hydrostat

My new seal cost £34 for 6 mtrs but i'm pretty sure 5 mtrs (measure is first) would have done. So under £30 which is a lot cheaper than OE and I think better. It also looks very nearly as good on the car. The join is a potential issue but not hard to make with care and some contact adhesive. A steady hand is needed when making the cut (measure twice cut once). I have always put the join at the top at the highest point, not sure why. When the seal is removed and you run a hose on to the back window it drains away past the sides of the boot without problem. Hence my theory re the seal contibuting to the problem. with the after market seal there is an additional gutter effect and an extra lip of rubber on the top I've never had one leak again. Dave

Thought I'd bump this thread as it is a common problem. I have now had this on a mk I, Mk II, Mk III and my current car a 98 DHP mkIV The Boot smelled musty when I got it so i was expecting it really and yes the boot gained a puddle of water the other week. No problems with the lights or aerial seals so a new boot seal was essential bogging it with silicon has never worked for me and someone had already tried it on this car. I think the the design of the original equipment seal contributes to the problem as it has a lip that goes along the flat surface of the body work this butts up against the back window trim and gets bogged up with muck causing a dam and an overflow. But that said if you park nose down there is every possibility that the rain will get in anyway. The new (none genuine) seal as described above doesn't have the extra lip and has served me very well. If you are rust hunting on an LS400 then under the boot seal is a very likely place to find it, my car is low mileage and otherwise perfect (touch wood) but there was the start of rust along the seam under the boot seal. I cleaned it back etch primed it and touched up the paint so hopefully it will now be ok. Dave

Yes quite correct, I always take mine off as it looks neater anyway and saves the shins, takes about 4 mins with a 17mm spanner to remove the two holding bolts and then I guess it's not a functioning towbar for the MOT.

Hi AS already said you can get a tow bar for the ls400 but if it is after 1998 (R reg) it needs to be type approved to pass the MOT. So you are faced with looking for a second hand Lexus bar and they don't come up often. I fitted the Watling bar as supplied by Towequipe (strangely cheaper from them than direct from Watling) to my 1998 mk4 without too many problems on my own, but the fit is tight and I had to slightly elongate a couple of holes in the bar. Dave

A DHP equipped car has (as gleaned from elsewhere on this forum) Spring compression rate + 10% Height -10mm all round Rear anti roll bar + 1mm to aid turn in 17 inch wheels Tyres Pirelli P Zero 245/50x17 Making the ride firmer than a standard car. I think it makes the car look better it sits almost imperceptibly lower and the 17 inch wheels (none look at my brake disc type, which I hate) set it off nicely. There really is a noticeable compromise in comfort, I've owned several LS400's and on my present car (DHP equipped 58k miles) you know a bit more about the bumps and pot holes but not really too bad.

Oh no don't be, buyers guides are all about worst case scenarios, inevitably a few things will be wrong the point is it's best to be prepared and at least look informed when you look. The LS is without doubt the most reliable and comfortable car I've owned not for nothing have I just bought my 4th. But they are getting older, equivalent replacement is £80k + so spend £1500 or so and my what a bargain. If only all cars were such a solid product.

Do as much research as you can and look at as many cars as you can. I've owned 4 LS400's but for my recent purchase I looked at a lot of cars and traveled a lot of miles but considered it worthwhile as the car I now have is top notch (touch wood), spent more than I wanted but it had just 57k on it and was almost as new. I like my Mk IV but was undecided between that and a mk III in the end the available car dictated. With all the best intentions in the world the satnav in the mkIV even with up to date data is pretty crap. It will certainly get you home but not always by the fastest route. The VVTI engine in the mk IV is awesome. Recent Cam belt change is most important and look for gearbox oil colour brown is not good. A tatty interior would cost a lot to put right unless you can live with it. A lot of the cars I saw were described as in good condition :tsktsk: but how can I put it, many have been driven and "serviced" without any consideration of the future. I liked this buyers guide http://www.ls400data.com/buyersGuide.html it's pretty warts and all. There are several others if you do a search. Shop around for your insurance, quotes of £1500 can appear, Best I managed was £340 with 7 years NCB for a 46 year old. If your history is not good or you are in your 20's you have a problem. Cheers Dave

"anti squeal paste" do a search on that not all that expensive and worth a try. Sounds like it's the stuff I used but can't be sure.

Brake squeal is a frustrating problem I had something similar on a Holden Commodore years ago, tried everything and in the end used a product on the back of the pads sort of similar to copper grease but thicker and blue in colour. No idea what it was called and was probably an Australian product anyway. I pulled the pads on the wife's Hyundai a few weeks back though and saw something similar there, so it must exist. Apparently all brakes squeal but not usually in our range of hearing, not that that helps, but think of all the dogs you could be upsetting.

Nothing worse than waiting in for a parcel or for a reply to an email. Any other time hanging around the house and watching TV or something is easy. Can't even have a nap.......

Yes certainly better than the belt driven system, but according to popular opinion the viscous fan is not as efficient as an electric only. It is after all always moving some air even if limited when not engaged. Electric is more sensitive and adjustable and obvious when it's stopped working properly. As far as I can remember pretty much all new cars seem to have gone electric, prepared to be corrected there. There is quite a bit of space to fit an electric once the old fan is removed. Whether it runs on or not after engine shut down depends on how it's wired in of cource. Can't say I'll be doing mine any time soon though.

Hi John. I think our friend has joined today with the sole aim of rattling cages. He's done you and me. He also appears to have a model I'm not familiar with; the LX430. Perhaps this model is capable of hosting a ten-bob LPG system, never suffers a flat battery due to the dilithium crystals and has a programme which automatically avoids Kwikfit depots. 17 posts in the 1hr 15 min since joining is pretty good going, nothing after that so far. Can't help with the viscous fan question but it is an interesting point as it is true that they do sap power. I've changed them on other cars but my LS still has his.

I've been monitoring the mpg on my latest LS (mkIV) had it about 4 weeks now. Average 22.2mpg. It has been far from normal driving though I have covered 580 miles in that time a fair bit of it on the motorway and a lot in the town. But what makes it impressive to me at least is that 211 miles of that was towing a 1500kg caravan with roughly 50 of those on the motorway. No trips planned for a few weeks so will be interested to see what it does under more normal conditions. Trouble is I still fall foul of the pedal to the metal issue. I've never had an LS that is quite so willing to just get up go and then the mpg (obviously) just falls away. There is a hill that I regularly go up, it's where the road has been a long busy single lane and it splits in two just as it starts a steep incline, to pass those 4 cars and a semi trailer ahead it's hard to the floor and it really fly's but then she does about 4mpg. Must stop doing that.......... forgot to add I am using Tesco premium (or what ever it's called)

Good on ya Luke, we all like puzzles especially ones that can be solved :) bet the car was thinking why does this man keep putting my key in, swearing and getting out......

does sound like the steering lock doesn't it. If so you should be able to move the steering wheel slightly and take pressure off the key lock so that the key turns. Does sound a bit too obvious to be that though.