Cotswold Pete

I would be looking at Upper Control Arms and Drop links as the most likely major contributor, and then possible the transmission mount. I reckon my Control Arms have been causing vibration (mild-ish) at around 35-45mph for last couple of years, and they always pass the MOT. So next week in for it's MOT and have asked them to look at replacing UCA (possibly) drops links and see if that gets me back the smooth running. The one thing I have noticed in last 6 months is the vibration is less when tempature is around 4 to 7 degrees, so I assume that this is because the bushes are sort of the right stiffness to feel okay, but when they warm up then the bushes being warm are a little more pliable and they vibrate a little more readily. I know the cost of sorting is going to be a little steep, but worth it if I am aiming to keep the care for another 3 to 5 years. Still will make it the cheapest car I have owned. The joy of owning older cars😬

I have never been in a 600, but I am pretty sure that if I drove one I would fall in love with it, not so much the toys, but just the luxury of it. And if I had the space would keep the 400, as though it is now quite an old design, but for the moment just going to stick with the 400.

Not my kind of style, looks a little un-refined to me.

Check this link out, this is either number one or two First UK LS in 2014 review Looks pretty nice to me

GDPR - being used by too many organisations (and no doubt countries) to be well over the top. I went to a Dr Surgery last week, needed to take a photo of their phone system and the person I was with started moving rubbish bins in front just in case my photo captured any details of Mrs Smith and her Lumbago. I appreciate that the Inter-web is the wild west (been using it since 1981) but GDPR was not meant to be used that way it is. Not sure if VPNs is a total answer and never investigated whether it is worth using TOR (The Onion Router) to get around petty restrictions. Any chance of copying the review as a PDF on this forum so at least we can look.

This technology is what is built into modern lorry cabs to give the driver a softer ride, given the stiffness of the suspension of a 40 tonner. Given the state of our roads, the LS400 wouls till benefit from having this fitted to the seats, but I guess the LS400 would have to be heightened. Then it would look like a Peugeot Partner😲

Adam, Do not beat yourself up, I have had wifes car with loose wheel nuts (done by a garage), and I almost did it myself a few years back (go distracted once I had dropped tyre on road), and being a bit paranoid checked my wheels after 10 miles to discover had not tightened up 3 of the nuts. So I now check then double check, and as I work a lot with electric at 240 volt, just get into the habit of being paranoid, as 240 volts tneds to pack you off to heaven pretty quickly. Your skills are fine as changing brakes though not difficult does need a level of cpability which sounds like you have.

I do about 100 miles per week commuting (approx 12K per year for all driving), (400, not 430), never had LPG, not too keen on filling boot with LPG tank or losing spare wheel. I assume the citreon will be cheap to run until it starts to go wrong, where as 430 if looked after will be going for another decade or so. To me a no brainer, keep the LS, and just make sure you take it for a motorway burn very now and again to remind the car what it was built for.

I would think this is the ball park price, makes swapping my 400 tempting, but gotta get the roof sorted on house, so no new motors for me just yet

When that photo was taken it did look lovely, now it has a key scratch down one side, and a dent in rear near side pillar (tree strike), but it still looks great when washed and waxed. My previous Mk3 was silver, and that looked brilliant when waxed. I really wanted a bronze Mk4, but fell in love with the blue when I saw it.

Agree with others, the 400 was designed to have the right amount of tyre wall between the rim and the road, and with good tyres you get the best ride to road holding you can get (IMHO). My local mechanic says more customers with low profile tyres are having to replace one of more rims at 5 or so years, due to out of true rims thanks; to the Kiss of The Pothole. Maybe if you are still keen, see if you can get someone to photo-shop your car with modded wheels, because if you like the look, then thats good by me. I do like the look of some of the modded LS I have seen, it's just I prefer original stylee, but then I run a 40 year old record deck and still like having the cassette in the LS, jsut so I can listen to cassettes. One reason moving up to a 460 would be a downgrade🤣

Crickey, that is madness, you really have to be in love with the car to do that. Reminds me a bit of a sales manager I used to work with who bought an E-type in the 80s, and would take it to shows, but it never got top marks, because unlike other enthusiasts he would not jack it up after every run and clean the whole lot down so that it looked factory fresh. (as Dizzee Rascal would sing - BONKERS) I say do enough to keep an LS on the road, and make it a little harder for the tin mice to get going, but they will always find a spot somewhere to have their lunch, but hopefully not a 3 course meal. You should see the sills on my wifes XJ, 13 years old, looks like a right old Roman Banquet been had by the mice, and with recent re-weld, we know that in 3 years time (due to the odd design of the drains) the mice will have been sated once more.

Best car you'll ever buy is an LS, and the Mk4 is a great car.

Bob, I bought my first LS400 at the tender age of 50, up to then had been Vauxhall driver (and sometime Peugeot - never again) Quite a few of my mates (and others) thought I had bought a drug dealers car (though at the time the local smack-head dealer was still in a Carlton - not sure what the local dealer is driving now, other than I wish someone would put them out of business). Mostly I had (and still get), how can you afford to run such a big car. However nothing like the response you got from your 'family'. I would say having worked in Germany and a fair few Germans, most of them drove BMW mainly (as far as I could tell) because their dads drove BMW as did their grandads etc. In places like Belgium, Luxembourg they found it strange I drove a Vauxhall Omega (to them they were the pimps car), so many be it is a cultural thing. Seems like someone will always put a cultural label on a car, so just enjoy it, and maybe if they see how mcuh money you really save over time and how nice the car is, their minds will change.

Without MOT to your satisfaction I would walk away. Even if MOT fine, the Control Arms can still be in need of replacement. My Mk3 needed both front arms done but got through 2 MOTs without failing, on them, I was happy to live with the slight vibration that it had (189K on clock). Bigger issue with Mk3 for me was the stalling after 15 miles or more. Was for sure the ECU capacitor problem, but got rid of car for spares and went for Mk4. Having said that I spent no money on the Mk3 for the 5 years I had it, so was a bargain car to run.

Do you not need to be married to a Getty to be able to run such large beasts. By the way did anyone watch Trust on the BBC last year, how tight was the Original JP Getty!

Longevity is a problem, and I can only wonder if in 50 years time on Car S.O.S there will some attempt to restore an LS, but it will be a short program invovling a quick rub down with a cloth, replace the water reservoir float indicator, check the boot seal, the filler cap, the cam belt and waterpump and then hand it back to the owner. This would leave the rest of the program to wonder whether it is worth restoring a 1993 Alfa Romeo GTV. I'll be up in heaven (maybe) watching Even More 4 (or whatever it will be called).

At this time of year sounds like a battery on it's way out, just take it to local battery specialist, and get them to load test. (or if you have homestart get the local breakdown boys out) Only other thing that it might be is I recall seeing post in the past about boot light on syndrome, cannot recall exact details, and may have not even been the LS forum, but something along the lines of the boot is shut, the light thinks it's open. If it is that one way to prove is remove the boot light.

Looks like my Mk3 LS 400 when I discovered a couple of gallons in the tyre well. So damp it was condensing. If it is the seal then from my experience you should look where the boot lock is and see if you have drips runnning down into tyre well (and attendant rust mark), if so the seal is the problem. It seems as if in palces the seal dries out, the water wicks over the metal ridge and works it way down inside of seal to the lowest (or where seal join is) usually near lock. If the seal has gone it is not always possible to pull on bits of seal to see if nay is loose, as it does not take much of the seal to break down to allowing wicking over the metal ridge. If the tyre well is fine, then look either side of boot where rear wheel arch corrosion will start allowing water in. This is more of a pain to deal with. Of course you could have a hole cover that is gone, so take all the boot furniture out and have a darned good look, whatever the problem is should be pretty obvious given that condensation in photo. Best of luck

With mine it was corrosion in both arches, rigt from where the arch meets the boot floor, through to the sills by the passenger door. I only noticed as I had steamy windows and knew my boot seal was fine, and then found water by the SatNav unit, and on the other side. At first I thought it was a tiny hole, but prodding with a screwdriver revealed a right old load of rust. Top of the arch was fine, but I assume this holds less mud and crud to cause problems. So take off wheel and prod with a bradawl or small screwdriver.

I assume a 93 would not have VSC on, so not sure how it would drive in Swedish winters. (unless different spec to UK) When I was looking for a Mk4, had a reply from one Finnish owner who used his all year round no problems. ECU on earlier models do seem to be more of a problem. My Mk4 only 19 years old, but do not appear to be suffering same issues I had with ECU in previous Mk3. Some parts seem to have gone up by a fair % over last few years, and with a 26 year old 155K miles, I would think the control arms would have been replaced before now, if not then a larger bill coming your way some time soon. Also I would have thought the more expensive petrol the cheaper V8s get. I bought my first LS in 2008, the recession was kicking in, price of fuel was going up, price of big cars dropping. it was a no brainer for me. LS wil lalways be the cheapest car I have ever run, until I give it up and just use a bus pass to get around (not too many years now!!!)

If you have water in the spare well, then that is coming in from the seal. It's not due to seal loosing its compression, it is due to the sealent that holds the deal to the boot rim drying out. Then the water can wick over the gap (usually a the top of the boot, and makes its way down to the bottom inside rim, then where the lock is it finds a path to the spare wheel well. I just pulled off seal, cleaned up the ridge around the boot, then cleaned out the actually seal, then redid the rim with silicon and not had a leak in 5 years. (also did same on Mk3). Took no more than two hours. Saved me the cost of a new seal. If you have water gathering on either side (where the air vents are) then that is likely to be rear arch corrosion, which is a bit more of pain to sort out.

From my experience squeaky blades due to build up of film on the screen, could be oil from the road, or rubber lefft from a blade starting to break up. Current blades fitted by garage 3 yearsa ago have been fine up until these last few weeks. I think they were usual standard cheapie replacements. I find cleaning screen with isoproyl alchohol helps for a while. I suspect new blades are better at removing gunk from screen, though should give the blades a good wipe now and again to help. So theres one of my jobs for the weekend.

A common feeling amoungst this wonderful community

The voltage drops you have are withing what might be a typical spec of a car battery, though a battery that is not in best condition. The issue would be what the voltage was under load, such as cranking an engine, and that can only be known with a load test. Is your battery 'rogered', I would say not, could be better. I guess that any sulfation in the battery will degrading ability to actually charge, and hold a charge, but not being a total geek expert, not sure if this is my talking BS. My experience is the battery stops working when you are in the greatest hurry, but both my LS have suffered from alarm triggers caused by battery nearly failing. So when I get a regular run of alarms for no reason each and every day, I will be suspecting my battery is about to go 'properly' west. I always have a spared charged battery in the cellar, which though no use long term in the LS (does not fit so well in the battery tray), gives me the chance to get going, if ever I leave an internal light on by accident. That spare was fine last time and it had been sitting for over 5 months.