Beyond economical repair?

[BodgerBen]

Hi Mike,

Good luck with getting your car mot’d and back to good health, you’re a braver man than me. But I would stick with an LS400, just one that needs less work, but we do get attached to cars, my Scimitar was my mums, she bought it when it was a year old, and it has power steering, and a little bit more go with the 1UZFE engine. I hope to keep it until I can no longer drive. 
I now have a superb LS400 that I hope to get many years of enjoyment from, so can only commend you on your decision.

Any excuse for a piccy of my lovely LS, good luck with yours

 

 

 

[Wherryman Sam]

10 minutes ago, BodgerBen said:

Hi Mike,

Good luck with getting your car mot’d and back to good health, you’re a braver man than me. But I would stick with an LS400, just one that needs less work, but we do get attached to cars, my Scimitar was my mums, she bought it when it was a year old, and it has power steering, and a little bit more go with the 1UZFE engine. I hope to keep it until I can no longer drive. 
I now have a superb LS400 that I hope to get many years of enjoyment from, so can only commend you on your decision.

Any excuse for a piccy of my lovely LS, good luck with yours

 

 

 

Thanks Ben - she's a lovely looking girl. That is a superb colour for these beasts.

[ROYT]

Get a few more quotes for the corrosion, any recommendations for a welder, etc. This is worst bit.

 Get a price for the split gaiter replacement. All the rest are not serious, replacement rubbers for ball joints are available 

[Malc1]

Mike hi again ……. How’s your thoughts going now ? 

Malc 

[Wherryman Sam]

Hi again Malc and all you other LS enthusiasts who gave me such brilliant advice on this thread.

Good news - The Duchess has been fixed, passed her MOT and is parked outside on my drive!

She was repatriated back onto English soil in April. We stole across the Welsh border on a dark, moonless night (not really, it was a damp & dreary Saturday afternoon) 😂 and sixteen hundred quid later, she’s good to go.

Next up is a visit to Wheel Gods in Bolton for the alloys tidying up, and we are back in business. My guy Dan actually found, made up and fitted a new original set of number plates without me even asking and I have to say they make a huge difference to the appearance.

I collected her and brought her home on Friday, and as always, she put a HUGE smile on my face! She’ll be taxed and insured within the next two weeks and back in daily use. I can hardly wait!

Once again my sincere thanks for all the advice and offers to help you guys gave me. You are a wonderful bunch of gentlemen.

Warmest regards,

Mike.

[Malc1]

Good to hear of the Salvation and Well Done 👏…..  

can you breakdown the £1600 spent for us/me ? 

It’s good to understand how these ladies costs arise 

thanks. Malc 

[Tomtit]

3 hours ago, Wherryman Sam said:

Hi again Malc and all you other LS enthusiasts who gave me such brilliant advice on this thread.

Good news - The Duchess has been fixed, passed her MOT and is parked outside on my drive!

She was repatriated back onto English soil in April. We stole across the Welsh border on a dark, moonless night (not really, it was a damp & dreary Saturday afternoon) 😂 and sixteen hundred quid later, she’s good to go.

Next up is a visit to Wheel Gods in Bolton for the alloys tidying up, and we are back in business. My guy Dan actually found, made up and fitted a new original set of number plates without me even asking and I have to say they make a huge difference to the appearance.

I collected her and brought her home on Friday, and as always, she put a HUGE smile on my face! She’ll be taxed and insured within the next two weeks and back in daily use. I can hardly wait!

Once again my sincere thanks for all the advice and offers to help you guys gave me. You are a wonderful bunch of gentlemen.

Warmest regards,

Mike.

That's great news. I am pleased for you. You will enjoy yourself when you get back behind the wheel regularly.

[Tomtit]

On 3/5/2024 at 6:02 PM, BodgerBen said:

Hi Mike,

Good luck with getting your car mot’d and back to good health, you’re a braver man than me. But I would stick with an LS400, just one that needs less work, but we do get attached to cars, my Scimitar was my mums, she bought it when it was a year old, and it has power steering, and a little bit more go with the 1UZFE engine. I hope to keep it until I can no longer drive. 
I now have a superb LS400 that I hope to get many years of enjoyment from, so can only commend you on your decision.

Any excuse for a piccy of my lovely LS, good luck with yours

 

 

 

That is a classy colour.

[Wherryman Sam]

19 hours ago, Malc1 said:

Good to hear of the Salvation and Well Done 👏…..  

can you breakdown the £1600 spent for us/me ? 

It’s good to understand how these ladies costs arise 

thanks. Malc 

Hi Malc

I had a feeling you'd ask that 😉 and it's a good idea to keep abreast of current costs as these dear old ladies age. Here you go:

• Specials / Steam clean the underside - 40.00
• MOT - 49.00
• Varta Blue Battery - 101.90
• Rear brake pads - 36.85
• Nearside Rear shock absorber - 98.82
• Nearside Rear CV Boot - 22.89
• OSF Top Upper Suspension arm - 115.00
• NSF Suspension arm - 220.00
• Rear Coil Spring - 58.48
• Links - 56.26
• Labour 6h standard rate @ £90.00 = 540
• Sub total - 1395.46
• VAT - 269.29
• Invoice Total £1664.75

No mention of welding the subframe, but that's either been covered under specials / MOT or once they steamed 30 years of crud off, it wasn't as bad as first thought.

17 hours ago, Tomtit said:

That's great news. I am pleased for you. You will enjoy yourself when you get back behind the wheel regularly.

Hi Tom and thanks. Driving home from the garage was sublime. I can't wait to get back behind the wheel. 😎

[Malc1]

All seems great value for money and should see you thru many more glorious Ls400 years 

The rust has just vanished with the clean-up underside and the gaiter just £25’ish and 10 mins labour 👍

one thing, I’d have not had the Varta Battery ……. hope your experience with this is much better than mine on my Honda 

it won’t take not being regularly used so take care   This brand  fail very very easily and don’t sensibly recharge  …… if it’s not too late to change it, get a Yuasa battery 

BUT whatever ……,

All good to go and you’re sure to get many more great motoring miles and years from her 

Well done 

Malc 

[Tomtit]

6 hours ago, Malc1 said:

All seems great value for money and should see you thru many more glorious Ls400 years 

The rust has just vanished with the clean-up underside and the gaiter just £25’ish and 10 mins labour 👍

one thing, I’d have not had the Varta battery ……. hope your experience with this is much better than mine on my Honda 

it won’t take not being regularly used so take care   This brand  fail very very easily and don’t sensibly recharge  …… if it’s not too late to change it, get a Yuasa battery 

BUT whatever ……,

All good to go and you’re sure to get many more great motoring miles and years from her 

Well done 

Malc 

+1 for Yuasa batteries.

[Wherryman Sam]

Thanks guys for the info. I have no experience of Yuasa batteries, apart from in security alarms so I'll spec one next time. I was a little dismayed to discover they'd fitted a Varta - I've always gone for Bosch on German cars in the past.

I had a chat with Wheel Gods in Bolton yesterday. They do some amazing things with trashed alloys and if that sort of thing interests you, you should check out their website. Long story short, two of my wheels are showing signs of corrosion in places around the rim, and all four are looking tatty. He told me they can't remove the corrosion entirely, but they can mitigate it and suggested that the best colour to spray them so they look pretty much new is Anthracite. I think that would look reasonable against the Jewish Racing Beige body colour, so that is a possibility. 

They'd need the car for three days (or I get the wheels to them) and I was quoted £75 per corner plus £20 per centre cap plus VAT, which doesn't sound unreasonable and keeps the old girl period specific.

[Malc1]

Mike   Your wheels    Not seen a piccy of them yet but if they’re standard 94 Ls400 wheels then I’ll tell you my story ……… a couple of years ago I had mine professionally sorted out at £260 ……. + vat if payable ….. I paid £260 in folding ££££s 

They had the car for the day and overnight ….. removed the wheels ( and tyres of course ) and dipped them whatever to remove rust, paint and all and then painted and cured 

I decided not to do the plastic centre caps coz mine are solid colour thru’ …… as yours probably are too …….. and asked them simply to best match the wheel paint colour to the centre caps …….. all done fine 

No Guarantee but likely lifespan 15 years but told me I’d zap and bugger ‘em long before that 😂

Just my story of recentish local professional wheel refurb 

Good luck 

Malc 

[Malc1]

6 hours ago, Malc1 said:

Mike   Your wheels    Not seen a piccy of them yet but if they’re standard 94 Ls400 wheels then I’ll tell you my story ……… a couple of years ago I had mine professionally sorted out at £260 ……. + vat if payable ….. I paid £260 in folding ££££s 

They had the car for the day and overnight ….. removed the wheels ( and tyres of course ) and dipped them whatever to remove rust, paint and all and then painted and cured 

I decided not to do the plastic centre caps coz mine are solid colour thru’ …… as yours probably are too …….. and asked them simply to best match the wheel paint colour to the centre caps …….. all done fine 

No Guarantee but likely lifespan 15 years but told me I’d zap and bugger ‘em long before that 😂

Just my story of recentish local professional wheel refurb 

Good luck 

Malc 

Powder Coating it’s called 🤔

Malc 

[BigBoomer]

The Varta Battery will be fine, but you need to either drive the car semi-regularly (at least one 20+mile drive per week) or else connect the Battery to a Battery maintainer.
Short local drives count for nothing and are in fact a net drain on the Battery as the starts use more power than the Alternator puts back into the Battery.

In the car I connected wires to my Battery that end in a connector in front of the radiators but behind the grille.
If the car is going to be stood for some time, then I lift the bonnet, plug her in, and close the bonnet (there is plenty of space between the bonnet and car for the wire).
The charger is inside my garage and I just extended the red and black wires on the charger cables to reach where my car is parked.

If you can't run wires to where the car is parked, you can get solar panels that you can put on the parcel shelf that when wired in will provide enough power to keep the Battery charged.

 

[Wherryman Sam]

Malc - thanks for that, powder coating is what these guys do but you got a bargain there. Here are the wheels as they are right now without a clean:-

So today's Malc lesson to me is  -  shop around! 

George - thanks for that. The 20 mile trip is certainly doable and kind of confirms what an AA Patrolman told me about six years ago when I had a Mercedes doing similar short trips and low mileage. I'd already had a new Battery fitted and it failed two years into the 5 year warranty.

Number one - there is a minimum mileage requirement to the warranty which I'd nowhere near hit. Ergo, no warranty. But but but I'd said to him, I was doing 75 - 80 mph for 20 miles on the motorway in third gear every few weeks just to bang a charge into the Battery, and yet it STILL failed!

He told me that "modern" cars - and the Merc was only 11 years younger than my Lexus - don't work like that and haven't since they fitted alternators instead of dynamos. He said if you insist on doing short runs, just make sure that every week you go out to it, start the engine and let it run for half an hour. That won't sort your warranty issue, but at least it will maintain your Battery in good condition.

So, I'll keep doing that, but I'll also try to use her more on longer runs. My wife moves job at the end of July, and perhaps you'll understand why I've not been using The Duchess more when I tell you that in her current job, she has a fully expensed company car. That means she doesn't pay for fuel. So it's always been a no-brainer to use hers on longer journeys.

The job she's moving to next month doesn't offer that benefit, so the whole thing becomes moot.

Regards,

 

Mike.

[Malc1]

My wheels looked a tad better than yours and now washup well and sparkly …….. and on 250,009 miles just now 

👍     Just 3x yours eh ! 

Malc 

[Razor61]

On 6/9/2024 at 5:52 PM, Wherryman Sam said:

Next up is a visit to Wheel Gods in Bolton for the alloys

Glad you mentioned Wheel Gods in Bolton, didn't know they existed.
I have always sent alloys to Lepsons in Gillingham and means packaging and shipping.
I'll give Wheel Gods a go, I work in Bolton, I have a spare set of alloys the same as yours that really do need sorting out so will take them in.
Not sure they can be salvaged though.

I have no plans for the spare set I have, got them when I had a 95 LS400, so if you want/need/would like them, then ping me a message.

[Wherryman Sam]

Malc - yes 3x but I don't see mine catching yours anytime soon!😀

Paul - glad I could help. They came recommended by my guy and Scott is the bloke to talk to there, apparently. It's a bugger to get to though - you have to queue behind a bunch of numpties turning right into the household waste recycling centre, and you can't undertake or go on the wrong side of the road to pass because of parked commercial vehicles on both sides of the road.

Thanks very much for the offer of your spare set, but I don't have anywhere to store them. I'm sure there'll be someone out there in dire need of them. 

There's a couple more in Bolton who offer wheel refurbs - one on Tonge Moor Road and one in Kearsley. Google (or your search engine of choice 😉) is your friend...

[Razor61]

1 hour ago, Wherryman Sam said:

It's a bugger to get to though

Yep, I know. I worked on Raikes Lane Ind Estate for many years in the past for Mastercare. 
Regarding the spare set of wheels I have, tyres are removed, I thought you may want to get the set refurbished, swop them over and keep yours as spares or flog them.
I was thinking of getting them refurbished, see how good they turn out and then flog them for the cost of the refurb.

[Malc1]

now if anyone had a spare set of   15" wheels    with centre caps for my  91  J reg car then I'd like to hear from you ........  whomsoever you might be !  ...  4 will do, 

 my 5th has an original Dunlop tyre on it in the boot !  ...  looks brand spanking new but at 33 years young it really would be for emergency use only ........  effectively my spacesaver !

Malc

[Gentleman]

Amazing to read through this thread and the eventual outcome!!! It just puts a smile on one's face. 

It is a good idea to share details of some of these independent garages so other lexus owners can patronise them. 

[Wherryman Sam]

17 hours ago, Razor61 said:

Yep, I know. I worked on Raikes Lane Ind Estate for many years in the past for Mastercare. 
Regarding the spare set of wheels I have, tyres are removed, I thought you may want to get the set refurbished, swop them over and keep yours as spares or flog them.
I was thinking of getting them refurbished, see how good they turn out and then flog them for the cost of the refurb.

Hmmm... I hadn't thought of that and with no tyres, transport and storage becomes less of an issue. I'll ping you a PM. 😀

16 hours ago, Gentleman said:

Amazing to read through this thread and the eventual outcome!!! It just puts a smile on one's face. 

It is a good idea to share details of some of these independent garages so other lexus owners can patronise them. 

James, this makes me so happy, thank you. I know the thread is a bit TL;DR but I decided against posting a new thread with updated results for exactly this reason. The next guy faced with his own Lexus dilemma might read this and have the benefit of the huge amount of wisdom, knowledge and experience which has been freely given by so many kind and generous people.

My independent garage is Dan, the owner of Autoserv, Walkden M28. He's had quite the steep LS400 learning curve over the last 4 years and tells me he even joined this forum to get info on my car. He's sourced parts from all over the shop - some outside the UK - and has diligently trawled eBay in his quest for bits. He really has gone the extra mile, bless him. 😍

[Wherryman Sam]

So, it's fair to say that The Duchess was in a sorry looking state when I went to bring her back from storage. Although it was very secure, it was in the open air and four months sitting in salt-laden mists rolling in off the Dee Estuary, coupled with a crack squadron of Welsh seagulls using her for precision bombing practice had taken their toll.

She was back on the road from yesterday, so the first order of business was a trip to the valeter's. I was pleasantly surprised at the result. You will remember me posting about the manky wheels? Well, we can probably downgrade that to "A bit tatty". I'm still going to get them refurbed, but they look nowhere near as bad as the photos I posted a week or so ago.

I think she scrubs up quite well, for an old girl...

 

[Malc1]

She looks very very smart …….. but those piccys show summat strange with the wheel centre caps …… yellowish ? 
 

mine are solid plastic right thru with a greyish silverish hue 🤔

Malc