panda

Sounds faintly like what can happen if you disconnect the battery for any length of time. Have you tried switching on the ignition and leaving it for 10 mins - then come back and try to start it? If that doesn't work I agree you should get it to the dealer - their diagnostics will show what's wrong.

I use Meguiars "Scratch X" they sell it in Halfords. Used a couple of times it makes a scratch much less noticeable,

Im sure they re-issue you with the original plate that was on the car. They do. I have bought two cars in the last year, both of which had private plates on with the previous owner. In both cases the DVLA simply re-assigned the original number. In one case i then transferred my own private plate to the car. I am quite sure that if I sell it they will re-assign the original number. Your own transfer docs and MOTwill show exactly what happened regarding the original number and the lexus Garage will have a record of the services in what ever number was on it at the time. Don't waste your money on a retention unless the original number has itself some intrinsic value that you can sell.

At last someone else on LOC from the Equine world :D Horses and Lexus don't seem to go together though - I don't know anyone with horses who dosen't have a great big 4 x4 - usually a very uncomfortable and smelly one! P.S. You can get saddle soap on Ebay too!

I have horses - so have always used saddle soap on my car seats - you can get a bar from any tack shop. The knack is to use a barely damp cloth -rub it on the saddle soap bar sparingly and then rub into an area of the leather. You can polish it up a bit after with a dry lint cloth. If you start to get a white foam you are using too much. It is cheap - and lasts forever and produces a very good result - just as on a saddle! We use neatsfoot oil for softening leather - particularly on riding boots - it waterproofs as well but I honestly wouldn't recommend it for car seats as it really is oily and when you sit in the seat the odds are you will get it all over your clothes and never get it out!

I know this has been discussed in relation to the LS 400 but does anybody know the answer to this on the LS 430 2001 - 2003 models. When the traffic info or sat nav voice cuts in, the right channel is faded out automatically. I have noticed recently that sometimes it is not coming back when the info is over - but will come back if I turn the volume up. I think someone said that on the LS 400 there is a physical switch some where that perfoms this function which can need cleaning. Anyone know if that is the case for the LS 430 and where it is!!??

Just an idea - but don't you have to do a "seek" for traffic info frequencies when you get into the new country? Once you've done that and it has established what stations have the carrier signal you then (like here) have to have the radio tuned to one of those stations even if you are not using it and are using the CD instead. For example - here Classic FM doesn't have a carrier signal so if you leave your radio tuned to that station you get no traffic info - all the BBC stations do carry it - so if you leave it tuned to radio 4 you get it - surely the same must apply in France etc - it will only be if you have it tuned to a station that carries the signal that you will get it.

The number begining with 0700 is their emergency telephone number. The number you want has one or two letters as well - sometimes its difficult to tell a C from a G but they will tell you if you are quoting the right reg number. Also its worth asking them at the time you register (do it by phone - its easier and pay by CC - and you can read the number to them over the mobile phone) if they have your key number - they often have so if you need one in an emergency you know who to ring!

Have managed to kerb the front nearside wheel of my LS 430 today - not serious but it has taken about 2 1/2 inches of laquer off the wheel right at the outer edge next to the tyre down to the metal - can this (should this) be touched up? What do I need to get - is there some sort of silver/grey sort of laquer for putting on like touch-up paint?

It is a bit awkward if I remember right - you have to squeeze your fingers down the back of the unit - there was a bit of trim near mine and it didn't leave much room but you can easily feel the plugs in the back of the unit and can just see them a bit one is the signal coming in and the other is the video out I think - if you want to do the job properly you have to unscrew and remove the unit but as I said - just waggleing the plugs solved my problem for a while at least.

The CD is fine (ie no scratches) not sure of the version as unforunaly when I bought the car it had a copied version in the player. I have had the Cd out and checked it. It does seem to happen when it's planned a route and lets say you know the basic route so close it so not to get the voice, then when you open it your somewhere else ! Dont know if this helps - Is it perhaps not receiving the GPS signal at times? I had a CD sat nav in a GS300 and began to find that for no reason I was shown as being where I wasnt. It was worse in London than anywhere else but it did also happen outin the country. In the end I found that the problem was dirty connection in the plug into the back of the Sat Nav unit in the trunk. I waggled the plug about- pulled itout and put in back in a fewtimes and that stopped it doing it. After a month or so it started a gain so I cleaned the connetion properly and it was ok after that.

Thanks - I've come round to the view that as mine was the first model year - perhaps it was a car for the Jap market (they are smaller people - no offence!) the wife's is the second year - I don't think its face-lifted as such - but it really does feel different to drive and the adjustments for the steering etc are appropriate for a sweedish lumber-jack! - trouble is she won't swop with me! And now we both have an LS we would never drive anything else!

Any ideas about this? My wifes 02 LS430's steering wheel goes in and automatically tilts up out of the way when she switches off - also it can be positioned during driving, as far up as the auto tilt goes and so at its top it is above the fascia of the instrument panel. Mine was registered only 9 months previously but my wheel has a lower top adjustment and does not tilt up when it withdraws when the ignition is switched off. This is a nuisance because i am taller than her but i have to have my seat position very low to be able to see all the instruments because my steering wheel will not go up as far as hers! The handbook says that the auto tilt can be disabled by the lexus dealer and I am beginning to wonder if the previous owner had this done - I can't think why anyone would unless he was very small! Anybody know if it is possible to have the steering wheel easily adjusted so it will tilt up higher?

Have a feeling this £500 excess on loan car insurance is something that has come in recently for the motor trade in general. I had a loan car at an independent dealer near Warwick in February and nothing was said about any excess when I took the loan car. Went back to get the job finished two weeks ago and they pulled out a big form and said that as it was a "motor trade policy" there was now an excess of £500. If it had not been that the job was going to take 4 hours and I had the wife and kid with me I would have stayed in their waiting room particularly as the loan car was a manual and I am used to automatics.This is now putting me off having a loan car under any circumstances. You only need some prat to open a door too hard in a multi story car park and dent the door of your (their) nice shiny GS 300 and you will have blown a large part of the excess if not all of it. I know that you are always taking that chance but £500 compares very bady with the £250 excess on my own policy. As my wife has a car she doesn't use alot in the week I will be asking them in advance if there is an excess and using hers if necessary in future!

Mine was registered in September 2002 and is also version 02.1. That just means that it was the first re-write of the disk in 2002 - There just must not have been any re-writes before yours was purchased in 2003. And you will know that the DVD Sat Nav unit is in the trunk and has nothing to do with the CD. The dealer told me I can buy the latest version and just swap it. Trouble is that here in the UK they cost mega bucks!

I had a GS 300 W Reg once, that would have had the same CD sat nav.The handbook has a section about creating a security code for the display - there is a factory setting -I can't remember what it was but it was definately 4 figures so try 0000 or 1111.Iam sure the handbook will explain. I did change mine and had to remember to tell the dealers I PX ed it with. If somebody has changed it in the past I don't know how you get the code read.

My old next door neighbours surname was 'Fluck'..... and that's 100% true!.... swear on the cats arse. That's interesting - Diana Dors (for those of us just old enough to remember her!) real name was Diana Fluck. There is a story about a mayor introducing her at some jamboree in her hometown, who must have been flustered by her prodigious headlamps, when he ended the introduction - " and now ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our very own Diana C**t"

I noticed that about Shell 'V Power' - which is what you get in all the western european countries - I put it down to the fact that Optimax is I think rated at 98 and V Power at 100. I certainly noticed a big difference when I started using Optimax over supermarket fuel. It may have been something to do with the fact that the first time after I got the car I filled up with petrol at Morrisons - within 15 mins the engine warning light came on - I kid you not - and an oxygen sensor had to be replaced - fortunately not at my expense. Even with the tank half filled with Optimax and half supermarket petrol the performance improvement was noticeable. Overall it was 20.8 mpg with supermarket and is 23.5 mpg with pure Optimax. When you add to that the fact that it keeps your engine clean and you get pluspoints and if you buy enough they send you a special optimax pluspoints card - there is no contest. Now I use the Shell site to search for the location of Shell stations at home and on the continent! quote name='TonyGoose' date='Mar 30 2006, 05:09 PM' post='342873'] If only we could get Shell 'V-Power' over here i think that would answer this question .... Used it number of times when over in Germany... Had about 1/4 tank of it when arrived home last time and certainly noticed degradation filling up with Optimax. That was about 2 yrs ago though so maybe things are a bit different now ?? I'm sure the TTE / ring visitors would notice the difference too...

its to encourage people to drive more economical and cleaner cars which in turn will encourage manufacturers to produce lower immision cars and more economical engines which in turn will help preserve the worlds resources which cant be a bad thing ! # You are referring to London - Nova Scotia aren't you? No offence but if the government is trying to hide behind that as an excuse then again, I think its b :tsktsk: x! Scrap Diesels then for a start. Sort out the shambles of a dated train system, make public transport in general more economical and more reliable. Its utter garbage! to be honest the public transport, certainly in london has improved considerably over the last few years, as for our train system, its the best in the world !!, anyone can run a few lines from major towns, but we have a system which covers a huge amount of the country, the trains have also improved considerably immissions and economical methods apply to public transport as well im not canvassing for the goverment ....honest having 6 vehicles to tax is not easy, but you gotta face the facts :D

Hang on - I looked up the LS 430 on the DVLA website after the changes were posted yesterday - it is in band F not G as far as I could see - ie Toyota have produced a 4.3 litre engine with better emissions than a 4x4 (as you would expect) so it is in the rate below the new £210 - correct me if I am wrong please i am just about to tax!.

Anyone know the best place for my missis to get an after fit DVD player and headrest screens put in an LS 430 (Reading or London) and how much it may cost?

When I went from a GS 300 to an LS 430 I found it was only one insurance group higher and it was only70 quid more for the year. It must be that the claims history on Lexus is very good. One of the better side effects of the 300 and 430 series being viewed as 'old men's cars' !!

Mine is written in the first page of the service book.

Ive seen Pioneer CD cartridges occasionally on ebay when doing a search for Lexus - unfortunately you may have scroll through 100s of items before you find one.

Phew! and phew! again! Good point about the keys in the house though- better find somewhere obscure to find them.