Newbie1

This thread has encouraged me to do mine, and genuine Toyota ball joints were reasonably priced. At 69,000 miles she's on the originals and no noise but 18 years old...

Hell. No trace of grease around the ball joint; leaked or dried up a long time ago and self-destructed. Good reason not to buy non-ToyLex suspension parts.

Do you know how old the ball joint was, or how many miles it had one it?

Whereabouts are you getting replacement springs from, Steve?

Very, very lucky. Please do report on whether it was genuine or not.

I can recommend Tech One in Sidcup. Toyota and Lexus specialists.

There's always something. More than any other model of cars I bought over the years the LS400s I've looked all have had something reasonably significant wrong with them (usually multiple suspension issues.) I'm hunting around for a burgundy rear passenger door to replace the awful one on mine which is bothering me more and more; such a bad repair letting the car down. Fortunately, the mechanicals are great and no suspension issues. Guess I'll be paying for my panel man's Christmas.

So you still can start the car with a key you have?

Looks like driver's side passenger door has had a whack. Panel alignment issues and paint not matching.

Very decent of you to refund the deposit.

My experience has been to expect this from larger outfits.

Had this on my Soarer recently. New radiator cap fixed it.

I had this on a Soarer and once I'd replaced the rear arb bushes and rear arb drop links it went away. A possibility.

Does anyone know what the stock spring rates are for the LS400 and LS430?

Good on you. It's threads like these that make me realise my plan to spend as little as possible and run my Mark IV until it drops is doomed to failure. It is so damn good to drive and it's the first car my wife has really liked, so it is going to get some love. I've purchased a cam belt kit from the Rockauto but won't be fitting it after looking at instructions online. Whew. I've got a double steering motor failure. Well, the height has died but the reach motor works but is frozen somewhat despite my best efforts to clean and re-grease it. Neither are an issue as the settings I prefer are height at the lowest (which I've set) and steering at maximum reach (which I've also set.)

Always a relief, especially when it frees you up to do the other jobs.

I bought a third party boot seal off ebay and it works a treat. Perfect size and a nice tight fit. About £25 from memory. I'll just weigh in on the transmission fluid change. Be cautious. I had a full flush on an A340E transmission in the past, with the correct Type IV fluid, and the shift actually became worse. I did not hold onto the car long enough to know what the lasting damage was. Subsequently, for changes to other A340 boxes, I have simply drained and refilled when doing the engine oil every six months or so and gradually replaced the fluid that way. Old automatic transmissions don't like sudden changes of any sort. Squealing brake could be third party disc/pads or shim kit not replaced or past its best. Pretty common on some of the LS400s I drove. Buy Toyota parts and have quiet brakes. Fuel filter can be a bugger to get off if the pipes are rusted.

Interesting. Mark 4? Who was the seller? I've tried two of the key blanks with fob from eBay and despite them being labelled as Denso neither could be programmed for the transponder or the doors. A seller of one that works would be valuable information.

To add, you would need to get the key cut and insert the used, newly programmed fob 'guts' into the newly cut key case. Empty fob cases with key blanks are available on eBay.

Ok. You have a master key, as it starts the car. It is a fob master. There would also have been black a non-fob master key that would start the car, now lost. Regardless, you only have one transponder chip coded to your ECU and immobiliser. Lose that and you are out of luck. Either get a used key of eBay ( making sure it is the correct Denso 'C' type chip) or go the Lexus route. The remote opening fob may have died but it is not your priority; getting a new key with programmed transponder is.

Going through this at the moment. First thing to remember is that there are two aspects to key programming. One is programming the transponder chip that is in the key (whether that's the combination fob key or just the black key without fob.) This is the most essential part as the transponder will deactivate the immobiliser. If you can't deactivate the immobiliser you are really in trouble and will be looking at replacing the ECU, immobiliser unit and associated keys (all three are coded to each other) from either a scrappy or new. There is a process for programming the transponder in a new key on this site or elsewhere. The second part is programming the key fob to open/close the doors and boot (and presumably setting the alarm). Again, the process is described on here or elsewhere. This second process is also the subject of a Toyota Service Bulletin. Lexus will charge you several hundred pounds to provide a master key fob, cut to the correct pattern (from their records.) You will need to produce the certificate of ownership for this part. The electronics will not be programmed and they will thus ask you for another £80 or so to program them. I might end up doing this if the next LS400 key fob I have bought second hand does not work. I could not program the first one despite it being from another Mk4 LS400.

Ain't that the truth! Well done to Matt for finding a straight one. I seemed to either find ones that had a straight body but a long list of MOT issues and looking crusty underneath or were well maintained but tatty. I said to myself that the dodgy paint on mine would not bother me but once you start driving these wonderful old cars you just want to get them looking their best.

Congratulations! They are addictive things. I looked at a lot and eventually settled for one with pretty low mileage and good service history, although I will need to get a passenger door painted at some point as it has had a ding and was not all that well repaired. Pretty hard to find a perfect one for a sane price these days.

Malc, it will be American cars coming in (which might include American-made Japanese cars.) And American foodstuffs. If you can call them foodstuffs.

I was out in Kent yesterday and thought by chance I might see another LS (of any description) but it was not to be. I will certainly give a way to a fellow Lexhead! I have made a mistake buying the car. My wife will no longer accept a car of lesser comfort, meaning my Soarer is sitting idle,...