itarumaa

Well the main issue is not if the insurance covers it or not, the issue is what to do with the car. Why I cannot open the doors even with new battery installed to key fob.? I tried both key fobs and they both have red light on when I press the button, so I assume they work. But nothing happens. The previous owner said about the second key that it will open the doors but not start the car and I have been using the first key now without any problems. But now suddenly both keys do not work.

I am thinking that passing the immobilizer might not be so easy, but it could be an option. The car is in Finland, Right Hand drive Lexus, no one will steal that, because there is not much point. I am still thinking that if the both keys have light on, then it could not be the battery or a key where the problem is, but somewhere else.

Right, the both key fobs had red light when pressed the buttons, but it still does not open the doors. I even changed a new battery and made sure the battery contact was 100%, but nothing. Does this mean that the problem is on the another end of the car, the immobilizer unit?

Hello, my car had to be towed today since the key fob failed, so I could not get the immobilizer off, I have two keys, both of them do not work. So what now? Can I get new keys somewhere and program them myself? Or do I have to go to local Toyota dealer and order the keys? Any ideas welcome.

The car was in local MOT test and both front and rear axles were tested. I do actually have to change both rear axle upper control arms but in the front everything was fine. I would assume that MOT -person would find out the freeplay in bearings, altough I have to agree that this might be bearing issue after all. Actually when I start to think about this, when the car was in garage, I was informed that left side bearing is loose, but later on in the same garage I was informed that this not the case. So dunno what is going on here. I check today the EGR pipe if I can, based on quick google results it seems to be in hard place to be reached.

Hello, I have been having a ticking in my Ls400, year 1998. It seems to be coming from the right side of the engine and it can be heard with cold and warm engine, specially outside of the car. I do not think it is valve adjustment issue because it looks to be electrical based, but what it could be? The car has 163k miles, timing belt and starter job done this year, oil change done as well. It works fine and starts etc but the ticking is quite loud specially outside of the car. Second problem is that I can hear constant rumble when driving forward. Before I heard that only when turning left but now constatly. It kind of sounds like unbalanced or empty tyre, but this is not the case, because the car drives perfectly. I know it is hard to describe these noises but maybe someone could have any ideas what they might be. The car is in Finland and there not many Ls400 around, so finding a specialist for this is hard to find.

No issues with traction control, now in the winter it does activate all the time since I drive in Finland where is lot of snow and ice, but it does work quite nicely. It does however make a little bit noise in the rear, because it is using car rear brakes to (try) to keep the traction. Also the vehicle stabilization works quite nicely as well, so you really cannot get the car too much sideways before computers take over. The good thing is still that you can do a little bit of car control with the throttle if needed. Good system and definitely good in the winter.

Interesting info AdeV, since in my Ls400, mk4 as well idle speed never goes over 1100rpm, not even when I start the car at -22, never it has been 1400rpm. I am not sure what the correct idle speed is but at least in my case, it does not seem to cause any issues when car is cold.

Ok, I changed the oil to the system. What was interesting, local Toyota dealer sold me completely different oil than motor factor, the Toyota oil was atf but "oil" color and the one in the system now is atf but red color, Well the current oil does seem to be working, since steering is 100%, never has been so light when I have owned the car:)

Well I did like Steve adviced, and put magazines under the tyres. The steering is definitely better, not so heavy and I think there was a bit of air in the system. I went to test drive and even the steering is not so heavy, it is still more heavy than in summer time, but it was -22 anyway so that might explain it. I think I will know more in Monday morning, when I start up the car from cold, is the steering any better. Good thing also is that for monday it is should be only:) -9.

I have 1998 ls400 without satnav and I bought that from Ireland, right hand drive car as well. Surely it cannot be so rare combination?

Is it possible that there is air in the system? I drove yesterday about 500km and the steering was heavy. I noticed that there was too much oil in the system, cold engine and oil reached hot in the dipstick, so I removed extra oil and rest of the journey steering was ok, but now it is heavy again even there is correct amout of oil in the system. Thanks for the advice so far:)

2.8 bar in front and back, it does feel like front tyre pressure issue tough,

Now, since in Finland it is -20 currently and -30 promised for the weekend (not fun), my Ls400 is having much more heavy steering than before. I did change the oil to the steering and there is now right amount of oil ,but even when the car heats up the steering is more heavy than before, it does have the power steering active tough. So any ideas what to do? The amout of oil is correct, when the car is cold it reaches the cold level in the dipstick.

Ls400 is so old school that little bit of modification is only a good thing, as long as you have some kind of style:) So I think you should go for it.

I did just like you suggested, but the compressor was the faulty one (no pressure). Accordingly the mechanic who changed the pulleys it was not that easy to do, dunno what kind of job it is since I did not do it myself, I think at least for me the best option would have been to change the compressor, because now I paid for a job that did not solve the issue.

You will have to be extra unlucky to have problems with the cats considering how short distance you did drive, so I would not worry

In my old Volvo s40 the problem was in the coil, so I would start to investigate this option first. And yes, you will destroy the cats, I did that in my Volvo as well. If you want to shortcut, then just leave the cats in place without internals and hope it will past the emission test, for 1991 car that could be a possibility.

When you had starter problems, what happened when car was warm? Because I have 0 problems when car is warm, it starts right away, but when it is cold, it takes about 20 tries before it starts.

I seem to have similar problem, I thought it was the battery but I ques not. The symptoms are that when I start the key when car is cold nothing happens, only click. Then after 3-4 tries starter activates but it is too slow to start the car, then after 1-2 more tries car starts 100% So is the problem with contacts or start motor itself, or could it be somewhere else? Dunno how I can get the car fixed, will be trouble to find someone in Finland to do this.

I had battery failure as well in my Ls400. Since the car is so unknown in Finland, I had to measure the battery size and try to find replacement. I did find it eventually, it is for Golf Diesel, but it fits and 71ah and 670a for starting power should be enough.

I did change the glass only, I bought them from ebay, but I in the same time I lost the heating for the glass.

I am wondering about these allows: http://www.wolfrace.co.uk/asia_tec_details.php?wheelID=87 Details: Summary: Make: LEXUS Model: LS 400 (Celsior) Year: 95 - 01 PCD: 5x114.3 Offset: 50> Bore: 60.1 Fittings: M12x1.5 Recommended: 225/60R16 I have 225/60R16 tyres in my Ls400, year 1998 at the moment. Do you think that those wheels would look nice in Ls400 and fit to Ls400 with larger brakes?

Based info received from Supra forum, the alloys will not fit since the brake size in Ls400 is quite same than in Supra MkIV, so too large calibers.

The wheels are 16", like I have now in the car. I have indeed wondered, do they fit brake wise. I have year 1998 Ls400, so the brake calibers are quite large sized.