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BigBoomer

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BigBoomer last won the day on October 6 2023

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  • First Name
    George
  • Gender
    Male
  • Lexus Model
    LS430
  • Year of Lexus
    2004
  • UK/Ireland Location
    Essex

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  1. Once it has been flattened, your battery is damaged, and the more times it goes flat, the more damage is caused. You will almost certainly need a new battery. Don't leave your car unused for more than a couple of weeks without plugging in a battery maintainer. These cars use a little power even when switched off, and the battery will also self-discharge over a few months, so you need to keep the battery charged if not using it even semi-regularly or only doing short runs. I use a cheap £20 7Amp (90W) maintainer that is plugged in in the garage. I just extended the 12v cables to reach where I park the car and fitted a good quality plug and socket to make it easy to plug in & unplug. If you cannot do that, then you can get solar powered chargers that will do the job. Anything over 10W will do the job but 20W is better. Ideally put the solar cell inside the window that gets direct sunlight (south facing). They even work on cloudy days, just less efficiently. I wired one into a friends car with a simple plug so when he parks the car he just puts the panel in the windscreen and plugs it in.
  2. The fold back ones (clamshell?) are OK, but again you need to make certain they are well secured to the ground, or the wind will bounce it off the side of your car. I had one for a motorcycle (Bike Barn) and it lasted about 6 years before the nylon degraded and started to split. Whatever you get, you will need size Large or Extra-Large as the LS is a big old beast
  3. Perhaps consider a car-tent like these from MM? https://www.machinemart.co.uk/categories/?search=garage Just make sure to secure them to the ground as they WILL blow away in a storm. I recommend gaffer taping every joint once it's up and make sure that your anchors are bolted into concrete.
  4. Find some local to you in your budget range and go test drive them. I did 6 years ago and of those I tested I preferred the one I bought, but I test drove LS400s, LS430s (pre-and post facelift) and LS460s (pre-facelift). Personally I found the electric power steering in the LS460 to be "numb" and I found the LS400 too floaty. The facelift LS430 was the sweet-spot for me with excellent comfort, quietness, but still fun in the twisties (for a 2 ton behemoth).
  5. On modern engines the valve seats and corresponding part of the valve do wear slightly, but so does the cam and follower so the net effect is minimal change. The metallurgy of modern valves and seats is such that wear is good for the life of the vehicle and beyond. They just need regular clearance checks. On the LS430 the clearance should be checked every 60k miles but once it gets beyond that first check I'd be amazed if it needed any adjustments over the next 600k miles. One of my motorcycles has shim-under-bucket valves (like the LS430) and at 25k miles four of the 16 were close to the wear limit (all 4 exhaust), so were re-shimmed to the middle of the acceptable range. I ignored the 50k check so they were checked again at 75k miles and all valves were fractionally closer to the wear limit but still closer to the middle of the range. This is on an engine that does 10,500rpm and puts out 180Bhp from 1400cc so it is pretty highly tuned. Now on my 1986 motorcycle I had an issue where 2 of the exhaust valves "tuliped" at around 120k miles, but that was due to poor metal hardening from the factory and was a known issue. I didn't touch the valve seats as they were fine, I replaced the valves, lapped the valves into the seats and that engine is now at 200k miles and still goes like stink. That engine uses tappets (screw and locknut) adjustment for the valve clearances and needs to be checked every 10k miles mostly due to follower wear.
  6. Aftermarket is going to be Pilkington or possibly that other site "oop-narth" that Malc mentioned on the LS400 rear screen topic. Otherwise you might have some luck searching Japanese sites, although the shipping cost is going to be substantial. I think you are probably going to have to bite the bullet and do it via your insurance. If you collect in person, there are a couple of breakers that will cut a screen out of an LS430 for you. They will not ship the screen though as the cost is silly and the risk of damage in transit is high. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114074273671 These are very low sales volume cars so the aftermarket is non-existant here in the UK. The USA has a decent aftermarket for the LS, but theirs are all LHD.
  7. In that case it looks like a duff head unit, or else a connector isn't seated correctly. Time to get the radio out and check over all the connectors there.
  8. Looks amazing. What was it with the 90s and "Ruched leather"? 🤣
  9. The LS430 manual states 10 years or 90,000 miles, whichever comes sooner. However, I have only ever heard of one cambelt failure in an LS and that was a severely neglected LS430 in the USA with 180k miles on the original belt in Arizona (hot and dry!). Mine (2004) was first changed in April 2013 at 75000 miles. The car is now at 140k miles so I will be getting it done later this year as it is now 20 years old. That said, I inspected the belt a few months ago and it looked immaculate. No damaged teeth, no wear, no cracking, so I am not at all worried.
  10. Not likely that the horn switch is the problem. Far more likely that the clock spring is the cause of the problem as they are a common point of failure for all the electrical stuff built into the steering wheel.
  11. The TPMS battery life is mostly mileage related rather than age related. When the wheels are not turning the sensor is off and not using the battery. Since the sensors have long-life lithium batteries their lifespan is over 10 years if not used.
  12. The LS400 "OBD2" is not standard OBD2 so mostly does not work with standard OBD2 scanners. This thread may help, especially Dan D's comment near the bottom.
  13. Why use something other than the manufacturers recommendation? The LS600 Owners manual recommends 0W20.
  14. And at worst the scumbag will get a £300 fine and will continue driving uninsured. So many are now risking it as there are never any cops out and about so it's only if they get nabbed by ANPR or have an accident that it comes to light. I imagine that the van was insured under someone else's name (to get around ANPR detection) but the driver wasn't covered by that (or any other) insurance. I hope you get a decent offer and can buy it back and fix it up as a Cat N write off.
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