Mikaelse

Yupp. A definite risk that the oem belt is stil in there. When I bought my oldest LS400 the original belt was stil on . Only 90Kmiles but 20 years old. The job is expensive so some do not want to listen to the years rule. Scary old rubber. I actually kept rpms below 2500 on the trip home and changed it as soon as parts arrived. These are wonderful V8 engines that will be wrecked in one second if timing belt fails or waterpump locks up or ?? I would only trust a mechanic who has done a few of these Toyota/Lexus V8 belts before and has some knowledge of what to look for and how to handle handle stuff in OLD cars. Extra care must be observed when handling connectors , sensors and cables. Just swapping out stuff as ordered is also not enough if you want to enjoy good reliability. You should also. Spin the accessory belt driven stuff with belt off and listen/feel for dry or worne bearings. Alternator, fan bearings, tensioner bearings, idler bearing, freewheel bearing for Ac compressor, Servo pump bearing, It only takes a minute extra listening with a bearing stethoscope (prefferably) while spinning them by hand. I really needed to replace serpentine belt tensioner and idler also , This was 8 years ago. If done at a shop I would go in early and get these things checked ( takes no time , belt on/off is done i 5 minutes in parkinglot ) . Then you can preorder the parts stuff needed if any. It can take a week or two to get hold of. Use good parts. AISIN has a full kit for these engines for timing belt swap with all needed parts for a good price. AISIN waterpump and Mutsiboshi belt and japanese bearings in the idler and tensioner pulley. You can get this from for example ROCKAUTO.com in USA. Decide if rubber hoses are ok to put back in or if new ones are needed. Mine were fine after 20 years and were reused. Stil in there now 28 years old The LS430 has a reputation for getting a leak inside the radiator where ATF oil in transcooler is then contaminated with coolant which will wreck the transmission quickly. If the radiator is stil original It is smart to replace it premptively with a good brand third party one since radiator is out already while doing the timingbelt. These radiators typically cost only 100£ or so.

It is possible to buy a OEM new one from JAPAN for 400 US$ + shipping and customs etc. Shipping was quoted at 130US$ to me in Sweden Supplier AMAYAMA.com I have bought from them a few times. worked flawlessly. I would wonder if it is New old stock. May contain wery old seals etc that may be dodgy. I would probably rather buy a DENSO radiator from Rockauto in the US OR buy it from Germany. 132€ at Kfzteile24.de ( no idea about shipping and customs etc to UK from US or Germany.)

Could be if problems like corroded electric stuff is now present and stuff malfunction. With some luck some problems may go away just be wiggling connectors etc. If you experience no electrical issues internally now or close future you should be fine. I own two LS400. You will ned to spend some money on it. They have doubled their value over the 6-8 years I have owned them while daily driving them every day. People have now understood how overengineered and good they really are. HERE in sweden you are hard pressed to find one now for less than about 6000£ at those miles and often they cost even more. A bit annoying for me actually since risk for parts theft, used and new parts cost and insurance will no doubt go up. Selling is not in my plans ( ever ?). I just hope these will not go same way old VW beetles from the fifties have . Cost a fortune now and they enthusiasts drive them to meets on covered trailers.

I have done Two. It is a lot of work but not really difficult if you have done simmilar jobs and you should follow some of the good writups with pictures on the procedure to make it easier. I used the AISIN kits. The first one I did was now 8 years ago and 50.000 miles since. I plan to do it one more time after a total of 10 years. These cars do not have as much brittle plastic stuff as modern cars do but some cables and connectors can be a bit brittle so handle with care. I replaced no rubber hoses etc when I did mine. They felt perfectly fine after 20 years of service! I made a tool for the crank bolt . It cost me some stuff from hardware store at a total of 12 £ and drilling of two 8 mm holes. Do check all the bearings for stuff for the serpentine belt. ALSO ask a tech doing the job for you to do that !. It is easy when you are in there. Takes a minutes. Just spin stuff and feel for noise, harsh feel or dry hissing noise. Should be smooth and completely silent Hence spin , Alternator, tensioner , idler , fan bearings , freewheel bearing in AC comperssor, servopump. I had to replace bearing in tensioner or whole tensioner and the idler bearing on Both LS400. This is a bit annoying since If you need to buy stuff you are stuck waiting for delivery. Hence when I did nr two I checked the stuff before I started doing the timing belt. The serpentine belt is a 5 min jobb to take off and 5 minutes to put back . Hence you can do a quick check a few weeks before doing the timing belt so you can order any new stuff you need to be all set with all the parts. A failed bearing on the serpentinestuff will not kill the engine but it will ruin your day for sure and may break some more stuff. On a LS430 it is really recommended to replace the radiator if it is original ( it is already out while doing the timing belt) since it is prone to failure leaking coolant into the Transmission. This will kill the transmission fast if it happens. The radiator is not expensive from third party suppliers. I would not buy the cheapest one.

On my Lexus LS400 1995 with 140Kmiles I stil have the original shocks. I have had to replace the springs though in rear due to corrosion. The shocks feel nice and firm and non bouncing still when I drive at different speeds over the speedbumps the love to put in on our local roads. No oil leaks. I expect they will live many more years .

Perspective: Here in Sweden the LS400 1998 to 2000 are extremely rare now and prices for cars in good shape where most everything works and there is very little or no rust seem to have gone up a lot. People seem to take good care of them here. Seldom used in our salted winters is my guess. It is common now to see the few that come on market advertised for equivalent of 10.000£ . What they actually go for is not known to me but they seem to sell reasonably fast. I think that at least 9000£ is a good guess. Being very rare here they are quite costly and cumbersome to fix if you should suffer a fenderbender or a rare item broken. The LS430 is simmilarly priced or even a bit higher.

Best is to take out diassemble and inspect if you want to do this right . There are some variation on the bearings. My 1998 had a two row (rare) bearing as one of the idler/tensioner bearings. I ordered a complete thing with bearing for that one ( non OEM probably not the best quality ) It is also important if ordering generic bearing to opt for the rubber lip double sealed, 2RS (selaed with rubber lips) And C3 play ( "increased play" ). Buy a reputable maker. SKF , FAG or NTN or similar European or Japanese brand. They cost < 10£ I forgot about C3 and ordered standard (small) play and after pressing in that bearing became tight with no play and that may overstress the bearing. Had to order another bearing and do it again. That bearing had some small play left after pressing in which is what you want

Feel for you LEXUS 212. I experienced simmilar thing with my 1998 LS400 ..... Here in Sweden the normal glass fix people do not have anything for these rare old LS vehicles. However I got hold of a small company that specialize in supplying car glass for rare and vintage cars and after some investigating he could source a new rear window for me. He mentioned that his source said it was the last one in stock that had been collecting dust for a very! long time. It cost me about 550£ and was made in CHINA. They do not ship them. Instead you have to agree a rendevouz meet when they go for a delivery tour. Mine was 100kilometers from where I live. The UK should reasoanbly have simmilar glass supply companies catering to rare and old cars. Probably more than one. Look for them!. Worse was that the quite special chrome/rubber trim is supposed to be scrapped and a new one fitted. It is also available at AMAYAMA but cost including shipping in a very large box will be very high. I have with many hours work salvaged it in usable shape with a scalpell. Will fit the glass myself probably with friends. Probably it would be possible to skip the trim and just fill up with the black rubber stuff.

It really sound like there is something that is intermittnetly wrong INSIDE the battery. Everything stop working while driving and getting back to life after wiggling on battery poles should be conclusive if battery poles and connections looks fine. A good battery should solve it. I do recommend a good AGM battery . Lots of cold crank amps is good but I use a 70 Ah and that works fine even in COLD Sweden. AGM batteries often charge back up 3 times faster than the standard type and keeps charge better. My 1998 is LS400 is sensitive to weak batteries.

If you look in the repair manual it is often claimed that trim needs to be replaced. I am in the process of changing rear window on my 1998 and with many hours of work and a many scalpell blades I have managed to save the original trim. The trim seems quite elaborate with a shiny metal part and is not at all generic nor easy to ship . I have found that this type of stuff is more or less unobtainium these days OR you can get is shipped from Japan for one ( 1 ) months salary or so because it is expensive and very large and fragile. Our glass changers here in sweden do not care for super rare cars like these. ABout 40 on the road here. I got my rear window glass from a guy specializing in glass for vintage cars. The very last one at his source he claimed. Is it possible to source this stuff in UK stil?.

Be very carful when deciding what to do with the exhaust. Often mending it locally is smart I think. Most of it will outlast the car and is of very high quality . The front Y section though has a not so smart design with a extra layer of thin stainelss steel cover and some insulation in between. on my 1998 I found that I had a number of small pinholes in the tubes under those covers. I bought very thin stainelss steel sheet metal and many stainless steel clamps and wrapped the tubes and sealed the pinholes with that. Supported the tubes also for a foot or so , roughed up the sheets surface and used muffler seal in between. Been leak free for 5 years now. I do not expect it to last forever but probably many more years. I also have a 1995 LS400 and that exhaust is flawless and original after 27 years .

Hmm. The noise sounded like a belt or metal rubbing against a stationary object in my opinion. I suspect it is not a problem with the tensioner. those seem pretty long lived. The tensioner is reasonably a metallic spring with fluid damping to dampen belt vibrations. I changed these for new when doing a LS400 cambelt because they were in the kit. The old one (20 years old probabaly) felt fully serviceable though when manipulating it. It is perfectly possible that that type of device fails but if it happens it is reasonably that the damping is bad due to leaked fluid or a worne damper. Experienced that on other make cars. gnereically speaking after damper deteriorates serious belt vibrations migh arise and very bad things happen. Spring weakening you discribe in a more or less stationary metal spring is unlikely in a LEXUS design I think.

What I meant Malcolm is that 30£ for the parts makes fidling with the loose bearings and pressing in/out not worth the effort. IF you can get these idlers still from LEXUS the price is something different and higher probably. The fitting work is small thing time wise. I have done this and I could do it in 15 minutes . HOWEVER when the belt is off it is an very good idea to spin the other stuff and listen/feel the bearings for noise/play /rumble. Alternator, fanbearing, frewheeling bearing on AC can be going bad after many years service. I would replace the serpentine belt if it has a few years or more. Inexpensive thing.

Agree that this makes sense for "normal people" that have limited experience of bearing choise and bearing assembly etc and have no urge to DIY down to details like some of us...😁. 30£ makes it not worth the effort monetary wise.

Yes as you suggest. I used a vice to press them out and in. Not difficult. Take care not to apply force that is not going via the balls. Hence press only on the ring you are pressing into place. Hence you need a large socket or simmilar to do that job well. I had the luxury of having the cars in my garage over the winter. Hence I could take out the bearings and look at the size and type etc. For the 1995 it was generic ballbearings that I bought of SKF brand. Any good quality make will work. I bought the double side rubber lip sealed ( 2RS type ) and the increased play version to compensate for the press fit. Generic name for the increased play is P3. If you buy noname bearings you may get bad quality ones that will work only for a few years. I paid 6£ each or so. On the 1998 LS400 the bearing was on one of the idlers was a unusual size double row type bearing. In that case I instead ordered a new third party complete idler with a bearing installed.