Going to see LS430 at the weekend

[SlowV6]

Hello All,

Another question - thinking back to my moment with the LS430 yesterday. The very first thing I checked yesterday was did it appear to be sitting level, which it did. Bearing in mind it is Sorned and hadn't really been prepared at all ( e.g some sponge action and some vacuum action would have been nice) I took "looking level" as a good thing. It definitely wasn't saggy ar5ed.

When I flicked the normal / high ride height button to high I could very very faintly hear a motor of some kind and when i got out of the car to watch I think I could just about make out it rising a bit but really not very much.

As a first timer I had no idea what to expect.

What is the expected spectacle!?

Also, and this is just out of interest, why did Lexus bother with adjustable ride height? I get the sport/normal firmness button but it isn't as if you are going to go off-road in an LS430 so why have ride height options?

thanks for your patience.

[jonthetourist]

Funnily enough I have been using my Hi button over the last few days to get through flood water. It takes at least half a minute to go up though. You can check it by sighting something close ahead, like another car's plate, then pressing the button and waiting.

Jon

[SlowV6]

That's interesting to know thank you very much. I didn't wait 30secs. How much does it rise in total? I guess about 2 to 3 inches max?

Perhaps I need to return to this car and knock a bit off for a deep clean internal valet...

 

[The-Acre]

6 hours ago, SlowV6 said:

That's interesting to know thank you very much. I didn't wait 30secs. How much does it rise in total? I guess about 2 to 3 inches max?

Perhaps I need to return to this car and knock a bit off for a deep clean internal valet...

 

It only rises about an inch.  When traveling at speed it automatically lowers, when you come to a roundabout etc you can often hear the compressor kick in to raise it again.  I've never bothered with the height button, or the sport one for that matter.

[SlowV6]

Thank you @The-Acre Useful to know. I conclude it must have been working fine.

[ambermarine]

11 minutes ago, Greer said:

I guess thats what used to be called 'snow' mode in some LS's

Alan

Snow mode was an application that set the gearbox in a fixed low gear this was to stop the wheels spinning it was not much use as the car tended to slide around with no steering control and the abs would interfere with the stopping effect of the brakes the abs could not be turned off on the early models that came in later with vsc.

[The-Acre]

15 minutes ago, Greer said:

Where or what is VSC? I have a 99 400

Vehicle stability control. I can't remember my LS400 but on the 430 you can disable it.  It helps to stop the rear wheels spinning and can prevent skids and loosing control.

[RgrWynne]

21 minutes ago, The-Acre said:

Vehicle stability control. I can't remember my LS400 but on the 430 you can disable it.  It helps to stop the rear wheels spinning and can prevent skids and loosing control.

Was introduced on the LS  430. I went to a Lexus day promotion back in 2002 where Lexus employed professional drivers to race around Millbrook in LS’s demonstrating how the car handled with vsc switched on and off.

I was in the front seat at 100mph when the driver next to me took his hands off the steering wheel and put them behind his head, on the Millbrook racetrack... scary .

i do remember wondering , with the car being driven so hard how the tyres managed to stay on the rims.

Wonderful days then how Lexus treated it’s customers 🤗👍

Roger

 

[ambermarine]

18 minutes ago, RgrWynne said:

Was introduced on the LS  430. I went to a Lexus day promotion back in 2002 where Lexus employed professional drivers to race around Millbrook in LS’s demonstrating how the car handled with vsc switched on and off.

I was in the front seat at 100mph when the driver next to me took his hands off the steering wheel and put them behind his head, on the Millbrook racetrack... scary .

i do remember wondering , with the car being driven so hard how the tyres managed to stay on the rims.

Wonderful days then how Lexus treated it’s customers 🤗👍

Roger

 

Hi Roger 

I need to correct you the VSC system was introduced on the LS400 mark 4 and can be turned on and off.

[RgrWynne]

2 minutes ago, ambermarine said:

Hi Roger 

I need to correct you the VSC system was introduced on the LS400 mark 4 and can be turned on and off.

Ok, sorry about that, they made a big thing about it at the time, so we all thought it was new then to Lexus. Thanks for pointing it out 😜

[Cotswold Pete]

4 hours ago, ambermarine said:

 the VSC system was introduced on the LS400 mark 4 and can be turned on and off.

And ruddy handy it is when it snows like it did last week.  A bit hairy when applying 300 horses in the raw.

[SlowV6]

Here is another LS430 that has caught my eye. It is an early one (Feb 2001) but has 100% Lexus dealer history according to the ad. Although I confess I would rather have a facelift model, which I think look better, this one looks rather magnificent in Black Cherry pearl. Possibly less sheddy than the '04 I looked at last weekend. Funnily enough almost exactly same miles at 227K.

The DVLA MOT history from the most recent suggests some suspension refreshing may be imminent:

Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):

- Offside Front Lower Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement rearmost (5.3.4 (a) (i))

- Nearside Front Lower Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement rearmost (5.3.4 (a) (i))

- Nearside Rear Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement foremost arm- inner bush (5.3.4 (a) (i))

- Nearside Rear tyre- wearing inner edge

- Offside Play in steering rack inner joint(s) ()

The last item worries me. Should it? Should any of them!

Thanks.

[The-Acre]

29 minutes ago, SlowV6 said:

Here is another LS430 that has caught my eye. It is an early one (Feb 2001) but has 100% Lexus dealer history according to the ad. Although I confess I would rather have a facelift model, which I think look better, this one looks rather magnificent in Black Cherry pearl. Possibly less sheddy than the '04 I looked at last weekend. Funnily enough almost exactly same miles at 227K.

The DVLA MOT history from the most recent suggests some suspension refreshing may be imminent:

Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):

- Offside Front Lower Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement rearmost (5.3.4 (a) (i))

- Nearside Front Lower Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement rearmost (5.3.4 (a) (i))

- Nearside Rear Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement foremost arm- inner bush (5.3.4 (a) (i))

- Nearside Rear tyre- wearing inner edge

- Offside Play in steering rack inner joint(s) ()

The last item worries me. Should it? Should any of them!

Thanks.

I looked at that one, same colour as my last one, it looks superb when it has a good buffing!  Probably one of the very best colours.

[SlowV6]

Did you view it in the flesh? Or do you mean you spotted it as well?

Did you go from pre to post Facelift and is it worth it for the extra cog in the gearbox?

[The-Acre]

41 minutes ago, SlowV6 said:

Did you view it in the flesh? Or do you mean you spotted it as well?

Did you go from pre to post Facelift and is it worth it for the extra cog in the gearbox?

Sorry, I meant I saw it on eBay!  I've had two pre facelift LS430's, my last one being the dark red one which I should have kept really. Personally I can't tell any difference just from driving, maybe it slightly improves fuel consumption having another gear but it's negligible. The facelift has a sharper looking front but essentially it's the same car.  My last one had complete main dealer history which I guess is why it was so sound in all areas.

[SlowV6]

Thanks @The-Acre

For the MOT advisories, I have had similar "lower suspension arm..." advisories appear on our (rock hard!) E91 330D, which have been fixed with new bushes. Are ageing LS430's tackled in the same way or are you forced into buying expensive arm assemblies?

Could the steering rack advisory mean worn track rods as opposed to "new steering rack" required next MOT sir? Don't mind £x00s but would ideally like to avoid £000s at next MOT!

Any input from the wise?

Thanks

[The-Acre]

I've seen this suspension advisory on various LS430's, I even had it on my first one but never had anything done about it.  On lots of cars the steering rack inner joint is replaceable but I don't know about the LS, hopefully someone will enlighten you.  If you get a chance to test drive it make sure it doesn't pull badly to the left, I'm not sure what causes it but it's not too uncommon.  And I believe you can buy just the lower bush.