Cotswold Pete

Fingers crossed for you, seems that more than just me accidently blipped the pedal when firing up the car. Just got into the habit of tucking my feet around my ears while turning engine over

The 400 is amazingly quiet at 50 to 60mph, the only car recently I have been in that is quieter was a brand new Audi Q7. Wind noise and tyre noise are the issue, and having not been in a 430 (or 460) I suspect low profiles will always raise noise levels, but the 430/460 may suffer less wind noise which becomes more noticeable at 70-80mph. If you like toys a 430 it must be, but do try a Mk4 400 if you can, and then just keep the beer in the fridge at home.

Bluetooth tech has come on leaps and bounds in last 5 or so years, so a lot of systems from the early days of Bluetooth to around 2007/2008 were a bit hit and miss (and some were plain cr*p)

Different, but not my cup of tea. My only complaint about the front end of my Mk4, is the acrylic headlights, which I need to restore, where as the glass ones on Mk2 were maintenance free.

I always thought it meant United Kingdom Wavelength, but only on the misguided notion that we use different de-emphasis on the FM band compared to a lot of other countries. You learn something new every day

Had a mate in the mid 70's with the Sceptre Mk2, recall it as being comfortable, fast, and I was jealous. Had a valve radio as I recall.

Stuart, Just popped out to look at mine. The eject button stand about 1mm to 1.5mm and does not differ whether tape is in or out. I assume it is not a mechanical switch. I guess there is a chance that yours has permanently latched on which means it would reject any tape straight away (not sure if that is easily fixable). One thing I remembered is that DO NOT USE Adaptor with cable exit like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audio-AUX-Car-Cassette-Tape-Adapter-Converter-3-5-MM-for-iPhone-iPod-MP3-CD-S2-/261958038009 GET ONE LIKE THIS http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cool-New-Car-Tape-Cassette-To-3-5mm-AUX-Audio-Adapter-For-iPod-Video-MP3-MP4-/131628781459 You see different exit points, and seems like Bose, and Nak systems prefer one type only. Also I would advise against driving while listening to classic Lord commentary, I used to love listening to cricket at Lords when I used to work in a garage many moons ago, but sometimes the tears in the eyes from laughter could be a driving hazard.

Sounds like your tape deck has failed, as it does not latch onto the tape an pull it in. From my days of pulling apart car cassettes years ago, this is due to gunk just bunging up, or the latching system has failed. That is usually caused by over use. Without taking the head unit out it would be hard to work out what is what, but because the system is auto-reverse it is nigh on impossible to try and fool it into playing a cassette because the torque sensors in the auto-reverse mechanism interfere too much. The fact that it springs back out tells me something is jammed, maybe fixable, but likely to be a pain. Do you have an old proper cassette that you have tried out (if not visit a charity shop - some still have them). If that works then it tells me the mechanism is complaining about the MP3 adapator rather than tapes in general. Have used cassette adpators in Mk1, Mk2 and current Mk4 with no problems. I did find the SONY adaptor would not work in any Lexus or Honda (fine in my old Omega), and so bought some cheapie off e-bay which has been great for last 6 years.

I do find the GS300 seats a little better, but you get used to the LS sofa style (as I call it). I suspect an LS always grows on it's owner no matter the colour, which is why they are so hard to give up.

If you look at transmission fluid capacity on somewhere like www.cararac.com, you can see that a lot of modern systems use a very small amount of fluid which I was told by someone who repaired gear boxes, meant they have pumps to push the minimal amount of fluid they have around. The pumps fail, and then they destroy the system from inside. I have had a mate with two BMWs (both M3) both suffered failure within 80K. Nothing that has moving parts in contact can be sealed for life, maybe it should be 'sealed for the life for the average length of a business car lease'. I have heard that because oil is expensive and toxic, there is a drive to use less of the stuff, but I assume a gearbox rebuild must use a fair bit of energy etc, etc. so not exactly a long term eco-friendly way to go.

Nice summary of why no one should be without a 400, still say it is the cheapest motor I have ever owned, when you take into consideration purchase price and then no need to be spending money left right and center. Sure spares are not cheap, but work colleague with a Mini (6 years old) has just had to spend over £800 having gear box sorted. Having driven Granada's in the past, lovely big cars (never tried a Cosworth), but once drove a 15 year old Granada, like driving a oil tanker in a hurricane, not something I can ever the LS managing to do. As to Scorpios, never been in one, and IMHO seem to be bug-ugly as a motor.

I think the white looks nice when scrubbed up clean, but not so sure I would have the time to keep it looking nice every week, as I use mine for daily commute. But no reason to see how it goes, and if you find it a faff, then consider a vinyl wrap (maybe).

That is exactly what he did, but he just did it for longer than I had. I think it was the low coolant that made me panic that something else was awry. The RAC chap did ask if I had merely moved it a few yards up and down the drive (as t his is where wheelie bins were) as this is a classic case of flooding the cylinders without knowing it. Now that I have more or less finished a major gutting and rebuild of my lounge I hope to have some time to give the LS some attention and some new tyres.

Mk4 in good nick for £2K does seem to be getting harder, but worth persevering. When I started looking, took a good few months to find the right one on line and by 'luck' turned out to be a well looked after car (apart from usual leaky boot syndrome). If you can get one with Cam belt done, all the better, otherwise allow around £350 to £500 to get it sorted.

Well chaps, I am such a numpty, got the RAC out and after 15 seconds of turning the engine over he got it going. I had badly flooded the engine, and with the cold weather not a hope in heck's chance of the fuel evaporating even overnight. Took a good minute to get exhaust gasses looking as they should do. Not sure how I flooded it in the first place, as last time I did such a thing I had foot on accelerator rather than brake, so maybe I did that yesterday without realising. Last time I flooded an engine was many moons ago. So panic over, and now need to get the old pressure test sorted, but there is a slightly odd noise under the bonnet, so my money is on water pump ('tis 25K since the cam belt was done, and the pump was okay then). The RAC man said he had never known an LS have a head gasket problem, and he was amazed at how quiet my engine was, where as I think it is noisy (maybe I just go used to it). We borrowed the mother-in-laws VW Lupo - let's just say an interesting experience, not one to be repeated too soon I hope.

Now that I have had a second look at the battery, the cells are all okay, and battery health light is green, so it should be now okay, but the engine will not start. Just tried to turn it over and once again it fired up for about 2 seconds and then died. So kind of back to where I was earlier. Did not notice any smoke this time, but then I assume any unburnt fuel had evaporated after an hour. So back to square one, so once again anyone got any ideas. Will be calling out the RAC tomorrow see if they can at least get it off the drive for me to a garage. First time I have been let down so bad by LS, but I guess it had to come.

Actually just had a proper look at the battery, and this may at fault, even though it is less than a year old. It is not a sealed for life (which is rare these days), so needs a bit of topping up and charging. Will update as and when. But does sound like the collant issue needs a look at ASAP.

White looking, and only out of off-side exhaust (as far as I could tell). My worry is that might indicate failed gasket which would be a nightmare.

Just tried to pop into town and the 400 would not fire up. Got the bonnet up, and battery is fine. However coolant very low (when I last checked it was just off low - about two weeks ago). So I guess I have a leak somewhere, first thought is the water pump, but will need to get garage to run a pressure test. However not sure what would stop it from starting, unless the leak is is causing/has caused something else to hiccup. I have a had scan around the forum but nothing comes up other than possibly the water pump or the expansion tank cap/sensor. But these should stop the beast firing up - as far as I can tell. One thing to add - about 15 minutes later I tried again, she started for about 3 seconds then dies, with a lot of smoke out of the back (un-burnt fuel or what - I do not know). Any ideas, but it sounds like a trip to garage is required, assuming I can get her off the drive.

Does this mean that you can also play CD's if you want to. Also when you say the CD indicator flashes on the EMV, what does this mean? I would have thought it should play bass as normal if your sub is working, sounds like yours is not for some reason.

If it were me I'd be going for the Jag. The missus has 2 litre X-type, and to be fair not a bad old car, not as quiet as the LS, seats a bit narrower, but for a small engine can pull fairly well even with four people in. Fuel economy is good for such a big car. Sound system nowhere near as good, but some models come with Bluetooth, which would be nice to have in the 400. Interior is different, but no worse/better than LS IMHO. Just check the openings under the door sills for rust, some are really bad and some seem to be perfectly okay. I found ones later than 2004/2005 to be best to go for, and good value (but not as good value as LS). I found the S-types too cramped for my liking, and having driven the Aero, a nice car, but thirsty and also felt cramped, and the dashboard/console felt way too clumsy to me. Never driven a GS300, but been in one or two, and they seem to be okay, but the boot space was not to my liking, though I think they look a bit nicer with the bodywork styling. Whatever you end up with, hopefully no one will be trying to park in the back of it.

Filaments get hot, and then if they cannot dissipate heat they will fail quicker so after many years they are bound to go. Mind you an LED reduces in brightness due to the fact that the Diode junction gets really hot and wears down over thousands of hours. This is why we do not notice LEDs failing because they do it so gradually. As to replacing with LED's I am always nervous of this because of the noise LEDs can create, which may upset other systems around them. When a circuit is designed with LEDs in mind then noise regulation is generally taken into account, and fact that filaments are not constant resistance from start time to active time, means LEDs can stress other devices a little more on power up. Someone more technical than me might say you need a shunt across the LEDs to be safe, but if this is a spare unit, might be just as well to go ahead and see what happens.

What I was getting at is the FWD system actively wears the tyres. Most cars have uneven tyre wear due to the driving wheels taking the brunt of gaining traction, and then front wheel drive cars suffer from torque steer wear (due to different lengths of drive shafts). Modern cars have all sorts of electronic/mechanical systems to try and overcome this 'normal uneven wear', it is just IMHO FWD drive systems seem to be more prone to the electronics engineer not quite getting what the mechanical engineer was trying to achieve. If you throw enough money at the R&D end then all is likely to be better, but the problem you then have is that the road surface and tyres are variables that can muck up the best laid plans made in the design and testing office.

Is there any FWD system that really works, and by that I mean one that does not wear the tyres out a different rates, or cause weird vibrations, snapped shafts etc etc. The mechanical and electronic engineering required for modern cars is pretty challenging. I spoke once with a truck servicing company and they said that just about most modern cars are way to simplified compared to trucks in how they are engineered, and the money on a truck/tractor unit goes into the mechanics not the fancy stuff in the cab. Personally five me rear wheel drive and when it snows I stay home and light a fire, and I have no desire to go off-road with my LS, or try and lap the Nurburgring in record time in the wet (or even in the dry). Given that the Jensen FF started it all back in 1967 - is it still taking a time to get it right??

Looks most odd with the earlier wheels, and a little overpriced as well.