Tinonline

Battery prices are ok at the dealerships...I think the units are good for 5 years...mine is over that now but I’m not making any comment😷🤭

How old is the battery...🧐 Also I’ve flattened the battery a few times working on the car with doors open and internal/boot/lights on much to my surprise...all good afterwards though.

The colours changed as the market shifted to revised formulas. Trying to identify what was in my son’s 2007 Merc and finding what would top up and replace was ridiculous...naturally manufacturers lean heavily on brand protection as far as they are legally able. I prefer OE but the quality of good quality oils and fluids matches or exceeds OE and is often rebranded product. A local Lexus garage uses Shell Helix for eg. I check the specifications, naturally. Petrol formulas look as though will change again soon, here we may have little or no choice. I don’t find Red coolant easy to find btw and it’s essentially at end of life. The Lexus handbook gives a steer on requirements...fairly basic so I’m confident on getting a non OE, suitable match.

OE from Lexus is one route. Or Pink Long Life from someone like Eurocarparts. It lasts 5 years and is fine for UK weather demands. I buy ready diluted as it's good to go. If you have to top up and colour matching is difficult...there is a Preston's add to any fluid. I see this as a short-term measure.

Leaks can be tricky to detect but you can smell them...damp sweet whiff... If your reservoir cap old? I had a very gradual coolant loss that worried and baffled me - I had the original cap. Last ditch was to fit a new OE cap. All good now. Lots of short journeys hot/cold/hot/cold = pressure loss and evaporation. Just a thought.

Thank you my friends - looks like I can be spared changing the shoes. I'll give them a good clean and apply a little copper grease to the pivot points. Good for another 20+ years!

Last jobs I did on my LS400 were oil change and filter, air filter and pollen filter. At 92,716 miles I passed the MOT. with an advisory on thin rear brake pads and I knew they would be due soon. No warning light as of yet. Time for rear discs and parking shoes too really at this mileage. Last years' brush with emissions failure at idle didn't feature again. So thrashing around a few miles with added Cataclean last year must have really done the job. Time to start shopping around for parts. 🧐

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Malc...on my recent look at Lexus LS400's I also found very common ECU caps failure as a forum theme all Mks but particularly pre-97. Also the dreaded EGR pipe from top engine rear to exhaust was a common failure. I don't think either seemed to have just stopped the car in it's tracks but were major faults requiring immediate repair. 🙂

If your car starts and performs as normal then the answer is no. 👍 The process is not the battery per se... but restart procedure for the ignition key/anti-theft device. This kind of info should be in your Owner's Manual. I never remember the process for my Mk4 Lexus LS400 and interesting to note the procedure is detailed in a yellow warning sticker on the back cover of the Owner's Manual! Looks like they wanted to draw attention to it...or someone forgot to write it in to the manual. 😮

Yep and I think the Mk4 is easier to work on cambelt wise. The MK 4 performance is always mixed up with the earlier cars...I have seen 0-60mph time of 6.3 seconds listed for the MK4 and I believe it. 😀

Yes - looks like you can do either. Mine went in dry. If you do use grease, probably best to ensure you use sparingly and only electrolyte grease.

Here's the answer: and a note to amend my own experience from the guide I wrote for later LS400 plugs. I discovered/read a Lexus manual on this and one step is to apply electrolyte grease to the spark plug threads. Next time I will do this. There was certainly no sign of this on removing my plugs...Lexus service history to the then 72k Miles.

My LS400 gets an annual change. Crosland this year. But I like Mann - just fitted Mann oil filter to eldest son's CLK350. They are getting pricey - made in Germany. I've a Denso cabin filter to fit - Denso is good and does a lot of OE for Lexus across many parts lines. 🙂

Hi Malc Only seen it in connection with the 430's. I don't think it's a problem with the SC430? Simon

Later MK4 last run of the LS400 has the coil on plug. So on each spark plug there is an ignition coil. These are straight forward to get at and replace. They seem to be reliable and I don't see many complaints...I believe manufactured by Denso. Guess what...Denso also make coils for Jags...and...yes they fail very regularly so I suppose the quality is completely different looking at years circa 2000 - 2003.

I've heard of the alternator popping under contamination from steering pump failure. Some components become consumables after age and mileage have consigned them to pass their life: most suspension bushes would be in this category. MOT should identify visible wear but a surprise failure could be a dodgy, sub standard part... Would be interesting to ID early vs later models.

Welcome back Pete. 🙂

Argh this is annoying. Careful spending money from now on. Agree try swapping wheels but if you’d had them balanced they should be ok. I bought and fitted good quality new discs but have a bit of shimmy under some braking conditions...oh well. OE parts... Mine went away with lower ball joints and lower suspension arm bushes at around 80k miles. Also a track rod end drivers side was replaced. The lower Control arms were very worn even at modest use and mileage...the years count more than or as much as the miles. Original equipment. You’ll pass the MOT for example but it doesn’t mean you are at optimum... Sounds like your car is in good order but worth checking aux belt, steering fluid but I think suspension bushes/parts most likely culprit.

First time I've heard of variations for the earlier engines...always worth a double check with the supplier. Agree with Malc on Gates & AISIN my jury is out on BluePrint: not cheap does fit but to me quality looks over-stated. Some years ago I bought a Gates kit from RockAuto in a sale at a very reasonable/low price. That had water pump, belt pulleys, tensioner and all the required gaskets. Very pleased with quality and fit. If i'd fitted OE (with the mileage I do) next time i'd just fit the belt. As is...i'd probs just do the whole lot again. Simon

Well Peter - good job... I do hope your work and substantial cost saving is appreciated. I fear that the tariff level for car repair is lower than say painting and decorating/doing what one is told/supporting other half in a pointless argument with off-spring... 🤧

Pete so sorry to hear this and very glad to hear you are up and about. Give yourself plenty of time...difficult when you want to get back to normal and get on with things. Yep I disconnected mine some time ago too after failing to repair the float...just kept it topped-up. I got the part from that Ayama site or whatever it's called - some parts are expensive but the float from one of the suppliers was around 1/2 price. Came in Lexus parts box and was identical in every way. It's just one more thing to stop a long list of repairs forming! I'll be interested to see how I get on with the MOT. I failed on emissions idle last year and fixed it with a bottle of cat cleaner and a thrash around a business park for 1/2 hour. Also I have a clunk at the front that I think is the upper arm. I've had new ball joints and lower arm bushes done...drop links seem to be OK. I'd like to get at the rear brakes before the light tells me too... ☺️

As threatened some time ago...feels like months...I spent some time on my LS400. The delay was a case of coronovirus...living close to London and me commuting with a son also travelling proved to much. In a way I'm glad to get it over with I think as long as I don't get it again. My two boys at 24 and 20 got through it well although wife and I did well but it hurt. I had some nasty afters though and ended up collapsing in Tesco and spending a night in hospital. No driving for 6 months...docs think it was post viral infection or post covid reaction. Looking back I tried to return too quickly and was running again...too soon. All ok now and I'm on a good 5km time and my running training is back to normal. Moral of the story: take your time with this b****rd - symptoms vary btw. Lasts for a while too. Task 1 should have been the MOT but by the time I was ready...the world and country was not...I'm not forcing one now, if I need a garage to fix something...that won't work. Task 2 was an oil and filter change so with OE filter and Shell Helix that was a straight forward job - sump plug gasket was OE too. Task 3 air filter change was really easy and differed from my previous experiences: I paid more attention and tried to move things as little as possible. This resulted in this being a painless task with the case fitting together easily and quickly! The outgoing filter after less than 5k miles and one year old looked pretty mucky. The engine side was much better so clearly it was doing its job. Certainly this is an annual replacement and my urban living clearly doesn't help. Task 4 replacing the windscreen washer level float switch. I bought this a while ago for around £40 OE from abroad and with no postage so a bargain. Now this was fiddly and I ended up removing the very tight new seal from the switch, fitting it first to the base of the tank, then pushing up the unit through it. It takes some polite force and I feared damaging the float. To get the seal over the lip of the base of said switch means pushing the unit up whilst pulling and folding over the bottom of the seal. Done. All works and I suppose time will tell if I've been too rough with the unit.🧐 Some time ago I fitted a new coolant expansion cap - coolant level looks unchanged so I'm happy with that. It had moved lower over time in the past: there were no leaks and the engine is on 93485 miles with no signs or expectation of anything more sinister going on. That'll keep things going for a while. Hope you are all well. Keep safe. 😷

They get bunged up easily. If you don’t use them from time to time and forget they are there...

This might sound a bit strange...I think we are getting warm(er) weather on Sunday. You might get a better response as the cold goes away. My car is in similar straights and does short haul shopping run. I haven’t had to charge the battery yet...the engine doesn’t even get fully warmed up. Giving it a mini service this weekend.