Cotswold Pete

When I got my 400 (Mk4), the ATF was smelly and in need of sorting. Not because of any problems with gear changes, but it is not good to run with oil that has been sheered of it's long-chain molecules which aid lubrication at the mechanical interface. I ran it for about 16K before I got off my backside and put my hand in my pocket. I took mine to an ATF specialist in Gloucester and had the full monty - clean out the torque convertor and then fill up. Not much more than having a garage do a few oil changes over a few services. It made no noticeable difference to gear shifts, and 60K miles later (with no further ATF oil changes) the oil is starting to look a little off-colour, it does not smell as it did when I bought the car, but I reckon another 10K before I get my wallet out and do the same. Like you I had heard a full clean removes the 'junk' that helps with engagement of metal surfaces in the transmission, which I am not sure about as a theory. Any non-lubricating particulate is 'surely', not desireable. FINALLY - the garage that has done my MOTs for years, also refused to do a simple ATF drain and top up, they said not sure what was involved. Made me think back to ATF specialists and find another place to do next MOT in June

Read snippets of the blog, lots to think about if you wanted to really be an geek on the topic.. Interesting that one of his comments is that synthetic oils tend to bleed off the lifters when engine not used for a while, which then gives you 30 seconds of the car sounding not so good. The answer is to use conventional oil. If you search for '52. General Motor Oil Selection Recommendations for Various Applications' Then read on down. I am sure if I had a day or two spare, I might read this whole lot, but will just keep putting in the usual oil, get it changed at services and expect the LS to keep heading towards its 220,000th mile in the next year or two (assuming no more lock-downs).

Just been wandering around some of the other Lexus forums and came across someone saying Extralube ZX1 is a good oil addtive to cure valve rattle after the car has been stood for while. Has anyone ever put this stuff into and LS. Only reason I ask is because many a review of internet swears by it (with one or two dissenters) and say it gives a lift to MPG. I did once add some to my first LS (not Zx1) and must say did not notice any difference, but where my LS is now standing for up to month at a time have noticed a tiny bit more noise for first few minutes while the oil works its way back over the top of the engine. Any thoughts, though to be honest probably not going to use any, unless others give it a raving thumbs up.

I guess even when we all go over to EV, the criminals will find something to Nick. I remember the days when it was the DIN slot radios that were a target, and the number of smashed windows and nick stereos I suffered with company cars over the years was a little bit tiring.

IMHO the sunroof is brilliant, I use my in tilt or slide open mode most weeks, even in depths of winter (when dry). Never had a problem (make sure drains clear on regular basis) and would be sad to have to drive with sheet metal over my head, which is why my wife's old Jag and now her new Mazda I find claustrophobic with no glass above my bonce and my thinning grey strands. I would add when I worked in Middle East the last thing you want is glass in any part of the car, once got in the car and burnt my hands as the internal door pulls (of chrome) had got pretty hot where we forget to park where the shade would be after a two hour lunch stop.

If you need an independent, then Osaka in Newport might be worth a visit, a little drive from the West Midlands, or even Japex in Hemel Hampstead. Osaka owner used to work for Lexus, but is a Toyota and Lexus man through and through, but for sure Steve will be the man to visit to start with.

Yep the roads for sure kill any suspension much quicker. My experience of owning LS400 Number 1, with starting mileage of 154,000 and moved on at 190,000, was suspension had not been worked on and was in need of just about everything looking at, and so LS number 2, was 132,000 on clock (13 years old when bought) and was no problems at all up until we start getting to 160,000 when suspension start to call show signs of loosening up. My mechanic reckons the control arms were newish about the time I bought it. Now up to 210,000 with new ARB bushes, new shocks all around, and the drop links clunking ( a bit ) I would say a 460 as a little heavier will be more than driveable but not as nice as when new without a fair bit of cash given its mileage hitting 186,000. I sometimes drool over LS460's but have been thinking GS might be the way to go to get a younger car, though took my 21 year old LS for a nice high speed spin, and just cannot get over (despite a few rattles) the silence in the cabin.

It has been many years since I drove a Beamer, I recall it as M3 of some sort, yes it was fast, yes I nearly put my head through the windscreen a few times when stopping, yes you could hear the low profile tyres beckoning every ant crossing the road to its death. Have been a passenger in many a Beamer since then, I do not have heart to tell my mates they could get a much better car for the money, but I am the only Jap driving person at work and with my mates, most have been smitten by the German bug (or Range Rover wallet eaters). Mind you they always like going out in the LS and watching me put the foot down now and again (well pre Covid they did)

I wonder if cars just become so expensive to run only the well off will be able to afford to drive (bit like in the early days of motoring and we all walked to work) and that society will slowly adjust. Although man is a clever creature, the challenges of improving battery life even further is not a quick fix, and challenge of providing the cabling and solar panels to do all this will make the challenge of getting faster abroad to all and sundry like a ruddy walk in the park. Hydrogen makes sense once we can work out how to overcome the huge losses (or energy wasted) caused by charging a cell and the waste converting back. I read in some rail magazine Hydrogen Fuel cells tech is about 4 time more energy consuming than equivalent diesel engine but it is being worked on. Sure we will work it out, but the boffins are boffins not miracle workers, so maybe one answer is cars that can be fuelled by useless politicians (plenty of infrastructure to tap into there).💀

So it is still true, that if you want to go into the desert get a Land Rover, if you want to come back get a Toyota.

Great that you got things sorted. I would add to anyone reading this using Virgin Broadband (especially if using DOCSIS cable routers), they can be a real monkey if not impossible to sort port forwarding on the routers. Not sure why, but we have had a number of customers who work from home and need port forwarding to have remote office phone extensions, and had fun and games with Virgin getting things to work.

Reading this article makes me wonder if when a part is made there are two levels of QA tolerance. One if the tolerance that means the robots etc on the production line are not going to hit fitting issues, where as a spare replacement might have slightly worse tolerances as it will be fitted by a 3rd party not on a production line. I could be completely wrong in my thinking.

Apparently he is patron saint for horses, and with so many under the bonnet of an LS, he is for sure a beneficial saint. The only problem I have had with the parking brake we cable seized up, but once sorted and new pads can park on the side of a cliff.

Certainly get the ARB bushes looked at, my LS at about 170K was making the missus sick (I noticed nothing much), but got the front bushes down a year ago (as garage said although okay!!, would tighten up the car. The result a happier missus, and I also noticed any tram-lining gone. It did not have huge tram-lining problem before, but my previous LS (with less miles on) I found tram-lining could be really horrible on certain parts of M5, wind or no wind and felt like car was going to lane-hop. That LS had most of the front suspension well past its use by date. Just looking at the ARB bushes is not enough, you need to wedge a bar in there and give them a good wiggle.

Looks a little worse than mine, but my seat still perfectly nice to sit in, and I notice that the metal rivets on jeans are a pain for scratching leather seats, where my missus parks her bottom has plenty of grazes, so I have given up trying to keep the passenger seats looking new. I would be having a good poke in the rear wheel arches to see where the tin mice have been, but anyone Dorset way might be able to pick up a bargain that needs some TLC.

My thoughts exactly, I just want some nice spring weather so I can jack the car up sort some things out. I only hesitate because still recovering from Covid and Heart Attack not yet in a fit state, and all that lovely weather we had in Lockdown one was when I was in hospital, so the car has had no TLC for nearly a year now (apart from new rear shocks). The wife keeps saying I should get a newer car, she does not quite get that this LS is the best money I have ever spent to date, I wonder if her 3 year old Mazda will get to see it's 21st birthday. The Mazda 2, nice car for trips to the shop, but God forbid the prices when all the dashboard frippery starts playing up, and not the quietest car on a the motorway.

I think I will not be trading up from Sunseeker Manhattan (the one I dream about now and again). Need to spend £20K getting new roof on the house, so maybe a rubber dingy for the summer instead.

I would say that your looking at a car that is at best going to be 3 years older than your GS300, and if anything like mine at an age where even though looked after things like seals are really starting age, rust bubble now appearing and other stuff (such as SatNav display faded when cold) that is making me think do I spend £2K+ really get the car back to really nice (has had new shocks and brakes in last two years) running condition. I have not been in a GS300 for a good ten years, and I cannot recall if I thought it was a better car then LS but certainly a smaller boot. To me its the quiteness of the LS that still gets me, and with that in mind I am prepared to see my 209,000 mile 21 year old car be with me for a year or two more before I decide if it is time to move on, and it would probably be a GS of some sort I would be looking at. I think if you bide your time you could get away with spending under £3K, but less and less I think. I am quite shocked at how few LS400 there are on ebay or anywhere else compared to 3 years ago. That one in Clacton certainly worth an day out from Oxford, as it seems in good internal nick compared to the Mk3 I got back 10 years ago (with 150,000+ on the clock), only advice is the ECU problems with Mk3 might need looking into. Reason I say that was mine was becoming undriveable before I gave it to a mate for spares.

Maybe get yourself down to Osaka in Newport, Lexus specialists and not too far away from where you are (probably)

I hate it when I do not listen to my brain telling me to stop. Plenty of expensive mistakes made over the years.

From my experience of German marques, they all can warm your backside to slightly cooking in very quick time. Makes you wonder if the people of the Far East have thinner cheek skin than the hardy Northern European? My missus gets to warm in my LS in next to no time, where as I find it takes my backside a while longer to let me know time to turn off.

So true, having watched the rise of 'ISO this' and 'BSI that', we have ended up with lots of documents and less ownership and responsibility. I wonder if we 'obey' the rules more because we are a more litigious country than a lot of places in Europe.

As per Razor61 port, pretty certain this is ECU problem. I had it on my Mk3, once it started happening the deterioration was quite rapid. I never got around to sorting out ECU as gave car to a mate for parts to use on his. There are a couple of places that will install new capacitors if you can get the ECU out, but this was very common problem with cerain capacitors of that era (not just in ECUs). I thought I had some notes on where in UK you could get this done, but seem to have lost my notes on computer But this link may be useful How to check ECU

Will be giving this a go, sounds like a real time saver, as I prefer to have MP3 physically on phone to play in car, but at home on PC just stream spotify. I have been using Audacity to record and then edit for last 12 years, works well, but time consuming, given I have about 4000 tracks stored from Spotify. By the way anyone wanting a DRM for BBC iPlayer, should look at Get iPlayer (on Github). Means I watch the programs I pay my licence fee for, when I want, not within 28 days. Get Iplayer (Installation)

My employer was expecting me to go back in office at least one day a week, and was surprised when I expressed my concerns. Thank heavens they were beaten up verbally by another manager who defended my 'Why go in when I can work from home'. I am still recovering with Long Covid issues, but at least I am getting better. I know if two people who have dies of Covid, one of them was isolating to the ultimate extreme due to their other health issues, but the bug still got them. This bug still ain't finished messing us about, so anyone who has suffered, i know how yuck it is, and anyone who thinks its not a problem to them, well I say otherwise, and I suspect people being forced to be in work (because the boss thinks they are shirkers) is creating the right conditions to spread the beast. Some day life is going to get back to normal(ish) we just need to keep on doing the right thing.