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Totally with you Malc - I sold my LS400 last year and have replaced it with an LS430.

Something strangely addictive about owning and running these cars and it's not something other car drivers would understand until they drive and own one of these LS cars

I'd go with eBay and Autotrader adverts - I sold my Lexus LS400 and my Audi A8 W12 using both. Plenty of hits, plenty of enquiries and a few tyre kickers as usual but it did the job.

Autotrader will allow you to upload up to 20 photos so make good use of that and make sure your eBay advert is written very well and is comprehensive to save people e-mailing you to ask a lot of questions.

Good luck

Really good post and it's good to see and hear of other owners who look after their cars so well.

I ran my LS400 for 13 years and did almost 230k miles and maintained it meticulously too. I sold the car last year and the new owner was very impressed with the service history and overall condition of the car.

I changed my cambelt 4 times during my ownership and the original water pump lasted 180k miles and the replacement genuine part was £90 - now that's a good sign of build quality and durability.

I hope my latest purchase, an LS430 will live up to the same level of reliability and quality as the LS400

Whenever I see any car with those chrome trims around the wheel arches, I cringe as I don't like the look of them and some owners use them as a way to hide any rust.

My biggest gripe with that S-class was that it wasn't as well built or as solid as it's predecessor. Just my opinion though.

These types of cars do represent great value on the used market - it's just ashame that the service & running costs don't go down the same way !

Very surprising that the oil hasn't been changed for 5 years especially if the car has been serviced by Lexus - even for minor services, they will change the oil and oil filter.

Ultimately buying cars like this of any age all comes down to condition, history and gut instinct.

Cars like this don't normally have several owners and in my opinion, if a car has had multiple owners it could be a sign that it's potentially a dud and that previous owners have just wanted to get rid !

Sorry to hear you are off to a rocky start with your LS

Here are my suggestions :

1) Safest thing is to get either this fob or a new one from Lexus - probably cost around £150

2) New set of Locking Wheel Nuts are £20 - £30. Locking nuts can be sheared off but then you can't use them again.

3) As per other posts, the Radio Code should be in the Service Book - I can't recall if there is a default code of 0000 or 1234. You get 3 attempts before it locks itself.

4) Knocking could be front suspension arms or ball joints (known fault on the LS400) - I sourced a replacement set of arms from eBay for £150 and paid my local garage the same amount. Lexus dealers charge around £500 per side to replace and fix.

4. Knocking from the front when on bumpy road or braking (very) hard. I swear I didn't hear this on the test drive.

Good luck otherwise

It's still a 20 year old car so I reckon no more than £3k providing there are no major issues with it (e.g. all mechanicals fine, all electrics work).

If I was going for an LS400, I would personally want the Mk IV version as that has the 5 speed auto, 280bhp engine and looks a bit nicer than this one but that's just my view

I sold my LS400 last year after owning it for 13 years and I now have an LS430

Personally, I would just go to a Lexus dealer to get a 2nd key - replacement cost will be around £200 but at least you have a fully working key that's coded to your car.

Cutting the key itself can be done by most locksmiths. The problem is the electronic transponder that talks to your car.

I have heard of aftermarket companies that offer to create these for you but I don't think it's worth the time or hassle and having only 1 working key risky to say the least. If that stopped working, the only way to get the car started would be to actually break in and for someone to try and override the electronics, etc. - not something I would ever want to go through.

Before I purchased by LS430, I saw a number of cars for sale at dealers and 3 of these only came with a single key. The car I purchased came with 3 remote key fobs although the 3rd one is a skeleton fob.

£389 ? That's an insane price - I thought £220 from Audi for an A8 was crazy

I am sure you will be able to find a used one from a breakersyard for much less than that

To be honest, my sale was a reluctant one and I sold mine as I had 2 other cars which were much newer - whilst my LS430 ownership has got off to a rocky start, there was no other car that offered this kind of luxury for the money. Older BMW 7s, Audi A8s and Merc S-Classes just aren't that reliable and cost a fortune to put right when they go wrong.

I did take a small gamble on getting a replacement steering column switch as my mechanic said the motor itself was fine and working

I do find it surprising that the 430 has this issue - I have sourced a used steering column for £350 with a 6 month guarantee so fingers crossed my car comes back in full working order

As much as I loved my LS400 (I ran it for 13 years), the LS430 is in my mind a good step forward and I couldn't go back to the LS400 now

If I was you, I would get a quote from Lexus 1st for a replacement mirror glass (assuming they are able to source this) and then try a number of the breakers yards for a replacement part. Make sure you give them the Chassis No. as well as your registration for the vehicle

Try the following and I'm sure you will get quotes on this :

www.1stchoice.co.uk

www.partsgateway.co.uk

www.breakerlink.com

www.breakeryard.com

www.carpartsfinder.co.uk

www.findapartnorwich.co.uk

www.247spares.co.uk

I am sure that you will get some reasonable quotes and used parts should come with 90 days or even 180 days warranty too

Good luck

I owned my LS400 (Mk 4) version for 13 years and sold it last year to a guy who like me is a huge fan and enthusiast

Whilst my LS430 ownership has got off to a rocky start due to a couple of issues (know LS430 faults), I am definitely very happy with the 430 - the cabin, extra gadgets, space and overall looks really are a step up from the LS400

But anyone who runs a good 400 is definitely lucky to have such an awesome motor for sure :-)

I had considered that a replacement might go the same way too but then a number of owners have said to me that bizarrely they've not had issues once it's replaced.

And I want the car in full working order so definitely need this to be sorted.

I also didn't realise there are 2 motors in the steering adjustment, 1 for the up / down and a 2nd motor for the angled movement - used motors still go for £150 each typically.

Disappointing experience so far compared to my LS400 (Mk IV) ownership

A couple of breakers yards have come back to me with quotes of around £400 for a reconditioned steering column with 3 or 6 months warranty.

Whilst part of me is tempted to leave it as is, the car is sitting at the garage with steering taken apart so I want this fixed and sorted now

I paid a specialist £150 to retro-fit parking sensors in my rear bumper on my MK IV LS400 and they worked an absolute treat - well worth the money, convenience and they make the cars more sellable too as owners would now expect these as standard.

I am surprised Lexus didn't make them standard on the LS400s

Thanks Malc - will keep you all posted. I am awaiting news from my breakers yard enquiries on a replacement used part now.

Not best start to my ownership but hopefully once this is sorted I will be enjoying a few years of pain-free ownership just like my previous LS400

I've sent out enquiries for a replacement used steering column from a number of breakers yards - Lexus want around £1400 for a replacement steering column which is outrageous and I'm not paying that for an 11 year old car

After speaking to my mechanic, his view is that the safest and best option is to replace the entire column - the motors are graunching a bit and whilst he has said that I could replace this 1 motor, he cannot guarantee that this will fix the problem. There's also the issue of labour too as replacing 2 motors in the steering column will take more time than replacing the entire column too

I'm far from happy at the cost of this but if it means the job gets sorted out, so be it.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I should have checked this before I bought the car and I didn't !

Well I decided to take a gamble of £120 on buying a replacement steering column adjuster button (which came with the indicator stalk) to see if this would fix my electric steering column adjustment.

Unfortunately this gamble has not paid off and I'm now going to have to source a replacement steering column.

Fingers crossed the breakers yards will give me a good and reasonably priced result.

Disappointing start to my Lexus LS430 ownership for sure

I managed to track down a used steering column adjuster switch and indicator stalk (it came as a unit joined together) - I was hoping that this would fix my electric steering column adjustment as the motor itself seemed to be fine.

Unfortunately for me, it's not worked and I am now having to source an entire steering column.

Not happy about this and disappointed that this could happen on a Lexus

The mirror glass has a heating element and the mirrors also auto-dim which is why they are so expensive - you can get retro fit mirror glass far more cheaply but then you lose both of these functions

Lexus dealers likely to charge well over £100 for this sort of glass if you can still source it for a 97 LS400

Audi charge £200 for auto-dimming mirror glass on the A8 !

Other alternative is to try the breakers yards

I think over time, water and even solvents from hand car wash places sometimes can get in between the surface and the glass which gradually causes a deterioration in the glass. The mirror glass is a bit like an LCD screen

I have seen some LS400s with the bumpers painted the same as body colour - my previous LS400 was in riviera white with a grey lower colour. I did consider repainting it in white but in the end decided to leave it alone.

My indicator stalk has a crack which starts from the steering wheel column and is a few inches long - it works fine and I only want to replace for cosmetic reasons.

A couple of breakers yards have come back to me with quotes of around £60 - not cheap for a bit of plastic.

Lexus said they can't supply me the part on its own and that they only supply full steering columns - sounds crazy to me !

I assume that you have used all the comparison sites like MSM, GoCompare and Confused

Being in your 20s, insurance won't be cheap but you could try reducing the mileage to see if that reduces the premium or offer to pay a higher excess

I bought my LS400 at 28 with 7 years protected NCB and I was paying around £800 but once I hit 30, the premiums became more reasonable

My car was insured with Direct Line, Elephant, Admiral, Groves & Dean and Chaucer but every year, insurers offer varying prices so no ideas who's offering best deals right now