to speak. I’ll take it to them…I’ll remove the mounting…whatever…I’m not doing any more. 10 minutes…🧐

Yup I’d start here as it’s a relatively quick replacement and worth doing anyway.

How things turn… So my son’s Merc is definitely for sale and I’ll expedite that. As much as I’ve improved and worked on the car, it’s a biter…something about it that’s just fiddly and fussy. The seats are nice and firm but too hard on lower back. The internal bulbs are expensive and horrid to replace. The tax is bonkers. So keep the Lexus 400 and in due course son will buy a bonkers car that we’ll get to use and look after. 😁 My better half uttered the magic words: “so how much would it cost to sort out the Lexus?” A few bob but it’ll transform the motor to a higher value.

My Merc was fitted with them too going back a few years. My Independent Merc garage gave up sourcing Textar from distributors and went back to buying Textar from Merc as they were getting too many unhappy customers complaining about squealing brakes.

As mentioned it’s no good skipping down the motor factor and buying cheap Textar, Javid et al pads they are not the same spec that these manufacturers give to the vehicle manufacturer. Take Denso coil on plugs: even supplied to Jaguar in the 2000’s these failed regularly so they were a service item. Denso units to Lexus? Long lifetime of the vehicle!

You do get a bit of drag sound with OEM pads but they have ceramic content and it may depend upon temperature? Rayaans mentioned Brembo and I rate them. They have, thus far, retained quality having come into the mainstream market and dumped their prices. Btw Blueprint air filter: ok but change every year; carbon cabin filter is very good. Some Blueprint items are high priced for the acceptable quality…

I’m not a slave to OEM but I do prefer it. OEM brakes are the dog’s b’s and are fit and forget (notwithstanding servicing clean) for miles. I’ve just fitted Blue Print filters, Fuchs oil for this years’ budget service and I’m delighted with the results. I sprayed the MAF with MAF cleaner and the works are smoother and quieter than ever. I didn’t expect it at all. OEM may be made by various manufacturers but parts are made to manufacturer specification. Jarrid do Merc brakes and Gates do Merc pulleys and aux belts…but to Merc spec. I have OEM brakes all round. 👍

Hi. I doubt there’d be such an erratic rise in the case of a thermostat. The gauge shows over cool or worse case too high. That leaves the sender unit itself (cheaper fix and test) or the gauge.

Yep let’s stay on topic. This forum sticks to topic if you want to make another point feel free to start a new one.

Interesting to see at top of the market just before a recession, owners bailing on their 400’s, obviously trade included. I’ve also seen on the face of it, good examples been shovelled at very low money. Like all cars…they can look great but underneath or inside are really poor. Mine is part shed part excellent but well sorted as they say. Just serviced it. Sub 100k interior fab. At a cross roads really… as it might be time for another owner to press on with it. My son’s Merc is for sale and I’ve a very good family offer having tended it into a well sorted, low mileage motor. I was told not to sell the year 2000 400 by an indie Lexus specialist a few years ago. So wheels, bumpers, dings separate from a top classic…that’s all, but probs a couple of £k. and yes a few bits at £500 tops. But not mechanical: trim side. So if you want to shift your mettle do it now . I’ve been here before. Prices will remain high/the same but there won’t be buyers. A big correction will follow. But for the 400? It’s undervalued already. The trade don’t get it and can’t shift it. It’s the classic car market that will embrace the value and the marque, but not yet.

Oh and you have OEM parts. Good. If not cleaned by garage take out pads clean discs and pads with brake cleaner, rid callipers of soot, re grease, put back. See that no stones, grit, stuff rubbing. 👍 If it’s abs one side will grab and kind of skid on slow stop or kick in at end of your braking as vehicle comes to a halt. Sensors are a tight fit so if they won’t wiggle out, very gentle all around especially at bolt locations with a thin blade/screwdriver prise mm by mm. Then they should start to let go.

Well there’s the perfect advice above! Its a pull out. You’ll see a rust build up around the area so block hole and as carefully as poss sandpaper or file away but gently does it. Then get to the rings. My issue was new wheel bearing and clean ring one side and on untouched side a lot of grease on the toothed ring. So removed the grease, cleaned up and this process equalised the condition of both rings. End of issue that was locking one wheel on coming to a halt from low speed.👍🧐😁

It’s a good start…do clean the gear wheels of the abs with ear buds you’ll need quite a few and on removing the sensor which may take gentle wiggling and persuasion…you’ll see the teeth through the hole… You mentioned your brakes were inspected…were they cleaned too? With the wheels off the ground might be worth checking there’s no play in the wheel bearings.

Also a symptom of a MAF unit failure. Some cars will run with the MAF disconnected…it’s a good way of fault testing as the car won’t stall and it seems to be a bit of a safety/get home.

Agreed … if there’s no stone or dust guard or suspension related issue it might a simple job of removing front wheels and abs sensors: cleaning and cleaning the gear rings in situ. A sensor might be faulty so replacing both would be one method but OE is a bit steep on the wallet. Plenty of good alternates. I believe the abs would tend to grab though and it’s usually on one side… Do you have OE brakes? Plenty of non OE pads will make a noise…