John N

Before you spend a lot of money on coils, start with the cheaper things. Unless you have personnaly changed the spark plugs start with them, don't believe any service history. For what it costs change all 8 plugs and use the Denso Iridium ones from you local Lexus spares department. Is it misfiring on both LPG and Petrol under the same conditions? If it is, you are right to look at the ignition system, but if it only does it on one fuel check that system. Best of luck. John N

Try measuring the resistance of all the coils, and see if one or two of them are much higher or lower than the rest. It worked for me to identify the faulty HT suppressors on an old Merc. John N

One point I have been told of is that the LS460 cannot be converted to LPG because the engine uses direct petrol injection. But I your not planning to have an LPG conversion, no problem. John N

I can't believe the range of LPG prices at the moment. I'm currently paying 57p (cash) at my local supplier. (Up from 55p five weeks ago.) But I've just returned from a holiday trip to Cornwall and I've had to pay up to 79.9p at some locations. It all appears to depend on how much competition there is in a given area or how greedy the suppliers are when they can get away with it. The highest prices I've found were on the M61 near Bolton and near Helston in Cornwall. John N

If the diff was not working correctly and allowing the rear wheels to turn at the different speeds they need to go round bends you you could still see a similar amount of wear on each tyre. As long as you go round a similar number fo left and right hand bends. You can check the diff feels ok by chocking the front wheels, releasing the parking brake, and using a trolly jack on the diff to raise the back of the car. Then with the gear lever in 'park' turn one of the back wheels by hand. It should turn smoothly and because the drive shaft is locked the opposite wheel should turn smoothly in the opposite direction. John N

Just fitted a new set of tyres 3 months ago, they are Nokian Z G2, up to now they have been quite quiet on all sorts of road surfaces. They are also very predictable in the wet and dry and don't appear to have any vices, but I can't comment on their life yet. Up to now I would certainly recommend them. See link: - http://www.mytyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?s_p=Nokian-Z-G2-225_55-ZR17-101W-XL&details=Ordern&typ=D-104567&cart_id=87724813.110.29209&ranzahl=4&Breite=225&Herst=Nokian&Quer=55&Felge=17&Speed=W&weiter=0&kategorie=6&Ang_pro_Seite=20&Transport=P&dsco=110&sowigan=So&m_s=3&x_tyre_for=PKW&rsmFahrzeugart=PKW They won't be available for long as they have been superseeded by the Nokian zLine - http://www.mytyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?s_p=Nokian-zLine-225_55-ZR17-101Y-XL&details=Ordern&typ=R-241206&cart_id=87724813.110.29209&ranzahl=4&Breite=225&Herst=Nokian&Quer=55&Felge=17&Speed=W&weiter=0&kategorie=6&Ang_pro_Seite=20&Transport=P&dsco=110&sowigan=So&m_s=3&x_tyre_for=PKW&rsmFahrzeugart=PKW When I bought them in November they were at a good discount because they are a Summer Tyre and were supplied from Germany where they have to use Winter Tyres at that time of year. Read the user reviews and see what you think. John N.

This is the site I use to check the best LPG prices http://www.filllpg.co.uk/ but it does depend on the feedback from users and so it isn't always up to date. It's also usefull to run the app on your mobile, it shows you the stations near you on a map, and I've had no problems with spam. The predictions for future prices is that they will continue to fall. The increasing shale gas production in the USA is already reducing world demand for LPG and driving down the price. John N

This thread has prompted me to check the economics of my conversion today. Most of my driving is in town traffic, on petrol I get 20 mpg and on LPG I get 16 mpg. (Down 20% which is about right.) Equivalent to 4.396 miles/litre on petrol and 3.516 miles/litre on LPG, and my local fuel prices are 130.9 p for petrol and 60 p for LPG. That means my fuel costs are 29.8 p per mile on petrol or 17.6 p per mile 0n LPG, making it 42% cheaper to use LPG. I always thought the 50% savings claims were exagerated, but a 42% saving on todays petrol prices still makes a conversion worth while. On the question of valve seat regression I had an incident with my previous LPG converted car, an S Class Merc. It had a slight judder on a light throttle which I thought may be due to the LPG conversion. The local LPG "expert" insisted I had the engine electronics checked independently at great expence. The report from the electronics "expert" was that the electronics were ok but the engine had terminal valve seat regression. A free compression test at the local engine rebuild specialist showed there was nothing wrong with the valves and the engine was ok! In the end the problem was a worn flexible coupling on the drive shaft. But you have to ask how often valve seat regression is mis-diagnosed when a garage can't find the real fault? John N

Repaired a linkage rod in my old Mercs door lock mechanism with an electrical connector and aroldite once. It worked better than the original linkage rod. (It didn't brake.) John N

Not true. Winter tyres are designed to perform better than Summer tyres when the temperiture is below 8deg, but there is no sudden change in performance. They don't 'fall of a cliff' as the temperiture rises, the same as Summer tyres don't suddenly go off as the temp falls. You just go by the average temp at the time. Last year I put mine on at the end of November and kept tham on till mid April. The real advantage is the extra grip you get in ice, snow and slush, When it's like that they transform the car from a liability to a safe means of transport. John N The only people who think its not true are those who have made money promoting the sale of a second set of tyres and those who believed them. No one really needs except for 4 or 5 weeks maximum a year. If you used them between November and April you were on a less effective tyre most of the time. I didn't drive my car in ice snow or slush more than 3 times in the whole of last year and it was the worst year we have had for a long time. You get nothing for nothing and winter tyres are less efficient most of the time and les effective too. Again I have to say I don't believe that is true. From experiance I definatly believe winter tyres perform better than summer tyres below 8 deg, and if you check the average temperitures for those months you will see they were the right tyre for the majority of the time. In any case WINTER TYRES COST NOTHING EXTRA AND TYRE DEALERS MAKE NOTHING EXTRA OUT OF SELLING THEM. How can that be true? Well the simple fact is that a car can only wear out one set of tyres at a time. Take the example of a car covering 40,000 miles a year and using tyres that last for 40,000 miles. You would have to buy one set of tyres a year. Compare that to a car covering the same distance using summer and winter tyres. For 9 months of the year it will use summer tyres and cover 30,000 miles i.e. 3/4 of the life of the tyres. For 3 months (Dec, Jan. & Feb.) it will run on winter tyres and cover 10,000 miles using 1/4 of the life of the winter tyres. Over 4 years it will use 1 set of winter tyres and 3 sets of summer tyres. That is one set of tyres a year that will need to be bought - the same as the car using summer tyres all the time. What does cost extra is the garage charges for changing the tyres twice a year if you only have one set of wheels. That is why people buy a cheap set of wheels to put their winter tyres on, once you have bought the wheels you can change them yourself in an hour and it will cost you no more in the long run. Tyre dealers selling winter tyres don't sell more tyres they just need to carry a larger range of stock to satisfy the demands of customers who appreciate the safety advantages they give. Deciding if you need winter tyres is another matter, if I lived in Cornwall I wouldn't bother, but in Scotland many people consider them a necessity. John N Yes John your right on an individual basis if the owner is going to keep the car through two full sets of tyres and use them equally in winter and summer it matters little apart from the fact that normal tyres have been developed very effectively over the years to be very efficient in all sorts of road surfaces and conditions. Winter tyres are not even a definition of anything resembling a credible style of tyre for any condition of road surface or weather. Winter is different all over the country and you righty say in Scotland, a winter tyre with more focus on ice or cold temperatures may well be appropriate at 'more' times of the year. This leaves us with the image of people getting to the border and jacking the car up to change tyres its completely stupid. You may well use bold type and large letters but that just makes you look even more silly. Fact is in the UK weather changes weekly and changing tyres every 6 months is not wise. However on the west coast of Scotland palm trees bloom and the weather is even mild when the centre of Scotland has snow drifts so even stopping at the border and changing tyres from your trailer attached (presumably) to the back of a 430SC !!! isn't going to be practical. Get real. You will be on the wrong tyre for the conditions a lot more often than I will.. So I will be considerably safer that thou. Your a victim of the tyre manufacturers aim to sell tyres to those who cant consider more than one variable at a time. Think we are going to have to agree to differ on this one! John N

Not true. Winter tyres are designed to perform better than Summer tyres when the temperiture is below 8deg, but there is no sudden change in performance. They don't 'fall of a cliff' as the temperiture rises, the same as Summer tyres don't suddenly go off as the temp falls. You just go by the average temp at the time. Last year I put mine on at the end of November and kept tham on till mid April. The real advantage is the extra grip you get in ice, snow and slush, When it's like that they transform the car from a liability to a safe means of transport. John N The only people who think its not true are those who have made money promoting the sale of a second set of tyres and those who believed them. No one really needs except for 4 or 5 weeks maximum a year. If you used them between November and April you were on a less effective tyre most of the time. I didn't drive my car in ice snow or slush more than 3 times in the whole of last year and it was the worst year we have had for a long time. You get nothing for nothing and winter tyres are less efficient most of the time and les effective too. Again I have to say I don't believe that is true. From experiance I definatly believe winter tyres perform better than summer tyres below 8 deg, and if you check the average temperitures for those months you will see they were the right tyre for the majority of the time. In any case WINTER TYRES COST NOTHING EXTRA AND TYRE DEALERS MAKE NOTHING EXTRA OUT OF SELLING THEM. How can that be true? Well the simple fact is that a car can only wear out one set of tyres at a time. Take the example of a car covering 40,000 miles a year and using tyres that last for 40,000 miles. You would have to buy one set of tyres a year. Compare that to a car covering the same distance using summer and winter tyres. For 9 months of the year it will use summer tyres and cover 30,000 miles i.e. 3/4 of the life of the tyres. For 3 months (Dec, Jan. & Feb.) it will run on winter tyres and cover 10,000 miles using 1/4 of the life of the winter tyres. Over 4 years it will use 1 set of winter tyres and 3 sets of summer tyres. That is one set of tyres a year that will need to be bought - the same as the car using summer tyres all the time. What does cost extra is the garage charges for changing the tyres twice a year if you only have one set of wheels. That is why people buy a cheap set of wheels to put their winter tyres on, once you have bought the wheels you can change them yourself in an hour and it will cost you no more in the long run. Tyre dealers selling winter tyres don't sell more tyres they just need to carry a larger range of stock to satisfy the demands of customers who appreciate the safety advantages they give. Deciding if you need winter tyres is another matter, if I lived in Cornwall I wouldn't bother, but in Scotland many people consider them a necessity. John N

When I needed one a couple of years ago the local Lexus main dealers spares department turned out to be cheapest! You can be sure of getting the right size as well, just ask for a discount! John N

Not true. Winter tyres are designed to perform better than Summer tyres when the temperiture is below 8deg, but there is no sudden change in performance. They don't 'fall of a cliff' as the temperiture rises, the same as Summer tyres don't suddenly go off as the temp falls. You just go by the average temp at the time. Last year I put mine on at the end of November and kept tham on till mid April. The real advantage is the extra grip you get in ice, snow and slush, When it's like that they transform the car from a liability to a safe means of transport. John N

They are not for sale, it's the set I use for my winter tyres. I'm using my 'summer' wheels and tyres at the moment, so they would be available for someone to borrow for a couple of days while theirs were refurbished. Picked them up on E-bay fully refurbished and fitted with part used tyres, paid less than the tyres were worth. John N

I've got a set of four 17" Lexus wheels for an early LS430 sitting in my shed in Manchester, they are fitted with 225/55/17 winter tyres. Would they have fitted an SC430 ? John N

Try E-Bay and search for 'Breaking GS300' it just came up with 167 results, mainly scrap yards. Start with the ones closest to you. John N

When I was reading up on the reliability of the LS430 before I bought mine 3 years ago I remember one magazine writer saying the first and last years of the production run were the most reliable. Mine is an early 2001 car, with air suspension, and I have covered 56,000 miles in 3 years, with only one fault. (A small solenoid on the inlet manifold.) I also remember talking to an LS430 owner who had bought one of he first cars from new and covered over 100,000 miles in 4 years. Asked him if he had had any faults? No, was the answer! The S Class Merc I had before it had over 15 faults in 2 years before I traded it in for the LS. Best move I've made in years. John N

The control button for the ventilation air flow circulation is the second one up on the right of the center screen. It has 3 green indicator lights on it: - The left light indicates the air flow is recirculating. The center light indicates the system is in auto, the flow will change automatically and one of the other lights will be lit. The right light indicates the system is drawing fresh air from outside. Pushing the button cycles the system through the 3 available settings: - 1 Center light on - the flow will change automatically and one of the other lights will be lit. 2 Right light on - system set to fresh air intake at all times. 3 Left light on - system set to recirculate the air at all times. When I first got my LS430 I ran the system set to fresh air at all times and I found the 'change pollen filter' warning coming up quite often. I now run it in 'Auto' all the time the system does not switch to recirculate unless it is trying to do something like cool the cabin air quickly on a hot day, or to dehumidify the air on a damp morning. John N

Mine also sits on the 2nd mark, rock steady all the time. John N

Forgot to mention I threw my Flash lube away as everything I've read says the LS doesn't need one, I've never had one before, and covered over 100K on LPG. John N

My LS430 is the third car I've had converted to LPG. I was getting 20 mpg on petrol, mostly in town traffic. on LPG it has dropped to 16 mpg which is a 20% reduction, about the same as I expected, and the same as a lot of people report. My previous car was a Merc S320 (the most unreliable car I've ever had) and I fitted it with Denso Iridium spark plugs which did improve the LPG running slightly. They have a fine tip which makes it easier for the spark to form under difficult conditions. But the Denso Iridium plugs are a standard fit on the LS430 and I don't think there would be anything to gain from changing them as the car runs fine. John N

Towbar Installation LS430.pdf I;ve tried to attach the installation instructions for the tow bar. They should be printed out 'double sided' on A3 paper then folded into an A4 document. It's all nuts and bolts, just do everything in reverse order, and be carefull it's heavy. John N

You may be right Mike, my car was one of the very first ones (not even fitted with parking sensors), you can always try it without a cooler and see how it performs. Two fast miles up hill, stop and check it and you will be able to tell if you need a cooler. It also has a warning in the handbook about towing too fast up hill ! John N

?? http://www.lexusowne...showtopic=73528 Apologies Mike and well spotted Sam It's an age and memory loss problem, and also being in too much of a rush to go back and check my facts. I've just dug out the receipt and the cost was £126 for the transmission cooler. Just shows you shouldn't look back through rose colored glasses. John N

Mike From my experiance on my first towing trip without an transmission cooler I would fit one any way. That trip took me on a fast two mile climb up into the pennines, I stopped to check the car at the top and, when I stepped outside, the smell of overheating transmission fluid was overpowering. The total cost of the parts from Kenlowe was less than £40 and it took less than 3 hours to fit it myself. For that price it wasn't worth taking the chance of not fitting one. John N