Cotswold Pete

Is the noise a hiss like white noise or more like pink noise, or is it some kind of warbling. Any chance you could capture the noise on mobile phone and put MP3 file up here. Does sound odd that it happens when engine off, but possible that some electronics in the is still sending junk up the voltage rails which the FM head end (or the FM modulator) is picking up. The pioneer unit is not the quietest in terms of it's noise floor, but I only notice this when stationary and quiet music (really quiet) and volume cranked up.

But so far no one has woken up and smelt the coffee🍮

I have a had a few of those, and the ones that do eventually turn up for the free goods, and make you feel like it was your fault they could not turn up at a time better suited to the giver. But most freecycle bods are fine its just the odd one now and again that make me think 'Would have been easier to have taken to local tip'

Amsterdam seems to be a case of bike-overload, which is as bad a car overload in other places. I used to like Amsterdam but became more crowed than ever with tourist and much preferred Antwerp - plenty of bikes, but less busy/mad/urgent but walking the pavements you do have to dodge the bikes hanging off drain pipes etc. Have cycled around Paris on one of their 'Boris Bikes', now that was an adventure not to be repeated in a hurry. But my moan of the day (given the high number of local roadwork traffic lights) is people who seem to wait for the green light and then spend 5 seconds selecting first, meaning if you are the back, you get the next red light and a unnecessary delay.

Just got back on-line after a break up north, Stroud to Chester, then on up to Ambleside. The wife drove her Mazda 2. Economical (not so quiet at 60-70). Got in the LS400 to go to work, and just lovely, silence, power, comfy. we are privliged. Only reason wife drove is due to my long covid means after about 2 hours driving my body just wants to go to sleep and she hates my car for being big. I did make her go over Wrynose and Hardknott Pass, she was not impressed. I was; she did it 10 minutes quicker than Google traffic said was possible. I suspect my trip to Rannoch in Mar 2022 will be in a Mazda, but hey it does over 60 the gallon

Well going back to the original question, I found this web site that implies that to build an average car takes the equivalent of 31 full tanks of petrol. So maybe we extrapolate that to a Lexus as being 2 time more energy intensive. So 61 tanks of fuel. https://www.motorbiscuit.com/how-much-energy-to-build-a-car/ However this does not take into account the energy required to make the sheet metal, the number of cow farts that helped create the leather for the seats (or the energy input to the cow - I know you could then eat the cow, but not if you are a veggie like me). But it does seem like within a few years your new car has paid it's eco-dues. But none of this takes into account the energy required to build the original car factory, and the energy used to re-config the production line when the model comes to end of life and new tools needed make the next model. So this to me suggests the view ( I heard somewhere in the mists of time) that a new car will take (for the average driver) about 7 to 10 years to use the same amount of fuel that was used to dig it out the ground and then turn it into a car. Given cars do last more than 10 years, then might make sense to recycle them at that point. I think if cars were newly invented today they would be banned as 'not good', just like cigarettes and alcohol would be banned, but the genie is out of the bottle, and he ain't going back in any time soon.

Well done Neil Oliver for pointing out the hypocrisy, but we all hypocrites, and thinking that going EV is the answer is a falsehood. IMHO the answer is to work local, buy local and maybe use the car for highdays and holidays (but not too many). However that is not gonig to happen, not because politicians are ineffective, but surely the masses are not to keen on going back to walking to work in clogs and eating bread and (veggie) dripping every day. I know I am not to keen on going back to the middle ages (or the pre-industrial age), but industry will always make and create energy, which will surely (no matter what) have a less than postive impact. If the Persians could easily turn their grasslands (Eden) into desert so easily 5000 years ago with with their low tech water screws, and the Phoenicians could destroy Pheonix (Arizona) many centries ago with their low tech farming techniques, then anything more 'intense' is surely - in the long run - on a hiding to nothing. BUT being a hypocrite I am not getting rid of my 4litre beast just yet, and I will keep it gonig as long as possible to extract maximum energy input from that original build back in 2000.

Yep, Osaka in Newport I have used them a few times, chap who runs it seems to know his stuff https://osakanewport.co.uk/ About 15 min drive from J24, just off A48 right by the old Transport Bridge

I wonder what state the original Lexus wheels are in. Seems darned dodgy driving as is. Also it looks far too tidy a car in the photos, and if I lived in Stoke On Trent I would be curious enough to look. But have put it on 'Watch List' to see if it goes

I am thinking that anything that making the lens surface as smooth as possible is the trick to having the cleaning work for longer. Any micro-scratches left act as little gutters for water to sit, and then bacteria to fester, and the lenses go cloudy. Not quite sure what the UV protection adds, but I know they work. Maybe it protects the lens from being chemically ruptured by sun light, which would then stop more un-eveness being created where water and bacteria could do there thing. I agree Mk3 headlights the best, and the foglights way better than the Mk4, but I think it was the law that said glass headlamps need to go because of injuries caused in a collision, I assume with a pedestrian, but would welcome someone who knows more about this than me.

I have been using T-cut about every 4 months or so to get headlights 'clean'. Never got around to doing it propelry with a UV coat on after, but my sons Peugeot looks like maybe time to polish and coat as his headlights go 'foggy' after about 2 months. Seems to me that the Lexus headlight is better than your average light, as they do not cloud up so readily. Or am I imaging that Lexus is better

Had no idea such things existed, and just trawling the web amazed to see what has been offered over the years, including this one https://diecastsociety.com/new-ivy-models-lexus-ls400/ Maybe when I have to let my 400 go I will seek out a model to remind me of the halcyon days of LS driving

Most of the time I let the impatient go by, as I ussd to be one of them in my 20's (though I only had a 1.3 escort I used to tear about in). The other day I had some lumping great Audi trying to get into my boot, and then we pulled up at some lights, and I thought, lets give it a whirl. He left behind but when I go home found out on the web that a Q7 sports has 500bhp, so did not feel disgraced. But it did remind me to 'Keep Calm and Carry On' when in the LS. I have been looking at a local ES 300h that most days gets to drive in tandem for about a mile across Minchinhampton common. Looks lovely, but when I read the specs on top speed and acceleration, kind of put me off. Maybe I am still a 20 year old at heart.

Nice looking car, if I did not have one already my cheque book would be waving about. Sure to go quickly

These sensors spoil the look IMHO. Also had the door rust problem properly sorted two years ago. Looks nice, I just cannot seem to full in love with a 430 enough to move away from my 400 (which looks like a wreck compared to this car)

Interesting video with some tips for people who insist on thinking a cheap product must be as good as the original. Had quite a few mates who have set up production lines in China, for food companies, IT and office equipment manufacturing. Thir stories were always that the local workers believed they did not need to adhere to the details that the USA/EU HQ said was paramount, so after a very short period of time the Quality was dropping like a stone. The only way to cure it was to have a USA/EU Manager in there every day telling the locals to stop thinking they knew better. If that was the case when the original manufacturer had set things up, then Lord help us with the copy-cats. I worked very closely with Chinese at the start of the 80's over here in UK when setting up the early days of the Internet, and lovely people who did things at 100miles an hour and never seemed to check their work as much as the rest of the team. Mind you they made amazing Chinese food like nothing you would get in any takeaway.

I assume playing a cassette in the car the music comes out of both speakers! Do you have a cassette player in the house to see if it is the same and only playing one channel.

Not sure why having spent all that time on it and having only done 1000 miles, and saying such a lovely car to drive you want to sell it to fund another project. I wonder if given the rust removal done so far, then some other aw-my-gawd lump of corrosion will surface anytime soon. I'll be giving it a swerve for now

LS just failed MOT What is shocking is last MOT was when I had both rear shocks replaced with OEM. Makes no sense that only 1500 miles later one of them is leaking. Had to apologies to mechanic for my choice of words, but it was different garage I used last year (but they mucked up on some other items -so using some one highly recommended this time). Have ordered a new shock (1 week wait) and have asked a Lexus Swindon as to what they are going to do, as seems like unit must be faulty. A pain, otherwise the old lady would have sailed through.

The cheap one should be fine, in past I have found some adaptors upset the auto-reverse in the LS, but they one I use is 10 years old, so no longer made so cannot recommend) The more expensive (Bluetooth) one should mean you can take calls on your phone, which the cheapie will not, as it will disable the mic in your phone. Cassette adaptors do give a fair enough sound, not as good as CD, but good enough for anyone playing 320Mb/s Mp3 files while driving.

Two exhaust fails in last few years, has that been bodged to get it through. I would also be thinking at 121,000 other parts of running gear are going to be getting tired but worth a look if anyone near Bridgnorth. Drivers sear looks a bit ropey, worse than mine is at 210,000

Gordon Bennet, I think I would have wanted full leathers and a helmet to use that for shopping. Mind you, your magnums would not have time to melt on the way back from Morrisons.

Anything on a smart motorway makes me twitchy, would be ruddy nervous if I knew car was going to konk out. Last time I broke down was when a part of the M5 was not smart, now it is smart and I have had many a time when at 50mph, I have had artics and cars (and even the highways agencies bodkins) pull out making me have to jam on the anchors, and this is when the signs are saying 'slow down', so would hate to coma across a breakdown not yet discoverd. Who ever decided they were a good idea should be made to sit in a Fiat 500 for a half an hour waiting to be rescued.

I cannot see how this is not repairable by a exhaust specialist. No harm in getting one of them to have a look, just search for specialists who can do bespoke tuned exhausts, they will (usually) know all there is about retro-fits in stainless to just about anything. I would add though that the chaps who did mine reckoned my exhaust was not stainless (when they put a stainless Y-piece in), but I think they must have thought it was not the sort of stainless they would use if they did a full rebuild. At 209K, engine and exhaust as sweet as a nut.

Possibly tyre separation, where one of the layers comes apart for a short section. Usually manifests itself as like driving on some ice at low speeds, and produces odd noises at higher speeds. Only happened to me once, and turned out to be a new tyre gone rogue after a thousand miles.