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Hi Ceriel, and welcome. I drive quite often near Antwerp and Gent, (and had lived in Gent for nearly 2 years) if you happen to be nearby I'm more than happy to stop by for a coffee and chat! Best wishes Rob

If you find the alternator working fine, then I would thoroughly check for rotten, corroded connectors and semi-broken wires. My previous Mazda kept blowing up H7 bulbs twice or more per 6 months until I have cleaned every single metal terminal or junction starting from the wires finishing on the bulbs terminals. R.

That's very helpful Steve. I'll have a look into Mobil or others, just need to find out the recommended viscosity and working temp. range of the oil for this g-box. Actually I am planning to fit a solid towbar, so the upgraded radiator is a good idea, thanks for that. I'll looked into the duties / tax in the uk. If I got it correctly, as of today the duties are due if purchase (including shipping costs) is worth more than £135, and you pay VAT if goods declared are valued more than £15 or gifts more than £39 https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty Regards Rob

Time to get down to business. I have a few misc semi-technical questions to start with, and not 100% sure if this is the right place. Nevertheless: 1. Can you tell me where to get the best deal on the genuine Toyota auto-transmission fluid for my LS430? 2. Is there a possibility to manually dip the headlights beam depending on the load, or is it all automatic? Also I travel to mainland Europe quite often, and hate the feeling I might be blinding other drivers when driving on the "wrong" side of the road with asymmetric UK headlights setting. Is there an easy way or a way at all to "swap" between the European and UK asymmetric headlamp settings? I know that in some BMWs, under the bonnet every headlamp had an easy mechanical switch to do that. 3. The radiator. http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/lexus,2004,ls430,4.3l+v8,1426092,cooling+system,radiator,2172 I think DENSO would be a reasonable choice, but am confused by the multitude of options, and what is the w/ w/o "tow package" option? and the w/o tow package is more expensive. What is going on here? Which radiator should I get to not sacrifice quality/lifetime, but also not blow up my wallet.

Dealer's website https://www.rvcarsales.co.uk/ Was priced 5k, but bargained to 4.75. Within last two years she just got all round genuine disks&pads, new AC compressor and pipes, and wheel bearings&hubs... All done by Lexus main dealer service - a ton of money, but it seems the previous owner couldn't care less about the expenses.

Tried to upload into the members gallery, but got an error message saying that the upload failed for some unknown to me reason. So here we go, a few first shots. Sorry I don't have a good hand/eye for taking exciting pictures, but I can assure the car is beautiful :) especially the body and interior condition considering its age. The tyre pressure warning disappeared after topping up the spare wheel. The rear number plate needs a bit of an attention, but I'm not too obsessed about it yet. More important things are in the queue, like checking the transmission, diff oils, give the underside a thorough wash and a fresh anti-corrosion coating. As well I might give it a go and change the radiator. Bought the car in Lancashire, had to drive over 550 miles round trip to test drive it, but so far I must say it was worth it. Found on autotrader, if anyone interested I can share the sellers' details. These guys are spectacular, very down to earth, transparent, non pushy and upfront. All their (around 50 so far) autotrader reviews are 5star, their sales culture is something I have never experienced from any second hand car dealer I met before, and they sell brand new cars too. Just before I bought mine they had sold a beautiful second hand SC430.

Thanks! I'll have a good look into the service history, and get the car on a ramp to check what the transmission fluid looks like. The radiator itself doesn't show any corrosion on the outside, the coolant fluid is also nice and pink (prob. just changed) and no gunk/rust under the rad. cap. I don't know if the trans fluid was changed, so better to change that as a preventive measure, and the diff too. Tomorrow I'll call the Lexus dealer where the car was serviced for probably past 6 or more years, and try to pull out more history info. All I found out so far is that the wheels need rebalancing, and the cigarette lighter socket by the shift stick doesn't work, but the one inside the centre console and the rear one work. I read somewhere that there is probably a switch somewhere to switch between the near shift stick socket or the other two - is that true? Can't I have all 3 sockets working?

OK, Malc, reading into the interesting subject of the auto transmission and coolant problems, sounds bad enough. I'll have it thoroughly checked.

Definitely will post pictures. I'm assuming it's best to upload it to the members gallery, but if there is a better place let me know. Malc, can you point me to posts about that radiator / gearbox issue? Or if you don't mind to spare some time, please explain what these two have in common in this car. I'm stunned like a deer in the headlights to hear that I may need a new radiator to save my g-box... ? Thanks everyone, talk soon!

If the smoke is only at cold starts, after the car has been sat overnight or longer, and also the smoking disappears after the engine has warmed up it might indicate the valve seals. However, if the engine was not serviced properly, and cheap/poor oil was used for prolonged intervals, I would buy a compression tester (on amazon for about £20 or less) and properly check that V8. This motor is indeed an amazing piece of engineering, but still vulnerable if mistreated. I had a 2003 mazda 323f in which the belt driving the alternator and water pump broke. The engine overheated and boiled off the coolant. No damage to the pistons and bores was done, the engine still holds the compression properly, but it was hot enough to crack and deform the valve stem seals.

Hi, finally got it. Was hunting for a good one for more than 6 months, and here it is. 2004, 153k miles, Full Lexus only history, 2 previous owners, and pristine MOT. So far i LOVE IT. It is such a different quality of driving and travelling. The V8 is fantastic. The rest time will tell. Regards Rob

Even if you had a PhD in psychology would be difficult to understand reasons for such behaviour. It could be that the guy knows that sooner or later someone is going to buy, so why bother making an effort or answering difficult questions. Sadly, my experience tells me that better to be careful - no matter what, it is their duty to present the car, answer questions, and be customer friendly, and let me do all the checks and tests I wish. In the end, if they have nothing to hide it should make no difference to them. They are not in a position to tell me where I should go and what I should buy. By the way, would there be a kind owner of an LS 430 from this forum who is not too far from Colchester, so that I could visit him/her to get an idea of how this car feels or should be like? P.S. Thanks for the MOT pointer.

Hi everyone, I'm in the process of buying/looking for a well maintained second hand LS 430. I thought it might help to register in the forum a bit ahead to get some advice/opinions. For starters I'm browsing ebay and autotrader, and recently found this: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201611149754220?model=LS 430&sort=price-asc&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=New&advertising-location=at_cars&postcode=co11yn&make=LEXUS&radius=1501&page=1 It has a decent MOT history and FSH so might be worth having a look https://cazana.com/uk/car/DA04BTY Called the trader, asked a ton of questions, the last question being - "Would it be possible to lift the car on a ramp, so I could examine myself the suspension, floor, seals, etc..." I got shocked by his rather arrogant answer - " NO, I am not going to put my car on a ramp, it is what it is for its age and price, and you'd better go to a main dealer and spend a 60k+..." At best it's a needless and unprofessional comment that lit up all the warning lights in my head, at worst the car might be a mine field he is hiding. Anyway, hopefully one day I am going to get a decent 430, and enjoy it driving happily. Regards Rob