Cotswold Pete

An LS (no matter which model) will always lift the spirits, and attract the best of comments (IMHO). Went to a sculpture exhibition this weekend, parked up, and on my return found I was facing an Iso Grifo. Always wanted one when I was a little nipper, but this is the first time I have seen one in the flesh. My LS (uncleaned though it is) was not put to shame next to such a lovely supercar.I wonder if the Iso is as reliable as the LS?

MOT testers always amazed that my 18 year old LS looks pretty solid and no leaks. But I always worry they will pick up on something. The thing to remember is the Japanese MOT is so strict, that any car made for (and in) Japan is going to be a darn sight more robust than your average detroit dustbin, or euro-box. Just got back from Crete, I assume the Greek MOT standard is 'Does the car have a wheel in each corner, if answer YES, then Pass MOT'☠️

I wish I had the kind of money that lets you buy some expensive car just to drive to church and back. Wonder what the owners 'other' car was?

I assume your float in the washer bottle has gone, just disconnect it as it is (so I believe) an MOT fail. Easy enough to do, nearside front wheel arch job, with car jacked up and wheel off. Replacement floats not cheap, some folks have attempted re-sealing float, which one day I'll get around to maybe doing.

I did a heath robinson repair which is just about to give up after 3 years, but just got a 'proper-job' from SGS. It is well made, and will not rot like the lexus version. When the link goes your lights point so far up that they do not light the immediate road in front on you, so not only do you blind others, you cannot see where the heck your going (well old gi*s like me cannot see). I had a look at mine the other day to put the SGS part in, but the threads all siezed, and on mine the SGS thread is slightly bigger than original, so will need to drill out the brackets to fit.

My missus spend all her time in front seat, and my daughter (who sits in the back) says the ride is 'too wobbly'. I will check the anti roll bars, as I think my shocks are okay, and not keen on spening money where not needed, especially if it makes the ride harsher (which given the state of our roads is something to avoid at all costs) I have never suffered from car sickness, even if I sat in the back of a 2CV riding a sponge cake highway I am pretty sure I would be fine.

Just got back from hols, which involved a 100 mile trip to airport, and back. Had a great time in Crete, but over a few beers the good lady was saying how my car makes her feel queasy, as it seems to roll around too much for her, and she really cannot stand being chauffered around when she is in the back seat. So on the way back from airport I was paying a little more attention to the way the car wafted along on the M42/M5, and got me to wondering is it time to replace the shock absorbers. Having done 187K, the shocks will not be in tip-top condition, and doing the bounce test (press hard on each corner) the car seems to not rock about. I can still corner pretty hard, when called upon. So my question is do any members have comments on how replacing shocks made their WAGs feel better, or improved handling. I assume replacing 4 shocks is not cheap, but would not be wanting my good lady barfing all over the inside if we do a long drive down to Cornwall at some point!!!

Agree glass is better, but I assume weight saving means removing any glass you can. To date I have just been using T-Cut on the headlights about once a year, not as clear as new, but good enough, and becuase I do not re-coat with UV protector, they do go dull after about 6 to 9 months. One day I'll get around to to them properly, but suspect I would leave the lights in situ and just mask around the bodywork.

Danny, I used to use Gas & Go in Swindon, he was ex-Lexus technician, but he has stopped doing it now (shame). I live near Stroud and have started using Autocraft Services in Thrupp, they see the LS400 as old school mechanics, and in next year or so they will need to do my Cambelt. If you are prepared to travel, Japex near High Wycombe seem to get excellent reports. I would suggest best place for alignment/tracking is Chris Mullins in Glous (sort of opposite Pro-Tyres), he knows his stuff inside out. Also used Auto Trans Gloucester for a full flush and refill of gearbox (cleanest workshop I have ever seen, and the owner thinks only two cars worth owning are Lexus or Jag). I do keep a list on my PC at home of other places I have used (or come across), I had the dreaded Y-piece leak, and had that sorted by a place near Didmarton just off M4 (went for a walk through James Dysons back garden while they were doing the work). So feel free to PM with any requests I'll see what I have (Doing this reply at work, so do not have all info that may be useful once you land the LS of your choice.

Lets hope they do not come back and ask for your inside leg measurement👢, name of favourite pet 🐏, and best holiday 🛩️, which will only slow the whole thing down a little bit more!

If you have not driven an LS previously, best to test drive one or two to get a feel. £2.5K seems a good budget, and check for last cambelt change. Even high mileage should sound nice a quite once fired up, and then find some speed humps to drive over listening for any knocking to check control arm wear on the front. Check for rust in rear arches (prod with small screwdriver), and water in the boot (easy one to solve), and check all electrics and dashboard lights (which is a pain if you need to start taking dashboard out). There are enough good examples out there, so do not jump at the first one you try, unless it really feels and sounds right. When I bought my Mk4, having pranged my Mk3, I did buy the first one I tried, but I spent over 3 months on ebay/autotrader scouting around, before heading off to have a look. It just felt right and I took it for test drive on my own, found a layby and gave it a good prodding (so to speak) before saying yes. The only thing I did not do was really poke around in the wheel arches, and five years later discovered the extent of a festering problem (now solved and watertight). Best of luck in your search

Already had deposit taken, but it looks like a bargain, and agree the other one is not worth £12K more. I would have been up to Smethwick like a shot if I really needed another 400, I love the bronze colour

If I won the lottery, and having drunk a bottle of whisky to celebrate, suddenly felt the need to blow £15K, he might be in with a chance, otherwise I would have said £4K at most. Not sure why he did not modify the doors, so the brollies would fit in them as they do in a Roller.

Sounds like a lot of hard work, but sure will stand out, as polished alloy wheels can look as near as damn it, like chromed. I prefer the understated matt finish you get with the LS. Not sure if using a Laser Stripper would be a nice quick way of getting it done, if you could find somewhere nearby. Whatever you do, be good to see end result when done

Is there some poor person with a 2CV wondering why they have a rather large windscreen that just will not fit?

£380 for genuine Lexus parts fitted strikes me a a good bargain, as disks are about £140 to £160 a pair, and the pads I recall around £90, then I assume they are sorting out the pad wear indicators, for that price. I would say there are enough LS owners who have had issues with non-Lexus braking systems, where you get rattle, knocking, vibration (at varying speeds). I changed to Pagid from BluePrint pads, and they rumble less than the Blueprints, but I suspect my LS does not have original disks on, so aiming to replace with all Lexus parts sometime soon, when I can get by backside in gear and off to the garage. As to the aeriel have a look at Repairing Antenna and Lexus Antenna the antenna is not original Lexus parts, so if you're not sure then I would probably go for £80 and get a proper Lexus whole aerial replacement, as £80 better than paying £50 for Lexus Antenna and then spending a couple of hour b*ggering about. I would say that the non-Lexus all-in replacements you see on ebay Cheap replacement are probably okay for a couple of years, but whether they will be quite as smooth and quite as the genuine unit, I would not know.

Crikey, you do not hang about when it comes to getting cars sorted. I really like the Smokey Granite, a bit more understated than the Blue. Best of luck with this one.

Those long service intervals are not a problem in terms of any real damage to the engine. I once ran for 25K between service interval on my Mk3, and noticed nothing other than the engine oil was a rather discoloured, but not as sludgy as you might get from a lesser engine. Not so sure I would allow my LS to have two 25K service intervals though! However if your gut feel is 'not sure', then you might end up always wondering if something is about to go wrong every time you start the car up. Seems to be a few 2008 models out around your £7K-£8K requirement, just depends how far you want to travel.

Are you saying that if you manually lock the passenger front door, it does not lock the other doors, if that is the case, I would be punting a guess that it is the door ecu, or maybe a fuse has gone. I assume you have no problems starting the car, which implies that the keys are reset to the main ECU.

I have often pondered that question, given my 400 turns better than my sons 206. As to every day use, been using this and previous LS every day for last 10 years, no other way to drive to work. Sure it uses a bit more petrol than your average car, but what a way to waft to work

Why not use lexusofficialstore seller on ebay, I know that it will be a lot more, but I think with brakes etc, always best to get OEM rather than try and save few quid. The LS seems to be a real problem with vibration when not using OEM pads/discs. I recently changed to Pagid pads (got fed up with blueprints - too much vibration about 4 months after fitting), but even the Pagids vibrate and squeak. I suspect my discs are not OEM (not fitted by me), so time to dig a bit deeper and get it done right, and then sit back and not worry about the brakes for a long time.

A crying shame, must make you want to spit nails (much like you did in posting) When I pranged my previous LS, I was so furious that I managed to find the strength to hand pull the front wing off the front tyre to get me home. It was the next day my back started giving me gip. Those panels are pretty solid. My only good luck was I pranged the week before was about to spend a lot of money. best of luck with search for the replacement.

Not so sure they are that bad, but I often think mechanics think customers are just drivers of cars, so they should not be asking questions about plugs, or any of that other complicated stuff under the bonnet. Thats the great thing about this forum, plenty of people who know there stuff, but I have known many a mechanic poo-poo forums (on what basis I am not sure) C'est la vie🙁

Andy, I asked my mechanic the other week and his reply was, 'If it is not misfiring no need to change the plugs'. Not so sure that this is the best advice I have had, and he said that the plugs were expensive - I think what he meant was compared to your average £3 plugs, the LS is not so cheap Also given the throttle body gets gunked up, that is indicator of how dirty fuel is, and so the plugs after 50/60K miles are not going to be in tip top condition. I remember when I used to take the plugs out for a good clean every 10K miles in the olden days, and was amazed at how a good clean pepped up the old banger I had then. Be interested to here what your mechanic says.

Not a bad looking affair, but it looks a little pregnant compared to the lines of any of the recent LS, GS range. Still it is a Toyota, so most likely a nice car to own and drive. Interesting to see how it evolved since the 50's from this - Crown Mk1