Micco

I just put back my original 17" wheels. It came much quieter and softer ride than with 19".

8 hours ago, The-Acre said:

My apologies, I've only just seen this.  Have you fitted them yet?

No problem. Yes, I have fitted the coilovers.

Feels like driving with sport mode. Not too hard with softest selection.

I've got coilovers too yesterday.

Any tips about removing back seat are welcome 🙂

Is it easy to do the conversion? What to do for the air parts(compressor etc)?

Can I change them one axle at a time and drive it between the changes? For example change front tomorrow and the rear the day after. As I have to drive to work daily.

1 hour ago, The-Acre said:

The shocks are the same regardless of facelift or pre-facelift so I don't understand why the price would be different. I replaced all of mine with Arnott air shocks from the US which cost me £2,400 with shipping.  If I was replacing with conventional springs I would buy Strutmaster kits also from the US, about £1,400 delivered to the UK. The coilovers from eBay etc, especially adjustable onrs are something I would avoid.  Strutmaster use KYB which is what Lexus original shocks are.  Not a particularly difficult job to replace them.

That's what they were wondering also at Toyota. They didn't know what is the reason for the older Celsior having more expensive shocks.

3 hours ago, cruisermark said:

This is the second time a "celsior" has failed shocks - a member here also has atleast one and his is low mileage - I wonder if it has a connection to the Japan climate or something else.

anyway back to the question - you have 3 options :

1) Buy from dealer and replace - most expensive

2) Buy and convert to springs - the member above bought his complete set from US

3) Buy second hand units and take your chance

I must say i have never come across a facelift LS430 in the UK with failed air suspension - sometime the ride height sensors pack up due to water ingress.

hope this helps

I have 160k km on my Celsior, I guess it's something around 100k miles. I had almost the same mileage on my 1999 Caldina when I had to replace the rear shocks for it.

Converting to springs seems to be cheapest solution. £1400 for two original air shocks and £1000 for a set of coil overs.

On 6/25/2020 at 7:20 PM, The-Acre said:

I've not had any success with my android phone, of course it doesn't help having my menu in Japanese!

I managed to pair my android phone with Celsior but can't transfer the contacts

My 2004 Celsior didn't pass the yearly inspection because one or maybe two of the shocks are in bad condition.

Front left is almost in need of replacement and rear right need to be replaced.

The air suspension works fine but I guess I still need to change complete unit(air bag and shock).

Is there good aftermarket parts or should I just pay for the original(£700 for a piece)?

I was offered a used set from 2002 LS 430 for a reasonable price.

I was just wondering what is the difference as price for the air suspension for facelift model(2003 ->) is cheaper than for the pre facelift model.

Or what if I change all of them to coil overs?

There was some set in eBay for £300-500 but that sounds too cheap for a set. As BC Racing is around £1000.

I tried to check the condition of the rear right shock but can't see any difference to other side.

I pushed the corner down so it goes down a little bit and comes back up, and same on the other side.

When I've done that for a car with normal springs the faulty side keeps "jumping" for awhile.

Ok, thanks.

I just got my -04 Celsior to show a Japanese message that was translated to something like "Change Air Conditioner filter".

Does it mean the cabin filter or that Air Purifier in the trunk? Or does the air conditioner have it's own filter somewhere?

On 9/30/2019 at 11:31 PM, The-Acre said:

Interesting.  I don't feel there's anything wrong with mine, and most of the time it's fine, it just feels firmer on some uneven surfaces. So if there is something in this, would Toyota have a different shock absorber for the domestic market, or are they the same but programmable I wonder?

I just got Techstream and was testing it on my Celsior. Here's what I found. "Bumby road sensor" is that the reason for a soft ride 🙂

I guess that "Number of trouble codes" is caused by ASC-680 as when I drive it sometimes gives message: "Height HI" but only if I set car lower than normal height.

On 9/19/2019 at 7:45 PM, Tulpen said:

I think the system is working properly i.e. when there is a loss of signal from one or more valves, you will get a failure warning. I had a valve fail on my 460 (care of a clumsy tyre fitter) and the light came on.

I have been driving with those 19" wheels about 2000 kilometers. BigBoomer's answer seems to make sense.

1 hour ago, BigBoomer said:

The 430 senses a deflating tyre by the difference in speed between that tyre and the others. You need to check your tyre pressures and then reset the computer. The button for the reset is under the steering wheel near where your toes would be when driving. 2 buttons, one resets the tyre pressure sensing, the other disables the Smartkey system,

Ok, that makes sense if there's no sensors in valves. So the one deflating tyre is spinning faster than the others?

There was one tyre with lower pressure,I put there same amount of air as in others and reset the computer. After that light came off and everything seems ok.

18 hours ago, The-Acre said:

Then I guess you've got the TPMS, the sensors are built into the valve with the batteries inside the wheel.

But I have changed the different wheels(original 17" to chrome 19") and they have normal valves.

On 9/8/2019 at 10:15 PM, The-Acre said:

If you don't have sensors or the tyre symbol on the dash I guess like mine the switch is just fitted but not connected to anything.

I don't know how it checks the tyre pressure. This happened today when driving home from work.

Japanese text says something like "incorrect air ratio"

On 9/8/2019 at 10:15 PM, The-Acre said:

If you don't have sensors or the tyre symbol on the dash I guess like mine the switch is just fitted but not connected to anything.

Yes the same, no tyre symbol on the dash.

I just put that ASC680 in car and sometimes it gives the text "Height HI" on dash. Driving the car as in picture.

I chose the UCF31 with reverse C as chassis (it should be the facelift model).

On 8/29/2019 at 11:46 PM, The-Acre said:

Strange one this.  As I was doing other stuff to mine today I noticed I have the tyre reset button as well, but I don't (thankfully) have the TPMS. 

I don't have any sensors on wheels so does it mean I don't have TPMS?

On 8/24/2019 at 9:17 PM, runsgrateasanut said:

Will you need to change out the Radiator? What year Car? Is it a Valeo Rad? 

Haven't changed the radiator. 2004 car.

Ok. Thanks 🙂

I was wondering what are these switches? Didn't find them from LS430 manual

.

22 hours ago, The-Acre said:

Will you be keeping the rain/wind deflectors on?  I took mine off as I thought they were horrible things.

I haven't decided yet. Maybe I remove them as it's easier to clean the windows.

Just got 19" chrome wheels

.

Need to get the car little bit lower.

I have that ASC-680 waiting. Is it easy to put in car?

On 8/12/2019 at 11:44 AM, Malc said:

nice car, well done

are you sure that what you think is a cambelt sticker isn't simply the one shot two sugars coffee order for the mechanic ? 

I have no Japanese language skills for sure

Malc

Thanks. Might be that coffee order too 😂

21 hours ago, J Henderson said:

Japan and Europe are both DVD Region 2. Their TV system standard, however, is NTSC (60Hz), not PAL.(50Hz). Maybe that's the issue.

Nice to know, I thought Japan is region 1.

22 hours ago, The-Acre said:

To change the sat nav screen to English/Europe you need to replace the screen for a used one from a breakers and the disc drive also.  I looked at this but for about £300 for the two it doesn't seem worth it. My TV doesn't do much so I'm guessing if I want to watch TV in my Celsior I have to take it back to Japan for a holiday!  Personally I like having Japanese on the screen and some of the buttons, it's a good conversation topic!  The main thing really is the drive, even brand new cars I've driven aren't as good.  And the V8 engine is just the best! 

Yes, and the maps are not very fresh like google maps or something similar from phone.

And the car itself is quite good conversation topic.We Finns are not very talkative people to strangers but there has been several times that some guy has came to me like "What is this Toyota, where you got it from?" and stuff like that. Talked about an hour with one guy at market's parking lot.

11 hours ago, The-Acre said:

I think that's a good thing, the Pioneer system is good and you'll unlikely have problems with blown speakers.  I had two previous LS430's with the ML system and both suffered from blown speakers, but this one is fine. 

Good to know that it's more reliable than ML system.

Do you know if it's possible to change the Navigation screen from LS430 to Celsior?

I was also thinking to change navi for Europe but I guess it needs something else too than just Europen DVD.

I tried to watch some DVD's but that DVD player might be area coded to Japan as there wasn't very clear picture.

I'm taking the car to local Toyota work shop for oil change at the next week, they're also going to change the speedometer language to English