volvo2lexus

Probably 10-12k

Thanks - I've had those on watch. They seem to be remarkably cheap. When you say they failed at very low mileage did you manage to get say a years worth (12k?) out of them at all?

I may just give ebay another try (I pulled the last ad early because I didn't really want to let the old girl go) but it looks like I will end up keeping her. If that is the case then I have some questions: 1. Is it still worth doing an LPG conversion on 190,000 miles (I have complete service history on the car - 18 stamps I think). 2. I have the occasional knock/rattle when going over bumpy bits from I would guess the front upper control arms. Has anyone bought replacements from the US at all and if so what is the quality like? I was thinking specifically of Arnott . Also if I was to get my garage to do them does anyone have any idea what would be a reasonable fitting time for both left and right hand side? I've seen that UCA's can be bought from ebay but I'm not sure as to how long they'd last and the overall quality of them. I'd hate to get cheapy ones only to discover that they are way below manufacturer tolerances. But then I don't want to pay £1300 to a main dealer either :P If anyone HAS got them from ebay which supplier did you use and are you happy with the quality?

Thanks. People may be getting fed up with these updates now :P but I've decided to give ebay a go so I'm live on there tonight. I've made the ad as descriptive as possible. It looks like the market isn't paying around £1500-ish for something like my car anymore so lets see where we go. I think the 190k mileage is the biggest sticking point.

Been a while so I thought I'd update this. Having spoken to quite a few dealers it seems that very few are willing to take anything larger than a 2.0 in part ex unless there is a special reason to. Having spoken to a few private buyers too it seems that there are quite a few who will "call back once I've sorted out transport to come and see the car", or say "Sounds great, just checking the distance - I should be there in ..... hours (insert your favourite number here!), or "What's your bottom price?" without even seeing the car etc etc. The upshot of which is no sale. So I've dropped the price, dropped the Pistonheads ad and stuck it on autotrader. But judging by the number of cars that are having their prices reduced it seems like the cutbacks and job losses in the economy are beginning to bite up here in the north west.

That's a dead ringer for mine! Congrats - looks fantastic.

My oh my ACLex - that really does look very very nice!

LOL!!! I don't think I've ever seen so many Mikes in such a short space of time :P

Well to bring this back on topic for a bit :P I've stuck an ad on Pistonheads so lets see where we go from here. On the basis that a buyer will always knock the price down I've put it up for a bit more than has been discussed here. I've also been to a trader - who has checked it over and is more than happy to sell it for me for a fee. Spent about an hour with him, got some really useful tips and he seemed to feel it would go given its condition and provenance but it may take three or four weeks. I've met quite a few over the years and this one was refreshingly different - an ex F1 engineer. It was very relaxed, no hard sell either. I would feel very comfortable letting him have a go for me.

Thanks all - I really don't want to let it go purely because I've become quite attached to it. The problem is that it is likely that I will have to look to a major city for employment. For me that means Manchester. It'll mean a round trip of around 120 miles each day. I'll put it up and see how it goes. I realise that fuel prices are high but hopefully there will still be one or two people out there who are the older type who can afford the insurance and will probably run it as a second/third car. But to be honest the car is not at the top of the list at the moment. I need to start making some other changes and sharpish.

Hi everyone. I have discovered today that due to economic circumstances beyond my control I will probably have to look at letting my LS400 go in the next month or so as well as another car. Could some of the knowledgable sages on here give me an idea as to guide price? I'd rather not have to sell it to a trader if I can help it. **EDITED so as not to appear to be an ad.**

The remote on my MK IV has a similar issue. It usually takes quite a few presses of the button to get the car to lock or unlock. The Lexus dealer quoted me £250 to get two new remote keys and the programming done. I haven't taken up the offer yet! :P BTW - replacing the battery with a new one didn't help the problem.

Thanks all - I've decided to get the brake pipes done rather than wait so it's in the garage at the moment and I'll get them to check the status with the power steering fluid.

I've only just noticed this sound as I usually have the radio or CD on and I'm unsure as to whether it may even be a feature of the car but when pulling away from standstill I can hear what can only be described as a high pitched whining sound coming from around the steering wheel area. As you gradually slow down to a complete stop the pitch gets slightly lower and then of course starts and gets higher again when moving away. The pitch when moving off is similar to a dentists drill spinning slowly, and then faster. It seems to disappear completely when you get to about 10mph. There is no effect on the actual steering at all. Does anyone know if this is supposed to happen or is it a sign of impending cost? Nov 1998 LS400. Thanks

Goodridge has been mentioned here for brake lines but does anyone know what the likely cost may be to replace the complete metal brake pipes that seem to go rusty on LS400's? The Goodridge stuff just seems to be the part that goes towards the brake hub - I'd like to replace the whole pipe. Also be interested to know the likely time this might take - having had a look under the car the pipes look a bit tricky due to the location and the bends in the pipes. They are not leaking fluid but I just fancy getting them done. Is the dealer the only place to go?

Thanks chaps. It went a little off topic there but some useful info. :P. I checked out the youtube stuff - v handy. I had a look under the car with my garage and the rubbers seem to be fine, no splits or excessive movement. They felt whoever inspected it previously for MOT was being very very picky. This may explain why the ball joints came up as an advisory on an MOT a couple of years ago but not last years one. So even between MOT testers there is some variance.

Slowly getting bits and pieces done on my 400. :) Now I know that at some point the UCA's will need to be done but can anyone advise me - what are the symptoms that show the upper control arms need replacing? (I can get some from the US at much cheaper prices than the Lexus dealer and was wondering whether to get them done anyway). Car is a Nov 98 400.

Many thanks Sir John. Garage seems to think it might be worthwhile checking for sticking calipers. I'll see if they have done as you have suggested too.

I had the front pads replaced about 300 miles ago but I've noticed that the brakes always squeal at the first couple of applications - usually when the cars been parked for a few days or even just overnight. It's not a major issue as they don't squeal afterwards and all is fine. Just wondering if anyone else has this 'London cab' problem - the pads are not OEM, don't know if OEM would do the same thing? The garage has cleaned them up and deglazed the pads but no change.

I just wanted to give my view on suggesting a user (in particular a newbie) should use the search function instead of soliciting help or a reply from other forum users. "Use the search function" is a very popular response on many forums I have been on and I used to say it myself. However, I have now stopped saying that as I feel it is more beneficial to get responses rather than refer someone back to previous posts which might well be out of date if there is a newer or better way of dealing with something. Additionally if I do have to go back to doing a search it is far more useful to have more reference threads than less and these reference threads would never build up the reference library if we never got new answers to new threads even if the threads relate to previous requests for help. Anyone else feel the same? I just find it a little unfriendly just to say "use the search function" . BTW those that go to the trouble of digging up old stuff for newbies are amazing - just over the last month I have found some very useful info that I'm sure I wouldn't have found on my own so thanks to all of you................ and a happy new year to all :)

:) If you have a play around with the menu it's interesting how much stuff you can actually change. They should really have set the nav voice to override the audio source rather than just come out of one speaker though.

That may be the case for snow tyres, but we're not talking about snow tyres. We're talking about winter tyres, which 1) do not usually have stud holes, and 2) are not merely made of softer rubber. They are made of softer rubber, but they are also much more heavily treaded (usually start at 9 or 10mm depth), and they are heavily siped (the zig-zag pattern slits in each tread block). It is the sipes that do the work on ice, the deep tread that does the work on snow, and the softer tread that does the work on cold tarmac. There is a hell of a lot more to it than 'formulated to remain soft at lower temperatures'. It is also false that the tyres wear out very fast at higher temperatures. They will wear quicker, but there is no need to panic once the snow has cleared - they are designed to be used all winter ie until spring has come! Hmmm - this is very interesting. I don't think I could be bothered with changing from winter to summer and vice versa. Given that the speed ratings on the winter tyres are generally over about 100 mph and I don't do a huge amount of motorway driving would it be safe to assume that I could run winter tyres all year round? Most of my driving would be up to about 70 mph and about 4000/5000 miles/yr and I tend not to throw the car about. Although noise might be worse would grip levels be similar?

This is fabulous - thanks for posting this. It is an excellent write up - I wonder how long it took him to do the job.

Yes, I've got a separate instruction book for the SatNav but it doesn't seem to explain much about controlling the voice. Have you turned up the volume for the voice via the nav menu system?

A lot of mixed response in that previous thread too. Seems like no-one really knows of any major issues with cambelts going which is good to hear. I read on a forum (can't remember which one) that apparently Lexus have never had to replace a gearbox on the LS400. If that's true then that really is amazing. Cambelt - 60'000 miles means that I'm due to get it changed shortly, 100,000 miles sounds better though! I saw a post on that link that Steve provided saying that on the MK1V it's 100,000 miles so I'll go with Steve's earlier response. I wonder - has anyone ever had to replace their HID headlamps at all? They could be expensive.