ambermarine

Hello fellow Lexuns I have just bought a donor car for my own Lexus 90 LS400 I had stupidly damaged the bonnet and the same colour donor car(would have done another ten years but for suspension damage beyond insurance scope) came with a clean bonnet at half the price for the car as what Lexus wanted for the bonnet renewed.I have sold the drive train and with various other sales of parts I did'nt keep have recouped the initial outlay.and benefitted from 40 spare parts .I have carefully dismantled the car so it can still be driven less interior including dashboard and seats and all linings door panels and all electrical components motors ecu's etc ,less those associated with the engine and gearbox .This as been a terrific experience the car is built in such a way that any potential rattles have been eradicated with the use of modular wiring conduits foam rubber ,anchors to elimanate any slack in looms every electrical connection to any source is by means of non movable plug and sockets.contact points between brittle surfaces are padded including all the air conditioning ducts where it might contact metal.It seems that the design engineers were under pain of death should any car be recalled for a rattle.In my 40 years of owning cars from frog eyed sprites to jaguars the lexus ls 400 of 1990 was a truly remarkable feat of engineering in terms of automobile construction. :)

Hello fellow Lexuns Intrested to read of another wary lexun regarding recco from mftr reps,In the early mark 1 lexus ls 400 owners handbook ,it actually says and I quote; "unless the vehicle as been used as a taxi or delivery vehicle it is not nessacary to change the cambelt at all". And armed with that info I told my Lexus dealer not to change it,he insisted in changing it so I went on to Lexus Uk who agreed that the hand book said as much but a new engine was £5000 so you do the only thing that any sane person would do you change it. some years later as some people will note from a earlier contribution my cambelt went for an entirly different reason 10k after renewal and no damage occured in the engine, because there is a safe clearance between pistons and valves .So there you have it ,it takes 10 years of owning a Lexus to gain all these valuble snippets but along the way you pay for peace of mind. :

Hello Fellow Lexuns I have been following the topic on transmission fluid change with some mixed feelings,I was concerned by the constant referal to the type t-1V and its implications of non application . I had my lexus looked after in the Manchester area by the same guy at a lexus dealer ship for eight years,Ihave lived in Scotland now for 4 years and have done the services myself.I contacted the Lexus dealer in Glasgow who;s workshop said they put in dexron type 111.He insisted that the lexus reccomendation stated that dexron was an acceptable alternative to toyota products.I then contacted the Mechanic who looked after my car as if it were his own and he confirmed this.He went on to say that the only difference you will notice, if at all ,is the smoother gear changethat t-1V achieves. As my Ls400 as the smoothest gear change on fluid that as done 150000 miles you could wish for I think there may be some kiddology going on from the pricing of these products.After all Toyota don't make the transmission fluid ,they commision an oil company to do that and they're hardly likely to promote something with thier name on that as a General motors trademark. Anyway I did the change using 12 litres of dexron and simply shoved a 4mm nylon tube down the dipstick and with a qwik -drain pump outfit, pumped a litre and a half out then pumped the same amount of new in. Ran round the block, repeated the process, until the colour of the fluid was as near to the new sample I started with.Total cost £28 and I did it standing up. And no, I did'nt take off the pan or change filters in the box because to my knowledge there have been no builders or gardeners in there lousin the place up and it probably wants to be left in peace anyway.Thats not to say that it might blow up next week ,but I think the sealed system speaks for itself .By the way I changed the fluid in my power steering pump the same way, without of course the trip round the block. :)