Oh Well....

[thatfatbloke]

Just took my beloved LS for MOT. Dismal fail - big time!!. All four coil springs broken,emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits,offside rear (feed) brake pipe excessively corroded,nearside and offside rear parking brake recording little or no effort,parking brake efficiency below requirements,front brakes imbalanced. Also five advisories which I won't bother you with.

How could there be that much wrong with it and it still be a beautiful thing to drive?. Surely with all four coil springs broken,wouldn't it handle like a sack of s**t?. It would cost a fortune to repair her and it's too dangerous to use,so I'll have to weigh her in tomorrow.

I only had her eight months - but what a beautiful eight months that was.

[Mybikesacx500]

Well, Boils down to a new brake line, freeing up all the frozen brakes, and fitting 4 "second hand?) springs, then a good thrash down the motorway to get some carbon out the engine

[thatfatbloke]

Now I can see through the tears,I see the emissions weren't far off. Max limit is 1.030 - actual value 1.129 on second test,1.132 on first. Injector cleaner and a good blat down the by-pass as Mybikesacx500 says?. Plus the other bits if I can source used springs,it may not be as bad as I first thought.

Now the advisories - front exhaust has minor leak of gases,one tyre close to limit,both front brake hoses slightly deteriorated,poss dodgy front number plate.

[thatfatbloke]

CO and HC readings good. Max CO = 0.300,actual = 0.001. Max HC = 200,actual = 9.

[thatfatbloke]

This stuff to do with the parking brake - is that why when I apply the parking brake the car 'rocks' to and fro slightly (about 3-4 inches) when I take foot off brake?. It's always done that.

[Malc]

Coil springs from Benfur then and the Advisories won't have changed next year I guess ! Just get a new tyre maybe or is the spare anygood !

Must be worth sorting out to give you a further 5 years trouble free motoring.

Malc

[trackerman]

If the h/brake is shoes inside the disc it might be worthwhile putting it half on and having a slow short drive,due to the design the linings don't get a regular clean the same as other h/brakes.

[Scribe]

Surely the advisories are 'normal' for any car? I mean, even LS400s suffer from wear and tear - they are machines, after all.

[Bluesman]

Coil springs from Benfur then and the Advisories won't have changed next year I guess ! Just get a new tyre maybe or is the spare anygood !

Must be worth sorting out to give you a further 5 years trouble free motoring.

Malc

The spare wheel does not have to come into the MOT. There is no legal requirement to have a spare wheel.

Mike

[LowriderUK]

Coil springs from Benfur then and the Advisories won't have changed next year I guess ! Just get a new tyre maybe or is the spare anygood !

Must be worth sorting out to give you a further 5 years trouble free motoring.

Malc

The spare wheel does not have to come into the MOT. There is no legal requirement to have a spare wheel.

Mike

Mike, no-one is saying that the spare wheel is tested. Just commenting that swapping a 'good' spare onto the corner where the 'advised' tyre is would remove the advisory.

[Mybikesacx500]

Parking brake adjustment is not to hard, it's like the old drum brake setup, line up the hole with the adjuster and crank it round with a screwdriver blade. Did mine recently, I was expecting the 19 year old adjusters to be stiff or frozen, not at all, its a Lexus so they moved as if brand new

[thatfatbloke]

Thanks for the replies and advice. Not bothered about the advisories at the moment. I've given the fail sheet to 'my man' and he's gonna get back to me with a price soon. Who are 'Benfur' can't find a website for them. My baby has 18" wheels fitted,but only the original 16" spare,not much use really. Have found some new springs on fleabay at prices varying from £33 to £99 each. Would the cheaper ones suffice or would they be a waste of money?. Could the bigger wheels and tyres have contributed towards the demise of the springs?. Due to being off work for four months after having a hip replacement,I haven't got a lot of dosh to chuck about at the moment. But having thought about the option of spending say £500/600 on another car and weighing in the Lexus to go towards the new car, I would prefer to spend the money on getting the Lexus right.

[thatfatbloke]

My link

[Bluesman]

Coil springs from Benfur then and the Advisories won't have changed next year I guess ! Just get a new tyre maybe or is the spare anygood !

Must be worth sorting out to give you a further 5 years trouble free motoring.

Malc

The spare wheel does not have to come into the MOT. There is no legal requirement to have a spare wheel.

Mike

Mike, no-one is saying that the spare wheel is tested. Just commenting that swapping a 'good' spare onto the corner where the 'advised' tyre is would remove the advisory.

I only mentioned it as some people are not aware of this. Wont bother again

Mike

[thatfatbloke]

Seems a bit odd that last year (before I bought her) she went straight through the MOT with no advisories,yet 4000 miles later she has four springs that have been broken 'quite a long time'. Hmmmm....

[Malc]

Might be that the springs were broken for many years and have just been noticed !

Not the same MOT station presumably ?

Malc

[Malc]

And Benfur / Maurice is on here !

Malc

[steve2006]

Coil springs from Benfur then and the Advisories won't have changed next year I guess ! Just get a new tyre maybe or is the spare anygood !

Must be worth sorting out to give you a further 5 years trouble free motoring.

Malc

The spare wheel does not have to come into the MOT. There is no legal requirement to have a spare wheel.

Mike

Mike, no-one is saying that the spare wheel is tested. Just commenting that swapping a 'good' spare onto the corner where the 'advised' tyre is would remove the advisory.

I only mentioned it as some people are not aware of this. Wont bother again

Mike

Don't dispair Mike it was a valid point worth mentioning, even though it is not included it still needs to be legal and in a serviceable state should it need to be fitted after a puncture.

Mine has a space saver spare I wouldn't trust it at 30MPH nevermind up to 50MPH!

There are some good VOSA guides online with loads of infomation as to what is or isn't included in an MOT.

[thatfatbloke]

Last MOT done in Ely Cambs. this one in Eastbourne East Sussex. My old Merc 190 needed one,a Volvo estate needed one,never had four go before.Would love to know how long these have gone 'un-noticed'!!. I can't imagine life without my baby,silly how you can get attached to a car.Of the 59 cars I've owned this is easily the best,the only one that could come close was my old W124 Merc 300se (god rest her soul).

[gregers]

im in eastbourne,where was the mot done?

i take my cars to just mots in bexhill.

as thats all they do,so there not searching for needless work.

i dont trust garages that do mots and servicing.

[Staffsshot]

Surprised as anyone to hear all 4 coil springs fail.

I was under the impression they were stainless steel, or is that a later model ?

Safety is of course paramount but I would be inclined to get it retested at an alternative garage for a second opinion

[LowriderUK]

Surprised as anyone to hear all 4 coil springs fail.

I was under the impression they were stainless steel, or is that a later model ?

Safety is of course paramount but I would be inclined to get it retested at an alternative garage for a second opinion

Or, probably more cost effective, simply look underneath the car at the springs?

[steve2006]

Surprised as anyone to hear all 4 coil springs fail.

I was under the impression they were stainless steel, or is that a later model ?

Safety is of course paramount but I would be inclined to get it retested at an alternative garage for a second opinion

Or, probably more cost effective, simply look underneath the car at the springs?

Problem with springs is that they tend to break either at the very top or bottom making it difficult to spot for an untrained eye.

Does make me wonder how all 4 have failed at the same time and whether the previous owner was aware of the defects when selling.

Are there roadhumps around where you live? Having said that I have to pass over 10 of them to get off and back to my home on the estate but have never exceeded walking pace going over them and never had a broken spring ( still on the originals). Driving style will obviously have an effect.

[Scribe]

Steve's right - I mentioned this to my mechanic this morning, and he said that the springs usually break at the very top, which can be difficult to spot unless the car's on a hoist. The remainder of the spring still has some 'spring' so you don't necessarily realise that it's broken. Thank you, speed humps.

[thatfatbloke]

im in eastbourne,where was the mot done?

i take my cars to just mots in bexhill.

as thats all they do,so there not searching for needless work.

i dont trust garages that do mots and servicing.

It was done at Seaside Garage,Fairlight Road following a recommendation for being fair!!. I'll probably get told off for naming the garage,but heyho. I don't think they were after work,surely they would know that to fail a car of that age with so many faults would send most owners to the scrapyard to weigh it in wouldn't they?.

(I'll get the hang of this 'quoting' and 'link' stuff one day).