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Ok folks, we are hearing regularly of common faults on the Ls series, so the thought crossed me to see what they are. Here's what to do, ONLY reply if you have had a fault on your car, not i here old bill had his car in the garage again. Say what the car model and year is and what the fault was, and the remedy. Please try to keep it this way then we can start to see faults only and not read replies to posts about replies if you get my drift. Lets see if we can build a better picture of what faults we are seeing.

When I had my 1994 LS 400: Very poor airflow from the aircond/climate control system. Fan works OK, suspect blocked filter behind glove box (for those of you who don't know where it is, there are removal instructions and pics in the Owners Manual). Remove filter, it looks pretty clean. Notice what looks like a twig poking down from ducting above where I've removed the filter. Put fingers into ducting and pull out twig........big mistake. Lots of crud falls out and into the, now unprotected, air con inlet. It took me a LONG time to dismantle various bits a pieces and get rid of all the crud. I shouldn't have been surprised at the crud, the car was, at least, 10 years old. So, every year after that, I did the following: Remove filter Place cloth over air con inlet Poke around in upper ducting with a bent wire to remove all crud. Clean filter by blowing through with air line (don't hold the line too close or you'll blow a hole in the filter). Blow from both sides. Wear goggles because the dust goes everywhere. Remove cloth and crud and, immediately, replace filter. You'll be amazed how much the airflow is improved.

I stripped the two front calipers down on my car yesterday after replacing the discs and pads a few weeks ago I just wanted to check all was ok. I have taken pictures of the process and posted below although I cant get the pictures to show properly they will however show if clicked on ... 1/ Chock wheels / jack car up and remove the wheel 2/ To remove the caliper from the assembly, locate the 2 bolts holding it on (you will need a size 14 socket to remove them) - remove the caliper from the assembly and place on a support - I use an old plant pot which is an ideal height which doesn't allow too much pressure to be put on the brake hose. Picture below shows the bolts (ringed) to remove and what I mean by supporting the caliper on a pot 3/ Remove the slide pins (shown ringed in the picture below) - these are easily located - the two bolts previously removed were bolted into the pins themselves. When removing be careful not to damage the rubber boots on the caliper itself and also when removing the pins be carefull with the top pin as it has an anti rattle rubbber seal attached to the pin itself so may seam stiff when removing the top pin. You may need to twist the pins when pulling out if the old grease has hardened. 4/ The pin locator holes can be cleaned with a wooden pencil or a pipe cleaner brush with a bit of WD40 - when clean dry them out with cotton buds and tissues. The pins, if in bad condition, can be cleaned with a fine wet and dry paper wet with WD40. Any staining on the metal should come off in the process. Careful when cleaning the top pin as this holds the rubber seal. I have shown the pins before and after a clean below before after 5/ I use Castrol LM grease which can be bought from Halfords and the amount I use I have shown in the picture below. I load the end of a pencil and apply two lots in each pin recess. I will wipe the pins with a bit of grease just so they slide in easy. 6/ When re-inserting the pins there will be a vacuum created by the new grease - slide pins in and out until they settle in the recess so the caliper can be placed back on the assembly. Any excess grease that comes out from boot - wipe this away and place the end of the boot back in the recess in the pin. Refitting is the reverse of above. Also - when doing this job its a good idea just to check if your pistons are working ok - have someone press the brake pedal gently so you can check to see that its not seized and working correctly. I use a G clamp to press the piston back in.

I must admit the recent "frontage" of the Lexus offerings has put us off considering either the new RX or the soon available NX as replacements for the ML, granted as luxury vehicles they probably both surpass almost all, but that styling......urgh! I had a potato chipper that looked more attractive!

NTFS!!!!

Here you go :) http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/89583-south-east-7th-june/#entry865316

What file format is your USB Stick? I think it will have to be Fat32 to be recognised. This is from the USB section of the manual: Compatible device formats The following device format can be used: • USB communication format: USB2.0 FS (480 Mbps) • File system format: FAT16/32 (Windows) • Correspondence class: Mass storage class MP3, WMA and AAC files written to a device with any format other than those listed above may not play correctly, and their file names and folder names may not be displayed correctly. Items related to standards and limitations are as follows: • Maximum directory hierarchy: 8 levels • Maximum number of folders in a device: 3000 (including the root) • Maximum number of files in a device: 9999 • Maximum number of files per folder: 255  MP3, WMA and AAC files MP3 (MPEG Audio LAYER 3) is a standard audio compression format. Files can be compressed to approximately 1/10 of their original size using MP3 compression. WMA (Windows Media Audio) is a Microsoft audio compression format. This format compresses audio data to a size smaller than that of the MP3 format. AAC is short for Advanced Audio Coding and refers to an audio compression technology standard used with MPEG2 and MPEG4. MP3, WMA and AAC file and media/formats compatibility are limited.  MP3 file compatibility • Compatible standards MP3 (MPEG1 AUDIO LAYERIII, MPEG2 AUDIO LAYERIII) • Compatible sampling frequencies MPEG1 AUDIO LAYERIII: 32, 44.1, 48 (kHz) MPEG2 AUDIO LAYERIII: 16, 22.05, 24 (kHz) • Compatible bit rates (compatible with VBR) MPEG1 AUDIO LAYERIII: 32-320 (kbps) MPEG2 AUDIO LAYERIII: 8-160 (kbps) • Compatible channel modes: stereo, joint stereo, dual channel and monaural

It's a nice touch indeed. My family ended up helping the UK economy by purchasing two other new cars last year, an Audi A1 by my daughter and a Honda Hazz Hybrid for Mrs DJP. Both dealerships did the unveiling ceremony with a couple of other gives aways - champagne for the daughter and golf stuff for the Mrs (for me, of course). The competition in the family was not about the unveiling of the car, but how much petrol was in the vehicle on delivery. The Honda had a third of a tank, the Audi half a tank and the Lexus - full to the brim

Yet more proof you don't have to go in with all guns blazing to get the problem solved. Let us know how you get on. Mike

Good result with the dealer then, if you are fair with them they generally respond positively,last thing they want is poor press reports and an unhappy customer. The job at trade will probably cost less than half the retail amount quoted. While it is at Lexus ask them to give the whole car a good going over so if there are other potential problems you can get these looked into at the same time.

If you buy a new set no problem but be wary with 2nd hand alloys,check them very carefully for damage/repairs and make sure they are all true i.e. not buckled ( very difficult if not on the car and driven). Also bear in mind Lexus wheels used sleeved nuts whereas aftermarket tend to use tapered and of course check they will fit regarding PCD (5 x 114.3) Bore (60.1) (spigot rings available) and offset. Lexus OEM alloys are well known for corrosion problems.

Hopefully a better looking design!!! I really dislike the lexus 4x4 styling :( Much prefer the porsche cayenne.

Thanks folks. Picked the car up last Tuesday from John Canning at Lexus Edinburgh. What an amazing service experience. The car was in its own little garage with highly polished tiled floor and under a black cloth until it was revealed to me. It is a beautiful car to look at and to drive. A real head-turner too....lost count of how many times I've seen other drivers admiring it. I've uploaded some photos to my Flickr stream here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ross_strachan/sets/72157644415860273

I'll have a slim 21 yo ginger please :)

Hot damn, have owned one of these for nearly 2 years now, i never knew they had this kind of mirror, i thought it had a little kid in either side door with a wrench to open and close them. My view of the 430 has gone up, has it got a real electric sunroof too or is that a little kid up there like i thought. Don't they pack adverts with rubbish that is not relevant, just to get you reading and trying to entice you in, i walk away when i read stuff like that, normally means they filling the sale with stuff you don't need to read about and not putting in what you do need to be reading. I am the same as you. Just as a side issue what are the employment stakes like? Mike Taking a month or so off to do the house bits that iv'e been meaning to do, nearly done now, garden sorted, decorating sorted, even built a small storage unit for the patio chairs n table, barbecue etc. So at the moment i don't have time to do a full time job, now where did i put my pinny.........

At least try to negotiate a deal with them 3 weeks is nothing, was it MOT'd prior to you picking it up under the SOGA the fault is deemed to be there at point of sale , sod the wear and tear attitude, it failed, broke went wrong, it was defective. Personally I would argue the toss with honda.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ipxls3zku0dwuag/rm0150.zip

Excellent guide, I've just replaced the discs and pads on mine this weekend and wished I'd seen this beforehand! I found this video very useful: (Second half, first half is rear brakes and discs)

Stolen from OJC here: http://bit.ly/1gZxR4J Pics of an Altezza rear brake hub before and after painting: Before: After:

If you have complete set of discs (usually four of them) - try one of the others - this will eliminate disc as a cause of the problem. (if normal - should be read the disc - and of course you will be out of the coverage - then you'll just have to buy a new disc). In case it is not reading the disc - probably lens issue - it is plastic, not glass - therefore it gets old. Lexus repair man couldn't be very helpful (except to take the DVD reader unit out). AV tech would be much more handy. Last resort is to buy a second hand DVD unit - crashed vehicle or else.

This is awesome..! Nice Mod mate..