shanra

Hi Mark thanks for your reply. The boot seal is a known problem with the LS 400 and it was leaking into the tyre well , that is now fixed but as I mentioned earlier I am going to redo the seam that you have talked about. I am going to try Captain Tolley’s Creeping Crack Cure and I shall dry out the area first.

Well the left hand join is still leaking or something very close to it. I shall take off the silicone and try and seal it again! It appears to be coming from this area and then running forward/down the underside of the water channel.

The 3M weatherstrip adhesive seems to be holding quite strongly and it rained last night. I did find a slight leak on the left boot drain channel at the top just under the plastic cover just above the brake lights, there is a join that looked ok but each time I ran my finger over it a tiny amount of water would come out and although the join had some sort of mastic in it,it was obviously leaking. I cleaned it with acetone and spread some silicone sealer on it.

Thanks Paul. I saw they had a boot seal at a very good price and then they sent me an email this morning saying not in stock!

Has anyone used this company?

The feedback was quite poor and a fairly high percentage. I have fitted the seal this morning and have shut the boot on it hoping for better adhesion. 3M black weatherstrip and gasket adhesive was used and the problem with it was it goes off so quickly and needs to be used on both surfaces so I did about a third of the seal at a time but even then it felt like it was going off too quickly, it's for rubber and steel etc but of course the panel is painted so I wonder how well it adheres to that! I felt another person spreading the adhesive on one surface whilst I did the other would have really helped. Time will tell how well it has worked but I shall let it cure for a fair time before testing it.

Bit of a dodgy looking seller though!

No you can't get hold of one anymore!

Having replaced my boot seal (sealsdirect ETS-59) 3 years ago I now have a leak again, only worse than before, so having looked at the dimensions of the aforementioned seal I realise it is meant for a 1.5mm to 3mm panel and the panel on the LS400 is 1mm, and as far as I know water doesn't discriminate on gap size and will just slide on by if it can. So this time I am going to use 3M weatherstrip and gasket adhesive as I believe the seal needs some help in keeping out the watery invaders. I shall of course prep and clean the panel before replacing the seal and treat any rust appropriately. One more thing the seal is meant for a 12mm high panel and the panel is actually 11mm in some places probably allowing the water more access to the boot and all the more reason to use the 3M weatherstrip. I shall report back when all is done and hope the liquid skyfall bothers me no more! Just waiting on the delivery of the new seal.

I had replaced my steering pump and reservoir with a refurbished one from the USA nearly two years ago and at my last MOT a slight leak was noticed. I had a new o ring to seal the reservoir to pump joint so I took my car to my local garage to do the job and lo and behold when I got home the leak was far worse than before, so back to the garage and they had too much work and no o ring, so I ordered another and did the job myself this morning. A few tips for doing this job, remove spark plug/distributor cover as that will give you easier access to the top bolt as that's the difficult one, use vaseline on the o ring when replacing it as this helps ease it in without hopefully damaging it (a tip from an ex mechanic) be very careful when lining up reservoir for the bolts you don't damage that delicate brand new o ring and do the bolts up gradually so as again to not damage the o ring. The rear bolt is quite fiddly to get on but patience is the key. The old o ring was torn almost in half by the mechanic at the garage not taking care when replacing the bolts and doing the bottom and side bolts up too tight before having to back them off to replace the top one. I shall not be using that garage again needless to say! One more thing I would recommend is to get your Pump refurbished in this country as then warranty claims will be a lot easier!

Malc it's done 26,000 miles and all is still good. I did have calipers refurbed at the same time.

Fitted original Lexus discs and pads all round about five years ago and they are perfect.

I had a bolt snap on my Soarer and LS400 when doing the same job. I think the metals almost weld together.

Every 27,000 miles I think is the service schedule. I used Redline synthetic last time and it's due again soon.

Worth doing the steering rack bushes also.

I had very similar problem and it was fixed by replacing the temperature control sensor.

Here's what I need in the picture, just 1.

I would go OEM although they may be expensive it's the only way to get the original ride and comfort. I have one polyurethane bush on the rear axle carrier from PSB and you can feel it is firmer. I bought their Rear axle kit with four bushes and the hub side fitted but the other end didn't. I had to send them a diagram and photo of the arm with the bushes that wouldn't fit before they believed me!

I would check the connections on both of your ignition coils as they would have come off for the starter replacement, also ignition leads as they would also have been disturbed. So many things it could be but really should take it back to the garage that did it.

Charge up battery, start car and test voltage coming into it first as it's very likely your Alternator is shot.

Don't know what code reader you have ordered but being a 1996 it hasn't got OBDII. You can access codes with a paper clip placed in correct pins of diagnostic port on engine. http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/intro/codereading.html ignore 1990- 1994 OBD1 as it's for USA cars, yours is OBD1 also.

Alternator went on mine about 400 yards from home recently, but when I began the journey all warning lights were lit.

I think he was replying to Plastic Orange.

Worth looking at the calipers and how well they are operating I had mine refurbished at the same time. I used Big Red but would not ever use them again as they sent both rear calipers back with holes in and they had to replace them, and within under a year a front caliper bleed nipple started leaking which again was sent back!