Cotswold Pete

Seems like the right approach, had a mate who spent £2K on 430, rushed into it, when his second LS400 was playing up. He totally regrets that. Now he has just spent £5K on his second 430, and spent some time as a rear passenger this weekend, like being in a 4 star hotel. His approach was to give himself 3-6 months to find the 430 that he was going to keep. I quite envy him, the 430 is a heck of a step up from 400, but still love my 400 too much to upgrade just yet.

I would say a £5K LS400 could be a well looked after car, and will have less long term 'stupid' costs than either 460 or 600, though the 400 is not as 'luxurious' as 460/600 on the inside, and the ride quality I would say a well sorted 400 is about 95% ride quality of your preferred choice. A £5K 460 is more than likely to be a bit of a cheque-burner I bought my LS for £2.5K 6 years ago (130K on clock), and since then the suspension has had around £3K spent on it - UCA replacement, new front shocks, various bushes, tie bars, and probably going to need new rear shocks and a bit of other work in next year so looking at about £900 plus. (now at 204k miles) So in essence I spent just over £6K for mine, but the cash left the bank over a few years. Cambelt changes not needed on 460, as it is chain drive. I look at as I get a car that was an arm and a leg to buy new, but it is has cost me less than my Omega 2.5 cost me over 5 years. If I were to go for an upgrade it would the 460, because I like the shape, but knowing if I could find one with coilovers, I would be a happier with it.600 not of much interest as I do so little town/queue driving. Real world MPG with my 400 - commute on A roads to work in Cotswolds, i get between 24 and 27 (when I do not queue in school traffic). On the Motorway between 30 and 33 depending (but have got 37 on trips to Manchester - and that was long sections at 50, but also queuing around Manchester). I think a 460 would be a little (but not much) thirstier. LS400 is the only one with stainless exhaust, so apart from Y-piece replacement it should last as long as the car. Not sure what LS600 exhaust is.

If on way to Cardiff pop off M4 at junction 18, and 3 minutes away is Infinity Exhausts, they did Y-piece replacement for my LS a few years back. They will do total replace or repair (using T304) as required. Infinity

It is 600, I was down in Port Isaac back in June to visit friends (on the one day the film crew were not around) and running a 400 along the lanes in no problem, just need to not drive as fast as the Doc does. The one thing I really love is the swooping down hill dual carriage way sections across Bodmin Moor

Possibly give Infinity Exhausts a call (Dodington Ash), 3 minutes off J18 of M4 near Bath. Infinity Sorted my LS, a few years back, no problems since. A bit of a drive, from London, and public transport nearby is naff, so if job is long, take a book or walking boots and get yourself down to Dyrham Park for the day

I have always heard from every Lexus mechanic that UCA is (and always has been) been a full replacement. All other parts bushes can be replaced. I assume the greatest stresses are on the UCA, and to be honest amazed that the original bushes last as long as they do. On the point of corrosion, I would go with My sons MOT last week pointed out corrosion, when I think it should have read, the brake pipes need a bit of a clean and making sure they are not corroded (which they are not).

To add my two pence worth (as a very biased Lexus owner), Jag X-type sills are a nightmare after about 10 to 11 years, the oil leak problem on that ebay sale, is probably same as my wifes had, the new seal is £2.50, but need to take the whole darned engine out to do. I loved the engine - nice and free running, but at 140K, head gasket goes, so Jag now scrapped. On Range Rover, not quite sure why the three mates of mine who have them, keep them, they have either had teething problems from new that took over a year to get sorted and older ones, well it does not seem to matter whether you use them as a Chelsea Tractor or for Chasing Wildlife over fields, the faults keep coming. BMWs, same thing, have got many mates who own them, but none of them ever managed to keep them after 10 years, start becoming money pits. Mercs, have two mates who own Mercs, but they use them for business visits, and complain about the bills (well their company accountant does) (both own LS as the car they prefer, just do not feel quite right rocking up at a client in a 20 year old motor) Not sure if Honda do a V8, but if they do, than I expect it to be bullet proof, though thirstier than LS, previous Honda Civic we owned, the engine was bullet proof, the body work took a battering, the only thing that made us change it was a badger incident - took the front bumper out on one side, so changed to the Jag (hey-ho). Wife has just bought a 2 year old Mazda 2, not a bad car, frugal, more toys than my man cave, but will still be using the LS for our trip to Lake District next week. Being honest, when I bought my first LS it was a 11 year old Mk3, I had it for 5 years, and never did anything to it (apart form standard service), it had knocking drop links, knackered Anti-roll bushes, but it drove okay (and I suepct it needed a new ECU - as it had that horrible stalling problem), and my current motor at 19 years old and 204K on clock needs a bit of money spent on various suspension bushes. I think an LS is a bit like that Toyota Pickup they tried to destroy on Top Gear a decade or so ago, you really need to blow the darn thing up to stop it from being of any use.

A Lexus LS never shouts about how well put together it is. I suspect if I was driving anything else that was nearly 20years old with over 200K on the clock, I would be wondering what was wrong with me.

The question is - Are the UK Authorities as smart as the Dutch ones, or will we not have a clue when buying our fuel. My experience if working in Netherlands is the Dutch hate bullsh*t, where as UK is full of that kind of stuff when government involved. I guess I am lucky to have a Mk4.

A quick bit of research shows that about 95% of the fuel in USA is E10. So I assume Lexus is okay running on this mixture over the pond, but I assume Lexus UK might have a different stance. I assume you get a little less mpg, as calorific value of the Ethonal is lower.

How much sweat was there while trying to stop the payment?

The chaps at Osaka in Newport have the view that Lexus parts for shocks, and upper control arms. Everything else it matters less.

I had the same thing on my LS400 a while back in the winter. Turned out I had sticky throttle, and in first couple of seconds (accidently blipping my throttle on first crank), had flooded engine. Problem was a this time of year, the fuel does not evaporate out of cylinder quickly enough. I recall I left car for 36 hours before getting RAC out. RAC chap cranked the beast way longer than I would have dared and got the car going. He said Lexus engines tolerances so well done, that fuel evaporation even in the summer can take longer than your average car Having said that 10 seconds is a long time, so your engine must surely be flooded with fuel. Best of luck.

Pretty certain it is heat shield, only because when slamming down the boot this morning, there was that tinkling rattle like a badly tuned kids xylophone. Need to roolte about in workshop for a washer.

Just found this link on USA web site, not fully read it, but might be useful to see if it helps us 'lumpy knockers' (ooo err missus 😂) work out what is going on. noise and clunks Mine has done over 203K, so expecting all sorts to reaching beyond end of life, but my bank balance not in fit state to be handing out cash willy-nilly

Phil, I keep getting told all is fine under my car (had new tyres just a few weeks back, and they had a good poke about, as have two other places), but I am getting front clunking, on both sides. I did have new front shocks and ARB bushes back in May, so I would have thought the top mounts on mine would have been looked at and seen to be okay. I assumed my knocking was the drop links going, but the chaps at Chris Mullins Glos (who know their stuff) said links were fine. If anyone thinks this could be cause, be interested to know. At some point soon I need to get my LS down to Osaka for a really good poke about, as getting the front end 'totally' sorted, as the car does feel lumpy and rumbly.

Had the same problem 18 months ago doing work on rear arches. Felt like I had done some really 'odd' yoga moves for two whole days. In my youth pulling cars apart was part of the joy of saving money, but these days prefer to have someone else do the work, though if I had lots of spare time I am sure I would be doing same kind of work your doing, as doing it really helps understand what makes a car 'tick'. I had full re-alignent the other day, one of the rear camber bolts rusted to heck, but the chaps at Chris Mullins said not a problem as it was only just out, and not worth the faff of sorting, though I guess at some point it will need a proper sort out.

Maybe I will jack the old lady up and have a look, to see if it could be that.

Noticed over the weekend, and very much a rattle coming from the nearside backbox, on drive into work. It sounds to me that it is the backbox, as 'poking' the box (thinking it might just be something rubbing) made no difference. Sounded 'less-bad', by time I got to work, so my theory is the baffle is a little warmer. Any thoughts, and if it is the box, is that a repalcement of whole section, or should I visit the chaps who did my Y-piece about 4 year ago so see if they can sort. All comments welcome.

Did a 4 hour train trip across Portugal in September. I could see my GPS position on Google Maps zipping along at 170kph. Just using standard Google Maps, and no data enabled. I am also pretty sure the other day while out and about once my wife had selected the route the phone was still issuing instructions even though she had used up all her data allowance. To be honest I rarely ever use my in car Sat nav or phone, as being old school I learnt all the backroads along the M4,M5,M6, M1, and M25 corridors back over 30 years ago, so bit like a London Cabbie I will get you there. When I am new territory I will usually refer to my trusty dog-eared AA roadmap stuff down side of console. The only time I ever got truely lost was with Sat Nav, and whenever I go out with my sales team and they rely on their Sat Nav we do some interesting detours (seems like Mazda and VW Sat Nav seems to like driving you through center of Coventry regardless of any road conditions). And to cap it all my LS satnav seems to want to send me on a 2 mile detour when I get to about 400 yards from home???

Me and the missus use Google Maps on phone, works across Europe, always more up to date than anything (really helped when we got lost - on foot - in one of the stations in Vienna. Also if you switch your mobile data off, it will still track you on the map, but will not know about traffic hold ups. And I find it way easier to look at than the display in the Mk4. Not sure what will happen with Garmin in future, as the smartphone and bluetooth is where it appears to be all heading.

Geoff, What is your home router, from experience some routers seem to really mess up forwarding across the firewall, and can be random in whether they let you across to your LAN. Also I use a Static IP at home (Plusnet just charged a one off fee), which means I do not have to rely on DDNS services (which are fine, but not always are reliable as one would like). Some ISPs will charge a rental for static IP, some a one fee, and some will not do it unless you use their business services (more £££) The best (IMHO) lowish cost routers are the Draytek 2762 (it can even support VPN termination - so offers a little extra security to stop any old tom, ***** and harry snooping your CCTV). Or if not bothered about VPN, the non e-bay you can get the previous verison (Draytek 2760) for a bargain. If you have some high end gaming type router (like a TPLink Nighthawk), you should not be having any problems with random access.

To add my tuppence worth, running on hydrocarbons will damage the planet, and running on Lithium will damage the planet. Lithium Mining Ms Thunberg is right to want to save the planet, but Electric cars are not going to save the planet (or our grand childrens lungs - with particulates) The Oslo Effect I drive a reliable Lexus knowing that my total carbon footprint is 'okay', and yes it would be nice to be able to walk to work (which I did when I lived in Central Bristol), and it would be nice to be able to afford to catch a train to have a nice break in the Lake District, rather than schlep up the M5/M6. I remember the days when the old steel mills and coal mines of the Welsh Valleys had been poisoning the rivers (and soil) for many years, but now fish are back in the Ebbw, the Taff ,and the slag heaps are recovering. (on the other hand we have just passed the problem over the the Chinese who are doing huge damage to their eco-system - watch the file from 2015 Behemoth) I love my LS400, and if it were to die, I am not sure whether I could downsize to a Mazda 2 (like my missus has just done, 1.5litre 124BHP, over 50 to gallon), but I sure as heck am not going to scrap the 400 (or sell it on) just to get a heavy car with a big battery. No simple answers, which I am sure Ms Thunberg will appreciate as time goes by, but at least she is trying to get complacent politicians to take it a bit more seriously that we only have one planet

Sounds like your home router is not port forwarding. (which is good as by default port forwarding should be disabled) I think you need to set your router up to port forward UDP 1194 and TCP 1194 (from looking at other Web postings). It then opens up a VPN to allow outside devices to tunnel through to the CCTV services on your LAN. If this does not work then switch off the Port Forwarding and try and find out if some other UDP/TCP port is to be used. Most routers should allow you to do this, but some routers bury Port Forwarding options deep in their menu structure. (Firewall settings is most likely place to look).

I would say a mystery all round, just spent a while roaming the Web and nothing anywhere. I wonder if the bumper is not an original, and some previous owner needed to replace original, and this custom bumper was up for grabs. Maybe meant for some left hand drive high intensity light for the verge (to spot those stupid pheasants out of a night - I had two try and commit suicide this weekend by jumping off the verge in broad daylight - I think one may have succeeded!!)