Scribe

The Mk.IV was introduced in late 1997 so the earliest ones will be R-reg. And the latest (2000) are X-reg.

Thanks Pete. I'm only window shopping, and looking ahead to the (distant) future. There doesn't seem much point buying a newer 400 because the youngest one would be only two years younger than mine - still an old car. And better the devil you know etc. What else is there? Only a 430. Hopefully by that time they'll be as good value as 400s are now. Probably lots of us are in this situation.

The problem for me is not with the advert or the person who's selling the car. It's probably a good buy. What I meant was that the 'common faults' (if that's what they are) seem pretty serious for a quality car, especially when the 400 doesn't suffer from them. There's a lot of talk about the build quality of Lexuses being lowered since the 430 was introduced, which might put a lot of 400 owners off. I just wondered what other members' experience is.

I know a thread about this subject is often started, but there's a 2001 LS430 (117,000 miles) for sale on Autotrader which appears to be in very nice condition but which has had to have the following work done: 'New gearbox (sensor failed), new rear windows replaced due to delamination (common problem), doors resprayed due to paint blistering (common problem)...' That isn't exactly encouraging, is it? I know the LS400 also has common problems (e.g. flaky wheels and dodgy starter motor) but at three years older and 30,000 miles more, mine feels like it will run for ever without needing a new gearbox, windows or respray. I sometimes wonder whether trading up to a 430 would be too big a gamble. Have members regretted doing so (beautiful car though the 430 is)?

My mechanic only glanced at the ad and didn't notice the door damage, but his first thought was '£1000 max'. Although it would be difficult to tell without driving them both, he thought the 345,000-mile but well-maintained 430 on EBay would be a better bet.

Good point, ambermarine. Someone who uses a car so little probably just takes it to the shops once a week (collecting some parking scrapes), so it's never warmed up and running properly. And a car that's done ten or twenty times the mileage doesn't get damage to the door like that one's got. Re Dan's (Lowrider's) point: he's right - there will always be people who try to sell a car for much more than it's worth. But values of old Lexuses are of interest to many of us. Well, they are to me, and I've noticed that they go up and down all the time. And the price of elderly 430s seems to have dropped into 400 territory all of a sudden - though I'd be worried about buying a cheap one (in a way that I wouldn't be worried about buying a cheap 400, actually).

Its a well known scientific fact that women cannot hear certain sound frequencies like, when are you going to make a cup of tea and I need some more shirts ironed, so dont worry to much that she cannot hear it, it is there. Mike I think you'll find that women say something similar - about men not hearing certain things (e.g. 'When are you going to fix those shelves/dry the dishes etc.' or 'I've got a headache.')

I've had a similar experience. It seems there are two annual premiums: the one that the insurance company sends out to you, and the reduced one that it offers you when you tell them that you don't want to renew. The whole thing seems negotiable these days, which makes the original figure look like a try-on (or rip-off). When I was insured through the AA it was cheaper to get a quote for a new policy than to renew the existing one - until I pointed this out and they offered to price-match themselves!

Goochie, this isn't really an answer to your question, but my mechanic has a GS300 and every time he drives my Ls400 he's tempted to get one himself, but doesn't bother because he uses his own car so little. The Camry is a car that's sort of slipped through the net - the later ones are supposed to be like mini-Lexuses but have no image and are therefore not much more expensive than Avensises.

Greetings GrayB and welcome to the forum. Are you new to the LS too? Yes, you can get a Mk.IV from around £1,000 at the moment but I reckon one that doesn't need a lot of money spent on it will cost double that. Mind you, you could spend more than £3,000 and still need to pay for a cambelt, service, starter motor repair etc. I watch prices all the time (basically to remind myself what a bargain I got) and have noticed that values fluctuate throughout the year. They're very low at the moment but, if last year is anything to go by, they may well go up next spring. Seems like this is a very good time to buy one. Did anyone see the (apparently) very good 1995 Mk.III in my favourite colour (dark grey), 133,000, good history, that sold for £553 on e-bay last week? It was for sale when I was LS hunting two years ago, and if it hadn't been so far away I would have considered it. It seemed cheap at £900 then...

1998 is either R or S reg, but 1999 must be S, T or V.

If it's of any help, when I had the dreaded starter motor problem, it would just go click instead of starting the engine (like it does when the battery's flat). At first, trying again once or twice would work, but over time I had to try more and more times before it would start. Eventually it just clicked and nothing else happened. The problem, as Steve says, is burnt out contacts and plunger in the starter motor which had to be replaced. Starting wasn't slow and laboured, like you say yours was - it would either click or it would start.

This is an issue that probably interests lots of us, not because we're looking for 430s at the moment but because we know that, one day, it's the only car that will be able to replace our 400s. And by that time, the 430s will be quite old. Even now, you can buy an early 430 for less than a late 400. Personally, I'd be put off by any more complexity than is necessary, particularly as the air suspension is known to be an expensive fix, and when I've been browsing on Autotrader, the vast majority of 430s have been advertised as Premium Pack models.

That's great - you must be chuffed. Did you have an LS400 before the 430? What about other members? Care to share your impressions of the 430 in relation to the 400?

I spent so long dithering about whether or not to get an LS400 that I haven't started thinking about a 430 yet, though it's the obvious next step. My understanding is that the Premium Pack includes the air suspension, which can cost a fortune to repair, and so I personally would look for a 'standard' model. Unfortunately most of the cars I've seen advertised have the Pack.

The other day a colleague was told that the renewal premium for her smart car had shot up (despite her 13 years NCD) because the smart is a 'cult car'! That's the feeblest excuse for an insurance rip-off I've yet heard, but you've almost got to admire their nerve for trying it.

Steve's right - I mentioned this to my mechanic this morning, and he said that the springs usually break at the very top, which can be difficult to spot unless the car's on a hoist. The remainder of the spring still has some 'spring' so you don't necessarily realise that it's broken. Thank you, speed humps.

Surely the advisories are 'normal' for any car? I mean, even LS400s suffer from wear and tear - they are machines, after all.

I agree. Tattoorick, it sounds like you've got the dreaded problem of failing starter motor contacts that some of us on here have also had. It will get worse, and the only solution is to replace the contacts - not an easy job because of where the starter motor is, but apparently easier on a Mk.111 than on a Mk.IV (?) If you're having to move the gear lever around to get it to start, it's something else.

Thanks Baz. The squeak from the rear has disappeared overnight, just like the one at the front did after about an hour! Maybe the car is trying to tell me that it's got arthritis and would rather doze in my garage, like it does most of the time... Anyway, will get greasing very soon.

This is useful, because my mechanic said that unless the suspension's creaking at the time he sees the car, it'll be like looking for a needle in a haystack. I can probably do the top shock mounts myself, though - sounds easy enough. Presumably I need grease, not WD40?

You're right - the Lex is so refined that you hear squeaks and rattles that you wouldn't hear in normal cars. Just come back from a 100-mile trip and the back suspension is creaking a bit now, so I think a visit to the mechanic is in order. After he last sprayed his WD40 around, the noise stopped, but that was more than a year ago.

Thanks. I did a search on here for similar problems but couldn't find a thread about it - will now look again. I couldn't work out why it was heat-related (it only started after a long journey, on a warm and dry afternoon, which ended in lots of stationary and stop/start driving, and stopped when the car was cold), but you and Richard have obviously had the same experience. I'll certainly get the WD40 out and have a squirt - I'd rather try that than replace the bushes.

Thanks for that, Richard.

Just done a 500-mile round trip in the Lex. It didn't miss a beat (of course) but within 5 miles of home the front suspension had started to squeak and creak. You could even hear it when moving off from rest (because the bonnet lifts slightly). Pushing down on the front wings made a noise like a saw cutting through plastic. Left it for around 90 minutes, tried the same thing, and it was completely silent. I think everything was lubricated at a recent service, when of course the car was cold - the problem only started after a few hours' continuous driving, and then stopped. Any ideas what might need lubricating?