Cotswold Pete

I would add that when I have AC on for long periods I tend to find it dries out the air too much, so a good old dose of moist 'polluted' UK air is just the tonic. I have a mate who when he was a chain (cigar) smoker would have AC on all the time, but windows open to get rid of smoke. That never made sense to me. In all honesty I am not a fan of climate control, prefer to have AC on of AC off system, but the LS climate control is a lot better than some I have had in the past. The human body prefers radiated heat, but a car only generates (in the cabin) convected heat, so there are times when I feel colder than the climate control indicates it is. The climate control has got the air warm (or cool enough) and my body is asking for more (or less heat). Maybe someone could come up with a Cabin system that is radiated not convected, and I would suspect that those LS owners with AC in the seats get a better approximation of radiated heating/cooling.

Wechillanycar say AC for 15 minutes per week is enough to keep seals in good nick, which I recall reading somewhere else a fair few years back. Running AC all the time uses a bit more fuel, and not really so good when you have windows of sun roof open. Only places I have ever run AC all the time is Dallas and Kansas (in summer), in Jo'burg only used when really really needed as rarer air at such altitude sucks the life out of engines and makes AC really kill anything but the beefiest engine, and it's like a switchback to drive around.

Most cars loose somewhere between 10%-25% of gas each year, as the system is not 100% air tight, you always get leakage, and it is true if you only use your air-con from time to time the seals dry out. I assume less gas, makes the compressor work harder (only my thought) which may make the compressor fail quicker, but stand to be corrected if this is not the case. When I bought my Mk4 it could not keep air cool no matter what, had Kwik FIt do a pressure check and re-fill, and all okay. That was four years ago, and the other day I was able to get the car cooled in about 5 minutes, so I assume I have lost some gas, but air-con can start to give me the shivers after those five minutes of re-circulating. I guess if I got AC re-charged it would take less than 5 minutes, but not bothered given the spring weather so far.

Just pulling into Miserden School (Cotswolds) this morning (to sort out their telephone system), and saw LS 400 pulling away, did not cop the number, was it anyone on the forum. Such a lovely day, that once I had problem sorted, it was a sunroof back, and lazy drive back to office.

Amazing to see the work going on here. I would love to have the time to smarten up my LS a bit more, but other things keep getting in the way. My only 'must do' is to repalce the headlight link on rear wheel, now the replacement has arrived from SGS. Should take no more than an hour or so, but the missus wants to go out and about this weekend, because summer seems to have arrived. Ah well!

Agree they can look a little 'staid', but that is fine by me, unless I ever pimp up my paintwork. How about Bright Sparkle Silver - http://www.lepsons.com/standard-colours/

I would have said a little too bright given the understated nature of the 400, and it's lack of chrome on the body. On the other hand it would stand out from the crowd a little more.

Does seem odd that that much sh*t would happen from 2016 -2017. Really surprised that headlight adjuster was advisory, as when snapped it means you blind most people approaching, and the road ahead is so poorly lit, you end up hitting every unseen pothole. Makes me wonder how much was spent correcting all the problems and what exactly was meant by an oil leak?

Just a thought on improving the boat fuel consumption, is it worth looking at Kleenoil USA (they fit sump filter by-pass systems) which I know some boat owners in USA use to get 10%-20% improvement in diesel consumption. Not sure if it is applicable to 2-stroke, as the filter removes other additives, which the two stroke may need. The Kleenoil product is actually made in Leeds, and I was involved in a couple of UK installs about 10 years back, one to a 40 year old Bristol Single Decker, (the owner was amazed, said filter made the bus feel like it was almost new), also fitted to a Diesel truck for manager at National Trust, and he said he was getting consistent 15% better fuel consumption. Anyone with a turbo diesel should consider a Kleenoil system, and have been told it preserves life of petrol based turbo systems, by keeping oil clean and reduces need to replace oil at every service.

Sounds like a real adventure roaming around the Caribbean, only been to Dominican Republic (22 years ago), and Florida once, know which I prefer. Used to travel a lot around USA on business, glad I did it before they started thinking all and sundry are terrorists, and the only thing I would love to do is fly into Boston, hire a nice Lexus and then meander across to Baja California. Would have to do it without the missus, as I suspect after two days she would be going nuts. I like to just head out (done some amazing drives around New England and Ozarks), where as she needs an itinerary for the whole darned thing. Given the good lady hates boats, I would guess I am not going to be bumping into you in the Caribbean any time soon. As the yanks would say - Enjoy

To test, I used a bradawl, it found the problem areas with ease, and also made it easy to 'feel' where the metal was okay. That way I was not ripping off the sealant where I did not need to. That is why after my first recce the arch looked like swiss cheese.

I think my Lexus was a Friday Lexus, and the chap (or maybe robot) did not ensure that the rubberised coating was thick enough at the edges. It is testament that its lasted 18 years, given the salt and mud attack it has suffered from. I was shocked at how bad it was, and given I have scraped out the mud on a regular basis, I had never really had a goods look at the rear arches until this problem. I did notice some sealant applied to the bottom of the boot well, but assumed that was original, but maybe in hindsight I should have had a good look when I bought the car. Still the car is now waterproof, I just need some decent dry weather to clean up rest arch, then Kurust and Waxoyl in the hope that the arches will last another five years or so. Roll on summer, as this Easter has been one big rain-fest

Just had a run in the rain, and still getting some water ingress on nearside, so need to jack up the car later to see where it was coming in. A bit of a pain, but at least one side is dry.

Well 18 years old and the old lady got through her MOT. Though it makes me laugh on advisories (which I have not had before). 1. Towball Hitch not fitted at time of test (been like that since I bought it) 2. Undertray and sill covers fitted not allowing full inspection - never had that one before. However had I left the car as shown in photos, I suspect it may have failed. The photo is of the back of the offside arch. once I had cut out the rust and before any other prep. The nearside was almost as bad, and the front of both arches were more like swiss cheese, but as time was pushing on over weekend did not take any photos of that. Reason for this state of affairs is the though most of the arch is plastered in the coating at manufacturer, the first 7cm off the arch had next to no coating, and so I am betting the arches have been rotting pretty well for the last decade. So having filled it out with mesh and Isopon 40 (no photos of that as it is not the tidiest of jobs) I need some decent rain to check water-tightness. If all is okay, I am going to jack the old lady up, give the edge of arches a brush and Kurust and then Waxoyl to hopefully give the LS a few more years of life. Maybe poke a bit harder around the arches and be prepared to draw breath!

I would recommend that if you have to take it out to repair, then it is best to actually replace the unit, so long as it has roughly the same electrical character, not just impedance, but effeciency (measured in dB/Watt) and possibly Q factor (measure of damping) to ensure cone does not resonate (peak bass) at same frequency that excites the parcel shelf (as example). If not matched you could get too much or little bass, or some booming with some intruments. Modern speakers have much better glues and build than something from 10-15 years ago, so a repair is only worth doing if you really really like the sound of the speaker, and I would guess the original LS is not that high a grade compared to the speakers of 2018. Looks like the Polk DB840 is a bit hard to get hold of, so not sure what would be the option here, maybe someone else on forum has tried other options in a 430

Used DSLR to take photos, but have not loaded onto computer yet, and not sure how in focus they were, as more interested in getting the gashes prepped, but really shocked at how bad it was. My dad has Peugeot 406, same age as my LS, and barely any rust in arches, but around where I live mud makes up 10% of the roads (when the tractors have done their travels).

If I had to choose it would be the one in Edinburgh, and I might go as high as 5£5K, but given my recent work on the rust on my year 2000 Mk4, I would be having a darned good poke about in the rear arches for rust. But that is another storey which I will post on, as ine if going in for MOT this Tuesday, and once that is all done, I'll do another post with some photos of the holes in rear arches. The Edinburgh one says it has several layers of wax, but it under the body where it is also needed.

Posted as PDF for others to use Low idle issue.pdf

Excellent instructions, hopefully I'll never need them, but now stored safely in my Lexus folder

My neighbour has had the Michelin fitted to his Audi, pretty good grip in snow

Snowy as you like, though melting now. I was hoping to have done a bit of prep yesterday, but wind so bad, kept blowing the boot lid down on me (not nice). Like you I assumed it is a difficult weld, and I would not be sure the welder had actually done a full seal. In the past I have let welders do their thing in boot of an old Escort, and Vaux Cavalier. They were never watertight, so do not want to spend a fortune to find I would still have to get some filling done.

Interesting video, and for $1000 a bargain, even if only 200horses. That interior look amazing after so many years. I guess the original owner did not use it much to go to local tip When I was in US back in mid 90's used to see a lot of car -bras, but they can do a lot of damage if not fitted properly.

For sure a lovely looking home from home. I would like a 600 one day, but it would be that or new roof on back of house, so if I get one it might ned up being my home On the sliding RX, if it snows at work my LS does a lovely sideways slide as soon as I stop as the car park has this slope. Scared the cr*p out of me when it happened, but stop short of hitting two other cars already parked up.

I did think of FIbre glass, but just bought some alu mesh, Isopon filler (which sets well at cooler tempatures). Just got to hope the weekend will be dry, and then get set to work on it. The gashes in the arch are about 6inches long (15 cm in new money), and about 2inch wide, so bigger than expected, so this rot has been going on for a while. It looks like where they roll the sheets together when making the car at the bottom of the arch there is a small channel which is a b*gger to clean out so I suspect that has not helped, even though I have been cleaning the arches in the past.

Well checked the roof drains, and they are not at all part of the problem. The drain drops out under the skirt of the rear bumper, and outside of the bulkhead, so there is no mud trap there. Just need to get some mesh, filler and decent weather to fill the holes on both sides. On the subject of sunroofs, had them in many cars, and only ever had a problem once with a Cavalier. Looking at the LS sunroof it is a really tight fit (ie: well designed), so there is very limited chance of crud getting into the channels and then being washed down the drain. I suspect if you open the sunroof a lot, then general dust will stand more chance of building up to eventually get sluiced out via drain. The LS is fairly airtight, and when you close door you should see the sunroof lift by about 1mm, indicating the car is well sealed as is the roof when closed. (Unlike the early new generation VW Beetle which was so airtight you really had to slam the doors shut).