Rodt

Nice to know that 'a bit of a whack' is considered acceptable in the rarified atmosphere of the Lexus forums. That tends to be about the limit of my mechanical ability. My bouncing over the speed humps must have caused something of the same effect.

Well, there's a turnup for the book! Working as an insurance broker I am naturally disposed towards being a miserable old git so the news of the possible expense of minor repairs to Shirley my LS400 didn't help my mood. I drove rather too quickly over the office car park speed humps and, hey presto!, I once again have a functioning speedometer. Must be a loose connection which I will have my man check asap. Sadly the water temperature gauge remains floppy but that could be a loose connection as well so fingers crossed.

1996 LS400 140,000 miles and going strong. What a fabulous car and I still can't believe it cost me less than £1k. All going well until a few weeks ago when the water temperature gauge packed up, just flopping down. My local non-Lexus garage gave her a quick checkover for free (thanks, Will) and concluded that it was the gauge that was at fault. The £460+ "supply and fit" estimate from my nearest Lexus dealer came a a shock. As I have 3 other middle-aged cars that leave love and care - and access to my bank account - I decided to take my chances on it and start saving. Today, the speedometer has done the same. Needle just gone floppy. Odometer seems to be working OK. Again, not something that is too urgent as my Tomtom satnav provides a speed readout but I suppose I ought to check prices again. Just had a thought though. 2 instruments fail within weeks of each other. Is this the start of losing all gauges? Does anyone have any thoughts as to keeping the cost down (DIY not an option due to physical limitations added to general mechanical ineptitude) and avoiding further failues, if such a thing is possible.

Coolant is up to level and the heater works as it should. Probably is just a loose connection or a faulty gauge. I do quite a lot of parking - sorry, I'm sure I meant driving - on the M25 during the week so I reckon any weakness in the actual cooling system would show up pretty quickly.

Typically, a friend had asked me how the Lexus was going and got my usual reply of "Brilliant, best car I've ever owned. Everything still works perfectly." 20 minutes later I realised that the water temperature gauge was below the C mark. It bounces up if I belt the top of the dashboard but otherwise just flops. Has anybody got a quick - cheap - fix or shall I just live with it?

I had this problem when I first bought my 1998 LS400 a few months back. With mine it only happened after driving for a distance reasonably fast - say 50+ - then slowing fairly quickly. Advice given then that it was a dirty throttle body and one of the nice folk on here posted a series of photos describing exactly how to rectify it. However, on the basis that I tend to break stuff rather than mend it, I decided to try a simple solution. A bottle of fuel injector cleaner in each of 3 consecutive tankfuls seems to have cured it completely. As for the knock, that's out oof my comfort area. Good luck.

Mine is £250 with protected bonus and agreed value but then I am 58, IAM member and Cardington A. Would have less if I could garage her but she won't fit. To be fair, she will fit but then I would have to exit via the sunroof which is a touch undignified. With a LS 400 costing me less than £1500 to put on the road including 6 months tax and 12 months insurance, I cannot see that an LS460 would add much to my driving pleasure, apart from increasing the odds of my breaking a speed limit here or there.

Mine is the standard SC Toledo so not much chance of power snapping anything. "Daisy" is a very bright yellow and externally standard. Inside is a 13" leather rimmed steering wheel and VW Golf VR6 front seats. All can be returned to standard in the unlikely event that I decide to sell her on.

I have now done the maths and decided against the LPG option. I have a commute of 25 miles each way to do each weekday, 22 of which is motorway/car park i.e. M25. I now have available an Alfa Romeo GTV 2.0 as well as my MGF, both capable of 30+mpg. Would not be fair to ask the Triumph Toledo to participate so spreading the extra 10,000 miles a year between the 3 cars isn't going to make spending money on the LS worthwhile, especially as my firm have offered a sufficient pay rise to cover my extra costs. In the unlikely event of my ever moving on from the LS (a 460 is tempting but too costly just now) I'll have another look. BTW, I bought the Alfa while shopping for a diesel hatchback; the Toledo while shopping for a Morris Minor; the Lexus while shopping for an estate. I was actually looking for an MGF when I bought mine so I'm not totally a lost cause.

1) Aston Martin DB7 5.9 2) Triumph Stag 3) Alfa Romeo SZ 4) Lexus LS460 5) Ariel Atom 6) Land Rover S1 or SII 7) Jaguar E-Type Mk1 3.4 8) Morris Minor Traveller 9) TVR Chimera 10) Breakdown truck - for 2, 3 & 9

I will be very interested to see the updates on economy.

Thanks for the advice, folks. Looks to me as though I need to do a thorough investigation of costs based on the car being worth the same after conversion as it is now so it's just the saving on fuel costs against the cost of conversion and servicing. We shall see....

I currently use my 1996 LS400 one week in three (I share out mileage between it, an MGF and a Triumph Toledo) for commuting 5 miles each way plus one or two 70-100 mile trips a month so around 6,500 miles a year. I average around 22mpg. My office is shortly to move and I will have a 25 mile each way commute, mostly on the M25 in rush hour both way. I really don't want to use the 38 year old Toledo for this so mileage on the LS will be up to around 10,000 a year. I should get slightly better mpg, say 25, due to the longer runs. I understand that LPG conversions can be had for around £1,000 so question is or rather questions are: The LS cost me just under £1k + a set of tyres. Is it worth spending nearly as much again just for the LPG conversion? She just sailed through the MoT with no advisories save a slightly damaged front number plate and almost unbelieveably clean emissions results.. I have never driven an LPG powered car. Is there likely to be any noticeable performance difference? I haven't really looked but is LPG hard to find? If I had a problem such as redundancy and needed to move the Lexus on (Heaven forfend, I love my Lexus) is the LPG conversion likely to increase or decrease interest in the car? Heart is telling me not to bother and that all will be OK as it is. Head is telling m I need to invest to save. Any advice or guidance would e grealy appreciated.

Next time I have occasion to go near the garage I'll get them to replace the struts. I have enough trouble with the Parish Council noticeboard that keeps trying to eat me without meeting my end beneath the bonnet of my Lexus. Incidentally, I have just discovered that the very old walking stick - believed to be my grandfathers' - I have been using as a bonnet prop is actually a Victorian gentlemans' sword stick so that has been rapidly exchanged for a more modern moutaineering stick. Probably not a good idea to be carrying around a bladed object even in the boot.

Great news. Thank god for my village garage as they have looked after my wifes car mine and my childrens cars and he has always said do you want to try through your car club if you can get the part cheaper. He has even seen my son visit the shop attached to the garage and noticed he had a brake light out, gone into the shop and asked him to drive the car round the corner so he can fit him a new bulb. Then said I'll see Dad for the money and charged me just for the bulb. I dread the day he retires as there is no one to take over the business. Mike I do have a nearby garage who does great things for my motley car collection - currently the Lexus; MGF and Triumph Toledo - but I don't like to take advantage. When my Nissan QX Maxima 3.0V6 - best car I have ever owned other than the Lexus - broke the exhaust when I drove it down a rough track, I was quoted nearly £600 to replace it. The garage fixed it by welding in a length of exhaust pipe salvaged from a Bentley for £25.

Well, she sailed through the MoT this morning with just the one advisory - a small crack in the plastic is causing the front number plate to start discolouring. The gas struts for the bonnet @ £39.18 the pair inclusive arrived very quickly but the MoT garage wouldn't fit them as they had not supplied them. Wiil get around to it when the rain/snow/wind stops - Lexus won't fit in my garage - as, after all, lifting the bonnet is a fairly rare event. Looking forward to another year of cruising in comfort.

There was nothing else. Maybe the tester was just trying to be helpful? Wasn't my car at the time.

Thanks for the excellent advice. At £39 a pair I may as well get them done. I do occasionally feel the need to check the oil and I definitely do have to top up the washer bottle as I live in a very grubby part of Buckinghamshire and work in an even grubbier part of Hertfordshire. I find these tasks simpler if the car is not trying to eat me!

Makes sense. I'm sure the dog and cat won't mind hunting their own food while I source some bonnet struts....

1996 LS400 going in for MoT next week. All seems OK so far as I can tell from the viewpoint of a mechanical gorilla. However, on last year's there is an advisory for weak bonnet struts and, to be fair, they have just about had it. They slow the closing of the bonnet a bit but not much and will not keep it raised. I have a stout walking stick that I use as a prop. On checking through the current MoT requirements, I cannot find any mention of the bonnet struts so can anyone tell me if I need to replace these now for the MoT or can I wait until the budget allows?

Far too generous. Didn't handle as well as that!

I had a MKI Capri 3.0GT which really was dire on ice and snow - twice resulting in my having to sleep in the car due an inability to climb hills. Still loved it to bits though!

No traction control on my 1996 LS400 but, shod with new Barum tyres, it has been surprisingly good in the snow although I have made three discoveries. 1) ABS is no use on sheet ice because the tyres need to have something to grip; 2) ABS does not work in reverse; 3) An LS400 just fits sideways down a standard single track country lane (yes, I thought I had better see if I could make it go sideways and recover. I did - just!).

Comfy? The drivers' seat on my 1996 LS400 is better than my leather recliner at home and infinitely superior to my "executive" office chair. So much so that I worry about falling asleezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.... Your LS430 is the same colour as mine so good choice. I am getting 22mpg including commuting which is, I think, very reasonable for the level of comfort and better than the Jaguar XJ6 2.9 and XJS 4.0 I had before, just about the same as the XJR 3.6. None of which had the comfort or reliability of the LS. Agreed keeping to speed limits is not easy. The cruise control does work from 25mph up but I'm not sure it's sensible to use it around town.

Oops! Completely forgot to have the throttle body check out. However, I had already used an over-the-counter fuel injection additive and so did the garage. Have since had a couple of high(ish) speed runs - obviously totally within the safe and legal limits - with no issues at all. The tickover was around 500rpm at first but is now around 700. The handbook suggests 750 so we're not far off. I had to buy 4 new tyres as the nearly new Avons were slashed, thanks to a local who was not happy about my objection to his planning application, which had not been budgeted for so I had to fit Barum Bravuris as they were the cheapest I could find @ £316.00 the set. They actually feel better in the wet than the Avons and certainly no more noisy at motorway speeds. The slasher was caught and prosecuted but he's a halfwit stooge with no money and the originator of the deed could not be proved. Plus I opted for a £350 excess to keep the insurance costs down so I'm rather irritated at being out of pocket. Still, it's a brilliant car and I love driving it on all sorts of roads.