ambermarine

I suspect the blowing exhaust was the flanges that connect to the cat as I have shown on the forum painting them with hi-temprature paint stops them corroding, as they will even when the car is used lightly especially in a humid atmosphere. The pics show my mark 1 flange after a poor attempt at welding it and the painted pic on my mark 4 which was taken a year after it was painted . The paint is now sprayed on every year and the resulting condition is the same as what is in the picture.

The government website states that the LS400 97-2000 is safe to run on E10 they do not say what damage it does to other variants .My understanding is the ethanol content destroys hoses and corrodes some metal components in fuel systems that are not designed for its prescence.I have been using it and have noticed no appreciable difference in mpg and it as not effected the mechanical aspects of the car.

The discription is aimed at someone who as just arrived from another planet and does not know anything about any vehicle defects that might occur on a twenty five year old Lexus LS400. This car as the same rust problems I had on my Mark 1 and that virtually consigned it to the scrap yard. It also says a lot about the general care and maintenance this example as recieved because the rust problems were virtually illiminated by the time the mark 4 was introduced.

I have had a Mark 1 and it rusted from the inside out through the rear wheel arches after penetration of the very thin skin forward of the tyre . This allows water inside the body including the cills, the problem as on all the mark 1s I have seen .

I used power steering fluid on a sponge one stroke top to bottom and it looks fantastic lasts for a couple of washes then re-apply.There are no scratches or missing paint just faded black which transforms when the steering pump fluid is applied.

The pipe from the bottle to the sprayers runs from the bottle in the front of the wing on top of the crash absorber behind the front bumper into each sprayer check each junction as one looks like its come apart.

If you google LS430 android head unit there are several utube videos of different manufacturers and there are units for sale on ebay us.

This is a very interesting video from the states and this guy is an authority on Lexus vehicles and a Toyota master technician. Be sure to watch the video all the way through as there is a update featured for the touchscreen that replaces the oem version and is a vast improvement. (3) New Toyota Problem I've Never Seen Before! More LS430 Goodness! - YouTube.pdf

My car as two lexus stamps the first service and the subsequent 9k back in 99 the pervious owner had it independantly serviced but the service record was not entered in the book . When I took it on it only had 18k miles on it so I was not fussed ,I had the first cambelt change done by Lexus Glasgow who had to replace all of the engine plastics because the techy was a numpty ,fortunatly the cambelt change proved to be fine . I have done all the servicing on the car over the last ten years and have just had a second cambelt change by a superb independant at 48k miles both cambelts because of the ten year period. I did enquire weather the local Lexus dealership could do the cambelt but they had no hour schedule in their computer and no one at the place had done a LS400,I am still waiting for a price. I have always looked after my cars and would not take chances with such things as cambelt changes but general servicing especially when the service schedule instructs on requirements is within my capabilities. As for intrinsic value of a service record from Lexus or other supply I think it as little value as the car ages and will only back up what is there to see.

The engine running rough for a period before transiting to smooth is indicative of sensor issues in the exhaust.If the sensor heater is faulty the signal sent to the ECU will be out of sync until the sensor heats up. Try heating up the sensors with a gas torch before starting the engine from cold and this might show up the theory of bad sensors. Do them individually upside and downside .

I had valve cover gasket leaks on my Mark 1 and they started aroud 150k miles .I did nothing about them because the leaks were not running copious amounts and the car was getting to its end of life period( Rust). I think when these events occur there needs to be a realistic review of the situation I had been on the lookout for a replacement for two years prior to me obtaining that which is my present car. I spent nothing at all in the final year of the ownership basically just keeping it going until I had found its replacement. With your medical condition priorities come into play and my advice is chose the path of least resistance regarding the car .

Having owned a Mark1 I know that sound well and that engine is spot on with no tappet issues.You are re-creating history keep it up.

I would count myself really Lucky . My 98 mark4 was £55k when new and I paid £3750 for it when it had 19k on the clock and it was 13 years old. I have £1200 in it for two belts and a water pump change and another £100 for a ignition switch. I have had it 10 years and its now worth a bit more than the money I paid for it so I would say I owe it money" NICE".

Rush of air is the clue that is the natural expansion of the gases that emit from the petrol and occurs as the tank empties and more space is created as you say normal and if it was not occuring previous to this you definitley had a air leak.

Pete the american car manufacturers accused Toyota of selling the 400 at less than its manufacturing cost but if you include all of the costs of launching a brand I suspect that there were no profits in the ls range for many years . The long term plan as paid off in spades and as a exercise in creating a successful brand it is one of the best examples of its kind ,even better than Henry Ford's model "T" as he had no competition worth talking about.

Point taken Brian but if you go on utube you will see plenty of video's of disappionted owners who have been hammered with expensive rebuilds of the front suspension and struts.Perhaps those lovely smooth Dutch roads built with bycycles in mind are treating your car well.

Having done extensive research on both the 430 and 460 ten years ago before opting to stay with a 400 on replacing my 90 400 I am still convinced that I made the best choice. The 460 is expensive to maintain and not classy enough to stand out against its counterparts in that range of luxury vehicles. If God forbid anything happened to my LS I would be looking away from the LS range and probably opt for something thats in the smaller lx Hybrids. This view of things is brought about by the lack of character in any LS that came after the 400 and is why I really look after mine and has nothing to do with keeping or increasing its value it is more to do with the hassle of replacing and being satisfied with its replacement.

Look for a breaker and try to get the steering column complete then swap the actuator its a solenoid I expect that is sticking on yours.

Paul Would you like to explain in more detail for the members how you retained the mileage by retaining the main board on your old cluster. I am sure this issue will arise for others on the forum and not just pertaining to the 400.

He was trying to paint a rosy picture around a car that was not top notch and had been hammered by its former keepers.We all know the 430 has issues none of which showed up in his analysis ,which leads me to believe this is a money pit for someome down the road.He is also way off the mark when he says the 430 was the best LS ever made ,we all know the 400 has that title.

Alternator 100amp 27060-50230 Alternator 80amp 27060-50180 Starter 28100-50052 There are so many aftermarket replacements that you should never have a shortage of these parts.

I cannot believe that car as done anymore than the mileage stated its in factory condition .

I was not intending to sound critical of your suggestion and all contributions to the board are very welcome ,in fact your submission proves how much the navigation technology as advanced since the CD platform of the LS400 which in itself was ground breaking ,being the first factory installed navigation system in any car.

I think the aim of the exersice is to change the odometer readings from miles to kilometres, the exersice shown on U-tube is relevant only to the navigation features of the car in question and is not even available on a 2006 430.

I would have thought this is not an option as the security aspect of the Lexus LS400 is high on its list of credentials.The clusters were purposed for UK roads and probably manufactured with that purpose only.I know that some Toyota vehicles have this option but I have not come accross the option on Lexus vehicles let alone the LS400. I suppose an electronics wizard could hack the cluster but that is a whole world of pain if it goes wrong . The alternative is to buy a used european cluster from a breaker in Germany or Holland and swap it out with yours.