ModMan

My 2001 LS430 is still going great, however I have a question about the radio reception.

I'm under the impression that RDS makes it 'follow' the signal. However when at home I struggle to get any radio reception (My other car gets signal fine) and down the M1 on my daily trip It keeps losing the signal. First time I've had this problem in any car/radio.

So, what is the problem likely to be, the little stubby aerial on the roof, or a problem with the radio itself? I don't fancy ripping it out to check the plug.

Cheers,

The problem with the parking sensors has been discussed on the german LOC.

Apparently it's caused by some corrosion on the surface of the sensors (as they're made of aluminium instead of plastic, they may corrode if they get a small knock or a stone chip).

You can repair it by gently scraping off the paint on the central part of the sensors, cleaning it with pre-paint and then re-painting it with a touch-up brush. Just make sure you don't paint over the rubber (?) ring on the outside of the sensor. That should make them work again an will only cost you a few minutes and a little bit of paint.

I hope this is of help. :)

Cheers

JS

Hmmm, I do hope this does help. It's the middle two on the rear that don't work. Any suggestions on the best way to 'scrape' off the paint and what to use so as not to damage them further?

I haven't actually. I can get my hand around inside the front bumper and can feel the sensor but can't see to remove it. I'll have another go this weekend, if I can remove it then I'll see if it's got any part numbers on it to source some spares.

Is there a guide anywhere on how to remove them does anyone know?

Just to add - Mine need doing I think as the boot is quite heavy to lift open and although it stays open, I don't trust it as it doesn't take much to close it. Will be sending my struts off to SGS to see if they can regas them. Just to keep the prices current, here's the email I received from them earlier (Follwed up by a phonecall too, they seem like nice chaps which I appreciate)

Dear Daniel,

Thank you for your enquiry. New struts are available at a cost of £77.05 for the pair delivered (£30.75 per strut plus £5.50 postage and VAT), are covered by a two year guarantee and are available on next day delivery.

Some struts can be re-gassed depending on their condition so a visual inspection by us must be made in order to assess your struts, which is free of charge. If you try a re-gas and it fails within the warranty period we will discount the cost of the re-gas from new gas struts purchased from SGS Engineering. A re-gas is £35.08 delivered for the pair (£12.50 per strut plus £5.50 postage and VAT) and struts are usually turned around within three working days. Payment can be made via credit/debit card and you will be contacted for payment once your struts have been tested. If you require a re-gas please send your struts to:

SGS Engineering (UK) Limited

Unit A6

Cranmer Road

West Meadows Industrial Estate

Derby

DE21 6JL

If you have any questions or would like to place an order, please don’t hesitate to call.

Kind Regards

Andy Wyatt.

Well, the CK-7W was driving my callers nuts with the echo when paired to my Blackberry. Pair it to the Nokia 6310i and it was absolutely perfect, so something was amiss, even after playing with the Blackberry's "Echo" settings I still could not get it to be acceptable. Pity really as it is a lovely kit.

Onwards and upwards ... I bought a CK-15 and installed it today and the echo problem is gone, so I am chuffed. The nice thing about the Nokia's is that they all appear to use similar plugs, so i didn't have to touch the mic and speaker. Even the power cable was the same as the CK-7W so I re-used them.

Not too keen on the external screen as I hate clutter, but I mounted it on the dash to the right of the instrument cluster - right on the doot shut line.

For £45 you can't complain, off to put the CK-7W back on eBay now I guess.

Here's a pic of the kit. It's been superceeded by the CK-600 I think, but I couldn't see too many advantages as the 600 needs to be wired into the car radio for the speakers too, it can do music streaming which is nice, but too much hassle to install.

Well, thanks to you lot I managed to get the old car kit upgraded to the Bluetooth one you recommended.

The existing power plug to the HFU-2 brain looked like this:

The new brain had a different plug, I could not get the pins out of the old plug and I didn't want to cut the plug off, just in case for whatever reason I went back to the old brain, I used sone inline connector type boxes which just crimp onto an existing cable and you can then join a new cable in. It looks a bit messy here, but once it was all done it was wrapped up in electrical tape and it tucked nicely out of the way.

Then put everything back together and decided to put the button here. That way the buttons' cable is not wedged between the panels, it comes out of the gap by the cup holder. The cup holder opens and closes fine still and doesn't interfere with the button.

I didn't remove the old cradle and the plug wouldn't fit in the new brain so the Nokia Cradle won't do anything. My kit did come with a new data cable, but I don't know what model Nokia it is for, so i didn't bother installing it. My main phone is a Blackberry and I also have a Nokia 6310 I have to carry too. I haven't tested the Nokia yet, but the Blackberry is fine, although the other party says there is a bit of an echo. I will try with the Nokia and see if it's kit or handset related. The new kit also came with a new mic, I wonder if it's any better than the old one in the car, but the mic appears to be in the overhead bit where the sunglass holder is and I don't fancy stripping all that out!

Overall though I am very happy and grateful to the help here - Thanks!

Oh a pic of the cable if anyone knows what phone it will fit?

Nice one, thanks for that. I have ordered a kit and shall wait for it to be delivered. The only slightly worrying thing is that I have done a search on google for it with my Blackberry Curve and there are reports of very bad echos. But we'll wait and see.

On the exiting box I assume the "Phone" jack goes to the cradle. There is nothing in teh Data/Handset jack, whats that for then?

Oh as for the cable routing to the handset, well, the rear vent just pops out with a bit of cowling on it. The cowling mates to the rest of the aircon. He cut a small hole in that bit and fed the cable up. It works quite well actually, the rest of the cable goes just down the side of the inside of the centre console.

Steve,

That did it, excellent. It just took a little more force that I was initially giving.

Some pics ...

CK7W kit is being bidded on now on eBay, I know I'll only need the brain and the button, but I don't think that there is much in the price buying seperately as I mentioned. Wish me luck. I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks so much!

Daniel

Thanks for the car mat link Sparky, I'll go through them shortly :)

Steve - I decided to give it another go but gave up after 10 mins as I fear I am going to break something while removing the wooden panel with the heater controls. I'm just bending the knives, am I being a numpty?

and i just went to see if it had anything to do with the car kit volume - nope.

Isnt the rotary knob the dash illumination dimmer??

Turn ign on, turn lights on and check it then!

The box in no.2 is probably some sort of controller for the video functions (via the center console conrtols), if its not remote like at home it must be activated somehow, or possibly its the amp and the video's audio goes to it

It's not the dash lights. That switch is up right beneath the dials. This one is actually almost hidden, you can't see it from sitting in the seat.

Steve,

Thanks for the detailed information. Today I got as far as removing half the centre console and that was it. I can see the cable from the existing kits runs towards the front of the car, but after putting a tiny mark on some of the wood trim I decided to give up and shall leave it to the experts. Any suggestions of a good car kit fitter in or around Lutterworth (M1 J20) or Milton Keynes?

2 random pics ...

The first 2 pics show the VCR in the boot, (removed, hence the hole behind it) cool huh :) But the 2nd pic shows a box that I saw in the hole behind the VCR, I am just curious is all as to what it is. The one cable just clips out like a ipod charger clips into an iPod if you know what I mean, the other cable is power

The final pic is a rotary knob beneath the boot and fuel openers. Any idea what this is for, no mention of it in the manual.

Sorry for the confusion Steve - It has a full car kit i.e when I make or receive a call it mutes the radio and I can just talk, there must be a mic somewhere. However I will crash trying to open the centre consul, and pushing the green phone or trying to dial a number.

The steering wheel has volume for radio, channels etc and cruise control and OBC but no phone stuff.

So it looks like I can just hunt for the "brain" and if all the connections fit, then replace it with the new one and find somewhere to put the button and dial thingi that comes on the new kit?

Thanks for the replies. Very useful.

Chris, you were right, I have to be stopped for the buttons to work. Annoying but anyhow ...

I checked with a chap selling parking sensors on eBay and he says they're not compatible. I will remove one and see what it looks like at the back and go and hunt around. Fingers crossed. Is it easy to get behind the rear bumper to pop one out

I'll also see how the VCR is removed, perhaps this weekend, and then look to put something else in.

As for the car kit. Is the CK7W a complete new kit, would i need to rip out the old one, including the stereo to get behind it, or does it just add Bluetooth to the current kit?

Thanks for that link Steve - I'm just waiting for it to load now :)

Well I'm still in love with the car after having it since Wednesday and now I am planning on fixing the little things that are wrong with it.

Rear Parking sensors

- When I put it into reverse the park assist tells me to check the rear sensors. The one rear corner works, but the rest don't. Coming from a little hatchback I am struggling to park it so want to fix this. Apparently new sensors are circa £200 each so that's a showstopper immediately. However are these sensors shared between any other Lexus (toyota?) models does anyone know as I may then be able to go to a breakers and have a look. Surely these can't be that bespoke?

SatNav

- All the options are unavailable to input an address, although tracking works fine. Faulty/dirty DVD it may be, can anyone confirm?

Car Kit

- It had a cradle for a Nokia 6310 in the glovebox. The previous owner kindly supplied me the 6310 handset and explained that I have to dial/answer calls via the handset. Is there any other way? To answer a call I have to open the armrest, look down at it, and push the green key on the phone. To make a call I have to either faff around dialing the number with the phone in the cradle, or dial the number, push the green button, and then quickly put the handset in the cradle. A pain really as you can imagine (and not too safe as I spend ages looking down).

TV etc

- The car has a monitor in one headrest which is hooked up to a VCR (Yes, a VCR!) in the boot. It is so neatly installed in the boot that it looks factory fit! Is this possible? I would like to take out the VCR and put in a DVD player and/or a TV/freeview box. Does anyone have any experience of these? I keep seeing soarer.tv and although he gets rave reviews here the 2 problems I have are 1) He's on the south coast and 2) he's quite expensive (Not knocking him at all,I just can't justify it is all)

mats

- The floormats have seen better days. Any suggestions where to buy new ones. I'm scared of asking a dealer and eBay shows anything from £18.00 a set to £65.00 a set so recommendations would be nice.

Cheers chaps.

Oh, and today I turned off the radio all day as I so enjoy the silence, it's just amazing to 'waft' along.

Well I got it home last night and played with all the buttons on it etc. I noticed the electric steering wheel tilt wasn't working, (but the telescopic in/out was) so a quick read on here and that's sorted now :)

Also, the satnav seems to be the most un-intuitive ever (I have a tomtom that I'm used to) so i shall be looking at learning that and possibly purchasing the new disc recommended by the map update site although at €150 it seems robbery and I could buy another tomtom for that price.

I'm away this weekend (Not in the Lexus unfortunately) but I work from home on Fridays so I am hoping to give it a good scrub up. Any tips on what shampoo is best for the interior carpets/mats as although it's been kept clean I just want to make it as close to immaculate as possible? Then after payday I might get the wheels refurbed. They're a disgrace (Normal from what i have read) and let the car down. The only other issue are rear parking sensors that are broken but individual sensors seem to be around £100-£200 which is a little rich for me too so I'll be seeing what i can do for a fix.

Really enjoyed the 40 mile drive to work this morning, it's so relaxing even with all the idiots and rush hour.

Well, thanks to Jem off here I am the owner of her old LS430.

I can't praise her enough for the effort she went through with all my questions what an absolute lovely person. Thank you so much Jem.

Can't wait to go home tonight in it, CD stack loaded up, seat adjusted and all waiting for me. I'm sure I'll have some questions in due course. Right now though I am over the moon. If anyone sees a 51reg 430 with a stupid grinning fool at the wheel, that'll be me :)

Cheers for that. WIll look into it.

Sparky - I see you have LPG on your 430 - How do you find it?

Well after only looking at 3 cars (One of which belongs to a chap in the same officepark as us) I have decided on one and all going well I should have it the week after next. Can't wait really and I'm sure I'll have lots of questions when it arrives, but I'll be sure to use the search function as kindly suggested here ;)

The tips here have come in really useful and I appreciate it.

Also, how many people here have used http://soarer.tv/ (www.driveandview.com) for TV and iPod kits. I'm quite keen but I've read the iPod kits are circa £250 which is a little out of my budget, if this is right does anyone have any other suggestions or reccomendations.

Cheers chaps.

For £5k I'm hoping to get one with around 100k on the clock and that seems reasonable as there are a couple on PH/AutoTrader and eBay ... not all with FSH though which is scaring me away. Jem, why aren't you closer to me! :)

Thanks for the speedy replies and advice. A quick insurance check and I'm quite happy. Now to start looking at them. Oh, I do prefer darker colour over plain silver, nothing wrong with black as I could black out the windows too, get some spinners and pimp drugs and women from it :)

Well, after a couple of years driving around in an old hatchback after losing my company car I've started considering a LS430 (2001 +-100,000miles) model as my budget is max up to £5k.

It'll mainly be used to take me up and down the M1 every day (80 mile round trip) to work and back. But never having driven (or even been in an LS, only an IS) I have a few questions if that's ok?

- Is the only optional extra the "Premium Pack" or are there more on top of this? I love my music so the Mark Levinson stereo would be required (Is this part of the premium pack)

- What's it like to park and drive around town, I've been driving my Polo and Merc C Class Coupe for the past 6 years so never anything this big.

- What fuel economy (Yes yes, i know it's a V8 :) ) can I expect to get sitting at 70mph on the motorway (Probably more like 50mph with the morning rush hour!)

- Are there any scary things I should look for when buying one, I've read all the reviews I can get my hands on and they all say that they're bullet proof, it's possibly just fuel and servicing costs

- Speaking of servicing costs - I live in the East Midlands (Near Rugby) are there any decent independant specialists around here?

- How do you find insurance costs, I think it's group 19, I live in a decent area and have 5 years NCB and no points (34 years old) (I'll be going on confused.com shortly)

Sorry for coming on and having nothing but questions. I've seen Jem's in the classifieds here and a few on eBay and Pistonheads but any more pointers to good ones would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Daniel