Parking Sensors Ls430 2004

[malc4444]

According to the dash display I have a failed front offside parking sensor.

Surprise, surprise at £205 each I am looking for cheaper alternatives, if there are any.

Any advice gratefully received.

[SteveLS400]

According to the dash display I have a failed front offside parking sensor.

Surprise, surprise at £205 each I am looking for cheaper alternatives, if there are any.

Any advice gratefully received.

I can only comment. Their are plenty of aftermarket sensors and I would be surprised if you couldn't get a full set for the cost of the one. However, I have no idea if one of these could be used as a direct replacement although I suspect they could. You will probably have to expose the offending sensor to view its wiring - take some pics - and then search for alternatives. Sorry can't be specific.

[panopticon]

List price is around 167 plus Vat from Lexus parts, but shop around as may save a fiver - given dealerships are self governing!. These are colour coded Denso models as fitted to LS430, 2001 on, with a basic two pin plastic wiring connector & clip; However you should note that there are two sensor types on both front and rear bumpers, but these are not obvious from viewing the service parts fiche - so you should clearly identify their location; the large ones are situated inside centre front and rear bumper; the rear has two smaller ones each end the front bumper a pair each side.

The electronics will usually correctly identify with 'the check parking sonar' which is out; but you can find more than one has failed as the sonar highlights these sequentially. You can also feel the vibration of the sonar when it is working; usually the paint coating fails on the centres or more often the flexibility in the sensor outer membrane hardens, preventing the sonar system working. FYI Some owners in the US have succesfully stripped the paint back with suitable wetsanding paper and revived them or used penetrating oil to restore the dried out inflexible outer.

The outer ones at the front are accessible via the wheel arch covers and you do not need to remove the entire bumper to change these two on each side - you should still loosen the upper and lower fixing lugs on the appropriate side though. On the older models a new clip (circa 4 pounds) is advisable as these can go brittle due to the nature of the metal clips & plastic hinges - although not strictly necessary - it saves the petrol costs of going back to the dealership should you find you need one with the bumper off!

My advice based on owning a quality car and having basic DIY skills must be to bite the bullet; because making these inoperable via the dash button accentuates further minor collision damage which can be very expensive indeed; and although the aftermarket alternatives are cheap enough, you are doubling up on the labour to fit these (two bumpers off completely, typically) and the product is unlikely to be superior to the integral Lexus system when it is correctly working.

Trust this helps,

[SteveLS400]

Excellant post panopticon, welcome to this wonderful club and resource.

[malc4444]

List price is around 167 plus Vat from Lexus parts, but shop around as may save a fiver - given dealerships are self governing!. These are colour coded Denso models as fitted to LS430, 2001 on, with a basic two pin plastic wiring connector & clip; However you should note that there are two sensor types on both front and rear bumpers, but these are not obvious from viewing the service parts fiche - so you should clearly identify their location; the large ones are situated inside centre front and rear bumper; the rear has two smaller ones each end the front bumper a pair each side.

The electronics will usually correctly identify with 'the check parking sonar' which is out; but you can find more than one has failed as the sonar highlights these sequentially. You can also feel the vibration of the sonar when it is working; usually the paint coating fails on the centres or more often the flexibility in the sensor outer membrane hardens, preventing the sonar system working. FYI Some owners in the US have succesfully stripped the paint back with suitable wetsanding paper and revived them or used penetrating oil to restore the dried out inflexible outer.

The outer ones at the front are accessible via the wheel arch covers and you do not need to remove the entire bumper to change these two on each side - you should still loosen the upper and lower fixing lugs on the appropriate side though. On the older models a new clip (circa 4 pounds) is advisable as these can go brittle due to the nature of the metal clips & plastic hinges - although not strictly necessary - it saves the petrol costs of going back to the dealership should you find you need one with the bumper off!

My advice based on owning a quality car and having basic DIY skills must be to bite the bullet; because making these inoperable via the dash button accentuates further minor collision damage which can be very expensive indeed; and although the aftermarket alternatives are cheap enough, you are doubling up on the labour to fit these (two bumpers off completely, typically) and the product is unlikely to be superior to the integral Lexus system when it is correctly working.

Trust this helps,

Many thanks, a masterly summation of the issues. I'll try wet and dry for starters, and then "bite the bullet".

[ModMan]

Malc,

I sold my 430 a few weeks ago and had a spare parking sensor for it which I gave to the buyer. It's the larger of the two types.

The people that bought the car were www.napiermotorco.co.uk and they've since sold it but perhaps they kept the sensor and would sell it to you, it was silver and 2nd hand but worked fine. If you do call them I think it was Kevin that collected the car from me in Milton Keynes, hopefully he remembers me.

Regards,

Daniel

[Basso]

Hello Malc,

I had the same problem, the thing is that the sensor isn't defect, normally it's because the paint loosend up on the sensor.

When i knew wich sensor it was i scraped the paint of and it worked perfect. After this i repainted the sensor with a pencil and it's still working fine...

Excuse my poor english as i am dutch.....

Bas