Mikaelse

True that you may have to dig deep if something major goes wrong if you can not DIY för 10h+ if needed. I have original starter , original EGR pipe and original power steering pump on my 1995. Do not look forward to when those needs doing. My 2000 has had the starter done by previous owner and does not have a EGR pipe. Has needed some hole patching in the exhaust done though. However If you compare to other luxury cars like Old BMW , Caddilac STS, Mercedes, Volvo the LEXUS LS400 feels much less at risk for expensive part outlays. Another benefit of my old LEXUS cars is low insurance cost for the mandatory liability insurance here in Sweden. I pay 150£ per year and then also get theft, roadside assistance and a accident insurance for occupants.

No problem removing the rear seats in my 1995. I did it replacing a broken spring. Replacing the spring was a bit more scary but perfectly doable . Did both sides.

Hi . Perfect choise in car. I use LS400 as a daily driver year round for three years now. I really like driving it. Very reliable if maintained is my opinion. Quality is great. I agree it will mostly start clonking and making noise for a long time if neglected before failing on you. Mine has always taken me where I want to go. I would be more hesistant if I was not a DIY person. Takes many hours to change things like cam belt. Starter and some suspension bushings may go anytime after 100k. However I have an old clunker SKODA i use if the LEXUS should need acute fixing. ( has never happened in three years time ) . Parts for reasonable cost can take a while to get hold of. I have bought from several places in USA(3 weeks) , Japan (2 weeks, OEM parts) , Germany (1 week) . In the US quality parts are quite modest in price. Parts direct from LEXUS sweden and other part stores in sweden is often overpriced. Some parts you can probably not get new anymore. LEXUS probably has not made parts for the LS400 for more then ten years. If you get one with air suspension. Calculate converting to normal suspension if /when they start failing. Not so expensive . Fixing air is.... I hav one with air. it works with no problems.

Exchanged mine on my 1995 Lexus myself. Not difficult but you need a good enough spring compressor. A bit scary work due to the strong springs. Paid 50£ each for swedish lesjofors steel springs bought from Germany... Had OEM length. Changed both because back seat out etc only needs to be done once and some heigth diff could be expected. .

Hi guys. My opinion on how the LS400 ages. I own an 1995 that I bought at 20 years old. It had been neglected a bit for a long time and needed about 700£ just in parts. Changed cambelt /waterpump (first change), all fluids and took the front suspenson appart over a winter (myself, it made the famous low speed klonk). After fixing and replacing the worne stuff it ran well and still does. Over three last years most of the time as a daily driver only wiperfluid pump gave up . Nothing else. The part that amazed me the most was that all the ususal age related problems of connectors, hoses , cable insulation etc aged so well under hood. None needed exchange or repair. Only one seized bolt , Everthing else came a part nicely and cam together again nicely. These cars seem to be made to a better standard then most. I would not be surprised if these cars will be ok for me as a daily driver to 30 years old. Maybe even longer. I agree that it will be exchanged partly to aftermarket parts for cost reasons. For example BREMBO brake parts and two Swedish suspension springs and partly BOSCH ignition parts have worked fine so far. The wiper fluid pump was replaced with a 16 times less expensive generic unit. was 10£. Finding parts at decent cost can take a month or so.

Draining through drain hole and filling only get you about 1.8 litres or so each time. If you drain and fill and want to exchange the oil you will need to do it multiple times with some driving in between. I did it 6 times when I bought My LS . The full capacity is ca 8 litres. After 6 drain/fill you have ballpark 80% new oil in it. I use MOBIL1 ATF 3309 works very well

Agree with yout thinking moriwaki. I have a 2000 LS400 with 100.000 miles on it. Nice dent and rust free condition and all the gizmos work. The records indicate very little has needed to be done to it over 17 years. A new starter is the only thing that sticks out. My second LS400. I have a 1995 also. They like petrol a bit much but other costs are not bad and the ride is hard to beat. I also DIY most things. LS400 is a fine piece of engineering which I enjoy working on. Made to last or at least that was a spinnoff when they made it reliable. Mikael

My 1995 LS400 Airbag light came on intermittently after start and more and more often. It was the 5 revolutions cable thing behind the steering wheel transfering cabling to the steering wheel that was broken. Bought a new OEM from Amayama.com in Japan. Fixed the problem.

I agree with Bazgr. The part you need is out there. I have spent about 1000£ on parts for my last year bought LS400 which needed major service after a number of years with not so much. Some exchanged only for peace of mind like brake hoses and lower balljoints etc. Nice to work on . Very little rust on mine and high performance and a high quality long life product. There are a number of good places to shop. I want good quality parts at OK price. About half has been OEM or "same" supplier like AISIN , Mitsuboshi ,DENSO The prices vary wildly unfortunately. Amayama.com Japan/UAE has seemingly original LEXUS/TOYOTA parts at decent prices but ask for least expensive shipping option quote since that can be expensive. Rockauto.com in USA has a massive choise and has even hard to find stuff like brake accesories. Good prices even on shipping . They have several warehouses so try to see that it all comes from one of them to save on shipping. EBAY and Amazon I have also tried and found to be OK If I stay with good reputation brands . Several German sites have also quite a lot of parts even though LS400 did not sell much in Germany. Best deals on shipping form there. 12 -> 20 Euro often even on really heavy stuff like brake rotors, springs etc. .

Thank you for the tip . I will take the glide pin thing apart and lubricate them. Probably long overdue. The klonking when running over cobble stone etc could not reasonably come from that thought

Some people have reported that the center nut holding the chock absorber to the strut mount has come loose. Under the rubber thing . Others have reported that the rubber between strutmount and spring has worne down to zero. I am in process of adding a little 2-3 mm rubber there to both of mine in front. was really thin I also have a clunk when braking quickly and when going over bumps. Etc. Have not really found any bad bushings or joints . everything feels tight. Are anyway in process of exchanging Lower ball joints and lower front bushings because I have bought new ones of oem type. Built a simple 10+ ton press with a cheap hydraulic jack, some wood pieces and threaded rods to get bushings in and out. Estimate it took ballpark 5 tons to get the new one in. Out I used the drill out rubber and saw carefully through bushing method.

Where does all this dirt come from?. I checked mine in my 1995 LS400 when I did the timing belt. really clean. Mikael

About Life of timing belt. I Just changed it on a 1995 with 95k miles on it. The belt looked ok after 20 years . Would have worked a few more years, However one of the tensioners was pretty dry and made a little noise. Also two of the bearings on the serpentine idler and tensioner was not ok. I saw a unhappy guy here in sweden offering his LS400 1999 in an add with 140k miles on it for scrap money after timing belt failure with valve sallad. So it does happen. I put a Aisin pump and Mitsuboshi belt in to try to be safe.

I have a 1995 ls400 here in Sweden . I have a tip that made the crank shaft bolt very easy with no drama. (Also should be easy to retorque . I will use a long wrench and a simple digital luggage scale). I bought a very large 46 mm open end wrench . Was equivalent of 8£ !, Not high quality probably. Was possible with a normal battery drill to make two 8 mm holes in the U-shaped part 66 mm apart. Two 8 mm screws in there secured with nuts is a perfect match for two 8,5 mm holes in the crank belt Wheel (25 mm Deep). Then a firm yank at the 22 mm with a long armed socket wrench (15£) and the bolt came loose easy. A normal socket wrench kit with a piece of pipe would probably have sufficed. Mikael