ambermarine

John You can't buy the versions that are cheap here, if you noticed there all kinds of options on the US models that add up when you get ,the full spec that is only offered in the UK .The US price quoted does not include the sales taxes that accrue when the car is purchased,Vat is usually included in UK quoted prices.The price for a comparative vehicle when all those factors are added brings them around the same price give or take dealership discounts. The car is produced in Japan so currency fluctuations and import taxes also make a difference. As for the cost of petrol as I often say to my american friends when they gasp at our prices ,But I got free medical cover and they would settle for that.

Banjo The waxoyl also needs to go into the area that forms the cill, this area is accessed via an oblong rubber bung just forward of the start of the cill under the rear door arch. Water that as penetrated the wheel arch runs down and settles in that area and the cill rots from the inside out. I had to have both my cills patch welded though this problem on my Mark 1. I halted the rust within the arch after its initial discovery when the car was 6 years old by flooding the wheel arch cavities with two gallons of waxoyl. That treatment did not get into the cill area unfortuanatly and ten years later the cills rusted through. If you remove the bung and feel around with your finger you will soon get the rust on your fingertip if it is present. The cause of this problem was stone chips to the wheel arch that the underseal hid, the stone chips then rusted away undetected. I patched mine with epoxy resin impregnated into fibreglass weave then undersealed. Waxoyl within these cavities is a preventative measure and after the experience with the Mark 1 My Mark 4 got it straight away although it as to be said that the paint job within those hidden away areas is much better now.

Anthony This part I think is the Front Bumper molding and retails at Lexus for approx £75+Vat. failing that try breakers on ebay or online breakers yards . Those last options don't guarantee condition or the right colour.

Thanks for that tip Brian it is new one on me,thats what I like most about this forum shared views and experience that helps others.

First of all this is not a re-gas it is a top up ,a re-gas is the evacuation of the existing gas and lubricant by vacuum and putting in new refrigerant gas and lubricant. The practice of topping up the A/C with more gas is a professional job and the licenced operatives who do it for a living are a lot more proficient than some of the chain consumable suppliers who tend to have limited knowledge and expertise. As long as the system is ok and as no leaks they can put in more gas until the pressure readout fits the car manufacturers reccomendations and you should be ok but if there are any faults in the system and there are numerous things that could go wrong, they are ill equipped to resolve them. Personally I would always use a professional A/C engineer with a good reputation, to service my A/C.

I have found the programme to be a bit of a showcase for the presenters rather than the content .I can't think of anything that sticks in mind of what as been presented .The overseas fories to South America were blatantly contrived in fact the vehicles used were probably getting more off screen mantianence than a rally car between stages. Clarkson as always been an in your face presenter regardless as to what subject matter the programme offered and to some audiences that was attractive but eventually it becomes tiresome. Hammond as been carried by the show as a pick on me sympathy target and it works in the presence of the other two but on his own he is not good enough. May is very good in his own right and as made some excellent programmes outside the scope of motoring and he does'nt need a bounce off partner like the other two. With regard to Guy Martin he comes over as a north country flat cap merchant and as done very well upto now portrayed in that role . He is in fact a very clever and sophisticated guy and I think with a few rough corners polished up would make a good presenter of Top Gear with a combative female presenter to bounce off.

I stand corrected Ian but as you say the work involved is the same.

Hi Titch I did explain that the impact wrench works on shock and the crankshaft is not going to get chance to move anyway the park scenario is a secondary safety hold .If you watch the video that was posted you will see the guy uses no aids to stop the crankshaft turning when using the impact wrench. Could you explain how you propose to get into the teeth of the flywheel with an allen key. As far as I can tell the only place you can see any teeth on the flywheel is were the starter engages and that requires taking the head off the engine. There is also the rear of the engine but that requires removing the bell housing on the gearbox .

I would caution against this approach first of all the responsibility for the condition of the vehicle is the seller and to that end he is the only one who can be approached for a genuine discription of the state of the vehicle any other input is hearsay as the previous owner as no knowledge as to what work as been done to the vehicle after they have sold it. Your probable response to that is ;Tell the world what was wrong with it when you sold it forewarning the prospective buyers .The problem with that is the previous owner is exposing themselves to litigation from the new owner as they may be asked to prove thier claims in court at a later date ,basically they are setting themselves up as a material witness. My instinct in all things of this nature is ;When you have sold the car in all honesty it is then someone elses property and is no longer your responsibility.

I think you mean the crankshaft turning ,just put the gear knob in park.The impact wrench does what it says, the shock treatment releases the nut, unlike applying constant increased torque.There is nothing wrong with Gates they were at one time the biggest belt manufacturer in the world I once held shares indirectly after Tomkins (Greg Hutchings) Guns to buns group bought them in the 80s.Gates as now been sold to a private equity group after untangling a very intricate family trust involvement which incidently brought about Hutchings exit from Tomkins as a wrong purchase.

The reference marks on the cambelt are put on at factory when the cambelt is maufactured they make sure the belt is on the right way round and set in position on the tooth count ,the marks put on by the guy doing the job are probably the way he does all cambelt changes.Simon hits the point in his reference to belt and braces,because it is possible to get the belt a tooth out and that would be a serious problem later. There are no easy ways round this job and I would definitly remove the rad as getting at some of the pulleys would be very difficult were it in situ. 15 years ago I came up with a "non workshop manual" way of replacing the front upper control arms which reduced the job time by 80%, it as been the most visited pinned tip on the forum and saved a lot of hassle for thousands of members and Lexus owners worldwide but it is in the minority as most of the jobs replacing consumables on the LS400 have a single dicipline procedure .

Read this thread with some interest and along with Nick have been through most of the issues thrown up by the Mark 1 having owned one for 16 years .I can't make comparisons with other manufacturers cited as I have not owned any of them .The thing that stands out most in the LS400 are the faults that did occur in the earlier models were virtually illiminated by the time the Mark 4 arrived. This fact had a massive impact on my decision to stick with the LS400 and not move up to either the 430 or 460 keeping in mind the Lexus key phrase. "In pursuit of perfection" ,the ten years of production and usage of the LS400 had enabled the engineers to get very close to that goal using dealership and customer feedback when producing the very last marque in the 400 series.Those of us who own a LS 400 mark 4 know this to be the case,especially if they have moved up from a previous model.

Used Magnatec for both my Lexus 400s the first one for 14 years was 15/40 then castrol discontinued the 15/40 and now I use 10/40, change the oil and filter every two years as I only do about 3k a year. Engine wear was apparent on the Mark1 at 150k mainly valve stems, borne out by blue smoke on start up. I prefer Magnatec because of its so called Magnetic qualities but a very educated Engineer friend in the states doubts the credibility of this and says all oils will do the same job if clean and unburnt. He rebuilds 1930s cars from the ground up I am lucky to know the guy check is work on; Google Ed LaBrush MG TD V8

This thread is as interesting as it is continous, depreceation will be with us as long as we buy cars that are mass produced for the consumption of the general public and not aimed at specific markets such as supercars or limited editions. The interesting bit is the wordwide values put on the Lexus LS range .as as been stated by other members . Lexus cars in Australia have better residual values than UK models One might assume that is because there are less sold there than here ,if that being the case why do like for like models in the USA fetch twice as much as UK models where there are thousands more than there are in the UK. The economics have a say in it ,for example the US dealerships lease a lot of high end models to the private buyer for three to five years the aim is to make as much money from the vehicle and keep depreceation to a minimum, financial penalties for high mileage and poor upkeep help to ensure this. The lease financer then sells them into the open market usually through dealerships as one owner cars , vehicles will be sold with all kinds of warranties and this ups the resale price, that price keeps the earlier models prices higher as does the buy your last car debt system that operates in the states.This is when you trade in your car with its outstanding finance and that debt is added to your new car . So what is happening is the value of second hand cars in the states is artifically high due to inherent debt. If you add the popularity of the Lexus brand then the price is affected by supply and demand factors especially in used cars. We should thank our lucky stars that the Lexus LS brand as never really caught on here in the private sector and we benefit with cheap purchases from the mainly corporate dominated sales.

The point Ian made regarding the coolant temp sensor is relevant .It as a direct bearing on the idle speed and operates through the ECU . The sensor is located to the left of the water pump (looking from the front of the engine) and is usually coloured green. Haynes have never attempted to cover the Lexus LS400 the workshop manual is as thick as a telephone directory.The Lexus publication is available on ebay and comes in two volumes .you just need the engine and transmission section . The sensors are about £12 aftermarket. All the other points have been answered

Interesting comment Matthew "Would'nt touch a Ls without service history". This one as no service history from 99 till I bought it two years ago. The pdi 1k and 9k service were done by Lexus but the book is empty after that because the previous owner had servicing done by his independant and he did not stamp the book. So it is not always the case that if there is no written history the car as not been serviced properly.

There will be the "sod it syndrome"associated with that as the 430's have had a lot of inherrent faults and a lack of confidence will stem from that . The previous owners tend to stop spending on them and get rid when they have had a number of issues.

The condensor as no moving parts it is unlikely to have failed and as a couple of members have said it is probably a leak at one of the ports,that will require removal and replacement of the o rings and a refill of refrigerant, but it won't be £800 thats for sure.

Anthony I was interested in your comment regarding Lexus quality being too expensive,I also realize that you are unfamiliar with the Lexus having been a Rover owner for some time. I had a warranty with my first Ls400 which I was unaware of until the dealer sent me all the paperwork for the car ,he was covering his back at my expense really. That was way back in 96 and the car was then 6 years old with 50 k miles on the clock the price I paid was £19k then which would be expensive at todays prices campared to the new cost of £37k. The car was sent straight to Lexus for appraisel and it required a new caliper which at that time cost £350 fitted ,in the following 12 months one of the solenoids in the gearbox failed and the wireless locking failed which together cost £1200 . So your warranty decision is a wise one and it may be that you will not need its benefits but you have peace of mind.

Should not be any noise from anything regarding the transmission and certainly not when idling.I concur with Mark get it checked out as soon as possible.

Anthony , Are you sure your car is not a Delorean.

Totally different to the ls400 cooling system in that there does'nt seem to be an expansion bottle for the fluid to go and come from during coolant temprature changes. I was not aware that the body of the rad had split and again that maybe due to the fact pressures undesigned for have been created. If at some time the system as been drained and not refilled as prescibed in the workshop manual an air lock will occur and this can cause a blowback or in this case a fracture of the rad. I suggest you take it to Lexus and get the job done properly ,apart from the fact you are shelling out for parts that you might not have done so had a previous job been done properly,you don't want a re-occurence and they could shed some light on what happened in the first occurence.

Not familiar with the 430 cooling rad or the expansion tank system but that round shaped object on the rad top looks like some kind of valve( could it be a pressure relief valve). Get the Lexus dealership to check the system as I have never heard of Radiators going on Lexus 400 or 430s for that matter.

This occurence is relevant to engine overheating and blowout of expansion reservoir .It happened when my mark1 had its water pump failure ,basically what happens is the coolant in the engine is not circulated evenly and expands to such a degree around the pots it forces its way out, resulting in the blowback. Get the water pump checked first.

The interior of the door is probably best described as a bathroom environment. There is water flowing through it and it is subject to tremendous variances of temprature and cold bridging .If you think of a bathroom wall or window getting condensation on it, the door is the same .The warm tempratures from within the car cause condensation on the cold surfaces on the door skin and the components .This also works the same way in summer when the air con is creating cool tempratures on the inner panels and the sun is creating heat on the outside panels all this on top of the rain running through the door.