steve2006

Hello and welcome to the LOC. Car looks nice and a good price too 😀 Health and Safety alert.....if you have to look up the parts prices from Lexus make sure you are comfortably seated, you seat is in the fully upright position, your tray table is stowed away and your seat belt securely fastened. You’re doing the right thing going custom aftermarket with the exhaust which should cost you less than a genuine back box alone. You can buy OEM parts a lot cheaper from Japan or the UAE and there is Rockauto over the pond.

The Japanese think of everything, my Celsior even has a mini factory fitted waste bin with removable caddy in the passenger footwell.

Drag coefficients don’t seem to improved much over the last 30 years

Hi Michael and welcome to the LOC. I already own 2 JDM imports both Toyota Celsiors a 1994 and 2004 model year (LS400/430) the Lexus brand name was not used in Japan until 2006. I don’t think they have the conventional VIN we have here in the UK, I have 2 JDM imports and the DVLA use the format as shown below. You may also find that Lexus UK will have no information on the car, I even wrote a letter to the previous Japanese owner on one but never got a response. On my 1994 their is an ID plate attached to the driver’s side inner wing have you looked under the covers? If you want to know what the tax disc looking sticker is on the top corner of the passenger side windscreen check one of my other posts, also have a look under the passenger side footwell for a black plastic tube, the red flare is generally missing due to fire risk.

Een erg mooie auto om te zien 😀

Expedited delivery normally within 3 days but obviously add shipping and pre paid VAT.

IIRC You can appeal any MOT decision not just a failure but also any advisories but you then have to leave the car untouched until an inspection is carried out. It sounds like your mechanic didn’t miss them but found them completely serviceable hence no previous mention. I also assume your mechanic did not check the condition of the advisory parts again before removal and just replaced them as requested. I’ve mentioned this before but when I took my Celsior for it’s first MOT under my ownership I took it to a multi business local place who also did repairs and servicing. Advisories were scored brake discs and cracking flexible brake hoses. After that test it has always been taken to the same small independent garage just down the road. Another 14 MOT tests with the exact same discs and flexible hoses still fitted and not a mention of either on the certificate since. Yes certainly irritating but there’s no going back now, Halfrauds or Kwik Fit for the MOT by any chance?

Great report there Tony, I can’t believe that boot space, 3 trips to the tip for me and just one for you 😀

Very nice. Just looked up the price of new wheels but no pricing yet, if a dealer won’t replace them they must be very expensive!

Yay that brings back some memories, my Dad had an A35 in grey 490 DAU, the indicator is the black and cream knob on the dash. The big end started knocking and it cost him £20.00 for the rebuild, parts and labour.

Lexus hybrids don’t have a conventional engine driven alternator the 12v battery charge comes from the hybrid power unit.

I use the premixed blue stuff in 5 litre containers as supplied by my ex employer which I genuinely forgot to return when I left. 😀 This got me thinking about the contents of this stuff and after searching Dr.Google it would appear than the main constituents in this stuff are water and ethanol. Ethanol eh, now doesn’t this same stuff apparently damage rubber components within the fuel system if they are not ethanol resistant. So what about the seals in the washer pump and the pipes to the jets? Are all these already ethanol resistant on all cars irrespective of age?

Hi Adrian and welcome to the LOC. Try a google search for “Toyota Aristo short drop links” the Aristo was the Japanese version of the GS300 and there are a lot more tuning parts available for them. There are some universal adjustable drop links available too.

My local Esso station has a promotion on at the moment for toilet rolls...now that is really taking the pistrol.

So you are going to be without a Lexus for 4 months, I know what you will be wanting for Christmas never mind the end of March 😀 I don’t blame you though, prices are going through the roof at the moment.

The link I gave to Rockauto is for the IS300 kit.

Yep, Gates have a good reputation in general but the last Gates thermostat I bought was made in China and leaked like a sieve as the housing seal was too thin. Aisin are the OEM parts, all Lexus auto transmissions are Rockauto prices are pretty good even with shipping and VAT added. https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/lexus,2004,is300,3.0l+l6,1426070,engine,timing+belt%2C+water+pump+&+component+kit,16088

If you post it up following the correct format as linked by Zoricib I may just be able to ignore the fact it is a MB. Otherwise the post will have to be removed and crushed 😀😀😀

Aisin 😀

Not sure if this has been posted before but makes interesting reading. https://garagedreams.net/buyers-guide/lexus-ls-430-toyota-celsior-buyers-guide-history

Winner, cheapest I found for a genuine battery just now was £199.00 and that was fit yourself so that is a bargain, they also normally have a 3 year warranty too. Half the Halfrauds price!!!!

Hi Tim and welcome to the LOC. Some generic code readers don’t work on Lexus, Toyota Techstream is the factory diagnostics, you can obtain the software through certain sources 😉 Obviously without codes it’s educated guesswork but check your O2 sensors as these have been known to cause this fault especially as the fault re-appears within 15 minutes of driving pointing towards O2 sensor heater failure which you can check with a multimeter.

A couple of possible causes have been mentioned previously, the rear window bonding fails allowing water to seep past the glass into the boot area (apparently there was a faulty batch) and less likely is blocked rear light cluster drains.

Ola Pablo and welcome to the LOC. Where in Spain are you located?

Up to £3400.00 at the moment. I was quite impressed initially, the interior looked good until I zoomed in on the driver’s seat ( coincidentally no picture shown from that side) and noticed the usual wear and engrained dirt. The pictures of the sill rot on both sides and every rusty nut and bolt in the engine bay quickly finished my browsing! I wonder how many re-lists for this one?