passman53

I'm with the last two guys. :tsktsk:

It's called market forces. Years ago the then chairman of Ford uk explained that the Granada was priced at the level the market was prepared to pay. if it was cheaper than the similar model from say Vauxhall, then the public perceived it to be a poorer car. In other words generally folks assume that dearer equals better. We must be mad to put up with it. If we refused to buy then they either would have to reduce the price or go out of business. Other problem is the number of cars sold to fleets at a high ( up to 35%) discount. The only people paying the full price is the private buyer. Around my area Vauxhall dealers are offering Vectras at 10k when the list price is almost 15k At they have been dealer registered and done no miles they are "second hand", but if this is what they are worth at one month old how can they be worth the full asking price in the first place? Moan over.

Looking at the picture it's a mark 3, this ran fron jan 95 to end of 97 when the mark 4 was introduced.

According to these instructions , rewrite "Erases all previously registered transmitter codes and reprogams new transmitters" Sorry but I don't pretend to understand it all, i'm just reading the instructions. They come from www.cureline.net but when i just tried to get the site it said unavailable as site being rebuilt. If you have a fax number i'll send you a copy.

Confirmation---Informs user of number of existing transmitter codes already progrommed in system. Prohibition-----Erases all existing registered transmitter codes and cancels wireless door locking operation. Use only if transmitter has been lost or stolen. I've taken this from instructions off the ClubLexus site. The instructions are the same as Haylands except for : repeat the locking and unlocking 5 times sequence but this time DO NOT open and close the door. Then do the turning ignition on and off 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 times etc. Good luck, please let us know if this works.

Yeah, I'll go a £1. He's got to promise to use the money on a Lexus though.

Sadly I am old enough to remember Reginald Molehusband. However take heart from the fact that he was trying to park a Morris/Austin 1100 (which was about 5 feet shorter than a Lexus), :winky: and the day came when he got it right. :winky:

Thanks very much for the steer. I am very pleasantly surprised as both prices are much cheaper than I thought. Do you know the approx age / mileage of the car when it failed? My local Lexus dealer says it's very rare to have to change them. I would say 98% of the time the headlamp comes on perfectly, the remainder it tries to start (flickering like a kitchen light - you know what I mean) and then just gives up. Turn them off and back on again and go through the above procedure again. The painful thing is that unless it's very dark, you're in front of a mirrored shop window or you are close enough to the car in front - you have to get out to check that it's fired - Very annoying - lol The receipt (Lexus Milton Keynes) dated 7th feb 2007, Bulb £140.91, fitting £19.00, vat £27.98 = £187.89. Mileage at the time was 117,418. When driving you can see the newer bulb makes the other side seem a little bit less white but not enough to bother me and certainly not enough to warrant splashing out on another bulb.

In the hope that it may just be a bulb, do not get one from a lexus dealer. I have a receipt for one that was replaced before I bought my car for £140!!! You can get a branded one, eg Phillips for around £70 off e bay.

The cam belt change interval was extended on the 430 and is 100K or 10 years, 400 is 63k or 7 years. A Lexus dealer will charge around £450-£500 to do this job. Throttle can be sensitive and after 6 months I find it can some times change down unexpectedly, but in mine this is usually on approaching say a roundabout and almost stopping, a gap appears and on accelerating the car will sometimes change down to first. You certainly get away well but is a bit uncomfortable. I rarely have the box in the pwr setting. My car has done 126K and everything works just as it was designed to. I would buy a 430 tomorrow but as I have to have a smaller car for work ( i'm a driving instructor), I cannot justify the extra cost according to my wife.

It's on page 5

You need 245/35/18 with that alloy to get to as near as dam it to the rolling radius of the old alloys. Don't put a thinner tyre on, As you'll end up kerbing the alloys instead of the tyre wall. Wider tyres saves the alloys from kerbing which I see some many times at shows where people save about £30 for slightly thinner tyres and then end up refurbing them at a greater cost to bring them back to top condition and all becuase they try and save £30 after spending hundreds on new alloys. Bazgtr makes a good point. Why not go onto Tyre Traders web site and use the tyre calculator. You can put in the options and it works out the radius/diameter for you. :winky:

Hello, Just a flat blade and gently lever them out. Use a bit of cloth or card to protect the paintwork.

May sound stupid but on mine the radio aerial was slightly loose allowing water to seep in. My fault cos i fitted a new mast.

Yes, I agree. I'm in wolverhampton once or twice most weeks and if you wave i promise i'll wave back. I'm in a blue Mk 4 ls and the registration starts L400.

Hello, I asked about a more up to date disc at my lexus dealer a couple of weeks ago. They seemed to think that 2005 is the newest available. and with vat would cost about(?) £110. You can buy a lot of maps for that. I've been dropping not very subtle hints about christmas pressies, i'll let you know if get a new disc instead of socks.

I have just read this months copy of ADI News, A driving instructor mag. They have done a series of tests for tyres. The tyre is 215/55/16 w rated and were fitted to a VW Passat. All tyres were supplied by the manufacturer. They compared things like Braking, wet and dry/ Cornering/handling,wet and dry/rolling resistance and noisr produced inside the car. The comparison for noise was: Khumo-Ecsta-----------------69 Hankook----------------------69.5 Fulda--------------------------69.5 Maxxis------------------------69.6 Matador---------------------- 70 Uniroyal---------------------- 70 Dunlop------------------------70.5 Yokohama--------------------70.5 BFGoodrich-------------------70.6 Continental-------------------70.7 Goodyear-Hydra grip--------70.7 Bridgestone-E300------------71 Pirelli--P7---------------------71 Michelin-Primacy-------------71.1 Toyo--------------------------71.3 Vredestein-Sport trac 3---- 71.7 The results are in decibels measured inside the car. The article reasons that the human ear can usually hear a difference of 2-3 decibels.

Hello, I've a 98 400 too and it has bridgestones fitted (on when I got it). I am quite happy with these and do not think they produce much noise. The problem is that "noise" is a personal opinion, I suppose it depends on how good your hearing is.

Hi, My previous car, a mk 3, was fitted with these when I got it and even though they were down to about 4mm I was happy with the grip they gave. I didn't think they gave too much noise either, I suppose this is down to the individual. The car had 17" x 8" wheels fitted and tyre size was size was 225/55/17. The new owner has had them replaced with Federal tyres,( he paid £63 each fitted and balanced) and whilst he tells me the grip is really good, they make a terrible noise. He was quoted £84 fitted for Khumo and wishes he had spent the extra.

Yes, that's the one--wish i knew how to do those link things.

See the posts from Chris Vince going back to 2nd May 2006 and 26th July 2006, when he replied to palcouk. It's round about page 24/25. :winky:

I didn't know the differences with the dhp model and was about to ask. Thanks for the information. My mk 4 is "only" the ordinary one. Puchased end of august from ex lexus dealer, 123k full history (cam belt,fan belt and plugs all replaced 800 miles before I got it), no marks except odd stone chip and I paid £3,500 with 12 months warranty. Beginning to think I got a good deal.

Just out of interest the same car was on e-bay about 3/4 weeks ago and was sold though I can't remember how much it made. Wonder why the same people are selling it again?

Certainly sounds like the throttle body needs cleaning. I had a similar problem with my mk 3 at 196k, it would stall when i stopped after a run but would then re start and be fine until i next did 8-10 miles at a steady speed when it would stall again the next time i stopped. I found that whilst the tick over was low it didn't actually cut out if the air con was on as the tick over speed was a bit higher. In my case the throttle body was not only filthy but worn so i had to have it replaced, almost £600 at my local dealer. However the difference was fantastic, much smoother and fuel consumption improved too. Many thanks - this seems to be favourite at the moment - will possibly try to clean it myself - when the workshop manual arrives!!! Hope it does not need replacing!!!! £600!!! Was that at a Lexus dealer? Do you know how much the part (throttle body) cost? How much of the £600 was labour? This was done earlier this year. Lexus Wolverhampton. Part no 22210-50023 throttle body-£407.68 Part no 22271-50010 Gasket-------£ 2.17 Labour--------------------------------£135.00 All plus vat. TOTAL--------------------------------£640.20 As I'd bought the car from them they agreed to pay 50% which was pretty fair as the car had done 195, 078 miles and I'd had it with no guarantee 4 months earlier. They said it was rare to have to replace as usually cleaning would do the job, but mine was worn on the "spindle". Have you checked the tutorial on lexls.com.? Thats for the previous model but I believe the Mk 3 is the same.