Adam101

Thanks for your responses folks. I will try the battery disconnect at a more civilised hour this morning - the battery was bought from Lexus about 4 months ago so should be fine. Weird thing is that the car worked perfectly for a few days after the repair and after I had charged the battery overnight.

Hi all, I have a 98 MkIV LS400. I put a new passenger side central locking motor in last week as the old motor had burned out. I made sure to test the window and door operation before I put the door skin back on, everything worked perfectly. I've just driven the family 200 miles on holiday, got to our hotel, and couldn't lock the car with the remote. Further investigation reveals that central locking does not work from the key or from the "door lock" buttons inside the car. The steering wheel can be adjusted, but does not retract automatically when the key is removed. Drivers electric window works but the other don't from any of the switches. Worst of all, the alarm has started going off when I open doors, or open the bonnet, or turn the ignition on. It sounds for about a minute, and does not respond to the key fob, and then stops. I am totally stuck what to do next, it must be some simple electrical thing which is causing all these faults, related either to the new door motor, or having the battery disconnected while I was working on it. I have found many links for central locking reset procedures, but I cannot be sure which one relates to my car (MkIV, 1997/98, three black buttons on the key for lock, unlock and boot). I am worried that if I use the wrong procedure I may make things even worse - at the moment I think the car will still start and drive after the alarm has stopped sounding. Can anyone offer any advice?

Buggering buggerheads. Was finally forced into sorting the power steering leak on my 1992 LS400 when the alternator died on me at the weekend. Got the rebuild kit, new bearing, air control valve, alternator and belt on the way over from the states and I started pulling the thing to bits on sunday. It's not going well though! I have always done DIY maintenance on all my vehicles, built a few engines, restored a couple of cars, so I have a big toolkit and a reasonable idea how to use it . . . but I have been working for about 12 hours now (8 hours solid today) trying to get one of the bloody bolts off that hold the power steering pump on. It's the lower one of the two at the rear of the pump. Despite being soaked in PS fluid for around the last year or so, and being regularly soaked in penetrating oil for the last 48 hours, the upper one of these two bolts took over 160lb/ft of torque to shift (I was using a big torque wrench in "reverse" mode, it's my longest lever). Couldn't get the torque wrench on the lower one so I have been working on it using a normal ratchet, a variety of breaker bars, U-J's etc, and a bunch of GOOD 6-point walldrive sockets. Despite that, the bolt is still stuck fast, and is rapidly turning into a blob rather than a bolt. I managed to sneak a camera down there and take a look at it (see attached pics). I think the problem is the angle of the fastening,its pointing down towards the inner wing and the floor making it very hard to keep the socket hard onto the bolt head. Especially with the amount of torque involved, the socket just wants to twist off the bolt head all the time, and adding a UJ makes it even worse as the UJ keep trying to wrap itself up. I can't even grind the bolt head off, as (a) there is not enough room to get a grinder in there, and (B ) the pump needs to slide forwards to come off a long stud at the front of the engine, and this bolt goes in from the side, so it would still pin it in place even with the head off. Totally stuck now, I have unbolted the alternator (and a whole bunch of stuff from the inner wing including the abs module) to give myself room to work, but I can't get the alternator all the way out because the PS pump is in the way. So I can't even change the new alternator in and live with the leaky PS pump (although that would be a pretty dumb thing to do anyway). The other thing I thought of was stripping the PS pump in situ, but the other bolt you can see in the pictures (the lower one of the 3 longitudinal bolts that holds the pump housing to the rear bracket) is also very tight, and almost impossible to get to. I can't get a socket and ratchet on there because there is not enough clearance before I hit the exhaust manifold (or some other lump of metal down there) and a ring spanner will fit but there is no way I can get enough leverage on it to undo it. It's very awkward because the bolt is recessed into some bracing webs on the pump casting. What the hell do I do now? I desperately need to get this fixed as it's my only vehicle, even if I sold everything else I owned I wouldn't be able to get the money to trailer it to a Lexus dealer (40 miles away) and have them do it, so I have no choice but to do it myself, however I am all out of ideas at this point! Can anyone suggest anything, or let me know exactly what tool combination they have used to get this bolt out?

Just bought a bargain basement 1991 LS400, paid £1100 for it with 220k on the clock but full history, recent cambelt and service. Overall very happy with it, I've been a speed freak before now and my car choices have reflected that, but this thing is so relaxing to drive that I don't feel the need to do anything as vulgar as accelerate, I just depress the pedal and enjoy the silence as it gathers speed :) Drove the car 250 miles back from the auction last night and it rides and handles very well for such a big car, hadn't test driven it but haven't found any major faults with it so I think I've done alright! Dash lights up perfectly, climate LCD not too bad either although I may change it at some point. There are some things I would like to fix though. Starting with the simple ones, the leather cover on the gearshift has frayed and started to come away, is it possible to remove it and replace with a new piece or does it need to be stitched in place by a retrimmer? The electric aerial doesn't work, no whirring noises or anything when I switch to using the radio and no reception at all(original stereo is fitted throughout), does it need replacing or has a wire come adrift or something? Also, can someone confirm that the outside door lock should light up and the ignition key hole should light up as described in the owners manual? I dont want to pull them to bits only to find out that the illumination was an optional extra that I haven't got! Next, the wheels are in poor condition and either need completely refurbing or replacing. A search for "Lexus wheels" on ebay throws up lots of possibilities, my car is currently on 15's. Would a change to 16's affect the ride badly? I am not a fan of putting big wheels on cars for the sake of looks, I just want a smart set of wheels for the thing as the existing ones let it down badly. If I can go for 15, 16 or 17 wheels without upsetting the car then that gives me more to choose from. The shims need adjusting on one of the cylinders, I have worked on a lot of toyota cars before so that's not too scary a thought, but can anyone tell me which gaskets are likely to need replacing when I pull the top end of the engine apart far anough to get at them? I think it's coming from the passenger side bank of the engine which seems simpler to get at. The PS pump needs replacing, is there any choice except to go to Lexus for a replacement unit? I can fit it myself no problems which will save a bit, don't want to pay £500 or whatever for a pump though! Finally, there's quite a thump when going from P or N into Drive. I've never owned an auto car before, is this normal? Auto seems really smooth when on the move, and doesn't thump when going into R. Will check the fluid levels as soon as I get chance.