mrdoofa

It could be an airlock in the heater matrix. Have you tried "burping" the cooling system?

How do you disarm it in the LS430?

I think I might replace the battery just as a precaution, especially before we get into the winter months. I didn't realise how sensitive these alarms are!!! The battery doesn't look that old but it can't do any harm to replace it. I honestly see car alarms as a pain in the a** and I wish I could completely disable it. They are a waste of time, nobody ever takes any notice when a car alarm goes off, everybody assumes the owner has accidentally set it off or its malfunctioning. I once saw a car driving with its alarm going off, I don't know if it'd been stolen or not but it certainly wasn't enough to deter the thief if it was stolen!!

I still get the problem from time to time. My problem is that 9 times out of ten when I lock the car the hazard lights don't flash which would indicate the alarm isn't set although the car is locked, every once in a while the hazards do flash when I lock the car then a few minutes later the alarm will set itself off. I'm getting around the problem at the moment by locking the car using the interior lock button on the drivers door then closing the door holding the external handle in the open position, this leaves the car locked but with no alarm set. I'm not sure how old the battery is in my car. There are no other problems though, all other electrics work fine and there is nothing metal in the centre console.

Whenever I lock my car using the remote 9 times out of 10 the car locks but the hazard lights don't flash which seems to indicate the alarm isn't set which is fine by me. However occasionally the hazard lights do flash which sets the alarm, then shortly after leaving the car the alarm starts going off on its own which is most annoying and doesn't make me popular with the neighbours!!! My question is this, is there a way to permanently disable the alarm? I'm not bothered about it being alarmed as I don't think these cars are that desirable these days for stealing and who takes notice of car alarms anyway?!? I do want to retain the remote locking though. As I said 9 times out of 10 the alarm doesn't set anyway but occasionally it does and that's when I have the problem. Cheers!!!

Thanks for your help guys, I'll pass the info on to my neighbour although it seems the Lexus V8 isn't the ideal engine for tuning!!!

The mk4 from 1997 onwards has the VVT engine which gave a bit more power and torque and better economy, 5 speed transmission, touch screen sat nav, climate and audio controls etc, revised styling and xenon headlights with auto levelling. Many say the mk4 is the best LS400 they made, some would even argue the best Lexus ever made.

Hi guys, My next door neighbour is considering buying an LS400 for its engine and transmission to go into a race car for circuit racing, he plans on selling the rest of the car for parts. The one he's considering is a mk4 with 279bhp stock but he is wanting to tune it to 400bhp but no higher. He wants to know if this can be done and what kind of work and expense would be involved. If anybody has any idea or can offer any help or advice that would be great. Cheers everybody!!!

I can confirm that the instructions given by Redsteve work fine. I had to use it when my battery was disconnected to change the cambelt. The previous owner had set a code which I didn't have so this method resets the whole thing and turns the code off. It's the sort of thing Lexus would probably charge about £50 for 2 minutes pressing buttons!!!

Looks like a great example, did you manage to check if everything works whilst you was looking at it? They really are being a bit optimistic about the price though, I do prefer cream or grey leather too.

He used to do weddings in the 80s and 90s and he says he used to love it so much that he wants to do them again, personally, as great as they are I don't really see the LS400 or LS430 as wedding cars, people want something more traditional for that like Rolls Royce, Bentley or Jaguar even though I think the Lexus is actually a better car to actually own than those 3.

It's because at the bottom of the radiator there is the gearbox oil intercooler. When the bottom of the radiator corrodes it allows the 2 fluids to mix which means certain death for the gearbox which I found out the hard way. Once again if you are getting no other symptoms from the suspension and it all functions normally I wouldn't rush into doing anything with it yet. Many LS430 owners pretty much treat replacing the radiator as routine maintenance. With that and the air suspension worries i have to admit that it has made me a bit wary of LS430s but I am more than happy with my mk4 LS400 at the moment!!! I may take the plunge with another LS430 one day as I still think they are a lovely car but would like a facelift one this time if I do.

The story with old Baz goes that he bought the silver LS430 and found it was a none premium pack version so it didn't have air suspension and the extra things in the rear of the car, he also said he preferred the none perforated leather as the seats aren't cooled on none premium cars. Then a white one came up for sale so he decided to sell the silver one only then to find he'd been gazumped on the white one so then ended up buying the gold one he has now. He said the radio amp is broken and the electric sunroof is jammed, also some rust according to its MOT history. I bought my LS400 from him and love the car, it was probably a bit overpriced but to me was worth it for the condition and absolutely everything works on the car, even the common failure items are fine (touch wood, I don't want to tempt fate!!!) He is a genuine nice guy (probably a bit too nice, hence he has been known to get his fingers burned when buying cars because he trusts the sellers too much). I honestly don't believe he is a dealer. He seems to enjoy buying cars and the chase more than actually owning them, he also seems to lose some money every time so that would make him a poor dealer, he does it more as a hobby. He isn't that clued up so sometimes gets a good car, sometimes a bad one. He seems to buy them without viewing them and trusts the seller too much in my opinion. His wife Pat must despair though!!! As I said mine seems to be a good un but he is no dealer. I know many will shoot me down telling me he is a dealer and not to buy anything from him and that is fine. This is just my opinion of the guy having met him and dealt with him and is now a friend. As for buying a high mileage Lexus, if the service history and MOT history are good and everything works and the price is right I wouldn't be put off by 200k on a Lexus.

I'd definitely get the radiator changed (it is the main engine coolant radiator). My LS430 had this issue and the gearbox completely failed all of a sudden without warning on mine. I now have a mk4 LS400 because I've been told they don't have this problem and also no air suspension worries. If the MOT advisory just says light misting of oil, I'd leave it for now if the suspension all operates fine. I've seen that advisory a lot on LS430s. Looks a nice car you have there though.

Thanks again for your help guys!!! I'm gonna get my mechanic to check the calipers and discs. It's great being a member of this club, great advice and input as always. I'll report back as soon as I've had it checked over. Cheers again!!!

Thanks everybody for your replies, I was thinking along the lines of warped discs, it certainly makes sense from the symptoms I'm having. I'll hopefully get it in the garage this week, are new discs and pads expensive for the LS400?

I have a 1999 LS400 and think it's brilliant however, I have noticed whenever you apply the brakes there is a pulsating sensation coming from the front of the car and through the brake pedal. The best way I can describe the feeling is a combination of ABS pulsating and the feeling you get when you drive over horizontal raised lines in the road such as you get when approaching some roundabouts etc. The car actually brakes and comes to a stop just fine without pulling to one side or needing extra effort. It does seem speed related, the faster you go the more pronounced it is, it does feel linked to wheel rotation, ie: the pulsating is faster or slower depending on road speed. The car has just passed an MOT about a month ago and the only advisory was slight play in front lower suspension ball joints both. It has had new tyres all round fairly recently although they seem to be budget tyres. As I said the car brakes fine and the problem only shows when braking. Any ideas what it could be or where to start investigations? Cheers!!!

If you know a decent independent mechanic I would go there over the main stealers any day!!! I've just had the cambelt changed on my LS400 by a local mechanic who I've known for years. He did the whole job including a new waterpump, tensioners and complete coolant change for £400 including VAT and labour. I rang Lexus and they wanted over well over £600 for just doing the belt alone without the other items!!! Main dealer service histories are vastly overrated in my opinion, sure seeing all Lexus stamps in the book looks good but I'm more interested in the quality of the servicing being good which I don't think you always get at the main dealers. They are simply fitters rather than full mechanics who are trained to empty your wallet as quickly as possible!!! My car is 16 years old with 160k on the clock and as good as the car is its still only worth at best £1500 to £2000 so main stealer servicing will now affect the value very little if any.

Yes, I use a DAB adaptor which transmits FM to the head unit. I've found it works fine. A cheap easy way to get DAB in the LS400.

I decided to tackle the DAB installation today. I had to remove the passengers grab handle which enabled me to pull the A pillar trim back far enough so I could reach the metalwork underneath. The trim is just held by clips. I have a film type DAB antenna, the earthing strip was just long enough to reach the bodywork, the antenna wire then ran down behind the A pillar and I fed the wire around the door seal and under the glovebox to the centre console where I have mounted the DAB receiver. I switched it on and let it find all the DAB stations it could, set it to FM transmission then tuned the head unit to that FM frequency and BINGO!!! DAB in my LS400!!! I then went for a quick drive round and found a couple of spots when it dropped signal but all in all not bad at all, I live in a bit of a DAB fringe area anyway. For anybody interested I used the Sonichi S100 DAB tuner which was £41 and the auto leads film windscreen antenna at £19.99, both from halfords. Sonichi do offer their own magnetic external aerial but I didn't want to start drilling holes in the bodywork and also could easily be nicked as its only magnetic but perhaps most important is that some people have reported more wind noise with this antenna and in a Lexus that would never do!!! Overall, it took about 20 mins to do, I didn't damage anything and I'm so far pleased with the results, if I could find a way of curing those couple of dropped signals I'd be even happier but that's DAB for you.

I just wondered, I have a mk4 LS400 but I have a brand new spare LS430 cabin filter which I was going to put in the 430 until the car went. Are the cabin filters the same for both cars? Cheers!!!

Hi, Just want to pick a few brains. I'm in the process of fitting a DAB adaptor to my mk4 LS400. It's one that transmits DAB to the head unit via an unused FM frequency. The kit comes with an aerial which sticks to the top passenger side of the windscreen, it comes with an earthing tale which magnetically sticks to a metal part of the body. How easy is it to remove the A pillar trim or prise open the front of the headlining slightly to get to the metalwork? Apparently using the earth tale improves the DAB signal. I just wanted to ask before I potentially do any damage!!! Cheers everybody.

You're right. I expect that tips and tricks like this are things Lexus never wanted us mere mortals to know about!! 😜

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I got my mk4 back today from having its cambelt changed and found the battery had been disconnected so the radio needed a code which I haven't got. Just to let you know that this solution worked great and it's all back to normal now. Thanks for posting it!!!

Hi, I am a former LS430 owner so this is some advice based on my experiences and also what I've heard from others. Up until late 2002 the air suspension, rear massaging/electric seats, fridge, stereo and climate controls, cooled front seats were all part of the optional premium pack which most are fitted with. It's quite hard to find one without the premium pack. From late 2002 Lexus fitted the premium pack as standard. There was a facelift some time in 2003 which added a 6 speed gearbox with tiptronic control which gave slightly improved performance and economy, rear parking camera, cornering headlights, LED brake lights, rear vanity mirrors, revised front and rear styling with exposed exhaust tailpipes. I've also heard they improved the heated/cooled seats but don't know for sure. I think the exhaust is stainless steel or at least part stainless steel. Here is a list of things to check for: Air suspension: The ride should be almost magic carpet like with no noise, clunks or knocking. When you press the button on the dash the car should slowly raise by about an inch, also listen for the compressor which should be quiet. Check steering wheel adjusts up/down and in/out, the motors are expensive to replace. I would strongly advise changing the radiator if there isn't evidence of it having been done already, coolant getting in the gearbox is what finished my car. Check for delamination of double glazing, cloudiness on the side windows is the give away. Timing belt should be replaced every 100k miles, Lexus charge £295 according to their website. I can't really comment on the sound system as the sub was blown on mine which is common. Replacement subs are expensive although some have repaired theirs with some success although I think you have to remove the back seats to get at it properly. Take a CD with plenty of bass to check it, also to check the changer works ok. I'm really pleased with the sound in my mk4 LS400 I've got since though!!! There have also been some reports of amp problems. Check all other gadgets and electrics which there is plenty of!!! Bonnet and boot struts can be weak but are cheap and easy to replace. The heated and cooled seats on the 430 are very weak and barely noticeable if noticeable at all!!! They are quite a poor design. Check rear air con and fridge works if it has the premium pack. Gearbox oil should be red and not smell burnt. A full or at least good service history is vital, also do an MOT history check as this can be an indication of how well looked after a car has been. Thats everything I can think of off the top of my head other than the usual checks you would do on any used car. I know this all sounds very negative but remember not all issues affect all cars and no doubt many have no problems at all. The LS430 really is a lovely car but just buy very carefully as there is a more to go wrong than on the LS400. The good thing is that the 430 is more common than the 400 these days so you can afford to be more picky. By the way I now have a mk4 LS400 which I love. Good luck!!!