Titch LS

You CAN mix both. The Pink is Toyota long-life coolant already mixed 50/50. Adding Red (which is not long-life but is concentrated and should be diluted), shortens the life of the Pink but will in no way gum up your cooling system or harm it. You can safely use both if you have to. Don't ever use Bluecol or similar though.

I heard it from the horses mouth ; a Lexus technician told me that the 2000 mk4 LS400 was the best car Lexus has ever made (not including the gorgeous LFA, of course!) which incidentally, according to Jeremy Clarkson, was the best car he had ever driven. That's praise indeed coming from him,considering he once arranged for a tank to blow up an LS400 he had been demonstrating.

If your mpg figures have become worse for no apparent reason, the favourite culprit is the coolant temperature sensor. A faulty one fools the ECU into thinking that the engine is cold when it's hot so it keeps it running too rich and the mpg figures go down. Fitting another one yourself is fairly straight forward and they don't cost much either. LS owners on the American forum also claim that changing this sensor restores performance somewhat. Makes me think there could be something it.

I've also used Rock Auto a few times. By stabiliser bar bushes they mean Anti-roll bar bushes. Very easy and cheap job on an LS400. Had mine done a couple of years ago. Not the same as Strut bar bushes though; they are towards the front end of the car and the bar joins back to the lower control arm. Only Lexus supply them.

When driving at slow speeds over rough tarmac I was hearing the occasional clunking noise. Turns out that the Strut Bar Bushes (Cushions) had completely worn out after 145K miles. I ordered some new ones over the phone from Hatfield Lexus who kindly gave me 10% discount. The parts chap actually dropped them off at my house! Also, I had 2 new front tyres fitted (Goodyear Efficient Grip Performance) and a wheel alignment done, so I'm back to smooth running again. The bushes/cam bolts etc were £176 total, (only available from Lexus). Japex then fitted them for a further £108. The tyres were £98 each (from Camskill), plus £16 to fit both, (again, Japex). I was happy with that. Now just got to cope with British roads!

Nearly as good as the 'invincible' Toyota truck on Top Gear.

Funny this should come up. On a quiet residential street the other evening I was just leaving our friends house and starting my car when another LS400 slowed and stopped beside mine. The young driver gave the 'thumbs up' and drove off. I didn't know him from Adam but he obviously knew what we all know, that there's no other cars like them.

Stuart, you shouldn't have to take the undertray off. There is a pulldown flap built into the undertray on the passenger side held by two 10mm bolts. Release it, down It will come revealing your oil filter. Voila!

On two occasions recently I've left my mobile in the central console. Both times it set off the alarm. Not straight away mind, but it did go off. It's not done it since I removed the offending item. I'm sure it's not coincidence. Iv'e learned the lesson.

I've had that problem on my LS 400. Nothing to do with the steering lock though. The brass tumblers wear in the barrel over time and jam. A squirt of WD on the key blade and into the barrel usually cures it for ages.

Volvo's are very nice cars, well built, comfortable and safe (a bit like my Mk4 LS400), but they have never won a global record 14 JD Power reliability surveys.

The number plate does not check out on any MOT history site. VERY dodgy indeed.

There should be an LPG fuse fitted that you can pull that will disable the entire system and allow the car to run only on petrol.

This confusion regarding coolant seems typical of Toyota; great brand but their use of multi-labelling and ever changing part numbers for identical items/parts does become a bit frustrating at times. I've needed a certain part and found a different part number for it depending on the VIN of the vehicle, yet the part was common to all LS400's.

Toyota Red is concentrated, ---that word is actually printed on the 5L and 1L bottles you can buy on ebay. 'Pre mix' means just that; Concentrated, i.e. before being mixed with water. Toyota Red is described as pre mix, not pre mixED. You have to add water. That's why its £25 for 5L. With Toyota Pink, it is already pre mixed so you don't add water. With that you pay for the convenience and also it's designed for longer life. Phil, that fly needs a good swatting. Seems like some bottles of Red have pre mix printed on them and some have pre mixed on them like in your photo. Some bottles of Red also have CONCENTRATED written on them. You can see them on ebay. All I can say is this; Red has to be mixed with distilled water and Pink doesn't.

Toyota Red is concentrated, ---that word is actually printed on the 5L and 1L bottles you can buy on ebay. 'Pre mix' means just that; Concentrated, i.e. before being mixed with water. Toyota Red is described as pre mix, not pre mixED. You have to add water. That's why its £25 for 5L. With Toyota Pink, it is already pre mixed so you don't add water. With that you pay for the convenience and also it's designed for longer life.

When discussing Lexus cars, it seems a certain person from Dudley has now become infamous on the Pistonheads site. Make of that what you will.

Toyota Red is concentrated, ---that word is actually printed on the 5L and 1L bottles you can buy on ebay. 'Pre mix' means just that; Concentrated, i.e. before being mixed with water. Toyota Red is described as pre mix, not pre mixED. You have to add water. That's why its £25 for 5L. With Toyota Pink, it is already pre mixed so you don't add water. With that you pay for the convenience and also it's designed for longer life.

PJD, as you probably already know,Toyota Red will need diluting 50/50 with de-ionised water before using in the vehicle. It will mix with Pink long life perfectly well, but reduce the time between coolant changes that's all. In other words It will lose its 'long-lifeliness'. Don't use Bluecol or such though, as it could produce a gel if mixed with Red/Pink and that will gum up your cooling system because it's a different formula. Alright on its own at a pinch, but you would need a good flush first.

Thank goodness for online MOT history checks. Do sellers like this think all buyers are stupid?

John, on your 1998 mk4 the CTS is even easier to get to than that shown in the above photo of an early LS in Phil's post. See photo above. (No distributor wiring harness to have to work around on a 1998 model).

Could well be, and they're not too hard to fit on a Mk4. either. As a reasonably cheap part I would try replacing this first and then go down the more expensive garage/dealership diagnostic route. You never know it might just work. A new CTS is pretty good maintenance anyway after 17 years.

It's called being 17 years old. Arthritis is setting in.

Stuart , nice buy. I think the wood adds a touch more class to the LS 400 cabin. Lexus should have had this in mind when they first brought out the car. They cottoned on in the end though, just look at the LS430 cabin. Pure class.

I fitted an HID bulb once (unnecessarily as it turned out, I'd borrowed a fuse and later forgot to replace it,--doh!) and they can only go in one way by design. Don't understand the 'upside down' comment.