LS400 what Catastrophic unknowing failures

[Malc]

hi everyone

 

just seeing rungrates... terrible failure 

It occurs to me that a simple list of possible failures like this could be made aware to us

His failure was rear Strut BARS .........  not just the bushes and these aren't pulled up as MOT Advisories seemingly

Mine has been the ALTERNATOR just going pop and

the PAS COOLER PIPE in front of the radiator  ....  and the mild steel gubbins above too

 

Anyone aware of any other likely miscreants ?

I always act upon the MOT Advisories

Malc

 

 

[royoftherovers]

Great idea Malc. Why don`t all of you LS owners compile a list of potential items and ask the Mods to create a "sticky?"

[Razor61]

I don't know of any potential items being a relatively new LS400 owner but in view of what happened to 'runsgrateasanut' I would say that LS400's are getting/have got to the age/state where rust/corrosion, metal fatigue or a combination of both on suspension components (and chassis or anything else applicable) needs to be checked and sorted out as much as possible on a regular basis. Just my opinion of course and not easy to detect but lots of rust on something isn't normally a good sign.

[Tinonline]

I've heard of the alternator popping under contamination from steering pump failure.

Some components become consumables after age and mileage have consigned them to pass their life: most suspension bushes would be in this category.

MOT should identify visible wear but a surprise failure could be a dodgy, sub standard part... 

Would be interesting to ID early vs later models.

 

[Howplum]

Excellent idea Malc.

I found the rustiest part of the rear brake pipes was underneath the retaining clips and above the splash shield by the rear offside door, none of which were immediately obvious without some dismantling, so could be missed at MoT time.

 

 

[The-Acre]

The earlier LS400, ie, the MK1 & 2, not sure about the MK3 had only two coil packs, one for each bank, the most likely one failing is the passenger side due to the heat.  A failed coil pack knocks out four cylinders and causes serious overheating in the exhaust system.  This is something I discovered with my MK2, the only time it let me down in five years! The good news, only two coil packs and only £25 each (at the time)

[runsgrateasanut]

On 8/11/2020 at 7:16 PM, The-Acre said:

The earlier LS400, ie, the MK1 & 2, not sure about the MK3 had only two coil packs, one for each bank, the most likely one failing is the passenger side due to the heat.  A failed coil pack knocks out four cylinders and causes serious overheating in the exhaust system.  This is something I discovered with my MK2, the only time it let me down in five years! The good news, only two coil packs and only £25 each (at the time)

The bad news is the passenger side is almost an impossible place to get to undo the bolts.  I only replaced the drivers side last yea for that reason.

[Tinonline]

Later MK4 last run of the LS400 has the coil on plug. So on each spark plug there is an ignition coil.

These are straight forward to get at and replace. They seem to be reliable and I don't see many complaints...I believe manufactured by Denso.

Guess what...Denso also make coils for Jags...and...yes they fail very regularly so I suppose the quality is completely different looking at years circa 2000 - 2003. 

[The-Acre]

1 hour ago, runsgrateasanut said:

The bad news is the passenger side is almost an impossible place to get to undo the bolts.  I only replaced the drivers side last yea for that reason.

Yep, that's the one I had to replace, a real knuckle scraper!

[Malc]

well that's upped the possible failures list without warning  .................... any more likely guys  ??

I'll leave it a few days and await anymore issues, then I'll compose it into a proper schedule

Thanks one and all

Malc

 

 

[The-Acre]

6 hours ago, Malc said:

well that's upped the possible failures list without warning  .................... any more likely guys  ??

I'll leave it a few days and await anymore issues, then I'll compose it into a proper schedule

Thanks one and all

Malc

 

 

My other catastrophic failure, which was on my part, was selling my last MK4 when there was nothing wrong with it!  I guess it depends on whether we're talking about common failures like steering column, y piece, tweeter leak etc or real breakdown issues, although the latter will receive sparse comments!

[ambermarine]

The bottom cat flanges rot away over time but a preventative application of thermo aluminum paint every two years protects against the corrosion ,just redone mine.

The mark 4 had a ignition switch problem caused by over zealous greasing of contact points which resulted in total blanking of instrument binnacle,easily rectified but a pain to access.

[Malc]

On 8/11/2020 at 2:10 PM, Tinonline said:

Some components become consumables after age and mileage have consigned them to pass their life:

this is why my alternator went pop unexpectedly at 227,482 miles this January past 

Malc

[Malc]

On 8/11/2020 at 5:39 PM, Howplum said:

the rear brake pipes was underneath the retaining clips and above the splash shield by the rear offside door, none of which were immediately obvious without some dismantling, so could be missed at MoT time.

I'll put this on the schedule too

[Malc]

OK guys

any more or is this the exhausted list for me to compile summat ?

Thanks

Malc

[Malc]

anymore for anymore  ???

I'll try to deal with this over the weekend guys

Malc

[Razor61]

Radiator? The transmission cooler part failing and potentially knackering the auto transmission. I was under the impression this was more applicable to the LS430 but I believe this can affect the LS400 as well.

[Malc]

On 8/28/2020 at 7:15 PM, Razor61 said:

this can affect the LS400 as well.

I'm on 231k miles and never had this issue and really had not expected it other than on the Ls430 and 460

AND I've never read anything on this forum about the Ls400 radiator / gearbox oil contamination

Has anybody else ??

Malc

[ambermarine]

Malc

I was going to post this but left it to your superior knowledge ,no It is not a reported catastrophe on this forum as long as I have been on it.

[The-Acre]

There we are then, a list so small it hardly deserves a mention, I bet you wouldn't see that on a German car forum!

[Tinonline]

On 8/31/2020 at 3:18 PM, Malc said:

I'm on 231k miles and never had this issue and really had not expected it other than on the Ls430 and 460

AND I've never read anything on this forum about the Ls400 radiator / gearbox oil contamination

Has anybody else ??

Malc

Hi Malc

Only seen it in connection with the 430's. 

I don't think it's a problem with the SC430? 

Simon

 

[Malc]

Thank you gentlemen, I'll pull this together and find out how best to portray it on here from someone with some Admin knowledge I guess

Any offers ?

Malc

[Malc]

John, what's this " sticky " you spoke about  ?

Thanks

Malc

[royoftherovers]

49 minutes ago, Malc said:

John, what's this " sticky " you spoke about  ?

Thanks

Malc

Hi Malc,

I see that considerable progress has been made by your good self and congratulations are in order.

My idea was to have, say, the subject of "LS 400...catastrophic etc " fixed (stuck) at the front of the LS Forum so that all future enquirers could have the opportunity to trawl through it to see if their particular question or problem has already been addressed and documented.

The Title would remain there but be updated to the extent that it needed to be.Very much as happens now with the current first item being

 

Engine & Transmission

Hope that is clear.If it is then you need to ask the Mods to make it happen.

I hope that you have considerably more success than I have had over the years in trying to get each contribution to a thread, numbered sequentially !

[Malc]

Thank you John, I'll try to progress it all that way

Malc