will_uk

Now sold! To a genuine buyer, and a member of LOC! Cheers, Will :)

Stick it on ebay with some photos. Should get some good interest. Cheers, Will

Re-listed due to a timewaster with champagne eyes and lemonade pockets! The cheque he left as a deposit bounced! Hoping for a hassle free sale this time! :) Lexus LS400 Cheers, Will

Hi Maneesh, Thanks for the interest etc. The main reason that I sold the LS400 was due to lack of use. In the 6 months or so that I had owned the car, it had only covered ~ 1500 miles! Due to work commitments, I am now using a company car, and the Lexus only got used about every other week! It was an amazing car. I have never bought or sold a car in my life that was in as good condition as the LS, even my current Merc. It had absolutely no faults whatsoever, and put many 2 or 3 year old cars to shame, both cosmetically and mechanically. Anyway - shock, horror, I now have a C230 Kompressor Sport, in black, with black leather, heated seats, air con etc etc. I know it is a different class of car, but for the miles that I am doing it is more than adequate! If I was ever to offer any advice to future/prospective LS400 owners, it would be the following Don't go for the cheap ones! Although there are the typical rumours that these cars can go on forever, and are 'Toyotas', therefore are reliable and are cheap to maintain, then think again! Buy the lowest-mileage, best-maintained example that you can, and get a decent service history. Check all the usual weak areas (air con, LCD displays, needles in instument cluster etc etc), and reject any examples with faults. The reason that I say this is because the good examples don't cost that much more than the tatty ones, and will cost you much less to maintain in the long run. After all, a car that originally cost £40-50K new is made up of parts that cost at least that much, even if it is only £2000 to buy ;) Choose carefully, and happy motoring. Signing off, Cheers, Will :)

Thanks for all the help/comments/advice etc guys, but I have now sold the car for a price that both I (and the new owner-to-be) are very happy with! :) A retired ex-Toyota mechanic came and looked at it (the first person to view the car!). He was full of expletives, and could not believe that it was 10 years old. If I am honest, I think that I will miss the car. It is without a doubt the cleanest, most reliable and best condition car I have ever owned. But as with most things in life, you have to move on. I now have more time and effort to put into finishing off the few jobs I want to do on the Merc! So, the LS400 chapter in my life is now over - but not forgotten. Maybe I will be back again someday!? Best wishes to all here for the future. Cheers, Will

Hi Bison, I am sure that you can buy a surround for the earlier Series I/II models from the US (about $30/£15 IIRC). Have a look on ebay etc, or try some US stereo shops. Alternatively, a decent car audio shop here in the UK would be able to make one up for you and trim it to match the interior out of MDF/Steel and leather etc. HTH, Cheers, Will

Well spotted everyone - that is my car! :o It really is a top car, and is every bit as clean as it looks!!! If anyone wants to ask any details, please use the 'ask seller a question' link provided in the auction! Cheers, Will

I don't know if anybody saw the post I placed last night in which I was speculating (and not actually advertising) me departing company with my LS400? I was only asking for opinions and advice, and have not even decided to sell as of yet! I have not published any contact information whatsoever I have just logged on this morning, and my post has disappeared! Can anybody please enlighten me? I have not received any notice or messages by way of either a reply to the thread, PM or email? I have re-read the forum "terms and conditions" and am not aware of any contravention that I have made? Anybody know something that I don't?

Hi Maneesh, I have been enjoying the lovely cold air in my '94 LS400, set at 20c with an outside temperature reading in the 30s, it is cool B). :P (Sorry, couldn't resist that!) Anyway, regarding your problem - a couple of questions: Has the air-con always worked in the past How often do you use it? Does it get used in the winter? Have you had it "re-gassed" before? The reason I ask is that an air-con system is a sealed, high pressure system. They should be air tight, and should never need re-gassing unless you have a leak. The trouble is these days, so many people re-charge air con systems without finding the fault first (small garages etc) If the fault with your system turns out to be that it is "low on gas", try and find a reputable AC specialist that will not just fill it with gas so that it works for a few weeks/months. A competent place will diagnose the system properly, and repair the leak before re-charging. Will save you time, money and hassle in the long run :) I hope it goes ok for you, Will

I know what you are saying colin, but I think Chips has got a point. It is, as you say, a Toyota. So why should 1 member of staff, who probably gets paid the same to work on either car, which costs the dealership the same amount per hour, charge significantly more for his time? I know there is this pricing of products and services to a certain market idea, but I doubt that the Japanese have to put up with paying this much, or double the price of the other Toyota models (after all, they are not so snobbish as us to call their cars "Lexus"!!!) The way I see it, the dealerships could end up shooting themselves in the foot. After all, today's secondhand Lexus owner could be tomorrow's new Lexus purchaser, and they still carry the brand on their car. It makes commercial sense to keep them happy, just as a new car owner needs to be. More cars are probably sold on recommendation, and word of mouth reviews than on dealership advertisements. If you were impressed with your current car, in terms of the car itself, and the support from the people that make/service it, you would be much more likely to spend your money with that brand again, rather than straying elsewhere. This can only mean good business, and more profits/market share for the manufacturer. As I see it, the word all round seems to be that Lexus have good customer satisfacton. As the brand matures, to keep up this standard they should start looking at offering certain concessions for older vehicles. Perhaps a discount on parts, and/or labour for vehicles over a certain age (I know of other prestige brands who do this!) Not having a moan, just trying to speculate! Cheers, William

I'd seriously look at getting an LPG conversion with that sort of mileage on the horizon. If you keep the car a couple of years it is bound to pay for itself in the long run! I am guessing with driving a couple of hundred miles a day you are going to be doing a lot of motorway work? The LS400 should take that nicely on the chin, especially as you sound like you intend on looking after it! On LPG I reckon you will be looking at equivalent MPG of 40 odd! Sounds good to me for a luxury car! Good Luck, Will

I have got original Lexus 17" wheels on my car. They were apparantly an option on the GS300 and LS400 (I still have the original Lexus fitment sheets for the rims!) They are manufactured by OZ (a very good quality alloy wheel manufacturer) on behalf of Lexus. They are 8J wide (8") and I have got details of the offset on the sheet at home. Like most people with older japanese alloy wheels my original wheel were starting to look tatty, due to corrosion. These wheels I have more faith in lasting, plus they make the car look a lot nicer (in my opinion). They are of a six-spoke design, with a fairly flat face and suit this type of car well. I managed to buy all four wheels, brand new and boxed, with twenty brand new lexus wheel bolts and four Lexus centre caps for £400. Apparantly they are a fortune to buy from the dealerships, so I think it pays to keep an eye out on places like ebay (where I got mine from). If you think you are going to save money by changing to a 17" rim, then think again! I was getting quotes of £800+ for a set of four tyres for these wheels, but after several days (and I do mean days!) I managed to get a set of four Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD-3 225/55/17s, (Extra Load type) for £540 fitted, balanced/valves etc. It definately pays to shop around. Shortly afterwards I have managed to pick up another identical brand new rim, boxed etc from the same place for about £80, so I now have a full set of 5x original Lexus wheels. So to cut a long story short, shop around! :) Cheers, Will

Being that your car is a 1992, it does not even need a cat (regarding regulations etc). I am not familiar with the process of having them removed on your car, but i'll bet that you can get it done a lot cheaper than £1,500! Good Luck, William

HT Leads = Plug wires, as you call them! Regarding your temperature sensor being faulty - It could think that the engine is always cold, hence running with an enriched mixture? Could be worth checking?!? Cheers, Will

LS400 front caliper

Unless Lexus have gone back on themselves in technology, my 1994/M series II has two pistons per caliper (well it did a week ago when I fitted new front pads!). The rear calipers are of only a single piston per caliper. Hope this helps, William

Greybeard is right - Has anybody driven a car before that has been left standing for a while? If the brakes are slightly out of true, as the "high" spot catches the pad surface, it will scuff the disc. If the brakes are slightly sticking, you can get noise which is relative to speed and should gradually disappear as the car builds up speed. Although the opposite side of the disc will be a "low" spot, and hence not catch the disc without applying any braking force, the force of the high spot pushing the pad against the caliper piston could generate a cliking type sound, especially if somebody has left shims etc out in the past! I should think it comes down to the fact that with the amount of force applied to the calipers with the brakes depressed, the brake pads will be able to clamp the disc satisfactorily. However, if the brakes are warped and/or sticking slightly then the pads will not return away from the disc quickly enough, and potentially could cause noise. I believe that the LS400 calipers (on my model anyway) have only two pistons per caliper. Both pistons are on the inside of the brake disc, and hence the caliper has lateral movement to compensate for brake wear. Without this movement, the caliper would be unable to apply brake force to the side without any pistons. Please correct me if I am wrong? Cheers, Will

I don't think it does, especially as it uses it's own amplifiers in the boot (under the CD Changer apparantly!) You could however get some converters that take speaker level ouputs and convert them to a line-level ouput and gives you RCA Plugs. Should be able to get those from Halfords/local stereo shops etc. You could alternatively find a clever way of tapping into the signal that goes to the stock amplifier (I take it that you are planning op upgrading the amp/speakers?!?) Or, go the whole hog and change the head unit. Anybody looked at the double din ones available, Sony etc (do they fit) or buy a standard DIN size and buy/make an adaptor plate to suit. I am about to change the entire setup in my car. Good luck, Will

Hello Everybody, A quick update. Car went in yesterday morning, as arranged, and had both front springs replaced. No complaints, no problems and an excellent job done! First impressions are that aside from the fact that the car sits about 2 inches higher at the front than it did, it does drive a bit better. Seems to feel less wallowy (is that a word). Well more firm and responsive anyway. I'll see what it's like after a few days so that I can compare better once it's settled down. Cheers, William

Thanks for the replies guys! After thinking it over I decided it not worth bothering the council/highways agency or whoever. After all, in fairness, although this pothole was the unfortunate last straw I doubt it would have been the entire reason for this failure. It does seem that this is not unusual/unique on an LS400 (as other people on this forum have had broken springs). If it had been a brand new car, then that would be different but I can't point the finger fully at them, nor do I think I would get anywhere anyway! So, an update. I have phoned Lexus Guildford for a price on the springs. After an initial bit of confusion on their part (ie, they didn't ring back to start with, and then they phoned back with price for shock absorbers instead of coil springs etc) I finally got a price from them. I was quoted £495 inclusive of parts and labour. To be honest I was expecting about £500 so I was not surprised. When I asked how much of that was the parts and how much was for labour, the assistant said she didn't know. I got a call back and found that the springs are £70+vat each. I know that it's a main dealer, but I thought I would give it a bit of thought first as that is £330 for fitting. So, later that day I phoned my local garage (They primarily work on Audi/Volkswagen/Mercedes/BMW.) Tthey are a smallish place, perhaps 5 or 6 staff and 3 ramps. I trust them totally and I have all of my MOTs done with them and most of my last cars (mercedes etc) were all serviced and repaired there. I have never had any bad jobs or bulls**t excuses from them, and they are always honest. I asked if he would be able to fit the springs for me, and he asked me to bring the car down. I took the car to him, and he had a look at it and said he would fit them for £60 a side, as long as I bought the springs. They say that they have quite often worked on Lexus before, and was surprised at the broken spring as, (quoting his words) "they are nomally so reliable!". So, I have ordered and collected the springs (from Lexus Guildford) and it is booked in for next saturday to have them fitted at my local garage. I am not of the opinion that all garages/dealerships are the same, and that they all use the same tools etc, but at the end of the day, fitting coil springs is not rocket science, and I am not keen to spend £200+ extra just to have it done at Lexus. If it were a more specialised fault (ie, electrical, Lexus-specific etc) then that would be different. So, fingers crossed all will be well next weekend. Cheers, William

Greybeard, Thanks for the heads-up on the PAS seal kit. Any idea on how much the labour was (or how long it took to have fited?) Cheers, William

Hi, I have an August 1994/M LS400 (which I have owned for a couple of months). Today whilst driving I drove over a bump in the road (which turned out to be a pothole on a main road). As I passed over this, I heard a pretty loud clunk/crack type sound. I thought it sounded pretty strange and as I was less than a mile from home, I gently drove it back. It seemed OK, except that it was making a creaking/cracking type sound. I pulled up, and got out to examine it. I noticed that the front N/S was sitting a little low compared with the driver's side. I got the jack out, lifted it up and took the wheel off. After a minute I noticed that the spring didn't look right and then I could clearly see/feel that it was broken. This leaves me in an uncomfortable position (I daren't guess how much Lexus would want to change the front springs, as I have always been told to change suspension parts as a pair) Should I try and ask the council/local authorities to cough up because of the pot hole? Or is this a quite normal occurance (It is a 94/M with 85K miles) Does anyone know how much the springs cost to buy? Is it something that could be changed by myself and a competent friend? Anything nasty to watch out for on this particular job? Failing this, can anyone recommend a good specialist near Surrey/Middlesex etc? Kind Regards, William

Hello Everybody! New to the forum and the marque. After 3 Mercedes-Benz I have gone against the grain and bought myself a 1994 LS400. The car is an early M registration, with two owners (the last gentleman has owned it since it was a few months old). It has been garaged throughout its life, and appears to be in very good condition (bar two/three tiny pin dents, a minor scratch on one bumper and the laquer on the alloy wheels) I have heard some very promising things about the marque and so have got high expectations! The vehicle has covered 85K miles. It is however due a service, and needs a new battery (was not used since november). I would like it to have a thorough check-up at a Lexus main dealer. After this, I may look at using specialists for the future, but I would like a main dealer stamp in the book and a bit of extra reassurance with the car's condition at the moment. I am basically asking, are all main dealers much the same, or are there some above average ones that would be worth me travelling a little to experience? McCarthys of Weybridge were local in the past, but closed ages ago. I know there is a Lexus dealer in Twickenham and seem to recall one in Guildford (both near enough for me!) Can anybody else recommend a good one (I don't mind travelling a bit!) The car in question had a full Lexus service history, bar the last couple (the previous owner had been using McCarthys of Weybridge, until they closed.) It did however have a reasonably major service about 15K or so ago (at a generic garage, not Lexus), in 2001, with a new cam belt, v-belt, plugs etc. Is it worth having all these parts changed again at Lexus for reassurance (I have a phobia with cam belts!) Other than asking for a major service, do I need to get them to check/change anything else (Do they change gearbox oil/differential oil etc or is that extra?) What about changing the coolant/brake fluid etc? Any other preventative maintainance recommended at this age mileage (1994/M - 85K Miles). Many thanks to everyone already for an informative, friendly and useful forum (Most of my pre-purchase checks I found on other posts) and if I can help return the favour in any way do not hesitate to ask. Cheers, William