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Longer post in LS400 forum - the IS has replaced it after 16 years of ownership - very early days but lovely car. 2014 Luxury model 28k miles purchased from Lexus Derby who were seamless in providing superb service.

Driving up the A1 last week, heard a funny rattle from the front followed by burning smell followed by power steering failure. Pulled over and called AA, I am not technical but a piece of metal had sheared off the engine cover where the VVTI grubbing sit - the metal had lodged itself in the fan/belt that drives the steering - apologies if this doesn't make much sense , as I said I'm not very technical! Got the car towed to my local trusted mechanic, didn't get a full estimate to fix, he said he could and would do anything I wanted to get it going but wasn't sure it would be economically viable, he was also concerned that MOT due in around 6 weeks would call out further issues re corrosion and other bits and pieces. I have had the car for 16 years - it's a mk4 1998 model with almost 300k on the clock and has been epic. I needed a car for work quickly as I was reluctant to use the 911 for day to day duties so spotted a 2014 IS300h Luxury from Lexus Derby and it turns out the salesman lives around the corner from me and the service has been superb, he brought the car round to my house for a test one evening last week and delivered the car yesterday so no need for me to even visit the dealer. Lovely looking thing, no LS obviosusly but the what is? Time will tell if it's another long term ownership experience but I suspect it will last potentially as long as the LS, it's one owner 28k miles FLSH etc, car is dark blue with cream leather. I will really miss the LS but it certainly served me well and by far the longest time I have ever owned a car.

Agree - I think the IS will get there too- if I live long enough!

So, time to pop the leads and new spark plugs in. Nice and simple job, especially when you have a good wiring diagram to make the job nice and easy. Little note with the leads. They are thicker than the originals, which does mean you need to modify the original guiding plastics to accommodate. It does come with a set of cable separators, and because of the thickness and the silicon quality they don’t move much anyway, so no worry’s of moving and touching moving parts. plus, I have included the wiring diagram to help anyone who needs it.

The Lexus satnav is clunky, outdated and counter-intuitive - far better to use Google Maps or Waze on your phone, or even a stand-alone satnav such as a TomTom. If I remember rightly your satnav is even DVD-based so you can't add in your own Points Of Interest or speed camera database, which makes it about as useless as a chocolate teapot. And believe it or not, the Lexus nav in my late 2013 RX450h isn't much better either. I mount my phone using a CD-slot mount and it works brilliantly - it really is far better than the factory system in every way.

Having followed this topic from the start can I just say that you are doing a remarkable review and refix of 1993 Lexus tech your dedication to the cause of this classic is admirable please carry on and I hope the other long term members of this forum appreciate your endeavours.

All sorted, I reset everything to default, and tried again, bingo it paired with my phone straight away, thanks for all those that replied. Paul

RIP LS 400, but 300k is, as already said, epic. Enjoy your new IS

There maybe a temp fix for you I imagine the sensor is just a swipe varible resistor ,take the other one off Measure the resistance at normal height buy a resister and solder in the unit .or I imagine most ride height sensor units are the same and you could try one off another lexus model.( Quick edit Ahh sorry I just realised you have already solved your issue.)

I would go for: 1. Continental Wintercontact TS860 or equivalent from Conti if size if not available 2. Suprise... Nokian WR A4 or D4 I tested Nokian WR D4 on heavy V70 D5 tuned with plenty of torque and they were better than Michelin Alpin 5. I could compare them as my wifes husband got in Germany same car... Just different tyres. Continental Wintercontact TS860 is a classic in Germany and first choice as far as price is not a big issue. Nokian is worth the price and you will love it. If being more recognizable (posh) is important go for Conti. 🙂

I wouldn't know how many hours of driving I have done with them fitted, but it is a quite a lot, in terms of quality, I think they are very good! I haven't seen any videos yet of people complaining of faults or problems, I have kept my old lights, so if I ever get any issues, I can always I can replace them!

Ahh I see then I concour with your diagnosis doctor .

Who could ever complain of a car serving them for 300k eh? A great testimony to the build quality!

Technically the plugs need to be angled to avoid contact with other leads and plug caps. Don't suppose it will matter. I fear you will have a job forcing down the Cover over those thicker leads. Good luck

Thanks Malc. As luck would have it I'm going to London tomorrow and could view it if still available. MoT history shows a sensible increase of the mileage and no worrying MoT failures/advisories, with just a six-month gap this year.

your poor and sad Ls400 Malc

Received these on Saturday!

Autumnal leaves, shorter evenings, frost on the lawn...there is no surer sign that winter is on its way than the obligatory winter tyres thread on the F forum. I would love to run my F on a smaller set of split rims in the winter, with a winter tyre with more sidewall to make up the difference (from the Japanese sites the RCF looks f-ing amazing with 15’s and more tyre wall). But I’m no good at working out the maths, or sourcing the tyres, also I don’t have enough money and I’d never get around to swapping the wheels anyway...so I just go with my part warn Michelin’s cross my fingers and hope they find some grip!

Just for info - had the Cat stolen from my 2009 RX400h last week too... in North London... very easy to spot - the car sounds like an old tractor, and obviously there is a big section of the exhaust missing on inspection. There are 2 cats on the RX400h... The main one is up near the engine, and can't be stolen, the second one is underneath the drivers seat. Both are platinum based, and thus have a scrap value. The one under the drivers seat is very vulnerable to theft. I am told the second one (the one that gets stolen) does about 15% of the emissions work, and the main one that can't be accessed easily does the vast majority of catalytic conversion. In other words, you are looking at the second stage of a 2-stage catalytic converter system. Phoned up Lexus, and they had had 6 others done that week, and the parts were on back-order from Japan, unavailable until end of September. Quotation was £1300 for replacement of entire exhaust section - that's a lot, but it's comparable to other platinum-based systems that the Japanese manufacturers use. What do you do if you don't want to pay £1300 and wait 3 weeks? Fit a universal replacement... won't be as good as the Lexus OEM part I would suppose, but I got mine for under £300 and welded in for another £50... so not as bad as I was expecting... certainly not worth an insurance claim. I could have got a used part for about £600, but its a 10-year old part as a minimum... with unknown mileage, so I was happy to try the universal option. I painted the welds and new piping with some high temp black paint to protect from any corrosion too. What have I got now... a ceramic universal replacement - it doesn't have any scrap value as no platinum in it. Obvious concerns: Will it pass an MOT? - well, as I was told by an MOT tester, Hybrids are exempt from emissions testing, so there won't be an issue there (you can verify this info online). Will it affect a warranty? - well probably, as its not OEM - but the car is 10 years old and its not under warranty anyway. Will it last like the original part? - I bet it won't, but I can replace it three more times and still be ahead financially... so I don't care. Does the car sound any different with a replacement cat? - Nope, sounds exactly the same as before in every way. Could it throw a malfunction indicator light? - Nope, the lambda and O2 sensors are on the first Cat, and there are no sensors past it, so it can't lead to any OBD issues. Will it effect power or fuel consumption? No idea, initial fuel economy figures are identical to before, and there is no noticeable difference to throttle response - I don't drive the car hard anyway, not the way I drive, and not what this car is for. When I took the car to have the new Cat put in, there was another RX identical to mine having the same replacement part put in... so I am not alone, neither are the 1000s of Prius owners using similar universal replacements. Use these guys: https://www.catman.co.uk/ Mike was a great help, and knows what he is doing - he told me he's supplied 40 RX400h cats this week... epidemic. There are no other universal exhaust sections available (that I could find... and I looked extensively)... its Lexus or a universal one welded in. The only other option would be to get a stainless section fabricated... but they would still use the cat off the old system... which you don't have because it's been harvested by some degenerate already. Hope this info is useful to those that need it... No idea about the 450, but I've been told they are targeting the entire Lexus range at the moment. You can secure your Cats using a Cat Lock, of which there are several on the market... Costs about £150 and would take about an hour to install I think... certainly worth doing if you don't want the pain in the butt headache. https://www.catlocks.co.uk - ill get round to doing this shortly. Cat thefts are rife at the moment, and it's simply a matter of time if you live in certain areas... so I wouldn't assume it won't happen to you.

Smart phone vent clip put phone on holder and there you have a cheap fix and great google sat nav . Rather than taking your car to the garage and spending lots of money .i use this set up in my company van it normally gives you 3 routes to choose from and if you fancy diverting just put in search say coffee shop it will show lots of ones closet first .so quick so easy.

Only option is to get blank keys and reprogram it using techstream (subscription service sold by lexus/Toyota) Check this guide: Program key

Hello Malc my friend - nice to hear from you. Yes I can't and won't get rid of the LS400...probs you won't remember...one of my first posts was a comment of mine saying I'd use the 400 until I bought something more flash having just dusted off and sold my useless 2003 Jag XKR...now look...my LS400 my pride and joy 🤣 A lot of Bentleys are 5 owner cars...does that mean a lot of dreamers? 5 crops up a lot...enough to be a pattern. They certainly have gremlins although the drive train and more are fab. I was only dreaming...other half is expecting a kitchen to the same value. Guess who will win... If I did get another carriage - Lexus...has to be. But the 400 stays.

That may be the case. My Celsior has a completely different radiator/coolant reservoir setup to the UK ones.

The kit arrived last week. The mechanic will start working on it on Monday. Fingers crossed.

Wheels have been powder coated, just need to finish things off with chrome delete. I previously had Korean ditch finders on and straight away noticed then difference after switching to PS4S, especially in the wet 👍

My rear discs need replacing soon. Defo interested in the Twellsie specials 😎

You sir are correct, I wish my memory was as good.

well here we go fellas update on my crunch 20th August Saga's loss adjusters have just called to advise me the write-off value is £1400 after my piccys etc ( she cost me £1400 in June 2011 100k miles back ) now on 223k miles ............. less the excess, less the buyback, less a new MOT, but NOT having to re-insure, the existing carries on unabated ..... would leave me with about £650 to then pay for the knock to be fixed, say £150 .......... advised them to hold it all in abeyance until I actually hear from Saga the outcome, or progress with the claim on the 3rd party ! ( at least to maybe reclaim my excess etc ) I'll call them end of next week, it's only been 16 days or so ! OR I have the option it seems to just drop MY insce claim for this and carry on as normal, no money, no new MOT, just the cost and inconvenience of having the door fixed ( a 2hr job I'm advised ) Cest Le Vie I'll update if anyone's interested in the outcome Malc