Fringfordjohn

Hi Malcolm, The total cost including fitting, new valves, balancing and old tyre disposal was £50. This also included picking the car up from my house and delivering it back in the evening, although this was no big deal as the man only lives 200 yards from my house, so he just used my car to get to work (six miles) instead of his own. Well pleased with the result, and as I have also just had the cam belt replaced and a new water pump fitted by Lexus Milton Keynes, (rather more than £50) and as the car has only done 41000 miles from new, I'm now looking forward to several more years of trouble free motoring. Cheers John.

Hello again, just to let you know the conclusion of this, I followed the link given to me by Ambermarine, and on that site I found Falken ZIEX ZE310 ECORUN 225/60 R16 98W tyres available at £88.40 each including VAT and delivery. Bearing in mind the very valid comments above about the age of obsolete tyres, I emailed the seller and asked if they could tell me the what the date stamp was on the sidewall of these tyres. Not surprisingly I didn't get a direct answer, but I did receive a reply stating that all their new tyres were less than two years old, so I took a chance and ordered four. When they arrived I was pleased to see that the sidewall date stamp was 0319 which I assume means that the tyres were manufactured in January 2019. If this is correct then the tyres were only three months old when I bought them. My local garage fitted them for me, and I'm happy to say that smoothness and quietness of the ride is much improved over that provided by the previous Goodyear tyres, so a win win situation for me. Once again, thank you all for your help and advice. Kind regards, John. PS. As an aside, the proprietor of my local garage, who collected the car from my house in the morning and returned it in the evening commented how much quieter and smoother the car was on the return journey with the new tyres fitted. So unsolicited testimonial.

Wow, Thank you all for your comprehensive replies, I'm staggered by the response. Thank you also to ambermarine for the link to a most useful site. I will now email both the original site, and the site recommended by ambermarine and ask if they can tell me the date of manufacture of their Falken tyres, and if I don't like the answer that I get I will choose an alternative from the ones recommended here. Many thanks again for all your help.

Hello everyone, As an avid reader but only an occasional contributor to this forum could I ask for some advice. I need some new tyres for my 1999 LS400 with the standard 16 inch wheels, and the recommendation on this site has recently been for Falkens, although from what I read on here they seem to be getting hard to find. I have found a firm on the internet with the unlikely name of Tyres-guru, and they claim to have stocks of Falken ZIEX ZE310 ECORUN 225/60 R16 98W, which are available now. Is this the tyre that you have all been using? As I have to change the tyres anyway, I was hoping for an improvement in the tyre noise level in the car, the Goodyear tyres that I have now always seem to me to be a bit noisy, certainly tyre noise is the dominant sound when driving, but this may only be because the rest of the car is so quiet. These particular Falkens claim a noise level of only 67 dB which is quite low compared with other makes that I have looked at. So shall I go ahead and buy these Falkens, or does anyone have any better recommendations. Any advice would be much appreciated. Many thanks, John Reader.

Hi Brian and Phil, is this the CTS sensor that I am looking for? As you can see its just underneath the throttle mechanism. Also I thought that the plastic part of the sensor should have been green, but without taking it out my one looks black. The top of my engine also looks quite different to the one in Phil's photo, presumably because mine is a later model. I have taken the wire off so you can see it more clearly. Just in passing, I thought that one of the differences that came in with the Mk4 was that the throttle was changed from cable to"fly by wire" but as you can see mine is definitely cable operated. I'm very happy with that, as its less to go wrong.

Hi Stuart and Phil, I normally run the air-con for the first ten minutes of any journey and then turn it off for the rest of the day. I understand that I have to do this to circulate the oil and to keep the seals wet, otherwise the gas will leak out. It must be doing the job as the air-con still blows very cold when you want it to. I used to have it on all the time when I first had the car, but I was continually suffering from flu like symptoms after any reasonable length journey. I believe that this is caused by mold build up in the system whilst it is standing, which then blows tiny spores out into the car which you inhale when the blower comes on. At least that's what I have been told. Certainly since I have stopped running the air-con I have had no further trouble. I think that the trouble is due to my only using the car on a very occasional basis, if I used it every day I sure the problem wouldn't occur. I did try an aerosol of air-con cleaner which cured the problem for a short while, but it soon came back again. Its not the fault of the Lexus, I think I must be allergic to it as I have the same problem in other air conditioned cars. As my garage floor is flat I normally leave the transmission in park and the handbrake off. I hope this is the right thing to do. Being old school this used to be to prevent the brake shoes from rusting onto the drums, but I know that this is completely irrelevant today but old habits die hard.

Again, thank you all for your help. I can buy one of these sensors on line manufactured either by Contitech or Lemark or SMP. or should I drive over to Oxford and see if I can get one from the Lexus dealer? Is there any preference here. Thank you Phil and Brian for your picture and advice, when I've finished the office work this morning I'll go out and see if I can find it. Thanks again.

Thank you all once again for your replies. Phil, your description of the problems with your wife's Vauxhall are exactly what I have happening here. I looked on eBay, just to get an idea of what the temperature sensor looked like, there seem to be two types one with a plastic plug on it and one with a single spade. I assume the one with the single spade is for the temperature gauge in the dash, and the one with the plug is connected to the engine ECU. However when I looked under the bonnet of the car, after removing the plastic cover on the top of the engine, I couldn't see anything that looked like either of them. Can anyone tell me where the one that is connected to the ECU would be situated? Many thanks in anticipation.

Hi David and thank you for your reply. I tried it with the air-con full on yesterday but unfortunately it made no difference, It was certainly worth a try though, as I normally run with the air-con turned off. What happens is that the car starts and runs normally until the temperature gauge reaches a point just below normal operating temperature, at which point the engine starts misfiring and eventually it will stop. It will then not start again. Once things have cooled down and the engine is cold once more it will start up again immediately and run normally until the same temperature is reached when the misfiring starts again. It must be one of the temperature controlled sensors, but which one and how it has malfunctioned just by standing in the garage is a mystery. Luckily I do not have to rely on this car as I have another, but it would be nice to get it fixed. I'm afraid that the legendary Lexus reliability seems to have deserted me, at least for the moment.

Thank you all for your suggestions, I'll talk to OVE but realistically I suppose I'll have to try and get the AA to transport the car to Lexus Oxford and bite the bullet on the cost. I will ask them if they will take it to Japex for me but its three times as far so I doubt that they will do so. Many thanks again.

Hi Steve, Many thanks for your suggestion but I'm afraid that it made no difference. I left the battery disconnected for a couple of hours and when I started the car up again it ran perfectly normally for about ten minutes before it cut out on its own and then refused to restart. I left it until it got cold again at which point it fired up normally once more. Its still a mystery Anyway thanks again for your suggestion, it was certainly worth a try.

Many thanks Steve and no, I haven't tried that. I'll give it a go tomorrow and see what happens, I'll let you know the result. Kind regards, John.

This is a follow on from my previous thread. Basically the problem is that my 1999 Mk4 starts up and runs perfectly from cold, but as soon as the engine gets warm it miss-fires like mad and eventually the engine stops. It will not start again until the engine has got cold, at which point it will start up and run normally again until it gets warm once more when the same thing happens. In the previous thread we were discussing OBD codes, in the hope that they might help me to diagnose the problem. Thank you Brian (Titch LS) for your advice. My problem now is that the normal method of accessing these codes is to link the E1 and the TE1 terminals in the diagnostic socket under the bonnet, and then to read the codes from the flashing lights on the dash. Unfortunately the diagnostic socket on my car does not have an electrical connection in the TE1 position, although it does have the E1 connector. In fact out of the possible twenty pins on my socket, only five have any connectors in them. These are E1, B+, AB, Tc, and Ts. There is also a jumper between pins WA & WB. I have attached a photo, and you can see the five connectors. So my question this time is can I in any way access the OBD1 error codes without having the proper scanner, in the hope that I might be able to solve the problem with the car myself, or should I just give it up and get the car transported to the local Lexus dealer. Many thanks for any advice.

Thank you all for your replies. As we are now a long way from the original thread, I'll start a new one on OBD sockets.

OK, visitors now gone so I've been out to check the LS. The diagnostic socket under the bonnet has lots of holes where connectors should be, but only five of them have any metal connectors in them, and unfortunately the TE1 socket is one of the ones with no connector. The socket in the car is a completely different shape from the one under the bonnet, being much smaller. Again there are lots of spaces where connectors should be but again only five have any metal connectors in them This socket has OBD2 molded into its lid. I assume this means that I need an OBD2 scanner. There seem to be many available on eBay and other places at prices from £20 to £200, but they all say that they are only suitable for cars made after 2002. My car was registered in March 1999. It would seem from reading the sales information from the firms selling these scanners that you need to know what the car's protocol is. Does anyone know anything about this. I would be quite happy to buy one of the less expensive scanners if it would enable me to track down the problem, but I don't want to mistakenly buy one that's incompatible with the car. Once again, any advice would be much appreciated. John, thank you for your reply, I will try running the car with the petrol cap removed to see if it makes any difference.

Many thanks for that Brian, I've found the socket under the bonnet and I've read the tutorial. Have to leave it till tomorrow now as its my 75th birthday today and the family are coming round for lunch. I don't think they would appreciate me disappearing out to the garage. I'll let you know how I get on tomorrow.

Thank you Malc and John, and yes I do have AA Homestart. If all else fails I will try to get them to transport the car to Lexus Oxford for me. However before I do that I was hoping that someone with more knowledge than me might be able to give me a clue as to what is wrong with the car. If it only needs a sensor changed I could probably to that myself, thank you Venator and Titch for your suggestions. I can do straightforward jobs on cars, I have a box full of tools, but I'm afraid my knowledge dates from the days of contact points and carburetors. Also I don't have any means of determining error codes I'm afraid. What's really puzzling about this is that the car was running perfectly when I put it away just before Christmas, so what can have happened to it whilst it was just standing in the garage for a couple of months. Its a mystery.

As a regular reader of this forum, but only an occasional contributor, please could I ask for some advice. I am the proud owner of a 1999 LS400 Mk4 which I have owned for the last fifteen years, and during that time it has been totally reliable, apart from a couple of minor problems both of which I was able to put right with the help of this forum. The current problem might be a bit more difficult however, as due to illness and the need for a minor operation, I have not been able to drive my Lexus since just before Christmas. In the interval between then and now the car has lived in a dry garage with the battery connected to a Ctek battery charger. When my daughter in law asked me last week if I could take her to the airport and as I am now fit and well I though great, a chance to get back in the Lexus. The car started instantly as it normally does and I reversed out of the garage. As it had stood for a while I left the engine running and went to check the tyre pressures which was just as well, as whilst I was doing so the engine suddenly stopped and no amount of cranking would induce it to start again. I managed to push the car back into the garage, and took my daughter in law to the airport in my wife’s Renault. I tried it again a couple of days ago, and again it started instantly, so I left it running and once again, after somewhere between five and ten minutes, the engine just stopped and nothing would induce it to start up again. Yesterday I tried again, and this time after half an hour the engine was still running, but when I tried blipping the throttle, it wouldn’t rev above 3000rpm, and whilst doing so it was misfiring like mad and the engine check light was flashing on and off. When I released the throttle it went back to a normal tick over, but once I switched it off, again it refused to start. So what to do now. I normally use Lexus Oxford for my servicing, but they are fifteen miles away, and I doubt that it would drive that far without stranding me beside the road. The car was working perfectly when I last used it just before Christmas. Whatever the problem is its obviously related to engine temperature, as the car starts and revs cleanly whilst it is cold, but once its warmed up it won’t rev or restart. Not sure what to do now, any advice would be much appreciated. Many thanks.

Hello again, the colour of my car is Balmoral Bronze, and it has a Suffolk interior. I chose that colour as it doesn’t show the dirt as much as some of the darker colours, and the Suffolk (Cream) leather really lifts the interior, although that’s largely a matter of personal choice. I’m also happy to say that it has just flown through the MOT without problems and no advisories. These truly are remarkable cars.

Thank you all for your kind replies. I can now continue to enjoy driving and stop worrying. I’m also really pleased that I don’t have to modify the car, obviously I would have done if it was necessary to avoid disaster, but its such a well made vehicle that I really didn’t want to interfere with it unless it was absolutely necessary. Thank you all again for taking the trouble to reply, and for putting my mind at rest. Kind regards, John.

Dear All, can I ask for some advice? As a very occasional contributor, but avid reader of this forum, I am saddened to read of the number of cars being virtually written off by the antifreeze in the gearbox oil problem. I say written off as the cost of repairs seems to be more than the car is worth. My reason for asking is because I am the proud owner of a genuine low mileage LS400 Mk4 (42k) which I have owned since it was 18 months old, and it is quite the best car that I have ever had. Its certainly the only fifteen year old car that I have ever owned where every thing still works. The steering wheel goes up and down, the aircon still blows cold, even the radio aerial and the torch in the tool kit still work. I derive great pleasure from owning and driving it, so I’m sure you can understand my desire not to see it destroyed by a fault that possibly could be avoided by some action on my part. It does seem from reading this forum that only the 430s are affected by this fault and not the 400, but I can’t understand why as just from looking under the bonnet, the gearbox cooling on my car looks the same as the diagrams published on here for the 430. Also all the 400s are older than the 430s so I would have thought that the problem would have been worse on the 400. Sorry if this has been answered before, but I have just spent a couple of hours trawling back through many of the previous posts on this forum but have yet to find a definitive answer. So is the 400 immune from this problem, and if so can anyone say why, or should I be fitting an external gearbox oil cooler to my car as soon as possible. Many thanks in advance for your help. Kind regards, John.

You are all quite right about the plate being worth more than the Lexus. A man cheerfully gave me £2000 for MG 7775 which I had on a motorbike. He wanted it for his MG TC, and that was fifteen years ago. I still have the motorbike, and best of all when I bought it I only paid £5 for it. It's all restored and running now, although only with an age related plate. It's the sort on thing that only happens once in a lifetime.

Hi Matthew, Been working the weekend, so only just spotted your post. Really glad that you have got it fixed, and well done for finding out how to do it. Mine is still working at the moment, but if it gives any further trouble I'll know the first thing to check. Thank you again for posting your solution Kind regards

Hi Matthew, Sorry you’re still having problems. Regarding the fuses I’m afraid that I have no idea as my knowledge of these cars doesn’t extend that far. I don’t see that it can do any harm however so I can only say try it and see. I would be interested to know the result in case my car starts playing up again. After reading your post last night I have gone through the whole routine again this morning, and it works exactly as I said in my previous post, including the bit about pressing Map to exit. I really can’t explain the difference between the cars, the only thing that comes to mind is that as my car appears to be a year later than yours, has it got different software loaded in the sat nav computer. The other curious thing about all this is that both the the sat nav and the GPS icon didn’t start working again until the next day after I had completed the above checks, although this might have been because the car was in the garage when I was doing the initial check which might have been weakening the signal. Sorry I can’t be more helpful but I don’t know what else to suggest. The above procedure got my sat nav working again and I was hoping it would do the same for you. If you do manage to get it going again, I’d love to know how you did it. Kind regards

Being new to this forum I’m not sure if this has been mentioned before, but I had exactly the same problem with my 1999 Mk 4. The problem first manifested itself about two months ago when I was driving to an obscure address in Coventry. I didn’t switch the sat nav on until I stopped for petrol on the A45 just outside Coventry, but when I did it was telling me that I was still outside my house just outside Oxford. I managed to zero it back in using the calibrate function, but it wandered off course again within a couple of miles. Bit of a nuisance really as I was relying on it to find my destination, but luckily I had an iphone with me so I was able to use the sat nav function in that instead. Over the next month I tried zeroing it in to my current location several times, but each time it would only last for a few miles before wandering off track again. I assume this was because the car was using only the “dead reckoning” part of the system where it works only by knowing the direction of travel and by counting the turns of the wheels, hence the problem if you change the tyres. All this time the GPS logo on the screen was not lit. However whilst scouring this forum, and the Club Lexus one in America, I chanced on the method of accessing the so called “secret menu” (Climate and Audio held down together and turn the lights on and off twice, with the ignition in the auxiliary position) When I did this a screen that I had never seen before appeared and then the car went through as series of checks including one for the sat nav which it declared to be OK. If you then select sat nav on this menu another screen appears and one of the options on it is GPS check. On selecting that, a number of vertical columns of numbers appeared, and as I sat watching them they were flickering and changing. I didn’t really know what I was looking at, but it did look like it might well have been satellite reception. You then have to press the map button to exit this menu, and when the map screen appeared it now showed the car as being in the correct position, which it wasn’t when I started, although the GPS icon was still not lit. However the next time I used the car, the GPS icon reappeared and the sat nav was working correctly, and it has continued to do so ever since. Not sure if this will cure Matthew’s problem but it certainly cured mine, at least for now.