Cotswold Pete

Mine will be 18 this year, so it is going to celebrate by going out on the town - having a few Jaeger bombs, some vodka chasers, and then hit the disco floor and see if it can chat up some cheeky little Subaru for a blast (or maybe pick a fight with 911). Teenagers !!!!!

My Mk3 had over over 175k on clock and springs still all okay when I got rid of (UCAs were going though) My Mk4 had a rear spring go at about 160K, (likely a big pothole did for it). Now on 183K, and all other springs see okay. The way the spring had broke was it made next to no difference to ride, and was only picked up at MOT. I did have a chat with my mechanic (ex-Lexus service eng) who said only replace when they do, as he had seen LS with over 300K and still on original springs. Just avoid driving in UK, would be best advice, or have Relay cover for when a spring goes and strands you.

We got by without heated mirrors years ago, so no loss to not have it, especially if it saves that much money.

Stuart, A smooth as a baby's bottom all the way through, never had had snatching/jerking in any mode, even in my Mk3 which had the Capacitor issue (stalling after long runs when coming to a halt). I guess capacitors going AWOL will cause all sorts of weird issues.

They would have said that the rims were out of spec as they had no car attached

From my experience any of the independent tyre fitters will do whatever you ask for. The likes of Kwik Fit and ATS I have found it varies, but generally they will not force a fit to original spec, and will replace like for like (even out of spec). Never used CostCo but my experience of working in USA and working for USA companies in Europe is the threat of being sued is a strong force to make sure employees follow the rules the letter and woe-betide anyone who 'thinks'.

As gentlemen we only speed when the situation demands, where as when I was a hot head in my 20's driving from Heathrow to Bristol in under an hour was a challenge to be met (and regularly achieved). Got stopped once doing 120 overtaking an unmarked police car (just before midnight) and got let off (why, I do not know - maybe they were on their way back for cocoa and biscuits and as M4 was empty decided I was an idiot but not endangering anyone else and the paperwork would be a pain). A few weeks later I tried the M3 from Winchester to Basingstoke (2am in morning) at 130, was okay until when overtaking a lorry that gap seemed awfully small at that speed. After that M3 run, I was mainly a good boy. My dad was motorway patrol office in the 80's on the M3, and he said anyone doing over 85 was a dead cert for a ticket at any time of day, but he was more keen to stop dangerous driving, not fast driving. Only ever taken either of my LS up to 115 a couple of time, but it is scary how quick it gets there, but nice to know the power is there. Driving my wifes X-type sport at the moment (my LS having new radiator) and though it is quick, the power kick of a the V8 is certainly something I miss

My own expereince of good indi garages is they are great for 99% of things, and in the main even cambelt changes etc, but always like to have a indi that does specialise in a particualr make of car for those 1% of problems that the specialists are more likely to have fixed in the past. Had running gear issues on my Omega years ago, the indi tried this, and tried that, and after a little too much expense a local Vauxhall expert got it sorted, and funnlily enough had simialr experience with suspension issues on my Mk3 LS, which at least my Indi chap admitted he did not know what the problem was. So I will probably keep Osaka (and Japex) in my telephone just in case I have another one of thos 1% problems. Got the same issue with my wife X-type, with very random fuel problems, so hopefully located an indi Jag specialist who can have a look at. Trouble is they are all clocking off for Xmas about now

I used Falken until they stopped making them. So now use Nexen NBlue, seem as quite, as grippy in normal driving and a bit harder wearing. For tear-arsing around corners not quite as good as Falkens in the wet

Thanks for info, I forgot to say that my beast is not LPG, but Osaka look like a possibility, at least I can get train back home if I needed to. Cam belt due next year, so want an independent who understands Toyota/Lexus

I found with my Mk3, that putting metal stuff in the centre console seemed to make alarm go off more, and also when neighbours jacked up their WiFi it seemed to be more sensitive. Occasionaly find my Mk4 goes off for no reason as well, but not as bad as the Mk3 I had, and usually when I am in office, and we have a lot of electronic equipment chucking out stuff. I am not sure if being older alarm systems they are more sensistive to radio interference, so turning down sensitivity might be best answer, and maybe making sureonly sandwiches kept in center console!

I have just found out that my usual service place in Swindon 'Gas & Go', is no longer servicing cars, a great shame as I found them to be pretty good over last 5 years. Does anyone know of a decent place in the Bristol, Cheltenham, Swindon triangle that they would recommend for working on the LS.

The speed tyre rating is saying the tyre should sustain that speed for 10 minutes. (I assume after that it overheats, possibly) The RAC do say using lower ratings may impact insurance, so as Michael says a picky company may take a negative stance even if you were only doing 30mph. I'm running Nexen nBlue (V rating), and they are pretty good tyres, not quite as quite as Dunlops on some of the rubbish roads, but on your average bit or tarmac pretty darned good, and fair grip and really long life (up tp 20,000) and probably just over half way through, and some of the roads round here are pretty rubbish. I assume for a track day (not my thing) they would not hold out about 149mph

A bit of an odd one with my heating, so here is the story. Driving home on Tuesday, lost all hot air about 15 mins into journey, stopped at the shops, checked the coolant and it was low, by about .75 litre (I have been loosing coolant - about a cupful a year for a while - so assumed there was a pinhole leak somewhere). Anwyay, di a quick top up of drove home from shops and was fine for 4 miles, then last half mile no heat. So next morning coolant topped up, and drove to work, okay for 12 miles, next mile sat in crawling traffic, no heat, but the last mile a sprint down the dual carriageway, and heat back. Drvoe car to mechanic last night, he has checked it out, and said cannot see any major leaks, that would cuase me to loose lots of fluid rapidly, though there is a leak somewhere with the radiator, so it will need replacing, but not urgently, but sometime soon. The only thing I do not get is why the heat came and went and yet thay have run the engine for 45 minutes, all is okay. Did I have some weird airlock, or any other ideas. The engine temp never varied during any of this. Also if I am going to have the radiator sorted, would it be a good idea to get water pump done (as it is original, and does make a bit of noise, but does not appear to be leaking). Next cambelt change not due for another 10-15K, so will get water pump done then (so that would be early 2019). Picking the car up tomorrow morning, with re-topped coolant/anti-freeze and keeping fingers crossed. Any ideas or comments appreciated.

Driving home last night in Snow Mode made me wonder if it lowers fuel consumption at all, as it limits the revs when putting foot down. Has anyone done any measured runs to find out if this is the case or not, even when it is not snowing.

Totally agree about front wheel drive, once drove Oxford to Bristol in the great freeze of Dec 1981, took 4 hours, dug out cars stuck in the way, took it steady and that was in an Escort Mk3. and when I got to a garage in Swindon to fill up, the owner was amazed. However I am sure a front wheel drive LS would be a bit of a handful. Snow tyres are the things to have, but not sure for the one day every 4 to 5 years they are needed in the balmy climes of the Cotswold Valleys, it is worth worrying about, and all the more reason to stay indoors and have another sloe gin

Not so sure I'd be brave enough to try to oversteer technique as in the video. Just spent ten minutes trying to put car into a proper space in car park at work, and car sliding around like a bar of soap in a shower, car park has a 1 in 25 slope!!! Cetainly a little easier with Mk4 Snow Drive, but not fun when you have lots of things, including office wall to hit.

Not sure if there are any stats on how many autos in park have ended up rolling down a hill where the pawl in the gearbox snapped. It is not a huge bit of metal so parking and LS on a 20% for long periods may well create a problem. However the MOT pass rate for an LS is 16% (see MOT Manual ) and last time mine was 18% ( I recall) and my handbrake is next to useless when the gradient gets to 10%. I would have thought from an engineering view point parking on steep hills (a lot) is going to create more strain and potential failure of the parts, whether it was auto or manual, it is just that with a manual you can park in gear which has less chance of failing than a pawl in the auto-box. Be interesting if anyone has ever known a failure of LS pawl.

Did that once in current Mk4, and it was not all noticeable on the short drive from office down to the dual carriageway, but once I hit 35mph on dual carriageway it sounds like I had a full set of Minions clog dancing in the boot, and did not know what the heck was happening until I looked at console to see that parking light staring at me. I know my brake is only just meeting MOT standard (for last 3 years), and it is naff at holding the car on any hill that looks like a hill, so maybe time to go to my local garage and insist on a proper clean, and then find a 20% gradient to do a hill start on.

I wonder if second hand car prices are more driven by cheap car leasing that depresses the second hand car market, where as this cheap credit is not a feature of anywhere else. (Not that leasing is cheap, just a lot of people been bitten by the 'get a new car on the never-never bug'. I bought a 2nd hand 1.6 Cavalier in 1995 for £6K, then in 2001 paid the same price for a 2.5 Omega (same age), and then in 2007 paid £2.5K for a LS 400. More car for less price as time went by. I am sure in years to come the LS 400 will be held with same esteem a Morris Traveller is today, and that just like really well looked after Traveller £2K will not get you a lot. On the view that Americans value their luxury motors (well at least prepared to pay a higher price), I think they do, but the run of the mill car drive in USA, seems to not worry if all sorts of things are falling off. Well that was my experience of working over their on and off from mid 90's to early 2000's.

Gordon Bennett, that is my final word on this subject

I've just worked it out what the problem is. There is that much 'stupidness' being carried around in a car, the weight of that stupidness is causing the runnnig gear to collapse. Answer to problem must be get a student loan, study at Uni to be less stupid and ... (just realised getting into huge student debt is also stupid). Oops!!!!!

Phil, according this post Nakedness you may not get arrested, so the question might be, "Is driving a LS400 that looks like an abused bulldog going to be more or less offensive than wandering about with the wedding tackle on display"? A close call in my book

Crickey, not my thing at all, might have been when I was 18, but not now. Though I do like the colour.

Wonder what 10 years storage has done to it, assuming it was not in a conditioned environment, by the looks of those containers.