DaKa

It turns out that I've been lucky, as it seems to have been only that the battery wasn't charging properly, and it was just the battery, not the alternator. New battery fitted (the old battery was probably older than I thought circa 7 years) and everything great again. My daughters boyfriend had persuaded me last night to by the new i30N Hyundai (he's collecting is next week) so it will just have to wait now until something else goes wrong on my Lexus - it could be a while then! Do I need to touch wood or cross fingers?

Last night the malfunction indicator lit up on the dash of my 2001 LS430 while wafting around at about 30 mph.. I guess that I will need some plugin computer check for the error code, perhaps it could turn off again (he says hopefully!). Would anyone know what the most likely cause for this may be? The car is certainly in need of a service but otherwise its running smoothly and nothing noticeable sound or performance wise? Thxs

You need to check some of the posts I've listed and commented upon. There is a Polish Ebay selling German made LS430 exhausts delivered to your door for circa £150. A couple of guys on this forum including me have had them fitted - waste of time getting the old one welded at this price!

Strange that they would remove the shield as part of a service unless they were changing the cooling system - Lexus designed a small access hatch for the oil filter to be changed. The problem with independent garages it can sometimes be more hassle than it's worth to get them to admit an error - at least you can give bad feedback if you complain and they don't offer to help.

I used Bonair also - they changed my compressor and insisted it had to be a genuine Lexus part and that meant £220 for the part! It's very unlikely to be that the aircon/compressor can't be fixed by specialist dealing with auto aircon solely as stated above. Good luck

They really should have cleaned up all the hub when the new Mintex rotors where fitted - it could be this - it was enough to resolve my wobble when I changed all my front braking 6 months ago on my LS430 2001. However, the stresses that are applied to such a heavy car at the front on the bushes while breaking are massive - they almost certainly will improve the holding and handling when braking/cornering as would a struct brace. My previous SC430 needed the same a year ago (now sold) and I bought the upper/lower control arms and track rods ends from Ebay - not the cheapest but quality parts that stated OEM or similar with good feedback and UK seller - some of the parts delivered were manufactured by Toyota but much cheaper than from Lexus - they were a easy to fit. If you pockets are deep buy original otherwise perhaps the same seller would make sense? a2zmotorspares - lower control arms (Pair £58) doctor_car - Track Rod ends (Pair £58) ziggy-a2z - Upper Control Arms (Pair £95) Good luck

Be sure it is leaking? I had an LS400 that I bought from a relative circa 2004 (it was a P reg 1996) - the first thing I did was to take it to Lexus, Woodford Green for a full service and new Belts. They advised that the sump had a leak and wanted circa £200 to fix it - that was a lot of money to me then so I said no thanks. It never once in the 6 years I owned it afterwards dripped a single drop on my garage floor. Subsequently an independent mechanic advised me that the little oil on the sump was likely caused by some careless filling up, where the spilt oil or filter change residue had eventually worked its way down the engine to the bottom of the sump. Suggest cleaning it up with some degreaser and checking that it is definitely leaking through the pan seal? Best of luck.

Good spot - always nice to have options if your unlucky with air ride suspension. It's not clear what the total cost is (or at least I could see it)!

Not sure of your location Rob, but I used a company that I believe is a local franchise of a national company 'PaintIt'. For me they operated out of a workshop between Brentwood and Billericay. The wheels where acid stripped, cleaned/repaired if needed, powder coated, sprayed inside and out and lacquered with the tyres refitted and balanced. This was 18-20 months ago at a cost of circa £280 they came with a 3 year warranty and are still immaculate so I believe that the warranty will not be called upon.

It may be a case of servicing the box as per youtube link below but before any attempt to refill fluids you obviously must find out where the leak came out (pipe may have split) but more importantly why it overheated in the first place? It may have been a split pipe that caused the overheating. Best of luck!

It does sound like your transmission oil has boiled and looked for a high pressure escape route to the outside world. It doesn't necessarily mean that your auto box is fried, but it will certainly need to be checked by a transmission specialist and may need new filters/seals/cooling connections. I've heard of some adding an independent cooler for their transmission as this problem has been reported before on the forum - check the rcent thread from 'Haylands' Best of luck and I hope it doesn't require a replacement.

I'm not the expert here, but I would refer you to some previous posts in this subject including those on the SC430 section as the ABS/VSC problem is almost certainly related. I can however confirm that the cambelt is not anything to do with your braking issue. It seems that the car has sensors that can corrode making the car think it is in a skid or that one wheel may not be turning?

There are several posts on this forum about the ride height and likely causes. If like me however, the car was running while in the air for maintenance then it may reset itself alternating the switch between high/low and another battery disconnect for a short while. It is however more likely that the compressor seals or one or more of the level sensors is broken.

If you haven't seen it before then you really must watch the wheeler dealers episode on the LS400 where they convert both the indicators and main beam lights.

I guess some 'green' non-driver politician has introduced this to get us all away from V8s, on our bikes and driving a G Whizz.