Keith Bowler

I had a similar experience with an uninsured driver and in the end chose not to claim so as to keep my car from being written off. I ended up going to the MIB (Motor Insurers Bureau)for assistance and they agreed to pay my reasonable repair costs. My damage was very similar to yours and cost £850 to repair. The only downside is that the MIB will pursue the offending party and you may be required to attend Court, my case is being held next week. My thread is on the Forum but do PM me if I can be of any further help.

Anyone know of a supplier for the DHP alloy wheel centre caps as I have lost one of mine and could do with getting a new set.

Andy - I was also experiencing what you get in MPG but mine has now improved to around 15.5 doing lots of short journeys around town after a dose of CataClean (I think that's what its called). Mine has done around 117000 miles is serviced religiously and currently shows an overall average MPG of 16.8. When I bought the car 3 years or so ago it was showing an average of 20+ as the previous owner used it quite regularly for 40 mile+ journeys. I find on a good run mine will go up to mid 20's and the highest I have seen is 25 on a return trip to Leicester with a lot of stop starting in traffic for a 13 mile stretch on the outward journey. I have had my ignition 'bits' checked and replaced where necessary and recently had it checked for fault codes and it did not show up any problems. I also plan to run some injector fluid through the fuel system which I try and remember to do every 6 months or so. As others have commented, I do find that the car runs better after a good long motorway journey at a near constant speed. I often ponder replacing my car with something a little more frugal but have yet to find something that is as reliable and gives as much driving pleasure.

Well, got home in the evening of the day that my car would not start, opened the drivers door and started the car without getting in and woe behold it started on the button. As GrahamG mentioned I must have inadvertently pressed the gas pedal as I started it up on the day it would not start. Put the smile back on my face and has started on the button ever since even with loads of rain so maybe damp was not the reason. Keeping fingers crossed!

Battery is fine, the favourite at present is the crankshaft position sensor which my Lexus specialist tells me can fail with little warning causing the starting problems I am experiencing. It appears that they are designed to fail abruptly rather than gradually to avoid more serious engine issues and damage.

Jumped in my LS this morning and found that it would not start. It turns over fine and before you ask yes it has fuel in the tank and everything lights up as it should when you turn on the ignition. I did coax it to start and it ran it for about 5 mins but when I turned it off to restart it it would not start again so I left it as I did not want to kill the battery. This ruled out any issues with the transponder in the key. This is the first time in all of the 4+ years I have owned this car that it has let me down so I suppose I should not complain. Any advice and/or things to check before I call out my breakdown service.

I agree also that there is nothing wrong with green (emerald jade mica mine is IIRC) Scribe, I wanted a blue one but as you say the colour 'grows' on you especially with the desirable black leather interior which is fairly rare. On the MPG front I get 13.5 mpg on short trips driving around town and have only seen just above 25 mpg on a run from Kent up to Leicester back last year. I suppose as most of my driving is relatively short trips my overall average will be low. I have had it checked out and everything is as it should be. I was advised to not run it with the aircon on during the colder months and just use it during the summer and also use the sport mode, which suits my driving style and it does make a difference to my mpg figs. Maybe i just need to ease up on the loud pedal but that would take the fun out of driving it!

Aftermarket satnav is the way to go my Lexus Nav cd is the latest version and its way out of date. I do use the Map Guide facility though when I need to make short cuts to beat traffic which works in most areas. For most trips where I need some guidance I use the Wayz smartphone app with the Star Wars voice of C3P0 and love it when he refers to me as 'master'.

Had a similar problem a while back which seemed to be caused by interference from certain WiFi frequencies where I used to park my car. Sounds daft but was proven by the fact that the problem never occurred when parked outside my house. I now park in a different location near my local station and no further problems.

Seasons Greetings and Prosperous New Years to you all from sunny Kent!

That's some whack John, what state was the mini in! I was hit in the summer by a Pug 206 and was surprised how much damage that did at low speed. Hope you get sorted.

I use a chap in Carshalton, just outside Croydon who works only on Toyota's and Lexus's. PM me if interested and I'll pass on his details

I appreciate some people do not like lowering a Lexus and putting on nice wheels (which may I add are from a LEXUS GS SPORT and not a random bloody universal wheel brand) but there's no need to suggest I buy a corsa. God forbid you take a look at the USA site, where there's at least 100 cars that are similar to what I have done, you may go bat**** crazy and tell them all to buy a corsa too, LOL: http://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-1st-and-2nd-gen-1990-2000/260772-ls400-owners-post-your-wheel-setup.html I'm not putting a body kit on it guys.....it's hardly tarting up the car, in fact it looks quite outdated with stock wheels these days. Hi - I don't see there being anything wrong with trying the 8.5" standard GS 300 Sport wheels, they should fit OK without spacers, though the 10" rears will foul the arches. Depending of course on how low you have gone. I had this set up on my GS Sport, it was standard and it looked the bees but then the suspension was set up in the factory to suit the wheels. I reckon the staggered look with wider 10" rears suits the GS but the 8.5" standard sport wheels are a better fit all round on the LS IMO due to the shape of the car. Best tyre combination I found on the GS was 265-35-18 on rear and 245-40-18 on the front. I have tried the the 8.5" wheels all round with 245-40-18's on my LS and it looked and worked OK, though my LS has the DHP spec, so a little lower than standard but I did get a lot of 'tramlining' on the front wheels and that was using ContSport tyres. I have since swapped back to the standard size 17" DHP wheels and 235-50-17 Bridgestone RE50 tyres and have no more 'tramlining' issues. IMO the GS Sport wheels look great on the LS but sadly the suspension setup was not designed for the size of wheel on the GS Sport. Why not have a word with Tony 'Bones' at Wheels in Motion and he may be able to help with tweaking your suspension set up to suit the wheels. It might be wise to increase your ride height a touch too if you have gone very low. As far as arch rolling is concerned, if done properly, it can be 'discrete' and virtually unnoticable. I think you will find that most VIP American LS's with cambered wheel setups will have rolled arches. I have also seen a UK LS on air bags and that had 20" wheels IIRC (was on Ebay a few months back) and could be 'slammed' to the ground with no apparrent issues.

All 3 bulbs recently replaced Colin. This one is really puzzling!

I posted a while ago about an incident I was involved in where I was hit in the rear by an uninsured driver. My insurers and their sister legal company were useless and gave misleading advice that lead me into a situation where had I claimed my car would have been written off. The Police were advised and said they would investigate the matter but I never heard any further from them. So contrary to the advice from my insurers' sister legal company, who suggested the only option was to make a claim on my insurance, I contacted the Motor Insurers Bureau who were very sympathetic to my cause and invited me to make a personal claim. Having made a claim ,subject to agreeing to testify in court if they are able to find the driver ,I have just received full settlement of my costs to get the car properly repaired. The moral of this particular story is, question any advice from your insurers and uninsured claims legal advisor's and if you are not satisfied don't be frightened to contact the MIB direct as they do deal with the general public on such matters and are not just there for the benefit of the Motor Insurance industry.

Anyone know where to look for faults in the main interior light fitting (the one next to the sunroof control). Sometimes it works and sometime it doesn't. If i 'wiggle' the bulb around sometimes it will come on for a couple of weeks and then it goes off. Sometimes when I 'wiggle' the bulb the fuse blows. The problem started when I had an aftermarket alarm removed by a respected auto electrician but I saw all the wiring connections and as far as I could see any broken wires were soldered and heat shrink wrapped. Its possible that there may be a wire or break that was missed but I have had a good look around the dash and centre console and can not see any signs of dodgy wiring. All other circuits are fine and working as normal. Any tips on specific areas in the wiring to check out or equipment that might also be on the same circuit etc that the interior lighting works off would be appreciated.

An interesting read on the car that started the Lexus brand http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/2014/10/31/the-lexus-ls-400-is-officially-a-japanese-nostalgic-car/

Yeah, definitely the lock barrel rather than the ignition switch. Used some graphite powder in the lock and it is far less 'notchy' when I turn the key.

Mine wing mirrors certainly don't turn in automatically, believe Chris has a later LS430 where they no doubt do.

I once thoroughly embarassed myself by calling the AA out to a sort a starting fault with my first automatic car ........ yes I was trying to start it in gear, what a plonker!!!

Very nice!

Eff - really appreciate you taking the time to share your knowledge of lock lubricants. Fortunately I read your post before squirting loads of WD40 into the lock barrel and invested in some graphite powder which has eased the problem but the key is still a bit notchy. I suspect it is the key wearing rather than the lock as it the was a replacement cut from a non original key. I had misplaced the original spare but have since found it so will get a new key cut and see how that goes.

Just recently I am finding that I need to 'wiggle' my key to get it to turn to start the car. The operation of the key feels a bit notchy in operation. I was going to squirt some WD40 or 3 in one light oil on the key to see if that helps. Does anyone have any other tips as to what would be best?

Funnily enough when I got home this evening there was a letter from the Met Police and it appears that my case is being investigated I also spoke to the MIB this afternoon and they reckon that I have been misinformed by the Legal side of my Motor Insurers and that I most likely will have good grounds to claim compensation from the MIB as they have sympathy for those who have been wronged by uninsured drivers. Things seem to be looking up again though I won't be getting too excited just yet. Malc - I did not write to the drivers parents as I was advised not to as it might comproromise any Police investigation and I could be accused of harassment. Up until midday today I was priming myself to get a letter off to the lads parents.

Back to square one! Had a letter today from my Car Insurers legal company and it appears I will only stand a chance of getting my car repaired if I make a claim against my insurance and then look to claim back my excess via the MIB. Apparently I can only claim for uninsured losses and as my car is insured comprehensively I have to use that and cannot claim under my separate legal cover. That won't happen as I will loose not only the car but will face higher insurance premiums in the long term. To date I have not had an acknowledgement from the Met Police to my reporting the Uninsured driver incident so they can't be very bothered about that so beware if you live in the SE London/ NE Kent area as there is an uninsured driver on the loose! There has got to be an injustice here! Looking on the brighter side, I should be able to get my repair done for just over the cost of my excess, so i suppose over all it won't work out too bad for me and in the long term I will have a car that will be worth more than nothing if it were to be registered as accident damaged/repaired.