brendangeorge

Heres a link for Falkens at £83 a corner + £3 P&P I have never had a problem tramligning unless of course its a really bad road surface Mike Never had a problem in a 400 or 430 - you need to keep an eye on your tyre pressures and alignment if you have steering probs. It is also a good idea to check your suspension. Problems are often masked at low speed. Be safe Bren

My faulty rear bearing was years (8 to 10) ago - the car was just out of warranty I believe - and at a Lexus dealer it was £300ish to fix. I'd expect it to be a lot cheaper now or am I being daft? Bren

On eBay they state the car cannot be put back on the road => write off I believe. Bren

Thanks Mike you are a diamond - I need a new drivers seat and other interior trim for a tidy up and this looks in good nick. Bren

Would you want to see Quenton bound and gagged in the boot of your car? Most people who had JC in that position would be looking for a cliff or a deep quarry full of cold, dark water :)

Very funny Mike - the only problem is the number of times your car would be rammed by others who hate him, if you bought this Yank Tank.

Hi Bren, A quick update. Tried what you said about steering to the left and the right, and you were spot on! Turning left the noise reduced significantly! And turning to the right it came back! It's in the dealer tomorrow, and I'll update you on their findings and the solution. Thank you Nige Good news about the diagnosis Nige - it is not an expensive fix - I have only ever had the one go. Cheers Bren

Hi Sam I have had my done at a Leus dealer and an independent. I will try and find the invoice however I remember it is just under 3 hours labour for the job plus 10 mins extra for the water pump. The rad needs to come out when you do the job so if your car has a lot of miles (like mine 2004K) that may result in a new Rad being needed (like mine) because of corroded fittings. Also it took forever to get the air locks out of the colling system. Good luck. Bren

Hi Nige You may have a wheel bearing going. When you turn as you load up the bearings you will find they will whine and then stop as you steer the other way. I had one rear left one go (it takes the load on roundabouts etc). To check as you drive down the road steer to the right (just a little) and that will load the left rear - steer left for the right side. It will only take a little flick - mine started with a little buzz and steadily became louder - as you know the slightest noise is audible in our fantastic cars. 204 K miles no back end or gear box problems. Good luck Bren

The DVLA.org will tell you what to do - I would check before you buy, especially insurance etc. If you are a UK resident you have to register the car here as soon as you import it. If you are a visitor you can use a foreign registered car here for 6 months in any 12 provided it is legal in the country it is registered in. Bren

Hi LD2 I have done 204K in 11 years- a lot of them on LPG - mixed driving with a lot of long distance at high speed in the early years - the last two years a lot of short running and my oil never ever looks other than brand new even at change time - just like Mike's. It is hard to imagine that a Lexus dealer would put the wrong oil in your car because they would be using the same Synthetic 5W30 oil in most of their petrol engines (and probably Diesels as well). Had the head gasket blown? What needs to be fixed because at official dealer rates a head job will be £5K so good luck with getting them to sort it out at their expense. Bren

Hi Malc I have the same thing happen on my 430 and a pal does on his 400. If you fill the reserve tank up and then start the engine from cold the water pump pushes water in to the tank and this will run out of the overflow. This means the level in the reseve tank will drop below the low mark when the thermostat opens and stays there. I talked to an old Lexus mechanic about this and he said it is normal (by old I mean has worked on them from day 1) - it seems feasible to me. Bren

Hi Mark No leak is normal so you need to get it fixed asap - I had one caused by a missing hose clip (after some work). If you have a water pump leak then you need to change it. The LPG evaporater needs warm water so it is "T'ed" into the water system and will not use water unless it is leaking. The gear box has an oil cooler and is a source of a possible leak - very nasty. All that said if you have had it checked at a Lexus dealer and they said it is OK except for the pump then it needs changing - it is 2.5 + hours work at a dealer because the RAD has to come out. This can be a problem if the car is old - When I had my 200K cam belt change the rad came out but could not go back in because of corrosion and had to be replaced. I could not find a third party product and the Leuxs gen part was £300. I suspect the dealer does not want to strip it down and possible give you bad news. The cam belt is due at 100K on a 430 but you say yours was done at 74K ? also you have only 94K on the clock so your Rad should be in good shape - mine had probs at 200K. Good luck but fix that leak. Bren

Maybe you could borrow an old Transit van for a few weeks, then you'd realise how quite yours is. I know someone who could lend you one, it just needs the duct tape replacing on the front wing and its ready to go! If I ever start to moan about my 430 I adopt your proposed tactic - i.e. go for a ride in some other sh*te box on wheels (not a 400 though :)) I had 3 X 400s and have never regreted the change to the 430 Bren

Just watched the episode up to the end of the test that's all I could take abbs- I won't be watching FG again. VBH doing her wide mouth frog impression is not entertaining - the show is not as entertaining as TG (and is a bit of a copy cat). Tiff's test was a bit naff and not very scientific. Why test winter tyres against normal tyres? I believe Tiff mixed winter and summer tyres on the car - not a great idea if legal. What were the conditions (temp) during the test? All he proved was that winter tyres stop better in the wet than summer tyres. The Germans and others are compelled to put winter tyres on so Continental are going to come up with a summer tyre that saves fuel (or so they say) and sell it. My wife puts winter tyres (all round) on her Avensis Estate and their performance is really evident - so put winter tyres on in the winter. Bren

Hi Messi - the 430 is a little noisier than the 400. However it is still a pretty smooth motor so don't give up on it yet just get the right tyres. The tyres are 225 55 17 on your 430 if you have an early model like mine and you probably had 225 45 17 on your 400. The lower profiles tyres on the 430 will probably be noisier - check the ratings on your tyres they are all rated for noise these days - other members may offer their advice on quiet tyres but I know cheap ones are not great. My Kumo Ecsta SPTs are great in the wet (Class A) fuel economy E (not great) Noise class 3 (73dB - not very good old limit was 75dB new limit is 71dB). The road surface is the biggest cause of noise (see below) so all the technical stuff about tyre may be for nothing if we continue to drive on cart tracks :( I looked at tyres on the net and there is not always a correlation between price and performance - most important/vital for me is stopping in the wet - the difference can be 18m at 50!!!!! Noise and fuel economy are also important - but stopping is top. I will be paying more for my rubber next time that's for sure. These are a few reports and presentations I looked at:- This is a great report about tyre myths - a little old now but is worth reading - the bottom line is road surface is the biggest influence on noise and making tyres that perform in the wet should not impact their performance - i.e. fuel economy and noise. http://www.etrma.org...ETRTO (2.1).pdf - page 18 for noise stuff http://www.etrma.org...lling (2.2).pdf http://www.vti.se/en...d-realities.pdf This one is stella - page 87 supports my comment above - substitute 2 for 1 in the URL below for the apendicees http://ec.europa.eu/...d_noise1_en.pdf http://ec.europa.eu/...ve_proposal.pdf I just read several reports like this and am officially a sad tw1t 10K miles before I need to go shopping. Cheers Bren Did you see the tyre test on 5th gear If not you should know that between premium, standard and second hand the second hand tyers won by many yards in stopping in the wet, the presenter was shocked to say the least Downloading it now for a look Jon - I don't watch 5th Gear - I cannot stand VBH - Tiff is great though. Stopping distance in the wet is key - I am not sure how the tyre being second hand helps - except for scrubbing off the manufacturing releasing agent. The big challenges with second hand tyres is that you do not know where they have been or what has been done to them. Bren

Hi Messi - the 430 is a little noisier than the 400. However it is still a pretty smooth motor so don't give up on it yet just get the right tyres. The tyres are 225 55 17 on your 430 if you have an early model like mine and you probably had 225 45 17 on your 400. The lower profiles tyres on the 430 will probably be noisier - check the ratings on your tyres they are all rated for noise these days - other members may offer their advice on quiet tyres but I know cheap ones are not great. My Kumo Ecsta SPTs are great in the wet (Class A) fuel economy E (not great) Noise class 3 (73dB - not very good old limit was 75dB new limit is 71dB). The road surface is the biggest cause of noise (see below) so all the technical stuff about tyre may be for nothing if we continue to drive on cart tracks :( I looked at tyres on the net and there is not always a correlation between price and performance - most important/vital for me is stopping in the wet - the difference can be 18m at 50!!!!! Noise and fuel economy are also important - but stopping is top. I will be paying more for my rubber next time that's for sure. These are a few reports and presentations I looked at:- This is a great report about tyre myths - a little old now but is worth reading - the bottom line is road surface is the biggest influence on noise and making tyres that perform in the wet should not impact their performance - i.e. fuel economy and noise. http://www.etrma.org/uploads/Eventsmanager/2010%2010%2026%20ETRMA_CRIA%20-%20661-%20ETRTO%20%282.1%29.pdf - page 18 for noise stuff http://www.etrma.org/uploads/Eventsmanager/2010%2010%2026%20ETRMA_CRIA%20-%20Tyre%20Labelling%20%282.2%29.pdf http://www.vti.se/en/publications/pdf/tyreroad-noise--myths-and-realities.pdf This one is stella - page 87 supports my comment above - substitute 2 for 1 in the URL below for the apendicees http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/automotive/files/projects/report_tyre_road_noise1_en.pdf http://ec.europa.eu/energy/strategies/2008/doc/2008_11_ser2/tyres_labelling_directive_proposal.pdf I just read several reports like this and am officially a sad tw1t 10K miles before I need to go shopping. Cheers Bren

My local tyre dealer told me if you use tyre weld they will not be able to repair a puncture aterwards. I always put the spare in the boot and I carry tyre weld - if you only carry tyre weld what would you do if you damaged a wheel and had to change it but did not have a spare? I bent a wheel on a 400 once and had to change the wheel - well the AA did :) The last statistics I read were 95K miles between puntures for the average motorist. So if you are feeling average tyre weld should be a good bet. I run on LPG all the time and only keep 1/4 of a tank of petrol for starting and getting out of trouble - it makes no sense to carry around 44Kg of fuel about that I don't intend to use. Bren The trouble with statistics is that to get a figure of 95K some got a puncture with 1 mile on the clock and some got one considerably more than 95K then of course to get the average you need to know how many punctures were counted once you know that the only conclusion you can come to is that you can get a puncture at any time. Mike Spot on Mike that's why I said if you are feeling average and why I carry a spare wheel and tyre weld - especially with the state of our roads. Bren

Hi Chris I went to Kwick Fit once because they had a replace your pads for life deal and they needed to replace the front disks. They tried third party components and could not get them to fit - they eventually had to fit Lexus original parts for the same price (after a fuss). These days I use EBC disks and Green stuff pads and never have a problem. Bren

My local tyre dealer told me if you use tyre weld they will not be able to repair a puncture aterwards. I always put the spare in the boot and I carry tyre weld - if you only carry tyre weld what would you do if you damaged a wheel and had to change it but did not have a spare? I bent a wheel on a 400 once and had to change the wheel - well the AA did :) The last statistics I read were 95K miles between puntures for the average motorist. So if you are feeling average tyre weld should be a good bet. I run on LPG all the time and only keep 1/4 of a tank of petrol for starting and getting out of trouble - it makes no sense to carry around 44Kg of fuel about that I don't intend to use. Bren

I have the original 17inch wheels on my 2002 and the ride is hard enough - 20 inch wheels would make it much harder and would not be great also you will wear tyres very quickly. The look is personal taste. Bren

If you are adding new keys I think you may need to delete the old ones - I remember reading something about that or seeing it on YouTube. I will see what I can remember after a couple of pints. I'm an electronics engineer and I can't remember where I save the stuff I need to remember theses days.

Hi Frosty It is amazing that a Lexus dealer cannot fix the problem - they usually advocate changing everything until the car surrenders and then you surrender your wallet J I am not sure if your post above indicates your smart system is working or not – if not there is a switch that controls it – see the post below – I would be surprised if the dealer did not look at this. I saw this on the Septic forums – if you scroll down past the incoherent babblings you will see a picture of where the switch for the smart system is. I am too fat and stiff to get down and look at mine. There are a couple of amusing comments about how the button can be pressed by accident in the post below. God bless America eh? http://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls430/562777-my-smartkey-stopped-working.html As usual good luck Bren

That's strange Phil - I just had a look in my boot and the manual release is right where Chris said it was - I have a 2002 model but I don't hink they changed anything between 2001 and 2002 - mine has the Premium pack.

Nice one Chris - the release cord is better than my GBH tactics. You'd think in 11 years I would have found the release :( Bren