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Hi everyone, You may have seen me over on the introductions page, but if not I'm Andy and I've just recently purchased a 2005 LS430 with only 65,000 miles on the clock. While in fairly good condition, it does have a few issues that need to be taken care of. Is is nearly 15 years old after all. A lot of what I'll be doing to the car is preventative maintenance, as I need this car to be as reliable as possible (which shouldn't be too difficult in one of these). I'm planning on having the car converted to LPG fairly soon. I have a long commute so the cost of the conversion should take me less then a year to recoup. With the local LPG station near my home selling for 57p per litre and the one next to my work selling for 63p, I'll have the benefit of driving a full size luxury car with Toyota reliability and the running costs of a diesel family car. I was going to wait until I had the car properly detailed before I made this post but decided I should show the car first the way I got it. So here it is in its current state. Please forgive my parking job, I'm still getting used to driving such a big car. This is a big upgrade from my 2006 Volvo S60 D5. I can't fault it too much though, I bought it for 4k 3 years ago, doubled the mileage and it's now on 150k with life still left in it. But as dependable as it was, it's terrible to drive. I drove the old girl after a week of being in the Lexus and the difference is shocking. How I did 75,000 miles in that thing is beyond me. So, back to the Lexus. A low mileage example, but with a few faults. The car was advertised as having full service history, but it turned out to be partial. I already knew it needed a cambelt service so was ready to negotiate. In the end I'm happy with the deal I got, and it leaves me with some pennies left for a few jobs that need doing. So today I gave the car a full service using all genuine Lexus/Toyota parts. Oil, filter, new spark plugs, air filter, cabin filter and a new battery. Thanks to Daniel at Lexus Parts Direct for getting these out to me so quickly and helping me find the correct parts I needed. Thought I'd use the ramps today so save time using my big heavy trolley jack and axel stands. I'll reconsider this next time. You need a feather touch to get this beast on a set of ramps, it was fairly dicey. Note the scrape marks on the driveway, we slid a bit. And take no notice of the oil stains. That's from my old car, and I'll finally clean that now I have a car that has no leaks (and yes I checked). The car looked like it had been serviced fairly recently. Cheapo air and cabin filters I'd never heard of, but at least it had a MANN oil filter and NGK spark plugs. The existing filters looked pretty new, and the spark plugs didn't look too bad but I changed them out for good measure anyway. The underside of the car is what can best be described as "mildly crusty". Looking at the history of the car it seemed to have lived in Scotland. Nothing too bad. Suspension components seem fine for now, drives very nice. I am concerned about how long that exhaust has left, but we'll cross that bridge when/if we come to it. Some other goodies have come in the post. Mainly some supplies to restock my dwindling car cleaning kit. I hadn't been cleaning the old car as much as I should have been. There's more than this, it came in two boxes. The car could do with a good machine polish, but for now I'm going to give it a proper wash, clay bar it, apply some wax etc. Also going to focus on the interior as it needs some love. I've got interior fabric cleaner, leather cleaner and conditioner etc. I think she should polish up nice for nearly 15 years old. I also picked up and xCarLink iPod adapter, and a Brodit mount to go with the existing holder I have for my phone. Still awaiting on some parts for this so more on that later. Tomorrow I'll be giving the car a proper clean, and hopefully if I have time changing the serpentine belt which looks like it's had better days. Euro Car Parts don't stock too many decent parts for the LS430, but they do have ContiTech belts and are currently having a big sale so I've got one reserved. The car is booked in with Lexus next week for a full cambelt service and water pump replacement. They gave me a very good price, comparable to an indy with the added bonus of being given a courtesy car. Next weekend it's booked at a garage local to me for an alignment/suspension geometry, and to check that the wheels are balanced right. There's a bit of a wobble at around 70MPH. Also going to see if they can re-gas the air conditioner, the recent weather we've had has revealed that the A/C isn't blowing as cold as it probably should. I've ordered a separate cooler for the gearbox which hopefully should prevent any failures in the future. Not sure when I'll get to fix this, but I'm thinking I might swap out the radiator and flush the gearbox at the same time. Really the only other issues it has is the electronic steering wheel adjustment doesn't work properly, and one of the rear lights is letting in water. And fingers crossed, some time next month it's going to have the LPG conversion all finished.

Just bought myself a secondhand Quicksilver exhaust from a chap called John who had an RCF a while ago. So the mods begin, I've ordered a set of Vossen 10 spoke concave wheels in satin bronze so I may have to keep this car at least 14 months.

Watch out for those cannons 😎

Well I took my wife yesterday to Homebase to buy a small tin of outside paint. She has been talking recently about getting some more storage space in the garage for household items to free up cupboard space in the house. Well we encountered a very stylish garage Workstation unit with stainless finish drawers and cupboards. Drawers run nicely and are all lined in black foam. A nice wooden worktop finishes it off nicely. At £749 it's exceptionally good value compared to other tool units and is huge at 72 inches long. Sadly I have spent this afternoon moving everything to fit it in when it arrives on Monday 😂😂😂

Update. Arrived after 2 days in shipping. Re the reship, I think the service from strutmasters would have been better albeit more expensive. However after a lot of messing, 480 USD for shipping in total and 250 eur duty they are here and survived the journey. Installed today. About 90 mins each side. Pretty painless. DON'T FORGET TO TIE UP THE KNUCKLE. Re the ride. It's transformed. Much better than I had hoped. All knocks gone and I left the original lower bushings in place. Much more solid and connected to the road. As soft as standard air. That wonderful tyre noise you get from a tight suspension over bumps is evident for the first time in my ownership. Even the engine shut off is smoother as the vehicle isn't rocking on the bags. I thought the motor mounts were also gone. Turns out everything else seems quite tight after c. 95k miles. Backs are not done yet and compressor is not complaining or always on. Front is slightly higher than rear until I get them done. It's a totally different car. You'd have to do the upper arms as is did to realise the benefits I'd say. I'll update again once rears are in. I'm very happy.

Clever!

So I called Lexus the other day and asked if that price included a new tensioner/pulleys. I was expecting a no but to my surprise it did! Cracking deal if you ask me. Started a proper thread now for the car over here.

Hi, For the past 15 years i have been a BMW driver, current i drive a 730D in full spec. Because of the diesel bashing, and the rising taxes on diesel drivers i started to look around for something else. A plug-in hybrid is not an option since i live in the city and i can't charge my car overnight. So almost by accident i ended up in the Lexus showroom, and the ES caught my attention at once. I arranged a halfday testdrive with the car ( privilege level ) to see what the buzz was about. I must admit i started with low expectations , coming from a 6cyl diesel with massive torque, i was ready to be disappointed. A few things i noticed as i took off. The cabin was nice and overall of good build quality, bar a few niggles mostly on the lower parts of the cabin, i was satisfied with the materials. Music is important for me and i was very happy to note that the Mark Levinson 17 speaker was sounding a lot better than my Bowers and Wilkinson 4500£ stereo in my 7. Another hit was the head up display , an option i can not live whit-out anymore, the ES display is wiiideeee ! and clear! The seats as far as i can tell match those in my 7 in comfort, and the safety systems (lane assist, cruise control etc, etc..) work as good as in my present car, and above all , man this is a silent car wow! it beats my 7 easy when it comes to silence ! Now the drivetrain and engine, it took me an hour before i understood the concept of a hybrid CVT, but then i got going. It takes some getting used to, coming from a powerful car, but if you drive it like a comfort car then the whole concept works. Those looking for slides, RWD, sharp hairpin steering etc.. should look elsewhere, but at my age (i'm 55 ) comfort goes over sporty, i don't want my teeth rattling when'd driving over our deteriorating roads, and my back give me enough problems as it is whitout adding 22 inch wheels to it. And as far as the power of the engine is concerned; where i live you are either stuck in slow traffic or traffic jams or the speedcamera's take out all the fun of driving fast, so a lot of good those 6 cylinders will do you! of the 20 000 miles i did last year there were maybe 200 miles where i really could enjoy the speed and power of my 6 cylinders in an undisturbed way , if you take in the extra cost of ownership, taxes etc.. those were 200 very expensive miles! So i reckon the downgrade of power will take a few weeks getting used to, but all the other aspects are very promising indeed, ordered mine !

Hi John, I agree with you, the plan was to buy 2 off and in a few moths 2 more so I am prepared for a Scottish winter. I am sure you can mix Cross Climates with other tyres, well, some people mix winter with cheap summer tyres and not a single garage tell them no no, I am perfectly aware this is not a good practice and if I do it it it will only be for a short time and even then I doubt that as I want to do wheel alignment so 4 new tyres is perfect which is a shame as 2 rears I have only has done less than 8k miles and looks almost new! My coleugue drives Civic which was on 4 Cross Climates, when he had a puncture beyond repair, Honda put another tyre so he can just pass an MOT and never said it is not advisable! I know it is not safe, a few years back I wanted to buy Subaru Outback, after I turned for a test drive I found that it has 4 (four) different tyres, never seen that, so I told the sale rep that Manual says never mixed tyres no Subaru 4 wheel drive and I want them to be the same make, his reply was - as long as they are above legal limit they won't change any of them so I just left the garage! Anyway, my point is: I know it is bad for handling, braking, acceleration but why garages are still letting people do that!

Yep, perfectly normal. You should also notice that, because hot air rises and cold air falls, the airflow will start with the face vents so that it cools the cabin as it falls. In winter you'll notice the opposite; warm air will come from the footwell first so that it warms the cabin as it rises.

It wasn't the top of my list of color combinations but I do like it now. Would have preferred a black interior though. I've always had black cars before which look great, providing you wash, polish and wax them about every 30 minutes. I have no idea if the previous owner was a member, I only joined the forum shortly before buying the car. I don't have the new log book yet but based on the bluetooth settings and past private plates it was owned by somebody called Roy. The car check I did said I'll be owner #4. Perhaps it was first registered to Lexus but it appears it was bought in '06 by Mr 13 TT who kept for 3 years, while Roy has had it for a decade! He must have liked it. Both of them actually seeing how both of those plates are currently assigned to a Lexus LS460.

Hi John, I think Black is a bit gloomy for me and the red wood makes my teeth itch 😁 (beauty is in the eye of the beer-holder etc), I’m pretty flexible on the rest. Good shout re speaking to the dealer! I’ll pop into my local one in Reading and see if they will spill the beans. Jeff, I do like a stamped book, equally I do all my own maintenance (where possible), maybe I should get a bit braver and look at higher mileage ones (scope creep to LS600H approaching!) Rgds Jim

Check this thread that had a 'no water at Jets' problem https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-2nd-gen-2006-2013/916433-windshield-washer-pump.html paul m.

Yes, my pump failed and I replaced it myself, see more details here:

The first time I needed to replace the tyres on my IS, I went for Dunlop Sport Maxx. I hated them! In cold weather (below about 7C) they skipped and juddered, especially when I was reversing and turning, even gently, well away from full lock. I considered winter tyres but here in the south west there are probably only 2 days in a typical year when full winter tyres would be really useful. So, when I needed to change them a few months ago, before winter set in, I decided to try Michelin Crossclimates. They were SO much better. As it stands I'll be sticking to them in future unless I find they degrade too quickly, but so far there doesn't seem to be any signs that they might.

Yes there are two pumps. When you operate the switch, do you hear the pump running?

Suspension was revised three years running - 2011, 2012 and 2013. IS-F v1.pdf

Can't wait to find out what is and what coming from an ex F owner does to how you view other automotive brand ownership.

Had a pleasant little gift arrive today It's the little things that make the difference Happy Easter

Update on Takumi now getting 53mpg doing around town and motorways done over 6000 miles since getting the car last week of jan 😱 the auto function on seats is awesome as mine has heated and cooled seats and it senses temp in car and puts them on for you if car hot puts cooled on and vice versa I am armchair driver so the comfort is great, I do i lot of miles for work and get out after loads of miles feeling great. The power is enough for me not a speed freak but its quick for overtaking the adaptive cruise works brill even slowing down and stopping at juctions then setting off on its own all i can say still having lexus orgasm every time i drive it 😂😱 vince

You should be able to see if the bushes need changing, they are viewable with just a bit of jacking up. If they are well worn you will have a similar feel to warped discs, a pulsating pedal... If they look like this they will need changing... FYI, I change brake fluid every three years and coolant at 5 years, makes me feel better....!!

Glad you've finally gotten around to joining the forum mate! Welcome, alot of good people here to share our interest in everything Lexus 😁