Haylands

Thanks Pete, just been checking and in fact it's not Smokey granite mica, it's Flint Mica, they only did smokey granite on the 460... looks pretty darn close match to me, maybe they just changed the name...!!!

Thank you Graham, John, yes I was aware, thanks for the heads up though, been that way since 1998... I only tow the trailer to the end of the drive...!!

Update here...

Following on from the demise of my old 430, another joins the fold... This is my third... The first one was sold many moons ago, the second one had a slight mishap, well, alright, a **** for a driver.....ME...!! See it's rise and fall here.... I couldn't find another Blue one with a grey interior but I did find a nice Smokey Granite Mica one with a grey interior, I do like the grey and I love the Granite colour, same as the old 460 I had, it's a 2005 so two years newer than the last one but has done the same 130,000, it has a very full and detailed Lexus history up to 100,000 with a new cam belt. If was then looked after by the previous owner who kept records of all it has had so it has been loved a bit... I picked it up last night and drove it around 200 miles, it drives very nicely, slightly better than the old one but still not quite right... The engine is very quiet and really does purr well... The plan was to make a great one out of the two so today I took them both to my mates garage and stole a couple of his lifts for a couple of hours... Beauty and the beast And, yes, that is a tow bar on the new one, a Curt made one from America, these are about £350 to import with all the taxes and then there is the electrics as well, I was just about to buy one for the old 430 as I have a small trailer I use, as we are refurbishing a house.... It's not the prettiest of things but there again nor is the back of a 430.... I have made it look better (IMHO) by removing the LED light strips that were wired into the reversing lights but most of them had burn out...!! So, get them on a lift and pose for more pics..!! And just as I thought, the bottom front wishbone rear bushes had gone, this causes a terrible wheel wobble when braking from speeds above 60mph, it feels just like warped discs Not to worry I had two new ones on the old car.... also swapped the front discs and pads as they were very new and swapped all four wheels and tyres for the set I had just had refurbished and fitted four new Dunlops.... I have bought the salvage of the old one from the Insurance company so I'm not stealing anything, I do want to keep it drivable though, and yes it is roadworthy as all the lights work and there are no sharp edges... Maybe not to good at night as the headlights have moved back, but it's handy to keep it mobile. It took a while to fit 4 front bushes, 4 discs, 8 pads and 8 wheels...!!! That was about it for the mechanical swap overs, I took those LED lights off whilst it was airborne and had a good check of it underneath, noting it's two new rear suspension sensors which the previous owner had just done. The inside is in nice clean undamaged condition apart from the driver's seat which has a hole and some other damage... Not to worry I have a spare.....!!! luckily it is the passenger seat that has damage on the old one so I was able to make a good set out of the two... Whip the seat out (5x14mm bolts and three electrical plugs) and it wasn't too bad underneath for 13 years.... A quick hoover and it's ready for the new seat (If you do one, remove the door threshold, saves damage from the bottom of the seat..) If anyone wonders what it looks like underneath their seat it's like this..... right side of the picture is the front... Bottom center of the picture is an oblong hole, this is where the filters for the seat heater/cooler go, they do get full of fluff.... An airline blown from the back sorts them out.... The drive home was superb, the 430 felt like new and had got back it's "waftability" and Magic carpet ride.... A few more things to swap over and then it's bye bye to the old one.... The new one needs some bodywork, it has a scrape on the rear nearside arch and a few other little marks... I shall machine polish it and see what needs doing, there are also a few other things to do with it..... May have to spend the weekend with the polish as my brother is coming to stay next week and will be in his absolutely mint SC430...

Thank you all for your kind thoughts, if I get the option to buy the salvage then I will, I'll buy another 430 as well... 19years plus protected no claims so hopefully won't get killed at renewal... One of lifes daft moments, I mean it was an 8ft wide 10ft tall bright red lorry.... and I still managed to miss it stopping... it ripped the "T" bar out of the chassis of the lorry...!!! No airbag deployment, I wasn't going very fast at all but lorries don't take prisoners...!!

Well all I've got to say is **&(?>< £"$%%%%.............. Chassis legs have gone so it's a total loss... Totally down to me.... The search for a replacement starts........

Not had time to go into it, should get some time after the bank holiday...

Yes, it's somewhere on page 1...!! It has had the original cooler pipes blocked off and a new air to oil cooler fitted below the front bumper crash box to eliminate the known integral oil cooler failure. Seems to work fine...

Well it had a good test over the weekend, nearly 600 miles.. there is still something wrong with the front suspension, it appears to get worse after driving for a period of time, it's best described as a wobbly or shimmy after hitting a pothole, it is 80% better than it was with the new bushes but still there to some extent, once or twice when braking across camber there was a vibration like warped discs through the steering wheel... it's looking like shocks but they seem to work well at other times, doing a bounce test shows then acting just like they should and driving fastish over undulations shows no bouncing, just controlled damping... I'm going to stick it back on a four post lift tomorrow and give all the other suspension joints a good going over.... Watch this space....

Decals for caliper masking... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LEXUS-CURVED-HIGH-TEMP-BRAKE-CALIPER-CAST-VINYL-DECAL-SET-STICKERS-GRAPHICS-MOD/270871152574?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649 Bushes have made a huge difference, so have the softer quieter tyres, if I am being fussy it's still not quite as smooth as it should be but I am comparing a 5 year old car with 40k odd miles to a 14 yr old with 124k so maybe I'm expecting too much...

Wheels picked up, refitted and job done... I went for the original colour on the wheels... the center cap looks a different colour on the front wheel but it's not really.!!! Time to enjoy it now...

Onto todays fun... Changing the air conditioning compressor is a bit fiddly because of the limited space, especially when you have hands like a gorilla...!! I'd taken the undershields off and it made it a lot easier to take off two further plastic guards and the front ARB... 10 fixings and they were all off... Not much to photo when swapping the compressor it has three bolts that hold it on, two pipes with clamps and an electrical socket, didn't take long to swap it, here's the new one all fitted... Was glad to see a genuine oil filter on there... you can also see the blocked off original gearbox oil cooler pipes... Then time to change the Lambda, the cheap eBay one had turned up, it was described as a pre-cat lambda but not sided, well they are on my 430, the one on the nearside has a short lead, the one I needed to change had a longer lead and the one they sent wouldn't fit... Oh well, ordered one from the local parts store at twice the price and soon had the right one... They are refunding me for the other one.. This lambda is fitted under the engine in the header and is surrounded by a heat shield so you can't get a spanner on it, these tend to tighten up very tight so the answer is to cut off the lead and use a 22mm deep socket to remove it, had to get my mate to do this as I couldn't get my hands in there, it is tight... it fits inside the red circle... It's a bit counter productive to cut the lead off the new one so luckily they make a socket just for this job... A 22mm socket with a big slot cut in it, Lambdas are a lot like spark plugs with a crush washer so you don't have to do them up real tight, just feel the washer give and that's enough, they get very tight after being in a few years though.... Just enough room for the socket... Then a last check over and put all the shields and ARB back on, then noticed that some ****** had left the back door open on Monday and it had flattened the battery...Doh..!! Got a phone call that the wheels are ready for collection but I've left it till the morning now as it'll be easier to pick them up on the way in... it's booked into have the aircon refilled at 11am so hopefully it will all be finished by lunch, we're going to London for the weekend so it will get a good test... I put the old (new) tyres on eBay last night and had an offer of £350 for them today so the new Dunlops have cost less than £100 for the set.... result... (I am a southerner but since moving to Yorkshire I have got very tight...!!!) You will have to wait to see what colour I chose for the wheels...!!

I hear what you are saying but I can't fully agree, torque settings are fine with a new component on a new car with a new bolt and nut, use the old bolts, in captive nuts and tighten them up to the specified torque and you stand a very good chance of stripping the threads or snapping a bolt, with experience you get to know how tight a bolt or nut was when you undo it, it's just a feel thing...!!! Personally I would rather under torque it slightly, I've been doing it for years and never had a problem or a bolt/nut undo... I'm sure others will have a different slant on it but you tend to do what works for you... You can get metal valves that look a lot like TPMS valves so it is not a certainty that it has them... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BOLT-CLAMP-IN-CAR-VAN-WHEEL-ALLOY-STEEL-TUBELESS-TYRE-VALVES-X-4-DUST-CAPS-/161255459048?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l4275.c10

The LS430 has the much better TPMS system, instead of using unreliable very expensive valves it uses the speed sensors that are already there and used by the VSC and ABS, TC etc to determine if the wheels are losing air... IMHO far more reliable and a damn sight cheaper....

I had a look at that long thread that seems to just want to turn lights off rather than fixing the problem, I can't see a part where they have extracted exact fault codes... How did you find it was fault P0051..?? If you haven't had the codes read then it is important that you do before anything else. You can buy an OBD11 scanner very cheaply and do it yourself... This is the sensor I bought, it should turn up today, probably fit it tomorrow so I'll post on here if it works... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181699077492 You will be fuelling on the base map with a failed sensor, if your car is not running at 100% then there is the possibility of catalytic converter damage, engines that are running rich "feel" ok but there are consequences....

Rob, Having the CEL light on along with the VSC and TC is the standard fault displayed for an emissions problem, you will have to get the codes read to determine what fault you are dealing with... I'm getting my wheels refurbished at a local place, your local Lexus dealer will do a refurb service, or google a local place.. Onto todays fun... Taking the wheels off and delivering them to the refurbishers, they don't look too bad from a distance but all are curbed and corroded, with peeling paint so they do need it... All loaded up with the new tyres, dropped them off and they removed the old tyres while I waited so they are going on eBay later... Should be ready Wednesday with a bit of luck... Next job was to change the front lower arm rear bushes, they are held on with just three fixings, a 22mm nut, 22mm bolt and a 17mm bolt, I took the undertrays off as I have other jobs to do but you can do it without removing them, first job is to remove the 22mm nut from the bottom arm, it needed a breaker bar to get it going.. I then removed the big 22mm bolt that holds the bush on as well as the subframe, as I cracked it off a fare amount of water poured out of the fixing, seems like it gets trapped in there...!! Remove this long bolt and then the 17mm bolt as well. The arm won't go anywhere and doesn't need supporting, the bush then just slides off the end of the wishbone.. There is a tie down bracket on there as well, don't forget to put it back on... Replacement is a reverse, start the three bolts and nut off but tighten the nut up first to pull the bush into the correct alignment then do up the two bolts, they need to be tight but don't go too mad... The old ones were well worn, the drivers side had been "fixed" with some goo.... Even the "good" one was bad enough to cause problems... Two new ones should last another 10years, these are original parts.. I don't mind using cheap parts for some things but IMHO it is false economy on bushes.. Had a good check over the underside, helped with the removal of the underbody shields, it all looks OK until I got to the back, the passenger side height sensor location looks like this... Spot the difference with the drivers side one.... The nut wasn't tight so the arm was sliding up and down through the full adjustment... I did think it sat high the other day when parked but then it was fine later, this was obviously getting stuck at various different heights... I soaked it in penetrating fluid and left it alone for a few hours, then removed the nut and put a washer under it, it appeared the nut had bottomed out and not tightened up fully, a washer sorted that and it is now tight, I'm not convinced with the sensor itself, it appeared to be very tight, I have soaked it and it's arms so we shall see what happens... I took the covers off under the engine bay and found that Micky has been at home under there at some time, this is classic rodent damage, you can see the little teeth marks, luckily this is just a cover for a pipe and I couldn't find any other chewing... So not too bad, everything else looks fine.... Then time to bling up the calipers a bit, they are starting to look old so a good sand down, I used a DA sander and finished by hand, and a wash off with brake cleaner Then mask then up and give them a coat of etch primer and stick on some caliper stickers I got of eBay for a few pennies.. Use the stickers as a mask, I then sprayed them with metallic black high temp paint, love this colour, then removed the stickers to reveal the grey primer The metallic black does need a clear coat so a few coats and the calipers are looking great.... Then the last job of the day, and much easier when on a ramp, was to clean up the tailpipes... Before Covered in carbon, tar and generally a mess, a good clean, first with brake cleaner to remove the tar, then a good going over with metal polish, these tips are stainless steel not chrome so you can clean them up well... Now all clean and shiny... And that was it for today... air conditioning compressor will be changed tomorrow or Wednesday after a guy comes to remove the gas that is in the system, swap out the Lambda sensor that's faulty, bolt the wheel back on and have a great weekend in London, we are down for a retirement do and to catch up with old friends... More to follow...

Whereabouts in the country are you Rob..??

I've always bought the cheapest going to be honest, they either work or they don't and if they don't then the CEL light comes on. Can't see how a "cheap" one could harm the engine, they have a small amount of zirconia and platinum in them, if it's there they work, if it isn't they don't, I know from when I fitted LPG to the last one that they don't actually do much on the 430 as the base map has been so well sorted the STFT (Short Term Fuel Trims) are very close to 0 anyway, it was a pleasure to setup the LPG as the car ran so close to perfect anyway.... I've ordered one online, with the correct plug, not a generic one, for £19.99... we shall see how long it lasts but I bet it will be a long time. I'll check the STFT and the LTFT after a few weeks and compare the two banks with a genuine one and a cheap one and share what I find...

Thanks guys, the purpose of this is to encourage people to have a go, fixing and sorting cars isn't rocket science, with a few pointers most people can do far more than they think with some cheap and basic tools.... Don't think I will LPG this one, I don't do that many miles these days, I'll only be using it for half the year.. Had a few lights pop up on the dash today... Funny car the 430.. you would think something is wrong with the VSC (Vehicle Stability Control) or the TRC (Traction Control) but no, this is a CEL (Check Engine Light) fault, an emissions related fault, the car isn't sure if it will affect other features so it turns off the VSC and TRC. A quick plug in and it brings up the code I thought it would P0051 which is a Lambda sensor fault, I code read the vehicle before I bought it and it was showing an historical P0051 so I wasn't surprised to see it back.. The OBD2 (On Board Diagnostic) reader shows it is Bank 2 Sensor 1. Bank 2 is the drivers side (RHD) and sensor 1 is on the exhaust manifold, there are four Lambdas on the 430, two before the cats which do most of the work, they report to the engine ECU and tell it how far away the fuel/air mixture is from the preset map in the ECU, the ECU then uses its ability to trim the map and supply the correct amount of fuel for the conditions. It does this multiple times per second. The other two sensors are after the cats and ensure that they are working correctly. (this is a very basic description..) I cleared the fault as sometimes it can be caused by a spec of dirt on the sensor but it came back after a few miles so I will change it next week... Tyres will get delivered tomorrow and wheels booked into the refurbishers on Monday.... now do I stick with silver or go something close to anthracite...???

Just done the first "repair." The original sat nav surround had succumbed to some abuse and had numerous scratches on it, I have seen a lot like this although I'm not to sure how it was done, you couldn't do it with rings so maybe it was sharp fingernails... anyway it looked horrible and had to go. A trip to the local Lexus dealer revealed that this part is only £565.20 incl VAT................... a second hand one was sought... I got a mint one from the breakers for £35 and set about taking the dash apart.. If you want to do this or something similar it is very easy to take the entire dash out with just a few tools, the most important of which is a set of these... They are just a few pounds a set and are designed not to damage the trim, use a screwdriver and you will damage something sooner or later... The other handy thing to have when working on a dash is a magnetic pickup, these are real cheap to and will stop you dropping bolts and nuts and creating rattles..!! Before you start, unsure the handbrake is set and press the shift lock button and put the gear lever in it's lowest setting.. With the 430 you start at the bottom, the first panel just prises out, do it at the sides, one at a time, then remove the panel and unplug the wiring harness from it. When taking all these parts out it is a good idea to use a towel or soft rag to help protect the front of the panel as you turn it over to unplug it, especially the screen unit itself. Then there are three pozidriv screws holding in the cubby and CD changer cover, this is where the magnet comes in handy... Don't forget the middle one, it's quite far under.. Then use a pry here and the other side to remove the cover from the CD changer and remove, unplugging the harness again. When this is out the next is the radio and CD changer which is in one unit, it is held in with two 10mm bolts, one each side, then it pulls out, unplug again.. I use a 1/4" drive socket set with a rubber handle to the ratchet, with the best will in the world you will mark something if you use a metal one..! The main screen is held in with four 8mm bolts which are hidden behind the temp buttons, I have found it best to hook the bottom out first, then the top.. The switches are cranked so pull them out carefully, there is enough lead to not have to unplug them to remove the screws which you will see behind. Then the screen just pulls out and unplugs and you are left with this big hole... every plug behind there is unique so you can't plug them back in wrong..! Then take the screen unit to a table, lay it on a towel and remove the four screws that hold the screen to the face, swap with the new one and as the saying goes, reverse the above to replace... When replacing the bolts through the temp switches you can't reach with your fingers and they will fall out of the socket, use a couple of thicknesses of tissue paper over the head and push them in the socket, it will hold them while you get the threads started and the only thing to fall will be a small piece of tissue... I do have a set of sockets with small magnets in for this but the tissue does work well.... So, put it all back together and that looks much better...... Totally unmarked and as good as new and I saved £530.20 plus some labour...!!!! I just had to take the old one apart to see how the motorised vents work... very neat, looks like a couple of small electric motors with gears and some sort of spring clutch... I also picked up some front bushes and a recently reconditioned air con compressor so that's the next job.... Well I don't want to get bored...!!!

Never have liked wood, got rid of the wood wheel in my old Merc CL500 and covered all the real wood with fake stick on carbon fibre..... I got told off a lot on the Merc forums for that... I might do the same to the Lexus wood......!!! Malc, these type of things tend to happen when expensive cars get old and cheap... I think i have caught this one before too much harm has been done, it had a good check over yesterday and the bushes were the only sign of someone tinkering underneath, at least it still has all the underbody covers.. It will sit on a ramp for a few days next week whilst the wheels are refurbished so I will be checking everything else then..

If you read it on a laptop or computer there are numerous paragraphs and no "wall of text" I can't help if you read it on a phone, formatting doesn't work across all formats on this Forum...

Well, OK, maybe build thread is a bit steep but there are always things to be done on an old car and I'll update this thread as all those little things (and a few big ones) get sorted out to bring this 430 back to as near mint as is possible. As some of you will know I had an LS430 about 10 years ago, it was young and mint and I loved it, I sold it because I was having trouble getting in and out of it due to an old serious back injury that left me screwed and wired back together, my mobility was getting worse and I needed a taller vehicle... well to cut a long story short, two new hips and one new knee have brought me back to a much better place so I thought I would have a Lexus again.... Up steps the 460 and I bought one, a cheap one with a few issues... the issues started to multiply when the ECU's started failing and I cut my losses and outed it through the trade... I decided to return to a 430... We then became a bit busy with our latest life plan so finding a suitable candidate took a back seat, we are sorted now so I have bought a 2004 LS430 facelift in Blue Onyx Pearl with Light Gray leather 123,000 miles, full history, nice clean condition, no dents scapes or rust, near mint interior, drives as it should and has 4 new Pirellies. I love the colour combination and the guy was keen to shift it as he had already got it's replacement so a deal was done at £3,700.... It's only going to get used for maximum 6 months of the year so it will have to get used to it's own company for long periods...!! Had it just over a week now and sure enough it has a few issues, first is one front parking sensor has failed, that was fixed with a £4.78 generic one ordered from China which will be here sometime in the next few weeks.... Next came the air con, it wasn't working, there was gas in it and the only fault code showing was 28 which I believe is the sun sensor and has little effect on it's working, some more looking and I noticed that the air con compressor clutch is engaged all the time even with it's turned off... This is a common fault with these so a quick text to Paul Frost and a reconditioned one is mine..... To check it had enough gas in it I took it to KwikCrap to get the gas recharged, I had to show the guy where the low and high pressure valves were but there is not much they can do wrong as it's all handled by a machine and they didn't charge me as it didn't work afterwards, anyway, while I am wandering around the car park and admiring the Lexus from afar (yes, we all do it) I noticed that the tyres seemed a bit small in the arches... a quick check and yes the new Pirelli P7's less than 1,000 miles old are the wrong size...!!! but, worse than that they are only a 91Y load and speed rating... 91 is rated at a load of 615kg, the 430 should have 96 a rating of 710kg so as you can see they are well under, the speed rating at V is 149mph the Lexus should have W rated at 168mph, now I know these tyres would probably be fine but the problem arises with the insurance company, they will try anything to get out of a claim these days and a basic mistake on load and speed rating has led to numerous refused claims according to an insurance assessor I know.... So four of these have been ordered Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2 245/45 R18 (100Y) It is OK to have a load and speed rating in excess of the specification from Lexus. These are A rated for wet grip B rated for economy and Class 1 noise at a very quiet 69db. They should arrive next week and will be fitted after the original wheels have been refurbished, they are starting to look tatty... Hopefully I can offset some of the £450 they cost with selling the P7's on eBay.... Talking of wheels I bought this off ebay for £35 I am not a lover of wood and leather steering wheels and will be having it made slightly thicker and recovered totally in grained leather with matching stitching, although that won't be getting done till May as the guy is on holiday... Today I had time to get it up on a ramp and was expecting to see a degraded bush on the front lower arm as the Lexus does thud over potholes, what I did find made me laugh, someone has tried to deceive an MOT tester and has filled in the split bush with Tiger Seal or some other polyurethane sealant...!!! Another quick call to Paul and two new ones are mine... I'm going to visit Paul tomorrow, although he won't be there, his number 2, Colin will be, I'm picking up the compressor and bushes as well as a few other odds and sods but mainly a spare key, mine only came with one, Paul has some and there is a guy in Leeds who I will pass on the way home who can reprogramme a second hand key to work with the Lexus including the smart key function... If you don't know who Paul Frost is, he owns Europe's biggest LS430 breakers, he also sells reconditioned parts as well... PAUL FROST Autotek Lexus Spares Direct Cottonhall Street Darwen Lancashire BB3 0DW 07590 072646 Going to see if he has a spare expansion bottle cap as mine fell in two when I took it off...!!! There are always a few bits and bobs to be sorted on a new car, I do enjoy getting them to where I want... more to follow....

Don't know, was phoning around and got told it several times... most places round here charged about £40-£50 before the price rise... even KwickCrap is less than £50

If you need your aircon recharging get it done ASAP, The price of the gas has TRIPPLED and some places are charging £130 + to refil a system, shop around and some are still at the old prices...