1996 LS400 Project. Let the fun begin.....!

[Howplum]

It looks as though I spoke to soon about the parking brake being OK. Although I, a mere human, cannot turn the rear hubs with the parking brake on, a 4 litre V8 seems to have no problem at all!

Looking at the MoT history, this has been mentioned for several years, either as an advisory or a reason for failure.

Because the parking brake does respond to the pedal, I am assuming the cables are not seized, but an investigation and lubrication would not go amiss. Knowing me I will probably end up doing some dismantling as well.

Other than that, It is "just" a question of adjustment, and I have found some very useful information on a topic raised in 2012, which should help enormously. I include my notes on what I found out.

LEXUS PARKING BRAKE ADJUSTMENT.odt

 

[39buss]

Check your hand brake cables aren't seized in the fitting which fastens to the back plate. The fracture can be hard to see as the rubber cover can hide the break 

[ambermarine]

On my Mark 1 the cable seized within the outer cable at tne exits around the horse shoe junction it also seized at the entrance to the back plates,

I had to strip most of it out to free it up as that was preferable to fitting a new one but it took a full day if I remember correctly .

The adjustment tutorial you have is spot on and saves a lot of faffing about.

[Howplum]

Thank you both, but for the time being I shall distract myself with small jobs that don't involve lying down! It's obviously a nettle I need to grasp before the MoT though.

[MotorDevil]

Great updates, keep them coming, always nice to see a car being freshened up and great pictures to show the work and give other a good guide too. 

[runsgrateasanut]

Once sorted the most important thing is to use the Handbrake every trip.  The brake shoes are very thin by design and I bought a new set must be five years ago but decided against putting them on as they would not have had the "grip" the existing ones have. They are not something that gets wear as rarely are left on by mistake as I think there is a buzzer warning?.  So, they don't "bed in".

Not had a fail with MOT or an advisory.

[Howplum]

I agree @runsgrateasanut. My friend, who had the car for 20 years, admitted he never used the parking brake. Nevertheless, he had the shoes replaced in 2011 and almost every other year after that there is a bill for adjusting the parking brake, usually after the MoT. My friend obviously didn't appreciate cause and effect.

Today I have been been doing some minor jobs that do not involve lying under the car, which makes a change!

The first thing I looked at was the electric aerial, which was not extending fully - a common problem. I already had a replacement mast to hand, so thought it might be a fairly easy job, having done it before on other cars. Wrong! The retaining nut/sleeve/ferrule was stuck onto the tube casing with corrosion, so unfortunately got damaged by the locking pliers when removing it. 

The next problem was getting the aerial through the wing because I could not remove the mast through the ferrule. In the end, and since I had new mast anyway, I cut the end of the mast off. Drastic, but effective. I now need a new ferrule, which hopefully Lexus Swindon can supply. If not, I either source a used aerial or use an aftermarket one.

I then thought I would check the lights, and noticed one of the front sidelights was not working.  After some dismantling I could see why - corrosion:

Luckily I was able to remove the bulbs and clean everything up with a needle file. Unfortunately the top fixing bracket for the nearside light broke, so I will need to source a replacement, or make an ingenious repair.

When I got the car the sunroof would only retract a little way and the inner panel would not move at all. In fact, what was stopping it was that the inner panel was held by rust to the inner frame, due no doubt to the damp inside. That was easy enough to separate though.

Next, I wanted to have a look at the sunroof switch panel because it would retract OK with one touch of the switch, but would not close again by pushing, and holding, the switch in a forward position.  That caused a monent of panic, but I discovered that by pressing the rear part of the tilt switch the sunroof would close. I hoped a bit of contact cleaner might help, since the sunroof probably hadn't been used for over 20 years.

Removing the switch panel is fairly simple. First, remove the plastic lens:

Then inside there are 3 screws:

Once the screws are removed there is a small spring clip on the rear edge which holds it in position - useful when you're working overhead:

Then unclip the two connectors:

There is evidence of rust, so I thought maybe this had affected the sunroof switch, so I decided the take the switch apart. This is the underneath of the PCB and the grey rubber button are the switches:

And this is how they work:

Nothing is obviously amiss, but I used contact cleaner anyway.

After reassembling everything I reinstalled the switch and, guess what, no difference! I guess I will just have to live with it.

Now that the interior is slowly drying out, and whilst I await delivery of various service items, I will give it a good clean. It's not relevant to the MoT or future reliability, but I dislike having a dirty car!

 

[runsgrateasanut]

Daresay you know the Sunroof doesn't close completely when you press the button to return. It gets so far and then you have to press it a second time. This is  a child protection design, I believe?

[Howplum]

Yes, I read about that in the Owner's Manual. I can only assume the problem is with a control unit, if there is one. At least I can now open, close and tilt the sunroof, so that will suffice for now.

[Howplum]

Today I did a bit of investigation on the sunroof, and there is a relay tucked inside the front headliner, to the left of the motor, thus:

There is evidence of water ingress so I suspect the relay, or its connector, has suffered, because when I wiggled it the sunroof behaved even more erratically. Unfortunately Lexus didn't leave enough cable length to enable the relay to be withdrawn without dropping the front headliner, which I imagine that will take a while, so I'll leave it for another day. In the meantime, i have bought a used relay for £15 from eBay, which is better than a new one at £235 on Amayama's website! It's only a relay, for goodness sake.

The other little issue I noticed was the mini sun visor above the interior mirror, which wouldn't stay up. When I took it out I could see why - a plastic rivet that holds the tension on the spring plate had broken.

My solution was to drill a hole and use a self tapper and clip to reinstate tension.

The screw head cannot be seen from the front seats, although I may paint it grey at some point.

 

[steve2006]

I had a verbal advisory a couple of MOTs ago as it was just efficient enough. I removed the discs/drums, roughened up the friction material, cleaned the drum contact surface, greased all the contact points and then refitted and adjusted the shoes as per standard procedure ( turn the adjuster to just lock up the drum then back off a couple of clicks until the drum turns again). You could immediately tell the difference in that the pedal travel was halved for full application.

[Mikaelse]

On 3/22/2020 at 8:49 AM, Razor61 said:

Good luck with all the work and you deserve some applause for doing it 👏

I replaced the front discs and pads with genuine Lexus stuff and didn’t think the price was too bad to be honest, I priced them up with Lexus Parts Direct first and then called local Lexus dealership with the price and they matched it. Local dealership weren’t exactly pleased about it but any way you can save a bit helps. Approx £180 for front discs and pads, £210 ish for rear discs and pads iirc.

I use brand name brake stuff bought from third party supplier that compete hard.
brembo or BOSCH  or the like.  Prices are about 1/2 or less.  5 years now on those. Works perfectly.  Why overpay?  The markup on oem stuff is huge.  Why pay that if you do not have too ?

 

[Howplum]

The discs I bought were Pagid, which I have used for years, for the front. On the rear I used Blueprint, which I get the impression is a good aftermarket make. Time will tell regarding longevity, but I will only be doing a modest annual mileage.

[cruisermark]

I have pagid front discs with Ferrodo pads on my 430 - had them abut 3 years and the hats are just showing signs of rust now - braking is smooth and quite

Blue Print also have very reviews

[Howplum]

For the last couple of days I have been cleaning the interior and door shuts, so it now looks a bit more respectable, although the driver's footwell could do with more work. Still, it's a lot better than it was.

I noticed that the right rear seat was quite badly water damaged, and no amount of cleaning seemed to eradicate it entirely. However, I shall be restoring all the leather at some point, because there is also quite a bit of fading, especially on the rear seat.

I thought I had better investigate, so removed the rear seat base, to find this:

And this is the seat itself:

The marks are difficult to see, but the leather in one area has gone hard, from being wet presumably. Bearing in mind the carpet in the rear footwell was damp when I bought the car, it looks as though someone might have left a window open at some stage. Hopefully nothing more sinister, but something to keep an eye on.

Having finished the interior, at least for the time being, I started checking the electrics and found that the brake light switch occasionally stays on, so that will have to be investigated. Also, both the foglights don't work, so I am hoping it's just a fuse.

At the moment I am crossing one job off the "to do" list and adding two more, but that's the way it goes with projects.

Tomorrow I am planning to tackle the parking brake, so we'll see how that goes.

 

[cruisermark]

That looks amazing - grey leather is easy to keep clean

[ambermarine]

1 hour ago, Howplum said:

For the last couple of days I have been cleaning the interior and door shuts, so it now looks a bit more respectable, although the driver's footwell could do with more work. Still, it's a lot better than it was.

I noticed that the right rear seat was quite badly water damaged, and no amount of cleaning seemed to eradicate it entirely. However, I shall be restoring all the leather at some point, because there is also quite a bit of fading, especially on the rear seat.

I thought I had better investigate, so removed the rear seat base, to find this:

And this is the seat itself:

The marks are difficult to see, but the leather in one area has gone hard, from being wet presumably. Bearing in mind the carpet in the rear footwell was damp when I bought the car, it looks as though someone might have left a window open at some stage. Hopefully nothing more sinister, but something to keep an eye on.

Having finished the interior, at least for the time being, I started checking the electrics and found that the brake light switch occasionally stays on, so that will have to be investigated. Also, both the foglights don't work, so I am hoping it's just a fuse.

At the moment I am crossing one job off the "to do" list and adding two more, but that's the way it goes with projects.

Tomorrow I am planning to tackle the parking brake, so we'll see how that goes.

 

Howard

If you have not already you need to remove that soundproofing below the rear seat and reveal the metal below that is part of the floor pan and the rust needs to be eradicated and repainted.

[Howplum]

Thanks Phil, but the floor is fine. The staining is from the seat frame, so it looks worse than it really is. Luckily the seat frame is still structurally sound.

[Howplum]

I had a look at the parking brake mechanism today and luckily nothing was seized or broken, so it was just a case of lubricating everything and adjusting to give the best performance. At least it now holds the car when iD or R are engaged and the engine is idling, albeit on level ground. I'll have to wait and see what the MoT tester thinks.

In case anyone needs to know, the toothed adjuster wheel for the left side parking brake should be moved upwards to tighten and downwards to slacken. The right side works the opposite way.

Unfortunately in the process I managed to shear two of the three bolts holding the triangular plate that goes between the silencers, so that's another job for another day.

I did have a quick look to try and find the suspect brake light switch, which, using a torch and mirror, looks as though it might have been affected by historic water ingress. May be it just needs cleaning up, but access seems to be the issue. I assume that the lower dashboard has to be removed to make the job even possible. Has anyone done this job? Any tips on how to dismantle the lower dashboard without breaking anything?

 

[Malc]

10 hours ago, Howplum said:

suspect brake light switch

if you're referring to the lamp showing on the dash it could well just be a dodgy stop bulb at the rear .....  happened to me twice now over 20 years

Malc

[Howplum]

Unfortunately not. I have noticed that sometimes the brake lights at the rear stay on after the pedal has been released, so I'm convinced it's the switch. I have ordered a new one.

[ambermarine]

With regard to removing the bottom dash panel it is a series of screws within the panel mainly at the corners and the parking brake release handle as to be unscrewed  as it forms part of the fastening .

I can remember this when I replaced the ignition switch which also requires dropping this panel.

You will also need to lie upside down  to see what you are doing it as been suggested that removing the drivers seat makes this job a lot easier .

[Howplum]

2 hours ago, ambermarine said:

You will also need to lie upside down  to see what you are doing it as been suggested that removing the drivers seat makes this job a lot easier .

Sounds like a lot of fun! I wonder if my 5 year old grandson can squeeze behind the dashboard?

[ambermarine]

 

3 hours ago, ambermarine said:

With regard to removing the bottom dash panel it is a series of screws within the panel mainly at the corners and the parking brake release handle as to be unscrewed  as it forms part of the fastening .

I can remember this when I replaced the ignition switch which also requires dropping this panel.

You will also need to lie upside down  to see what you are doing it as been suggested that removing the drivers seat makes this job a lot easier .

Just need to make a correction to this mo the parking brake release is actually fastened to the top section of the dash board ,it is the bonnet release that I think is fastened to the lower part ,it also helps access the foot pedal area if you remove the steering wheel column shroud around the stalks it is only four screws and takes a few seconds.

[Howplum]

Yesterday I decided to bite the bullet and replace the brake light switch, which, I have to say, was not as bad as I was expecting, and certainly didn't involve lying upside down or removing the front seat. However, I think being left-handed was a distinct advantage!

I will write up a "How to" guide, with pictures, and put it under the appropriate heading, especially how to remove the lower dashboard panels.

Thanks to the helpful tips from @ambermarine I first removed the steering wheel shroud, which is just three screws.

After that the top and bottom halves can be separated. They are just clipped together and they came apart quite easily, although the bottom half has to be manouvred over the column adjustment button.

The next step was to remove the black lower panel which contains the footwell light and diagnostic socket, and is held in place by two screws, one at either end, two clips along the top edge and a small slot and bracket at the back.

Next I disconnected the electrics and removed the panel.

The next step was to remove the grey panel above the one just removed. There are a couple of 10mm bolts holding the bottom edge and two more 10mm bolts plus a screw holding the top edge. One of the top bolts is in the parking brake release handle recess, but is accessible enough. The second bolt is behind the ignition switch surround, which just clips in, and the screw was found behind the coin tray.

After that I had to disconnect the electrical connections for the boot and fuel release switches and the connections on the left for the temperature sensor. Finally, the bonnet release handle had to be detached by removing the two screws (a mirror was useful here).

Next, the air distribution tube had to be removed, which was easy enough, since it just a push fit.

Finally, a couple of cables had to moved out of the way to make access easier.

I could now see the brake light switch, which looked as though it had been affected by water.

At this point being left-handed definitely became an advantage! Removal was effected by slackening the locknut slightly so that I could rotate it enough to unclip the connecter, then I just unscrewed it completely from the mounting.

Here it is against the replacement:

I was a bit concerned that the new switch was longer, but it transpired there is enough room - just.

There is surface rust aplenty under the dashboard, but I can find no evidence of where the water might have entered, so I am hoping it was a combination of lots of rain, lack of use and being parked on a slope that caused the issue. It has not rained since I bought the car, but it will be under cover in the winter anyway. Certainly something to be aware of though.

It is a bit fiddly adjusting the new switch, which is where an assistant helps, although an alternative is to open the boot and prop a board up so that the rear window brake light reflects off it.

Reassembly, as they say, is a reversal of the above procedure.  In all it took me a couple of hours or so, which wasn't too bad.