GreyBeard

Basingstoke, Newbury, Swindon, Gloucester (great new dual carriageway from M4 J15 to within a coupla miles of Birdlip hill) - about an hour and 45 mins! you youngsters have got no staying power!!

i like the idea of lexus and it's technology, whether 'improved upon german' or homegrown, but at the back of my mind i wonder just how good their electronics are? reading the queries on LOC, many are to do with climate control and instruments (both virtually computer driven devices) and they both fail after 125k or so, or 12years. what future for 'drive by wire' throttle and brake systems when they get old?

hi - you've replied previously about this problem, and were working on a solution - did it pan out? can you do a longterm fix on the climate/clock display and the instrument needles? without sending it to USA? reading's a lot closer than an airfreight trip!

thanks for the pics, ernie, you wouldn't think the starter would run with so much dust inside (and if lexus are so cute with longevity, why don't they design it out?) having studied the pics some more, would a spot of weld hold the bolthead in place, then just undo the nut (or is the nut off something else, and the bolt goes into a tapped hole?) thanks anyway for the insight. Bob

now, if clair's post had been the first one - few of us would have got so excited and the whole matter would have slid by almost unnoticed - aint hindsight wonderful! glad you've cleared it up now.

Fags had a hand in my fathers early exit...........blocked arteries... I share your thoughts on the look what i've done......... He'd have been well chuffed with the Lexus....... He was a bit of a car fanatic..........He bought a new Hilman Avenger GT in 1971 spent all the savings........posted to Germany and went rallying in it.........car cost £700 odd and his wages were £8/10 a week i was reading this thread and thought how sad, but then given the title, you couldn't expect much else. odly, i could've been your dad - i bought a new hilman avenger 'tophat' 1.6L auto in 1973, cost me £1,070 but can't remember what i was earning. i never smoked, but did get blocked arteries so had to have a double bypass 6 months ago. i wasn't overweight, took lots of excercise, and had low blood pressure, so don't think that if he'd not smoked he'd have been OK. i'm convinced they haven't got a bloody clue what causes heart attacks, but they have to hang it on something.

sorry - click on 'add reply'

if you click on 'reply to this topic' there is a box for attachments down on the left centre below the message box, with max capacity of 102400 thingies, so not much room for a jpeg over 100k. someone else may make a suggestion, but mine would be to send me an email (by pressing 'email' button i guess!). just in case, i'll send you a PM with my email address.

these probs are well covered in other topics, but i'm still learning y way around the site so cannot tell you exactly where. but, consol comes out by starting at the gearshift and working upwards. lights behind climate control etc, are not a user servicable item, tho there's a guy in the states who will do it for 200 dollars, or 150 will get you the bits to do it yourself. his website gives excerpts from the manual telling you how to get them out. his address is jimlwalker@sbcglobal.net and he was very helpful, tho i've not bought anything off him yet. mine's a 1990 LS400. hope this helps.

Welcome to the club! i've only recently joined, having purchased a 1990 LS400 as my 31st car but 1st lexus. unfortunately it blew a head gasket on the way from the auctions to me, so it's in the shop having £1700 worth of work done, and i've yet to drive it! i guess with new lexs, you don't know what repair bills are, other than servicing!! join the gold membership and save money on that too.

thanks for your input - mine must be in a similar state i guess. did you take digital pictures? could you email the most useful ones to me? hope all goes well with the re-installing!

hi - i've got a 1990 LS400 and was also thinking about gas. did you get any responses from the others to your enquiry about their experiences? have you gone any further with it? i've filled in a questionaire on a firm's web site for a quotation, but they've not come back to me. i'd appreciate your thoughts.

i had an email reply from our local police stating that the rumours about the CCTV speed cameras on the M4 were all false, as there are categorically no cameras on the new matrix signs. when i replied that there clearly are cameras mounted on the top of each sign, the silence of their reply was deafening! whoever, another source said the sign mounted cameras work like the TrafficMaster ones, in that they read the centre four digits of a number plate, then calculate the time taken to get from one sign to the next, and this information is used 'solely for calculating the average speed of traffic'. it needs only a tweek of a computer program to read all the digits, and then issue tickets, bit like a gold plated toll booth really!

this might add a small smile to this topic:

if anyone is still reading posts on insurance rates, tesco direct quoted me £399 fully comp, with full no claims protected, leagal assistance and replacement car, but excess was £400. excess at £250 boosted premium to £450. Autumn 2003.

hi, i was hoping someone would reply to your post cos i've got one from 1990, and thought i would benefit from knowing how to get these two bolts out! is it possible the the harness/pipes have a different route on RHD versions, so we don't experience the problem? i hope you've got it sorted by now, and can give us the benefit of your endeavours!

try misco http://www.misco.co.uk/productinformation/...NITOR/index.htm they were cheap for a recent printer/scanner/fax/copier machine i bought.

thanks for your reply. car is not an import, allegedly, cos it was first registered here in 1990. tho i see someone has offered a CD of the manual, so i'll see how i get on with that.

i can't believe i paid £25 to read this stuff!! drive sensibly, type sensibly, live happily!

i've bought a bit of a pup, 1990 LS400, in that it seems to be a recovered stolen one, or an HP snatchback, cos it has no spare wheel, tools, handbook, remote control fob, or anything else that wasn't bolted down! is there a workshop manual available? has anyone got a spare handbook? any little assistance would be welcome.

i too have tried to find out, and the Thatcham site didn't help cos my lexus is a 1990, and their records don't seem to go back that far. it would also help if i had a handbook, or even a manual. are workshop manuals available for the lexus 400?

i have an LS400 1990 and have heard the same noise, or similar, especially from the drivers door, but usually only when i've just started the engine, i'm stationery (or very slow) and it's pulling about 1500 revs in Drive. i wondered if it was something to do with an elecronic noise being picked up by the door speaker, but like you, will probably endup taking the door card off. but that's after i've had the blown head gasket/s fixed!