Parrot of Doom

Lexus will have just rebadged a cd changer. On my old Audi A4 I bought a Panasonic (or was it Pioneer) unit for a fraction of the price of an Audi unit, it was identical (apart from the badge).

Thanks, do you know if your mechanic removed the ball joints or was he able to get them out in-situ, by compressing them?

Anyone know a good OEM supplier of these, or is my best option the dealer? The car's MOT is coming up and I've a missing boot on one of the rear shocks so I reckon that since they're 14 years old I might as well replace them. The rears seem pretty easy to get in and out. If there's a noticeable improvement in ride quality I'll do the fronts too.

Your drain channels may be clean but is the water able to reach them?

If you want a nicer gearknob I'd suggest keeping an eye out for "breaking only" vehicles. Mine has more wood trim than yours, I think it was an option. Don't forget there should be a drawer underneath the passenger seat, a first aid kit goes in there.

All this by the government just so everyone has a paper disc in their car. The simple solution would be to eliminate VED and add the difference onto the price of fuel, but Wales needs those useless idiots doing something...

For the ticking, perhaps a leaking exhaust manifold? For the rumbling, perhaps a failed wheel bearing?

I had a water leak, on mine it turned out to be getting in just below the rear window. There's a hard plastic barrier there, just below the chrome trim, and with age, the clips holding it to the body had broken, letting water run down the window, over the chrome trim, and behind the plastic. I got a lump of black tak and secured it in place, no more water now.

They look exactly how I imagine most US cars appear, given the average weight of their occupants.

If you're using mineral oil then 6,000 miles is probably right. If, however, you use fully synthetic oil then 12,000 miles is less than the oil can achieve. I do mine every 15,000.

It's a piece of steel with a ball joint on one end and a couple of bushes on the other. In no way is it worth what Lexus charge. BTW Lexus also wanted £70 for a new headlight rear sensor (just the link rod that connects the suspension to the potentiometer). £70 for a bit of cheap metal worth no more than £10. Lexus massively overcharge for replacement parts. Great cars but personally, I think there'd be a lot more on the road if Lexus didn't charge stupid prices for old components.

Jaguar sell many more vehicles in the UK than Lexus so it's only to be expected that their forums would contain most postings containing problems. As for prices - have you seen what Lexus charge for a front upper wishbone? Don't get me wrong, I like the car but Lexus is by no means saintly.

I bought a replacement washer bottle sensor from a car heading for the scrapyard. I must say it's a royal PITA to fit one.

I fixed it. Lexus helpfully gave one spring an L-shaped leg and stamped an L on one side of the tray. Each side of the tray has a pivot, around which the spring sits (and the tray rotates). Then, to the side of that central pivot, are two plastic tabs. The stamp in the plastic shows you which way the spring sits. There's very little tension on the springs unless the tray is closed, but you reassemble it in the open position. The trouble I was having was that I'd position the spring but it would ping out when I tried to reinsert the ash tray into its holder. So, screw one side of the holder in place (plastic part held in by three small metal screws). On each side of the holder is a thick brass screw. These stop the tray from rotating all the way around but you have to back them out to get the tray in. So unscrew them, not completely, just enough that the stops on the tray can get past. Put a spring on the tray, squeeze it between the tabs until it's reasonably secure (they're held in very lightly so be careful). Gently put the tray into its holder, locating the pivot into the relevant hole. Once you've done that, check the spring hasn't moved. Make sure the tray doesn't slip out of the hole. Then put the other spring in position and put the loose side of the tray holder onto the end of the tray (plastic pivot into its hole). You then have to push the tray and the loose plastic side of the holder into position. This is difficult and was where I was getting stuck, but once you've squeezed it all in, carefully rotate the tray closed and screw the big brass stop screws back in. Then screw the plastic end of the holder back in position (3 small brass screws). It's tricky but not impossible. It just takes time. Maybe a dab of very weak glue on the springs to hold them in place as you're putting it all back together, but it shouldn't be necessary. For those who are interested, the fusible link was fine, for some reason someone had unplugged the cigarette lighter from the car's electrical system. Probably an oversight, nobody has ever smoked in the car so it probably wasn't noticed.

I'm an idiot. I disassembled my ash tray to find out why the cigarette lighter wasn't working. I've fixed that, but there are two springs, one on either side of the rotating ash tray, and I'm not certain how they should be positioned. They serve to rotate the tray down into position when the driver pushes the wooden panel that reveals the ash tray. Has anyone come across this issue before?

Buy a strip of Black Tack from Amazon and just fix them in place with that. Trust me, they'll never come loose again. That stuff is like Blutack on steroids.

Nobody is going to convince me that a wishbone is worth £380. Or that the linkage for the headlamp height sensor is worth £70. Perhaps on a newish car those prices would be justifiable, but on cars of this age, prices like this are sending them to the scrapyard.

If you mean the exhaust manifold heatshields, that area of the engine gets very hot. Each is held in by two bolts, you can buy new ones from Lexus. My passenger-side heatshield had come completely loose. One bolt had sheared, the other had fallen out. Right now it's held in by just one bolt but it can't fall out so if it comes loose again, I'll just tighten it back up.

Not if Lexus continue to charge silly prices for spare parts for old cars...

£96 to fix. He said some of the other pipes were a bit corroded but that nothing was urgent. Next time its in (I need someone to angle grind the front ARB drop links off) I'll get the rest done.

I found it, an obvious leak forward of the rear wheels, possibly on the driver's side. About 40-50 pumps of the brake pedal is enough to empty the reservoir. Also noticed a very loose piece of possibly heat shield right where the fluid pees out, maybe it has been rubbing. I've dropped it off at the nearest garage and told them to sort it out. Are there any unions on the way to the back brakes, or is the pipe a long, single piece? I may as well get them all done.

Today while braking heavily to stop for a set of lights, at the end of a motorway, the brake pedal sank quite far to the floor. I've lost a fair bit of braking force. The car can still be stopped, but not anywhere near as easily as it should. It's also losing brake fluid. After a while, "check vsc" appeared on the LCD readout. I managed to limp home and I've just checked all four calipers and pipes and can feel no wetness. So the leak is elsewhere. Tomorrow I'm going to refill the reservoir and crawl to the garage to get it onto the ramps, to see if its underneath somewhere. But in case this isn't just a holed brake pipe, does anyone have any experience with this problem? The check vsc light makes me think perhaps something in the traction control has failed, a valve or something.

Most wheel balancing machines do so with the wheel off the car - which means that the weight of the car is not pressing down on the tyre while it is balanced. That's fine for a good tyre, but if you have a tyre with a minor sidewall weakness or a slight warp, faults that only make themselves known when a third of a tonne of weight is pressing down on them, it won't get detected. Google "road force balancing" for more info.

Definitely do the simple things first. Warped or damaged tyres are easily missed by a balancing machine, which will do its job iwthout the weight of the vehicle on the tyre. Get a pry bar into that rear suspension and check the bushings. I think my trailing arm bushings are on the way out and truth be told I have a slight "mmmmmm" at 60-65mph that definitely isn't tyre related. I also have a minor wobble over 90ish but nothing uncomfortable yet.

Clear the sunroof's drain holes and let the car dry out. Check obvious points of entry like the fusebox and ECU aren't floating in water.