banjo

I bought my 2007 LS460 in August 2019, I px'd my 1995 LS400 (120,000 miles) for it. The 400 had rust problems in rear wheel arch area, in spite of my Waxoyl applications and occasional speedo/rev counter not working. I'd had the car 8 years and considered it a superb car. Now the 460 is in a quite different class, good performance, much better brakes than the 400, but that was from a different era. No cam belt changes on the 460 so one less worry. Looks are subjective but I think the 460 has attained a real identity of it's own, largely unchanged to date, I don't really like the ugly front on the latest version. The 430 looked too much like a Merc 'S'. Not without it's problems though, MOT last year required upper suspension arms. This year MOT (this week) requires more bush changes and one suspension bag renewal. The horn stopped working recently, after doing some research it seems likely the fault is in the steering wheel - we'll see on that. The VSC warning light comes on occasionally and then goes off or I reset it. Haven't got to bottom of that yet, probably sensor. Changed the front passenger seat belt stalk last year as became faulty and after just buying the car had to renew 2 of the tyre pressure indicators (expensive) as the batteries had run out, tried to renew batteries but not possible. I'm a great believer in good induction, bought a set of NGK Iridium spark plugs (£307) and sport air filter.

Hi steve2006, Not tried that, but will do in a mo. Keep you informed on results. How easy is it to re-grease the spindles?

A couple of weeks ago got into my '95 LS400 started it and noticed that the rev counter wasn't working, started off and noticed that the speedometer wasn't working either. A couple of miles down the road the rev counter began functioning 2 miles further on the speedo began working. All seemed okay on the next 4 journeys, then this morning, set off, same fault again, only this time the rev counter started working but no speedo at all. Any clues please.

Exactly the same places as mine. I've repaired now, I got my guy who services mine to rivet them in place and I painted the whole area with solid Waxoyl. it worked and looks quite good actually. You have to shape the plate to the arch as is multiple angles and curves, so we presented the plate to the arch, tapped into the shape with a mallet and riveted in place. When I fabricated the plates I cut some slots around the edge with a nibbler so the slots had space between to allow for the shaping.

If the car is going okay then it's worth fixing the rust and your mileage is quite low for this car. I bought some 1mm thick steel sheet on Ebay (about £12), used some cardboard for a a template, and cut the metal to the template for both wheel arches. You can't do it in one piece for the whole wheel arch, so I've done in several sections. I haven't done the trailing edges yet. I've just painted them with Hammerite. My idea is to stick the metal to wheel arches and rivet in place, then paint using waxoyl underseal.

Thanks Ambermarine and Roy, will get to these areas now. I had a Vauxhall Senator back in '94 and I did this same as you did Ambermarine and flooded the wheel arches with Waxoyl from inside the boot which was fairly easy on that car which had a bad reputation for rusting wheel arches. They never rusted in all the 8 years I had that car. Should've been a bit more diligent when I first got the Lexus back in 2011, will correct that now.

Thanks very much Colin, Plexus914 and Mike for your responses and info. I'll go the Petropatch route with some metal. Will post on the club when I've completed. I'm rather anal when it comes to stopping rust on my cars with a yearly Waxoyl and now Dynax S-50 spraying that I will repair this damage and attempt to stop any further corrosion.

Higher octane means a better burn, so you'll get less carbon build up.

Accident damage, in both wheel arches? Don't think so! I'm the second owner, the first one had the car from '95 till he died in 2011 and I have all service records and work done. He was very meticulous and I'm sure it would have been recorded if there was any damage.

Last weekend while I was cleaning my 1995 LS400 (after I had the cambelt, plugs/leads, drivebelt and water pump changed) I noticed some rust at the bottom of the driver's side rear wheel leading edge where it meets up with the cill. After I prodded it with a screwdriver a hole appeared. Filled the space behind the hole with Waxoyl then as a temporary measure epoxyed a piece of metal over the hole to stop water entering and covered that with some solid Waxoyl. I obviously looked at the rest of the wheel arch and there is some similar rusting at the bottom of the trailing edge of the wheel arch. I didn't prod this time as looks like the same symptoms. I looked at the other back wheel arch and yes, exactly the same rusting. So do you get new arches or partial arches fabricated? or can you buy these items? The car has done 115,000 miles, I have had the car for more than 4 years and waxoyled yearly although it's impossible to keep any kind of covering under the wheel arches for long as it gets blasted off. The car is completely rust free elsewhere and I love it to bits, best car I've ever had.

I had it done to my other car, Nissan Stagea, and yes would recommend it. It feels a bit nippier and mpg is up by about 5 mpg. I'm told it reduces emissions also. MOT time will tell me that. Think I will have it done to my LS400. I'll keep the Forum informed on results.

I had the cooling fan recall job done by Lexus (Lookers, Hatfield) but no mention of fuel lines recall from Lexus. What exactly is the problem? My car is 2011.

Thanks for the advice on the Takeda, shan't bother with that then. If you look at the adverts they claim increase in power. And expensive. I fitted a cone filter to a Scooby Forester turbo some years ago, I was quite sure it made no difference and even a reduction when you were standing in traffic because of the heat build up under the bonnet. Maybe just fit a K & N replacement panel filter. What's the price for the LED kit Pete, and are they easy to fit? Thanks, Geoff

Well done Allan. Mine's blue, but I do like the white also. What's the Precision kit consist of Pete? Thinking about the Takeda intake also.

Thanks Stuart. Can you suggest any web sites please? Unless of course it's in the Forum somewhere. Ta.

Thanks once more to all you guys. I always add to, enhance my cars, any suggestions?

Thanks for that fellers. Will endeavour to make the meet.

Absolutely great car. Got a decent size boot also. Get my musical gear in. My son's going to Japan for holiday soon, thinking what to ask him to get for me. I'm the same, look at cars on Autotrader and Pistonheads is a pastime of mine, sold my Scooby Legacy estate last year on Pistonheads, bought the LS400 and found the LSF on Autotrader. This is my 'fix' most days!

I picked up the blue ISF from Lexus Reading last Thursday, love it to bits of course. I part exchanged my BMW 760LI for it. I've already got a 1995 LS400 which I've had for three and a half years which has been perfect trouble free motoring, Anticipate the LSF will be also.

Thanks gents for the advice and info. I take it your pleased with your LPG conversion Mike? I've got a Chevrolet Astrovan with LPG also,Trouble is where I live you have to drive 10 miles to the nearest garage that sells LPG, thats about half a gallon! We laugh about the build quality of American compared to Jap cars, both my kids have Jap cars, my daughter a Toyota Glanza turbo which she's had for 11 years and my son a Mitsubishi Evo MR8 FQ 320 which he bought new 8 years ago. I know what you mean Michael, major items are expensive, but I think you have to try to ignore the intrinsic value of the car and just replace, you'll still have a car for a long time.

Hi Malc, I wasn't going to sell Lex, just add another Lexus 430 or 460, this would be the replacement for my Subaru. No haven't read too many postings on the probs with 430/460 models, not sure where to look tbh. My wife loves the 400, says it's the best car we've ever had, I paid £1900 for it so peanuts depreciation.

I've had my 1995 LS 400 now for 2 and a half years. I bought it off Autotrader with 93,000 miles and one owner and FLSH. In fact the owner died and it was part of the estate. An excellent car with no problems. I've updated it with an Alpine stereo (Bluetooth) which works perfectly and grooved discs to improve the 'nineties' braking. Other expenditure is a new set of tyres and recent a/c re-gas. It's now done 109,000 miles. Gets fairly regular use from me and my son. I recently sold my Subaru Legacy spec B as I want something else, like another LS, but want to know which is best, the LS 430 or 460. I get the impression from various topics here that neither of these are considered as bullet proof as the 400. My gut feeling is to go for the 460 as is certainly more powerful with 100 bhp more than the 430. But there are some 430 bargains out there. Quite a big difference in prices between the two. Thanks in advance to the experts!

Happy New to you all. I've had my 1995 LS400 for coming up to one year now. Apart from new tyres and a new Alpine head unit I've had no other expenditure. Done 103,000 miles now and runs as sweet as a nut. The only problem I've got is the failure of the door mirror silvering gradually creeping up from the bottom of both mirrors. The worst one is the passenger side with now 50% gone. The drivers side is about 25%. Question is: Can you change just the mirror glass, if so where can you buy them? If not then I'll have to buy both mirror units, presumably from the scrap yard? Thanks.

Thanks for that gents. I know what you mean, it never looks perfect but with care you can make it look not so bad by waiting for the first top coat to dry then applying again, maybe several times. It certainly looks better than the white undercoat showing after a stone chip.

Can anyone please tell me where I can buy some (grey) touch up paint for my 1995 LS 400. Inchcape Toyota/Lexus (Ebay) didn't have this colour. So if anyone can point me in the right direction - thanks.