JIM PIKE

Morning all and a happy new year to everyone. Yesterday, quick clean of the 98 Ls400 (only quick). Didn't go anywhere after that, Left the car wet but no more than the rain of late has done. This morning on the paper run. Put key in ignition turned it to first position (dash lights on) and for some reason didn't turn key to start engine for appx 4 or 5 seconds. Engine seemed to take a second or 2 longer to start (maybe imagination) Immediately had a beep like door open, looked at the time display and it was on 1am and no temp display the clock soon corrected to right time, but still no temp. Is it possible that it's only a glitch that will sort itself out, or could it be something more like battery or alternator. If anyone has had similar please let me know. I would like to add that until now I have had no problems whatsoever electrical or otherwise, and until now everything worked on the car. Brian

Hi Tim I just checked out the link for the struts you purchased, with a view to changing mine next year. Shocked to see the shipping costs is $487.93 that's over £300 + import duties add the cost of the struts and it's over £500 for the pair. unless I'm missing something Perhaps I will wait until it fails Mot on struts before buying. Best wishes Brian

The shaking mirrors are for real, fitted to some JDMs to shake off the snow. ( didn't know they had snow in Japan )

Malc it was my nearside that blew, but I did buy a spare so I am ready for the offside. couldn't believe how easy to replace the bulb. does anyone know why the bulb is twin filament when it only serves the stop light? MOT due next month, but I don't think my blow on the exhaust is enough to fail it when under the car only by holding my hand close to the outer casing can I feel a slight leak of exhaust Brian

Thanks Jonathan Much appreciated to you and all others who take time to post how to's and solutions. I do have a few jobs to do but nothing major as yet. Putting off looking for the fuses in the footwell (cig lighter) just the thoughts of twisting myself upside down to get in there, but will do one day. Thanks Brian

Happy new year to all. Thanks to Jonathan for starting this thread, and everyone else's input helped me save time and money. yesterday parking brake warning light came on, straight to my mechanic "pads were ok when I looked a couple of months ago says he" whilst looking around at brakes with his light. Will have to bring it in soon for pads check. So off I go light on dash blinding me Once home Start looking for best place to get discs and pads, wow what a difference in prices and some seem to have about 20 holes in for different fitments can these be safe? Started checking Loc for fitting tutorial and came across this thread, and as of this morning light is off. It was my nearside stop light bulb. But a question if anyone knows the answer the bulb is a dual element and only serves the brake light, do both elements get used, if so only one was broken so why did it not work Yes I also have the V8 Burble it does sound good, when I looked under it seemed to come from by the y piece but could not be precise as the pipes are enclosed inside another casing. Thanks guys Brian

I think you will get a good job done, they can do it cheap because they have a high turnover of wheels. Had 5 9j x 16inch rims powder coated in Birmingham 2 years ago, They did a fantastic job the wheels were in a bad state pitted and knocked etc. I watched a couple of the lads working whilst I was there and they were rubbing down marks by hand with emery cloth, marks which I would thought were acceptable as they were so small. Anyway these lads took off old tyres, acid stripped, sanded and powder coated the wheels and fitted and balanced the new tyres I supplied all for £30 per wheel. (it's probably gone up by now ) The downside was that my 4x4 was on bricks for 6 days, and I only just managed to get the 5 wheels and tyres + 5 new tyres into my pickup to ferry them to Birmingham. If I can find some spare Lexus rims next year I will get mine done. Cheers Jim

Finally received my members pack today, complete with welcome letter and Halfords disc card. Many thanks to Steve Barnes for sorting it out for me. JIM

Hi all I signed up to be a gold member on the 12th but as of today still no membership card or Halfords card, anyone have any idea how long it will take. I sent a request to the sales team at lunch time but no reply. Reasons for joining as gold member is for the greatest part to get dealer discount on parts, but 2 weeks later I still have no card. So in a nutshell gold membership runs from the day you pay, but to be fair it should be from when the cards are shipped as I have already lost 2 weeks of any benefit. One fed up old bloke who wants more cards to put in his wallet. Jim

Many thanks for the warm welcome guys. Steve 2006 I have been told that 155,000 is nothing to the LS400 Thanks for the info, I may look for my nearest dealer and haggle, I was aware of import duties etc thanks to reading on this forum also where I learn't about Amayama. Guys Don;t worry about bonnet struts you won;t need to open the bonnet my niggles are steering feels slightly heavy (maybe just need to get used to it), seems to be ticking over low around 400-450rpm both of these have good tutorials on this site to maybe cure. last niggle front ciggie lighter don't work, but socket does for my iphone charger. GBneil you just reminded me my ariel is foobar also motor works but nobody is home.. Great stuff, I know my next car will be a LEXUS not sure what model yet though, no immediate plans as yet Cheers Jim

Evening All Been looking through this great forum a couple of weeks now, 3 weeks into ownership of a 98 LS400. All I can say is why didn;t I get one before, what a car!!. It's Dark Green in good condition with high milage (155,000) but still smooth and quiet,with just a couple of niggles. My Mechanic friend looked it over and says it has a small amount of play on the passenger side lower ball joint, so after reading this forum and researching loads have decided not to go for Firstline parts. the other choices are Blueprint or ordering from Amayama which looks like being the best option as the cost will be similar to buying Blueprint from Camskill ( which is the best price I can find ).. The part numbers as far as I can tell are RH side 43330-59045 LH side 43340-59045 castle nuts 2 off 90171-16007 Bolts 4 off 90105-12141 These were sourced from Toyodiy and seem to be accepted through Amayama system so hope I get the right bits when I order this week. Sorry about the long Hello Jim