Cotswold Pete

Lovely car, and looking good for quarter of a million miles. MOTs are breakfast to the LS range (if you look after them). Here's to the journey back from the moon

What I like about the LS is it does waft along in near silence. But when you floor it the cabin fills with a lovely v8 thrum. Now what people outside hear, I am not bothered about. And compared to my MDs Aston Martin, which sounds like a angry wasp when pottering, and Kim Jong Un versus Trump going head to head when floored, I suspect the LS engine could never be that uncouth.

I would think that if the surface of the light is 100% smooth, with no micro scratches then applying a sealant works, though it will break down as UV light (which can be from your headlight, as well as sun) will break down the coating. If the surface has scratches (even ones you cannot see) then it would probably harbour organics material which would grow under the seal and mean it would break down quicker. Agree that the professional route is time saving, but eventually the lights would need re-doing as the coating breaks down as part of its natural life. Also where you get bigger pitting in the light this probably harbours gunk that works away at the surrounding seal. I bit or research seem to show polycarbon caoting at manufacture has a lifetime of 10 years before UV breakdown occurs, but the wear and tear on a headlight would accelerate this. I redid my headlights with T-Cut on Monday, and though not as good as new, I get a way cleaner beam, and night time driving a little easier. I did not coat, seems to be a bit of a debate on lifetime of coating, anything from 1 year to 4 years! What seems to be clear is that a decent coating is not cheap, so a workshop job would be good value in my view. The joys of owning a car without glass lights.

Not sure if this video is of any use. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FITcrUPKXw Let us know how you get on.

£35 seems a fair price given how much time it takes to do along with materials. Assuming they UV sealed as well I will be aiming to do mine properly next time, where as about 12 months ago just did a five minute rub down with T-cut, which does make a difference, but without using a UV sea,l the light clouds up again. Still T-cutting every year may be an answer - if you just need a PoundShop price solution.

Cheers for all ideas, I have a local place that fully alligned my last LS, so will have a chat with them, but also would consider a drive to Chesham, as heard good things about Wheels in Motion, and from this part of the world, is a lovely drive.

This is a nice little chart. The chap who last did tracking said cornering can be the problem, but being a sedate sort of chap am a little surprised, as never had this problem with other tyres. Maybe I should justdrive over the roundabouts on the way to work, though may cause me a few other problems doing that!

Tracking spot on. Just seems so odd that it is that really just that edge of the tyre that is wearing, when the rest of wear seems fine across the width.

Any ideas on what is causing odd wear on front tyres. Been on the motor for about 14kmiles, and the photo shows about 2cm strip where tyre is scuffed bald. Good tyre photo is rear one fitted at same time, and it has plenty of life. Tyres are Nexen N Blues. but this problem looks like suspension gear problem to me. Had a full re-alignment done 30 months ago (after both front tie bars and Near Side rear suspension arm done), and had basic alignment done about 4 months ago. Service in May 2017, was told UCAs looked good, but not had them done, and car is on 180K, and bought at 120K, my mechanic said he thought they may have been replaced before I got the car. All ideas welcome. Pete

I have spent some more time thinking about all of this, and realised that in 7 years time I'll be in a position to be chauffered around in a stonking great diesel powered beast. In other words I'll be able to get my bus pass, sell my LS and spend my life (a bit like my dad now does) being driven around while admiring the view from the back of a bus. Who needs a electric or hybrid when you have a belching diesel bus

Why are there two threads on this?

The future is electric, however the future will be to tax electric. The only reason a Tesla is cheap to run is the lack of fuel duty, which the government needs to pay for building bombers, House of Commons drinks bill, etc. If you applied same rate of duty to electric a Tesla (or anything else) then they make a lot less sense. The one thing about a Tesla is it is dead quiet, and as battery tech (and magnetic drives) improve then they will become more efficient, but the problem is most of the rare earth materials are in China (sort of stable) and other countries (less stable) so same old problem as oil, who the yanks are gonna want to bomb to ensure supply. So even if we all have solar panels etc, the politics is not going away. For sure 4litre monsters will be unlikely in 20 years time, but petrol is going to be around for a while yet, as it is energy dense and easy to transport, where as batteries are along way behind being that energy dense. Personally Hybrids make more sense, especially if the electrics are used to get the car moving to 30mph, where the energy requirement is high, and causes the most pollution. One other point someone pointed out to me years ago, is the fact that the making of a car generally uses more fuel than the car will burn in it's lifetime, so a Tesla probably creates a fair bit of pollution being put together, so the hollier-than-thou hogwash is not going to please the tree-huggers. I'll be looking down from heaven (maybe) in the future trying to spot the few remain LS hanging on in there.

Given how long it's taken some of us to find out all the subtle bits in our 400's I agree with you, I will not live long enough to play with everything in a 500.

Is their a expert in sound who can explain why the V8 sounds is so nice. I used to like the V6 sound of my Omega, and the wifes Jag sounds okay, but the LS sounds so nice and way nicer (IMHO) than the bosses V12 - which just sounds like a V6 with clogs on.

It is a lovely sound, but not sure I would want it to accompany me all day long. What we need is a switch on the exhaust to flick into 'Race a yank tank from the lights' mode.

Edward, I know exactly what you mean, had many a near accident when I tried to tweak a MP3 forward/shuffle/backwards button. I download a lot of Radio 4 and Radio 6 programmes, and pretty sure some of them have been like listening to an audio version of 'The Curious Case of Benjiman Button'. I've got over 400 cassettes in my study, so a lot of listening to be done in the LS, just need a bigger glove box.

Glad to see Analog still rules - I use my LS400 tape deck now and again, last time was for a John Peel compilation from around 1995, had Wire, LoopGuru, Woody Guthrie, TransGlobal Underground to name a few on it. Also good for Alan Bennett reading Winnie the Pooh (still a kid at heart) Bought one of these earlier this year - as my original 28 year old deck had stop working - Yamaha Deck I also use Cassette Adaptor to hook my £23 MP3 player into car audio, and load up the 6pack CD, with anything from Mediaeval Baebes, Blue Nile, Massive Attack, O Brother Where Art Thou (soundtrack). By the way Rich, I have one of those stereos in my workshop, CD packed up, but the cassette player still works a treat. Maybe 78's will be making a comeback some time, but i think I'll give them a miss.

If you use a sealer, I assume a quick hand wash is good enough over the year. Does any old seal do the job, or is there a recommended one

Steve, do recall your story from a few years back, and your trouble with VW sounds like a horror movie. I had a Passat Diesel drank oil like I drink tea. I have never been in a 460 (430 I have been in, but do not like body shape), but completely get why you want another 400. On the rust front, I have a few small problem areas, but even on my previous Mk3 there were some bad bits of rust, but in the 4 years I owned it, the rate of rust growth was negligable. Also rather than 5 grand on a respray would a vinyl wrap be cheaper. By the way the rear window aerial is that for a DAB radio, if so where does the cable run to it.

I also have a large tin of non-mission-critical screws, always useful for when need to sort out another DIY job.

I did mine with T-cut about 6 months ago, but only as temp fix, as they are now clouding over, and really need a proper cut and polish before UV sealing. I know this one has been recommended before - Sealant , but not tried it myself (yet).

Not sure I like the front end at all, but the interior and dash seems nice and clean compared to other high end marques. But sure looks like a lot of expensive tech to have fail in years to come. (though no doubt will last longer then other brands) My LS400 is not too worried about being replaced.

VSV is the Vacuum Switching Valve, so not stability, but something to do with air control. http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/51687-p1651-code/ Could be a valve problem by sounds of it. Though outside chance of ECU Best of luck, sounds like it does not affect running of car, and getting sorted might be a little on expensive side. (Just seen Brendans post, fingers crossed that does the job)

A lovely finsih, and some products I have not heard of before to give a go. I've had a clay mitt for a while, but never got around to using it, so maybe will now give mine a clean, knowing it will expose all the bits of the bodywork that need attention. The plan has always been to get it looking like your, then take it to a spray shop and get a quote to sort out the scrapes etc. Just life gets in the way of sorting the car out!

I had no idea about this, but just found them. Spamspeed Motorsport - they say £65 for they check output, when I have some spare cash and time I might pop along, but likely to be 2018 before I have the time.