DJT

Malc 1 cannot get E5 or super unleaded where I live ☹️. Found a filling station in Thurso who's petrol seems to make car run better. 40 mile round trip for petrol, as we know short trips kill engines. 40 miles gets everything nice and warm. 

Hi when I went to pick up my Lexus had a chat with service lady. Showed me 4 pins in brake shoes that where corroded to point of breaking. Confirmed I had no friction material on handbrake shoes 🤔. She also mentioned that people are contacting them about buying old LS models cost no object. Does this mean die hard lexus car buyers realise how good the old LS models where. Had chat with tech who repaired my car to discuss what he found. Broken rear ride leveller which I knew about. Also one of rear ride sensors not plugged in 🫣, explains ASL? light flashing🙄. My error so will sort that out. Leaking thermostat housing and top hose at ends. He asked if it was genuine milage at 325k. Valet did a magnificent job of car. Not that it was in bad state. Look at it the sunshine and think what a beautiful car. Have been out to check wheel nut torque as lesson learned from last time. Wheel nuts should be tighten after 20mins drive or 30 miles. Yes they needed to be tightened. Hopefully 🤞 won't need to check on way back. 

On plus side my LS430 has done Wick to Edinburgh (approx 230 miles) on 1/2 tank of Tesco's 99 momentum petrol. 

Hi took me 8 hours to drive from Wick to Edinburgh. Sat nav says 5 hours. Don't what was worse the weather, standing water or driving standards. Next task is MOT by 24th of June. Have one issue ASL? light is flashing constantly. My copy of techstream needs another code to get it to work 🙄. Might see what lexus would  charge me 🤣🤣🤣. Does anyone know if this light is an automatic fail for MOT.

Hi Malc1 my Lexus is actually 325000 miles not 330k as I stated on previous posts. Next expense is getting paint work sorted 😬😬😬. 

Hi finally fitted new super lightweight alloys and new tyres. Rims are from bola B2R. Tyres are Continental all season. Got stunning deal on tyres about £60 each delivered 🙂. Wheels £600 delivered from factory. No clearance issues at all. Feels quicker off the line. According to Bola wheels web page saving minimum of 6kg per wheel which equates to a weight saving on sprung mass of approx 96kg in total. Suspension is now hard race adjustable top control arms with solid bushes, along with BC coilovers set 3/4" higher to allow for craters in our local "roads". Ride is very similar to my air suspension that was faulty. Off to Edinburgh on Wednesday for replacement radiator under warranty and get new hand brake shoes fitted. As shoes appear to have no friction material left 🤔. Will explain why parking brake has no feel or resistance. 

Hi everyone have eventually fitted new top control arms front and back, plus coil over suspension. Taken about 5 days around other nesscary tasks and compulsory overtime at work. Rear top control arms are not easiest to remove or fit. Rear subframe has to be lowered as only way of getting to bolts hold control arm. Had to resort to using angle grinder to cut bolts off 🤔 as heating bolts wasn't working. Bushes where smoking badly. Having a fire at back of car would not be helpful.  Replaced with stainless steel bolts with a film of copper grease to ease possible later removal. Ride is very good compared to air suspension. Need to soften rear springs a bit. Hopefully later this week I will have lightweight rims and tyres ready for fitting. It is good to be behind the wheel of my LS430 again. 🙂

Malc1 your still 70k miles behind me. 

Greenlight are highly recommended for modified car insurance. Certainly understand modifications and what they do. 

Malc 1 just got a stunning deal from greenlight insurance. All mods declared can add more if I feel like it. Can have track day cover for £45 per day if I feel the need to track day her 😱😬. 

Hi Malc1 I am in discussions with several insurance companies. Problem is not the mods, it's the car 🤔. Lexus seems to be so misunderstood as brand. Far more than a jumped Toyota. Billions spent on refining every part for optimal weight reduction and strength is on scale that's never been repeated. LS430 is not a difficult car to work on. Design and quality of parts and ease of routine maintenance is phenomenal. 

Finally got all the parts for fitting coilovers, top control arms and rear drop links. Plus insurance is due. Current insurer will not insure me with mods. Been looking around for an insurer to cover mods. Got what I think is reasonable quotes considering changes from OEM spec. Costing me about £400 more than last year, bearing in mind insurance has rocketed in price. 

Malc 1 most garages up here will only fit parts supplied by themselves. My local garage is one of the few where you can buy parts for them to fit. All local garages are busy fitting springs, shocks, drop links and replacing bent rims due to state of roads. Check out Facebook Caithness roads recovery to what state our roads are in. Probably raise suspension and keep it soft to deal with crater's. Even lorries are going through springs at an alarming rate. Local council will not pay out for vehicle damage 🤬🤬🤬🤬. 

Maximus Prime air lines are they just push and turn? As for getting another garage to do the work I have issue mentioned before, if I remove jack stands from front of car bottom of front bumper is on the deck. Be lucky to get an ant to squeeze through the gap. Recovery for lowered cars is jack them up and but wedges in the coil spring. No coil springs is going to make even more difficult. Can take bumper off to help. Nearest garage that I could find that would do cambelt, water pump etc etc was 8 hours driving from me. So went to dealer. If you look at map of UK find Orkney im right up in that corner of Scotland, part of Highlands and islands. Swapping suspension should not cause to many issues if I do it myself. Have done spring swaps on MacPherson struts that is a very dangerous game. No air in struts being removed. Coilovers already have springs fitted. Got adjustable top control arms to fit on all 4 corners as well at same time. Off with  the old on with the new. Will be keeping everything for air suspension refitting. Also bought some super lightweight road rims that look stock to go on. Lightweight rims might take some harshness out of ride by reducing unsprung weight. Next job after fitting this lot is to sort exhaust out. Previous owner fitted a straight through 3" exhaust with 2 straight through silencers. Need to get a resonater fitted to get rid of drone. 

Maximus Prime tried to get my local independent garage to fit adjustable top control arms front and rear, got a refusal as far too complicated 🤔🙄. They carry out 4 wheel aliment this is 2nd time they've refused to work on my LS430. They will happily fix beemers, Merc's and Audi's. They are far more difficult and complicated to work on. They think Lexus and go no not touching it. Shame as they do fantastic work. 

Do I need a tool to disconnect air lines

Thanks 

Tomtit am going to change insurance companies for other mods that are going to be carried out. My current insurer won't even let me go over to all season tyres 🤔. Living where I'm in Scotland every tyre retail place recommend all season tyres. 

Malc your right with mileage on 330k. Love to see 500k on my LS430. Have some more expensive parts to fit at same time. Adjustable top control arms all round and uprated drop links. All from Hardrace. Have two 2nd front seats to replace original seats. Leather is splitting on perforated holes. Can't complain about seats, strangely passenger seat is the worst. Probably upset those that like oem parts fitted. Knew I was going to be spending money on LS430. Probably saved it from being a parts car 🤔. 

Car is undrivable at present until suspension sorted. Front bumper hits the ground if I take it off jack stands. 

PS when I replaced relay and removed compressor, I ran techstream and only fault was exhaust solenoid. 

Hi have quite a big issue with my air suspension. Did a scan with techstream. Need a new compressor and part which splits air to front and rear.  Used items are not going to be under £200+ shipping. If I fit new or parts still don't know if that will fix air system. I could be going down a rabbit warren and find I still need more parts. On techstream my ride height sensors are giving huge difference in measurement. Cannot not adjust height via techstream. No air in system might be why I cannot adjust them.  I can get a set of BC coilovers for £1000. Very tempted to go down this route, then again I like the air suspension. What views do members have on trying to keep air suspension or go coilovers. 

Hi does anyone have a site which I can download Toyota techstream from. Mega from NZ is no longer available. I have tried direct from Toyota. Have bought a 7 day licence and cannot get past last page. Only answer I got back from technical dept is download instructions. No help when screen says to contact owner of site. Have done a factory reset on windows computer still no joy. Wanted techstream to do a scan of air bag system. Mine is behaving strangely. If I lift NSF up 3" compared to OSF it holds height. Swap 3" lift to  OSF and it holds height. Take 3" lift away from both sides and car drops on to bottom of front bumper 🤔. At OSR have correct height. On NSR I am about 2 inches above correct height. All adjustments arms are set to Toyota spec. If I can't solve problem then it going to be sacrilege and fit coil springs. 

Hi have been on a mission to find out what's wrong with my air suspension. It is behaving strangely. Know compressed is working and have no apperante air leaks. Replaced front junction box for air distribution and sensors at front. Front of car when lowered on jack bumper sits about 2 inches off ground. Rear near side is high and off side rear low. Have altered  links on front sensors to Lexus factory spec. Having problems downloading Toyota techstream for scanning for possible codes issues. Have been in contact with someone who knows Lexus LS430 like the back of their hand and they are more baffled than me. Any suggestions on where to start looking?

Hi big boomer have checked boot fuses. Everything is bone dry and no sign of water ever being in there. Have taken some fuses out for checking, no signs of any type of corrosion in fuse box. 

Hi my radio comes up as audio off. Do have a clock spring issue but wouldn't of thought this would take radio out. Have removed navigation unit in boot as screen kept asking me to load a cd navigation disc. Found 3 discs jammed in there. Got them out and cleaned circuit board with an electrical contact cleaner. See attached photos that I've taken of screen once I got into diagnosic menu. Are fuses going to cause this. Boot is bone dry. 

Hi Malc1 I use mine 6 days a week think my Battery is dying due to cold spell we had 2 weeks ago. Had some frosts since. Old batteries don't like the cold.