DruLS

Sorry for the lack of updates. The car has now been running happily on LPG for a few months, and I've had the filler tucked away behind the filler cap so no ugly holes in the body work. I did come close to a disaster the other day. I started hearing a clicking while driving and figured I'd picked up a nail. Until closer inspection and I saw this. There are cracks on all the spokes, most of which have gone all the way through. Not sure exactly how it happened but I have a new set of refurbed wheels on their way. I was planning on having a stainless steel exhaust made up for it but that'll have to go on the back burner for now. Me and a friend are taking this car across Europe next year so it needs to be in top notch order by then.

Hi all, I'm looking to get the alloys on my LS430 refurbished. It looks like they were previously refurbed at some point as the paint looked new, albeit with orange peel. However, I've since curbed one and more importantly, one of them is buckled which came to light when I had my local garage do an alignment and (attempt to) balance the wheels. The garage put extra weights on the buckled one to even it out so now it's not so noticeable and fine for my usual driving around town. However, I'm planning a European road trip next year and I certainly don't want to be blasting down the autobahn with a wobbly wheel. So my question is, can a buckled wheel be safely straightened out by a decent wheel refurbishing place or should I look to buy another wheel?

Didn't know Toyota batteries were so bad. I put a genuine Toyota battery in mine just after I bought my LS430 after seeing they were much cheaper then the equivalent Bosch battery. Anyway I've used Bosch in all my previous cars and they've served me well so you shouldn't have any issues. Another good place to pick them up is Euro Car Parts during their sales. I got my last battery from them with a 50% discount!

Already have an oil cooler, just waiting to be fitted.

What is that? Is it on the radiator or the condenser?

Might as well considering I'm doing the condenser anyway. Cheers!

You're right. Looks like it's either a no-name eBay part or a genuine one. I'll just inspect the current one when I'm changing the condenser.

The genuine one is a out £500 so I don't really want to do that. I'm replacing the AC condenser so thought I might as well change the radiator while I'm in there. I plan to take a long road trip in this so I'm doing a lot of preventative stuff. You think I could just use the one with the cap? Not sure if that would cause issues or not. Even from other suppliers the photos show radiators with caps.

More pictures of the radiator mine has.

That's what mine has, in the place where the radiator cap usually is.

Hi everyone, I'm going to be purchasing a new radiator from Rock Auto and I need to make sure I'm ordering the correct part. The current radiator in the car is marked as 5024, this is the one without the radiator cap. There appears to be two Denso radiators on Rock Auto, one with the tow package and one without. Part numbers 2214100 and 2213170 respectively. Both pictures appear to show these radiators use caps. Does anybody know if these are interchangeable or do I need the radiator without the cap? Pictures of my radiator attached for reference. Thanks

So I called Lexus the other day and asked if that price included a new tensioner/pulleys. I was expecting a no but to my surprise it did! Cracking deal if you ask me. Started a proper thread now for the car over here.

It wasn't the top of my list of color combinations but I do like it now. Would have preferred a black interior though. I've always had black cars before which look great, providing you wash, polish and wax them about every 30 minutes. I have no idea if the previous owner was a member, I only joined the forum shortly before buying the car. I don't have the new log book yet but based on the bluetooth settings and past private plates it was owned by somebody called Roy. The car check I did said I'll be owner #4. Perhaps it was first registered to Lexus but it appears it was bought in '06 by Mr 13 TT who kept for 3 years, while Roy has had it for a decade! He must have liked it. Both of them actually seeing how both of those plates are currently assigned to a Lexus LS460.

Hi everyone, You may have seen me over on the introductions page, but if not I'm Andy and I've just recently purchased a 2005 LS430 with only 65,000 miles on the clock. While in fairly good condition, it does have a few issues that need to be taken care of. Is is nearly 15 years old after all. A lot of what I'll be doing to the car is preventative maintenance, as I need this car to be as reliable as possible (which shouldn't be too difficult in one of these). I'm planning on having the car converted to LPG fairly soon. I have a long commute so the cost of the conversion should take me less then a year to recoup. With the local LPG station near my home selling for 57p per litre and the one next to my work selling for 63p, I'll have the benefit of driving a full size luxury car with Toyota reliability and the running costs of a diesel family car. I was going to wait until I had the car properly detailed before I made this post but decided I should show the car first the way I got it. So here it is in its current state. Please forgive my parking job, I'm still getting used to driving such a big car. This is a big upgrade from my 2006 Volvo S60 D5. I can't fault it too much though, I bought it for 4k 3 years ago, doubled the mileage and it's now on 150k with life still left in it. But as dependable as it was, it's terrible to drive. I drove the old girl after a week of being in the Lexus and the difference is shocking. How I did 75,000 miles in that thing is beyond me. So, back to the Lexus. A low mileage example, but with a few faults. The car was advertised as having full service history, but it turned out to be partial. I already knew it needed a cambelt service so was ready to negotiate. In the end I'm happy with the deal I got, and it leaves me with some pennies left for a few jobs that need doing. So today I gave the car a full service using all genuine Lexus/Toyota parts. Oil, filter, new spark plugs, air filter, cabin filter and a new battery. Thanks to Daniel at Lexus Parts Direct for getting these out to me so quickly and helping me find the correct parts I needed. Thought I'd use the ramps today so save time using my big heavy trolley jack and axel stands. I'll reconsider this next time. You need a feather touch to get this beast on a set of ramps, it was fairly dicey. Note the scrape marks on the driveway, we slid a bit. And take no notice of the oil stains. That's from my old car, and I'll finally clean that now I have a car that has no leaks (and yes I checked). The car looked like it had been serviced fairly recently. Cheapo air and cabin filters I'd never heard of, but at least it had a MANN oil filter and NGK spark plugs. The existing filters looked pretty new, and the spark plugs didn't look too bad but I changed them out for good measure anyway. The underside of the car is what can best be described as "mildly crusty". Looking at the history of the car it seemed to have lived in Scotland. Nothing too bad. Suspension components seem fine for now, drives very nice. I am concerned about how long that exhaust has left, but we'll cross that bridge when/if we come to it. Some other goodies have come in the post. Mainly some supplies to restock my dwindling car cleaning kit. I hadn't been cleaning the old car as much as I should have been. There's more than this, it came in two boxes. The car could do with a good machine polish, but for now I'm going to give it a proper wash, clay bar it, apply some wax etc. Also going to focus on the interior as it needs some love. I've got interior fabric cleaner, leather cleaner and conditioner etc. I think she should polish up nice for nearly 15 years old. I also picked up and xCarLink iPod adapter, and a Brodit mount to go with the existing holder I have for my phone. Still awaiting on some parts for this so more on that later. Tomorrow I'll be giving the car a proper clean, and hopefully if I have time changing the serpentine belt which looks like it's had better days. Euro Car Parts don't stock too many decent parts for the LS430, but they do have ContiTech belts and are currently having a big sale so I've got one reserved. The car is booked in with Lexus next week for a full cambelt service and water pump replacement. They gave me a very good price, comparable to an indy with the added bonus of being given a courtesy car. Next weekend it's booked at a garage local to me for an alignment/suspension geometry, and to check that the wheels are balanced right. There's a bit of a wobble at around 70MPH. Also going to see if they can re-gas the air conditioner, the recent weather we've had has revealed that the A/C isn't blowing as cold as it probably should. I've ordered a separate cooler for the gearbox which hopefully should prevent any failures in the future. Not sure when I'll get to fix this, but I'm thinking I might swap out the radiator and flush the gearbox at the same time. Really the only other issues it has is the electronic steering wheel adjustment doesn't work properly, and one of the rear lights is letting in water. And fingers crossed, some time next month it's going to have the LPG conversion all finished.

Hi everyone, Not sure if this would interest anybody, but after recently purchasing my LS430 I found a CD inside the owners manual. There was no real labeling except a list of PC requirements. So after firing up my old Windows machine to investigate it appears to be an interactive owners manual for the following models: IS200 / IS300 GS300 / GS430 LS430 RX300 RX400h SC430 It includes information about each model and their features, a selection of wallpapers and even screen savers (although I imagine they probably won't work on modern computers) Anyway I thought I'd share the contents with you guys in case anybody is interested. I created an ISO image from the disc. Providing you're running Windows 10, double click the file and it will auto mount as a CD. Run the "Lexus.exe" file and the program should run. Download Link: https://megaupload.nz/ka7aj4e1nb/Lexus_iso

A big thank you to Daniel who helped me out getting the parts I needed today.

That’s a good point I didn’t thing about that. I’ll ask them how much extra it’ll be. I know an Indy place will probably do it cheaper, but at least I know it’ll be a proper job at Lexus and the convenience of being given a loaner car means I don’t have to take time off work.

So the car is booked for a cambelt service next week. Initially I was going to avoid sending it to Lexus because I’d heard horror stories about high costs, but I came across a forum post where somebody said Lexus of Bolton were pretty competitive on pricing. With them not being too far I gave them a call to enquire. They’ve quoted £520 for a new cambelt and water pump and they’ll even lend me a car while the work is being done. Can’t argue with that!

I'm enjoying every minute behind the wheel of this thing. I'm finding any excuse to go for a drive and always opting to take a longer route! I hope that feeling doesn't go away with time. I will get some more photos soon and post them, I guess I should make a separate thread for that where I can detail the fixes I'll be doing to it. I have oil, filters and spark plugs on their way so I'm hoping to get that done this weekend. Then I need to get the cam belt service done pretty quickly. Any recommendations on where to take it? I have an indy place I usually take my cars to and they've been very good to me in the past, but maybe I should look into getting it done at a dealers or a Lexus specialist? The transmission cooler is something I was looking into. I need this thing to be as reliable as possible and a blown gearbox isn't going to be fun day for me. Can anybody recommend a decent one? I found this one which seems to come with all the bits I'd need, but not sure if there are any more reputable brands I could choose from.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I've just ordered some servicing parts from Lexus Parts Direct as I'd like to get that sorted over the bank holiday. I'll certainly look at RockAuto for other parts in the future. Wouldn't have thought shipping from the US would have been cheaper but the prices look good. I'd like to replace the radiator at some point so I'll compare prices there.

Hi guys, Just picked up my LS430 and will be giving it a full service soon. I've always done my own servicing, brakes etc and only ever left the big jobs to the professionals. I'm a big fan of Euro Car Parts and have used them previously. I've always been able to find high quality parts there for my previous cars, often from the same manufacturer OEM use. However when looking there for parts for the LS430 they only seem to offer cheap off-brand filters, and there's no way I'm using them. Is my best bet to go straight to the dealers for parts or could anybody recommend a decent online company? I'd much prefer to have parts delivered to me. Many thanks 🙂

Hi everyone, so just to give you all an update I can confirm I'm now the proud owner of an LS430! I did a through check over the entire car, spending a good 45 minutes before I even test drove it. I found a number of issues that will need rectifying, but nothing too major. Considering the condition the original asking price was too much, but I was able to negotiate a very decent price for it so I was happy to take it away and use the money saved to fix it up. The first job I'll be getting done is to have a full cam belt service as it's due for one now. The car was described as having a full service history. Unfortunately this turned out to be a lie. It was serviced at a Lexus main dealer for many years. Its most recent services were done at an indy, but there is a gap in the middle with no history. According to the MOT history it was driven very little during this time. The oil looks fairly clean as do all the other fluids. Took the air box apart and the filter looks pretty new. The engine runs very nicely. Starts on the button, runs smooth and all the power seems to be there. The gearbox is very smooth just as it should be. I'll still be giving it a full service and changing out all the fluids and filters for peace of mind. The steering wheel adjustment also isn't working properly. It moves in and out but not up and down (unless I give it a little persuasion). This appears to be a common issue. Good news is I can hear the motor when I click the button, so hopefully no costly motor replacement to fix. It's also going to need wheel balancing and/or an alignment. There's some wheel wobble once you hit about 70. Other than that the car is in pretty good condition. The air suspension works just as it should. All the interior electrics work great. The stereo works properly and sounds pretty decent. The interior is in really good condition for its age. The body could probably do with a good polish, but is all good other than that. No major scratches or dings to report. The drive home was brilliant. Surprising good MPG on a run for such a large engine, and quite possibly the most comfortable and relaxing car I've driven. I sometimes borrow my Dad's Jaguar XF 3.0d. I love that car, but I honesty think this 15 year old Toyota rides better!

Car's not local unfortunately so I'll be taking a long boring train ride to get it. Let's hope I don't have to get one back too!

I've had a look through the MOT history and it all looks good. The only fails/advisories it's had relate to tyres and brakes which all appear to have been sorted soon after. Its most recent service included new pads and discs all round so that's one less thing to worry about. Thanks for the tip regarding the suspension, I'll make sure the engine is cold when I arrive. That's the only thing that worries me about this particular model, I imagine replacement air struts are very expensive.

Hi everyone, I'm Andy and I've just signed up for an account so thought I'd introduce myself and say hello. Never owned a Lexus before but I have been pining after one since the age of about 13 when my then neighbor had a mint condition MK4 LS400 in blue. I'm now 28, and while probably younger then the usual demographic of LS owners I'm now in a position to buy one. It seems to be getting harder to find a decent LS400 these days so I've been looking at the LS430. Not a massive fan of the styling of that model although it had been growing on me lately. So I've just put down a deposit on a 2005 LS430 which I'll be going to see this Saturday. It appears to be in pretty good condition based on the photos so if it all checks out I'll certainly be driving home in it. It's silver with the grey interior and pretty much every option bar the radar cruise control. 65,000 miles with a full service history. It looks like it's due a cam belt service which I understand isn't a cheap job, but hopefully I can use that as a bargaining tool during the sale. It comes with the air suspension which I was hoping to avoid for reliabilities sake, but I guess you can't win them all. I'll be having it converted to run on LPG soon after I buy it. I do a lot of miles commuting to and from work and have calculated I'd recoup the conversion cost fairly quickly. Coincidentally, if anybody knows of a decent LPG conversion company around Manchester / North West then I'd appreciate some suggestions. I certainly want it doing properly.