SH20

I don't have a double garage and because builders don't build houses these days with a decent footprint I didn't stand a chance to get any of my Lexus cars in to the match box size garage, especially my LS500h at over 5 metres long I always wanted a little workshop space for my projects so I made one. No clutter, tools to hand, multiply power sockets, hot and cold water with sink, fridge, blah blah blah. She says I spend far too much time in there, but it's so peaceful.

Looks like the silver 460 for £8K C2 ULD has had the front near side door painted. Silver is the hardest colour to match IMO or maybe it's the light/reflection. Have you stood next to it yet?

Removing a seat out of the car in question the LS460 SE-L wasn't easy due to the weight of the seat. Disconnecting the seat's side bolster air bags requires the 12volt battery to be discounted and a full 10 mins wait time to allow for all relays in the car to discharge fully. Separating the upper seat back from the base was straight forward and then removing the cushion from the base took about 20 mins unpicking the frog clips which hold the leather cover to the seat frame. Various velcro strips also needed addressing before the cushion was free from the seat base. Refitting takes longer as it is unlikely that you can replicate the experience of the factory trim shop workers who built the seat in the first place but it's possible to get close. Most seats never get dismantled into it's constituent parts apart for re trimming. I lived in Leeds at the time so car trimmers are not difficult to find but any local body shop will for sure have a contact they use for specialist work like leather. Specialist trimmers are used in preference to in house technicians because of a skill set trimmers have in working leather and vinyl and the sewing machines they use are heavy duty. Often warm air from a heat gun is used to soften leather when it has to be shaped around hard and soft trim. Of course YouTube is stuffed with videos of leather trim work The internet would be the best place to start looking a vehicle upholsterer in your area.

The front section of your seat cover has probably not been stretched quite enough at the factory when the trimmer was installing it and getting in the car each time has started to force the little bit of slack in the leather in one direction causing the start of folds. My first Lexus a LS460 SE-L suffered from slack leather caused by the first owner, who I met and he was a big lad. My guess was as he slid across the driver's seat rather than dropping into the seat every time he entered the car he pushed the leather in the same direction causing folds and once stretched there was no coming back from it. The car had 30,000 miles on it which is why the slack in the leather looks so great. I removed the seat and the lower cushion squab and then found a really good car upholsterer who carefully unstitched the leather cover from the frame and stretched the cover, trimmed the excess stretched leather and then re stitched it to the padding and seat heater matrix layer. Great job at £40 which then required the seat squab to be refitted to the base. There isn't an alternative for folds in leather and as your car is still under warranty Lexus will need to either authorise a new cover which requires a tear down of the seat and your dealer is likely to use a specialist upholsterer or a tear down with a view to stretching the existing cover before re securing with hog ties. The before and after shots show what a good trimmer can achieve.

Not sure what has happened but opened the flap manually and then got the wife to sit in the car and press the fuel release button. I could see that the plunger was working fine and since doing this procedure the flap is now opening every time. Not sure if allowing the plunger to activate while the flap was open has re aligned the mechanism somehow. One to keep an eye on.

Thank You members, I'll check the operation of the solenoid and also see where this spring is located. I contacted the dealer and waiting on them to discuss as this seems to be something that is well documented.

My 2017 LS500h has a fuel flap release problem. Pressing the button doesn't open the flap and using the manual release from inside the boot only just moves the flap whereby it moves about one sixteenth of an inch which allows me to get my finger nails in to pull it open. The release button I expect is or I assume activating a solenoid of some sort which is supposed to pull back the plunger so the flap springs open. If it wasn't for the manual release I couldn't get fuel in to the tank. Numerous YouTube clips on this subject cover a number of Lexus models but not the LS variants. Not had this issue on any previous Lexus, ES or GS nor my first LS Anyone know what the issue is and how much interior trim might require removing. I do have warranty but curiosity as to why this failure occurred intrigues me.

Hi Neil, thinking of you and hope all goes well for you. Very surprised to hear you need this operation as you looked like a very fit bloke when I met you previously. Good Luck Steve

Picture is the old vinyl skin removed and the bare shell awaiting recovering in leather. The photo of the badly worn upper suede like trims was taken before any other retrimming took place. The same coloured leather I used was the left overs of a full hide I purchased to cover the rear centre console I made for my Jaguar XJ Sovereign. It gave me the option to have a four seat arrangement when the console was in place and because I made it with quick release in mind it allowed me to revert back to a five seat arrangement but for the most part I left it in place and when I traded the car in against my first Lexus, a LS460 I removed the console and sold it to a Jaguar enthusiast rather than leave it in the car.

Because my own LS460 suffered from the worn out upper B Post trims which were covered with the same fabric as the headlining but could be bought separately I bought a pair but the lower B post covers were too expensive to replace which were also suffering from wear but looked worse because the material was vinyl and beyond saving so I removed the vinyl and Re trimmed both lower B post covers with leather I had over from an earlier job years ago on Jaguar which had the same coloured leather seats. Removing these vinyl covers was easy but the leather work took longer because of the intricate shape I had to stretch and glue the leather around.

My first Lexus was a LS460 SE-L, bought from Lexus Carlisle and the first owner before me was a business owner who specified every extra and pack which in my naivety I thought was all standard equipment, how wrong I was when I began to understand the model compared to less equipped examples. This was my path forever and 6 Lexus cars later, a LS500h being my latest vehicle I never looked back. What a joy it was and it never let me down, nor has any Lexus let me down. I did fit two new upper B post trims due to wear and even re trimmed the lower section in a matching coloured leather despite the original covering being vinyl. A full one dealer only serviced history and Lexus Carlisle turned out to be and still are an exceptional dealership having bought a new ES300h from them in 2019. If you look at my thread titled "So Proud it would be an Understatement" you will see that very car just after I sold it to Phil Walker Car Sales of Sheffield who chased me for 2 months when I was first thinking of selling it. You won't regret a LS460 SE-L

Someone said in a previous thread about dash cams and why manufacturers tend to avoid factory fit cameras. It's to do with data protection and privacy yet everyone and their dog rely on dash cam footage all the time, e.g Police and Insurance Companies. So as stated, if Tesla do it then what's the problem. I would never rely on a dealer myself to install a camera system no matter how many times they have done it. A fitter is not going to take enough care when routing cables etc and the issue of the rear camera being too big to avoid the rear blind is an example of a fitter not giving a f...

Yes and the Bentley invoice was back in 2013 so what it costs now for the same schedule is anyone's guess.

It was for a small mini bottle of smelling salts while I lay on the floor.

2005 Bentley Arnage R six year service £2987.89p. I still have the invoice to remind me how reasonable servicing my LS500h is.

I purchased a LS500h recently which was fitted with the official recommended Nextbase dashcam, no screen and only the front camera was fitted. Very streamlined and hardly visible as it fits next to the interior rear view mirror cameras. Using the Nextbase Cam Viewer App it uses Wi Fi to connect the camera to your phone seamlessly. It's then possible to view the individual files on the phone and select any you might want to download for sharing. You have to be in the car to do this, however you can remove the camera very quickly and then connect it to a computer if you want to view files. The App allows for auto connection to the phone if you wish or you can do it manually by pressing the wi fi button on the camera. I've been used to screen cameras in the past and still have a Nextbase 522GW front and rear set up in the wife's Yaris and did try my Nextbase 622GW front and rear set up in my LS500 using the existing hard wire kit for the original Lexus approved camera. I now use only the original Nextbase Lexus front camera as it is less obtrusive for sure. Go with the official Lexus recommended front and rear set up but ask the dealer where they are going to mount the rear camera if you have a rear screen blind as the camera location is critical if you still want to use the rear blind. I believe the rear Lexus approved camera can just fit either side of the blind but the dealer might recommend fitting it centrally at the bottom of the rear screen. The dealer will have fitted lots so know the best location. If you don't have a rear screen blind then it won't matter.

Worst dealer I ever dealt with when I bought a pre owned ES300. Just awful when I think of Lexus Leeds, Carlisle and Stoke who excelled at customer service. Amongst other things Cambridge tried to argue that some pre existing front bumper damage was to be expected as it was a used car after all. This a 2022 £32K retail sale. After wiping the floor with them a reduction in the car's price was agreed.

IntroCar Ltd now the most recognised supplier of Bentley and Rolls Royce parts in the UK for stuff that has gone obsolete because they also re produce parts using CAD and 3D printing. They single handedly re designed the head gasket for the 6.75 V8 engine to a superior standard than the original and is produced by a company in South Africa for IntroCar. They specialise in S1,2 and 3 Bentley and Rolls Royces, Shadows and T series Bentley, all the SZ varients, Arnage and Silver Serephs. Take a look at their YouTube Videos, they are an education in what's possible and do not over charge. They export a huge amount of parts all over the world. Continental GT's are also catered for. Flying Spares led the way for a number of years but only from a breakers point of view. IntroCar remanufacture thousands of parts that were thought to have become obsolete by taking the original and making their version better. Their website allows you to filter all models and into the various categories of parts. I used them a number of times for my 1997 Brooklands LPT, a 2001 Bentley Arnage Le Mans and my last Bentley, a 2005 Arnage R. I managed to get the parts I needed at the time when the dealer network said no longer available. Sorry no pic of my SZ Brooklands but without doubt the SZ range was the best over Engineered model the factory ever produced because it was designed first and then priced whereas the cars that followed were priced first and then designed. Graham Hull the best designer ever in my opinion who was heavily involved in the SZ models before he was made Chief Designer for the 1998 Arnage. He later admitted one of the biggest challenges he and the Engineers had was redesigning the chassis in 2000 when those Tossers BMW started to mess the factory around and threatened to stop supplying the 4.4 V8 for the Bentley when VW outbid them for the brand. Hence the Arnage Red Label with the original V8 which was retro fitted into the Arnage shell after the chassis was heavily modified. I loved my Bentley cars but experienced far too many incidents of vandalism and outright hatred over 10 years by pond life bottom feeders who do this country down and respect nothing and no one.

I agree, I worked for Direct Line as an Engineering Manager (Motor Cliams) and once loyal to the brand as an employee and after retirement that lotalty was abused year after year in premium increases which bore no relation to any adverse risk. I shop around 2 months at renewal every year noticing that hybrid car premiums are being targeted as a high yield premium for Insurers. Manufacturers also are charging astronomical figures for parts fueling repair costs which drive premiums up. Cartel? Yes.

Used Whats app 20240116_115531.mp4

With the battery in place fully connected place a volt meter across the 2 terminals The standing battery voltage should read 12.6v when the car is off. When the vehicle is on /Ready /engine running or not it should read 14.4 or very close to that. If the battery is not holding charge after a couple of days and the standing voltage is less than 12.6v and the running voltage is less than 14.4v then the battery would be suspect in my opinion. Suggest you fully charge the battery with an external source like a CTek battery conditioner or similar. As soon as the battery reaches fully charged, disconnect the charger and then check the standing and running voltages immediately with your volt meter. They need to be 12.6v and 14.4v If not the battery is the problem.

Stephen (Boomer) how about this, isn't this nice? https://www.qualitycarstoday.co.uk/vehicle-details/Jaguar-XK-50-V8-Portfolio-U2405/

Kevin, (Scythe) saw a video on YouTube which said wash your car and charge your 12v battery at the same time in 1 hour. It was a Yaris, useful as we have one, and basically the car was turned on with the Ready light lit up with all things turned off and the smart key on the drivers seat. The premise was the hybrid battery would be charging the 12 v battery even with the engine not running. Turned out over the hour spent washing the car the engine came on for approx 150 seconds in total cutting in and out as necessary and throughout this the 12 v battery was being charged during the hour he spent washing his car. The chap even said the manual advised to turn the car on and leave for an hour in the Ready mode (car wash not included obviously) and that will charge the battery to keep it at the right voltage, the engine will naturally cut in and out. Not sure if the engine running is accurate in terms of how many seconds/minutes he calculated his engine ran for. So, Kevin will this work???

VIN and chassis number are the same, stamped into the bodywork under a flap in front of the driver's seat and visible in the corner of the front screen as well as on a small black sticker on all 4 doors, bootlid and bonnet which can't be peeled off for security as it just shatters in pieces if you try and remove them.

For me it was the colour, Sienna Red with a caramel coloured interior, not common and I had seen lots of cars before finding that one. If I could have found a LS500h in Agate with a tan interior I would have been very happy. My LS500 is in Manganese Lustre with the black and Claret interior, pleated door cards with Kiriko Glass, a Lexus Press car originally back in 2017. So much improved in lots of ways in the 10 years between both LS versions. This 12v battery question is now exhausted for me and I will move on but so grateful for all the help and information the forum members have been willing to share, especially your detailed explanations. Yes, cleaning cars and keeping them clean is an OCD affliction I suffer from.