Just Bought A Soarer

[GrandAlf]

Hi,

My wife has just bought a 93 V8 Ltd, non EMV. This now joins my LS430, so we now have a matched pair, Lexii ?. We did notice on a test drive that the speedo only worked intermittantly, anyone else had this problem. Also we notice that there was was a switch in the boot that was turned off. I later discovered that this is to turn off the air suspension, bit worring it been left off, seemed to ride ok though, will find out when we pick it up in a week. Another question, when the speedo is converted, am I right in assuming that it also causes the odemeter to start clocking up miles instead of km, not sure if this one has been done, but I assume so, given that it it has been in the country for 7 years. Anyway it looks like a well cared for example, so we are hoping all will be well. Any advice on these cars always welcome.

BTW, for interests sake, we got a quote from privilige of £419 fully comp with 450 excess. I thought this was pretty good.

[Artifact]

Congratulations on the car.

I had an issue with my previous car regarding the speedo - check your Battery terminals for anything odd or weird shorts.

[Steve]

the speedo "blinky dash" is a comman fault.

You need to have a diode (not sure if this is the name for it) replaced which is about £100

[GrandAlf]

Thanks Guys,

I will check the Battery cons when we get the car. Not sure if it is a blinky panel, its just the speedo is sometimes just showing 0.

I live in Brighouse, West Yorks. Anyone know a a good place for Soarer service in the locale.

[Steve]

sounds like the regulator is not working.. if it has been converted to miles then iit is not working properly.. could be good because it might not clock up the miles

[GrandAlf]

Steve,

Not sure what you mean by regulator. Do you mean a voltage reg on the system somewhere, or are you talking about the km to miles divider/convertor. Rather more concerned about knowing what speed I am going than not clocking up miles. Cheers

[mrdsukautos]

My wife has just bought a 93 V8 Ltd, non EMV. This now joins my LS430, so we now have a matched pair, Lexii ?. We did notice on a test drive that the speedo only worked intermittantly, anyone else had this problem. Also we notice that there was was a switch in the boot that was turned off. I later discovered that this is to turn off the air suspension, bit worring it been left off, seemed to ride ok though, will find out when we pick it up in a week. Another question, when the speedo is converted, am I right in assuming that it also causes the odemeter to start clocking up miles instead of km, not sure if this one has been done, but I assume so, given that it it has been in the country for 7 years. Anyway it looks like a well cared for example, so we are hoping all will be well. Any advice on these cars always welcome.

BTW, for interests sake, we got a quote from privilige of £419 fully comp with 450 excess. I thought this was pretty good.

Ok the dash/speedo problem is deffo Blinky dash mate it is a well known and documented fault.It just needs to be taken out and some capacitors replaced.

Contact Luke here

http://www.jkwebdesign.net/lsocbb/profile....iewprofile&u=38

Hell fix this no problem mate :D

Bit worrying the air suspension was turned off? This usually means there is a problem and the air struts arent cheap so make sure and check this thoroughly!!!

Especially as the car has been here for 7 years!!!

Yes the speedo will have been converted if its been here for 7 years make sure and get the conversion certificate to show what the km were when it was changed so you have a good knowledge of how many miles it has done

The insurance aint to bad but could be a bit cheaper if you have full no claims mate i pay 384 on a 94 TT with 250 excess and thats platinum all in cover

Anyway enjoy the car youll love it :)

[GrandAlf]

Thanks for all the advice, it seems that the general consensus is that it could be a problem with the speed converter. I suppose the hard part will be finding where it has been installed. Anyway will check that out when we pick the car up. We got quoted about 380 for the TT, but for some reason the 4.0 litre seems to be more difficult and expensive to insure. Looking forward to playing with the new toy at the weekend.

[UKPulse]

£384 fully comp on a TT is brilliant. Cheapest I could find was £670 with full NCD and a £400 excess - think I'm screwed because it's a Brighton postcode even though Brighton is 7 miles away.

[mrdsukautos]

Grandalf

It is not the convertor that is the problem it is the actual dash itself

There are write ups on how to remove the dash yourself

It can then be sent to someone who repairs them

They return it

you refit it

Dash now works A ok :D

As for the suspension it will probably be a compressor fault.The compressor can be refurbed or repaired it isnt often an owner has to buy a new one

[GrandAlf]

Thanks for the advice, I will check the compressor as a first action. I think I maybe have misunderstood about the blinky panel, I had thought that this was an invertor/display fault that caused all or part of the panel not to be illuminated. As far as I can tell the display is ok, it is just that the the speedo is showng 0 sometimes and is ok or erratic the rest of the time. Please correct me if I am wrong. If it is indeed a blinky panel fault, then the hardest part seems to be to remove it. Repair looks easy, just a tranny and a few caps.

[mrdsukautos]

Thanks for the advice, I will check the compressor as a first action. I think I maybe have misunderstood about the blinky panel, I had thought that this was an invertor/display fault that caused all or part of the panel not to be illuminated. As far as I can tell the display is ok, it is just that the the speedo is showng 0 sometimes and is ok or erratic the rest of the time. Please correct me if I am wrong. If it is indeed a blinky panel fault, then the hardest part seems to be to remove it. Repair looks easy, just a tranny and a few caps.

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Ok mate i understand what you are saying now.

It is indeed the convertor at fault if the rest of the dash is ok.

Sorry misread your post mate

Its most likely a bad connection.This wouldnt be the first time ive heard of this and it turns out to be a dodgy connection

[GrandAlf]

Thanks again for your input,

Picked the car up on friday, very impressed so far, excellent condition. Suspension seems ok, not sure why it was turned off. I guess the first job will be to get the speedo sorted. As I will have to take oot the console to get to speedo converter, I might as well do the blinky dash thing at the same time to avoid future problems. BTW if anyone is interested, I have just ordered 2 key blanks from a trader on eBay, they are £13 for the pair, bit cheaper than Lexus quote of £56 ea. Looks like I need to also fit a radio expander, will have to figure out how the radio stack comes out first. Its years since I played about with cars, usually let the dealer do it. Still all good fun eh!.

[mrdsukautos]

Thanks again for your input,

Picked the car up on friday, very impressed so far, excellent condition. Suspension seems ok, not sure why it was turned off. I guess the first job will be to get the speedo sorted. As I will have to take oot the console to get to speedo converter, I might as well do the blinky dash thing at the same time to avoid future problems. BTW if anyone is interested, I have just ordered 2 key blanks from a trader on Ebay, they are £13 for the pair, bit cheaper than Lexus quote of £56 ea. Looks like I need to also fit a radio expander, will have to figure out how the radio stack comes out first. Its years since I played about with cars, usually let the dealer do it. Still all good fun eh!.

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Glad you are happy with the car mate

Also very glad the suspension seems ok as well

Enjoy :D

[GrandAlf]

Managed to take out the panel and do the blinky mods, no sign of the speedo converter though, anyone know of the usual place where this might be fitted. I suppose it was a worthwhile exercise anyway just for peace of mind and to get rid of that bl**dy reversing bleeper. Next job is to fit reversing sensors, my wife says she cannot see out of the back window. I guess this is the fun of owning an old car :). Thinking about it, the speedo has been ok for the last couple of days, so maybe it has cured itself. Overall very pleased with the car, even now looks very modern, certainly turns heads. Still trying to figure out what the red plastic cylinder is under the passenger dash, is it a flare of some sort?. If so could be very useful if we ever go to sea in the car :winky:

[peter026]

Red cylinder? I got one as well,I call mine fire extinguisher

[mrdsukautos]

Yes its a flare

Not sure on the legalities of having one in the car though

[soramad]

the flare is highly ilegal and if i was you remove it asap, if you are stopped by the local speed tax collectors it will be classed as an explosive devise .

a thought on the boot switch being off ,some work may have been carried out on the car which involved it being jacked up in which case it MUST be switched off and may have been inadvertantly forgotten and left off.

[mrdsukautos]

the flare is highly ilegal and if i was you remove it asap,  if you are stopped by the local speed tax collectors it will be classed as an explosive devise .

a thought on the boot switch being off ,some work may have been carried out on the car which involved it being jacked up in which case it MUST be switched off and may have been inadvertantly forgotten and left off.

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Yeh they remove em on the boats for that very reason Mike so best get rid of the flare then.

Very good point as well Mike it may just have been forgotten and never switched back on

[GrandAlf]

Thanks for the advice guys. Will take you advice abought the flare thing. Might even set it off for a bit of fun . My better half is thrilled with it, even though the front brake seized the other day, came ok after a few presses though. Been getting my hands dirty fitting a reversing sensor.

[mrdsukautos]

Thanks for the advice guys. Will take you advice abought the flare thing. Might even set it off for a bit of fun  . My better half is thrilled with it, even though the front brake seized the other day, came ok after a few presses though. Been getting my hands dirty fitting a reversing sensor.

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Keep an eye on the brakes as they can suffer from sticky calipers

[Carlos_SC]

Advise NOT to use the flare at all!!! They go a bit dodgy after a while apparently and can be dangerous!

The speedo converter, if not behind the dash, will probably be under the passenger carpet with the main ECU. Some can be a bit iffy, with problems showing speed while stationary, gearchange problems at full throttle over 112Mph, and just bad conversion. If you don't seem to have any of these, you should be OK - if you do, then think about changing it, as it gets a bit annoying, trust me!

[GrandAlf]

Thanks Carlos,

I do not seem to have the problems that you describe, its just that the speedo shows 0 sometimes, usually comes back on after a few miles. Seems to have been ok the last few days though. Will have a look under the carpet as you suggest. Really like to locate it and try to find the fault, sods law says it will probably stop working near speed cameras and during an MOT.