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How Could My 16 Year Old Ls400 Let Me Down! Lol


steve2006
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Well, it had to come I guess having never had a suspension part replaced as far as I know the LS went for its MOT and was failed (only) on both front bottom ball joints.

Not a complete disaster as replacing them is,I think,within the scope of my mechanical skills.

So all I needed were the replacement parts so in the following order it was eBay,Motor Factors then Lexus.

Starting with Fleabay they are around £60.00 each plus an extortionate £10.99 P+P for non Lexus parts or some dodgy,going from the negative feedback, replacements listed as in Fife,Scotland but actually from Taiwan for £50.00 a pair.

Sutton Auto Factors didn't do them and Euro Car Parts had non Lexus OEM quality at £65.62 inc VAT each plus delivery.

Fearing the cost I left Lexus until the last resort and was indeed in for a shock but not in the usual sit down and relax I am now going to tell you the price scenario.

Sean the parts manager at Lexus Derby has ordered me the set for £120.00 inclusive and of course these are original Lexus in the nice fancy packing and will be ready for collection on Wednesday due to the Bank Holiday.

So the moral of the story is don't dismiss your dealer when it comes to parts,for some of the older models the prices are quite reasonable, did I really say that!

Ironically the one thing I thought might fail was the NS upper wishbone ball joint as I noticed some play in it, but no mention on the fail sheet or advisory sheet, bravely I asked the tester and it was slight wear but not enough this time to fail, the play was in fact mostly from the well worn lower ball joint which he said,slightly exaggerating I think "could be lifted up and down several inches with a pry bar"

All in all not a bad result £155.00 all in for another years motoring.

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Update, on reflection the garage will fit them for £40.00 so decided I not to get my hands dirty at that price and let them do it.

Sounds a result ! What's the mileage ?

Malc

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i got the ones from taiwan and found absolutely nothing wrong with them.

had them in 4 days.

i think most of the negative feedback about them on eBay is because the seller is in fife and the supplier is in taiwan.

several people on here have used them and i have not seen any bad reports about them.

i'm in ireland and was quoted €400 which is nearly £320 by lexus for both ball joints.

the ones from taiwan including fitting cost me €100(£80).

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Hi Malc,

Mileage is now 70,000 ( was 62,000KM converted to 37,000 when I bought it as an import nearly 5 years ago)so it hasn't done bad considering the state of our roads and those speed humps on the estate where I live,had it remained in Japan it probably wouldn't need them even now.

Hi klexus

I did look at those first but the feedback put me off with mentions of poor quality threads ( I wouldn't like the risk on a critical component) and long delivery times as I need them quickly.

You are probably correct in that the quality is fine but we are only talking an extra £40.00 for the genuine Lexus items ( possibly made in Taiwan!lol.

The parts arrive Wednesday and the car is booked in Thursday.

Strange thing is I have not noticed any knocking sounds but it does like to tramline even after changing the tyres and feels "floaty" at speed.

I will let you all know if this makes any improvement after the job is done.

What is also interesting is that I got the part #s from Toyodiy and the Celsior one is $131.00 compared to $98.00 for the LS but the part numbers are exactly the same!I had this at a Toyota dealer once where they tried to put an "import surcharge" on some parts.I told them I would go to the Lexus dealer and buy the same parts for an LS and they then became the same price.

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Hi,

I had the alignment done about a year ago and it was only slightly out,tyre wear has always been even across all four and castor action is normal but as you suggest I will have it rechecked after the work has been done.

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Well having got the parts this morning I decided to go ahead and fit them myself using the tutorial.

Passenger side went well and was done in about 90 minutes.

However the drivers side has turned into a complete nightmare!! All went well until it came to splitting the ball joint off the lower arm,I managed to break the screw type ball joint splitter!I then tried the hammer approach followed by a jack under the joint but even with the full weight of the car on the joint it will not release from the lower arm,blowlamp more (bigger) hammer and still stuck firm,used a can of WD40 even but its fast.

Looks like I will have to remove the whole lower arm and replace it unless someone has any more ideas?

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Update!

I PM'd Ormi who kindly replied quickly and took his advice of using a hammer in type ball joint splitter.

After finally locating one (everyone was out of stock must be a popular pastime) I was ready to go except it was too small a gap between the fork to fit around the joint.

After modifying it with an angle grinder ( I like the sparks!) it was then a good fit and with it positioned I hit it with a large hammer,three strikes and it was out!!!!!!

Fitted the new joint, reassembled,all correctly torqued,new split pins and back tomorrow for the retest.

Thanks again to Ormi for the excellent advice.

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  • 1 month later...

Sounds like my adventures with the upper OS front ball joint... having split the rubber & knackered the castle nut trying to use a ball joint splitter, the simple lump hammer had the job done in three taps...

My car is showing nearly 190,000 miles, and so far only 2 springs - no other suspension worries, but then, it might have been replaced/repaired before I bought the car (at around 155,000 miles).

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