Cotswold Pete

Just hopping on line for short five minutes. Sorry to hear the cr*p new on this virus and what it is doing. It had a good go at me, 40degree temp for 14 days (felt like being tortured by some invisible spirit), then it gave me Pneumonia, Pleurisy, and to cap it all a heart attack. I lived with heart attack pain for two days (as it was not as bad as Covid pain), then finally rushed to hospital. Cardio Dr, says the Covid more than likely stressed heart to failure, and sounds like I am lucky to still be here. I am a fit 62 year old, so totally get why this virus is so dangerous.. The HNS was ruddy brilliant and sorted me out (not sure if and when heart surgery going to happen), but I expect full recovery to be around 6 to 9 months. Once I can be ars*d to sit a at a computer for longer than 10 minutes, hope to be back to my usual chatty self on the forum; been a bit strange being off line for a month. In the meanwhile stay safe everyone,and I am going to switch my PC for another week or so.

From what I have heard by some 'experts' on radio 4, this is not the pandemic that will see us humans culled in any really larger numbers, but the irrational nature of human panic (as individuals and as a society) will create much more long term damage to local and global economy. I heard that last year 10million USA citizens caught flu, and 44,000 died. No one closed off the USA last year, but any of us UK citizens could have caught the flu and brought it home to see of any of my elderly or weak relatives. There is a book called 'The Great Mortality', which is based on fact, written by an academic, and presents the facts of bubonic plague and the transition to pnuemonic plague, and then the seperate plagues which have rattled around for many a century. It is not a dry academic book (by the way) In terms of optimism, there will be winners, there will be losers, and unfortunately some people will get to meet their maker earlier than expected (same as the flu epedmics we get from time to time), and in the meanwhile the level of world pollution has dropped because not so many Lexus drivers burning fuel or planes whizzing around the world. So for the moment the atmosphere is one possible winner. I work for a small Telecoms business, we are mad crazy at the mo with customers asking how we can help their staff work at home, but Ican see in about 3 or 4 weeks the bottom will fall out of new business as so many companies small and large will have other worries rather than buying better Internet connections or Telephone Systems. For sure glad I am not running my own training consultancy like I was 15 years ago, I would have been wiped out business wise. So anyone running their own company has my sympathy/thoughts/best wishes

I find the Farecla G3 Body Prep Clay Mitt (Halfords) easy to use, not tried a clay bar, but the mitt gets a nice smooth finish. I guess now that spring is here, time to give the barge a spring clean!!

I had that and more muck out of mine, and I do not live on a farm. I had rust galore in the arches (both sides), no rusting up by the trim (thank heavens) and the worse rust was where the muck collects behind the mudguard. Have you given the arches a good poke with a bradawl from where the arch rim is to about 6cm in, that will let you know if you have the tin-mice nibbling away.

I had a level of water ingress in the boot for about 12 months, and one day after driving for 4 hours in driving rain, thought, 'This is not right' as a lake had appeared. So this was about two weeks before MOT, I decided to have a look, thinking a few small holes and a bit of Isopon and I would be sorted. Problem was that - as you can see from photos on my Cheese post, I ended up with a big job. I did consider a plate weld, but Isopon is good and strong enough for even a larger repair in the arches, as it does not impact any structural integrity. If you look at the thickness of the rubbery coating Lexus put on it seems that it is about twice as thick on the inner side of the arch, compared to the thickness near the arch rim. That is just a robot (or something), programmmed a little oddly. Once I had repaired the gashes, plenty of rust proof primer, then a grey top coat (or two), and then a good going over with Waxoyl. The problem that will (IMHO) alway lurk is where the boot floor meets the arch, as this is where the mud a crud gathers behind the read mud flap, so I overlayed the external surface with a bit of extra Isopon, but I will be jacking the car some time this year (2 years since I did the job), so give it a clean and re-waxoyl. MOT due soon, only thing I know about is front side light bulb has failed (though they are as dim as can be), so hopefully car will be fine for its 20th birthday. I do take a view that 99% of cars over 20 years old will have rust somewhere, at least with the LS400 it's weak spot is easy to get to and sort, unlike my wifes Jag (since scrapped) that need the sills re-welded for the last 3 years of its mere 13 year existence. My Omega in days of old, at 10 years was beginning to rust like a Steam Engine at Barry Island Scrap Yard, and every now and again I see Omegas that look fine, until you look carefully at their rear arches for that sign of bubbling, which means the rust has already done a lot of damage.

Just had an interesting comment from a mate who owned two 400s now has 430 facelift. He said the 430 is smoother, nicer etc, etc, but always feels like something is about to falter. Even he could not quite explian what that really meant, but he did non-stop drive from Dounreay to Cirencester and the car was faultless, relaxing, but always a tinsey-wincey bit on edge. Having only been a rear seat passenger in a 430 (which is IMHO, much better then being a passenger in a 400), and so not having driven a 430 I do not quite get what my mate is saying. Anyway more grist-to-the-mill of 400 v. 430

My experience is 430 is a lot more luxurious, the rear passenges have more room, but it feels more 'enclosed' compared to 400, more like sitting in an aircraft where you cannot see over the seat in front. On pricng £5K to £6K will get you a sorted 430, that should be less trouble, though the air suspension will get you forking out at some point. My 400 for two new front shocks was £700(ish) fitted, a lot cheaper than 430. If looking at 400s, give the rear arches a good poke with screwdriver, this is a weak rust point. The 400 has stainless exhaust, and apart from Y-piece repairs should last forever. Also best to drive one or two of each model to get a feel, and try not to jump at the first one and aim for a Mk4 with the 400 (not sure which is best 430 to go for, my mates early facelift model seems like a fair buy at £6K, with around 68K on clock).

Simon, I had way worse on my Mk4, both rear arches, and on both sides, ended up with holes the size of my fist. Mainly caused by lack of the latex like coating used on the arch. I would prod the whole of wheel arch with a bradawl it will let you know where the rust has really got to, as I only picked up on the problem when I noticed a small (and I mean small) amount of water near the SATNAv disk holder. This was my posting with the horror show photos MOT Pass and Swiss Cheese. I had four holes this size once I had poked every part for the wheel arch. The metal was not that thin, but seems like little punctures all over the arch were just eating away in many places, and so best to be brutal cutting back to clean metal.

Having had three cars stolen (back in the 90's) only ever recovered one, the Police do seem to have other things to do, unless like me the recovered car had been used to ram-raid post office and then ram a police car. Now get this, I was driving home Tuesday night about 10 o'clock and there were 5 police cars in the middle of the village. I thought there had been some high speed chase or who knows what. Turns out ONE drunken middle aged lady not wearing shoes was the problem. I assume any other more serious crimes down the road were being ignored. Not sure whether to cry or stop paying my taxes. FIngers crossed for the return of your car.

Michael, Looking at the photo, I can see (on the left) looks like the drain plug mounted with the recess on the inside. I noticed some water in my boot the other day and decided to turn the drain plug up the other way, and hey-presto no more water ingress. I had removed the drain plugs back last year when doing some work, and took no notice of which way they originally were fitted, which is why I am glad (rightly or wrongly) flipping them stopped the letting water in. Not sure which way drain plugs should be set, but might be worth seeing if it makes a difference. Having pulled the boot apart a few times over the last couple of years, I always find clips and retainers breaking, and whoever fitted the tow bar to my LS (well before I bought it), left a nice pile of bits and bobs in a tupperware box (which was better than chucking them). If you do find wheel arch liners not clipped is the problem, does that maybe indicate rust in the arches is opening up some holes. I say that as on my LS the rear arches were startinbg to leak (LS does not have any covers on rear arches) and turned out rust had created a lot of problems, requiring a lot of ISOPON to be used to sort out.

Air is always the best, had problems with Omega years ago, wire did not do the trick, but air did. The problem with wire is if the crud is well hard, the the wire just creates a small drain hole which soon bungs up again. Maybe there should be a 5 year service note - pressurise any drains - tank and sunroof, that way less likely to accumulate a real mass of rubbish

Autoglym on my shopping list, good shout

I am getting rattles from driver window (now and again), and in rear part of cabin (but they stop when I have passengers in rear), but never with sunroof (I use my a lot in the summer). Also from experience with other cars, I have always found fiddling in a major way with anything as part of the dashboard is a pain, as always ended up with a squeak or a rattle that was not there before. I would add annoying though the rattles may be on a car that has now done 207,000 is not bad, given in past any car I took over 100,000 would be rattling like a bag of marbles at a school boys games afternoon.

Not a one off, I had the same on Mk3, cannot remember if it was exaclty the issue, but certainly the seal had crept, and was easy to put back and cure the whine. The one downside of the fix and having a quieter cabin, was I then noticed at 65-70mph a slight drone from the engine bay (not much but enought to annoy), which was just one of those noises you get in any car at a certain speed in a certain gear. Lucklily the Mk4 does not produce any such droning noises (at legal speeds!!)

With mine, did this and then got some piping (home brew tubing) filled with water (put finger over top while placing by drain-hole), filled my mouth with water and then spat it down the tube. It made sure any lurking gunk popped out. It was not a lot of gunk, but did stop water drainin gqucikly enough out of the sunroof. Once done you should get a good flow, if still a dribble then the gunk can grow and cause problems.

Les, I am bit confused, you have just driven around one of the most flooded parts of the UK, how come you did not spot a Sunseeker with the Bentley and Rollers parked on the poop deck!!!

A CD laser uses 780nm light waves, a DVD uses 650nm lightwaves, so if the laser in the cars head unit only has CD style laser then it will never read a DVD of any sort. Even if the head unit can read a DVD, it may not read all types of DVD - DVD Standards - Dont be stumped - this link tries to keep it simple, but it is a minefield. As to spoof/hacks, perfectly do-able so long as laser can create a 650nm beam, but I can imagine doing that kind of stuff is not for the faint-hearted or even a part time geek. Best to stick with looking at the road and guessing what track is playing.🥴

Just had a nice cup of tea with Dark Choc Digestive, so that'll do me. Also forgot last night to say that coz MP3 files have Tags, the MP3 player software in the LS, or any other device reads Tags not the file names. If however you do want on your Android Device a Music Player that allows you to sort by various Tags or the File name the Neutron Player is well worth paying for. I'll be putting my LOC Gold Award next to my office picture frame - see attachment. This is a p*ss take of my managers, but none of them actually get that it is aimed at them!!!!

The video clip shows the unit playing a CD but with MP3 files, rather than the Red Book standards of a normal CD (as written by Sony/Philips back in 1980s). I would not expect any system to be able to read an index file for a Red Book CD, as there appears (as far as I can tell) to be no standard for file naming conventions on a normal audio CD. You can witness the randomness of file names by downloading off the BBC Classical Magazine web site their weekly free tracks (they are more random in nature than Trump trying to spell Mississippi, or even say it) The only way you get any info is where the CD has embedded CD-TEXT which sits in a sub-channel the the original CDDA standards,this came long in 1996, and it was a few years later that we saw HIFI CD players that would display this text. I have a Sony home player that can read the text, but cannot display a Index of what is on the CD. So MP3 encoded CDs are actually data CDs with files that conform the standards that computer file systems need to read, and computers must build indexes from these records (otherwise searching for files would take way too long), so just like when you use Windows Explorer on PC, the Lexus is using (my own term), MP3 explorer to give you heads up of all the music you can play. So in summary I suspect the Lexus chaps just did not bother trying to read the CD-TEXT headers if they exist, and given that most CDs even today do not hold CD-TEXT they never saw it as a worry, especially as MP3 was starting to take over in the mid 2000s. If anyone thinks I am talking roobarb, please do correct me, as it is well over 15 years since I bothered properly getting my head around why my different players in different cars, and even the many different computers and HiFi CD players I have at home all did different things. Nowadays I just plug my phone into the cassette adaptor in my LS then focus on driving rather than wondering if I listening to the edit version of Geek Love by Bang Bang machine, or the full blown remix by Ray Shulman (Spangle Mix). With over 4000 tracks on my phone I sure as heck cannot remember them all.

I have used Osaka several times, I usually rock up at 9am, and they drive around and then prod the car before they give their opinion, and then order the right OEM or non-OEM parts are they see fit. There is always a 430 or 460 there whenever I rock up, but give them a ring rather than just run up, as they can get busy, but they are generally accomodating. Be about a 40 to 60 min drive to Newport along country roads and dual carriageway, so you would get a good feel of the car if it's a test drive. I would be tempted myself, but as said before I do love my 400 with all its little quirks, and a mere 207K on the clock.

In the past found Falkens to be good, expereience of Maxxis - a little harder ride, and wear worse than Falkens. Now running with all 4 corners with Khumo Ecsta Hs51 and grip and noise seem to be same as Falkens, cannot recall cost, (I think £380 fitted for the lot - at Chris Mullins in Glos) Too early to tell about wear, but with UK roads being more pothole than flat tarmac, who knows whether I should be getting teh tracking checked out every weekend!!!

Bought a Honda Accord (well won at auction) from Blackwood over 10 years ago. Good price, lasted a long time, but there were a number of iffy looking cars, so like any auction house, give it a good look before and after paying, before leaving site. Not so sure I would be comfortable with hybrid until battery check done, even though LS600 is 'probably' okay. (EDIT) Just realised that this ebayer is not Blackwood, but looks like that is where they get their cars from, so wonder what they paid for the LS in the first place???

I thought so, other cars the wife tired were Vaux Astra, Corsa, a Yaris, and the Mazda was a good price (for two year old motor) so it won the day, and as you say a nice torquey box. The only thing I find with the Mazda is rear seats not very comfortable (whenever testing a new car I always sit in the back to start with, you get a better feel IMHO for the car). I also do not like all the light and gubbins on the dash, I prefer simple and less distractions while driving. The DAB radio seems to be better than any I have met in just about any new(ish) car I have been in for hte last 3 or 4 years. Still much as I like the fuel economy of the Mazda, it is still not a patch on my 20 year old LS.

Though a Prius may not be an LS, from my expereince of being in Prius, it is not a bad little motor. My missus has Mazda 2, does a million miles to the gallon, and we did look at Prius for her, but she was tempted by something a little smaller. Looks like plenty of life in the 430 yet with 131K on clock, for someone else to help use up all that OPEC juice

With such a small mileage I would expect nothing else.😀 My MOT due in 2 months, will be around 209,000 miles by then, but I am sure that is nothing compared to some forum members.