chrisfs

Thanks Steve. I will take a look and see if I can make sense of that! Will probably have to wait until the weekend though.

My 2000 LS 430 has just developed a squeak on the right rear door when it is locking or self-closing. Bit of a shock when everything is normally so quiet! Probably just needs a drop of oil, but anyone know exactly where to apply it? Thanks Chris

Had an MOT scare on Friday. Took my October 2000 LS 430 for its MOT, left it at the garage just before 08:00, went off to get the train to work. Still on the train, my mobile rings at 08:25. "Are you on the train yet, sir?" Heart sinks: have they found something major? Have I done something stupid like left the wrong key? Have to stew a bit longer because I go through a cutting and lose the signal. Eventually I can call them back. "Oh no sir, no problem. Just thought if you hadn't got the train yet, you could come to collect it." Done already! And sailed straight through (again)! Mind you, I would have been amazed if there had been any issue, nothing ever goes wrong with these beauties. But it's always nice to have it behind you for another year, isn't it? Chris

My first LS was a Mk IV LS400. The day I went to pick it up, they gave it a lovely clean all over culminating in the young lad going at it with a high pressure hose. The next thing, they were presenting me with a half flooded boot! Boot lid seals are the likely suspects here, I think. Best of luck to you and your wife in her recovery. Chris

One thought on the sat nav - are you stationary when using it? The direction buttons grey out when the car is on the move, as a safety feature. Chris

Hi Chris Oddly enough, I was there today too, having my LS serviced (and new battery, as per other thread). Nice coffee too. I am also going to need four new tyres, but nice as they are I'm afraid I wasn't going to use Lexus for that. Good price from BITS up the road, but at £106 per corner it's still going to mount up to quite a sum. Chris

Thanks for the replies guys! Judging by Halfords quotes, it's not a bad price at Lexus. Obviously helps a lot that it's in being worked on anyway. Chris

Hi, last minute question about a battery for my 2000 LS 430. It's been running down a bit eagerly lately, eg one week in airport car park recently and wouldn't start. The car is going in for a service tomorrow and I wondered if I should get Lexus to fit a new one. They have quoted me £108 fitted all in which, for Lexus, doesn't seem too bad to me. Anyone know what I could get one at Halfords or wherever for? I don't mind paying a bit extra for the "official" battery and the convenience of fitting it etc, but not if it's a ridiculous difference. Thanks for any help! Chris

But the ABS doesn't help brake any harder, does it? It's there to help you control the car if it goes into a skid under braking. So there should be plenty of times you might brake hard but not have the ABS cut in, I would have thought. Chris

Look at the post above yours, Ed.

I know they do. But I could still understand someone being worried enough about it to want to eliminate the possibility.

I imagine it might be a safety concern on the part of the previous owner. Now and then you hear a horror story of some young kid getting trapped in a closing window . . . I could understand it if he didn't want to take the chance. Chris

I have had a flat battery experience twice this year. Once sitting in a queue for car ferry, 45 minutes with aircon and stereo on but engine not running. Wouldn't even turn over. Second time I seem to have inadvertently left the boot open, only just ajar but I guess the inner light was on and that was enough to flatten it by the next morning. So both my fault and I can see how it happened, but both times I was quite surprised that was enough to flatten the battery.

Ahhh you forget I filled mine up today.... 75 ltrs....... £42 (LPG)..... its the only way I could afford a road trip..... Off topic, I know but . . . had my first three figure fill-up the other day. £106. OUCH!! Chris

In the end, I thought I might try the Bridgestone Turanze ER33 (EOMs on the newer 430s I understand). Or maybe the Michelin Pilot Sports. But after all that, it seems they don't come in my 430's size 225/55/R17! So it's back for more Dunlop 270s at the weekend. I'll see if I can make them last a little longer this time. I reckon Pete may be on to something with this wheel spin thing because I have mine almost permanently on Sport ECT setting. May see if i can cope with the more languid Normal setting for a while. Or maybe not . . .

Pete Just been researching old tyre posts and noticed this. Did you really get 255/55/R17 or was that just a typo? Mine are 225/55/R17. Chris

Thanks, all who have made suggestions so far. Tees, which Bridgestones are you using? Chris

I have joined in the occasional debates on here in the past about the best tyres for LS430. When I got mine last November, I put on 4 new Dunlop Sport SP270's which I think were the original spec for this car. The two rear ones are now almost illegal at 2 to 3 mm, only 11,000 miles on! Surely I should expect more than that? I'm no boy racer, but I do a lot of motorway miles, at fairly high speeds. The wear apparently is fairly uniform so no indication there of anything unusual. Second question is the old one: what to get next? With that kind of life, I'm a little wary of the SP270 again. They have been smooth enough but not especially quiet in my opinion. Very quiet on a good road, not that quiet on the many poor roads we have to drive on in this country. Maybe it's just the roads? Lexus also recommend Bridgestone, not sure which one but I don't think there has been a very favourable impression on here. On a previous Saab I had Dunlop Sport SP01's and they were great, smooth and very quiet, I noticed an immediate difference when I put those on the Saab. I think they can be fitted to the LS though not sure if they are actually still available, and quite pricey in LS sizes. Old subject I know, but any other thoughts? Is there any new thinking on this based on anyone's recent experiences? Thanks for your advice! Chris

Variation on a theme: was at Cherbourg ferry port this last Monday. Maybe 40 minutes waiting to board, aircon on and playing CD, engine not running. Time to board and - would not turn the starter. Fortunately the port guy found some jump leads and it fired up right away (and started again once in Portsmouth!). My own stupid fault? But I didn't imagine it would run flat in 40 minutes. Should that have been enough to do it? Never had any problems before. Thanks for any advice. Chris

Yes!! Mine is October 2000, and I think 5 is plenty of speeds! Had a lucky break for once, its value has probably gone up now. Not selling though, too nice for that. Honest, I'm not gloating, that was a pretty mean trick in the Budget, as is anything retrospective so you can't have known what was coming when you made the original purchase decision. Well, I didn't vote for him. Oh that's right, nor did anyone else, they just snuck him in without asking us . . .

Mmm? Is this a wind up? No answer in 20 minutes, before 6 in the morning. You do realise this is the UK site? Anyway, I can't help I'm afraid as I don't know what they are (some kind of light, I guess). Nice looking motor though! Chris

I have the exact same thing, Alex. Not too loud, mind, a fairly sophisticated sort of whistle really! No idea what causes it though.

Should do, yes. Whether you leave it there depends on what you want, you might not always want it to dip in some situations. I always leave mine set there though. But why not just try it and out see? Chris

Don't have the mirror selector switch centred. Set it to left or right. Chris

Sounds similar to the problem I had. Don't know how to link to other posts, but look for the thread I started called "Boot struts" in mid November 2007, last post was about 5 December, think it's on page 5 of this forum. Chris