forester831

Hello again. To make it more interesting today my locking system stopped working completely without any work being done to it. Even my steering wheel adjustment, buttons on driver door, light when opening the door the central locking on either side. It must be some components corroded i believe. It all happened when I was replacing some suspension components in front. Here's quick tutorial I've recorded for replacing lower ball joint and track rod end.

I've been unlocking and locking the car using key on passenger side to avoid alarm going off. Today I've opened the locks on driver side manually(central locking worked this time) and after this remote started to operate normally opening the doors and boot. Windows and sunroof are opening randomly with key out of ignition. This points me to driver side key barrel or other components located near it. Am I right?

Thanks ambermarine. What do you mean?

Hi, I've replaced the battery in remote and it didn't change anything. After going through self diagnostic and reading the repair manual it clearly comes to the fact that the transmitter and receiver are ok. Manual says that other components are faulty. When opening the door with key manually central locking works ok now. What else should I check? Would it be faulty wireless opening ecu? The car had a leak from top of windscreen and maybe some water got near this ecu as it's located above cd changer? Please give some advice as it's drives me mental. 😵 Cheers

Hello again, Today I managed to get car into self diagnostic of remote locking. It looks like my remote system is working fine as it responded to every button on remote but it doesn't open or close the car. Could you point me to where should I head next? I'm planning to strip the drivers door to have a look at wiring as it does not operate central locking with key on this side.

Why don't you put it back together and wait for delivery? Have you tried car breakers? There's few on ebay. Or I'm getting something wrong?

That's amazing, makes life so much easier. Thanks again.

Thanks for the help Steve2006. I will definitely buy few parts from them. Didn't even know amayama before. 👍

Hi, So I've replaced the bearing which wasn't easy. Had to give the hub to local garage and they spent 1hour cutting the old racer out and pressing new bearing in. Charged £40 for the job. I have also replaced the lower ball joint and track rod end. It wasn't too bad as its only few bolts but I struggled a bit removing ball joints as they were stuck. You probably can imagine I have snapped the abs sensor(as they always do) so I had to stick it up with sikaflex as I can't find new one anywhere. Even the guys breaking some of the ls400s didn't want to sell just the sensor but the whole hub as the sensors like to snap. Going back to transmission liquid replacement. It didn't go as I wanted to do it because the sucking hose which comes out of the radiator doesn't suck. I think that the pump just pushes the liquid out and the pressure injects it back to transmission. I ended up disconnecting hose from radiator and letting it bleed with the engine running and shifting gears lever, while topping up oil through the dipstick tube. It worked quite well and I got most the oil flushed. After this I had to drive the car through all the gears just a few meters around to make sure the oil got everywhere. Few top ups were needed. Now it changes the gears smooth and drives lovely. I tried to upload few pictures but it says that upload failed. Is there a maximum size for uploads? Thanks Marek

Tomorrow I'll get on with suspension and bearing. I might also flush the gearbox if will have enough time left. I'll try to take some pictures.

Thanks Colin Barber, I'm using Toyota Type 4 Oil as recommended. I was thinking about letting returning colling pipe to drain and immersing the sucking one in new oil. When replacing the solenoids and plunger I will have take the starter out anyway (meaning all new gaskets). Am I right? Thanks

Hi guys, I've just bought a 1998 LS400 gold edition, 157k. I've got several issues with it. Most of them I'm able to sort out without any problem. When I bought the car transmission was overfilled by about 1ltr. After draining surplus I've noticed the oil was in really bad condition. I've just replaced the transmission filter and topped up oil. I've discovered about 5mm of metalic mud on magnets. I know that only about 2ltrs will drain. Should I flush the whole oil with new one using the cooling pipes or just go through few drains and top ups? I've read a lot about it and some people say that flushing can damage the transmission. When replacing the filter I realised that the front right wheel has got a lot of play so I took the hub off and realised that wheel bearing, track rod end and lower ball joint need replacing as well. The brake dust shield is so corroded and needs changing. I couldn't find any new shields anywhere. Do you know where I can get them from? Or will any other fit? The other thing I'm struggling with is locking system. When I open the car and will not insert the key into ignition widows and sunroof will open automatically. When driving I can hear locks attempting to open from time to time. The remote also stops working and when I use the key to open the door the alarm starts to go(happy neighbours in the early hours). Finally I think I will have to replace the starter as it ticks instead of cranking when cold. Last few frosty nights led it to spinning even when I took the keys out of the ignition. If I replace the solenoids, plunger and clean the electromagnet will it be enough or I need to replace the whole thing(considering replacement of all seals) ? Any advice on this? Thanks Marek

Have you tried fitting this so far? I've got the same fears before fitting. I'd like to fit one of these opening valves on mine. It would be nice to have that convenience of making it loud when wanted and silent when needed.