Haylands

If you need your aircon recharging get it done ASAP, The price of the gas has TRIPPLED and some places are charging £130 + to refil a system, shop around and some are still at the old prices...

Ratchet spanner, stubby spanner, obstruction spanner or a 1/4" drive socket set, they tend to have a driver with very fine ratchet mechanism and flexible drives... A few here.... http://www.halfords.com/workshop-tools/tools/spanners-wrenches?pageNo=1&pageSize=21&sort=we_recommend I used to spend some of the money I would have spent on Labour on some tools on every job I did, you soon end up with a very comprehensive tool set, donkeys years since any nut has been an issue... Good Luck

How is the space tight, do you mean no room to turn a spanner or no room to get one on, or something else......??

I have found in the past that those tape adapters don't line up well with the tape head, which gives your symptoms and others, if the sound is OK on a cd or radio then the adapter is the issue...

I just bought a pair of plates from our local Lexus dealer as I prefer having Lexus at the bottom of the plate than some unknown firm... It was £18 for the pair and they didn't want to see any paperwork, they are good quality and are made of aluminium not plastic...

Looks nice, wheels need a refurb and by the looks of the scratches to the side of the front bumper the owner lived down a country road.. check the rest of the sides for bush rash, silver is very good at hiding scratches... Then get the longest warranty you can....

Pete, It has a primary and secondary filtering system with quad main Racor filters filtering down to 5 microns, it also has a KTI fuel polishing system that will polish the diesel and pump it from one tank to another (It has four tanks and holds 750 gallons) you can get filters down to 1 micron for the polishing system but this is not deemed necessary on an old 2 stroke normally aspirated diesel, dirty fuel or dirty tanks is one of the main reasons for engine problems when in a big sea so the previous owner has spent a considerable sum on ensuring the fuel is clean and kept that way. Thanks for the thought though...

Jon, A boat is a hole in the water you throw money in...!! they are not cheap but there are now plenty of DIY yards around that will let you work on your own boat, as with most things labour is the biggest spend and I plan on doing 99% of the work myself... to get it hauled and the bottom pressure washed is only a few hundred dollars... This boat is set up to live for extended periods away from the dock in which case there are no mooring fees, once out in the islands the only costs are fuel and food, having two small diesels Barefoot Lady does 3.5 MPG (Imp Gallons) which is very good for a boat, a lot do less than 1 and some do GPM..!! It "should" be cheaper than running a house.. IMHO I think your guy is part right, with the coolant being changed at the correct intervals the anti corrosion additives should work well and you will be OK, if the vehicle stands for long periods or does a lot of under 50 mile trips (it takes at least 50 miles to fully warm up an engine and get even temps throughout) this can lead to sludge building up within a cooling system, the sludge causes corrosion which leads to the internal failure of the radiator and damage to the gearbox, even topping up the coolant with normal tap water can start the process off... The air to air oil cooler is an insurance policy, with it you will never have to worry about a new gearbox. The choice is obviously with the owner, mine was already done so I don't have to decide... if I did I probably wouldn't bother as I over service my cars anyway... Also it is very difficult for him to advise on an item designed and tested by someone else so his advise will always follow Lexus protocol...!! Mine will get a good check over in the next couple of weeks, apparently a lot of maintenance has been done but I will be checking anyway.... The previous owner stated he changed all the fluids but I will be going over the whole car soon and make sure it is all OK....

Well if your interested... It's a 1976 Hatteras 42 LRC (Long Range Cruiser) It has been totally refitted during the last four years, every major component has been rebuilt or replaced, the previous owner spent close to three times the price we paid on the refit, it cost 27 times more than the Lexus.... Brief specification... The Hull is solid fiberglass approaching an inch and a half thick and is built like a tank, that is why it is worth refitting a 42 year old boat Detroit Diesel 4-53s that were completely rebuilt, along with her transmissions, in 2016 less than 800 hours. 7.5kn at 1,500rpm using 3.1GPH (Detroit Diesels are 2 stroke diesels and very simple, these are around 3.5ltrs and 4 cylinder) Rocna Fortress 33 kg anchor with 240 feet of chain, 300 feet of rode—new 2014. This is heavy ground tackle. We have never slipped anchor, even in gales. Bruce standby anchor with 300 feet of rode. Fortress emergency anchor with a lot of rode. Sea anchor Garmin radar, Garmin 7212 touch screen chart plotters at both helms, new 2014 Raymarine autopilot with remote, new 2014 Raymarine depth sounder, new 2015 Active AIS, transmit and receive, that plays on the Garmin. Pipewelder deck crane (we use it as an emergency crane) Trinka hand built 10’ rowing, sailing, power dinghy with 2 1/4 horsepower Honda outboard, new 2014. This is a beautiful, beautiful tender. She rows and sails like a dream, and powers well at hull speed. KTI fuel polisher, new 2014 Full steering system overhauled 2016 Cruise RO 20 gph water maker, new 2015. All parts are off the shelf and available world wide. Three Standard horizon VHFs with DSC, MMSI, etc. New 2014 and 2016. We use three radios often in busy harbors or in bad weather. Icom Single Sideband radio, new 2015. Long range VHS and SSB antennas. We have received VHF nearly 50 miles offshore, and received SSB from thousands of miles away. PSS dripless shaft seals, new 2016 Racor dual manifold primary filters (4 filters total) with vacuum gauges, new 2014 Bilge pump cycle counters, bilge high water alarms, new 2015 Custom Glastop settee, new 2014 Teak and holly sole, new 2014 We have replaced five port lights in the last few years, and rebedded the others. They’re tight. No leaks at all Two new custom built teak side doors. Deck nonskid paint will be new as of 2018. Freshwater & Sal****er washdown pumps Clipper anenometer and wind direction, new 2016 Bottom soda blasted, epoxy barrier coated and painted with Petit Trinidad in 2016. Hull has no blisters. Two main props and two spare props in lazarette reconditioned and balanced in 2017. One is new. All canvas and isenglass new 2015 Shaft Shark line cutters ahead of props. Shaft Savers to dampen shaft vibrations (and to make space for the Shaft Sharks). 6 group 31s plus three cranking batteries. They are Exide 31XPDs New 2018 Two Solbian 200W flexible solar panels on the bimini 2015 Three Cruisaire units, one for each community compartment. Two are relatively new. One is older. New sea water pump and most hoses new 2017 Wedge desk with monitor on arm to make forward V birth an office. Mast trimmed to allow 17 foot clearance in fresh water (with folding anchor light down and anemometer removed). You can get under all the bridges on the Great Loop. 10 Taylor fenders, plus two large ball fenders Heavy duty twin 30 foot snubbers, plus one light duty 18 foot snubber. Lifesling rescue throwable with line. Emergency boarding ladder Swim platform and folding swim latter Stainless railing. No teak on deck, except for bow pulpit. New carpet fore and aft in 2014. Washer/Dryer Princess propane stovetop and oven, new 2014 Corian counter top, new 2014 Raritan PuraSan Type 1 MSD, new 2016 All sanitary hoses and PVC new 2016 Vacu-Flush toilets use 1/2 pint of fresh water a flush. 2017 Freshwater and deckwash pumps new 2017 Four person life raft, new 2015, Westerbeke 7.6KW Gen Set new 2014 450hrs Brownies 120V surface air supply (a hookah) with 60 feet of hose and a secondary regulator and mouthpiece 2014 Spotless engine room Beautiful teak and mahogany interior A serious amount of money has been spent on electronics, twin 12" Garmin headunits with integrated radar, transmit and receive AIS, programmable autopilot , there is around $6,000 just in HD maps alone... We were very lucky and happened to be in the right place at the right time..... The gearbox oil cooler is the one being sold on eBay I haven't had it in the air to see it yet but it's got to be better than letting the original fail and take out the gearbox... The naivety of most Americans in their own country is astonishing, I do actually enjoy being there though.... weird...!!! Panama City FL, where the boat is, is very close to Alabama so they say "yau'll have a nice day now" We hired a GMC Yukon XL, they are massive and we enjoyed the 4,000 miles we did around Florida, the roads are easy and most of the locals are very friendly and helpful... Anyway back to the important bit... the Lexus is still doing well, I popped into Lexus this morning and ordered a set of number plates with my personal reg on and asked for some carpet mat clips, they found some clips and gave me them FOC and the number plates will be ready in a few days.. Been having a look around and cleaning it a bit and the 4 new tyres are the wrong size...!! they are 225/45/18's and it should have 245/45/18's it's only 18mm less on the diameter and 20mm on the width, not a huge issue but another reason to get rid of the Pirelli run flats which are quite noisy and hard... The aircon does have gas in it as the valve hisses when I shoved a key in it but not enough to get the air cool... it was cold the day I picked it up so difficult to tell... I'll pop and see a little man I know who can top it up.... It has one front parking sensor that has failed so I have ordered 6 new ones for the front from some guy in China who can make 6 and send them halfway around the world for a total cost of less than £25 for all of them, and he is still making a profit...!!! Apart from that it all seems good...

We don't plan to spend too long in the USA, their terrorist paranoia has led to Homeland Security making it difficult for foreign nationals to own US registered boats or cruise in US waters, it's much worse than it used to be... they think we are all terrorists...!!! We have had to unregister and undocument the boat in the US and then register it with the SSR at Lloyds and will sail it under the red ensign... we plan to head south and spend some years exploring the 700 islands that make up the Caribbean.... Lots do it, Barefoot Lady is an ocean going full displacement trawler and is set up to live on the hook, we will avoid marinas as much as we can, however if we were looking for property in a foreign land I think we would buy a boat and live in a Marina... there are some great ones in Southern Florida... Just get good hurricane insurance...

Boats in US, car and me are in the UK... That's the problem...!!! Oh yes, thanks...

Some of you will remember my brush with a 460 last year... thread here... It was a Friday car, I hated it anyway as it felt like a BMW and not a Lexus, it was an expensive mistake but who makes money on cars...!!! It did make me miss my old 430 that I had to sell for medical reasons (mine, not the cars..!!)... now I have two new hips and a new knee I can get in and out of them again so I started looking last year for a facelifted 430.... well it turns out that there are a lot of overpriced tatty cars out there and after hundreds of miles looking at rusty, bent and abused cars I gave up as the other part of our latest master plan was getting close, we had sold the house and downsized and it was time to actually move and get on with it... Kids have left home and we can just about afford to retire... my various smashed up bits of body hate the cold weather so we decided to be snowbirds and head for the heat during our cold wet winters... So at the beginning of February we caught the big white bird over the pond and landed in Miami for a spot of boat shopping... to cut a long story short after 5 weeks we had found and bought one in Panama City FL, up on the panhandle... We have a few commitments this year so had to wrap her up and leave her in a yard till we return after the hurricane season towards the end of the year... So... back to Lexus.... we will only be here for around 6 months a year so another 430 seemed like a good idea, well made enough to not worry about sitting going nowhere for 6 months.... Yesterday I managed to find one that fitted the bill... a 2004 LS430 facelift in Blue Onyx Pearl with Light Gray leather 123,000 miles, full history, nice clean condition, no dents scapes or rust, near mint interior, drives as it should and has 4 new Pirellies. I love the colour combination and the guy was keen to shift it as he had already got it's replacement so a deal was done at £3,700 and the next 240 miles wafted by in serenity.... It is a joy to drive, so much nicer than the 460 and smoother than the earlier 5 speed 430..... It has a few small cosmetic issues that I will get sorted. Mechanically the Pirellies are runflats and give a hard ride, and are also the wrong size so I will have to see how much they annoy me and may change them... The steering wheel up/down motor has failed, refurbished ones at a reasonable price are available now. The aircon does have some gas in but is not very cold so I will get it recharged, and one front parking sensor has failed. The wheels could do with a refurb but aren't too bad.. On the plus side it has had the cambelt and waterpump done, all the cabin filters replaced, the modified gearbox oil cooler mod has been done and it even has the latest sat nav disc.... So I'm sort of a happy bunny now... can't wait to get back out to the boat but at least I have somewhere nice to sit in the meantime.....!! (460 owners, please don't take offence at my comments about them, I love the look of them and admire the technology but personally they just don't do it for me...)

Sorry, must have thought I was on the other forum I subscribe to, pretty sure you can't get them off without removing the bumper, it is only a 10min job though, much easier with two as well... Good Luck

Most proprietary leather cleaners/conditioners will remove it, or saddle soap, I usually slather on a thick coat of conditioner, leave it for 30 mins, then wipe on, and off, some more when it has had a chance to soften the stain.... Be careful if you have perforated leather as it's a pain to get out of the holes if you lay it on thick...!!! Mind you some years ago I bought a Grand Voyager to take extended family on holiday as it was cheaper than hiring one for a week, the beige leather seats looked black, I totally wetted them out with Mr Muscle and then scrubbed them with a scrubbing brush, made sure I washed it all off and they came up like new, I fed them once a week for a month... I sold the car to a mate who had it for 3 years and no detriment came to the leather, still looked good when he sold it, so you can go mad as long as you make sure you clean it well off the surface....!!!!!! Lots of kits around to restore headlights, it doesn't last long as the UV protection is the first thing that goes, hopefully Jon can find out what they used...

Chris, Yep, I'm in no rush... we have now found a truly immaculate SC430 for my brother, 2007 60,000miles, Full Lexus history incl cam belt, one lady owner, Jean stain on drivers seat which has come off, apart from that, superb... so just a decent LS to find... Any details on the UV coat, didn't know they did such a thing... Cheers

Jon, Looks nice, wonder how long the headlights will last, the Toyota ones lose their UV protection when you polish them and they are back yellow in a few months... hope the Lexus ones are better plastic...!!!

Jon, good idea, if you have a nice one, keep it and spend some money on it, not a lot around to replace it at the moment... Don't forget some pictures when you get it back....

Malcolm, Decent respectable car dealers are unfortunately few and far between these days and when looking for a Lexus you don't get to pick a dealer, you are stuck with the ones that have the car you are after.... Phil, That red Lexus is a southern Irish import, and no matter what the seller says it will NOT be a UK spec car, it will be an EU spec RHD and as such will be different... They are hard to sell and are not worth what a UK spec car will go for, there is also no way to check the mileage apart from what the dealer says as it has no MOT history, paperwork is easy to forge and clocking a Lexus can be done with some software and a mobile phone and lead... I'm not saying it's not a good car or buy but it has a lot of risk with it.... The hunt continues.................

Right, not a good idea to get your brother to check over a car when he is waiting for two cataract operations, the 430 was the biggest pile of crap you have ever seen, every panel needed repainting, wheels were awful (no surprise there) the interior was appalling, every seat was damaged, not worn but damaged, the center console and dash was chipped scratched and worn... I could go on..... It had been hit in the rear and the bumper was badly bent out of shape and so was the rear panel, there was evidence of water ingress into the passenger compartment (rust up under dash and even the seat belt metal ends were rusty!!) and the boot.... several stored fault codes that I didn't bother going into... And it was described as immaculate, with no bodywork damage, it had both rear arches scraped, golf ball dent on rear wing, damage to front bumper and one front wing, as well as the already mentioned paintwork damage everywhere.... all four doors had been repeatedly smashed into whatever was in the way and one rear door was actually bent where it had been smashed into things... I'm not saying who is selling it but it is a 2006 Canterbury Blue with Ivory interior, if anyone wants the reg or more details of it, so as to avoid it like the plague then let me know... Nothing else on the market interests me at the moment, I want a facelifted LS430, all on sale at present are the wrong colour or age, or so ridiculously priced I'm not paying it.... I'm in no rush, something will come up... I don't want a low mileage car I would rather have a high mileage, low mileage cars suffer from more problems than high in my experience. The SC we looked at on the way down looked lovely in the pictures and again was described as immaculate and the bodywork was pretty good but the inside had been "smart repaired" on both seats, the door card and areas of the dash and the work was not very good, it also had the rear silencers removed so sounded like an 18years olds Corsa... We also went to look at a 16,000mile SC430 at a Lexus dealer, (my brother doesn't agree with my dislike of low mileage cars) they are asking £17,000 for it, top money, it again was awful, front bumper badly damaged and scraped, dent on the roof, serious stone chips down the nearside, damaged leather on driver's seat, both headlights badly sun damaged, Lexus response, I couldn't believe it.... Leave a deposit and we will get the mobile painter to sort the bodywork and the trim, so another smart repair that will last a few months and then look awful, and we "may" change the headlights or have them refurbished ie, polished and it will return in a few months!!!!! They would also "probably" change the cam belt......... What is it with Lexus, as bad as the private dealers..... Rant over....

It's not that one, hate the colour personally.... I'll let you know when we have picked it up, don't want to Jinx it... It's not on eBay though.... At the moment we are waiting for the AA as my brother who is taking me has locked his keys in his car......Doh.......... We are driving from Hull to Middlesex to pick it up and stopping on the way to look at a nice SC430 which my brother fancies, he's been looking for one for a while... If he buys it the logistics of getting all the cars to where they need to go will be a nightmare and a lot of driving...!!!!!!

The clue was in the first sentence....!!! Deposit paid, pick it up tomorrow......

You lot keep on talking about an off topic car, I'll go and start a new thread about my new one, which is a 430, not a 400..........

I am weird and much prefer the look of the 430 to the 400.....!!!

See this thread.... Irrespective of the faults the 460 IMHO is NOT a Lexus, it is Lexus's copy of a BMW or Merc, the 430 "feels" like an early LS400 and that's what I want, a good 460 is a great car, sadly just not a Lexus.....

Well after a few months off, recovering from 460 ownership, I'm back to a 430..... My southern Lexus inspection technician (my brother actually) is examining a nice example tomorrow and if it lives up to the hype it will be the latest mode of transport.... I'm not saying anything else, I don't want to jinx it.....