Glenn007

I have a 2005 LS430 that I bought from Germany. It has the radar cruise control aswell and my windows also dont open when I hold down the button. I ordered a new set of manuals when I bought the car as the ones that came with it were in German and it doesnt list this as a feature. It seems that the European ECU is programmed slightly different for some reason. Hi Just found this on the Lexus manual, it appears your car has a foreign ECU in it as the feature you are missing is fitted for the UK market but not for some other markets, if your car has a full Lexus history I think I would go back to Lexus and ask for their comments because as can be seen it should have this feature... or is your car an import, if it is it should say something like "Used and/or registered in a foreign country prior to the UK" on the V5 registration document. Good Luck, let us know what happens. Pete Hi Cheers for that.I have been doing some research on this & this is what I have found.In August 2004 they brought out new features which included Pre Crash Safety System only avaliable for Europe models ONLY & Dynamic Radar Cruise Control System which my car has.As for customising parameters on the full closure side of things.I believe this is not possible,all you can do is door/key-linked p/w up default is On contents of this setting is Function that raises all windows & roof with ignition switched OFF,key is used to hold driver door key cylinder to lock position for more than 1.5 seconds.This setting can be turned on or off in diagnostic menu & as for opening the windows & roof door/key-linked p/w down default is On contents of this setting is Function that lowers all windows & roof with ignition switched OFF,key is used to hold driver door key cylinder to unlock position for more than 1.5 seconds.Keyfob unlock button held will also open roof & sunroof.Nothing available for keyfob lock button when held.Not yet anyway.It will though watch this space

Hi As usual Pete got it right... I have the 2005 model LS430 purchased from Germany as I was moving to Spain and the DISP 2 button is for the radar cruise control, basically it toggles between 3 options of the distance you wish to keep between yourself and the car in front. When the cruise is not selected it does tha same as you mention, switch on the outside temp display. Pete, aka Jedi Master, beat me to it again! Glenn

Obe-Wan has spoken! Thank you Luke, when will you join me..... What I did find out about quiet tyres is that it seems to depend on the size of the tread blocks, just about everyone now has different sized blocks around the wheel to break up the airflow and reduce drumming, but the tyres with smaller blocks seem to be the quiet ones, directional tyres seem to be the noisiest The sp sport 270 looks like this and is very quiet The Sp 9000 looks like this and is noisy The tyres I have recently put on, very cheap Far East tyres look like this and were pretty quiet to start with but have now got noisier over time, They are far more supple than the Dunlop’s though and they soak up pot holes and cats eyes much better, they also have amasing grip in the dry or wet so I suppose there will never be a "perfect tyre" I've put the cheap ones on until I get the caster sorted on mine... see other thread, when these wear out I'll be after some better quality quiet tyres as Dunlop has stopped making the 270.... My local tyre depot said they would fit tyres to my car and I could try them out and see if they were noisy, they would change them if they were. So there are places that will help you out, just tell them what you want, they are all feeling the pinch at the moment and if you are going to buy four expensive tyres then you have some bargaining tool... Good Luck Pete

Hi Mark I'm kinda wondering the same myself. I had an LS400 until last Oct. when I bought a 2005 LS430 that came with Bridgestone E33's. I have to admit, I find these a little noisier than the Dunlops or the Pirelli's I had on my LS400 but that could be due to the smaller tyre wall. I will be due a change in about 3 months or so and am starting to wonder about which ones to go for. Might be worth checking out some of "Haylands" replies on here. He is usually quite knowlegable about all things LS. The force is strong in that one!

Here's my list... not much suffering until I saw the light! 1992 - 1994: Seat Ibiza 1.2 (absolute heap of crap) 1994 - 1996: Nissan Bluebird 1.8 Turbo (great car, lots of toys for the time. Very quick acceleration but handling not so good) 1996 - 1999: Volvo S40 (From new, one of the 1st 40 brought into the UK. Very nice car, reasonably fast with great handling) 1999 - 2007: Lexus LS400 (3 year old jap import, had 12,000 miles when I bought it. A great car! Gave it to my sister last year!) 2007 - now: Lexus LS430 2005 model. Needless to say, an absolute gem. Although I do think the Bridgestone tyres are not as quiet as some of the ones I had on the LS400)

Hi Congrats on your new car. I have the 2005 model so think it's the same model... anyway to answer your question if you put the mirror adjusting switch to either left mirror or right mirror (i.e. not in the centre) the wing mirrors will dip down. At least I think that's what I did... it's either that switch or the mirror in / out switch. Have a shot and let me know. Glenn

Hi Pete Just out of curiosity do you have a website for the company doing tv's for the 430? Glenn

Hi Chris I have Bridgestone ER33's on my LS430. I bought the car with 23k kilometres on it and now have 36k on ths clock and the tyres still look like they'll do the same again. I actually suspect that the tyres are the originals that were on the car when bought as the same tyre is on the spare wheel which has not been used! The road noise is a touch louder than the Dunlops I had on my previous LS400 but it's minimal and to be honest I could be imagining it! I also had a set of Pirelli's on my LS400 at one stage and found them to be equally as quiet and lasted longer than the Dunlops. All in all I'll probably stick with the Bridgestones when I need to change... Hope this helps. Glenn

Hi Does anyone know what the warranty is on the paint job of an LS430? I have a 3 year old one and I have just noticed some slight bubbling on the bottom side of the drivers door... I bought my car 2nd hand in Germany and was just wondering if anyone could look up the warranty information for me on the paint job. Cheers Glenn

mmm To Sonax or to Sonus! That is the questions. By the way Steve, the weather has been crap over here the last week, ****** rain for days and I believe the UK has been having a bit of a heat wave.... so I think it is me consoling myself in the Lexus! By the way I see you have a Jap import? I had a 96 Jap import for 8 years and just changed it last year for the LS430. It was a great car to drive and never gave me an ounce of trouble. I actually gave it to my sister as her car had been written off.... 100,000 miles on the clock and it's still running like a clock and everything still works in it! You would get that from a Merc! Glenn

Hi I have a 2005 LS430 Astral Black and would like to try this Sonus SFX and also Collinite 476 stuff... can anyone tell me where to get them? I'm living in Spain at the moment so had a look on ebay but couldnt find them.... maybe on my next trip to the UK I can pick 'em up... does Halfords stock them? Glenn

I used a jubilee clip, like oyu have on a garden hose. Cut the tightening screw off it and wrapped it around the battery terminal, then tightened the terminal ontop of it... has worked fine ever since. What did you use as an insert?

Hi I had a similar problem with my LS400. I was away for 4 weeks and had trouble starting it. Had to use the jump leads. The battery was only 2 years old. However one of the battery terminals was not a perfect fit so I dont think the battery was getting topped properly when the engine was running. I had to make up an insert to put inside the terminal connection to make a tighter fit. Had not had any problems since. Hope this helps. Glenn

Hi Just a note on the rev's. I also found that 650 rpm was the ideal setting on my LS400. Anything lower gave slight vibration. Cheers Glenn hi steve,i changes the tps of another lexus, not sure yet if it has helped but will test drive it first to see how it goes.the car was absolte spot on at one point then this silly thing started trying to put my finger on what it is.like you say it sounds like the tps.i did notice the screws that hold the tps was ever so slightly loose.could that contribute to it?when it touches at 600 revs at idle the car so of vibrates a bit but increase a little it stops say about 610rpm but thats only when i press the gas pedal. any tipes on what i can do from here thanks simon

Hi You could try cleaning the injectors.... pouring some injector cleaner into the fuel tank. Another idea would be to get the timing checked. Glenn

Hiya Just a quick question, when the needle bounces around is it doing so in relation to the sound of the cars engine aswell? In other words can you hear the engine rev'ing eratically aswell as the needle? If not then it's probably just a signal problem to the rev counter or even a damaged spring in the dial needle. Glenn

Hiya Just a quick question, when the needle bounces around is it doing so in relation to the sound of the cars engine aswell? In other words can you hear the engine rev'ing eratically aswell as the needle? If not then it's probably just a signal problem to the rev counter or even a damaged spring in the dial needle. Glenn

Hi I'd agree with Bigste... I'd go for air in the system. There might be a bleed nipple somewhere on the system that you can connect a pipe to and bleed out the fluid until no bubbles are seen. Glenn

Hi Just a question on the HID bulbs, do you need to fit a modification kit for these or can they be used in a standard unit? Glenn

Hi It just means that they are slightly over tightened. I wouldnt worry about it, personally I dont think it makes a difference. Glenn

Looks great.... do you have any before pics.... would like to see what it looked like prior to your extensive makeover... Well done! Glenn

Hi Alex I had an LS400 and it started to whistle about the same speed. I found it was the wipers. After I had replaced them, I didnt set the drivers one properlyso it was not exactly level when at home position. This caused a slight whistle. There's a screw on the link arm for the wiper that you can use to adjust it to make sure the wiper is level and therefore fully hiden by the bonnet when in its home position. Also another think I noticed was that if I had my ventilation system on for the vents and on of the vents either in the front or back was closed I got a slight whistle, which turned out to be a leaf stuck in the input of the drivers vent so when the other vents were closed the wind was passing through the drivers vent faster causing the whistle. Just some of my experiences. Let me know if you find the source. Glenn

Hi I just upgraded from an LS400 to a 2005 LS430. If you can, go for a 2005 model as this came with 18" wheels, 6 speed auto gearbox and a few other trims as standard. I paid €40,000 for mine in Germany with 23,000km as I wanted a left hand drive as I was moving to Spain. I did get the timing belt done on my LS400 and it was under €1,000, I think it was about €700. In answer to one of the other replies, the predident package comes with controls on the rear armrest along with a fridge in the back aswell. I read up on some of the reviews online, top gear etc. and they can list the extras you get on the 2005 model and you can see if it's worth going the extra mile. GLenn

Hi Congrats on your new purchase. I recently pruchased a 2005 LS430 and opted to update the sat nav aswell... I did find some places in the Uk that were not on my previous version but on going through France and Spain it was still missing some information. I think it depends on the country as to whether they update their ground maps regularly. My opinion is it's not worth the money to update, although my previous version was 2005 so you might see a difference going from 2003 - 2007. As for the lights, I didnt bother putting the stickers on and I found my lights did not dip up that much on the left, certainly not enough to interfere with oncoming traffic and I never got flashed once by an on coming car. Hope this helps. Glenn

Hi Steve 2 possibilites: 1 - The cd is upside down. It has writen on the tray to place the label side of the CD down, so the data side of the cd is facing up. 2 - You're trying to read a copied cd. The cd player wont read CDRW's or mp3 files. It will read CDR's. Hope this helps getting you rocking to your tunes in your LS. Glenn