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You, sir, are my new personal hero, and if we were both that way inclined i’d offer to marry you. I gave your very specific instructions to a small independent garage that i’ve used for years (I’m not so hot with the whole mending it yourself thing - just ask the missus!) Within 5 minutes the old bolt was out and a suitable replacement installed. Steering feels brand new. As a long time customer the cost was ... zip, zero, nothing. I am a very happy chap today.

A blast from the past. I thought I’d remind everybody how much fun is had on a WelshBlat.. I believe another one is being organised for April 2019. How exciting!

@BUG4LIFE tell us what the exact spec of car you are looking for, year, mileage, number of owners and ball park price as you seem really keen to find an ISF, if we see something or hear of one we can give you the heads up. Might make the process easier for you.

A Lexus should always be the car that passes and folk say ..... what was that whisper. Why else would one drive one? It is called class and subtle elegance.

I guess that the reason why the dealers have "never heard of that as the cause" is because intermediate shaft replacement costs £700 and the bolt I replaced cost me nothing. However, my 2011 CT had a low tensile bolt in it which i replaced with a high tensile bolt. There hasn't been a clunk since. If you kneel by the side of the car with the drivers door open, you can feel the top joint between the steering column and the top clamp of the intermediate shaft without having to remove any covers , or wires etc. If you subsequently sit in the car and turn the shaft to the right position, you can gain access to remove the bolt and replace it with another and torque it up. My £700 saving fix took me 15 minutes using simple tools. Most of those minutes were spent finding a new bolt of suitable size, length and tensile rating ( head stamped 8.8 as opposed to original bolt not stamped at all) The car has done 70000 now and still has no knocking from the intermediate shaft. The choice is yours. I cant see any modern independant mechanic wanting to own up to such a simple fix when there's the potential for a week or two's wages in the balance but there again, I really don't trust modern day fitters anyway. 50% of what I have been told about my Lexus by professionals isn't strictly correct but does somewhat coincidentally err on the side of profit.

So for me the picture that captured the location the weather and of course the is-F was this one taken by none other than @Rusty Crobar Thanx Russ 👍 Big Rat

Becky Blue looking lovely

Well ive had a very productive weekend and ive got loads done, more than i expected tbh! I continued sorting out the body wiring harness and the ecu box relocation. I managed to find some old brackets at work to secure the ecu box, all i had to do was shape them to hold the box and drill the holes to bolt them. The black bracket you can see here just needs straightening slightly. This is the top bracket which will secure to the fuse box bolting point. And this is how its sitting. Just need to remove the brackets now and spray them black to hide them. The next bit was mind numbing...... but strangely i had fun 😂 it was time to extend the harness. Here some stats as i like stats... 67 wires to extend. 134 soldered joints 134 shrink wraps 73 feet of wire (2,077 inches) 1 can of butane gas for my pencil torch No idea how much solder As you can see its not quite finished, i have 15 more wires todo but ran out of heat shrink and my pencil torch packed up! Once done it will be taped up and will cover it with some hard plastic split coating to protect it. The wiring has not cost me a penny, i got a complete vehicle body harness from work off a BMW F30 and just picked out the correct gauge wires (wasnt interested in wire colours) to match that of the wires on the lexus. This is the loom during the hacking. I also acquired loads of loom clips that pin the loom to the body as these will always come in handy. As this came to a halt because of the shrink wraps and pencil torch issue i moved on to the engine. Managed to get the head off pretty quick as alot of the engine was already stripped down. The engine was in fantastic condition inside which you would expect on a 12 year old engine with full service history and just 28k on the clock No signs of any sludge or staining Once the head was off i had a quick look at the pistons and bores and these too are in good condition. Not had the sumps off yet. And thats it for the weekend, looking to finish the loom some time in the week and hit it again next weekend.

It looks a lovey example and the mileage is low . And it’s white . If I was looking for one , I would be really interested in this one

On a new car I would certainly go through insurance. Also, the sonic titanium paint is a PITA to get correct so don't just let any wally have a go. I wouldn't be so sure in the cost at renewal going up - my wife went into the garage door in the IS - Bumper and Fender were replaced at a cost of £2.3k by Lexus and the renewal quote actually went down!!

Very rare to see one ISF never mind that many all at once. Remember meeting up at Lexus Stockport with 4 all together at once. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You should have an aux in socket in the armrest storage. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Some people really need a good beating! I know I can't speak for your situation, but my missus car was hit while parked so she had to make a claim for roughly £800. Come renewal time, there was no increase in premium, which was surprising. I don't get how people do this kind of thing? There is no way someone didn't realise they hadn't done this (and if they did, then they shouldn't be driving!). I have been in a similar situation before when I hit a parked car and did significant damage. No one saw me, and I admit I initially drove away without doing anything, but half way down the road I just couldn't bring myself to let it go, so I went back and left a note. I even felt ashamed for driving off in the first place even though I went back. So, someone has hit your car and just drove off without caring that they have cost you a significant amount of money? I really hope you get the footage and find out who done this.

Its available from Lexus as someone pointed out earlier in the thread for the 2017 model which should fit the earlier models too

ICE forming.....the mids were going to sit behind the ML grills but they were recessed too far back so I'm now in the process of trimming the door panel to accept them. Getting them in at the right angle, tilted slightly in and slightly up in equal measure, left and right

Lovely car, and looking good for quarter of a million miles. MOTs are breakfast to the LS range (if you look after them). Here's to the journey back from the moon

Not every car owner knows they should change the water pump at the same time, so, if they book in for a cambelt change then a cambelt change is all they will get, guesswork on my part. Also, a place in brighton is well recommended here for cambelt change, but, when i asked them for a price they made no mention of getting the pump changed at the same time.........so if an owner does not know about it that 'might' account for things. The car looks great though & no corrosion or rust mentioned underneath. If I were in for one it's one I would be 'more than interested in but I would not be able to identify probs or otherwise with the air suspension on a 430, which makes me nervous of a 16 year old car.

After consideration and all the comments on here I'm taking the warranty with Lexus, just for giggles I priced up after market warranty most of them even on their top package wouldn't cover main dealer labour beyond £50-60 and £1000 a claim and at over £600 a year in cost for a far inferior cover. Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

Spot on there Alan, why o why do they do it. I end up soaked as keep wiping water off door controls on go my jeans lol

I would say hes over the moon. John.

The thing that annoys me, and it's not just Lexus, is that if I have my window slightly open when it's raining water runs off the roof and into the car. And the beautifully designed GS interior means it runs straight onto the window controls! I'm thinking that maybe the wind deflectors may stop this?

You must be out of this world eh ?

If my mum gave me more pocket money I'd buy a century, what a head turner that would be. Not sure I'd look good wearing a cravat though, because I think it would be compulsory to wear one driving a car like that.

Illegal to own a Century unless you are a member of the Diet (Kokkai) -Parliament? But being called 'Oldboy' might get you classified as a 'National Treasure'! (They DO have them!)

They are, I can recommend them to any Lexus owner who lives in the area.

Thanks for replies. Yes it was someone else, am trying to get hold of CCTV footage from the car park. If I get a reg plate, then I will go to the police. Most likely will have to go through insurance! But will cost me more at renewal time! Some pics I've just took. Thanks

I don’t know who would pay that amount of money for this shaft. Seriously overpriced when you look at the US price for it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk