Cotswold Pete

Reckon she will look good when polished up, gave mine the full works for a wedding 3 weeks ago, but with all this dry weather and another 1.5K on the clock mine is looking like it has just driven through the dessert. Interesting to use 'bruttish' for the Jag, to me this describes most 'top end' cars i have been in, from DB9 to top range Mercs, and Jags. I have two mates with Beamers and Mercs, and they both prefer their 400 to these as they also use the word bruttish. I would love to try a 600 one day just to see if it is worth all that double glazing and 5 start luxury, and really that much better than a 400,430,460. Enjoy the summer rekindling an old love affair

Thanks for the advice. All sounds a bit like the Honda in terms of coaxing miles out of it, ride style and oomph, but as you say a Lexus is a better built car, and the good lady only likes small cars. Guess I ought to test drive one when I can find the time.

My line of thought was - and I am not a mechanic - was that the traction control only detects when the rear wheels are moving at a speed not related to the measured velocity of the car. But in normal running on a normal road a differential is designed to make sure that when turning a corner slightly different rotational speed is allowed, otherwise one tyre will get dragged along the road, so I was just wondering if this is what was happening. The only way to test it is to drive 8000 miles in a straight line and if tyres are okay, then maybe investigate, or drive around the M25 in one direction for a week or so, and see which rear tyre has worn more. But maybe someone who is smarter than me can say whether my theory is all a lot of hot air, or my understanding of rear axle mechanics is based on some dodgy concepts. I would have thought if you had differential issues you might here a whine from the rear end, but then again a Lexus is rather well sound proofed, but in 24000 miles I would have expected the rear box to have failed if it was not working as expected. If you get to the bottom of the mystery, be interested to know what results are.

I have always found Michelins not to last too long on any car I have had, and my driving is sedate to asleep style (thats what a nice quite 400 does for me). Though I find Michelins a bit quiter on the crappier sections of road. Just a thought as to whether you have the tyres over-inflated, I did this by accident (don't ask) with last set of fronts and that seemed to cause quicker wear (which made no sense). Did you get all four fitted at same time, and if not, then was there a softer mix (by accident) on the rears, though if you have had three sets now, that seems an unlikely case. Is there likely to be any issues with tractional control or rear differential that could cause this problem? I have found the Falkens the best on 400 (and I assume 430, 460) I get zero tram-lining (apart from some bits of M6 where they must have used Chieftain tanks at night to test the surface) and any other tyre I have tried has had tram-lining issues that just bugged me.

Cheers for that. I took my 400 up the M6 the other day - all the family, full boot, air con on at 80mph, and was getting a shade under 30mpg, so bit surprised the 200 is no better.

Starting to think about getting the wife a 200 to replace her tired old Honda Accord. Got 170K on the clock and in my view she needs to get shot of. As a LS400 Mk4 0wner, I know that a Lexus is going to be better built option with more comfort than most of the the other choices. Questions; Economy - seems like the 200 will do around 36mpg extra urban (is that about right), and is a bit of a guzzler in urban (The Accord 1.8se is pretty rubbish in urban - as low as 22mpg) - seems like the VTEC engine loves high revs too much, so you need to over-rev to get going from standstill and it is now guzzling oil - though been serviced regularly. If I were to look at a 10 to 12 year old model what should I look out for, and is there a particular model/type that is going to be best. Seems to me that 200's are like the 400's very undervalued and generally well looked after. Sure it will take me a while to persuade the wife - but thought if I start making noises now, she may take the plunge before the end of the year. So any advice appreciated.

sounds as if now that summer has arrived, I need to trade up to 460. Well maybe in a couple of years when I have had a bit more time to get bored with the 400 used to have a Peugeot 406, generally a really crap car, apart from fair road holding and air conditioning that could give you frost bite!!!

Brian, have you had all the work done yet. I get a similar thing with that vibration on my mK4 (131k miles), not that annoying, but a fair few roads around where I live have these odd ridges - like the man in the road roller was not doing his job quite right. Still off on a trip to the Wirral over the weekend, so going to see how the car behaves on wide variety of roads.

I actually gave my MK4 a jolly good clean inside and out today, even buffed up all the leather work. But I found where the sensor intake was. It is to the left of the steering wheel and below the parking brake. However you have to take the whole lower section of that part of the dash board out, so I have not bothered to see how clean (or dirty it is) However looking at these photos, i reckon it is a case of getting some canned air and spraying the vent and then maybe a quick blast with the hoover to suck the crap out. Being a bit of a camera nut in the past, I normally have some canned air about, so I will give it a go later, then I can find the valve head to go on the Kenair.

There is an post from 2006 on the forum where some Canadians suggest a clean up does help. I would assume the dust causes extended thermal lag, in other words the thermistor takes time to see the actual ambient temperature, so in auto mode the climate control will blow harder for longer when it sees a temperature differential. But once the device has reached a quiescent state it will be fine until you park up and let the car heat up or cool down. So forget all this engineering techy speak and spend time drinking beer not cleaning sensors - but I may have a poke about in my Mk4 if I get time.

I guess I need to get older still to get my down to £200 or maybe a sleepy town in the Cotswolds is a bit of a hotspot of crime (need to check out the police web site), and the last time I called the Police was because someone left a nicked bike in my garden. I have found John Lewis are good for competitive quotes, especially if you do slightly higher mileage etc. and more than competitive with other companies recommended on this forum I gave up on Saga as they were no better then your run of the mill company.

Agree that the urge to go quick is high, but last year did a Glos, Grange Sands, Arbroth, Newcastle to Glos round trip. Did a fair bit at a steady 55-60 and was getting 34 to 36pmg. A great car to drive while watching the Lune Valley, Shap, The Northumbrian Coast and the Pennines drift by. So felt no need to go any faster. Having been in a Porche 911, DB9 not so sure I would want to do the trip in them, and also not keen of doing it in Range Rover, great views, but need good breakdown cover! Lexus 400 - a car to make you slow down and appreciate life (but with welly when you need it)

Totally agree with that now I have fitted my Mk 4 out with the Falken. Also tramlining seems to be thing of the past. I reckon spending the extra to get a Mk4 is also worth it, but I must say the touch screen is the only thing i would chuck, as I prefer good old buttons. If they did valve radios I might even go for one of them, but I guess on old Humber Singer might just do!!

Now I would say he is completely sane, as he has two LS400 for sale, and he looks after them both by giving them a ribbon. What's wrong with that

A 460 always been on my list of must haves, and the photos making me hanker. But I'll keep the 400 for a few more years and then decide. Always loved the 460 body work, and the 400 is a bit boxy looking But then again I used to have a Vaux Omega so never really been into good looking cars, they just have to drive nice. So maybe I'll have test drive in a 460 sometime soon.

Thanks for that. Personally I would have thought converting a pre-unleaded engine was a bit odd, as I understand LPG really needs a well sorted engine rather than ancient pre-90's set up. Flashlube or not.

That seems like a fair bargain, I'll put them on my list of choices, as mine needs doingin next couple of months. Did they replace the pump as well

Like the colour, my first LS was silver, but have come to like the darker colours, and liked Green but the boss' mother hates green cars, so I ended up with blue, which was just about love at first sight (sad I know). My students think it's great I drive a drug dealers car, but my only drug is a good pint of cider (mind you the boot is great for filling up at the Cash & Carry). Hope to give mine a good clean soon, but not retired and got too many DIY jobs on at the moment.

Just been looking at some other forums on LPG, and came across a comment about a Range Rover with LPG and then mention on flashlube. So looked up flashlube and watched a little video. What is that all about http://www.flashlube.com/uk/company/how-flash-lube-works.html Never seen it mentioned on this forum. Any comments - or is it for engines not put together as well as the LS.

Mike, as the old saying goes 'The grass is always greener...' As for the Gitanes, I gave them up years ago. Tried to be a trendy student in the last 70's but probably was a plonker spending money on french fags. Mind you the one thing about France is that the roads (anywhere west of Caen) are just a pleasure to use, I am sure a bath tub with wheels would be just fine on a nice summers day, and a bottle of plonk some grapes and a baguette for lunch. Blimey - makes me want to go and book a ferry right now!!

That sounds about right. I have a mate of mine who was a lover of the various Mercs and Beamers he had, though he always moaned about the cost of the repairs to even 3 or 4 year old German motors. Took him out one day in my MK2 and he fell in love, so he now owns a Mk3, and persuaded another mate to get a LS400 (so one less 7 series driver out there). But having a chat with my mates the other day, it was not just that LS400 was cheap to buy and run, but that it is such a lovely car to drive compared to the brutal feel you get from the Merc/BMW. Only reason he still has Mercs is because as company director driving a car over 15 years old just does not fit the image. So he only gets to enjoy real driving at the weekend. I dont know to me it shows the guy has individuality and is not bothered about keeping up with the Jones's also to the companies he is selling too they dont see their money wasted on new cars. I have a mate who has a Reliant Robin and swears by them, I admire him, he is a character, he also laughs all the way to the bank as it costs him almost nothing to run it. Mike Strangely enough I saw a Reliant Robin yesterday (or plastic pigs as we used to call them), and it got me thinking. Well for all of about 2 minutes and then I realised that with the state of the roads around here, the darned thing would probably fall over on it's side as you tried the slalom technique to avoid the craters. So the LS is safe for a while yet.

what version of the CD-ROM do you have ? I'm looking for an update 1 I have 2004-2005 think the latest is 2006-2007 for LS400 MK3? Luke, I have a 98 disk. I have just tried making a copy of the disk and it is good enough to get to the menu items, but it does not display the maps. So looks like copying misses out some file or there is something else going on. I do not have all the tools on my PC to really dig about with the file structures. But to be honest the SAT NAV is a bit of a toy, as whenever I have tried to use it for it's intended purpose, it is a laugh and takes you all over the place. So I never really use it. Also a laugh to see it get in a twist when it thinks I am driving through fields. So sorry I cannot help. I have been warned that copies of the disk you get on ebay are not worth getting as the maps can be unreachable. But if anyone out there who is more tech savvy knows how to make a 'proper' copy do let me know.

That sounds about right. I have a mate of mine who was a lover of the various Mercs and Beamers he had, though he always moaned about the cost of the repairs to even 3 or 4 year old German motors. Took him out one day in my MK2 and he fell in love, so he now owns a Mk3, and persuaded another mate to get a LS400 (so one less 7 series driver out there). But having a chat with my mates the other day, it was not just that LS400 was cheap to buy and run, but that it is such a lovely car to drive compared to the brutal feel you get from the Merc/BMW. Only reason he still has Mercs is because as company director driving a car over 15 years old just does not fit the image. So he only gets to enjoy real driving at the weekend.

Just tried my system. If you take the CD out, then you are right the MENU button does not work. I get a message saying to stick the MAP CD in when I hit the menu button. So looks like your a bit stuck. More than happy to cut you a copy of the CD (or is it DVD) I am not sure, as a replace costs £70+. So let me know. I'll be on line most of today and tomorrow. Pete

So if read this right, the pad indicator breaks once it has done it's job, then you can drive for another 5K, and then you have to send of to the USA for a part that costs and arm and a leg in the UK. Just had mine on the ramp for the MOT and the pads need replacing, so I assume that in the past mine has had the old 'short' trick. Seems to me may as well just get it to the garage now and again for a quick check, and the heck with with the suicidal wear indicator. On the other hand I am a dab hand with a soldering iron so I may have a go and the home repair, but with the weather as it is, freezing me n*ts off while tinkering on the 400 sounds like a job for the summer (if it ever arrives this year).