GrandAlf

Managed to take out the panel and do the blinky mods, no sign of the speedo converter though, anyone know of the usual place where this might be fitted. I suppose it was a worthwhile exercise anyway just for peace of mind and to get rid of that bl**dy reversing bleeper. Next job is to fit reversing sensors, my wife says she cannot see out of the back window. I guess this is the fun of owning an old car :). Thinking about it, the speedo has been ok for the last couple of days, so maybe it has cured itself. Overall very pleased with the car, even now looks very modern, certainly turns heads. Still trying to figure out what the red plastic cylinder is under the passenger dash, is it a flare of some sort?. If so could be very useful if we ever go to sea in the car :winky:

Thanks again for your input, Picked the car up on friday, very impressed so far, excellent condition. Suspension seems ok, not sure why it was turned off. I guess the first job will be to get the speedo sorted. As I will have to take oot the console to get to speedo converter, I might as well do the blinky dash thing at the same time to avoid future problems. BTW if anyone is interested, I have just ordered 2 key blanks from a trader on Ebay, they are £13 for the pair, bit cheaper than Lexus quote of £56 ea. Looks like I need to also fit a radio expander, will have to figure out how the radio stack comes out first. Its years since I played about with cars, usually let the dealer do it. Still all good fun eh!.

Thanks for the advice, I will check the compressor as a first action. I think I maybe have misunderstood about the blinky panel, I had thought that this was an invertor/display fault that caused all or part of the panel not to be illuminated. As far as I can tell the display is ok, it is just that the the speedo is showng 0 sometimes and is ok or erratic the rest of the time. Please correct me if I am wrong. If it is indeed a blinky panel fault, then the hardest part seems to be to remove it. Repair looks easy, just a tranny and a few caps.

Thanks for all the advice, it seems that the general consensus is that it could be a problem with the speed converter. I suppose the hard part will be finding where it has been installed. Anyway will check that out when we pick the car up. We got quoted about 380 for the TT, but for some reason the 4.0 litre seems to be more difficult and expensive to insure. Looking forward to playing with the new toy at the weekend.

I have exacly the same problem on my 02 LS430, just run out of warranty. I have been rubbing car wax into the sensor front to protect from water. Seems to have settled down for the moment, at least the last week anyway. As the paint was chipped off, I natually assumed I had been hit by a stone, obviously not.

Steve, Not sure what you mean by regulator. Do you mean a voltage reg on the system somewhere, or are you talking about the km to miles divider/convertor. Rather more concerned about knowing what speed I am going than not clocking up miles. Cheers

Thanks Guys, I will check the battery cons when we get the car. Not sure if it is a blinky panel, its just the speedo is sometimes just showing 0. I live in Brighouse, West Yorks. Anyone know a a good place for Soarer service in the locale.

Hi, My wife has just bought a 93 V8 Ltd, non EMV. This now joins my LS430, so we now have a matched pair, Lexii ?. We did notice on a test drive that the speedo only worked intermittantly, anyone else had this problem. Also we notice that there was was a switch in the boot that was turned off. I later discovered that this is to turn off the air suspension, bit worring it been left off, seemed to ride ok though, will find out when we pick it up in a week. Another question, when the speedo is converted, am I right in assuming that it also causes the odemeter to start clocking up miles instead of km, not sure if this one has been done, but I assume so, given that it it has been in the country for 7 years. Anyway it looks like a well cared for example, so we are hoping all will be well. Any advice on these cars always welcome. BTW, for interests sake, we got a quote from privilige of £419 fully comp with 450 excess. I thought this was pretty good.

58, but would still have one if I was 20.

Wheels if you must!. But putting on a spoiler will ruin the aerodynamics and probably increase the noise and fuel consumption. Remember these are not boy racer machines, anything you do that radically alters the appearance will drastically reduce its value. Remember they are usually bought by conservative old duffers like me!. Just a word of caution.............

I just bought an 2002 02 with 24000 for less than 26k from a dealer, dont set your sights too high. 22-24k is probably realistic for a private sale. Large car prices are depressed at the moment, even the mighty merc. Sorry!

I really could do with charging and aerial connection. Still cannot find where the end of the aerial cable is, I thought it was under the carpet near the passenger footwell?. Not really bothered about keeping up to date, so fixed install is probably ok. What I would really like is to put the phone and cradle in the centre console out of the way, and just have a remote wired button to answer and hang up. Not sure if any of the CARK kits do this. I have asked a couple of installers what they propose to do, both have given me conflicting answers, especially as to wheather the audio can be muted or not. B.T.W. I do not make calls on the move, just need to answer them. Any advice or recommendations appreciated.

Rodders, Just checked into it, this kit is obsolete from last sept, will not fit later phone. Also as there is a built in aerial, there must be the cable end somewhere. Anyone know where. Any help appreciated.

Thanks Rodders, Will look into it.

I need a good hands free kit for the 430. Do not want to wear a bluetooth headset, but just press a button to answer/hangup. I do not send texts, take pictures or play games, also size is not that much of an issue. Any suggestions anyone. Also to move completely off subject, anyone know what the current DVD map version is. I used to have a number that you could ring, and Lexus would lend you one for a couple of weeks, so that you could try before buy. Do they still do this?, if so, the number would be useful.

Thanks Geoffers, I was assuming a non critical application, maybe this was wrong?. I did forget the to mention the diode, but with but with this setup there is usually no sudden collapse of the field. Still good design practice though.

An easier way would be to use a low consumption 12v relay with a series large value elec cap in line with one of the coil connections. You would also need a resistor in parallel with the cap to discharge it, must be high enough value not to hold the relay in. They idea is that when power is applied it charges the cap via the coil and thus brings in the relay at the same time. As soon as the cap is nearing full charge the relay will drop out. The resistor will discharge the cap when you turn off the ignition, ready for next time.

Yes, welcome. I always found that the LS was the most satisfying of any car that I have owned and driven. I have tried a good few. Enjoy!

You are dead right about the reliability thing Rillo. Have now bought myself a 2002 low miler and am picking it up tomorrow. As an aside and probably off topic, not sure what is the best car phone to get, I dont suppose bluetooth was fitted in the 02 cars. I suppose it may even have one, only seen pics of car, too far away to look at it. I have tried the rest, now back to the best. :D

Thanks for the welcome Supracharged. Maneesh, try an S class if you get chance, they do ride and handle better, and also the dash instruments are more informative. Everything else though, the LS knocks the socks off it, well thats my opinion anyway.

After a brief foray into Jaguar and the Mercedes S Class I have now decided to go back, and probably stick with Lexus. Sold my Merc and just looking around at the moment. If only they could get the ride and handling as good as the Merc, it would be a no brainer, apart of course from the ugly LS front end, maybe the japs think its cool?. Lookig foward to joinig the fold again. Regards to all. :)

Yes, those were my feelings. Might make an offer but 130k is a lot, well out of warranty mileage. Need to sleep on this one. Thanks for the input.

Thinking of buying another LS430. Seen a 52 plate one with 130k on the clock. Complete lex history etc, any opinions on what it is worth?.

I am fairly certain that the LS400 is by DENSO. Not sure about other models.

I allways used to copy mine and keep the original safe, never had any problems.