Bassman

Will do mate. I don't think he's been on here for a while now. Shame really as he's only 5 miles or so from me. Email or phone would do.

Hi, A month or so ago, Dale_v posted on here about offering garage services for a LS400. He does not seem to come on here much and i would like to contact him as he is very local to me, just a few miles. Does anyone have any contact details for him please? maybe a phone number if possible Many thanks Keith

65 and still feeling 70 :-)

The skewer idea is superb..thanks mate. The tyres are continentals so not really a budget make I suppose. I am going to do as mark suggested and pack the spline boots with grease, and try tha t see if its sorted it out. And when I know then I will change the rear tyres. Cheers for the help folks. Keith

Nice one Mark, many thanks for that. I will sort that and hope it cures it, as apart from that it's a great car. Will let you know how it goes. Cheers Keith

Nice looking car mate. Only just joined myself.but welcome back. Keith

That's the way it feels mate. I do thnk its coming from the back of the car. Not tried to drive through it, as its pretty bad as you get speed up to 45 or so. When I stop then most of the time it stops and might not come back for days... Does the car have grease points or do you just grease the splines as well as you can with out stripping things down?

Hi Bren, It's not a whine like a wheel bearing.. It's more like a deep vibration. I will grease the joints and see if that makes a difference to it, thanks for that Marc Still favouring a tyre though as after they had re-balanced them it was worse, but still went off after I pulled over for a second.. It's a strange one...

Absolutely love it mate.. It drives like a three or four year old car. For a car that has covered 145,000 miles its amazing. The engine is simply superb and you just can't feel gear changes at all. Suspension is excellent, no creaks, groans nothing except a great ride. Expected a few teething problems but when these are sorted it will be a great car for us. I had a good chance to look around under the car today, when it was on the lift, and its in really nice condition, no rust at all, everything is good apart from the little plastic link for the headlamp levelling, which is broken, although the guy doing the alignment showed it to me and It sure looked like a fresh break to me, as the outside was wet and the break was dry.. so I need a new one of those, but that's all I found there. These cars must be built like a tank!

I bought the car from a family friend of the old chap that owned it, he told me that the car was stood for at least three months, probably closer to four months. When I got the car home and checked the tyre pressures as I always do when I get a new car, there're all at least 10 lbs down per wheel. Took me bloody ages with my little Halfords foot pump! I don't think that has done the tyres any good at all. Would not surprise me to find that one has separated inside.

Thanks for the advice mate, its appreciated. I am going to change the two rear tyres anyway, as there is only a couple of mm left on them. Fronts are still fine, maybe 5mm or so. I don't think it's from the front as I don't feel it through the steering, but through the car. I suppose that I will have to wait and see if I goes when I change those tyres. Will be a start anyway. Cheers Keith

Hi folks, Still trying to get my car to 100% and it seems there is a bit more to do now. Twice before today i have had a deep "Thrumming" type vibration at approx 40 mph. It reminded me of a rear wheel out of balance--badly. But its not there all the time, most of the time the car is fine. Anyway, i have just got back from having the car computer tracked and all the wheels balanced just in case it was that, and its still there. If anything now they have re-balanced the wheels its a bit worse. I will need a couple of rear tyres soon anyway so am hoping it is one of them badly out, but i cant really see how it can be if the balancing was done properly. I have had a similar type vibration before on another car, and that was a rear tyre that needed balancing.. So any ideas please on what it could be. Its definately something rotational, either wheel out of true, maybe a drive shaft U/J or brake discs warped, or a tyre. Any advice would be gratfully received. Thanks folks Keith

Sounds like a nice car mate, look forward to seeing it. No worries about cam belts for you then eh! £1200! :-)

You got sorted out then mate, that's good. sorry cant help with that problem mate. too new to the LS world to be able to help with much yet. So any pictures then! :-)

90k belt change interval on a VVTi motor? That's thrown the cat amongst the pigeons Mark!.. Lol, but it actually helps a lot.. Thank you mate. If thats the case, then it works out like this. The Harrogate garage did their first service at 70525 miles on 31/10/2005. They remember changing the cam belt on this car for the old lad that owned it. It's now done 144500 so only 74K ish added, so even if it was changed during the first service they did, and its a 90K interval, it shouldn't be due for another 16K. Makes me feel like leaving it for a while and doing some other stuff I want to get done.

Just so you know, the figures from Lexus Sheffield were: Cambelt alone, no water pump or pulleys etc. £425 With tensioner pulley £489 With water pump and pulley £584.60 Compare to indy at £420 for belt only, but inc oil and oil filter/air filter and pollen filter change, and check over..not a great difference, but obviously cheaper at an indy garage. I thought that was a good price though from Sheffield Lexus. cheers Keith

The garage at Harrogate also has a full guarantee Mike. Here is the print about it from their website. "In the unlikely event of a replaced part failing due to incorrect fitment or the part itself being faulty, we offer free parts and labour for replacement within 12 month or 12,000 miles commencing from the date of original fitment, whichever is the earlier." I asked them about the guarantee and they said it covers this job. It's a bloody minefield out there, but hopefully will get a bit easier as I get used to the car. Thanks for the advice mate, Keith

Have just come off the phone to the garage, and asked them to quote for the water pump and to ask her about changing iders etc. The lady i spoke to told me that when she got the price from Lexus for the belt she did ask about idlers etc, as she said they normally change them with other cars. She said that the Lexus place told her that they did not automatically change them when they do a belt, and thats why she had not quoted for those also. As for the water pump she did say that it coud be a good idea to change it at the same time, and will come back to me with the new price etc. She is also getting the cost for idlers, tensioners etc. While i was speaking to her she did tell me that they had previously changed the belt on this car, but could not remember when, but it was 5 or 6 years ago, as far as she could remember. Her records only went back a few years. Just to check what she told me I rang lexus sheffield's service department, and asked them for a price to change out the belt and idlers etc. The service chap, Gary, asked me, without me asking him, why i wanted the pulleys etc. changing, as its not normally something they would do. Anyway they are also coming back to me with a price for the job, with and without pulleys. and with and without the water pump. Will be interesting to compare the prices. Would be interested in why folk change these then when they change a belt if Lexus say its not something they would normally do? Unless of course thats just Lexus Sheffield. Quick update. The original garage have just rang me back and said that if i want the pump and idlers changing the new price would be £768.20... a big difference. She said the only labor costs would be one hour extra, but the parts are expensive. I think she mentioned £70 for each pulley? and over £100 for the pump. She again said that lexus dont say to change the idlers, but pump could be a good idea, but they could check the pump when they did the job, and if there was any sign of leakage, then give me the option of changing it if i wanted to do it that way. So will wait for Lexus to come back to me, and take it from there. Cheers Keith

Shame you could not have got a cheap spare set of wheels to save you missing the car. Still should be excellent when you it back eh!

I will get back to them in the morning folks, and get clarification as to exactly what they will do. I need to make sure they change tensioner and the other bits, and water pump now so it will be more anyway. Some good advice folks so thank you for that. Cheers Keith

No it's not a lexus dealer mate. But they do actually have a good reputation in the area, so we will see anyway. Oh and their labour rate is £40 hr. Cheers Keith

Just read the posts about the water pump. Presumably then I should get that changed at the same time? I will ask them to price that for me also. Thanks for that information, better to do It while you are working there anyway eh? Thanks a lot folks, Keith

The peace of mind is really what this is for. A I said I'm not absolutely sure when the belt was done, the seller said at 114k but I want to be sure its ok, before the summer, and it can't harm anyway can it! The place has great reviews on the net. It's in north yorks, in Harrogate, so its back where i got the car from. Anyway I will report back when I have it done next Thursday the 14th and let you know if its any good. Thanks folks, Keith

Hi folks, I have been checking my service records and can't see exactly when the cam belt was changed and as the last owner of my new car actually passed away last year, the last service is actually shown as about 18 months ago, so its about due a service I reckon. Anyway, I have been n touch with the garage that has looked after the car for the past 9 years and they remember the car and the old gentleman very well. They say that they car is in excellent nick, and it should do me well... So while I was speaking to them, I asked them to sort me a price for a cam belt change and a service, oil and filter, pollen filters etc. full service anyway. It's just for peace of mind for me, before the summer and some long trips we are going to make. They have come back with a price of £420 including vat for the full job, and thats using genuine Lexus parts. That seems very reasonable to me. Oh and that includes a loan car for the day. Not being up on service costs on these cars, can I ask you if you think that is actually reasonable or should I look further? Thanks folks, your advice would be appreciated. Cheers Keith

I reckon I just might do that mate. Cheers Keith