What did you do to your Lexus today.

[Vlady]

Thanks everyone, I will stick with rubber ones just now, until we move to another area in a few months IF everything goes well! 

Have a good weekend all! 

[PCM]

Or buy some very cheap ones on eBay ?

They look nice and are about 3-4 pounds...

[runsgrateasanut]

On 10/4/2019 at 6:49 AM, The-Acre said:

So annoying, and as you say, upsetting. After watching the literal daylight theft of car parts on Rip Off Britain I'm not surprised.  

If this was me, I suspect I'd find them in my pocket - ha ha ha

[royoftherovers]

2 hours ago, runsgrateasanut said:

If this was me, I suspect I'd find them in my pocket - ha ha ha

Lucky you, Stu. I have only holes in my pockets, so the missing items would be found in the lining !

[The-Acre]

1 hour ago, royoftherovers said:

Lucky you, Stu. I have only holes in my pockets, so the missing items would be found in the lining !

You've got lining?  That's posh!

[PCM]

17 minutes ago, The-Acre said:

You've got lining?  That's posh!

You've got trousers!

Luxury.

[Malc]

7 hours ago, PCM said:

and are about 3-4 pounds...

is this the weight of each screw cap ?  you'll need good braces to hold 'em up

Malc

[runsgrateasanut]

5 hours ago, royoftherovers said:

Lucky you, Stu. I have only holes in my pockets, so the missing items would be found in the lining !

That takes me back to the Sixties when I had a nice Jewish Gentleman in Whittington Avenue EC3 make me a Suit. 

Always asked if I wanted a Lining to the trousers and a second pair.  Also,buttons or the new fangled zip? And for him the slightly embarrasing Q.   Er hmm which side do you dress Sir? 

[39buss]

Put my "new " 55 reg GS300 on the road for the first time on Monday and been swearing at it since Thursday when the TPMS light came on and up to now haven't found a solution.  Tried the reset a few times but no joy.  Jim

[The-Acre]

1 hour ago, 39buss said:

Put my "new " 55 reg GS300 on the road for the first time on Monday and been swearing at it since Thursday when the TPMS light came on and up to now haven't found a solution.  Tried the reset a few times but no joy.  Jim

You may need new sensors in that case!

[39buss]

Ditto.  Thanks for both answers.

[NemesisUK]

Gazed at it in amazement, still so clean after standing 2 weeks (whilst we were on holiday - South America) the Lexus (GEN3) glass coat is working well.. 

[Vlady]

Bought 5-off plastic valve dust caps (£1.50 a packet) as mine Lexus ones were nicked and put them on the car. Obviously not as nice as Lexus ones but will do the job for the winter period.

[Razor61]

What did I do to my 1996 Lexus (1995 production year) today?.........well quite a lot so here goes. Bear in mind that I do most mechanical work myself, I’m not a mechanic but I’m certainly not ‘green’ when it comes to cars and how they should run and handle etc.

First thing was to clean the spare set of original alloys and tyres meant for the car, excellent condition but took me 4 hours to make like new. The wheels and tyres on the car where DHP wheels and tyres and to be honest it drove terrible. Any rut or uneven bit of road and it was all over the place and didn’t feel safe at all. Motorways were a nightmare. This is my first LS400 and I thought there was something seriously wrong, suspension/ball joints knackered maybe and was pricing up the needed stuff. But, I put the original wheels and correct tyres back on the car and took it for a drive. I kid you not, it was like driving a different car!!!! Yes, the bushes and suspension are not in perfect condition and I didn’t expect them to be when I bought the car but the difference between the DHP wheels and tyres and the original wheels and tyres meant for the car is huge. I was thinking about getting rid of the car as it didn’t live up to what I expected. By the way, apart from the way it drove, it was a smooth as silk engine/transmission wise which did live up to what I expected. So I’m pretty pleased now and will probably keep it.

After all that, onto the main job I planned to do today, scraping off the rust and rust treating the back subframe etc. as it is pretty grotty. Jacked up one side of the car, got underneath and scraped off all the flaking rust that I could get to. Sprayed degreaser over all the areas, rinsed off and left to dry as, for once, it’s not rained today. When it was all dry enough I sprayed rust converter over the rear subframe etc. The stuff I used ( Corroseal ) takes a while to work so will check tomorrow and give it a good rinse ready for being painted and waxolyed. If it needs more treatment I’ll put more on. I also removed a couple of link type bars (just 4 bolts) removed all the rust (there was a lot), treated them and they are drying ready to paint and put back on tomorrow.

That’s it until tomorrow and more work but I now think it’s worth the effort!

[cruisermark]

29 minutes ago, Razor61 said:

What did I do to my 1996 Lexus (1995 production year) today?.........well quite a lot so here goes. Bear in mind that I do most mechanical work myself, I’m not a mechanic but I’m certainly not ‘green’ when it comes to cars and how they should run and handle etc.

First thing was to clean the spare set of original alloys and tyres meant for the car, excellent condition but took me 4 hours to make like new. The wheels and tyres on the car where DHP wheels and tyres and to be honest it drove terrible. Any rut or uneven bit of road and it was all over the place and didn’t feel safe at all. Motorways were a nightmare. This is my first LS400 and I thought there was something seriously wrong, suspension/ball joints knackered maybe and was pricing up the needed stuff. But, I put the original wheels and correct tyres back on the car and took it for a drive. I kid you not, it was like driving a different car!!!! Yes, the bushes and suspension are not in perfect condition and I didn’t expect them to be when I bought the car but the difference between the DHP wheels and tyres and the original wheels and tyres meant for the car is huge. I was thinking about getting rid of the car as it didn’t live up to what I expected. By the way, apart from the way it drove, it was a smooth as silk engine/transmission wise which did live up to what I expected. So I’m pretty pleased now and will probably keep it.

After all that, onto the main job I planned to do today, scraping off the rust and rust treating the back subframe etc. as it is pretty grotty. Jacked up one side of the car, got underneath and scraped off all the flaking rust that I could get to. Sprayed degreaser over all the areas, rinsed off and left to dry as, for once, it’s not rained today. When it was all dry enough I sprayed rust converter over the rear subframe etc. The stuff I used ( Corroseal ) takes a while to work so will check tomorrow and give it a good rinse ready for being painted and waxolyed. If it needs more treatment I’ll put more on. I also removed a couple of link type bars (just 4 bolts) removed all the rust (there was a lot), treated them and they are drying ready to paint and put back on tomorrow.

That’s it until tomorrow and more work but I now think it’s worth the effort!

Hi Paul looks like you have been very busy today - and certainly happy after getting the original smoothness back.

This is not a members car by any chance purchased recently? 😏 - the clue was in the 2 sets of alloys

[Razor61]

3 minutes ago, cruisermark said:

Hi Paul looks like you have been very busy today - and certainly happy after getting the original smoothness back.

This is not a members car by any chance purchased recently? 😏 - the clue was in the 2 sets of alloys

Mmmmmmh, what can I say.................I thought I’d bought a car that needed a lot of work. The car still needs work to get it how I want it ( some welding but not catastrophic ) but not as much as I feared or thought. Tomorrow I’ll be pulling out the ECU and replacing the capacitors all being well. No symptoms of the ECU issues on the car but I’m doing them anyway for prevention.

[The-Acre]

49 minutes ago, Razor61 said:

Mmmmmmh, what can I say.................I thought I’d bought a car that needed a lot of work. The car still needs work to get it how I want it ( some welding but not catastrophic ) but not as much as I feared or thought. Tomorrow I’ll be pulling out the ECU and replacing the capacitors all being well. No symptoms of the ECU issues on the car but I’m doing them anyway for prevention.

I suppose the question to ask is are you enjoying doing it?

[Razor61]

28 minutes ago, The-Acre said:

I suppose the question to ask is are you enjoying doing it?

I am now to be honest, it’s a car I’ve read all about and wanted one for a long while for how it was engineered and put together. I originally wanted an LS430 but the more I read about the LS and the more I looked at cars for sale, I changed to wanting an LS400. I have also been banging on to my dad about how good they are. He lives 200 miles away and is visiting next weekend but I haven’t told him I’ve bought one, I was looking forward to surprising him, for him to drive it and see how good they are. I’m glad swopping the wheels has made such a difference and it drives good now, it drove like like s#*t before so I don’t think he would have been impressed at all! Now I think he will be impressed.

[The-Acre]

12 hours ago, Razor61 said:

I am now to be honest, it’s a car I’ve read all about and wanted one for a long while for how it was engineered and put together. I originally wanted an LS430 but the more I read about the LS and the more I looked at cars for sale, I changed to wanting an LS400. I have also been banging on to my dad about how good they are. He lives 200 miles away and is visiting next weekend but I haven’t told him I’ve bought one, I was looking forward to surprising him, for him to drive it and see how good they are. I’m glad swopping the wheels has made such a difference and it drives good now, it drove like like s#*t before so I don’t think he would have been impressed at all! Now I think he will be impressed.

The thing about doing your own work is that you get to see for yourself how well built they are.  Keep us posted on how your dad reacts, that'll be interesting!

[Razor61]

6 hours ago, The-Acre said:

The thing about doing your own work is that you get to see for yourself how well built they are.  Keep us posted on how your dad reacts, that'll be interesting!

Absolutely, now I’ve done as much work as I can underneath at the moment I started in the engine bay to clean and have a look round. The air cleaner assembly is a nice piece of engineering in itself! Cleaned out the drains in the corners just below the windscreen as they were full of crap and blocked, they drain nice and clear now. Secured the bonnet seal under the windscreen properly using plastic nuts and bolts for the missing clips and the ones that were broken. Worked really well, just got to remember this if I need to remove it. While under the back end this morning removing more rust and rust treating the arches, I looked at the drop links and they are definitely shot so need to replace them. New boot seal needed even though I was told there wasn’t an issue with it. It’s weird how the water gets in. I cleaned the boot seal and put some Gummi Phledge on (can’t rememberer how to spell it) just in case that cures it but I’m not hopeful.

The electric aerial is not fixed in correctly I noticed as well. It’s been stuck in with some kind of black sealant. I’ll price up a new aerial and take it from there. Not in a big hurry to fix it as there are more important things to do.

I’ll let you know what my dad thinks, he’s always had big cars, back in the day Humbers ( Hawk saloon, Hawk estate and a Super Snipe ) Daimler 2.5 V8, Volvos and now Mercedes plus others. Maybe that’s where I get my love of well engineered cars from. He is a precision engineer by trade and from a very early age I’ve always helped doing work on the cars he has owned, cylinder head removal decoke and refurb, engine rebuilds and the rest. I learned a hell of a lot while doing it all, I reckon I could still remove a cylinder head and grind in the valves etc😀

[The-Acre]

14 minutes ago, Razor61 said:

Absolutely, now I’ve done as much work as I can underneath at the moment I started in the engine bay to clean and have a look round. The air cleaner assembly is a nice piece of engineering in itself! Cleaned out the drains in the corners just below the windscreen as they were full of crap and blocked, they drain nice and clear now. Secured the bonnet seal under the windscreen properly using plastic nuts and bolts for the missing clips and the ones that were broken. Worked really well, just got to remember this if I need to remove it. While under the back end this morning removing more rust and rust treating the arches, I looked at the drop links and they are definitely shot so need to replace them. New boot seal needed even though I was told there wasn’t an issue with it. It’s weird how the water gets in. I cleaned the boot seal and put some Gummi Phledge on (can’t rememberer how to spell it) just in case that cures it but I’m not hopeful.

The electric aerial is not fixed in correctly I noticed as well. It’s been stuck in with some kind of black sealant. I’ll price up a new aerial and take it from there. Not in a big hurry to fix it as there are more important things to do.

I’ll let you know what my dad thinks, he’s always had big cars, back in the day Humbers ( Hawk saloon, Hawk estate and a Super Snipe ) Daimler 2.5 V8, Volvos and now Mercedes plus others. Maybe that’s where I get my love of well engineered cars from. He is a precision engineer by trade and from a very early age I’ve always helped doing work on the cars he has owned, cylinder head removal decoke and refurb, engine rebuilds and the rest. I learned a hell of a lot while doing it all, I reckon I could still remove a cylinder head and grind in the valves etc😀

I had the usual boot leak on my MK2 and rather than replace the seal I took advice from this forum and took the seal off, cleaned the groove well, and the boot lip.  Then silicone sealant around the lip and immediately replace the seal, worked a treat.  A lot depends on the incline the car is parked at but it seems when there's lots of rain it gets up under the rubber and over the lip so the sealant does work to bridge that.

[Razor61]

Just now, The-Acre said:

I had the usual boot leak on my MK2 and rather than replace the seal I took advice from this forum and took the seal off, cleaned the groove well, and the boot lip.  Then silicone sealant around the lip and immediately replace the seal, worked a treat.  A lot depends on the incline the car is parked at but it seems when there's lots of rain it gets up under the rubber and over the lip so the sealant does work to bridge that.

Aaah, that makes sense thanks. Probably the incline, I noticed the way the water runs off when rinsing and it seems to pool in the top corners with no way that I see to drain away apart from towards the rear. My drive slopes, not massive, but I always back the car in so it’s lower at the front end and probably that’s causing the pooling. I suspect if the car is level I may not have the issue. I could of course drive the car in and reverse out but that would be a headache being such a long car reversing onto a busy road.

[Razor61]

Forgot to mention the bonnet struts need replacing as well even though, again, I was told they were fine. I blame myself for not checking properly and just taking someones word for it. They’re not expensive and easily replaced but the cost of everything needed all mounts up........

[Malc]

1 hour ago, Razor61 said:

the cost of everything needed all mounts up

I used a broomstick handle on my Mk1 all those years back

the rarity of opening the bonnet didn't warrant the spend on new struts

Malc

[Razor61]

I used a piece of 2x1 today but I’ll replace them

7 minutes ago, Malc said:

I used a broomstick handle on my Mk1 all those years back

the rarity of opening the bonnet didn't warrant the spend on new struts

Malc

I used a length of 2 x 1 today, I will replace them though cos I’ll always be tinkering doing something even if it’s just cleaning. Oil and filter change every 3k miles as well, oil is cheaper than a new engine as they say!