Cotswold Pete

My V reg does not have this 'slot' in. Had a look at some photos on ebay none of the Mk4 seem to have this slot. Be interesting to find out what is, as tow hook would be my guess though I recall years ago, someone telling me that towing automatics is not a good idea.

Try these guys, seem to have pricing for LS400, 430 and detachable head. Watling Engineers I have tow bar on mine (came with it), but never declared it as a mod, and never towed anything, and the head is detached (recall mine is a Witter)

My only real thing against the Mk3 I had for 5 years was engine noise at around 75-80mph seemed to peak in the cabin. At 65 really quite, then it just intruded a little bit too much as you ramped up to 80. Having said that compared to any other car it was still a darned quiet motor. Must say I would prefer not to go back to Mk3, but in terms of power, I did not notice any difference, and I dropped off my Mk3 and gotstraight into the Mk4, so did spend first hour or so of driving, just checking out driveability and oomph. Mk4 with traction control is a must where I live, given the country lanes with wet leaves at thsi time of year.

Osaka gave them a clean bill of health a few months back, so my plan is get all four new tyres fitted next weekend and then see where we are. From comments made it seems like not the drop links causing vibration, the tie bar and ARB are all sorted, and I have all new OEM disc/pads, so if after tyre fitting I am still getting vibration, be time to visit Osaka for another poke about.

This is what others have said, but it it the clunking that will need sorting (at some point) I am actually suspecting my tyres as being a major contributor to the problem, so my plan is to replace the tyres (get alignment sorted) and if there is still vibration, work out what it is. Likely to be getting Chris Mullins in Glos to do the tyres, so can get their chaps to give suspension a good poke to see if anything looks likely to be problem. Just been quoted £350 all four fitted (Kuhmo Ecsta - most people on other forums give them a fair rating), so need to get booked in.

That helps, not sure why Osaka would not have picked up Drop Link wear problem, as they renewed ARB bushes back on June this year (which has help with wife not feeling so sick on long drives).

I now suspect that my drop links are getting due for replacement, as get the thunk when dropping off speed humps at 20-25mph, and the odd thunk when going over smaller potholes in the road, and the vibration at 30mph upwards is quite noticeable. I had new front tie bars fitted 50,000 ago. The old lady now at 203,000 (but apart from suspension rumbles, running sweet as a nut) My question is this: Are Tie bars different to Drop Links, and when replacing Drop links is going OEM any better, or should I just get my garage to use whatever is available? (not sure if I wil luse Osaka in Newport or my local chap (who is pretty good for most things) One other question: If drop links replaced does that mean best to get full re-alignment done?

To keep windows clean, I use damp newspaper to rub them clean, then windowlene to finally de-smear surface. The problem is that humans breathe out warm damp air, and warm air carries more moisture than cold air. So by heating up the car you have more wamr air, capable of carrying all that moisture with ease to the window surface. Here the glass is cold, so the air cannot carry so much moisture, and it dumps a film of water of the window. So the only for sure way to sure is to get the glass hot enough to stop this, put a plastic bag over your passengers heads, or as I do, put AC (which dries the air out - somewhat) and also tilt the sun roof to allow better flow of cooler air into car. Though not sure if the IS350 has a sunroof? An average a human excretes about 30ml of water an hour (breathe and sweat), so does not take long for a car to have enough get steamed up.

Sounds like either ECU playing up, though not sure in 2004 model you would be seeing that. Not aware 2004 model has 1UZ. Other option the throttle body needs a jolly good clean, which worked to solve stalling on my LS.

Might get my LS converted to a campervan!! Would save on hotel rooms

The problem with this feature on the Bentley is that unless you have a valet, you need to get out the car and get wet to stop yourself getting wet. Maybe best to just sit in the car until rain stops, but that means you enjoy the luxury of being dry in a pretty darned nice motor (be it Bentley or Lexus) for a little longer, and you employ a valet (or the kids) to do do the shopping!!!

Cheap Multi-meter - £7.99 at Screwfix, always using mine and helped solve a few problems on my previous LS (and many a job around the house) Might be able to see if the speaker wires are presentng some kind of resistance, or AC voltage which might show amp is connected, but just not working. Either way sounds like a bit of a pain sorting. Best of luck

You can quickly check that the bass unit has it voicecoils working. Just get a 1.5volt battery and connect to the speaker terminals, you should see the cone move, but you should hear a click from the cone. If this works, it implies the speaker is working, which might mean the amp is not working (or the cabling is not delivering to the speaker). a 1.5volt battery is not going to damage the bass unit if it is a working unit.

I would not pay £15K, but can understand why someone might. I would love to drive it just to see how it feels compared to mine. Surely the bushes etc will have deteriorated even though mielage is low, so it would not be a 'tight' as it was in 1997, but no doubt be a bit firmer than mine at 202,000 miles. My MK3 was silver, and my only complaint with the silver is the darker skirt colour (to me) never looks quite right. Also a garage that is heated can be a problem as heated air holds more moisture, so although this car would be less corroded from not being out in the rain, it will not be free of corrosion, unless the garage is also runnnig a de-humidifier. Have put it on my ebay watch list just to see if it goes.

How far are you from Japex, down in High Wycombe, I have never used them, but seems they know Lexus and Toyota inside out

I think modern oils are really aimed at modern engines, especially where you have turbos spinning at high speeds. Semi-synthetic fne for LS, (unless you want to drive every where in 1st, and keep the revs as high as possible). Fully synthetics are designed not to break the oil (chains of atoms) at 7000rpm and above for sustained periods. Mineral oils cannot sustain this kind of abuse for long. My LS (202,000miles), uses next to no oil between 10k services, and where I have topped it up, usually less than 0.5 litre just used 10-40W (which is what I use on my wifes X-type - which eats oil for a living - only done 130,000). I have never observed what 'smoke' comes out of exhaust on cold start, though I do check from time to time for water (only because I ignored water on my Omega - which was gasket going. I was being stupid and thought coolant needed replacing as I had a leaky hose, where as it runs out the car was p*ssing water out the back). Still if the Omega had not blown, I may never have got to own a LS 13 years ago. I must confess I have never asked what my garage uses for services, other than I know it is not fully synthetic.

Agree, and it is odd that the world and his wife are talking about repair and recycle, when the manufatcturers are saying, making a serviceable unit is more expensive than a fixed unit. No different (I suppose) to when we had valve radios when a valve blew you replaced the valve, same with discrete transistors, nowadays a DAB radio is more than likely to have a special chip set which if that fails after a period of 10 years, your chances of being able to source the specific chip is rare. The very reason why Morris Minors will still be running (assuming petrol still for sale) in 50 years time, where as a LS500 might just be a musuem piece (as well might be a Nissan Leaf). Progress is not always progress, just change

Just spotted this LS460 om Gumtree (getting bored at work) MOT advisory on rear shock. LS460 - Torquay Not my colour, prefer darker leather.

I would find out what was done to deal with handbrake, I had mine alls sorted out a couple of years ago )before it got to be MOT problem. Not cheap sorting out rear brake binding problems from my experience, but now i can park on any hill you like, and no binding on release. Took a few days for my local garage to source new handbrake cables, so maybe same here, as it took 4 days to re-MOT and pass in May. Worth a punt and it has original tool kit intact, so either owners never worked on it, or they loved the car well. The wheels look a bit more raggy than I would like, and check the boot spare to see what state that is in, for boot leak syndrome

I have got, but not yet tried a Clay Mitt, just need to get some detailer spray for when I next do the car. Not sure if quicker than using a bar. To date have been using T-Cut, which I know cuts a mirco layer of the paint, but I only do it about once every 18 months, and mainly need to do T-cutting as a result of local blind people leaving their own car paint on the LS.

Looking at my cars last MOT the Rear Brake pipe corroded is flagged, yet Osaka said all looking fine. Not sure if MOT chaps 'think' it might need a good poke about with to check, or whether there is something specific they see, which means they know the pipe is going to need doing some time soon. Some of the other advisories on the 430 would have me jacking it up to have a good look, and that engine light !!!!, especially as it was flagged at previous MOT

To be honest a little more grip on dampt roads, no differnce in really wet or bone dry, but I feel the Maxxis are not a trye I will return to as they seem too harsh on a lot of mediocre roads. I have Maxxi on front and Nexen on rear, much preferred it when I had Nexen all around. Am considering Falken for replacement of all 4, as in past I have noticed having different brands front and rear makes the LS a little 'wierd' whereas in y Vauxhall days never noticed such problems with mixed brands. In terms of fuel consumption, not noticed any change in my mpg on commute since lowering pressure.

Same here, and I might buy a second hand 500 for fun as well, but (as my wife points out), you need to be in it to win it, and I buy a lottery ticket maybe twice a year (usually when cr*p has kicked off at work and I wish I could walk into the office and say I'm Off) My LS is coming up to 202,000 miles and everything works, the only slight pain is the wing mirrors need resetting every few days, and the rattle now coming from the drivers side window now and again.

George, a totally valid point, and my post was only to see what other people think. I would agree that the grip in wet is the thing that should be the focus, as when an LS starts to loose the backend it can be a little scary, and given the wet summer we have had more grip on more days is nice. Also I find the LS with certain tyres on some roads feels like your driving a Jeep, but always found Falkens the best all round for noise (not quite as quite as Michelin on average surface, but fine on rough roads) I agree all weather tyres seem to be coming down in price, so maybe that is the future. Having been in Audi A4 on snow tyres in the snow was impressed at how easy to drive. Any rear wheel drive in the snow scares me, especially an automatic. My first 20 years of car driving was in front wheel drive, never got stuck, and drove over 80 miles in the big storms of the early 80's and my Escort Mk4 or Cavalier Mk4 always got me there (with underwear intact). The other thing I hate about driving in the snow is that other drivers seem to be the problem, and prefer not to have some *****-womble ploughing into my LS as they piroutte about the A46

Looking for new tyres for all four corners - so not a cheap day on the credit card coming up any time soon. My question is whether anyone has done any serious compare of whether running with tyres that are rated E for fuel economy are using that much more petrol than one rated at B or C in the real world. I have sat down and worked out some numbers to see how ratings actually make a difference worht worrying about. Looking at Pro Tyres - the Falken Ziex (at £83) is E rated, where as a Bridgestone Turanza T005 (£125) is B rated. My maths (or math if American) means if I buy the Bridgestone I spend £160 more. So lets be reasonable and say the tyes are only going to last 20K (given front scrubbing I seem to get), my commute to work gives me 25mpg so in 20,000 miles I will burn 800 gallons (3636 litres) which today would cost me £4,620. If I say that a B rated is 5% better than a E rated, then that means I could have saved £230 over that distance (which for me is about 2 years). Now to me that means saving a few quid up front puts me about £70 (£230 - £160) out of pocket over two years, which is one weeks worth of commuting to work every two years. Me thinks no reason to go for the Bridgestone unless I was flush with cash when I go to tyre depot. I guess if i was a fleet manager the above savings might be worth doing, but one LS does not constitute a fleet.