rich1068

It's an odd one with GAP. Leasing or buying a car on finance you can be quite exposed but after committing to a £20, £30, £40k car over however many years suddenly a couple of hundred quid in case your car's written off becomes a financial stretch.

These were Phillips WhiteVision Ultra so regular bulbs but a little more output and certainly whiter. Not sure if you can tell from the attached picture. Driver's side done, passenger side original. Much more noticeable in the flesh. I've used the WhiteVision bulbs on a few cars and always been impressed but you mention the sidelights, these are still a little yellow in comparison. I'm going to pick up a pair of LEDs and see what they're like but I think I'm going to have a problem matching with the low and high beams. Regular W5W will always lag behind the larger bulbs and LEDs could possibly be too bright. I chucked the old ones. They were falling to bits! Noticed the fitment under the rubber cap for the low beams was quite heavily greased too. Something I've not come across before.

Handbook was obviously correct. Ordered and fitted brighter/whiter sidelights, low beam, high beam and fog lights. Nothing silly, just not yellow. Going on the state of the ones I took out they looked like the originals! And I have to say, second only to my old XC90 for ease in changing.

Lucky you. But equally you could say the same about home contents insurance and whether you've ever had flood or been burgled. And GAP isn't madly expensive. Few years ago now but iirc I paid about £120 for 4 years cover.

You need one of these!

If it ever stops raining I may do that.

All H4s have three terminals don't they?

Interesting GAP related story for anyone who might think it's a bit of a waste of money. We get our commercial vehicles on business contract hire and a few years ago added a brand new Peugeot Expert to the fleet. Working out of hours we allowed the drivers to take them home. One night the lad who took this van home got ****** up, had a massive row with his girlfriend, grabbed the keys, drove a mile down the road and wrote it off. A few weeks later discussing the outcome with Peugeot we were trying to negotiate the settlement as the insurance certainly didn't cover the outstanding finance. I asked the person on the phone if she had GAP insurance on her vehicle. She replied "Yes. Because I spend all day talking to people like you who haven't" Lesson learned.

Does the key not work wherever you are? Reason I ask is that Lexus of this era seem susceptible to interference with the remote locking/unlocking. (If that is what you're describing, I'm not familiar with the LS430) I've had 2 Lexus that were prone to this and the subject has popped up on here before. Try your "faulty" key when you've driven somewhere else.

I had them on the last new car I had. Luckily I never had to claim but they were very pleasant and priced competitively. They're definitely one of the more well known GAP providers. Not sure I'd bother with the key thing but for £21 it's not breaking the bank.

Can anyone confirm the correct high and low beam bulbs for my LS? Save me taking off the battery cover/air duct in the rain for a look. Handbook (probably correct) says H4 for low beam... ...and HB3 for high beam Can anyone confirm? The reason I'm questioning the handbook is because every online bulb place lists H4 for both and one or two even suggesting the H1 for high beam Sidelights aren't a problem. I've changed those before. And fog lights (HB4? Very similar to the HB3?) I was going to leave as is. Confused of Sheffield.

No complaints about the Dunlop Sport BluResponse 225/60 R16s I've just put on my '97 LS400. Low rolling resistance, good wet grip and most importantly, quiet. But with a budget of £15k I would imagine you're after something a little newer.

I find the mute function works well Vince. Lovely looking thing. As you say, a real head turner

Congratulations! And by now you'll know why I suggested a nappy bin too

I've driven one. Not for long, a run round town and a few miles on the dual carriageway. I thought it was great.

Very naughty!

It's still behaving. Very welcome but most odd. And coincidentally the inventor of the compact cassette, Lou Ottens, passed away yesterday. Would anyone happen to know how much of an electrical draw a cassette player is? This may be nonsense but the only reason I can think of is that since replacing the alternator the car electrics are in a better state than they were. I'm sure someone who know more about these things will be along...

Yep. Because it's all about the handling on an IS250 SE-L.

No stupid about it. As a couple of others have suggested I'd definitely be looking at fitting the same size 17s all round. 18s and staggered 18s at that, are all about looks. I value comfort more.

Pretty sure his is Cashmere Beige too.

This is the site I mentioned the other day http://ls400data.com/1998.html

For future reference, an addition. The remote has worked flawlessly but I still have only one key. I'm not too concerned about losing it but at some point I probably will lock it in the boot. So for now I just want a key that will open the doors but not necessarily start the car. Just picked it up from Lexus (£32 plus VAT) and yes it does open the doors but it also activates/deactivates the alarm. I assumed if the car had been locked with the fob, using the spare key would sound the alarm. It appears not. Well I found it interesting...

That pretty much sums it up.

Had a conversation today (in real life!) with another LS owner about just this. My MK3 power steering was a little hit and miss (occasionally very heavy at low speeds, only 60k miles) and I sourced a replacement pump from eBay as the genuine one is eye wateringly expensive. It solved the problem but shortly after the alternator gave up too. Though everything was clean we surmised that the engine bay had been given a good clean prior to my purchase and evidence of a leak was washed away. The alternator was an exchange part from ECP which I think I mentioned in your other thread. Both items are still performing well but I've only had the car 6 months. A seal kit is available from Lexus at about 40 quid iirc but unless you fancy having a go yourself I'd guess there would be some labour involved and no guarantee it will fix any problem you may have. A leak should be pretty easy to spot with a combination of monitoring the fluid level and having a poke around with your hand and a torch from above. There's a bit of room there.

Doesn't sulphur smell of bad eggs? If it's an occasional whiff from the exhaust this is normal with modern petrols isn't it?