Cotswold Pete

Paul had something similar about 2 years ago. Got in car drove 200yd downs road and noticed radio had not kicked in, the display looked fine but nothing happening. Pulled over and stopped engine and then re-started. Hey presto all fine, and never happened again. Maybe some of that dark matter or a Higgs Boson had just passed through the system and it needed a reset.

Is the leather more likely to stretch due to the perforations. Maybe not have air-con seats is better in the long run, though £45 and 3 hours work seems like a worth while investment.

I agree with David, the price is over the top. seems like at 34K the car has been not up to much for it's life, so I would not see such a low mileage as reason to have such a high price. Not sure what I would pay, but probably under £5K. My LS was 11 years old on purchase and that was only £2,250 with average mileage of 120K

I would also see how clean (or dirty) the throttle is. Though if the idle settles down well I would think throttle is fairly okay. Also agree a LS needs a good motorway run every couple of months if it does mainly town driving.

That Bose system would make a heck of a difference to my ride everyday. I assume with advances in magnets and motors a modern version would be lighter than one developed back 10 years ago. But this would give the government an excuse to never bother re-paving the roads

I had a Mk2 before my Mk4, and have been in Mk1 and Mk3. To me the only thing a Mk3 has over the Mk4 is the headlights(glass not acrylic cover) and foglights (much better on Mk1,2,3) But I went for Mk4 for VSC (Vehicle Stability Control) which I wanted due to the nature of some of the roads I use every day (leafy roads and lots of cattle grills - which caused havoc with the Mk2). The HID lights are better, but in my view not much in it (until I get around to sorting out the clouded acrylic- when maybe they will be much better). The Mk4 is a tad quieter, and a little better on Motorway fuel consumption compared to Mk2). The issue of the Mk3 (and earlier ones) stalling after long runs ( I had this on my Mk2 - and it was bl**dy dangerous at times) is due to the main ECU having capacitors degrade. It is fixable. Why the Mk4 does not appear to suffer so much is probably down to the fact that (as I heard from a electronics mate of mine) is that through the 90's there was a batch of capacitors made (not just for cars, but printing presses, and other controls systems) that were never going to last more than 20 years before they degraded to way out of spec. I do not have a DHP on mine, and the ride is different to my Mk2, but that may be just down to age. I believe dipping wing mirrors on reverse came in with Mk4 along with a number of not so important tweaks like rear view mirror drop down sun shade. If you can get a good Mk3, I would say it is no bad thing, and not worth worrying about a Mk4, they are both darn good cars

I smell a money pit.

David, I have a mate with a BMW X1 (sorry for swearing on the forum) and it's 1 year old, and I am pretty certain I would prefer a 10 year old IS200 to having such a crash-bang car (the roads in Stroud area are shocking) and compared to my 15 year old LS it was like being in a hay wain. Sure it has more electronics than my LS, but all I need is a radio and heated seats.

Derry, Really surprised the Fin works so well. DAB needs an aerial of around 30 to 40cm length to pick up the most of any signal in the ether. However where signals are strong then less than 30cm will work. I assume that if you replaced Fin with the Hirschmann, then you would be able to pick up more multiplexes especially when driving out in the wilds of nowhere, or even in the middle of London, where the tall buildings block DAB way too much.

My first LS was bought based on photos. Had it delivered from Oxford, never spent a bean on it in (apart from service, tyres etc) the 3+ years I had it, and got me hooked. It was not the best example of an LS, but it did the job. So best of luck and let us know how it goes.

Also wanted to add my congrats, looks like a winning purchase.

Now if there was ever a Lexus van, I might consider giving it a go, instead of using the 400 to go to the tip.

Certainly got lots of other books to read, but this one is going on the order list. Thanks for the heads up

Paul, How much did you pay for pads and discs, as I am thinking of going down same road. Not happy with the Blueprint pads I have had on for last 3 years.

I have been told that standard petrol can be between 5% and 20% ethanol in UK depending on what supplier is used But not been able to verify that as a fact. Ethanol attracts water, and I understand that it a petrol/ethonal mix, the water will seperate once the ethanol has attracted it, so it can sit at the bottom of a petrol tank, but once again i am no chemist, so not sure whether this leads to long term problems by drawing water (potentially) into the engine on start up. I assume higher levels of ethanol will change the burning cycle in the cylinder chamber, so that makes me think the engine will not be running at optimum. Also if Ethonal is less energy dense than petrol, it will lead to a loss in performance overall.

Wow, that 's all I have got to say

Just had a quick look at my sunroof insert, and on my MK4 it looks slightly different but where you have your red circle that does not look right at all. Which makes me think you have got cracks which would let water in. Seems like an odd place to crack the insert, almost as if the insert is not sitting quite right and has been over-tightened. I wonder if a bit of JB Weld would sort it out in terms of a good long lasting seal.

The answer to 'how would you know that'. Easy, go out one night get far to drunk and end up trying to sleep in the boot of the LS, but not able to do this, as the light keeps you awake all night :iraqi-info-minister:

Ethanol and diesel is probably a definite NO NO because both like to take up water, and because ethanol (if sat around for a bit) will be the first thing to be drawn through the fuel inlet, it will be quite corrosive. This is more of an issue for marine engines, where the boat is laid up for long periods. Ethanol is a solvent so will eat its way through things, especially if seals are ancient and brittle in the first place, but modern engines tend not to have seals going brittle (as I understand it). I would expect if you tipped your windscreen wash over the bonnet every day (because you had nothing better to do) then it would end up marking the paints and eating the windscreen seals, but I would guess the cost of the wash would be more than the cost of a brand new LS. So unless you are a Russian Oligarch trying to prove that a Zil can take more punishment than a LS, maybe we do not need to be worried.

Brian, Just found my old posting http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/80163-self-levelling-headlights/page-2 As you can see it is real Heath Robinson job (just go to bottom of the post), and there appears to be no room for adjustment on this linkage anywhere, so this is why I assume my garage twiddled something else, not that I noticed when I was fitting replacement bulbs a bit later on.

There must be an adjustment at the lense end, because for the MOT after my DIY repair of the levelling linkage the headlights needed adjustment and they did not fiddle with the linkage. It just said on the MOT - adjusted headlights. So maybe some on the forum knows where that extra adjustment is - behind the headlamp unit I would have thought

Battery on the way out always been my problem when alarm starts playing up. Or maybe has put in a big fancy WiFi signal nearby, which happened once when we were playing with high power WiFi in the office a couple of years ago.

Heck, That was a lot of money splashed out over the years, but no mention of cam belt! And an LS looks good even covered on snow.

I recall that self levelling headlights came with the Mk4 and they had the HID lamps. Previously Mk2 and Mk3 certainly had manual adjustment for headlights. Just be aware that the the self levelling mechanism can corrode and fail, which happened to me after 1 year of owning Mk4. I did a DIY job which has held up so far. It was only when I kept getting people flash me that I knew something was wrong.

The brake dust does adhere well to the alloy, so an alloy wheel cleaner does the job once you have washed the wheels. even a clean looking wheel seems to have a fine coating of brake dust on it. So long as the protective coating is in good nick the alloy cleaner works well. They are supposed to be acid free so not sure how they get to work, it must catalyse with the brake dust to free it up. Cannot recall which one I use, but see this link http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/63754/best-alloy-wheel-cleaner