ambermarine

Pete ,If you look at the sight glass on the drier. the tubular canister in front of the Radiators , the glass should run clear of foaming bubbles after a few seconds after the A/C is switched on. If that is not happening the system is short of refrigerant. The pipe that should ice up is the thick one running into the condensor adjacent to the the battery it will show frost if the engine compartment is not hot . The narrow pipe on the firewall with the grey filler cap with a L on it should also be cold and will have condensation on it if everything is normal. Run the system analysis and check the code for compressor circuit fault, Its on the threads in the archives .

Good to hear you have done the hard bit successfully ,just a reminder of the procedure for putting the coolant back when you have completed the rebuild .There is a tutorial somewhere and it is important to follow or you will get airlocks and blow back through the expansion reservoir otherwise.

I have no doubt that you are correct in that theory ,the LS400 wiring and electrical system is probably as good as you will find in a production saloon car. The Mark I I had for 16 years and was 23 years old when I sold it never had a bulb replaced or blew a fuse in all that time and it covered nearly 200k before it was scrapped at 24 years old.This is why I do not like adding any type of electrical accessories, they will unbalance the system if not fitted properly to the car and most of the shops that fit them do not analyze the system and its affects before connecting the item up.

I think the Lexus Lady as one of the sexiest voices on the satnav systems ,It reminds me of that schoolmistress I had who just showed enough cleavage to make it embarrassing to walk back to your desk after visiting her for marking at the front of the class.Ho happy days.

The only voice recognition in my car is the wife's

That will work for a time and will give the car a longer life ,if you are happy with knowing the rot is still going on and keep an eye on the cills it should be ok.

The scenario with the bulb sounds like the bulb socket may be shorting,try to take it out and check out the wiring or the terminals within the socket .the fuse is blowing for a reason.

Having commented earlier to the question I can only re-iterate my earlier comments, with the addition of the peace of mind factor

Jeremy If the inner arches are rotten its a lost cause,the cost of taking off the rear wing to get in there is prohibitive, you can bodge them from the outside face but they will continue to rot were you can't see.Thats not to say that the car will fail its ticket and may take ages to get riddled but its not something I could live with.

There are tons of threads on the forum from owners over the years that will answer all your questions but the real pleasure is finding out for yourself ,so buy it and discover a whole new experience.

Simon All the causes of frustration are there and it is always the case on a unfamiliar project,your approach up to now with research and ordering parts as been fine, follow it through with a patient and methodical job, do not rush and do the dismantle in as close to the correct sequence as it states in the tutorial. It is a fairly long and complicated job even for a techy who does them all the time, so don't rush. Oh ! and take pics at every stage so you are confident when it comes to putting it back together you are doing it right.

The later models of the 400 did not have the electric condenser fan (which is not the radiator fan) at the front of the car. The original Mark 1 had one fan and the overseas versions had two ,But our northern hemisphere climate never taxed the A/C system so Lexus stopped putting it on later UK models, as for the LS 430 ,I can't say if they continued this policy.

Simon If there is nothing holding it in the form of fasteners take a wooden ,leather or Rubber hammer and hit around the edges do not use any metal objects to strike the housing it will give way after a bit of patient tapping. .

Just love to show that at a HSE conference ,they'd be creaming their selves.

Callum On the early marques of the LS400 there is an expansion valve on the top of the diff this allows any pressure that builds up in the diff to escape. The hypiod oil in the diff is a very heavy viscosity and if heat is produced through heavy loading the pressure as to be allowed to escape,it may be this is the cause of your dampness .Check for leakage in fluid form by cleaning the diff off and checking for drips at the bottom over a period of a week.

The idea of running the cable under the car is probably the way to go .There are two brake pipe service channels that run each side of the car they are covered by a plastic shield held on with captive nuts.They run from the bottom of the engine bulkhead exiting forward of the back exhaust box heat shield. The route would be down the engine firewall through the channel and then over the heatshield and into the boot through the grommet on the spare wheel carrier. I'm sure when you start the job better routing solutions at the rear will be found but it is a start.

When I changed the fluid on my Mark 1 the method was basically put two litres in and take two out until the fluid is pink and clear. I have a special 12 volt oil extraction pump for which I once had the distribution rights in Europe . It was designed for extracting oil from small marine engines via the dipstick, it is no longer made but there are vacuum pumps that do the same job available at chandlers. The fluid is extracted via the dipstick tube and I think I used 15 litres in all .But a good guideline is twice as much as the capacity of the box. Method;Extract two litres ,replace with new ,run round the block repeat the excercise until the fluid is clear, draining from the sump will remove a couple of pints as most of the fluid is held in the torque converter and the box.

Zia I think what Steve is saying is that the ambient temp sensor in the cabin regardless of where it is could be faulty and may not be allowing the clutch to engage ,bearing in mind you are engaging the clutch by bridging the relay,so any results you may be getting in the operation of the system are compromised. ie; working in the back and not working in the front may have nothing to do with the sensor.

Zia There is another sequence in the process and that is the ambient temprature sensor in the cabin and on the front of the car these monitor the temprature outside and inside the cabin. This might sound obvious but they are programmed to switch off the A/C at set high and low extremes that occur in certain tropical and subzero regions to protect the system . If either of these sensors are faulty the compressor will not engage. They show up as codes on the self diagnosis but may still have a bearing on your problem even if they don't show. The amount of gas for a full capacity on the 430 is around 36 ounces and 7 ounces of pag oil that makes 900g look short to me but I am an imperial Measure so I could be wrong.

Hi On the LS400 the 23 code means pressure sensor circuit which usually means there is not enough gas in the system, as far as I can tell there is no code 28 but that number could have replaced the solar switch circuit which is 21 on the LS400 .Run the diagnostic test again and check if it shows a 21 code on its analysis list.

Classic car insurance is irrelevant on a Lexus as they are not classic cars in the true sense of the term. Classic cars used to be cars that were 25 years old or over until Gordon Brown stuffed that when he became chancellor. The criteria now for cars exempt of tax and termed classic is manufactured pre 1971. With regard to insurance I doubt that any company would offer rebuild costs in the case of an accident caused by the owner as the costs would be difficult to get underwritten .The premiums would be astronomical and not enough of them to make it viable for insurance companies to seek out. The real trick is to use the car carefully make sure its someone else's fault if there is an accident then you can make them pay for the cars repair rather than accepting a low write off price.

Simon The aftermarket supplied parts are consumables used mainly in Auto workshops where techies are doing these jobs day in day out and the specific technique shown in the tutorial are the views and methods of one individual. The parts will all fit and there are various anomilies with all the different suppliers .The gasket to the water pump will not be used by most garages as they tend to use the gasket in a tube these days. With regard to the timing belt the crank mark sets up the correct alingnment for the installation if you want to be sure you have it perfect just do as the tutorial depicts when setting the cam marks.

Adam Do your mate a favour put a new battery on the car .The symptoms are those of a failing battery ,constant short runs and lots of starts sulphate the battery and reduces its charge holding capacity this eventually leads to a shorted cell which is why your alarm is going off. Even after a good run up to Ireland the battery will slowly discharge whilst stood and if your pal likes Guinness the car might be stood still for a while.

John You can't buy the versions that are cheap here, if you noticed there all kinds of options on the US models that add up when you get ,the full spec that is only offered in the UK .The US price quoted does not include the sales taxes that accrue when the car is purchased,Vat is usually included in UK quoted prices.The price for a comparative vehicle when all those factors are added brings them around the same price give or take dealership discounts. The car is produced in Japan so currency fluctuations and import taxes also make a difference. As for the cost of petrol as I often say to my american friends when they gasp at our prices ,But I got free medical cover and they would settle for that.

Banjo The waxoyl also needs to go into the area that forms the cill, this area is accessed via an oblong rubber bung just forward of the start of the cill under the rear door arch. Water that as penetrated the wheel arch runs down and settles in that area and the cill rots from the inside out. I had to have both my cills patch welded though this problem on my Mark 1. I halted the rust within the arch after its initial discovery when the car was 6 years old by flooding the wheel arch cavities with two gallons of waxoyl. That treatment did not get into the cill area unfortuanatly and ten years later the cills rusted through. If you remove the bung and feel around with your finger you will soon get the rust on your fingertip if it is present. The cause of this problem was stone chips to the wheel arch that the underseal hid, the stone chips then rusted away undetected. I patched mine with epoxy resin impregnated into fibreglass weave then undersealed. Waxoyl within these cavities is a preventative measure and after the experience with the Mark 1 My Mark 4 got it straight away although it as to be said that the paint job within those hidden away areas is much better now.