Antharro

Thank you all for the feedback, especially you, @steve2006. Definitely something I will look at for my ailing 430.

The fault on the LS400 which sucks power steering fluid into the engine via vacuum lines - does this affect the LS430 as well or is it strictly an LS400 problem? Thanks!

Welcome. 🙂 Get the radiator changed before it grenades and wrecks your transmission! And ideally get a proper transmission cooler fitted. Then, check all four airbags for wear along with their linkages, then assuming all's well, check it's up to date on servicing including auto box and rear diff fluid. With all that done, you'll be good to go!

Hi forum, Another question about my LS430. I had a new rad and auto box fitted a couple of years ago. (Changing the rad was on the list but I forgot about it and it failed... usual consequences). Recently, it's developed a seemingly minor, but annoying problem. Changing the direction of travel can cause an unpleasant jolt when power is applied. This is tricky to explain, so please bear with me. If I've reversed into a parking spot, when I come back to the car and put it in drive, I will feel the transmission engage the gear, but if I don't wait for a couple of seconds before applying power, it will jolt. It feels like it's engaging the gear heavily, (equivalent to dropping the clutch in a manual), except I've already felt the box engage the gear and felt the car "lean" in the direction I've selected and felt the engine take the load. If I then put it in drive, let the engine take the load, put it back into neutral then back into park, and the car hasn't moved at all, there will not be a jolt. If it's moved, even slightly, there will be a jolt. The severity of the jolt depends on how much the car has moved in the opposite direction to the gear engaged. So if it's rolled backwards only a couple of cm in neutral, and I engage drive, the jolt will be minimal. The larger the distance, the larger the jolt. I can reproduce the problem worse by shifting from D to R, backing up a little way, braking to a stop, shifting to park then accelerating. It will jolt in whichever gear I select as long as it's the opposite direction to the one it was in previously. I can exacerbate the problem by reversing, coming to a stop, engaging drive and accelerating very lightly (maybe up to 900-1000rpm) band NOT giving it an extra couple of seconds after feeling the engine take the load. I'll feel the car engage the gear but there'll be an almighty jolt. Works from R to D and D to R. So to get a completely smooth shift, I have to engage the gear, then wait 2-3 seconds before moving (with my foot on the brake). This is fine if I'm at home but if I'm holding up other people in a car park while I try and get into a space, it's damned inconvenient for everyone. I had a local garage look at this, and they noted that the "slide joint in the propshaft" was completely dry. They disassembled it, lubricated and reassembled it, which helped a little, but the fault is still present. My hunch on this is that there's no fault on the gearbox. It shifts smoothly for 98% of the time and hasn't given me any indication that there's anything wrong with it - no hard shifts between gears, it kicks down fine, and it's happy downshifting using the gear stick, although occasionally lazy when forcing it from 3rd to 2nd, especially if I'm going down a hill - but it does it smoothly. The gearbox oil was changed last month I feel the problem is either something to do with the prop shaft joint or the rear diff. The gearbox engages the gear, forcing the prop to turn slightly in one direction as it engages. (If the car was brand new then I wouldn't expect any movement of the prop until the brake is released as everything would be new and within tolerances). If the prop is changing direction (i.e., R -> D or D -> R) then there's play in something which results in the jolt. The jolt is exacerbated by light acceleration because it makes the prop change direction faster and therefore the play is felt more strongly as whatever it is moves and then stops suddenly.My other feeling backing this up is that my mechanics tried to change the oil in the diff but the bolt was so seized that they felt they would snap it - so it hasn't been changed in a very long time. Edit just to clarify - the jolt is significantly worse when I shift gear with my foot on the brake. If I shift without my foot on the brake, I'll feel both "stages" - the gearbox engaging/engine taking the load, and what would be the jolt - except it isn't because the brakes aren't holding the car. Hope that clarifies and this isn't too long - it's a tricky thing to explain! Does anyone have any experience with this, or any ideas? Thanks!

Hi forum, Over the last couple of years, my LS430 has occasionally put out a couple of seconds of blue smoke at start-up. It clears quickly and seems to be fine for a while. Once it smoked for several seconds, again at start, but it has never done that again. I hadn't thought about it until I was driving up the M3 today. I needed to accelerate hard out of a tight situation so put my foot down. The box shifted down as normal but once the revs got up, an amount of blue smoke came out of the exhaust, heavy enough that both lanes dropped back a little. It cleared within a few seconds and did not do it again for the remaining journey up to London, or on the journey back, where it behaved itself perfectly. It hasn't had an oil change in a while, but what's in there is a decent colour and there's enough of it. The only other thing I've noticed is there is a very slight top end tap, like a tappet or valve tap. It's only really noticeable under acceleration. It still sounds quite lovely at higher rpms! I've also found fuel consumption is down; I would expect around 25-27mpg on a motorway run - I once got 30mpg on a run to Gatwick and back to Dorset in the middle of the night! Currently it's getting around 23-24 on a motorway run. I've read up on both this forum and the US forum, and it would seem to be either valve stem seals or the PCV valve (or both?) - what does the forum think? The car has 161k miles. Thanks!

My LS430 has two problems and I'm wondering if they're related. 1) Sometimes, the ignition switch won't turn, regardless of if the key is in it or not. The car definitely recognizes that the key is present. I understand this is related to a sticky "Column Tube Stopper", which I assume should unlock when the car either detects the key either physically or electrically present. A hard jerk of the wheel in each direction seems to fix it. I would like to find a permanent cure. 2) Occasionally, the car won't start. It will turn over and turn over and turn over but won't fire. Priming the fuel pump a couple of times makes no difference. When it eventually fires up, it's on all eight cylinders, no skipping, mis-firing or other problems, smooth as it should be. It only does this when hot. Is it possible that these are both electrical problems relating to the car not fully de-immobilising? Or something about the key detection not working and therefore not letting the car run?

Right, I've had a play. I certainly can't get it to work as three zones. Disregarding the rear for a moment, the front can work as two zones. However when I use the rear controls, BOTH front zones are affected - adjusting the temperature in the rear adjusts both of the front temperatures. If the front zones are set at different temperatures, then the difference between the two will be maintained, however both will be adjusted 0.5 degrees for each press of the rear controls (up or down), and the rear temperature will be the same as the driver's temperature. So if the front are set to 20.0 and 25.5 degrees, then turning up the rear temperature will adjust the front to 20.5 and 26.0, then 21 / 26.5, etc, and the driver's temperature will show on the rear temperature display. This happens regardless of whether the rear controls are set to manual or not. The car has its original A/C plumbing - no capping here. Does this seem right?

No one else? Really?

Hi all. Trying to figure out something about the rear climate control. When the rear temperature is adjusted, it changes the driver's temperature, not the front passenger. I can see how this would work for US cars, with left hand drive, as it would mean the driver is in one "zone" and the passengers are in a second "zone". But surely this should have been switched around for the right hand drive models? Doesn't seem to make much sense to have the rear passengers messing with the driver's temperature?

This, combined with this cable. Works nicely and leaves me an extra USB for my FM transmitter or for charging the phone etc.

Same here. The charger for my dashcam (mini USB connector on the camera end, 5v DC) was causing interference in my LS430. I had the wire stuck in the gap between the top glove box door and the dash then run into the socket inside the arm rest. I was going to tidy it up so took the opportunity to replace the cigarette adapter end with a standard (good quality) dual USB power supply, and ran a new, high grade 5m cable along the inside of the centre console, behind the glove boxes, up the A-pillar, then into the roof lining to the cam. Bam, interference gone and much neater wiring!

Just a little under £550. The bearing price was over half of that, and they did two road tests - before and after.

To all of you who suggested wheel bearing, you were correct! Give yourselves a gold star. :) My local Lexus dealership had a cancelled appointment on Friday, so replaced it. I picked it up on Saturday, all done! And they washed and hoovered it! :) Thanks! :)

Thanks for the suggestion, Brian. I've had someone on another owner's club suggest the same thing so I think (hope) you're both onto something.

I've done a pretty thorough search of this and the US OC forums and haven't found anything which quite matches the problem I have. Car is a 2001 LS430 UL. It's had new discs and pads front and back due to warped and incorrectly fitted discs, and four new Goodyear tyres on refurbished original alloys. It has now developed a vibration at speeds above 65mph, but only in one circumstance - when I'm steering slightly to the right. So as an example, I'm on a motorway, the road curves to the right slightly, i turn the wheel to the right slightly to maintain my position in the lane. The steering wheel vibrates and there is a droning sound from the N/S/F, which increases in pitch as the vehicle's speed increases and decreases as the speed decreases. Braking is smooth and straight, steering is also straight. Changing the suspension from normal to high doesn't make a difference. Car drives perfectly in all other regards. I've taken it to three different garages who have: - Balanced the wheels (three times, each disagreed with the previous garage's balancing result!) - Rotated the wheels from front to back and vice versa - Cleaned up the mating surfaces on the wheel and hub in case the wheel wasn't sitting absolutely flush - Checked the brake discs and pads are fitted correctly No one seems to be able to come with a solution to this. I need to drive it to London in a week's time and need it fixed by then as I'll be coming back fully loaded with luggage and passengers! I'm going to throw it at the main dealer this week and hope that they can come up with something. I wouldn't usually do this but it's been looked at at enough other places that if it was an easy fix it would have been done. Anyone got any ideas?

Interesting, and a bit annoying. I'll have a chat with the dealership but I don't hold out much hope. Seems odd to release a car of this calibre and cost with a fault like this. Thanks for the replies. :)

I'll check with my mechanic next time I see him regarding the pump. He is very mechanically minded and works on all manner of matters mechanical, not just cars, so I'm inclined to trust him when he says he did it. Might be a while until I see him again but I will update when I do. I've started separate threads about the locking/unlocking and the reversing sensors, figured I'm more likely to get answers to dedicate threads rather than this general thread.

Is it possible to retrofit reversing sensors? Having had them on my Camry, I would like them on the LS. Lexus have told me I cannot take the reversing sensors from a 2002 and retrofit them as apparently the computer won't know how to talk to them. They have said they can supply me with sensors compatible with the car and fit them for £450. I can't see why they would change the sensors so much between the 2001 model year and the 2002 model year that they wouldn't work. And I would assume that sensors were a factory option for my car, so presumably some of the wiring is already in place, it just needs the sensors and some kind of control module to be fitted. I know I can go for aftermarket sensors but I've never been impressed with them; whereas the ones on the Camry are superb, so I assume the factory LS ones would be equally as good.

The automatic unlocking on my LS430 is confusing me. - Most of the time, if I walk up to the car, it unlocks automatically after about five seconds. (I really think this should be faster as it knows I'm there - the courtesy lights turn on). I get in, drive, park, get out, lock the door using the button, walk away. Everything's fine. - If I park, turn off the engine and either sit in the car for a bit or get out and wander around, so the key is going in and out of range of the car, then finally lock it, it may or may not lock using the button; I may have to use the keyfob. - Then, if I've locked it with the keyfob, when I come back it will not always automatically unlock. It knows the key is present as it turns the courtesy lights on but will not unlock. - Tonight, it unlocked just fine as I approached, I went for a drive, parked, got out of the car immediately - it refused to lock using the button on the door; I had to use the keyfob. When I got back to the car, it refused to unlock, but locked fine when I got home. I've looked on the keyfob as I've approached the car and I can see the LED flashing away as the courtesy lights turn on, but it can still be flashing and the doors won't unlock. It seems like if I keep things simple - auto unlock, drive, get out, button lock, repeat, it's fine. It gets confused if I do anything other than this. Any ideas?

I can get aftermarket non-Lexus sensors, but my experience with them on other cars has not been good. If I'm going to fit them to the LS then they need to be the genuine article as far as I am concerned. The compressor was very noisy and rattly; having the new mounts and having it lubricated made a hell of a difference - I can't hear it at all now most of the time, and on the very rare occasion when I can it's hard to discern from the engine's own noise, which I'm sure you know is very quiet! It's a slight hum now, whereas before it had a bad rattle and also bearing noise.

So, an update on my own thread. :) Work done so far: - Consumables; wiper blades, bulbs, etc. - New transmitter key - New document wallet from Lexus - Removed all five speakers to be sent away and refurbished (new foam plus dustcaps where needed) - Four new Goodyear tyres - Fully refurbish all five wheels - Lube service plus air and pollen filters - Auto box fluid and filter change - Replace air suspension compressor mountings and lubricate compressor - Remove rear discs and pads, overhaul calipers, clean up and fit new discs and pads - Remove front discs and pads, clean surfaces of both hubs and discs, overhaul calipers and reassemble - Remove all ride height sensors, clean up and lubricate - Bought manuals from USA, turns out the American 2001 LS430 doesn't have the automatic door unlocking/button lock so I'm missing that bit. On the to-do list: - Figure out what on earth is going on with the automatic unlocking; more on that below. - Replace radiator - Replace front brakes (it's still juddering, but not as badly and only usually above 50mph) - Replace suspension components as necessary so wheel geometry can be properly set up. Unfortunately some of the suspension components are rusted to the point that they cannot be unbolted or adjusted. - Professional interior valet and minor repairs to leather - Get hold of updated sat nav DVD, mine is OLD. The automatic unlocking is confusing me. - If I walk up to the car, it unlocks. I get in, drive, park, get out, lock the door using the button, walk away. Everything's fine. - If I park, turn off the engine and either sit in the car for a bit or get out and wander around, so the key is going in and out of range of the car, then finally lock it, it may or may not lock using the button; I may have to use the keyfob. - Then, if I've locked it with the keyfob, when I come back it will not always automatically unlock. It knows the key is present as it turns the courtesy lights on but will not unlock. I've looked on the keyfob as I've approached the car and I can see the LED flashing away as the courtesy lights turn on, but it can still be flashing and the doors won't unlock. Any ideas? The brakes judder a lot less now the rears have been replaced. They were missing mounting clips and bolts, were pretty grimy and hadn't been fitted properly! However - if I drive from cold at around town speeds, it more than likely won't judder. If I head out to the nearest dual carraigeway and brake from 50mph+, there is noticeable judder, especially if I'm going down hill. Apparently the front brakes were also pretty grimy but have been cleaned up. So it looks like I am going to need to replace the fronts as well unless anyone has any ideas? Finally, is it possible to retrofit reversing sensors? Having had them on my Camry, I would like them on the LS. Lexus have told me I cannot take the reversing sensors from a 2002 and retrofit them as apparently the computer won't know how to talk to them. They have said they can supply me with sensors compatible with the car and fit them for £450. I can't see why they would change the sensors so much between the 2001 model year and the 2002 model year that they wouldn't work. And I would assume that sensors were a factory option for my car, so presumably some of the wiring is already in place, it just needs the sensors and some kind of control module to be fitted. Has anyone done this? Apart from these points, I am loving the car so far, the 18mpg around town is a bit hard to stomach but some how I am justifying it!

£350? Ouch. I think I will definitely ask my mechanic to lubricate them then. Is there any particular physical indicator to tell the state of the rad? ie, if it's badly corroded on the outside, would that indicate poor internal condition? I have a somewhat urgent problem though - I've been talking to Lexus regarding getting an additional key - they're not sure if they I have is a master or not. If it's not a master then I'm apparently in for a very big bill indeed. Apparently of the size that I may consider just selling the car on as-is and looking for another. Which is a bit of a downer.

Thanks, cruisermark. :) Brakes - definitely OEM or similar quality. Cheap brakes aren't worth it, especially on a heavier car like this. A/C - thanks for the info. I'll first get it regassed and if that doesn't help I'll have to look at the pipe work. I'm not keen on cutting off the rear A/C so I'll have to see how much my mechanic would charge to have the pipes renewed. Leather - needs repairs as well as a good polish; previous owner's kids have ripped several small pieces out of the shoulder of the driver's seat which will need to be repaired. Speakers - ClubLexus have several members in the States who have replaced their subwoofers and door speakers. I also found a thread or two on here. Unfortunately my sub is beyond repair - previous owner tried to repair it with what appears to be bathroom sealant. I haven't seen the door speakers yet. I have matched the impedance and size as best I can with what's on the market, and I *think* I have picked suitable replacements. Fingers crossed; I'll be trying on the weekend. Air suspension pump - Thanks for the info, I'll look into it. I have to go to the dealership on the weekend so I'll ask about prices then. The info on the filter and coolant/oil is also useful - I recall the late 90ies Mercedes E class having a very similar problem. Radiator is £92 from EuroCarParts, so it's not the end of the world. Should the radiator fail, is it instant death to the transmission as with the Mercedes, or will I have a "notice" period? I work away during the week, so pictures will come soon assuming it's a nice weekend. :)

Thanks for the welcome, and I've had a read of the T&Cs. :)

I recently bought myself an LS430 in blue, cream leather interior. I bought it cheap with 144k on the clock, Cat C, knowing it would need some work doing, inspected it in the dark on a wet evening then drove it back from London to Bournemouth. It drove beautifully on the way home, except for the brakes! The Cat C was from a swipe to the bumper, front wing and driver's door which caused the car to be written off and sent to auction, where the previous owner bought it. He repaired the damage but bodged the trim back on. Unfortunately during the auction process, the service history was lost - the dealer can only see history to 60k miles, and there's not much of it. But looking it over I get the feeling it was very well looked after before it was damaged. First thing was to get it properly washed and polished and the interior valeted which made it look a WHOLE LOT nicer - it was seriously grimy. It's pretty clean under the bonnet and no rust at all that I can see. Apparently it's not due for a cambelt for another 20k-ish miles. I know it needs: - 4 tyres - it has an odd pair of winter tyres on the front and an odd pair of non-winter tyres on the back, all bar one are on pretty much minimum tread - brakes fixing - judders badly on braking (probably warped discs) - A/C not working, probably needs regas - Fridge not working, assuming same reason as I believe it works off of the rear A/C - Replacement subwoofer and driver's door speaker - Repairs to various areas of the leather (previous owner had kids in the back...) - Repairs to paintwork and trim - Alloy wheel refurbishment None of this is hugely expensive and I am hoping that the cost of the car and fixing the various bits and pieces will come to less than the price of a good second hand car! - Tyres; I have a really good place for part-worns, aiming for Michelin Primacy if available! - Brakes are due to be inspected next week by my mechanic, along with a general check-over - A/C, I will get regassed with plenty of dye so they can see if it's leaking - Fridge will hopefully be working when the A/C is fixed - I have done a lot of research into the speaker replacements and have a pair of door speakers and a new subwoofer on order (aftermarket, not genuine Lexus parts) - Leather will be taken care of at some point - Paint and trim will be done in due course, alloys will come first - I've read that the vehicle height sensors can seize up and cost £150+VAT each to replace, so I'm thinking of asking my mechanic to lubricate them to make them last a little longer. Questions! - Does all of the above sound reasonable? - Is the rear A/C re-gassed from a different location to the front? - Is there anything else I need to look at doing at this time? - I've heard a pump going off from time to time from the O/S/F and understand this is the air suspension pump. I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be able to hear this - is it going to be a big repair if/when it goes? All of that aside, it's a beautiful car that with some TLC will return to its former glory; albeit without much service history.