dsutton1974

I should have listened when I posted this last year... the Merc has turned into a bit of a money pit ! Since April 2013 I have repaired or replaced the following : parking sensor front brake discs, pads, hoses, stone guards rear brake hoses all four springs front left ball-joint abs sensor water pump & belts thermostat gearbox oil change new parking brake cable replaced faulty stereo (with an ebay special) paid Mercedes to re-code new stereo (arrggghhh!) refurbished all four wheels and four new tyres major service minor service That little lot adds up to almost £4k !! At least the next owner won't have to spend anything on it for a while... Looking around I should be able to get a very nice, low mileage, late LS430 for what I can sell the E Class for, maybe even an early LS460. It could quite easily be the last car I ever need to buy... the only trouble is finding one with the spec I want. Has to be fully loaded with ML stereo, radar-cruise, air suspension etc. Ideally silver with black leather - I am guessing they all have the same wood ? Anyway - as soon as I've found my new LS I will be back (for good). Cheers, Daniel.

I am selling my 1997 DHP-pack LS400 (rev III) 127000 miles Recent refurb of the 17" wheels, good tyres, recent service at Lexus Poole. Only known fault is the drivers' heated seat element isn't working. PM / email for details. Pics in this thread - http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/81796-it-was-never-meant-to-be-a-long-term-affair/ (It's also on AutoTrader) Daniel.

...but it wasn't supposed to be over this quickly My wife has persuaded me to part company with my LS400 after just 6 months. Despite it being so comfortable that she falls asleep in it every time we go somewhere, she doesn't like the (lack of) styling and certainly doesn't appreciate the economy when pootling around town. Anyway, this morning I had a test drive in a Mercedes E320 Cdi, and I have to say that it was very nice. Similar in some ways, totally different from the LS in others, but it's comfortable and a bit more up-to-date. I pick it up at the end of next week. So, it was a brief thing, but I must say that I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of life with my LS and I am really looking forwards to when a used LS600h is within reach in a few years. The previous owner asked me to give him first refusal should I want to sell her, so I've sent him an email with some details of things I've sorted since last October. Should this fall through I will be listing her for sale on here at around £2k. I gave her a good bath earlier and took some photos whilst the sun was out... Thanks for looking, Daniel.

I had my LS400 wheels refurbished last week and they look like new. I haven't seen a set of after-market wheels on an LS that I liked... the OEM wheels just look right.

Hello - the refurb I had was a complete strip down, acid dip, bead blast, powdercoat and oven bake. The tyres were then refitted with new (stainless) valves, and balanced. They are like new, and will be very hard-wearing. Cleaning is as simple as a sponge and soapy water. Check out their website for more details : http://www.thewheelspecialist.co.uk/ Daniel.

Hello... these are the DHP (Dynamic Handling Pack) wheels... 17" rims with 245/50r17 P-Zeros. Cost of the refurb, including removing tyres, full refurb / powdercoat and new valves & balancing was just over £300. The rims were very tatty, although not damaged, just lots of peeling lacquer which looked awful. Money well spent IMHO.

Had my DHP wheels refurbed by The Wheel Specialist in Bournemouth on Thursday... have to say they've done a cracking job. Also discovered something I'd not noticed before... a little fold down sun-shade above the rear view mirror !! OOPS - apologies for the huge photos !

My wife works for a motor factors... I acquired a 25 litre container of 5w30 fully synth Quantum Synta Z for under £50 last week - enough to do both of our cars, twice ! A set of wiper blades sets me back under £4 :)

Spent a couple of hours sorting the boot seal with silicone this afternoon... hope that's cured it !

My LS had it's MOT today (went straight through, as expected), but when I lifted the boot carpet this morning to check that the spare tyre was inflated and legal I found about 4 INCHES of water sat in the wheel well After taking out the wheel and tools etc I removed the two large bungs and gallons of water ran out onto the road... The boot lining is now hanging up in the garage to dry out. Now here's the weird bit... nothing above the water level is wet! I really can't suss where this huge volume of water came from. The boot seal all looks to be intact and undamaged. I will get the seal off tomorrow and clean all the gutters and then silicone it back on - hopefully this will sort it.

Hi all I signed up for Gold Membership on 7th November and haven't had anything in the post yet, and no 'Gold Member' logo thingy. The FAQs say it normally takes 14 days to arrive... Am I just being impatient ? I signed up under the same username as on here (dsutton1974) - my login works fine on the goldmembership site. Any ideas ? Cheers, Daniel.

How much !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bloody hell, A £1K for tyre replacement. Mike Yup - http://www.blackcircles.com/catalogue/pirelli/p-zero-asimmetrico/245/50/R17/Y/99/f?returnurl=%2forder%2ftyres%3fversion%3d2.0%26width%3d245%26profile%3d50%26rim%3d17%26speed%3dAny&tyre=11024926

Anyone have a definitive answer for a MKiii with DHP wheels (245x50r17) - my recent acquisition came with 4 virtually new Pirelli P-Zeros and I am keen to not to have to replace them too often at £250 a corner !! I am currently running 35psi all round, which seems to be doing the job, but the previous owner seems to think that they should be lower than that. Any ideas ?

Cheers :) BTW - signed up for gold membership today... presume there's a manual process to link it to my username ?

I checked my cabin filter at the weekend and it was filthy, so I ordered a new one from Eurocarparts yesterday (they do Jap parts too) and it came today. BTW - they have a 30% discount offer on filters at the moment - enter 30NOW at checkout. The old one had an arrow with UP^ printed on the side, the new one has an arrow to show the direction of airflow. I am guessing by the state of the old filter that the airflow direction is from top to bottom (seeing as the old filter was full of bits of leaves on the top of the panel). So daft question, I presume the new filter actually needs the arrow pointing down, to indicate the direction of the airflow, rather then the other way up ? Cheers in advance, Daniel.

Hi Patrick, Same colour and year as the one I acquired a couple of weeks ago. I too have the same problem with the driver's seat... seems to be a common problem on the MKiii. Are those wheels from the SC430 ? Not seen those before and they're not the DHP wheels that I have. Enjoy your new car, and your new friend at your local petrol station ;) Daniel.

Good effort @steve2006 Think I need to do mine "properly" this weekend... I think I will wait for my wife to go out before I start washing them in the bath though !

...and I am loving it more and more each day I keep finding new cubby holes - coin tray on driver's side, removable box under the passenger seat etc. I've fixed (replaced) the snapped antenna with a replacement mast from eBay, and cleaned the floor mats. The only thing that doesn't work properly is the Aircon LCD back light, which only seems to come on after 20 minutes or so of driving. Isn't really a problem, but mildly annoying that EVERYTHING else works just fine, including the stereo LCD display & back light. Not sure what I am searching for and although I've found various posts on here about replacing capacitors etc, I haven't found a thread about how to actually do it. Anyone got any ideas or links to a suitable thread, please ? Cheers, Daniel.

I think I'd be sourcing a mint F40 if I had £400k spare...

Good spot... yes, it's Paul's old car. As far as I can tell everything works as it should, except the aerial which has been snapped off ( by a car wash?) at some point in the past. I am assuming I can follow the instructions on here to replace the mast ? Also, the top LCD display works perfectly, but doesn't light up for a while... it seems to come on after about 30 minutes of driving, so presumably once a dry joint or something warms up. Apart from that, it just needs a good clean and an oil change as I don't know when it was last done. Loving it to bits so far.

Hi guys... (big assumption that most owners are chaps) I picked up my first Lexus at the weekend. It's a 1997 LS400 with 123,000 miles on the clock, FLSH and with the DHP too ! Here are a couple of quick pictures from the previous owner... I will take some more once I've had a chance to clean her up a little. Her name is Louis (apparently) I have only done about 160 miles so far (mostly motorway / DC) and have to say that this is easily the nicest car I have ever owned, and SOOO QUIET !!! Here's to a long and happy relationship with Louis ! Regards, Daniel.