ambermarine

The reddish powder could be brake dust from the pads it is usually black but some pad compounds are coloured with a dye .It could also be rust off the disks which forms very quickly after wet and damp weather conditions. The light problem is likely to be the array for that section of the pcb is suspect ,could be a bulb in series putting them all out or something more problematic. It is unlikely to be a fuse as all the board would be out. The only way to determine the state of the bulbs is to remove the centre monitor unit and take it apart and check the bulbs for power. There are tutorials on Lexusownersclubusa.com that deal with the removal and dismantling of the unit.

James There are plenty of member contributions in the forum archives with regard the pro's and con's of LS400 v LS430 and I have made a contribution on that subject when I chose a Mark 4 LS400. With regard to the issues you have mentioned in your post ,there have been problems on some LS430's but they are in the minority and most of the owners swear by their reliability . At the end of the day the decision you take is yours when it comes to the buying of the car and my advice is trust your own instinct as there are no members I know of who will let you kick their butts if you choose wrong on their say so.

Good thinking on the steering solution, if only you drive the car it makes no odds as to the positioning of the steering wheel every time the ignition is turned and as you are (skinny) the wheel should'nt obstruct your entrance and exit to the seat. With regard to the Sony addition it looks like this was wired into the circuit of the CD and Tape player and by removing it you have cut both of those circuits, rewire it as it was so you can determine that was the case. You will be able to rewire the units as to where they should be after you find out how the Sony thing was integrated.

John I loved it then, they took it back after three years when I thought it was at its best with around 42k on the clock and replaced it with a brand new white 1.1 popular which was awful and unreliable the engine compartment was full of rust and it had no power,unhappy days.

The white colour on cars as always been a bone of contention with company car drivers,I had company cars for twenty years and the first company I worked for provided a ford escort mark1 it was diamond white and was a gem. The issue with the reps was because the group I worked for( UBM now defunct) was the owner of several ford dealerships as well as many other non motor related companies the ford dealerships provided all the company cars throughout the group. Ford policy at that time was a requisite selection of colours regardless of preference by the dealership and the general public did not prefer the white cars so they were foisted onto the reps and managers of the sister companies. When your car renewal date came up you were offered the choice of colour and trim but whatever colour you ordered you can bet your last pound you would get a white one.

There is a goldmine of cassette tapes in goodwill stores across the USA as the new technology as firmly trashed this media but I regularly pick up gems of long ago given to this charity outfit for 10 cents a piece.Last year I came back with a couple of dozen and then used a cassette adapter available for £15 on ebay to play through my Bose system it can also be used to download onto a mp3 player and as Cleverdick says the sound repro is magical if done by one of the legend recording studios originally.

John The Mark 4 is the one to go for what it as in upgrades on the mark 3 makes it a no brainer. The navigation system is OK for long runs as long as you don't put post 97 destinations in or use the M6 toll or by passes post 97 If you are just looking for a route finder it is still very usable, the CD is still about, last updated to about 2002. The system although not postcode as enough features to put in a close to your destination target even though it might not have your prescribed address on the out of date CD .I use it for trips down south from Scotland to Devon and it takes me to the house I go to door to door it is also very efficient in Scotland as they don't build new roads here apart from the M74 link to the M8 in Glasgow. The really scary thing is the journey south on the now M74 where around Lockerbie the kind lady tells you to turn right onto the Motorway which is as far as they had got around 96 in extending the M6 into Scotland along the route of the A74. The variants you refer to in fuel, gearbox and BHP were upgrades and in particular were brought about by the first V8 engine with vvt-i that brought about better fuel economy and more bottom end torque and it is very evident when you floor the gas pedal,this engine was the same engine bored out to give a further 300cc they put in the LS430.

Alfred You say you have little experience with cars ,so I assume you are planning for someone who as got experience with cars to fit these cam belt parts .It is not a job for someone without some technical know how the task is full of pitfalls and serious problems will occur if it not done properly. If you have not got someone in mind to do the job take it to Lexus.

Google how to remove rear seat Lexus ls430 Several method authors to choose from.

The first episode of the mob series "the Sopranos" featured a 1997 Mark 3 Lexus Ls400 and was given a on screen dialogue promo by the late James Gandolfini aka Tony Soprano .They don't make em like that anymore, thats the car the series and the actor.

The Gates kit is probably the one I would choose if I was'nt able to get Lexus parts, they would be my first choice.

Alfred Gates are the biggest belt maker worldwide and go back decades it was once an American family owned dynasty that was taken over by the British" Tomkins group" in the 1980s and was a couple of years ago spun out of that into a private equity concern as far as I know it is still the biggest belt maker not just in the automotive sector but all industrial drive belts.As far as Mitsubishi is concerned their belts will probably be sourced from one of Mitsubishi's own vast array of industrial manufacturers.

It is a utility Chelsea tractor and to that end useful for a large family as for off road the body kit will last five minutes and you might get utterly lost as the GPS is useless.

John That is a sickener and just when you had got back into the LS400 after a short absence. Push for a repair as you were not in anyway responsible. Make them put it right do not let them write it off as they will want to,even your insurance company will go for the easy option but you do have the right to a repair.

John There is a stop buffer in the scuttle the wipers should park firmly against at the end of thier park cycle.If you want to set the wipers in their correct position on the spline remove the wipers and arms from the splines whilst the wipers are vertical ,the best way to do this, switch ignition off whilst wiper is in the vertical position.It is easier to take the pressure off the arm whilst in this position so they come off the spline straight,turn the ignition back on and turn off the wipers.Now replace the wipers on the spline with the wipers resting directly on the parking stops. This will place the wipers exactly were they should be in relation to the screen.

I have just read a long and drawn out sequence of events regarding the AWD 460 as distributed in the states and it was less than pleasant .A number of owners had serious misgivings on the cars performance which was a vibration problem at certain speeds coming from the drive train and wheels. It went on for several years with Lexus actually doing a buyback on one car that they could'nt fix,several owners took their cars back to Lexus for ECM updates tire changes diff changes all to no avail until Lexus finally admitted they had a problem and set about fixing it. Lexus have now resolved the problem ,only partially in some cases, by tinkering with the Transmission ECU and to that end the issue as died out .I think that given this issue was a design fault we are well lucky they did'nt import this model to the UK.

Brian I can confirm that wireless bells do cause interference because when someone presses the neighbours bell push the bell in my house rings, most annoying.

Sorry Steve I got the impression from the photo that the black circles were in fact holes in the plates.

That looks like the edge of the body of the tensioner and is unlikely to cause it to fail.As I suggested yesterday leave it and monitor the situation over the next couple of thousand miles. I would leave it alone after that if it shows no sign of worsening ,keep the new tensioner which can be fitted when the cambelt is renewed.

If you have three bolts securing the tensioner to the engine it should hold on ok, it is after all not a moving part ,keep a close eye on it and wait till the summer to repair it.

I have had a problem with a MOT inspector over these type of foot pedal additions ,in that they do not provide a adequate non slip surface it was not on my Lexus but on a classic mini and he insisted I replace them with rubber before he would give me the ticket.

Having made further research on replacing the tensioner it as become apparent that removal of the alternator is required to get the tensioner off the engine . This is because the tensioner bracket sits behind the alternator and is held in place by one of the long studs the alternator is mounted to the engine on. It will become obvious as you get to the area around the alternator . There is a video tutorial on utube that shows the full replacement of the cambelt on a ls430 and in the tear down of the front of the engine it shows the procedure for the removal of the serpentine belt tensioner. I respectfully suggest you watch the full video it will help you with the geography of the parts and show you useful procedures that will come in handy later

Got mixed up on replies ,in answer to the removal of tensioner ; Make sure the belt is off the tensioner pulley before removing the bolts. It will probably be a easier install of the new tensioner if you remove the pulley before trying to install the tensioner that way you will be able to put the tensioner bolts in without having to move the pulley out of the way.Remember when you try to undo the pulley bolt it is a left hand thread put the tensioner in a vice or you will struggle to undo the bolt.

That is ok for now I am a bit worried that you could have damaged the the screw housing for the bolt that holds the pulley on you may have snapped a piece of it off . If it is only a small end of the thread it should be ok keep an eye on it for a while any excess movement develops replace the tensioner the replacement of tensioner and pulley is the same procedure for removing the belt with the addition of removing the tensioner housing also. If there were no washers on it when you took the pulley off there won't be provision for them.

It is a spring ,without knowing the situ of the belt at the moment it is impossible to say what is the next exercise, could you take a pic of the situation and then we can see whats what.If you are turning it anticlockwise and it is feeling the tension of a spring you need to turn it through that resistance to slacken the belt it will rotate enough for that to happen but you have to use a lot of effort, that is the reason for using a extention bar on your socket.