maneesh

Pops, Glad to hear things turned out well. My posting on the bushes is at: http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/ind...howtopic=11989& The bushes are holding up well, and the only thing I miss is the supersoft ride with the factory bushes(made of rubber), but the ride is definitely a lot more controlled, and the rear end does not swing out very much compared with before when the factory bushes were knackered. Your story sounds a bit like mine, in that a Lexus dealer quoted me 6,300 for my first service with a list of things to do on an A3 sheet of paper. That was 3 months after buying from another Lexus dealer which had all been inspected etc. I get the feeling that dealers in general quote you in order to restore the car to "as new" condition. With 10 year old cars, there's no sensible way you can justify spending money making it "as new". That's why so many independent dealers are around, for those folk who just want their car to be to safe and driveable at a reasonable cost. Maneesh

Original LS400s had a gearbox which was slick but was hesitant to downshift, the Senator "feels" quicker because the gearbox is more aggressive in downshifting. I don't know if they have changed the downshifting nature of LS400s over the years?

Dude, You want grace and smoothness with sheer power, get a Jaguar XJR. Those things can shift (370bhp, 0-60 approx 5.1secs). Plus the handling is pretty good for a big car. They are starting to get cheap now that the latest shape is out. LS400s are designed for cruising not for blasting down back roads. If you aint got the cash for the Jag, ditch the Lexus and keep the Senator.

Hi, I have to change my front tyres. The backs were changed a few months ago to Michelin Pilot Primacys (before that I always had Dunlop). I've found a cool website called www.blackcircles.com, very good prices. I was thinking of just sticking another pair of Michelin's on the front (89 each), but then I saw a good deal for some Dunlop SP Sport 01s(82 each). Any experiences? The Dunlops seems to be a better tyre when reading through the site, plus the Michelins on the back seem nothing special. What do other Mk1, Mk2 LS400 owners put on their cars? Link for the Dunlop site http://www.dunloptyres.co.uk/site/tyres/ca.../patterns/SP01/ Link for the Michelin site www.michelin.co.uk (you have to search for pilot primacy) Thanks in advance, M

Would this Smiffy's place in Barking be happy to work on my LS400? They look good, what's their labour rate then?

I'm sitting in traffic today when I see a Beemer 3 series pull up in the middle lane. Regular 3 series I think with big rims, until I see the trick. As the wheels came to a stop, the spokes of his rims continued to turn until they eventually stopped too. As I looked closer it appeared that he had spokes underneath the top spokes, and the top spokes seemed to be an accessory or something like that. It was dark so couldn't see properly. Can anyone shed some light on what type of wheel he had? I've never seen them before, they look cool!

Great! So, I've got Castrol RS fully synthetic in my car for the past 12 months. I know that I have a slight leak in the rear main seal, so I suppose that synthetic will leak a bit more out of that then?

Wow, that's so cool. 200k on the clock. These cars never cease to amaze me. Is checking (and replacing) the fuel filter part of the C service? You should try synthetic at that mileage. Makes a difference to the engine with all that wear and tear.

Dude, it's so easy to forget you are in such a fine car, as you take it for granted. You really notice it when you have driven another car, and you step back into yours and go wow, this is nice, and it's all mine!! :D

Don't know about the fuel filter. Well done for changing the oil. Did you put normal, semi-synthetic or full synthetic? I've changed mine over to fully synthetic now.

For those of you with a 90-94 LS400 and your suspension is a bit tired. I just picked up the car after the upper control arms were changed along with the rear axle carrier bushes. It's made such a big difference. The car feels so tight now, and much more responsive around roundabouts etc. The old arms were quite worn out and the same with the rear bushes. Only point is that the factory rear bushes are normally rubber (which cost a small fortune to replace), and my replacements are made out polyurethane. This has the effect of making the ride much firmer in the back(more like a German car), but the upside is that they don't wear out like rubber, and the car handles much better. Price if I didn't do my research = £1,900 Upper control arms bought in UK and fitted (£800 parts, £100 labour) Complete rear hub units (£1000 parts and labour, so I've been told) Price I paid (includes shipping cost from States) = £570 Upper control arms bought from USA and fitted (£300 parts, £100 labour) Rear axle carrier bushes bought from USA and fitted (£50 parts, £120 labour) I hope this helps other owners of older LS400s. It's definitely a result for me. :D :P I'll give more feedback about the bushes once I have driven the car on different types of roads. Pops - did you ever find out if you have the same issue as mine on the rear bushes? One of the symptoms is that the car will "jump" at bit from the back end when driving over a bump on a bend, plus the rear will feel twitchy too even on straights. Where I got the parts. Email ozzis@bellsouth.net - John @ Ozzis automotive. Based in Atlanta, USA. Phone 00 1 770-552-5280 ($46 for the bushes, plus $60 for UPS shipping) www.lexus-parts.com (based in Texas, USA) Got 10% discount by mentioning Lexus Owners Club I contacted Darrel Diller on ddiller@sewell.com ($542 for both arms, plus $48 for shipping)

Try Powerhouse in Camberley, Surrey. They are supposed to be great for Soarers. Labour rates are good value too.

imagine that, an old LS400 with a supercharger. 0-60 in 5 seconds. That would really surprise those geezers driving their scoobys :D I read once that the actor Paul Newman bought a really old VW Beetle and dumped a massive V8 in it. He used to love shaking people down in California at the lights who thought it had a regular 1.3!

No more expensive to maintain than any luxury car (7 series, S class etc). But the effortless power with all that torque just makes driving nice and comfy. A Ford Puma tried to shake me down the other day - he got a real surprise from my Lexxy!

In an ideal world, yes, defo would get some 20 inchers. However, would prefer to spend my cash on keeping the car in decent order... surely you feel all the bumps with 20inchers, at least with my fiesta wheels, it's a pillow soft ride!

Dude, The exhausts are stainless steel, so meant to last the lifetime of the car. The only thing which could cause them problems I guess, is driving over speedbumps at bad angles/too fast which may have messed them up. I'm not fitting the bushes myself (independent dealer is), so will feedback in next few days how the car feels after the work. It should be pretty tight again. Yeah, don't get balljoints done at Lexus on your older car, it's a waste of money. Look around. Sounds like you gonna keep it then? Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em, eh!

I agree with ya, the purple LS400 looks sweet. Even Fiestas have 15 inchers now!

I had both front springs replaced a few years at Lexus. Total was £500. Recently had the shocks changed all round. All four shocks from Lexus were around £210 with 15% Gold discount. I used independent dealer, so it was around £200 for labour (5 hours).

You didn't include an option for us poor Mk1 LS400 owners with 15 inchers!

That sounds like an awful lot of expense. I've never heard of any LS400 requiring a new exhaust. They are like £1500 to fit. The rear hubs are probably the bushes inside but you need to spend £500 per side to fix those because Lexus don't sell the bush separately from the hub. I have the same issue, but have found some replacement bushes for £20 from the US, which will save me a fortune. I'm fitting them this Friday so will let you know how good they are. Balljoints are supposed to be around £300 per side. Not sure about the rest. Sounds like the car has been abused. Given the amount of work needed, you won't find anyone giving you anywhere close to book price for the car. You are going to have to keep it for 5-8 years really just to recover the costs of the work (as opposed to buying a newer model in good condition). Can you see yourself doing that? Any luck with suing someone?

You haven't listed exactly what you have been recommended to change on the car, but some of the expected repairs in older, higher mileage cars include: rear main seal (if leaking) power steering pump (again, if leaking can leak onto alternator and cost even more to fix) steering rack front upper control arms balljoints rear axle carrier bushings EGR pipe engine mounts transmission mounts front anti-rollbar bushes Fellow LS400 owners can add to the list if I have missed anything. Also depends upon where you are driving though (my part of London is full of speed bumps which I'm sure has accelerated wear on the suspension). This is in addition to your expected things such as pads, discs, tyres, oil and filters. Driving ANY older, higher mileage luxury car will not be dirt cheap to keep on the road. Ultimately, it all depends on how long you want to keep the car.

Yes, I got them from lexus-parts.com Great service and $271 for each arm. only $48 for shipping. Would recommend them.

Yes, that's what I thought too. LPG doesn't give you better fuel economy over unleaded. It's just half the price of unleaded. Once they raise the tax on LPG (only a matter of time!), the difference in costs will narrow.

That's not good, it's brilliant! I went and saw a Bentley 1994 model, and it was 12mpg in town, and 20mpg on a run. Strangest was a friend's Jaguar XJR who floored most of the day and the computer reported 9mpg average!

A note to all those considering buying a Mark 1 LS400 but put off by potential cost of petrol. I got 26mpg this weekend when driving at a constant 65mph on the motorway (set on cruise control). I'm pleasantly surprised! Not bad for a 12 year old car IMHO! Incidentally, how do LS400s do on economy compared to S-classes and 7-series of a similar age? Anyone got experience of these different cars? The LS400 has got better aerodynamics than the equivalent German offerings, as far as I heard.