willydoit

Hi all, sorry for the delay in getting back, covid jab knocked me off my feet for a couple of days. I have removed the headlight and there was far more water in there than I realised, most of which would appear to have been sat in the ballast housing 😞 I cannot see any obvious areas where the water could have got in yet though. Anyway am replacing the ballast hopefully today if it arrives in time and I am also replacing the two hid bulbs. Just a note to be aware of for others looking to replace these bulbs. I purchased two Osram cool blue DS2 from amazon which according to the listing and the Amazon garage element were the correct ones for my vehicle, after fitting the lights would turn off after a few seconds. Turns out they are not the right ones, the correct ones on mine are DS4 so I know it causes delays but if changing yours I would suggest removing and checking the version from the old bulb before ordering a replacement. Not sure how easy it will be to replace the ballast in respect of routing the cable inside the headlight so any experienced help there would be appreciated. Thanks all who offered advice

Hi all, looking to replace the ballast on our 2006/7 sc430, has anyone managed to do this without removing additional components on the headlight to route the ballast cap to the bulb? If other elements need removing can someone advise which element is best to remove to facilitate the routing of the lead without the risk of breaking anything or causing any alignment issues. Thanks in advance for any help

Thanks Malc, I will have a look at it all tomorrow, just got back from my covid jab so that's my lot for today 🙂 from what I have seen, HID bulbs produce more heat than halogens so that may well do the trick, fingers crossed.

Look forward to following your youtube videos do you have a link?

Hi, thanks for that, I will check the caps before delving into removal and testing for leaks, unfortunately a new sc headlight seems to be around £600 so need to try all possible alternatives before going that route 🙂

Hi all, our 2006 SC430 facelift model has moisture in the nearside headlight and just recently the headlight is failing intermittently, with an MOT due before putting it back on the road I need to resolve the issue. The obvious solution to the moisture would be to replace the nearside headlight unit but finding one in the UK isnt easy so it looks like I will need to remove it, source the leak, repair and replace, not ideal but seems the only solution so any advice on that would be welcome. If anyone has a n/side headlight unit for sale please let me know. The second issue is the intermittent failure of that units headlight, not sure if it is connected to the moisture issue, moisture is just moisture, there isnt any puddles of water in the headlight. Not sure if this is likely to be simply a bulb issue or a ballast issue so again any advice on likelihood of culprit would be appreciated. If I am going to have to remove bumpers etc I may as well replace the bulbs anyway but would welcome advice on what bulbs UK users have replaced theirs with as there seems to be a plethora of options and like others have said, I don't want to make a mistake and end up with having to replace them again in the near future. If I am having to replace the bulbs I would like to achieve an upgrade in performance if possible and would welcome feedback from those who have changed their bulbs, their experience and the bulbs used. I am not a mechanic and it has been many years since I got my hands dirty but resent the sort of charges a dealer would make just for changing headlight bulbs so again any/all advice is welcome. Thanks in advance for any help provided.

Hi Herbie, thanks for that, found it under the glovebox tucked right up behind on near side. You need to be a midget contortionist t see it let alone access it.

Hi John only handbook I have is for sat nav etc, doesn;t have fuse locations.

Hi all, I have a UK 2007 rx350 and cannot find the interior fusebox to install a constant feed to a new dashcam. I have looked online and the advice seems to be that it is on the drivers side under the steering column but it's not there, I have a knee airbag assembly there. I have checked passenger side around glovebox area also. Surely a fusebox should be easily accessible!! Would be grateful if someone could advise where else this interior fusebox should/could be located. Thanks in advance

Thanks both for the input, as issue occurred over the weekend have not been able to discuss with the garage. Will contact them today to check what was changed and with what.

Hi Phil, unfortunately your post couldn't have been better timed as we had the car in Lexus yesterday as while the original problem with our roof started as a rare occurrence it has become far more regular the last couple of weeks, probably due to the extra use the good weather has brought. I found that when the issue occurred the roof would go up or down fully but not register completion in order to generate the beep prior to the Windows going back up. I calculated that the issue was something in the front near side of the boot mechanism as more often than not a small amount of downward pressure in this area of the boot lid while the switch was being pressed would be sufficient to complete the operation. Recently this hasn't been as effective although sometimes just turning off the engine and restarting it then pressing the roof switch to complete the cycle would work which made me think there was possibly an adjustment needed perhaps on a sensor/switch. As mentioned, I had it in Lexus Hull yesterday who advised that their diagnostic showed a sensor error however I suspect that this may have been due to the roof sequence currently being in a state of none completion. My personal view is that it is still an adjustment issue as they advised the sensor error code couldn't be reset yet my issue is intermittent which doesn't make much sense if the fault is due to a permanent failure of a component part. they advised a replacement sensor would be around £100 however the sensor concerned is apparent buried deep in the boot system and requires 6 hours labour to replace taking the bill up to £700 plus vat. Having got the car back they confirmed that it was an adjustment issue which they rectified for £185 and roof has worked fine since. If no error codes I would definitely advise getting them to check for adjustment issues. Hope this helps.

Hi all, after recent service by indie garage during which the diff oil was changed the car seems a little sluggish and I have noticed occasions when the car is not being held when in drive or reverse on an incline. Could this just be coincidence or could incorrect or low diff oil cause these issues? car is 2006 with just under 46k miles. Thanks in advance for any info

FREE to anyone who can make use of them. I have two Dunlop Sport 270 tyres from a RX350 size is 235/55 R18 99V both are road legal but have been running out slightly on the inside. Location is Nr Driffield East Yorkshire. PM me or reply in thread if you can use them. Collection only.

Hi, I managed to get one from someone who was breaking one on ebay, cost £55. I thnk. I did try to contact Kyle mentioned in an earlier post but he was on holiday in Korea, it may be worth trying to contact him as he did have one but I had already got sorted by the time I heard back from him. Hope this helps.

Regardless of what I may think of the tactics employed in purchasing the car from me, as the owner of the car for 10 years from 7,500 miles to its present mileage I have to say that I think £6k is a fair price for the car. I doubt that anyone purchasing the car at that price would have cause to complain as the car is what I consider to be immaculate inside and out. I have replaced it with a 2007 SC430 with 42k miles and a 2007 RX350 with 56k miles and despite being almost 10 years newer and similar or less miles neither of them come close to the condition of the LS400 when I sold it back in August. I have nothing to gain by saying so, and under the circumstances I am not looking to do the guy who bought it from me any favours but that car needs to be owned by someone who can appreciate it and would be well worth a look by anyone who is looking for an exceptional LS400.

Between the SC and the RX we have covered all our needs. There are 05-06 ones out there, few and far between so finding a good one as well is more difficult. We didnt manage to get one in the lower tax bracket but found one with 45k on the clock which fit the bill for us so decided to put up with the extra tax. It does sting though when you consider we are paying £20 tax per week just to park them on the drive :megaangry: I remember when the government was considering getting rid of road tax but putting petrol up to £1.00 per GALLON and there was an outcry. Seems like a damn good deal to me now.

The problem I had was that after having an LS400 for 10 years which still had only 56k on the clock when I sold it last month, I assumed that all Lexus vehicles were as bullet proof as the LS400 which just isnt the case. As good as all Lexus vehicles are they have never managed to build a car like the LS400. In 10 years the LS400 never had a day in the garage that wasnt for a service and cost me nothing beyond servicing. I have the SC430 now and an RX350 and I dont have the same level of confidence in either that I had in the LS. All that said, they are still good cars however I have had to seek out a good independent garage that specialises in Lexus that I didnt need to have with the LS.

Hi Chris, Thanks, as you suspected we did manage to purchase a 2007 SC430, I think the main changes we wanted to take advantage of occurred in 2006 so hopefully we achieved the objective.

I was the OP with the rear wheel noise, turned out to be the nearside rear wheel bearing. I also replaced all the tyres with the Nexens, I cannot give much of a noise review on them as it is one of the things that particularly annoys me and I think my expectations and desires are a bit unreasonable when it comes to a quiet car. Around where I live most of our roads are covered in the "lets dump a load of chippings and get the car drivers to bed them in for us" type of surfaces which I find extremely noisy whatever car I am in. However on the odd occasion that I find a stretch of properly tarmac'd road the Nexens are very quiet. As a sedate driver I cannot comment on road handling and grip as I havent had occassion to need to put them to the test.

It makes the one recently at 5k a hell of a bargain because its the same one, I sold it to a guy in Scotland who said he was helping his dad buy it as he was a lexus enthusiast and really missed his old one which he was forced to sell, because I thought it was going to an enthusiast who would continue to look after it As I had done I let it go for 4k as I was fed up of constantly changing my mind over whether to sell it or not. Low and behold 4 weeks later its now being advertised for £7k!!! If he makes £3k profit off it in 4 weeks I am definately going into the used car game.Last time I do anyone a favour for a sob story. Best of luck to the guy if he can get £7k for it, if he does I can at least take some pride in the way I looked after it for the last 10 years. Have to laugh at the best car he has ever owned line though, he hasn't had it more than 4 weeks....

Yes we just went with a standard silver type shade which looks nice against the metallic colour of the wheel inserts. A major factor in the colour change was due to managing to kerb one of the wheels which stood out like a sore thumb with the darker coloured wheels whereas we thought by painting them a standard silver any future scuffs will be less obvious.

Just a quick update, had a closer look at things yesterday and found a small Label that had at sometime been stuck to part of the roof mechanism which had come off and was loose near the offside boot hinge. Removed that and at the moment everything seems to be operating fine, touch wood. Hopefully it was just the stray label interfering with a sensor. Will monitor things over next few days.

Thanks for that, I have checked the fuses in the boot which I believe are for the roof and they are all fine, also tried disconnecting the battery but the red light still stays on permanently on the roof switch when the ignition is on. That said, after the battery is disconnected it will allow the roof to open and close just once. I am however concerned that it may stick in the open position if I push my luck and we dont have anywhere undercover to store the car.I did have a look at all obvious hinge areas while the roof was stopped in different stages of opening but couldnt see anything obvious that was wrong. What I did note was that even on opening, once the roof is in the boot the front windows do not return up even with the roof button still held down, so the failure of the windows to close isnt just happening when the roof is being closed. I am suspecting therefor that whatever the issue is it would seem to be some element which is used in checking the roof or boot lid position in both open and closed positions which may help track the issue down. Is there a sensor to say the boot is pulled down and locked in place?, what is the last check performed by the car before it starts to close the windows? I could see a number of the blue micro switches and while I couldnt get to many of them they all seemed to be clear of any debris. I suspect it is going to need someone who is familiar with the roof mechanism or has access to Lexus diag information to track this one down. The fact that I have been able to operate the roof after the fault and albeit with the permanently lit roof switch gives me hope that it isnt a motor issue unless there is more than one and one isnt working. With the roof closed and pressing the close roof button I can hear movement which seems to be coming from the nearside boot area as though it is trying to lock something down but as mentioned I cannot see anything which is obviously wrong. As seems to be my luck, the Lexus guy at my Indy garage has just gone on holiday for 2 weeks and it looks as though we are going to have a few days of sunshine at long last that I am going to miss out on.

Hi all, today when closing the roof on a 2006 sc430 we noticed that despite holding down the roof button the front windows did not close after the roof had closed, they did however close with the switches on the door. We then noticed that the roof open button was showing red as though the roof hadn't completed closing although the roof was up. Any attempts to open the roof since fails. It sounds as though the roof locks are operating and if you press the close button to try to complete the close process the front windows drop but that's it. I have checked the valet switch in the glove box and the petrol filler cap opens from the interior switch however the boot does not open with the interior switch, although it will open using the keyfob. The boot cover is also properly in place. Can anyone provide any advice on what to check next please. Thanks in advance

The guy at the Indy garage reckons the AA parts and garage cover is one of the best, have just had a look and for £270.01 I can get National Recovery, + at Home + Forward Travel + Car Hire and Accommodation if they cannot get us home + Parts and Garage cover and a £75.00 petrol voucher bringing the cost down to £195.00 to cover both the RX350 and the SC430 for either myself or my wife driving. Having spoken to an AA rep a few minutes ago, had I had these items in place when bringing the 350 back from scotland and then noticing the rumbling, if I had called the AA to investigate they would have taken the car to the Garage for me and covered the cost of the Wheel Bearing replacement. You can claim up to £500 per incident and up to five claims a year (wear and tear not covered obviously) sounds like a good deal to me and pretty good peace of mind for less than a couple of hundred quid a year covering two Lexus's and can be purchased a lot cheaper if you opted for less options.