Jon Evans

Hi Rob, They don't pip when arming or disarming. At least the Mk 4's don't anyway. You just have to get used to watching the indicators when you lock up. As for the purpose of the switch under the dash, scroll up a few posts to my previous post in this thread. :-) Jon

Just to clear up this confusion about the switch under the dash on the Mk 4 (maybe other versions too). If you try and lock the car from the keyfob but you've left a door open or ajar, it refuses to lock and emits a high pitched beep. If you put the switch in the other position, it still refuses to lock, but doesn't beep. Can't really see the point of it myself.

Hi, The behaviour of the remote lock / unlock of my LS400 has changed for some unknown reason, and I liked it better the old way. :) It used to work like this: Unlock & lock worked fine Press & hold of the boot release would open the boot (this would also trigger the alarm if you hadn't unlocked, the only thing I didn't like about the old way) Press & hold of the lock / unlock button would raise / lower the windows & moonroof It now works like this: Unlock & lock work fine boot release only works if you haven't already unlocked the car, and it disarms the alarm so it doesn't go off. You subsequently need to unlock the car if you want to open a door. If you want to open the boot and you've already unlocked the car, you have to either use the key or the switch on the dashboard. You can't control the windows any more with the key This happened to one key, and changing the battery had no effect. After a while I remembered I had a spare key, so I started using that one. Now this one has reverted to the "new" behaviour, and again a new battery has made no difference. Note that all the buttons still work on each key, the light on the key flashes etc., it just works different to how it used to. The biggest PITA is when it starts to rain and you've left the car with the windows down. I used to be able to close the windows remotely, now I have to leg it outside, get in the car, put the key in the ignition and close them myself. Please help! :)

My '98 LS400 is just coming up to 120k, so I'm hoping so. :-) Having said that I bought mine for £9.6k so maybe you could get them to move a bit more on the price. Mind you, you are buying from a dealer so maybe not. Actually I'm surprised that the dealer hasn't offloaded it through an independent or an auction. I was told that they don't sell anything that's done much more than 100k.

Hi Colin, 3/ Very dangerous so Lexus models no not allow that. ← Well, not so dangerous the way BMW implemented it. With the gearbox in Park it works exactly the same as the Lexus system. When you're moving, you have to hold down the button for the memory you want to activate. It only moves while the button is held down. It also moves all of the motors in increments - so for instance it would never move the seat base to the final position, followed by the seat back, it would move one a bit, then the other, and so on until the final position was reached. I used to switch between two memory positions, 1 was my normal driving style, 2 was a slightly more laid back position for motorway cruising. Jon

Hi Mike, I think you might be over-emphasising the brightness issue. Daylight is pretty bright, and I'm guessing you don't walk around with permanently red eyes! The only thing hitting your eyes is photons, and apart from maybe a more narrow range of wavelengths, there's no difference between the photons emitted by your instrument panel and the ones emitted by the big fiery orb. One more thing, fluorescence is actually not unknown in nature - fireflies, certain types of jellyfish for example. Probably more common than incandescence. I've can only think of two (and a half, see below) reasons to explain your symptoms. 1) Could it be that you are so fixated on the irritation from the instruments that you are subconsciously rubbing your eyes more often than if you were more at ease with the car? 2) Is it a brand new car? I remember reading somewhere (I think it was the BBC news site) that "new car smell" is actually benzines and other organic chemicals escaping from the various plastics and other materials used in the manufacture of the car. Maybe you're having a bad reaction to them? 2.5) If it's a second hand car, maybe there's some bacteria in the air conditioning system which your eyes object to. You can get anti-bacterial sprays, which are marketed for getting rid of bad odours from your AC. I've used one in the past from Halfords, with good results. Hope you sort your problem soon! If you want to swap your 430 for my 400 get in touch. :-) You did say you're enjoying the gadgets. Can you tell me if the 430 has the following: 1) heated washer jets 2) rear screen blind 3) Ability to switch to a different memorised seat position while driving all of which my 1991 735iL had but my 1998 LS400 doesn't (but I still wouldn't swap back).

I think it switches off the beep if you lock the car with a door ajar. Something like that. It's in the manual somewhere.

Sure you can. You need a thing called SideTrack, which has been free for the last year while it was in beta, but is now $15. I have mine set up so that I can click, double click, click & drag, and the right and bottom edges act like scroll wheels. You can do other things too, that I've not bothered with, like for instance assigning a prod in a particular corner as meaning a right click. Sidetrack is available here.

Apple PowerBook G4 1.25GHz Mac OS X 1GB RAM 80GB hard drive CD rewriter / DVD writer Really nice widescreen (1280x854) display My first Mac, which I've had for over a year now. * Very stable * Never had to reinstall the OS * Doesn't get viruses * Doesn't get spyware * Doesn't get exploited by new browser vulnerabilities every week :-) * I use it as my main computer at work as well I used to turn up my nose at Macs - but having used one I wouldn't buy a Windows PC again!

Jim, Your doc is superbly written and very informative. Thanks very much for posting it. I've actually registered with alldatadiy.com and printed out some wiring diagrams, but I thought I didn't have a full wiring loom as I couldn't find the connectors in the boot. Now I've seen your pics I realise they're secured to the underside of the toolbox slot like yours, because I can see the foam-wrapped wire in your shot and it looks identical to what I've seen in mine. Also I didn't realise you could get the mute circuit to work without having the Lexus transceiver installed. That's useful to know. I thought I was going to have to build something with relays in it to achieve that. Thanks again, Jon

Last week I stayed at work until it started to go dark, and aligned them against marks I made on an old desk top leaning against my office wall. Even at 3 metres distance from the wall, the lights were shining about 25cm too high. I adjusted them until the light cut-off occurred below the centre height of the lights. That will do roughly until the next service. I've not been flashed since then.

Hi, I've got a 1998 model LS400 (mark 4). I use a SonyEricsson P900 phone, which supports Bluetooth. I want to install a cradle for it anyway, so I can charge it in the car, but I'd still like it to be interfaced using Bluetooth. I've had a look under the bottom cover of the centre front armrest, and located the socket near each hinge which I believe is for the factory fit system. I don't have anything installed at the right hand side of the boot so I presume I'm starting nearly from scratch. The information I'm looking for is: 1) a wiring diagram for the two sockets 2) availability of plugs to fit straight into these sockets. Although I could splice directly into the wiring, it's always nicer to use a plug if a socket has already been provided. Ideally I'd like to buy the pair of plugs with wire tails already attached. I can buy a bluetooth connection kit with hifi mute directly from SonyEricsson. Also they do a cradle for my phone. So rather than paying someone to fit it all, I just need the information so I can do it myself. Car electronics doesn't bother me, and I am always wary of other people installing stuff in my pride and joy. :) At least if I do it myself I'll know that no corners have been cut. Cheers!

If you go to the RAC website and register for "my RAC" (which is free), you can enter registration numbers on their Vehicle data check page and it will tell you the make and model of car, how many owners, and when the ownership last changed. So you can see if any of these old bangers are still on the road! A 1995 VW Polo L which I had from new is still on the road, but none of my other cars are. These include a 1991 Volvo 340, which remains the most expensive car I've ever owned in terms of spending money to fix the bits that kept breaking on it. The oldest car I can remember my dad driving was an Austin Maxi 1750, XLG 255J. It had fairly plasticy seats with a ribbed design on the surface, on a hot day you'd have to peel yourself off it when you got out, and you'd end up with the imprint of the seat pattern on your legs. Incidentally you can also check out your ideal registration on that RAC site. JON 1 is on an Aston Martin V12 Vanquish, do you reckon the current owner could be persuaded to part with it?

The page I printed out covered both types. I was expecting it to be a bit awkward, but I wasn't prepared for being unable to find the adjusting cog. :-) I will have another go tomorrow lunchtime, and hopefully take some pictures. Not sure - I think maybe I did occasionally notice it come up to boot level on other cars.

Hi, My LS400 is the first car I've owned with genuine HID lights (as opposed to HID-effect bulbs). When driving it the other night I was flashed about 30-odd times on a 2 hour journey. Is it normal that HIDs get this response from other motorists? Or could mine be out of alignment? They don't look that bad to me, and they do do the down/up calibration thing when you turn them on. I'm subscribed to alldatadiy.com for the LS and I've printed out the adjustment instructions, but I had a look earlier this evening and I couldn't even see the cog I was supposed to be turning.

Hi, I've just got off the phone from Lexus customer services. Very helpful people! They are loaning me a couple of CDs for a forthcoming trip to Belgium. While on the phone I asked what the current UK version was. They said 3.7, but a new one is due out "very soon". Just FYI.

That's interesting to know. I assume you mean that it's impossible for the valves to interfere with the pistons. Do you know if it's also true for the engine in the mk4 LS400? Cheers, Jon

Cheers for the welcome. Yes, I have satnav, I specifically chose a 1998 model because of that. Anyone know how much Lexus charge for an update disk? I don't know how up to date mine will be. I don't think it's got the Nakamichi sound system, I didn't notice the logo anyway. There's a pic of the car on my website, but as I say I don't collect it until Thursday. Had to buy a tax disk today, had to pay for the whole of this month as well even though I don't need it to be valid until the 26th. :-/

Sadly not... from my web research before buying, I got the impression it was only available in the LS430. They're still a bit rich for my finances. :-)

Hi, Just bought a 1998 mk4 LS400. I pick it up on Thursday. I'm quite used to my current stereo, a Blaupunkt Woodstock DAB52. It receives digital radio, and also plays back MP3 compilation CDs. I presume I'm out of luck with getting DAB in the Lexus, unless I completely replace the built in stereo. Is that even possible? For the MP3 CDs though, I believe it's possible to interface aftermarket MP3 stackers to the OEM head unit. Has anyone tried that? Does anyone know who makes the Lexus CD changer? Cheers, Jon