Neil E

12 hours ago, Lexiguy said:

That would not be a problem Neil, we could open the visit to Meltham, near Holmfirth for any other SC's and their owners!

It will probably be in about 3 weeks but date currently undecided.

Ant 🐜 

Take care Ant. A few years back I arranged to meet one other SC owner to chew the fat and compare notes on SC430 audio upgrades. It spiralled out of control into a car park meet of no less than a magnificent seven SC430.  

12 hours ago, Lexiguy said:

Ok make, Wattsapp me and we can sort a day. Ant 🐜 

There should be extra club credit for a workshop mini-meet. It will require pics of course.🙂

160,000 miles and no roof issues to report with mine Phil.

I've encountered a couple at meets that were due to boot lock/sensor failure but I would say faults with the roof are quite rare.

On 9/30/2022 at 3:30 PM, Paul weeks said:

Could anyone advice what I should ask for a set of aftermarket wheels with nearly new 245/40/18 tyres fitted ? I have just put standard wheels back on my car with a set of Michelin pilots, so will be putting these up for sale.

 

To answer the question, it depends on the condition of the wheels and the make of the tyres of course but they must be worth at least £500 as a set to someone. 

I say change it if it's old or high mileage. They seem to run fine without changing the oil for a very long time but why would you not change it for some nice fresh Aisin fluid at some point? If it's a dirty brown colour and not a nice shade of red, that's perhaps a good indicator.

Stunning! I think it looks brilliant. The wheels bring a striking new elegance to a classy sport coupe.

Exhaust note is a personal preference. As I've said before, the answer is perhaps in deleting the centre resonators and reverting to a big single rear silencer. 

They make the car look more of a classic roadster, a modern slant on a 1930s sport coupe perhaps. It needs a pic in front of some art deco architecture like the Chrysler Building in New York. It's good that the ride quality is still acceptable.

1 hour ago, Dr Philip said:

Has anybody actually had to have any welding done?

I'm sure a few of the older cars would have had a little work done on them to pass an MOT. There have been a few examples with a lot of surface rust, it's definitely worth addressing and protecting the underside of the car. 

This stuff was highly recommended.

I would say the rear set up at 285 30 19 on 10.5 is 'spot on' perfect for best grip/handling, 9.5 width rims at the front may be a tad too wide for a precise steering feel and it will tramline a bit in lane 1. With such wide rims and low profile tyres it's always going to be quite a harsh ride on all but the best road surfaces and until the ARBs are upgraded, it's going to grip but sway around the curves when pushed. As said above, that's the compromise but it will look amazing.🙂

I thought at the time this appeared that JayEmm should have found a better example to review but perhaps he was just looking for a different angle to improve his youtube ratings and take a swipe at some of the other rubbish youtube reviewers. It was a poor effort but at least it wasn't the usual re-make of the TopGear tripe.  

'Master key was stolen and destroyed. Now using subordinate key supplied when purchased from main dealer.'

Was the car supplied to you by a Lexus main dealer without a master key or are you saying this is an original secondary key that was supplied with the car originally? 

'I am stuck with a replacement master key problem. Lexus UK technical department are apparently looking into this, but based on prior attitude I am not anticipating much of use and will probably need to solve this myself without any useful input from Lexus UK technical.'

In my experience Lexus and Toyota dealers do care about customers with older cars. If they are looking into it, I would give the Lexus techs a few days to respond and then explore other solutions if they say they really can't help. If Lexus can't produce a master key with all of the car's details and they didn't explain that before selling you the car then that should be reported to Lexus UK.  

And finally if that really doesn't work out, before resorting to swapping lock barrels and ECUs, speak to these guys via the Shepton Mallet contact details as they have encountered the key programming issue in their remapping process and can apparently overcome it so they may have a solution for if the original master key is not present.       

7 hours ago, Lexiguy said:

I needed two rear tyres soon after I purchased my car as it was approaching winter and the tread depth was not good.

It had standard 18" wheels and I was considering moving up to 19's as cosmetically they do fit the arches better in my opinion.

I used a great local independent tyre shop (Huddersfield Tyre & Battery) and discussed this upgrade with the manager in depth.

His take was that Lexus chose 18" for a reason which was a balance of comfort, handling and cost. Knowing comfort would be the main thing for me he recommended remaining on Michelin 18's, which I did.

The new rears delivered exactly what he said, comfort, and gave me improved road holding and confidence.

It was the right decision for me although I'm always impressed seeing SC's sat on new 19's!

18's would fill the arches too if the car is slightly lowered as the rolling circumference should remain the same but I know exactly what you mean. Wider lower 19's with good rubber may provide a bit more traction and control in the corners but the ride quality is diminished. Adjustable suspension can help but lowering the car could bring a whole new set of clearance problems in 'Last of the Summer Wine' country. 

It's funny how we get used to a particular set up. When I put the original 18's back on the SC for a short while, it felt like a jelly. 

1 hour ago, Kevin Williams said:

Thanks for your post Neil. When my builders finish using my side garage. And I am ready to buy my 2nd SC430. I will do a post for Forum members with SC430's to help me with buying one... I am an ex-boy from the black stuff and not very good at working on cars...! If the car I buy doesn't have parking sensors. I have a friend that can help me. I will use the Forum for the additional help...! I read on the Forum if the car I buy has run-flats they will need to be changed...! I remember my 2001 SC430 had a horrible feeling driving it compared to my LS400...! It must have been because it had run-flats fitted... 

Yes the run-flats were a big mistake and it's rare to see them now. I carry a space-saver, they should have been a standard item. The first newish SC430 I drove with 'run flats' was just awful but knowing it has a suspension set up similar to the GS430, the problem was obviously the tyres. 

It would be interesting to see how comfortable the SC could be with standard tyres, better gas struts or air and stiffer anti-roll (sway) bars. 

On 8/31/2022 at 11:12 AM, Kevin Williams said:

Thanks for your post Neil... What year is your SC430...?

Hi Kevin it's a 2006 '06' model. Unfortunately my rear bumper is no longer 'factory' but if I go to the back of the archives there may be a pic of the original bumper with the dealer-fit rear sensors.

Not the best image but try this. 

Half way through page one of the build thread 'how to ruin an SC430'

Ant if you want the exact spacing dims, I may be able to help as the original rear bumper is stored in the garage roof.  

I'm not sure when it was first offered but rear parking sensors were a 'dealer fit' option. Mine had them and the separate Lexus brochure for them too.   

Naviks is a popular 'add-on' (particularly in the US) that can provide some plug-in versatility I believe but I think the common solution connects to the reverse light and to the navigation feed so that it switches the signal to the screen when reverse is engaged. I don't know the details because it's probably the best and simplest way to do it and I always like to make things very complex so I have something completely different for front and rear cams.🤣  

One other point to mention is the location of the rear camera. If I was to do it again, I would mount the lens in the centre of the rear spoiler for a much better viewing angle. It's a more difficult install but worth doing.  

I like his videos but whoever buys the car still has some money to spend on abs issues. 

He/his mechanic wasn't able to diagnose the brake 'buzz' on the recent SC430 either. Classic reluctor ring wear symptoms.

Hi Richard, the abs noise is almost certainly the common wear issue on the rear reluctor rings. There are plenty of threads explaining what to do, I mentioned it to Matt in the you-tube comments section. 

Run-flats do ruin the comfort of the SC430, ditching them should indeed transform the ride, though not to LS 'magic carpet' levels and if you feel the need for a space-saver they are available.   

On 8/16/2022 at 8:02 AM, Lexiguy said:

 

I was tempted by this at AliExpress and I am getting more confidence to make the purchase.

I wonder if anyone out there has taken the plunge yet?

Anthony

What? No cassette player! 🤣

I haven't seen one actually fitted to an SC430 here or in the US. It looks easy enough, plug and play for normal functions and then you can use the facilities to add what you need it to do. I think it may make the top screen redundant, I don't see any adjusting buttons. A new search might reveal the same product at a lower price £750 - £850 and check what it comes with as standard and what needs to be purchased separately for Carplay, DAB, etc. It says DVD but I think it means an external DVD player can be connected. Lots of research required Ant but a search revealed very little to me, even the supplier doesn't have a picture of one installed in their many product marketing slides.

It's a leap of faith but I've followed progress on similar units installed in the GS3 model and reports have been favourable, minor glitches for some apps have been fixed with software updates and it looks impressive in the car. 

Yes indeed and they look very nice too Herbs.

Calvin does the research and makes a little profit so that's fair enough for FB SC430 members but with 10 doors to consider I'll save a fortune and follow an LOC Grand Master. 👍 🤣

They look very smart and bright.

5 hours ago, tim hunter said:

Thanks for the reply. I have checked fuse 9 in the right hand footwell. The fuse is good, and there is 12v coming in to it.  Zero volts between pins 16 and 4/5 on the OBD port though.

Okay that's good so assuming the ground is fine, the next check is the wiring to pin 16 as if there's 12V at both sides of the fuse (definite continuity across the fuse) yet nothing at pin 16, is there continuity between fuse 9 and obd port pin 16? I'm thinking....rare dodgy/rusty/broken terminal or broken wire perhaps?  

Great pic Ant, compliments to the photographer, you must have one of the rare 4 seater models. 😉

That sounds like it's going to be fun to trace with a multi-meter. I would start with the OBD 7.5A fuse in the footwell. Check for continuity.

A quick search didn't reveal a pin-out diagram specific to the SC but it looks like pin 4 is ground and pin 16 is the +12V feed from the 7.5A OBD fuse. 

CL RX OBD thread

Very likely to be worn rear reluctor rings.