Here I Sit Broken Hearted........

[thatfatbloke]

It grieves me to have to sell her,but no-one seems interested in fixing her. Been to four different garages for a price,not one has got back to me with a price!!.Unless there is someone on here locally that could do it...........

Edited October 28, 2011 by janey
non-gold

[Dale_V]

If you were closer id either fix that for you

Nothing on that list is remotely challenging to repair/replace, so I dunno why the garages dont want to do the work.

Edited October 28, 2011 by janey
reply to non-gold

[thatfatbloke]

I guess the local garages must be snowed under with work and can afford to be picky at the moment!!. Though when you speak to them it's all gloom and doom of course. I had an offer of £300!!. No doubt it's an exporter. Don't really want to go that route - it'd be nice if she could be saved.

Another option is to re MOT her somewhere else,just in case the last lot were after the work. All four coil springs?!!. If needed I could get all the springs new on eBay for £150. How long does it take to do each corner - an hour or so?.As far as I can see the rest of it seems to be mainly freeing stuff up. Around £500 all done?. If so then I suppose,including the purchase price of £500,I'd have a beautiful motor that would last another 200k for a grand.

Edited October 28, 2011 by janey

[Malc]

I'm not at all sure that an option is another MOT, they are computer registered and the failures would not just vanish overnight !

If it was mine I would look at as inexpensively as possible dealing with the failures ( have you tried Benfur / Maurice on here for the springs ? ) and then you will have a car that you want to keep, in fine fettle, for a very long time to come.

Malc

[steve2006]

Let's organise a mini meet and go and fix it up,when mine was accident damaged I had it repaired as I couldn't find another in the same condition even years newer.

There's less than a days work there to sort all the failures out,parts from Maurice,LS400 back on the road.

[thatfatbloke]

Someone is breaking a November '95 LS on a site I'm apparently not allowed to link to. Mine was born in August '95,can I assume that both are MK3's?. Apparently the springs are different on the various MK's.

The previously mentioned member was unable to help when I enquired a couple of weeks ago.

[steve2006]

Sounds good to me both 95 series 3, are you planning to replace just the springs or the whole strut assemblies?

I don't know how much the 2nd hand springs are but these guys do new replacements mail order pretty cheap.

http://www.suttonautofactors.co.uk/buy-online.php

[thatfatbloke]

Thanks for the link Steve,but they were roughly twice the price of the ones I'm keeping an eye on on 'you know where'. I will admit they were KYB springs,the cheaper ones look as though they are called 'Suplex'. Would there be a great deal of difference in the quality?.I've had cheap springs fitted to old Merc's etc before and they've seemed fine.Still waiting to hear from the breaker about cost of used ones,and indeed if they are any good. The 'Suplex' work out at just under £150 for all four delivered. Gonna look at a '96 Audi 2.6 estate later - please stop me!!.

[LowriderUK]

As an alternative, I've got a set of slightly used Tanabe lowering springs you can have for £80. Only done around 1000 miles on a car before switching out to coilovers.

As long as you don't have problems with seized bolts, you could have all four done in a morning. Trickiest part is manoevering around behind the seat back to get to the rear top mounts.

[thatfatbloke]

LowriderUK - thanks for the reply. As i'm not very mechanically minded,how low would those springs make the car?. Would they affect the ride and handling?. Would the 18" wheels be a problem?. Could be interested. Cheers.

[LowriderUK]

LowriderUK - thanks for the reply. As i'm not very mechanically minded,how low would those springs make the car?. Would they affect the ride and handling?. Would the 18" wheels be a problem?. Could be interested. Cheers.

This how mine sat, with 19" wheels, with the Tanabes on. The ride is a little firmer than Lexus waft, but not uncomfortably.

[thatfatbloke]

Well I'm afraid she has gone.A couple of geezers from Sarfend came and picked her up last night.Have you ever seen a 20 stone bloke cry - not a pretty sight!!.I didn't ask what was going to happen to her,it would have only made it worse.They gave me £400 for her,I had only paid £500 in February and not spent anything at all on her in those eight months.Unfortunately I just couldn't raise the £500 needed to re-MOT her. I did consider getting the work done a bit each month,but I need a car for work so I had to make the decision to let her go. Have now got a 2000(W) Saab 9-3 S.E. 2.0 turbo with a long MOT and a bit of tax I managed to find on that well known auction site for £430. She goes nicely and she's only done 3000 miles in the last three years making her a 116,000 miler. No service history at all,but no cambelt to worry about either. Previous (died last year) owner had done all the work himself including a new turbo.

I would like to thank everybody on this forum for the advice I have been given over the last eight months. I must rate this as the best forum I have come across. The LS was undoubtedly the finest out of the 59 cars I have owned and I will never forget her. Who knows,one day I may return to the fold. Thanks again. Ta ta.

[steve2006]

Sorry to hear the LS has gone, I had to make a decision on mine when it was written off by the insurers after an accident but am pleased I got the car repaired.

You don't have to own a Lexus to be a member on here so keep in touch :D