New ls owner

[Drl]

Hello everyone,

I just bought a 98 ls400 on 74k for not a lot at all. It came with a few goodies (aftermarket wheels, and new tyres on originals) but is mostly standard apart from rims and exhaust.

I just drove it home over a one way de restricted section of road which was good fun!

Anyway there are obviously a few issues. I don't mind diy, and brakes etc are easy enough for me...

There is no history of a belt change, so on age grounds I will do this once I get a feel for the car. I have read up on this, and I may or may not take is on myself.

The main issue is probably the nav system/audio. The display does not turn on, and the audio doesn't either. The air con etc works well. I have searched on this, but very little comes up. I don't know that I care enough about sat nav, but I would like to switch out the CD radio so that it works. Any good threads? 

 

Any way cheers all

[Drl]

Was it something I said?

[Vlady]

Drl welcome! Congratulations with the new car! I am picking mine (GS) hopefully this weekend, the garage is finishing a few things for me before I pick it up.

Regards your radio issues, sorry I don't have any links to help you but it can be very expensive I guess. I am in a process of selling a BMW that has faulty CD drive and DVD drive, I just checked yesterday how much it will cost me to fix it, well £500-800 and this is almost 10% of the car price! I barely used CD as I have a usb port (plus radio is working) and only once used DVD which is outdated and slow so I use my phone, basically I am saying that your radio issue won't be that expensive. Good luck and enjoy the car! Vlady

[Vlady]

Me personally would like to see pictures of your car, on BMW forum it was almost compulsory for a new owner to share the picture of his pride! 😉

[rich1068]

2 hours ago, Drl said:

Was it something I said?

Ha! No. Sorry. Welcome.

Haven't got an LS myself but there are plenty on on here that have and now this is bumped I'm sure someone will be along. And yes, pictures or it didn't happen 

[steve2006]

Hello and welcome to the LOC.

It must be great to be able to drive unlimited on a road, here in the UK it is a maximum of 70 MPH or around 112kmh.

Regarding the sat nav I would be looking at the fuses first in the under dash fuse box, you may be lucky and find one blown.Once I am back in the UK I will look up the electrical diagrams for you.

[Drl]

Hi everyone,

First of all thanks for the responses. I am probably something of a veteran when it comes to nippy/interesting/cheap/old cars. A search engine, a forum, eBay, and a little bit of effort has kept me out of garages and in fun cars for around a decade. 

This is my first lexus though. It is also my first v8, my first rwd, and my first auto. 

I have fixed a few bits already. I paid £400 so I was expecting to. Side indicator I blagged with a near fit (can't see both sides by side anyway) and I have done the usual top ups.

brake pads on the way to me, but will probably need discs soon too. Front strut bar bushes will be needed soonish. 

This has had a straight pipe fitted (groan) but I can probably live with it. It is also on 18s. It had dings and dents, but life is too short to worry about what other people see.

The two big problems are the ice/display and the lack of a belt change. It is on less than 75k but at 20 years old I would expect to see two of them. I will probably see where I get to over the next few months before I commit; this is probably more than I can do roadside so it would be a significant outlay.

As far as the nav is concerned....the air con works well, but no audio or display. If I could get the audio working with a cheap unit that would be enough for now. As I understand it the other option is to put in a double din and get a non nav a/c. Anyway...I will check the fuses, and then buy a cheap single din first. 

As for derestricted roads...I am on the isle of man. TT has just finished, and my test dive was on a one way, unlimited a road. Not too shabby really. 

Picture attached hopefully. Excuse the side mounted plate etc

[rich1068]

It has "patina". I like it