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Interesting article in todays (Sat 16th July) Sun newspaper. DOZENS of firms are offering to slash cars’ mileage in a modern version of the “clocking” scam. Mechanics ask as little as £40 to knock tens of thousands of miles off digital odometers and boost resale values. It does not break the law because while knowingly selling a clocked car is fraud, it is not illegal to alter the odometer’s mileage. Business Minister Anna Soubry yesterday pledged a law change to close the loophole. She said: “I congratulate The Sun on this important investigation. I am grateful. We will stop it.” Clocking used to be common because it was easy to manually alter mechanical odometers. The dawn of digital meters was supposed to have ended it. But experts now say up to ten per cent of the UK’s 32 million vehicles may be clocked. The Sun’s research suggests up to 100 UK firms can digitally roll back mileage. Our investigators asked four companies to clock a car so it could be sold for more money. Each one agreed. Car firms say there are legitimate reasons for “mileage correction” — such as odometer damage. FIRMS across Britain are openly offering mileage “clocking”, a Sun investigation has found. The dubious practice — which lowers a car’s dashboard reading and raises its resale value — costs as little as £40 but can add thousands to its second-hand value. It can also help motorists to cheat on their PCP finance deals. However, a legal loophole means the practice only becomes illegal if the owner or mileage clocker sells the car or gains personally from not declaring the figure has been altered — so the business is being touted openly. Once a car is clocked it can be impossible to detect the changes without highly specialised equipment. Firms say there can be legitimate reasons for “mileage correction” services — such as odometer damage or the car’s mileage count being slightly out from the actual distance covered. Motor checking firms estimate that out of a total of 32million registered vehicles on Britain’s roads there could be between 1.6 million and three million cars with their mileage clocked back. Up to 100 UK firms are offering the service, though the EU has vowed to ban the practice altogether by 2018. PCP — or personal contract purchase — is an increasingly popular way to buy a car and involves paying in instalments, during which time the car still belongs to a finance company and is strictly limited to a maximum annual mileage. The customer is “fined” up to 50p for every mile above their limit, making clocking a tempting prospect.

If this was a car dealer sale I would be looking at them for repairs at their cost given the short time you say you have had the car, if bought privately you now have the costs of repair. Any mention of this on the MOT history check in the advisories section? Personally I would stick to OEM replacements but be prepared for a shock (pun intended) when they give you the prices at around £280.00 each, they may do all 4 for a grand.

Hi, I just thought that this info might be of use to anyone encountering intermittent hid headlight problems. A few months ago I had my o/s dipped beam hid headlight going off after a couple of minutes and after switching them off then back on it would come on again only to go off again after a short time. This would happen randomly and not every day ( no bulb out warning on dash) and was advised by several members that the said bulb was starting to fail. Checked a out replacement pair and found them to be around £50-60 so before a shelled out for these bulbs I decided to swap them over from side to side to rule out a ballast problem and on removing the bulbs I noticed that the o/s bulb had a slight burn/corrosion mark on the side contact point which when you swap them over this contact point is in a different place and hey presto intermittent has disappeared. Kind Regards Brian

Have not been on here for a while as the car has been impeccable and beyond 2 tyres and an oil and filter change does exactly what is says on the tin (so to speak), a very happy Mrs A for sure, she's already planning for the 400h in about 2 years time. I've been distracted with alfa romeo's, more character but less reliability.

I would also ask the DVSA to look into the MOT station that did the test.

1 bad connection and you get all those lights on the dash amazing . Well done sir lets hope you fixed it for good

I don't think it's really a do it yourself job. I had my condenser replaced the other day on my LS 400 and it cost £120 with a receiver/dryer (which must be replaced) bolts broke etc so better to have a professional do it. I bought my Denso condenser (OE) on Rockauto £170 with taxes paid and charge from my Visa card. It was not a difficult job on the LS 400 as it is in front of the radiator. If your compressor is gone then you'll have to regas and replace receiver/dryer again which will be around another £70 so worth pricing that into the equation.

I'm waiting for the dealer to decide how much money they will return to me. It was M.O.T'd last week with no advisories yet I received the car with both rear tyres worn down to the markers, one front tyre with a badly torn side wall and of course the leaking shocks, none of these issues were cited at the M.O.T. Apparently my car came with a standard 3 month warranty so they're attaching the suspension problem to the warranty (£500 maximum claim) but for now they're saying they'll contribute to 3 new tyres. A local independent garage has the car and has documented the faults and next week I'm booked in at Lexus for its due 100k service so I'll have two separate evaluations and quotes for the work needed, I imagine once they see those along with photos they'll take me a bit more seriously, I'm still very suspect though about the M.O.T not giving the advisories. Also Lexus looked at the history and told me that apart from a recall the car has not had any replacement parts or repairs with them and the history with them couldn't be any better, the previous M.O.T's only ever mention worn tyres as advisories.

Thanks darrude, looking back, I think it was actually my post, doh!

Well done! Patience has paid off! Good result! So far..........

Just purchased today.

I have install restored ECO unit from LScowboyLS, what can i say, It runs like it newer runs before, 100% perfekt idle, not up and down, engine sounds cleaner. Now i changes sparkwires and plugs, install Denso parts.

Oh dear! The trouble is, that all the parts you want from a donor car are likely to be just as shot as the parts that you want to replace. OK Wheels /tyres maybe not, but mechanical parts. I liked you comment "started to lose the love" - been there several times but still smitten after last 2.5k mile trip. Off shortly on another 1200 return trip to Le continent where my heart goes out to the people

Actually unbolting and removing the complete strut takes minutes, it's the seat removal and refitting that eats up the time, if you removed the rear seat and parcelshelf yourself before taking it to the garage that would save some labour costs then refit it all back home.

Its not the thermostat, it's a small sensor that sits somewhere near the top middle of the engine. I changed my wife's one in 60 seconds but that was a Vauxhall! I'm assuming Lexus are the same, if so its not the same sensor that registers the temperature gauge on the dash. I've not done it on an LS but it looks easy enough. If you google it you'll be able to see what the part looks like, it's about £15-ish

The post was meant to be of assistance to those with older hybrids & those out of warranty, as long as owners bare in mind what Colin pointed out about insurance. I have plenty of experience in this field.

hi, im new to forum iv just bought a altezza rs200 with the rare 280t engine transplanted into it, bought I with few problems im looking for the two vvti solenoids also known as oil control valves part numers are 15330-74040 exhaust side and 15330-74030 intake side. cheers