bazgtr

I've seen this engine being out into a IS and making it I think 400 horsepower from start to finish. It was on some sky channel last month. It wasn't overhauling, But something like that. He was based in the land of OZ or US and is a famous tuning there working with and for TRD. Just can't remember his name. You could also just attach a direct kit for the engine which contains a supercharger(£3000 plus) for 400bhp, That will be fun.

You can get two cat which are universal cats from the US Ebay which are quite cheap(I think about £75 each). Then you can get the flanges for them from this link near the bottom of the webpage. http://www.lextreme.com/allgo.html You can then get it all welded up at your local exhuast garage or someone like longlife who should also be able to make you a rear pipe while there. This should be at least half the £800 you've been quoted. OR the other option is to fully remove the cats with a stright through bypass pipe from Japan. They are about £200 for a pair new. Just need to put your cats back near the MOT time and you also have some better noise and power while the're out(wink).

MKII 1993 with 172.000 miles.

I see where you're coming from. My thought is that if you love the car and it is a mint car which you love and plan to keep for at least another year, Then I would chnage the belts and water pump. Anther reason not to do the belt has yet to be mentioned. Firstly don't do the belt and the worst happens. You really just need another engine which are going for sale at around £350 a piece from breakers and ebay as there's quite a few getting broken As the price of fuel goes up and they are losing resale value at a high rate(Nobody wants one). The other bonus is before you put the new engine in change the belt while it's still out of the car on the floor and do all the other bits aswell before putting back into the car. This should be OK for many miles to come and you're bale to keep your car. Having talked to people in the trade I can only find one belt failure over the years and the millage of the car at the time was 130,000 miles form new. I also found the belts are pretty good for 100K, But they suggest 80K at most to be safe from the last change. My own car was due a belt change at arriving at 80k and once checked the head mechnic suggested that it was fine and didn't really have to change it for miles to come as it was still like new, But I did it anyway as had the belts in my hand. You could take to covvers off and have a look at the condition of the belt and see if it needs changing soon. Hope that helps.

You're looking in the wrong section. I've answer this before. PRI racing now do the full kit of superpro bushes for the LS400's. Quick delivery aswell.

I charge a bit more than that, But at 423 does that include the Vat and what parts do they replace or is it just belt only. When I go in that far this is what I inform the owner to replace if planning to keep the car for a while. Timing belt, Drive belt, Pulleys, Rotar arms, Dis Caps, Theomstat, Water pump, Coolent. This will save in the long run. I also check out the power steering pump(O-ring) for leaking and give the alternator a go clean if been dripped on. I would also mention leads, plugs and oil/air filter change and transmisson fluid change while in the air on a ramp. These items can be done quite easily at home or at a later date.

The first and second gears are for braking not doing 0-60 times. When you are in D drive and doing about 70 and flick the gear stick to 2 postition you get engine breaking to help slow this big car and if thats not enough to stop you then flick it to 1st postion for even more engine breaking at around 30mph or less. To pull away quick just select the power button and shove the pedal to the floor with a double motion, This will then give you good accelaration. Some good tyres will ahel along with strut braces for faster corning. Wider alloys with more rubber helps, But at the end of the day it's a luxury car not a sports car. You can get some air intakes and supercharger kit for 400 horsepower, It's about £3500 UK pounds for the kit.

I can tell you how to do the lot, But first have a look at this link. This should clear up alot of the problems you have. http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/ Top website for online owners. PS I know where all the screws are in the doors and the clips. Also has your car been sitting around for a while outside?????????

They are finally here. PRI Racing know have the poly bushes in stock and are ready to purchase. Here's the link http://www.priracing.com/section.php/268/1/ls400

All LS's suffer this and it's worst with a strurt brace. Two fixes is that you can either spray some WD40 or duck oil around the top suspension so it soaks through to the top rubber. This is a temporary fix thats go for about 6-8 weeks. For a longer fix is that you can lower the suspension and get some good greese around the top rubber which will last a year of more. To fully fix the problem is to get some fresh top rubber mounts or poly bush mounts, These will lasts years.

First thing is to get another window control for the drivers side and just swap it over and see if that fully works the window. Quite a few breaking on ebay and should cost around £20. You could also find someone near you who will let you just swap them over to check for free that your control works on their car. You don't need to take the dorr apart to do this as it just lifts out of the door housing. A small thin screw driver should help. Check that first before going any further. If still got the problem then let me know and I'll point you in the right direction on what to do next. PS. Have the car been sitting around in the open air for a while??? Just got an idea on what's wrong.

£38 an hour plus vat. Thats my labour rate in the garage. Only put it up this year after finding out what others charge in the area.

I never heard anything about problems with LS430s either, certainly not like the LS400 (wishbones, black LCD, twisted driver's seat). That's because you drive a Honda. The problems you list are the older ls400's and not the ones I'm talking about, Look at the dates of models. Also if you have a quick look down a few pages of threads you might start to see the ones I'm on about.

baxgtr Never heard of these niggles.... you have me worried now, what should I be looking for? Pete Pete, It's the first I've heard about niggles on a 430, so if you haven't found them yet I certainly wouldn't worry. On the original question, I bought a 98 Mk 4 last August, 123K with full history. It came with 12 months guarantee and after 5K miles I've spent £300 on new tyres (kuhmo-well worth consdering in my opinion), and £294 on a B service at Lexus Wolverhampton who I would certainly recommend. It's averaged 22.7 mpg(23.9 on the computer) but did 32mpg when I went to the Yorkshire Dales via Selby, cruised around 80 on the m-way then gentle driving whilst touring round, total 732 miles. I think that's good for 4.0litre V8. I paid £3,500 and consider it was a bargain, other than petrol I think it's quite cheap to run. The niggles I refer to are in the LS430 range which were corrected later. You may have been lucky and not had them yet(But you will). I'm not going to list them, But a quick search on here will show you them. I'm just stating for the money go for the last run of LS400's(1999-2000) for a bulllet proof car. You also get a car for around 3k to 5K and save that much again on LS430 prices.

Right my honest choice is this. Facelift 1993 model for under 1500 with millage under 130K or my next car which I'm looking for at the moment is a late 1999 to 2000 LS400 model in silver with black leather with a millage under 150k. This must come with the SAT Nav screen option. Don't go for the LS430, But get the last of the LS400 as they were the most bullet proof car of the range and trouble free. The early LS430 suffer some little with niggles that were corrected later after the shape change(02 I think). The niggles are a easy fix though. As for faults?? Not many really worth mentioning on the late ls400's.

Most of your faults are not the common ones really. They are most to do with how hard you drive and the millage the car has done. This is my list of common faults which are common faults and not wear and tear ones. 1) LCD heater time display blacks out. 2) Rear traling arm bush falls apart after 10 years. 3) Central locking sometimes dries up(Behind lock) and sticks or mech brakes just behind the handle. 4) Airiel sticks, But should retract while playing a tape or CD(Just give it a revamp). 5) CD player doesn't like the damp in the boot. 6) leak of water into the boot from blockage aroung the hinge area. 7) Standard alloys flake etc. 8) O-ring on power steering leeks. 9) Bottom of cats rusts on the joint and let air to blow out. 10) Pads sensors brake easily if haven't been done for a while(Expensive to replace for what they are £45 plus vat). And I save the best for last. The dreaded FUSEBOX LOCATION under steering wall and well up the kick panel area. I'm over 6ft and 19st and getting my head underneath to see the blown fuse is something else to be seen. For those who have yet to change a fuse have a quick go and you'll so now where I'm coming from. Go for one of the red ones on the fourth row(Hehe).

Get the car off the ground either by jack or garage lift. have a wiggle of the wheel or just hit underneath the wheel when in the air to find whats loose.

Very easy to change, But getting the sensor off the pad without braking it is something else if they have never been off before. The sensors are around £48 plus vat new but you can also just wire the two wires together to stop the warning light coming on if you bkake them taking them off.

For the record and your piece of mind my car came to me with power steering leak all over the place from the o ring. This is what I did. Replaced the O-ring(Free) and drive belt(£6). I used brake disc cleaner over the oil area and left to dry. The car has done 20,000miles since with no battery or alternator problems. Hope that helps.

Firstly get the oring changed with a new one. The problem with Lexus fixing the problem is that the fault appears years down the line and over five years before it appears. If every car maker were at fault and made to fix faults within that time Ford or any french car would'nt be on the road. The fault is not a life endangering one unlike a suspension,brake or steering faults which can be recalled if they are a risk(like the Vaxhauls hand brake problem on BBC's Watchdog). You could have also done the fix yourself by following the thread on lexls.com.

Simon I've sent you email. The instructions above are for exchange of the glass only and not full removal of the complete sunroof.

hi,yes the heater gets very hot in about 4 or 5 mins something like that Guessed as much. After replacing the themosat it's just a case of you not bleeding the V8 correctly and just have a air lock. Once you do this and top up the level you should be OK after that. PM me your email or send a email to me at barrie.gittins@ntlworld.com and I'll send you a picture of the correct way to do it. I would forget any other advice in this thread for know until you do this first to make sure. Don't worry loads of people I know with LS400's have done this at some point while working on the car.

Have you for any reason had a recent coolent If so then the system has not been bleed properly and you have an air lock and the water is burning away. If this was done then you need to do the full instructions(Found on a sticker inside the engine bay to the right, [i have a picture if that helps]). If you don't do this then it will loose coolent. You may also check if you have any coolent in the system as too much water will also evaporate when hot. If none of the above then check two things. First is to check under the oil cap to see if there is any white foam bubbles etc. Also look down into the block to see inside for any white stuff. If this is all oily looking then it's not the head gasket. These engine are soild and don't really suffer from this. Know what I will say is you have a leak around the water pump if your coolent level and content is OK. You need to get a bright touch and shine a light through the gap in between the rotar arm covers and to find the water pump and from below lookling for any water staining. You will need to get the car warm and have a look before the engine cools and everoprates any sign of the leek. If you have to replace the water pump then do the timing belt aswell while there. I charge £500 for the timing belt and water pump change at the same time. I take 12hours to do this to make sure it's done correctly and have chance to look at other things in that area(Power steering leak etc) for full reliability of the car when it leaves. You can do it in 6-8hours but you get a rushed job and mistakes can happen.

This reply is just for the record for furture starter motor problems. You are know able to buy starter motor repairs kits for the LS400 range. The US ebay seller is clickerfixer. Link http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1994-LEXUS-...sspagenameZWDVW There are full instructions and a diagram on what needs to be looked at. The kit costs around 20 US dollars with postage to UK on top of that. Make sure you order the right year for your car as his has three different listings. Massive savings on a new starter motor. Hope this helps.

Have you tried to put the old plugs in again to see if it goes? This will then confirm that the problem lays with the plugs.