willskoda

Yeah everyone seems to like the FKU! lol

Well done on doing the Brighton marathon - any excuse to drive the car sounds good to me!!

Yeah I've seen and understand that after this little foray - Money wise the Mk4 is the one to go for but I prefer the shape of the 430 - I'll have to try it first of course and I may just stick with the vRS.

Anyway - here's a couple more photos for you all -

Crossing the Czech border

Before we left for home

Cheers Malc - to be honest we've all fallen in love with this car so we may keep it. I'm also thinking of trading in my Skoda for a 430 possibly. I've always loved a Lexus but I've made the mistake of driving one and now I want MORE!!!

Well having bought our 96 LS400 LPG in January the date of our Pan European road trip to Prague followed by running the Prague Marathon and driving back a few days later was finally upon us! A few uneducated people had laughed at me when I said we'd bought an old car that had done 130K - they didn't think it'd make it - they thought the idea was silly! I knew that it was going to fine! What I didn't realise was just how good it was going to be!

Despite knowing that these cars a built really well there was always going to be a bit of a risk. We'd had the car sorn since we bought it and I'd had to buy a new Battery as the old one was rubbish! We were entering a bit of the unknown but on Wednesday 9th May we set off from Leeds bound for Maidstone on the first leg of our trip. Through the constant rain we made it to our Travelodge late at night and ready for bed. Come the morning it was time to break borders - come lunch we were dining in Brugge - the self titled Yorkshire Elite Endurance team and their "Sexy Lexi" had made it to Brussels without incident and in 1st class comfort! What I'd always wished for was coming true - the car was performing as strongly as I had hoped and any doubts the others had were being dismissed! Our non car liking non driver even admitted that he loved the car and made a nest behind the drivers seat - that seat was his and no one else's! By 10 that night we arrived in Wurzberg in Germany. I had made a bee line for the drivers seat from Brugge knowing that it would be my opportunity to have my first experience on der Autobahn - wow! Only at 110 did the others even realise I was going quickly - at 135 I told myself to slow down as I was scared! Sexy Lexi took it all in her stride!

Friday we toured the Pilsner Urquell brewery in Pilzen before heading in to Prague - our final destination. The car sailed it. Sunday it was turn of our feet to do the transport - 26 miles 4hours 48minutes and 57 seconds later I completed my first ever marathon! Several days of aches, pains and beers followed before we hit the road for the return 1000miles. Again Sexy Lexi crossed the continant without even a noise - the Czech Republic and Germany were taken care of stopping over night in Cologne. Yesterday it was the turn of Holland, Belgium, France and the A1 to have the Lexi experience! By 9pm we were home. It was intended that after we had completed we ould sell this barge but how can we? We've been so far, experienced so much!

Next? Transporting the YEE team to the National Three Peaks looks like it will be Lexi's next challenge - I can't wait!

For those intersted in how much a V8 converted to LPG will cost you to do such a thing - about £370 - that was 1 tank of petrol (just in case) and 4 tanks of gas - and the best place to buy it is Belgium! 0.65 euro a litre - and that's on the motorway at services! Even cheaper in town!

When we arrived in Prague we swung by Lexus Praha for a photo - the dealers and customers all came out to see what was going on! We even got a friendly wave as we left.

Here we are outside the dealership (which by the way was the least impressive dealership I've seen!)

That's me far left touching the sign.

The car goes on - fantastically - a big thanks to Lexus for making such a fantastic motor!

Thanks for reading!

We did this challenge for charity - anyone wanting to make a donation can visit out JustGiving page and choose a runner who's charity you would like to support. We are supporting RNLI, Carers Resorce and Great Ormond Street Childrens Hospital.

For more information from our trip search twitter for the hashtag #Czechmates

Ah nice - same colour combo as mine! You have a very good car there and body work looks in really good nick! Have you checked the front heated seats work as this is a common failure but with no quick easy fix I'm afraid. Would you mind me asking how much it was for sale for?

Shame you can't drive some cars from the back isn't it?! Maybe that should be next for Lexus!

Mine's a 96 if that's any good - no side airbags

I have managed to remove the cluster and if anyone is interested I will post up the proceedure in due course.

Yes please!!

Also - a few MkIII parts via the eBay link on this thread if that helps?

Thanks for that!

If you have any pictures of your work I'd be interested in seeing it?

I'm thinking of fitting reverse sensors on the MkIII, without the aid on a wiring diagram etc could anyone tell me where I could find a feed for the reverse lights and what colour the wire is etc? i'm sure someone must have done this before!

Hi, I'm still thinking about trying to repair the heated seats and wondered how easy (or indeed hard) it was to remove the seat covers and what the procedure might me - or could I at least get my hand up the inside of the seat covers in order to try shove a new element up the back and seat?

As a slight aside, I have just ordered some of that BG44K after reading lots of good reviews about it.

I will feed back results if any.

Has anyone else tried it yet?

I popped a can in the tank last week... only the car is off the road until early May so I have no idea how good/bad it's going to be! abs66 - keep us updated!

^^Great minds obviously!^^

Try dropping from 80 to 70 and you'll be amazed at just how much less your car will use! I'm not being high horse, you shouldn't be speeding etc, but it's true! A good service as stated above will help a bit, maybe try some BG44K (google it) too. Also, Leeds LPG are doing conversions for just over £1k. With LPG half the price you'll make your money back in no time.

Are there any details anywhere on how to change the oil on a Mk3? - ie where is the sump plug, filter, how much oil needed etc?

EDIT - Ah yes - the How To guides! Silly me!

Is it necessary to have a new sump plug gasket?

Run flats are much harder and are likely to increase road noise because of that.

Blimey! That IS cheap! Must be a bit battered and bruised and the stealer is probably realistic about wanting to shift on what is a big, pricey to run for most, car. Could also be a Cat D and riddled with problems! Who knows...

A wheel well tank would be what I would go for I'd had the chance. The one I have is huge and takes up a lot of the boot!

Hi Pete, I have the Prinns system installed. I didn't get it done but might be worth a google!

Morrisons in Eccleshill nr Bradford were charing 67.9 the other day. A BP garage was charging the same in Leeds, however this jumped to 72.9 within two days. What is going on??!!

Thanks Steve - as always to font of Lexi knowledge! :)

Is there a way of disarming the alarm but locking the car?

Also my rev counter needle is flickering. I've tried to read up on it but I can't make head nor tale of what is said. How do you remove the dash clocks etc?

Since purchasing our Lexus for our trip to Prague Marathon a few issues have been thrown up. I've sorted a couple of issues thanks to answers supplied on the forum. Rather than taking up numerous threads I thought I'd ask a fe questions all at once. All the issues are minor but I'd like to sort them out if at all possible. So here's what's wrong;

When locking/unlocking with the remote, the idicators do not flash as suggested in the manual

Front heated seats don't work - can I use an after market heated seat kit and wire it into the original electrics?

Low brake pad warning illuminates when steering wheel is turned to full lock.

How can I get my radio code?

I think that's all actually. Not as many as I thought! Thanks all in advance!

Worry not - I worked it out :)

I've identified my cladding code but cannot find it on google. I'm looking for UCA6N - medium grey metallic but alas I cannot find it. Does anyone know how to find paint in this colour online in a rattle can?

It does indeed!! Thanks! I'll have a look at the throttle body - well actually I don't know how to - any help?