DruLS

9 minutes ago, cruisermark said:

Have you tried Lexussparesdirect - Paul Frost?

I've sent him a message - Pretty sure I've bought parts from him before. Can't be too many LS breakers near by. Guessing he won't respond until tomorrow so I'll see what he says. Also found somebody not too far away with the parts so I should have it sorted soon. Thanks guys.

Stupidly got a little too close to a lorry; Smashed my wing mirror which then hit my window and broke it. Any chance somebody here is breaking a LS430 or has these parts in stock? Colour doesn't matter as there are very few in this shade. 

Many thanks 🙂 

4 hours ago, Malc said:

this seems a bit of gloom and doom .......... doesn't sound as if she's actually falling apart .  just that there's a few issues that you want to fix to get her much much better ....  did the last MOT show up any potential issues ?

Otherwise I'd be inclined to just get her looking tidy, safe and all essentials working and continue to run her as well you might 

Don't stop using and losing the comfort of such a glorious car and getting a cheap run around  ....... coz you know that some sad day this one too could suffer the same ignominous fate as your last and .  " bang  "      she's gone 

Let us know more please 

Malc

It passed last time after I replaced a brake hose. The only advisory was a high lambda reading due to the exhaust leak, but since then the exhaust has started falling apart. I don't plan to keep it off the road for a long time, I'd just like to be able to take my time and have a backup car in case things go wrong. A broken bolt turns a 30 minute job into a 5 day ordeal! I'd only be buing a cheap little hatchback to last a few months that's all.

It's also going to need some paint work - It's next to impossible to find panels in this colour.

Hi everyone, 

So I bought my second LS430 after I unfortunatley had an accident in my first one. I got my first one in mint condition before the crash which was unfortunate. I bought this one as a fixer upper but due to redundancy it ended up being my daily with no work going into it and it's starting to fall apart.

Mechanically it's mostly sound, engine and gearbox are sweet as a nut. But it now needs a lot of work I can't really do over a weekend, so I'm thinking of getting a cheap run around and taking it off the road so I have time to do what work I can by myself.

Some of the work it needs:

• A new or repaired front bumper as my current one is cracked after a small bump.
• Some body work on the rear bumper.
• The two front doors will most likely need replacing as they both have bad rust that I think is beyond saving at this point.
• Some paint work as it's the red/maroon colour which is pretty rare so I doubt I'll be able to find panels in that colour. 
• A new petrol tank as my current one leaks if I fill it more than half way.
• A new exhaust as mine is very rusted and leaking; it sounds like a NASCAR - (luckily I have a full stainless steel catback from my old one).
• A new rear air strut as one is leaking (I may possibly convert it to coilovers but I don't really want to take away the ride comfort.
• Fixing the AC as it doesn't work. 
• A new set of alloys, or have my current ones refurbed.
• Other than that a few bits and bobs but nothing serious. 

My AC doesn't work, nor did it on my old one. While I've never looked into it, I imagine it's the lines that run under the car to the rear. I can find the replacement hoses for not too much considering Lexus' part prices. I know you need to drop the exhaust and fuel tank to get to them but I'll be doing that anyway. Does anybody know of any guides to do this or have any of you done this repair yourself? I also heard of people just blocking off the rear and returning functionality to the front but I think I might as well fix the entire thing if I'm taking it apart.

I also need to fix the leak on one of the struts, it's the rear right. I still need to check where the leak is coming from before I blindly put a new strut in it. In your experience is it the strut that goes bad or could it be a bad line somewhere?

Also, while I'll have the car in pieces are there any other things I should be checking/replacing?

Thanks guys

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I'm hearing a clicking/clunking sound when I come to a stop sometimes. I imagine it's a bad bushing or something, although it seems to ride just fine. Any ideas where I can look first for the culprit? 

I put some amber side markers in my old LS in that spare socket, but I didn't like the look - there's no seperation in the housing so the light leaks across. But each to their own. 

For some reason in these cars, when the check engine light is triggered, the traction control is disabled too. No idea why but of course it freaks people out because they think there are many problems. 

I had the same issue and it was just an O2 sensor. Best bet would be to scan the car for codes to see what's causing it. If the car seems to be running OK, it's probably something simple. O2 sensors are common on these. 

FYI, if it is an O2 sensor get the equivilent Denso one instead of OEM. Lexus use Denso, but buying direct is cheaper. That's what I did and it worked just fine. 

Thanks for the tips guys, didn't even think about the roof gutter I just assumed it was the door. I'll take a look, cheers 🙂

I'll look into the cost of the parts. Considering the car isn't worth much, and I never have people in the back I might as well cap it off if the alternative is too expensive.

11 minutes ago, The-Acre said:

If your tank is corroded to that extent I'd really worry about a repair, you should be able to get one from a breakers easily enough.  If you haven't had them done it'll be worth considering your rear AC pipes at the same time, a common failure which means removal of the fuel tank to do it properly.

I actually have that problem. Do you know if it's an easy DIY job to replace the AC pipes?

Hi guys, 

So it appears my fuel tank is leaking. After taking a quick look it's corroded. I think it might be coming from the seam as it doesn't leak unless it has more then half a tank. 

I know you have to remove the exhaust to remove the tank, but I'm installing my custom exhaust soon anyway so I figured I'd kill 2 birds with 1 stone. 

I've never had to deal with fuel tanks before. Would you recommend I repair it, or get it repaired or replace it? It would have to be used as I don't think I can afford a brand new one right now. 

Has anybody experienced this? I have wind noise coming from the driver's door at motorway speeds. Sometimes I can make it quieter by rolling the window up and down but it's still there. 

I've looked at the rubber seals and all appear to be in good working order.

Does anybody have any ideas?

I've checked all the fuses. I actually went back to the connector and found 12v on a purple wire, and some lesser voltages on others so I can only guess it's getting power properly. I just assumed the main power wire would be red. 

I opened up the amp to see if I could see anything obvious like corrosion or a blown cap but found nothing. I guess it's time to send it off for repair. 

Hi everyone, 

I spoke with a nice helpful man at SVT services. He suggested I check that it's getting power. He said it's unusual for one of these amps to fail without some warning signs or intermittent failure. Mine worked fine one day, then was completely dead next time I started the car. He advised there should be a fuse under the bonnet. I've checked and I can't see a fuse for the amp under there. I went ahead and checked every fuse. The 30amp fuse in the boot is not blown, and it's getting power. 

I checked the harness and I can't find power anywhere on it. At least the cables I was checking. I don't have a pinout so I just checked all the red wires in the loom to see if they had voltage which they did not. 

Does anybody have a pinout for the amp so I can be certain which wire it's getting power from? And are there any other fuses in the circuit other than the 30amp fuse in the boot?

20 minutes ago, cruisermark said:

I've had this problem before 

This 100% are the symptoms of amp not working - the power supply inside the amp fails  - I got mine repaired for £285

 

Where did you get your amp repaired out of interest? Just in case I need to get mine done. 

1 minute ago, BigBoomer said:

Not necessarily a dead amp.
Could just be the heat causing a connection to fail.
Pull the plugs to the amp, spray the connectors with contact cleaner and push em back in again.
Often that's all it takes.
Don't forget that those connections are now 16 years old. 

Thanks, I'll give that a try. It was parked on the top floor and I think the weather was pretty hot while I was away. Fingers crossed it's something as simple as that. 

If it's not, does anybody know any repairers who are in the UK? All the ones I can find are in the US. Or does anybody know what the repair involves? I can solder so if it's a case of some bad caps or something I can do that. 

I've never had an issue with the the amp in my last LS430. I miss that car and I swear this other one is cursed with the amount of things going wrong with it. 

Never had any kind of issue with the stereo before, although about a week or two ago I did put in the driver's side speaker and the sub which I'd replaced the surrounds on as they'd all cracked. From there is was working great. Never really cranked it up loud other than to test, I just listened to it at normal volumes. I should add that I've yet to add my iPod kit into this car, so I've never had the head unit out or messed with any of the wiring or connectors. All I've ever done was remove the sub and one of the speakers as I've said - although the amp never seemed to have issues running without those connected so I doubt that's contributed.

I had to go abroad so on Saturday morning I parked it at the airport with the stereo working great. I got back last night so it had been sitting for less than 4 days. Car started fine but no audio from the head unit from any source. Not even any beeps from pressing on buttons on the screen or physical buttons on the head unit (which I never thought came from the amp, guess I was wrong). It was late when I got back so all I had time to do was to check the amp's 40a fuse which was fine. I also went into the diagnostic screen and got the following:

Do you guys know of anything else I can try, or check or am I definitely looking at a dead amp? I'd hate to shell out for a repair or a new one if the amp itself is fine. 

Cheers!

Hi guys, 

I'd like to be able to transfer my contacts to my car for the Bluetooth system. However, modern phones especially my Iphone don't seem to allow you to do this. I have a collection of early Bluetooth phones release around the time the LS430 as well as some other phones but these don't work either. I can pair them and make calls but I cannot transfer contacts. When I try to transfer contacts the phone either disconnects or I get an error on the car's screen. 

I have heard you can get an app on Android phones to allow you do to this but I haven't been able to confirm this so I'm not going to rush out and buy one. So far, I've tried the following phones:

• Nokia 6310i (one of the first Nokia's with Bluetooth so I was hoping that would work. 
• Nokia 207
• Blackberry 9700
• Blackberry 7290
• Blackberry Classic

If anybody could recommend a phone that will allow me to transfer contacts that would be fantastic. 

Thanks very much. 

ClubLexus deleted the post because apparently GROM has to make the post and it seems like a hassle for UK members so I'm afraid it looks like the group buy is a no-go. 

So I just heard back from GROM. Unfortunately group buys are handled by their US office so it will have to be shipped directly from them. I've looked it up on the gov.uk website and it looks like this will be subject to a 2.5% tax.

2 minutes ago, ColinBarber said:

What is the duty and VAT likely to be?

TBH I'm not sure how to figure that out, I'll try and look up what the rates are. However, I've just sent them a message to see if UK members will be able to order from the UK site or if they'll all have to come from the US. Hopefully we can and avoid any import duty. I'll update the thread once I've heard back. 

2 minutes ago, Arqum said:

I will be interested. Obviously cheaper the better! Lol but can we order for different Lexus models? Or does it have to be the LS? 

No you can order for whatever Lexus model you have that is compatible with the VL2. The prices are the same but of course you need to order the correct one so they send the right wiring harness and what not. 

If you are interested, PM me your name, email address and year/model of your car. I'm going to make a list and once we've got enough people together I'll send them off to the contact I have at GROM.

Hi everyone, 

I've been in touch with somebody in Canada who's active on the US forms for Lexus and we've been discussing organising a group buy together for the GROM Vline VL2. If you're unfamiliar with what this is, it's a system that adds Android to your stock Navigation screen. In addition it also adds Android Auto and apple Car Play so you can connect your phone and access navigation apps like Google Maps and Waze and also your music library and streaming apps like Spotify. Many Lexus and Toyota models are compatible with this, even older models like my LS430. The usual price for this is $600. I've been in touch with GROM and here's the prices they've quoted for a group buy:

Group buy price 5-9 $529.95
10-24 $479.95
25+ $449.95

US shipping is free but we will have to pay for shipping for us lot here in the UK. 

I'm hoping that getting us UK members as well as people in the US and Canada we'll easily find 25 people interested in this device. 

This is my first time trying to organise a group buy. For now I recommend that you comment if you're interested and if so, what price you'd be willing to pay depending on how many people we get involved. I'm sure we'll hit at least the 10 person discount, but fingers crossed we'll get at least 25 people interested.

EDIT: Just so everyone is aware, I am only collecting the information of those interested. I will not be handling your money so there's nothing to be concerned about there. Once we have a good list of names I will forward that to my contact at GROM. They will then get in touch with you and you will order from them directly. 

1 minute ago, bobjol said:

Your pict showed that damage was on the lower bracket which is attached to the lower arm. This part is not replaceable unless you buy a new arm with the bracket already attached.   As stated earlier in posts, it is advisable to fit a new control rod and upper bracket as corrosion may have weakened them also.  After my welding repair to the lower bracket,  the car ran ok with normal suspension height using the old rod and upper bracket.  The rod and upper bracket were replaced weeks after the welding repair when they eventually arrived from US.  My car did about 1000 miles after the welding repair to the lower bracket with no issues.   I would advise using a good independent mechanic to help with this issue.

I ordered the complete lower arm with the brackets attached for the height sensor. What exactly do you mean by upper bracket?

Nevermind, managed to order some from another US based website. Genuine Lexus parts aren't cheap are they. Think I might trade her in for a Dacia. 

I was hoping to buy a set of these control arms or whatever they're called from Rock Auto but I can't seem to find the correct part on there. Does anybody have any idea where I can buy a set that isn't directly from Lexus?