Terminator Guy

The welder says that he'd be able to make them easier second and third time around obviously. He does rashes of cars, he did a load of BMW Z3 1.9's at one stage, heaps of Fiat Coupe 16 and 20 valvers and has had many runs of other cars through his workshops including classic mercs, of which I personally saw him manufacturing new exhausts for two different valuable classic mercs when I visited him a few times previously to get a feel for his workmanship. This new exhaust produces a nicer exhaust note than the default choice, the Megan aftermarket system from the US of A. judging by youtube recordings of them, and for half the cost too as this was £600 fitted inc the dreaded VAT. The new stainless steel back-box which mirrors the OEM requirement quite nicely, is actually designed for another vehicle with a short (arse), I mean rear overhang, the Range Rover Sport, so thank you Range Rover !!

A picture tells a thousand words. http://i.imgur.com/dpOlZ29.jpg It's not much louder, even with the resonators and second stage cat remover along with the OEM back box. It has a nice velvet burble, no resonance points, and is hard to hear at speed, roof up or down. I was hoping for a bit more of tuneful V8 noise, but I think in time that tending towards quieter is more social for life in the neighbourhood and cordial relations with the local police. I got the system handmade in Birmingham by a man who specializes in Italian cars. PM me for details as I don't know the rules here for giving out recommendations.

I had the battery disconnected today, and put it back on in the evening, opened and closed the doors with the button on the key no problem, and she fires up and runs properly. As a bonus the heater fan rely thingy is working normally too, so full normal service resumed ! I had the boot open all day as it seemed a bit damp yesterday pulled and reseated all the fuses in the engine bay again this morning, so I suppose (and I hope) I'll never find out what happened. Thanks for the advice Steve2006. PS I couldn't find that diagnostic port under the engine cover of the SC430 so I took a photo of the engine bay, I hope you can spot it as I couldn't. http://i.imgur.com/4rcGDzil.jpg

Thanks for this tip Steve2006, I'll get a pic of this port and bridge those connections soon. Hopefully it will help decide if it's fuel or sparks. Just having a look around on the 'net and can't find that port on a 2002 SC430 so far... I'll keep looking.

Hello, Have you any suggestions as to why my 2002 SC430 didn't start yesterday evening ? I'm dead in the water parked up at a friends house in Barston, near Solihull and Birmingham International Airport The engine turns over as normal, I can smell the unburnt fuel out the exhaust. I can hear the fuel pump working etc. It gives a slight cough upon first turn of the key but will not come near firing up properly. The engine turns over at speed from the starter but without any further signs of ignition. The car's key is unlocking the car with the remote on the key as normal so I don't think it's an immmobiliser issue. The battery is fully charged and turned the engine over for about 5 minutes in total during the hour I tried to start her in so there is no battery voltage problem. A strong side issue is that the heater fan started to switch on and off by itself yesterday, and this morning stopped altogether on the drive home. Another thing is that the heater fan briefly turns for one tenth of a second when switching the car off, even when selected to off on the climate control screen. I disconnected the battery, checked all visible fuses, pulled out the ECU to check for visible problems on the connectors like corrosion, damp etc but found none. The earth straps in the engine area all seem good, a I've pulled and re-installed all the visable engine bay fuses, but nothing improved. No big fuses are blown that I can see. The cars remains a non-starter and the heater fan still won't operate as normal. Lastly, the boot / trunk area seems to be quite damp so I let it open for a while to dry out tonight. Stuff like this is not supposed to happen to a Lexus !! Morning Edit: Now I found elsewhere after a bit of searching primarily on Clublexus in the LS430 section that the fuel pump relay will give the starting symptoms I've described, so I think I'll replace that first, but I'm still at a loss to find a cause of the heater blower fans erratic behaviour and I'm still suspicious that both issues are connected.... I found these part number for a Fan Blower control module: 87165-22050. and this for the fuel pump relay: 90987-03003. I'll still suspicious that both items are related to some common point as it's like lightning striking twice for the starting and blower issue to happen within 24 hours of each other. That ignition key has always worked normally for 3 years now and I've never ever had an issue like this before, not even for a second. I don't think it's the key. As an aside I've only one key for this car since I've had it.... but it's as good a suggestion as any, and will be investigated in due course. The car does provide spark, but not for long enough to fire up the engine. It sparks for less than 1/3 a second and then stops again. My own feeling is that I have an earthing point or a relay somewhere not functioning normally. Second guess is fuel pump, fuel relay, fuel pressure regulator, etc. I've no tooling to be able to confirm any of this. I got a loan of an OBDII scan tool and there are no fault codes detectable by this tool stored in the ECU, I checked with those 10 pound bluetooth OBDII tools along with the "Torque" app. The ECU seemed to communicate well with the scan tool though I have my doubts that it actually communicated at all. I brought the battery close to discharged this morning after all the cranking attempts since last night and the few more this morning, so it's charging up now with a battery charger, with the battery earth strap disconnected. At this point I feel a trip on a tow truck to an independent Lexus service centre is due now. I've checked all the easy stuff at this stage. It's not helped by the fact that I'm currently in England but am normally resident in Ireland and I've no contacts over here and am not a member of the AA (my reasoning being that a well serviced V8 Lexus will never ever break down, famous last words ha ha). Any recommendations as to a garage local in the Midlands that might be able to fix her up at a reasonable cost ? Boring picture of her getting charged up this morning. http://i.imgur.com/L6e8K3A.jpg