sir john

Serviced the old girl 2 weeks ago. New filters, oil and spark plugs. While i was under the bonnet i noticed the coolant in the expansion tank was low. About 30mm below the low level mark so i topped it up. The rear screen smashed 2 days later so it been laid up inside for 8 days. While the new screen was being fitted today i put the battery on charge and noticed the coolant is down again. So i topped it up. i started the engine with the car still in the garage. Lots of water vapours and lots of water blowing out of the exhausts. As it warmed up the amount of water blowing out reduced but the vapours are still there. The gases also smell funny. Could this be a blown head gasket? i thought these engines were bullet proof. Any ideas??? There was also a whining noise when the engine was running. I put this down to the PAS pump though.

Just read that one again....thought it read "piles". I need to sit closer to the screen!

No super glue used. There was nothing glued to it at all. It just shattered without provocation. Thanks for the tip though. Ive used Aroldite Rapid in the past for everything from sticking the rearview mirror back on to sticking a repair patch on an exhaust silencer. All on other cars with no problems. Thanks for the sugestion though mate.

At the moment my money is on "under tension from the accident". The boot floor was crimped , as was 1 of the chassis legs. It had to be repaired twice. Long story. 100% sure it wasnt shashed on purpose. Our village isnt on a through road and the kids in the village a great bunch. They are the sort to pick up the tenner you have just droped and run after you to hand it over. The screen was also burst open on both sides where it curves. Surely, if some thing had hit it, it would have left a hole at the point of impact.

The engine will be just run in at 140k. Id repair the brakes now and do the others as you go along. If your handy with the spanners they are all easy jobs but for the ball joint which is a bit fiddly. If the exhaust flanges arnt too bad, ie not rusted away completely, you can put in new gaskets at £4.11 each from Lexus ot Toyota and use a little metal putty on the flange faces to fill the gap. It costs about a tenner and should last a few months. I think its such a shame to scrap these cars when all they need is a few repairs every now and then. Good luck mate. PS. Funny thing is....my wife love our LS as much as i do. and she has never been into cars.

Last Wed night , bout 8pm, the rear screen shattered. Id driven about 2 miles. No ice but the rear demist was on. Parked it outside the pub for 5 minutes but when i came out the screen had shattered. It was completely shattered but still holding together but for a slash up each side where it curves round to the C pillars. What could have caused this to happen?? Any ideas? The car was rear ended in sept 09 but thats all fixed now.

The MPG is down. I usually gat about 24/25 nocking about and 29/30 on a long motorway run. Nocking about for me is 25miles plus on country road, i live rural. Very rural. Im down to about 21/22 nocking about and only 24.5mpg on last weeks 700 round trip motorway run. Time for a service me thinks. Planning on spark plugs, air and oil filters and castrol GTX. Is there anything else you can suggest i do? Is the Transmission fluid change a big job or is it similar to an engine oil change? Id also like to change the rear axle oil and am thinking that its a simple matter of draining out of 1 bolt hole and filling up through another??? Any suggestions? And what plugs and fluids do you use?

Thats what you get for typing a reply and then going for your dinner before hitting the "Add Reply" button. A simple test that you could do in the dark is start the engine and turn the lights on. Rev the engine and watch for teh lights getting brighter with the rise in engine revs. Its an old trick. Never tried it on a Lexus but its worked for me on lots of other cars years ago.

Steve is absolutely right. Check the main fuse box first. And welcome. As yours is an older model like mine, 93 L, i would strongly suggest that you check the power stearing pump reservior for a leak. Its a common fault and if yours hasnt been sorted by a previous owner ill eat my hat if it isnt leaking fluid onto the alternator. This leads to a nackered alternator and a flat battery. Seems a bit of a coincidence that the battery died after a day. My guise is that the alternator is shot and the vendor charged the battery just before you bought the car. Id have a garage check that its charging because the dash board alone is enough to flatten a fully charged battery in no time. Good luck mate and keep us posted. Hope im wrong about the alternator.

Sorry to hear your tale of woe. My car was rear ended in Sept while i was in it. The other driver was insured and accepted full liability. But its still been an arse to get things sorted. My car is going to a second repairer in Jan 2010 to have all the repair work done again because the first repairs were so poor. My insurers, the repair garage and my insurers inspecters tried to fob me off with woffle. "its repaired" "it should have been writen off" "your lucky to get your car back" were a few of the stalling tactics. In the end I won the day but only because i had kept a full and detailed audit trail. This is vital. Especially in your situation. Keep a record of everything. Open a Word Doc. and keep it up to date. Every time you speek to someone, in person or on the phone, keep a record. Eg; 22-10-2009, @2.34pm, phoned Aviva, on 08457....., spoke to Susan, Q; when will........? A; definately before..... Get their second names if possible. Some will be reluctant to give this but tell them it is for your audit trail. If they wont give a surname ask if the call is being recorded because you are keeping an audit of all contacts and you may need to refer to this call at some time in the future. Keep a record of what was discussed and what was agreed. Its easy for me because every thing i do in my job needs an audit trail but it is so powerful when you need it in the future. Quoting Dates, times, Tel # and names will get you more than you would imagine. Especially if you eventually need to bring an official complaint against your own insurer for not looking after you. Good luck mate.

mine was registered Dec 1993. It only has the Lexus on the left. Happy birthady to my lexus and a happy new year to all lexus owners.

My LS is a nightmare in the snow. But today i had to drive to Ambleside and back (50 miles) in snow. Went in the Landrover Disc. Went just where i wanted it to go. Until i used the brakes. At that point it might as well have been the LS. Even with 4 wheel drive, my bum was going 5p 10p all the way there and back. The problem is the tyres. Im on ordinary summer road tyres. If id been on mudpluggers or winter tyres there would be no probs. Irony is, i have 2 sets of quality winter tyres for the Disco. Theyre in the garage!

Tahnks for all that guys. This is what a forums is all about. Bus39, mines a MKll so no bolts at the top as it turns out. Once you know where to start with these jobs, it gets much easiler. Seats out, new spring compressors out of box. Oh dear.... these compressors are quite lumpy. too much metal on them to get them up to the top of the springs were they broke so compressed them as much as pos and had to use an angle grinder to cut the top bit of the spring off. Getting the unit, with new spring, back on was an arse as well. Doing the second one today. Lucky me. Thanks again for your help guys.

Changing the rear suspension springs this weekend. This is, if i can get the rear seats out. Ive worked out that the rear suspension units must bolt up through the body shell under the rear parcel shelf. But how do you get the rear seat backs out. ?????? Cant find any bolts or clips and dont want to break anything through brute force.

Changing the rear suspension springs this weekend. This is, if i can get the rear seats out. Ive worked out that the rear suspension units must bolt up through the body shell under the rear parcel shelf. But how do you get the rear seat backs out. ?????? Cant find any bolts or clips and dont want to break anything through brute force.

It must be 1984 when i last tried to seperate a ball joint without a splitter. I was young and skint in those days. I seem to remember that i was bashing away at it for ages. Id buy a splitter. Mine will have been a cheap one. Its just like a chissel with a split in it. You shove it in the ball joint and bash the other end with a hammer. by driving the chissel into the joint it splits it open. It also cuts through the rubber boot/cover. Okay if your splitting it to replacing the joint but if splitting a joint to get access to something you`ll find that the boot is split and teh weather will get in and wreck it. For this reason, if i was buying for the first time, id pay a bit extra and get the puller type. I stand to be corrected but im sure you can reuse the ball joint if needs be cause they dont split the rubber boot open. You only buy one once mate. mines still good as new.

Sorry to hijack. Didnt read the thread above. Interesting though,. Did you get your done at Adlington? 210 miles round town for £30 works out at 34mpg. 300-350 for £30 works out at about 53mpg. Good stuff mate.

I haven’t been able to get it done yet. Some a**e drove into the back of me in Sept and the insurance repairers made a mess of the repair. I was in a catch 22. Cannot get it converted because there is a chance that the insurance company might write the car off as uneconomic to repair a second time. When its repaired again and everything is finished I wont hesitate to convert it. Ive worked out that if LPG does 15% less MPG than petrol, ill get my money back in 9 months or so. I do about 20k a year. Ill be going for the tank in the wheel well.

Nath then mi old son.. i bought an upper wish bone from the same company earlier this year. Mines a Mkll and it was £69.99. Looked just like the original and went straight on no problems. The service was second to non as well. Arrived the next day. I need another for the other side now and wont hesitate to order from A2Z in the new year. Good look mate. Hope that helps.

As promised, pickies of the pads. they are in pairs so each friction pad is opposite its back plate.

The clunk under breaking is the top locking nut not fully tight. If you wiggle the steering wheel left and right while on the floor get someone to watch the nut turning and stopping. This nut should not move at all on the ball joint. There is a little play and gives this clunk while turning under breaking normally. The nut will not come loose and fall off but just comes a knats manhood loose. There is a saftey clip also keeping it on. If you've change the upper arms with the ones from ebay USA seem to give this little problem. As for pads the blue prints squeak a bit if you get a bad set. There's plenty of geniune factory ones from sellers on ebay. If aftermarket there's only one brake pad maker which is 99% spot on and that's ferodo. Used many times on the track and never let me down. Great pad in a Brembo caliper with DBA discs. Thanks for that mate. Ended up buying Mintex. Fitted the rear but the front turned out to be ok so ill keep them in the cupboard for next time. Upper wisebone on OS is a little wobbly. One of teh next jobs. But while doing the pads, found i have 2 broken rear springs so thats main priority now.

quote name='steve2006' date='Dec 14 2009, 07:49 PM' post='701552'] It may be worth, while you have the rear brakes apart, to remove the discs and check the parking brake shoes also. Like to see the old pads any chance of a picture? How do i get pickies on the posting. I have a camera phone and i can get them on the PC. Will put them up if you can tell me how. Just had a thought. Lets see if this works. Should be my 2nd favourite thing (after the Lexus)

Why indeed did the MOT in Aug 09 not pick this up? I also found out i have both rear springs broken at the top. That wasnt spotted either and the car doesnt sit or ride any different to last year. I agree though, that it is my responsability to insure the vehicles is fit for the road. Im not trying to pass the buck. Just warn others with similar cars, not to rely on the warning light as i did. Check then now. The car is now grounded until the springs are fixed. My decission.

Thanks for taking the time to look at the posting. E910. Ive never seen rust like this on a pads before either. Hence the warning. I dont think that its down to salt or salty road. Or abuse and siezed piston. The car is rust free and looking from underneath you wouldnt think it was 5 years old never mind 16. The pistons were fine and pushed back into the caliper very easily. BTW i have lived 50 yards from the sea for the last 15 years and its not uncommon for us to have to drive through deep fresh/salt water in teh winter. But never had pads like this before. Steve. The car passed its MOT in Aug 09 @ 168k miles. The Service book has 15 Lexus stamps up to 103k in Jan 1997. From then on it has hand written services. No stamp, just a squiggle. The dates and mileage of these "services" dont match the MOTs. If the MOTs are correct, and they will be, these services didnt take place. I did the oil and filters last year and its due for the full works over christmas. (i should have checked the pads last year) My assuption was that the warning light would tell me when the pads were Knackered. But a warning light cannot detect rust in the pads back plates. Thats my point. I bought an old car that hadnt done enough miles in the last 10 years to wear out the pads, so they got so old they rusted apart. If you think about it, its a common story for old luxury cars. A nice old boy buys his dream in retirement and dosent use it. Result; things go way passed their sell by date before they wear out.

Forgive me if this is obvious but i wouldnt forgive myself if someone had an accident and i hadnt passed this experience on. Bought my Lexus 14 months ago. Old MOTs show how little use it has had in recent years. some years it has done less than a few hundred miles. MOT Feb 2003 148,325 miles. MOT July 2004 148,366 miles MOT Sept 2005 149,750 miles MOT Sept 2006 151,000 miles MOT Jan 2008 151,255 miles MOT Aug 2008 153,886 miles. this is when i bought it and demanded a 12 months MOT from non franchised dealer. Its since done 19k miles. Why is this of interest to anyone but me?? Today i replaced the rear brake pads. This is what i found when i removed the old pads. On all 4 pads, the friction material had parted company with the steel back plate. On one of them, the friction material had broken in 2 and 1 half had migrated and jammed between caliper and disk. The reason for all the friction material coming loose was obvious. The pads were VERY old. The metal back plates had rusted so badly that the rust had prised the components apart. Im not talking about a bit of surfice rust here. We are talking deep, corrosive shailing rust that you only see on VERY old metal. Ive changed many pads since my first car in 1983 but ive never seen brake pads like this. These pads must have been on the car for well over 10 years. If the car had been driven more over the last few years they would have worn out and been replaced years ago. Well before they could have rusted apart. My warning to everyone with a car that hasnt been used a lot over the years is to change your brake pads frequently. Not just when they wear thin. After all, they are the only thing that stops you hitting the car in front at ???mph. Again, forgive me if this is a bit of a bore.