murph

Has anyone ever seen a roof rack for the LS as I want to sell my Merc and have two LS's but for the fact I need a roof box/ability to carry a canoe? I have to say that I have looked at the cars frame and am not sure how it would be possible to fit but you never know! Thanks MURPH

Thanks for the reply Maneesh. I can only see replacement available for a couple of the parts, so have been talking wth Powerflex about a set of 16 bushes to cover all the relevant parts, is that overkill, do the other parts just not wear out? I guess noise v ride is a case of how mush noise do you think and given that the LS is quiet inside will you hear this when driving? Again thanks for you help Murph

Hi All, I have posted the details below in the suspension section and have not had any feedback as yet, I am sure it could be early days but just to make sure all get to see it I thought I would post in the general section, appologise if this is not the done thing. Any help would be gratfully received as I am going to be fronting a reasonable amout of money to make this happen. today I spent some time with Tim Darvill the Marketing and Development Manager at Powerflex. The reason for my call was to start selling Poweflex bushes for smart cars (my main business is two smart car centres) and also I had primed him with the fact that I loved my Lexus LS 400 and why didn't they sell replacement bushes for the car. Having got the LS up in the air we inspected what was needed and some 16 bushes later we had a kit in mind! To develop the kit I will have to pay for development costs etc so wanted to gauge interest from members of the club. The kit price will probebly be around £300 (don't hold me to this as we have a way to go yet!) This is a lot less than renewing everything from Lexus as I m sure a few of you know. As I have only owned the Mk3 LS400 can anyone tell me are there any major differances between the marks that I should be aware of? Does anyone know how many LS 400's were sold in the UK of the various marks? As part of the development process they need the suspension parts off the car and as I can't take mine off the road for more than a day I wondered if anyone knew of a car being broken that I could borrow or buy the said parts from, if you do and you want to help then I am sure a couple of bushes could find there wy into your hands etc etc Anyone wishing to help please e-mail me how to get in contact. I will discuss with Matt putting a club deal together if that would also be of help. And please register your interest as I will have to commit to upwards of 20 sets and development costs to make this happen. many thanks for your interest and help Murph

Hi All, today I spent some time with Tim Darvill the Marketing and Development Manager at Powerflex. The reason for my call was to start selling Poweflex bushes for smart cars (my main business is two smart car centres) and also I had primed him with the fact that I loved my Lexus LS 400 and why didn't they sell replacement bushes for the car. Having got the LS up in the air we inspected what was needed and some 16 bushes later we had a kit in mind! To develop the kit I will have to pay for development costs etc so wanted to gauge interest from members of the club. The kit price will probebly be around £300 (don't hold me to this as we have a way to go yet!) This is a lot less than renewing everything from Lexus as I m sure a few of you know. As I have only owned the Mk3 LS400 can anyone tell me are there any major differances between the marks that I should be aware of? Does anyone know how many LS 400's were sold in the UK of the various marks? As part of the development process they need the suspension parts off the car and as I can't take mine off the road for more than a day I wondered if anyone knew of a car being broken that I could borrow or buy the said parts from, if you do and you want to help then I am sure a couple of bushes could find there wy into your hands etc etc Anyone wishing to help please e-mail me how to get in contact. I will discuss with Matt putting a club deal together if that would also be of help. And please register your interest as I will have to commit to upwards of 20 sets and development costs to make this happen. many thanks for your interest and help Murph

Hello Alex My understanding is that the car needs cambelt change every 60,000 miles, mine was done by Lexus Glassgow at 62,000 and now at 127,000. The belt that came out was in great condition just a bit streatched, no cracks from what I could see and the original marks for lining up yje timing points were still on the rubber! All the best Murph

Steve Many thanks for your reply. The car has now been done by the garage in High Wycombe and wow what a differance, the car feels more "on the button" than before. The water pump was fine but good job I agreed to the tensioner change as their bearings were noisey. The whole job cost around £650 with parts being over £350 so I didn't think it was too bad. I would recommend L&M International in High Wycombe if you are looking for similar work to be done. Thanks guys MURPH

Hi All My MK3 have covered some 125K miles now and I am having the cambelt and tensioners changed at the weekend, has anyone had the experiance of having to change the waterpump at the same time whilst it is in this state of repair? Anything else I should get them to look at? Thanks Paul

Hi All WELL FOR MY 5P'S WORTH I am lucky to have owned or driven some great cars and still own 4 merc's. I have the occassional us of a BMW engined Bentley Arnage which I believe to be the next best thing to the Lexus. Of cource the downside is the cost of running such a car (one little badge on the side of the rear pillar was £100!) but the drive and presence is great. The Bentley is far too big for a daily drive as I used it to go shopping and found it difficult to park in a multi storey car park etc etc My Lexus LS400 whilst old is fantastic for doing most of the 50,000 plus miles a year I travel. I even seem to get around 29 to 31mpg which is second to non of similar age, cost etc. In my humble summary and opinion the LS range of cars are the best kept secret in the world of large car driving providing great value and enjoyment to many of us. lets keep these great cars going for years to come. Here's looking forward to buying a 5 year old LS460. Murph

Hi and thanks for the words of support. I have two smart car centres that specialise in modifiying these cars. This on is a 599cc smart 42 and it has a whole list of mods including induction, exhaust, int pipes, cam, injectors, turbo, custom remap etc plus all the safty bits of brakes wheels tyres suspension etc Head rebuild will take half a day I suspect as long as the bores are not marked. Cheers Murph

Hello All, Have you ever had a day that you wish was just a rehersal and able to be rerun!!! Well it's been one of those day's today so far. I thought I would drive my 105bhp modified smart car to my Watford garage and on the motorway puffffff I lost power and sounded like an intercooler pipe had come off. Stock and started the catr after a few moments and all seem well so drove again pufffffffff and again it happened. No visual signs of anything and again it started and sounded OK so I turned round and wen to my Romsey base. On getting there my mechcanic put the car on the diagnostics and yes it had misfired and whemn the plugs were checked I had melted one so at the least a head rebuild coming up. To crown it all a pigeon poooped on me, they say that's lucky (yeh right) I always take the LS400 on a Saturday so will continue in the future but as the cambelt is due and booked for next week I thought I would be kind to it and give it a rest. Anyone else had any similar experiances????? Murph

Just cleaned my throttle body and air filter (K&N) and it has made the world of a differance. I think every 10,000 miles a check to see the state of it may help, that would be every 3 months at my mileage each year. Many thanks for the advise Royt Murph

Thanks RoyT Will do!

RoyT Thanks for the tip. I will get on to it! Murph

Seasons greetings I pulled off the motorway last night having travelled some 80 miles at cruising speeds and stopped at lights at the bottom of the road and low and behold the car engine cut out, this has happened a couple of time now and I wondered if anyone has any ideas. The tick over in gear is less than 500rpm. The car has done 110,000 miles and is due a service with plugs and I have booked the cambelt to be changed between xmas and newyear. Any thoughts or ideas please? Many thanks Murph

Hi All, Just getting cold enough for the seats to go on and they work fine in the back but not in the front? The button on/off switch lights up but no heat, any ideas on what I should check please? Any fuses under the seat etc? Mines a 1996 MK3 if there is any differance. Thanks Murph