Tinonline

Absolutely. Install my wife anywhere in the car.

Doesn’t sound right but this is ringing a bell. I needed a Mercedes part for son’s motor so rang local Merc dealer/outlet: out of stock, lines of flags dealer…they didn’t have it in stock and couldn’t get from Germany. Bought it at a discounted rate from Mercedes of Newcastle. Buckets of bllcks and depends upon the group franchise owning the Merc or for that matter the Lexus partnership. As with Lexus Parts online in Swindon vs other franchises.

Yep I’m delaying the inevitable…let’s see how long it lasts…

This wfh has meant the LS400 has collected Sahara dust and Berkshire’s spiders’ webs. Just as well I checked things out before an hours journey to see my youngest performing in Richard III at a top drama school…top means costs. Flickering of dash instruments and little else. Lunch break: rapid removal and fast charge for 3 hours. Refit: return journey of a good 2+hours so well charged up. Amazing play btw directed by a duo of top directors. A week and more: car whipped into life…I’ll slow charge it overnight in a few weeks time. Battery is over 5 years old. So Prudence…where does she come in? With every price and tax heading upwards, well north. I’m adopting a hold pattern…which most airlines can’t even do at the moment…if ever. My friends here, know I work to stay OEM. This year is hold. I do little mileage but it’s well driven and enjoyed. Drama school is not the same as Uni so grants are from pockets… My Alfa in Spain…a fab wreck 155 Sport needs work plus a service (I do service) so: This year I’m servicing the Lexus with Fuchs fully synthetic oil, blueprint oil and air filter plus cabin. But for £80 I also get the Alfa oil, cabin, air filters. One supplier and no postage. I’d say good quality if not excellent…but we can’t tell can we? I can’t ship a cat converter to Spain but have to shell out over €300 in country as UK ones are not type compliant with Europe…didn’t take long did it? I will have to go through the Spanish parts chain…fitting and labour are nothing…parts prices are painful. It’s the old car syndrome. Cost and return and even though I can run to OEM there are times to be measured. Already, I see the distributors shoving up and over playing prices. Upward costs they scream…exactly, we say, and agree, but we don’t and won’t pay. 🧐😁 What do you say?

Hang on…if the metal blade is intact you can buy the plastic housing and fit the existing metal blade can’t you?

It’s worth replacing the fitting kits but they are generally very hard wearing and if looking stressed or worn definitely. They usually take a lot of mileage…and I’d always defer to steve2006. 😁

A fair point raised. Running any car is expensive…is it worth running a 400 using a garage? At 90k miles a lot of makes are probably not in as good a place as a Lexus. I’m glad I’m a home mechanic…sometimes. I reckon I pay from £100 to £400 per annum. I’m at 98k. Low use. I am proactive as much as possible. Prices to date are reasonable for the majority of OE parts but it does require shopping around and sometimes importing. Quality OE suspension parts are a challenge. I’m in the club that would like licensed parts suppliers manufacturing to OEM standard. Yes we will pay more. There’s a lot of rubbish and counterfeit. Big name suppliers are also guilty of divesting their top brands to cheap manufacturers or selling out. We find out eventually but not before paying for it. We are entering the phase of classic car ownership. Yes, even the Lexus requires a rebuild of some scale.

I think it’s greenwash. Diesel is still appalling, I know every little helps but…classic and older cars are not pressing new steel and plastics with less mileage. There are bigger fish but they’re not easy enough and there is vested interest. Just use Premium…

Oh no that doesn’t sound like a thumping fix. If it doesn’t read correctly sounds like posting it to a specialist will sort that out. My speedo is mainly ok now and seems to have stopped sticking. Bound to happen again but it’s better for sure. hope yours self heals. 👍🤞

Hi and welcome Check the car will run on E10 fuel or having said that most cars shouldn’t 👍🧐🤪 I don’t use E10! Are you able to do any maintenance yourself?

Yup unless you are doing stellar mileage…I’d stick to E5 highest octane. No way am I running the new E10. I’m all for progress and new tech…E10 does not qualify for me.

Hi that’s a familiar thing…I spend fretting moments wondering if it’s the camber of the road or the steering wheel is ever so slightly off. This has nothing to do with fixing the other side. The garage needs to make the adjustment ensuring the steering wheel is absolutely bang on centre point during and after the adjustment. They rely on the steering wheel clamp and that’s just lazy. I’ve had to take my car back a couple of times on this issue. On one of the occasions the steering wheel was well off.

There’s a Merc indy I was chatting too a while ago: they gave up with non OE as the quality wasn’t up to it and too many customers complained. Textar will deliver a very different product to an OE application than to a discount warehouse distributor. Someone pays and reputation doesn’t seem to be much of a consideration…

Off the cuff…probs nothing serious…there are solenoids for adjusting to air con demands and an idle valve. Might be one of these. Any codes thrown? Usual basics apply ensuring no vacuum leaks, good air filter, clean MAF and throttle body (usually ok to 100k miles without touching). MAF failures usually cause stalling and disconnecting the unit runs ok… What mileage are you at?

Yes…agree. Amayama have gone up in my estimations as I’ve bought OE items for silly money e.g. bonnet catch £26 all in, instead of £50 and gearbox mount £36 all in instead of £60 to £70, all OE, bagged and part numbered etc etc. Maybe they’re worth a look if you can wait a week or so for delivery?

Absolutely…they use the same manufacturers around the World and specify their own requirements. Car brands make very few of their own parts. If you go to Lexus Parts Direct in Swindon for example, (I have no associations other than a satisfied customer) you expect OE parts. Over the years I’ve had such grief with pad quality including the Textar bad years where they were just below average and noisy I now buy OE at the best price I can. Replacement cheap as chips Lexus pads won’t have ceramic content, won’t perform as well or last as long. That suits many motorists fair enough, I prefer to fit and forget for as long as possible. 😁

Oh…that’s not what I’d expect from Lexus Parts at all…I wouldn’t have been happy with that…🧐

That doesn’t sound right…was it presented in the OE Toyota parts box?

Have you tried Lexus Parts Direct in Swindon…part of a Lexus dealership? They post etc and have the OE at good prices so you get the top quality and ceramic content etc…

Well good, as these cars are criminally undervalued. But it’s the last of the line 400 for me for the performance and relative easier maintenance over early variants.

I had a big couple of blows from my Y section and further up…nothing deemed an MOT failure which I found staggering. They were proper holes. I’d recommend fixing the exhaust…maybe an O2 sensor is failing… My LS400 failed an MOT 2 years ago on emissions at idle. I replaced the air filter and ran Cataclean through on 1/4 tank of fuel. Passed on retest and no further problems. Y section was a later issue.

Ah so you’re at the same car/similar mileage age etc. as my car. Lower control arms can be trouble. If I get any more knocking or noise it will be the UCAs. They seem to be ok though…

I’ll let you know. I’m coming to the probs obvious one that 22 years in and with some mileage…those bushed parts just need replacing and us drivers get used to a drop off in performance although we might not be happy about it. We really get it when we get the car back to original spec… But it’s that juggle of what to replace and when…mechanic I used to know said if it ain’t broke don’t fix it…that might be too reactive but we don’t want to waste time and money doing pointless work when the objective is effective cost control and sustainability…the latter is not appreciated by government…keeping an old vehicle on the road is absolute sustainability…optimisation particularly if their mileage is low. 🧐😁

It’s that Lexus front end journey we are often are all on. 😶‍🌫️ I had the lower control arms done with pressed in OEM bushes, new lower ball joints and a wheel bearing driver’s side. The front anti roll bar bushes have made a big difference. The problem is the MOT just does not pick up wear when we as drivers are hearing and feeling it… Get a bar under the wheel and check for movement for UCA…but what is your mileage and age of vehicle? We are lucky we’re not running Jaguars…they need suspension at 30 to 40 k miles not the the 80-100 + where we are at… I need to road test more but my creaking seems to have gone with the anti roll bar bushes…maybe less stress and strain on other components? No idea…