Yoda400

I'd be interested in a kit, I did look into it as a preventative measure a while ago but never got any further. I looked at buying in bulk as it was a lot cheaper, but then it would be best if several people wanted a 'kit'. I think some of the caps I looked at were out of stock too which made me give up as I wanted the best ones. If i get time soon i'll have another look.

Wonder if anyone on here could solder them up for us??

Anyone know if the ECUs are interchangable between the same models - e.g. a 1998 mk4 and a 1999 mk4? Or are they coded to the car?

Good stuff, i'm sure it will be fantastic and be better than you expected :) I think condition and history is the main thing with these cars now, they can do the miles easily if they are looked after. I bet a lot of parts have been changed on it at 300k, so maybe there won't be anything expensive to go wrong on it for a while. e.g. I know one type of car where if you buy it at 120k, it will deffo need suspension work done on it if it hasn't already, but if you buy it at 150-160k, it will most certainly have had that work done and will be superb, so it would be a better buy at the higher mileage. I'm sure the Lexus is similar in that regard. Full Lexus history too, so if its had genuine parts too, they will last a very long time

Price wise, some may say steep at the mileage, but yours looks to be a good car, and these are certainly getting rarer. People are hanging on to them now as they have twigged there isn't anything else out there that is the same quality/reliability for the price. 7's are nice, but ones at the same age of the Lexus will no doubt have plenty of expensive issues now, or due!

Brill thanks Matt, they look like they are a nice update to the side of the vehicle, the amber dates it somewhat. I bet the rears are a bit trickier/more expensive to change for red/clear!

I am thinking of changing my side repeaters for clear ones, how do i remove them without damaging anything thanks

Hi,where did you acquire the clear lens from please ? yours mk4 ? mk 3 ?

I got them off eBay

Do you have a link handy? Can't find them!

Hi chaps

Anyone installed a parrot handfree kit in their LS400? Does it work ok with the sound coming through the speakers at an acceptable level?

Just read this review which indicates if you have an amp, the install can be problematic, and the LS400 does have an amp which worries me...

http://richardsautoelectricsblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/parrot-mki9200-bluetooth-kit-review.html

I'm wanting to install one in a mk4 (1999) ls400. If it works for you, any installation hints?

Thanks in advance chaps :)

Yoda400

Brill thanks for the info chaps :)

On my 1998 mk4 the power amp is under the drivers seat

After some research I think all mk4's have the amp there, is it accessible without removing the seat? If you have to remove the seat, what is the process? One bolt on each corner of the seat rails?

Thanks for the info ambermarine, thats a bit of a pain, ah well!

Hi chaps

Thought i'd do a little thread on wiring up a proper sub in my LS400. This is the first installment!

I was thinking to replace the stock sub with something beefier in the same location, but i've decided to go for a small ported sub in the boot instead (will hit much lower), which i'll then just disconnect and pull out if the whole of the boot space is ever needed. If i'm not happy then at least the hard bit of routing a power cable is done and I can try something else!

I'll just disconnect the factory driver and remove it so the sound can come through into the cabin.

I found one of these for £40 secondhand (JL Audio 12" Basswedge enclosure):

http://cdn.idealo.com/folder/Product/2803/3/2803372/s1_produktbild_mid/jl-audio-cp112-w0v2.jpg

Had some 4 guage power + earth cable, fuse etc from a previous install, and a Vibe Slick A7 amp (300w - so should be well matched to the JL 12").

I've started feeding the power cable from the engine bay to the rear, I think this one of the trickiest bits of the install - finding somewhere to route the cable through the bulkhead...

Looking in the engine bay I couldn't see any nice convenient grommets to feed a cable through and my research indicated it is very difficult to drill through the bulkhead. I spotted a pre-existing hole between the windscreen and arch/strut on the nearside (passenger side) which goes behind the wheel arch liner.

So, I took the wheel and the mudguard off, plus undid the wheel arch liner screws so I could peel it back hoping there might be some magic rubber grommets behind it that lead into the car. No such luck! There were a couple of grommets nearby, but it was box section behind them and I wasn't sure where it would come out in the car if I did drill through. There was also a hole there with no grommet (presume a drain hole), but nothing above it.

I then pulled down the carpet in the passenger footwell and lifted up the thick rubber matting/sound deadening. This revealed a hole that had metal behind it, but shining a torch through the drain hole under the car, I could see a bit of light come through into this hole! Bingo I thought! Alas I just could not feed any cable through, tried for ages but the angles were all wrong, the holes were too far apart! Decided in the end to drill through it as I knew it would end up behind the wheel arch liner and it really couldn't have been in a better place :)

I cleaned up the area around the hole, fed the cable through into the cabin and then sealed around the cable with some Stixall (very strong durable silicone/polyurethane sealant). Put back the arch liner, the wheel and then to concentrate inside the cabin! The cable is nice and protected as it is well behind the liner and it won't get wet either.

The cable has come through in a perfect place really, I routed it under the carpet and sills to the rear. The sills literally just pop off and back into place. Had to have a couple of attempts as my power cable is quite thick. I also popped off the B pillar trim slightly so I could wiggle the cable through to the rear sill, this was quite tricky as there isn't a lot of space behind there.

Have attached some pics which will hopefully help some of you out there who are planning to do the same, getting the power cable through is obviously one of the hardest bits, and this is a neat solution as it is quite a direct path.

This is as far as i've got so far, will update with a second installment soon hopefully when I find a home for the amp etc! Have to figure out where to pull a remote feed to turn on the amp as well. Anyone know where is best? ( I read somewhere it is a grey/white cable on the stock amp - wherever that is?!)

Hope this helps people route the power cable anyway as I struggled to find any proper guide for UK cars!

Hi chaps

Anyone know how to remove the rear seat base on the mk4 LS400? Got a power cable to route through into the boot! :) I've searched and can't find anything that's worked :(

Many thanks!

Yoda400

Did you not try the rear cushion method mentioned in the rear sensors thread Yoda?

Cheers Mikey - I haven't yet, I started another job of running a power cable from the Battery to the boot so I could kill two birds with one stone and pull the rear seat bits out at the same time to feed both the power cable through to the boot and the satnav display cable to the parcel shelf at the same time. I've got the power cable through to the rear sill so when I get chance next i'll have a go and feeding them both through :)

Thanks Mark, will try that method if I can!

Hi chaps

Anyone know how to remove the rear seat base on the mk4 LS400? Got a power cable to route through into the boot! :) I've searched and can't find anything that's worked :(

Many thanks!

Yoda400

Looks great Mikeyv. No problem at all :) Still haven't had chance to wire in the display unit yet. Do yours work well then? They certainly did on the other car I put them on.

How did you get the seat back off? Does the lower cushion have to come off first?

Excellent, thanks.

One other question, I have the same colour car, so would guess ocean blue or purple blue would be the nearest match, but wondered what colour you have fitted, bearing in mind I'm colour blind, though usually not bad with dark blues.

No problem. I went for the Navy blue as I thought that looked the most similar to the Chichester blue on our cars, however the navy blue sensors are lighter than they show on that eBay page which is a bit annoying. Both those colours you mention look fine I think. Out of the two i'd probably choose the ocean blue. Let us know how you get on too :)

Yoda400, can you say where you got them from, and how much they cost please?

Also, once the job is finished, how they perform.

Thanks in advance.

No problem, it's these ones here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Parking-Rear-Reverse-4-Sensors-Kit-Buzzer-Radar-LED-Display-Alarm-System-/251574826107?ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123

I've bought them before for a different car and they work perfectly a year on, will report back when i've finished these current ones. I figured that if they were rubbish then at least the holes were drilled and I could replace with a different set. At the end of the day, they are quite simple electronics so it just shows what a mark up they make on the branded sets you can buy!

At £13 it would be rude not to :)

Yeah its a sealed MDF box that i made myself

Good stuff, do you by any chance have any pics of the install? Wouldn't mind having a look behind the boot firewall carpet, I might have to wait till the weekend though :(

The length of my membership is irrelevant. I do have manners, my reply to you wasn't rude in any way.

Unfortunately you seem to have taken great offence that I dare to improve my stock system. I did want other peoples opinions hence posting up, but your reply implies I don't know what i'm on about. I specifically stated that the stock system is good quality, but I just wanted to improve on the subwoofer side of things.

I apologised for upsetting you, but if you're still in a tizz about it then i'll leave you to it. The internet is a brilliant resource for learning new things, making new friends, no time to waste having arguments! :)

(There isn't anything wrong with it, not sure why you assume it needs fixing? )

We dont know you and we have no idea of your knowledge of anything so yes the first thing is to find out if there is something wrong with the system. It was just an idea which you took exception too. It is rare for any member to say their audio system is lacking in any dept. You can stick an entire stage PA system in the back of your car for all I care, it wont sound any better. Thats my opinion if you dont like it lump it.

As I said to you before I wont bother again

.

I agree, PA systems aren't good quality generally, they are just loud. Fairly basic info there!

I take it that you don't think a proper sub will make the system sound better, that just shows your ignorance point blank. If you don't bother educating yourself about car audio, then you can't make assumptions like that.

Funny how you had no idea of my knowledge? Couldn't you take an educated guess from the content of my post?

If you have so much knowledge why are you asking for it? Clearly not as knowledgable as you like to think you are.

Oh gosh, you are getting childish now, please stop! :)

I changed the headunit on mine, which as you know meant i lost the amp/sub

so I went for an 8" pioneer sub in the oem location, with a pioneer amp but I built a discreet sub box on the underside of the parcel shelf, meaning the boots firewall carpet hides the lot so it still looks 100% totally stock in the boot

sounds very good

That sounds like a great solution, wouldn't mind having a listen to that! Did you make it out of MDF or some kind of fibreglass install? It's sealed I presume?

The length of my membership is irrelevant. I do have manners, my reply to you wasn't rude in any way.

Unfortunately you seem to have taken great offence that I dare to improve my stock system. I did want other peoples opinions hence posting up, but your reply implies I don't know what i'm on about. I specifically stated that the stock system is good quality, but I just wanted to improve on the subwoofer side of things.

I apologised for upsetting you, but if you're still in a tizz about it then i'll leave you to it. The internet is a brilliant resource for learning new things, making new friends, no time to waste having arguments! :)

(There isn't anything wrong with it, not sure why you assume it needs fixing? )

We dont know you and we have no idea of your knowledge of anything so yes the first thing is to find out if there is something wrong with the system. It was just an idea which you took exception too. It is rare for any member to say their audio system is lacking in any dept. You can stick an entire stage PA system in the back of your car for all I care, it wont sound any better. Thats my opinion if you dont like it lump it.

As I said to you before I wont bother again

.

I agree, PA systems aren't good quality generally, they are just loud. Fairly basic info there!

I take it that you don't think a proper sub will make the system sound better, that just shows your ignorance point blank. If you don't bother educating yourself about car audio, then you can't make assumptions like that.

Funny how you had no idea of my knowledge? Couldn't you take an educated guess from the content of my post?

Yoda,

still interested to see what you come up with.

....

Hi Pete

Thanks for the informative reply. I've played around with audio in cars before and i'm looking forward to improving the sound in the LS400. The usual recipe would be a decent headunit, new speakers, a proper amp to power them and then a subwoofer with its own amp. However i'm not going down that road with the LS400 as the stock system is quite good as it is, plus messing around with a new headunit would be a crime. Simple upgrade therefore is the subwoofer side of things as I know they make a huge difference to the overall sound. Will carry on my research and will post up in due course :)

If anyone else has modified their system then do post up :)

I've still do do some kind of aux input to the stock system too, so need to find a shopping list for those bits!

Many thanks

The length of my membership is irrelevant. I do have manners, my reply to you wasn't rude in any way.

Unfortunately you seem to have taken great offence that I dare to improve my stock system. I did want other peoples opinions hence posting up, but your reply implies I don't know what i'm on about. I specifically stated that the stock system is good quality, but I just wanted to improve on the subwoofer side of things.

I apologised for upsetting you, but if you're still in a tizz about it then i'll leave you to it. The internet is a brilliant resource for learning new things, making new friends, no time to waste having arguments! :)

Thanks for the Help Mark :)

Had a good go at this and very nearly finished, just got the bleeper/distance display to mount now. I'm going to pop it on the parcel shelf so it is discrete and out the way, I don't think it would look right on the dashboard. I might use some blutack (so its removable without making a mess!) to attach it to the plastic trim where the seatbelt goes into the parcelshelf on the offside.

I ran masking tape all the way along the bottom of the chrome edge on the bumper, then drilled the outer holes at 12" from the beginning of the chrome bit on each side. Then the two middle holes were spaced evenly. I drilled on the very edge of the masking tape.

I did hit the foam (more so on the outer holes), but it wasn't a huge issue as the foam isn't that rigid so use of a long drill bit and a flathead screwdriver to punch through it was fine. I then fed the wires through the small hole (remove the small grommet) under the main hole for the outer light cluster wiring. I did two wires one side, two the other side. Once the wires were threaded through, I put some plastic sheath around the wires in the hole to stop any potential chafing, and sealed the hole with some Stixall.

The two wires to the nearside were placed under the boot lock trim to the control box which i've placed in the offside cubbyhole bit as there is loads of space in there. Positive and earth were run from the offside reverse light on the bootlid, cable run down the hinge under the plastic trim on it.

The sensors come in different colours so I bought the colour nearest to mine. This isn't a very good match, so i'll get some proper paint mixed up at some point to colour code them :)

I cant say that fixing a subwooffer would make mine sound any better than it already does. I listen to Jazz and Blues and the warm bass response is just amazing. I have a high end system indoors and the Lexus system is not that far behind it. I wonder after the way you describe your sound if there is not something wrong with it to start with. Mike

There isn't anything wrong with it, not sure why you assume it needs fixing? The stock system doesn't play as low as it would with a 12" amplified sub, simple.

I also dabble in high end home audio and I know that you have to have the right speakers for the job. The small 8" factory sub isn't going to play cleanly down to 30 - 35Hz.

We listen to all sorts of music and whilst you feel the factory bass response might be ok for Jazz and Blues, nothing beats a sub when it comes to Drum n Bass, Dubstep, Hiphop, RnB, Reggae etc. In fact, I would say a proper sub improves ALL genres of music, not just the typically bass-heavy genres.

You asked for ideas and I gave you what I thought. Wont bother again. Mike

Hi Mike

No need to be like that :( I was asking if anyone else had done the same that's all. My sub isn't broken, it's just I know a bigger, properly amplified sub will sound a lot better.

Like I said I wont bother again.

Crikey, who rattled your cage!? I came on and asked for views on something I was planning to do, you then question what i'm wanting to do by implying my stereo is broken, i'm not daft you know!

I'm sorry if i've inadvertently upset you. I want as many different views as possible :)

I guess for us " normal " ( hahahahahaha ) souls, the quality of the sound coming from the Ls400 tapedeck is simply marvellous

Malc

Oh crikey, i'm abnormal for wanting even better sound! Haha :) In all seriousness, the stock system is very good so I don't want to change anything else, i'm just craving a better low end response which the stock 8" sub physically isn't capable of.

I am toying with the idea of replacing it with a decent long-throw 8" driver (and amp to suit), however free-air subs typically aren't brilliant compared to enclosed. So neat replacement 8" driver in stock location with better sound, or an enclosure in the boot with miles better sound? Decisions decisions!

I cant say that fixing a subwooffer would make mine sound any better than it already does. I listen to Jazz and Blues and the warm bass response is just amazing. I have a high end system indoors and the Lexus system is not that far behind it. I wonder after the way you describe your sound if there is not something wrong with it to start with. Mike

There isn't anything wrong with it, not sure why you assume it needs fixing? The stock system doesn't play as low as it would with a 12" amplified sub, simple.

I also dabble in high end home audio and I know that you have to have the right speakers for the job. The small 8" factory sub isn't going to play cleanly down to 30 - 35Hz.

We listen to all sorts of music and whilst you feel the factory bass response might be ok for Jazz and Blues, nothing beats a sub when it comes to Drum n Bass, Dubstep, Hiphop, RnB, Reggae etc. In fact, I would say a proper sub improves ALL genres of music, not just the typically bass-heavy genres.

You asked for ideas and I gave you what I thought. Wont bother again. Mike

Hi Mike

No need to be like that :( I was asking if anyone else had done the same that's all. My sub isn't broken, it's just I know a bigger, properly amplified sub will sound a lot better.

I cant say that fixing a subwooffer would make mine sound any better than it already does. I listen to Jazz and Blues and the warm bass response is just amazing. I have a high end system indoors and the Lexus system is not that far behind it. I wonder after the way you describe your sound if there is not something wrong with it to start with. Mike

There isn't anything wrong with it, not sure why you assume it needs fixing? The stock system doesn't play as low as it would with a 12" amplified sub, simple.

I also dabble in high end home audio and I know that you have to have the right speakers for the job. The small 8" factory sub isn't going to play cleanly down to 30 - 35Hz.

We listen to all sorts of music and whilst you feel the factory bass response might be ok for Jazz and Blues, nothing beats a sub when it comes to Drum n Bass, Dubstep, Hiphop, RnB, Reggae etc. In fact, I would say a proper sub improves ALL genres of music, not just the typically bass-heavy genres.