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From the Lexus paint shop in Japan to driving my new ES off the dealer's premises today I wondered how many people had laid hands on my long awaited car. I guess there were a few people on the long journey from Japan which accounted for the 19 miles on the clock before I selected Drive and moved off from the dealer's forecourt today. It was just plain daft of me to expect the solid black paintwork not to have suffered from all the good intentions of the factory paint shop staff, contract drivers on and off the ship, the transporter driver in the UK and last but not least the dealer's own "prep" dept, all of whom have collectively given me about 3 days paint correction to complete. Anyone who picks up a dual action or rotary polishing machine should be licenced in my opinion, I wish. Still I doubt if anyone intentionally put the swirl marks in the top lacquer coat and in any other colour it would probably not even be noticed because it's a new car so what possible damage could be done?. For me it was never going to be any other colour than solid black and Topaz trim. My fault you might think but when solid black is sorted it can look like a mirror. Can't get my head round the left hand side multi function steering wheel controls and the handbook doesn't help. Might have to ask a salesman to talk me through it. So much going on visually with menus and sub menus. Only got 2 hard copy manuals, a user's manual and a service book. Had to ask for them well in advance, all online now. Ever seen the manuals for a 2007 LS460 or a 2012 GS450, it's like having a library in the glove box. However the car itself is just outstanding, tight as a drum, not a squeak or rattle and drives with impeccable manners, build quality superb. In the 100 miles I covered coming home to West Yorkshire it averaged 52.4 mpg, 50% motor way and 50% B roads. Was I expecting just too much regarding the paintwork for my first ever new car, maybe, but part of the joy of being an anal anorak with an unhealthy obsession about detail and perfection is that it gives me something to do and if I'm honest putting right other people's carelessness makes me smile just a little.

Remove the ignition key trim piece ( just clipped in, use a wallpaper scraper with the blade taped to start it off) Picture 1. Remove the bolt in the middle of picture 2 Remove the bolt in centre of picture 3 located below the coin tray. This should allow you to access the boot release and release the lock from behind.

All sorted. I managed to do a reset via the dash menu system. I couldn't find it initially in the manual but got there in the end. Thanks chaps, much appreciated.

I always do a brim to brim analysis of my fuel consumption and calculate after several thousand miles. My 05 RX gave about 23.4 mpg which I thought was pretty good for such a heavy car. The dash computer was hopelessly inaccurate reading about 2 miles per gallon above this. My current RX450h is a massive improvement and the last calculation gave 40.1 mpg ! and the screen gave similar figures. The hybrid is adding power to the drive but it's when you stop that the fuel is saved when the engine is shut down. I am amazed that such a big car can deliver such economy. Alan

Your right there cost me nothing just time and patience but I got there in the end finally got the key fob to work so thanks for everybody who sent messages and helped diagnose the problem it was much much appreciated thank you

Many thanks, obvious now you point it out. just vague hope that they had developed a simple method of Continental Driving adjustment

All of our Thule roof boxes are heavily discounted and well below prices found elsewhere: https://www.lexuspartsdirect.co.uk/?s=thule&post_type=product

If you click on the original link I posted and then click on view relisted item. I have just noticed the second listing has also been ended so perhaps it did sell albeit at £2695

Check them all again when all tyres are cold.

Took the wheels off my 2008 GS450H and gave them a thorough clean, polish, and wax. Also cleaned up the the calipers and painted them silver and cleaned under the arches. All that described in a very short paragraph but Jesus H I’m feeling it now. My legs are tired, my arms ache, my knees hurt, I’m a wreck! Anyway, unhealthy middle aged bloke grumblings aside, here’s the evidence of what turned out to be about 12 hours work. This is the car pre-clean. Note the dull grey calipers and dirty wheels. This picture shows in better detail the caliper behind one of the front wheels, the dull locking wheel nut, and the grime under the wheel arch (but hey at least the body work is pretty clean). Here’s a rear wheel shot. The rear calipers are tiny in comparison to the meaty bad boys on the front, and on my car at least the rear discs while still ok in terms of thickness look rusty and naff around the hub. Apparently since it’s a hybrid the rear discs don’t have to work very hard as there’s a braking with regen. Either way, looks could be improved. Once jacked up and wheels off I could get to the arches with the pressure washer and scrubber. I wasn’t going for pristine here, just improved. I blasted several times with the Karcher, sprayed G101 and agitated it around, blasted it all off again, and once dry sprayed and wiped with Aerospace 303. The wheels of my era GS450H have chromed plastic ‘spokes’ which might look nice but are a right pain to clean around. Since this was going to be a proper clean I decided to remove them. A spray with WD40 around the 10mm nuts helped and my electric screwdriver paired with an adapter from my socket set saw them all come off easily enough. This is definitely something worth doing every year or so as I could easily imagine them seizing solid if they went ignored. Wheels are a pretty hostile place for a happy union of plastic and metal like this. I cleaned them up with some Autosol, which is brilliant stuff. Once the plastic bits are removed the wheels look like this. This is pictured towards to the of the (back breaking) process of cleaning them. I cleaned the wheels with Bilberry wheel cleaner, Dragon’s Breath iron remover, G101, then tar remover. I used some old Meiguars polish then waxed with Collinite. With the wheels sorted it was time to tackle the calipers and rear discs. I was undecided between going for black, which is possibly more original, or silver, which to my eyes looks cleaner and fresher. I went with silver. I used Hammerite smooth coat which came well recommended and a brush I stole from my 5 year olds art box (now replaced with a new one). Beefy front caliper done. Weedy rear caliper and drake disc done. I could have done a slightly neater job but figured any small excess would be hidden by the wheel or removed the first time I braked, so didn’t worry too much. Car jacked up waiting for wheels to be reattached. Weirdly one of the bits I’m most proud of is the locking wheel nuts. I cleaned them up as best I could and then dipped the nut face down onto the open lid of the paint tin. The residual pain on the lid was enough to provide a small coat to the surface of the nut but no more. Looks pretty neat I think and doesn’t interfere with how they work at all. Front wheel done and back on (yes I know a nut is missing, I was letting the locking ones completely dry before reattaching). Rear wheel done. It was a hard slog but now I’ve done it once I know what’s involved I’d happily paint calipers again in the future. I’m pleased with how it’s turned out. Thanks for reading! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Well, I think it comes down to horses for courses, I ran an ISF as my daily driver for about 100k and had 1 puncture in 6 years which was caused by a nail. I’m now running an RCF as my daily, we’ll see how it goes but so far so good. Hit a few potholes but no damage yet There is always the possibility of something bad happening, but I think driving a car that puts a smile on my face when I get in it and yet I know is going to work, is worth the risk...

Many thanks all, for the good wishes. Have put the son as a named driver (only £34 for the year, LV.) so I have been for a ride. Really happy.

a while ago, maybe a year or two, the dials on mine stopped working even after a sensible thud .............. my indy thought she might need a replacement dash set-up ( huge expense from lexus btw ) so I left it and after maybe a year ( not sure ) she started working fine again and continues to this day ..... fingers xd I think stuff just dries up in there and weather at her age plays a part in the ease of workings it's NOT an MOT failure he told me Malc

Left, Right, Up, and Down adjustment for either halogen or LED bulbs.

I have a 2014 GS 300h since 2015 and like you guys can hear this intermittent screeching noise. I'm sure it's coming from the rear wheel on passenger side. I have had it back with Lexus Ireland and they suggested that it was the brakes due to constant light brake use .... And suggested some regular hard brake activity... But as they couldn't replicate the problem they can only recommend and suggest. I've done the hard braking but the screeching continues. Anyone with any idea as to what is generating this noise.

In the two months I’ve owned mine - this is the first other F car I’ve stumbled across. Parked in the furthest corner of a large car park near St Albans clearly hoping nobody would park next to them.

It seems a bit more than a coincidence that this happened after a fill up with supermarket grade petrol, have you been back to enquire if there have been other complaints? I would also question your garage diagnosis of the crank sensor, when they fail they generally cause poor or non starting when the engine is hot and revert to normal operation when cold, in other words they become temperature sensitive and not limited rev range. The MAF sensor as previously mentioned can cause this fault but would normally throw up the Engine Management Light, diagnostic codes from the engine computer is easy using just a bent paperclip. A word of caution ….. do not attempt to clean the MAF it is a special optical one not hot wire called a Karman Vortex ….cleaning it will completely wreck it. Next time the fault occurs try unplugging the MAF and see if the car will then rev above 2K, the management light will come on but extinguish when the MAF is reconnected. The fuel filter is another possibility if crap was present in the fuel, a pig and messy to replace but cheap enough. Another option is to drain the tank and then refill with some decent stuff to see if the problem goes away.

Very common on the early models, mine was the same when I bought it. I eventually managed to find a replacement RHD version from a guy who made them in California as the majority are made for LHD models. The link below gives the details of the guy although this was some years ago so may not be of any help, if he still has some make sure you specify for RHD. If you do manage to get one I have fitted quite a few in the past for other members for some beer tokens.

There was 4 marks to the LS400 Mark 1 - 1989 -1991 Mark 2 - 1991 - 1995 Mark 3 - 1995 - 1997 Mark 4 - 1998 - 2000 I think the mark 3 has the best looks

I wrote an instruction some years ago. Good luck. Before you measure any rest current your car has to get into "sleep mode". Keep in mind that in order for the car to sleep at all it must be off and nothing can be "touched" (no opening of the trunk or doors, no pressing any buttons on the key fob etc.) If something is touched the timer starts all over again. How long it takes for it "to go to sleep" I am not quite sure, but 30 minutes should be enough and rest current should be under 0,05Amps (50mA). For comparison my 1997 LS400 has a rest current of 24,8mA. Alarm went off at about 11,82Volts. Battery should be charged when less than 12,4Volts (75%). Procedure of how I did it and got a reading of 24,8mA: - Turn ignition off and pull the key - Open engine bonnet and close its lock with a screwdriver - Close all doors - leave the battery connected and arm the anti theft deterrent system either by key or by key fob.....and check security lamp if it works - to be sure leave the car alone for about 30 - 60 minutes (I went back to the car after about one hour) - go back to the car's battery and measure rest current without interrupting the current. Before disconnecting the battery put the pair of test leads (black one/-)to the negative battery terminal and the other (red one/+/amps or mA) to the negative terminal clamp.......now disconnect carefully terminal and clamp. PS: I put a Varta E23 (70ah 630a) in. That was 5 years ago and without any problems since. Varta E23 (Weight: 17 kg Length: 261 mm Width: 175 mm Height: 220 mm)

Thanks for the info. I like the black windows, that's one reason I made an offer in auction. Here is some interior photos and that sticker showing cam belt change. What are these? There's four of them in the winshield. Looks like that the emblems in my Celsior are painted

This Govt hasn’t touched fuel tax duty , if you think petrol prices are high now , wait til Corbyn gets in , they will go sky high

Quite. But I still know which I'd prefer to drive.