Malc

the cambelt, pulley and waterpump change on these is 100k miles / 10 years and whilst it is an interference engine, it is known from research that a cambelt might destruct at 150k miles without attention It's impossible I understand to just simply inspect the belt itself, it's well hidden in the depths ... changing the cambelt etc will involve coolant top-ups and maybe also a wish to change the alternator belt too ...... it's a very very very long and challenging job, one or two members on here have done this personally .... there are useful and informative posts about this in the main forum that will help you understand a little more about all this ............ my indy mechanic does all my servicing and repairs I have no idea about your Mazda wheels and springs set-up, suffice to say that Lexus spent many £billions perfecting your own car with original stuff to give an outstanding drive with comfort, speed and safety OEM parts are the way to go with many spares and Amayama in Japan is a great place to buy from, saving maybe 50% overall on the UK Lexus / Toyota prices if you wanted original Toyota parts that will probably last the lifetime of the car again There's plenty of advice on here if you're thinking to go that route, not inexpensive though, and of course there are alternatives available but with longevity implications in many instances. Lots of good advice available to you and all Members will gladly help with advice and directing you on here, the main Forum is the place to be really Best wishes with your project Malc

welcome to the LOC you actually have a Mk3 car and in that light she looks quite smart any detail on mileage, history etc ? there's a mile of info on your car in these forum posts, everyone is here to help mine's covered 226k miles now and had her 8.5 years and 100k miles after owning a Mk1 and then a Mk2 since about year the 2000 Malc

............. been driven in a fabulous all black leather Prius taxi the other day, amazingly comfy and a " nice place " to be in If one of these was available at your figure you wouldn't do better maybe Prius taxis in the States regularly achieve 700,000 miles they say Malc

would it not simply be a better option to get a competent auto electrician to deal with it even it's to ( just ) avoid a catastrophic fire somewhere in the car Malc

hope someone can save it wasn't there a post here quite recently a guy was looking for an old Ls400 for his son to " do up " Malc

should you be using a Lexus main dealer for this investigative work ?? I hope you have deep deep pockets an indy might give the same diagnosis at much less cost Malc

once or twice I too have experienced this phenomenon but it's never lasted thinking it's after I've just started the car from cold, then moved her a few yards then parked-up, and re-started her again the next day when the " noise " momentarily appears very infrequently though and she runs well all the other times maybe it's a little old fashioned " pinking " ?? Malc

double shot with good caffeine must have helped too ! Malc

Gentlemen HOWZAT for minimal depreciation you may remember i reported an errant whack on my offside rear door some 3 months back well, the car's going in a couple of weeks time to have the dent pushed out ( no paint damage I'm told ) and will be left with two slight door creases where the metal has stretched a little Saga my insurers are ok with this subject to a fresh MOT, and the current insurance will continue with no premium adjustment. I have been driving the car quite ok all this time thankfully NOW, the agreed write-down ( off ? ) value is £1595 with the 225k miles and it will be as a " N " marked for future insurance purposes I get £815 cheque from my insurers, being £1595 less my excess of £350 less 27% re-purchase cost to me of £ 430 she cost me £1400 8 yrs 5 mths ago and at 123k miles ( so £585 depreciation down to zero value ) and apart from the usual maintenance costs etc over the last 100k miles and the fantastic wonderful motoring of that 100k miles ...................... I have suffered an amazing amount of catastrophic depreciation of ............................. 19 pence per day ................. to fully write-down her value to zero in my books HOWZAT ...... and I'm still happily driving one of the best cars on this planet Malc

so how much real cash would be involved ? if it's under £10,000 equivalent per person travelling to the UK then why not just bring the readies ? Malc

I wonder if there will ever be an exodus back to the old fashioned, reliable and simple technology of the Ls400 Often car buyers do seem to relish the prospect of spending their money on significant car repairs in order to have a " new ", to them, car Malc

that's amazing ! Malc

I'd imagine that always the servicing etc was carried out at the Toyota garage, I don't remember ever seeing anything remotely looking like service bays being used etc at the Lexus showroom just a little info ................. The fact that Barretts along the road have started to spend huge amounts of cash on redeveloping all their sites along that road, including the Mini site too which they own, Honda too and having a huge amount of spare cash ( I believe ) from the sensible sale of their owned Jaguar Canterbury City Centre site at the Westgate Towers which has in some measure already been developed into not inexpensive housing, by themselves probably and not a usual housebuilder Mr Barrett is /was if he's passed, a very astute and clever " car " man over very many decades and owning probably some fine and fair size chunks of Canterbury .... including I would think along the road where Lexus is now departing ( maybe he owns the freehold of their site too ! ) Malc

can one not just hire this piece of kit for the day ? Malc

Lexus Canterbury may be closing ( sad but if they can't sell new cars sensibly anymore ! ) but the Toyota main dealer about 200yds along the road, from my personal experience, is 100% superb for us Lexus owners Malc

it's not the same radiator as an Ls430 then ? there seems to be plenty of sensible replacement choice for those ................................ they say on here somewhere Malc

when I do good long trips like that I usually return about 30mpg and that's in my old and ancient 4ltr monster with 225k miles on the clock Mind you it always performs better like this and when fully loaded and at the speed limit, continually rolling along an M'way until the next traffic jam Malc

and after 15 years pray it doesn't go " bang " Malc

a Forum member has or had one too, quite recently, well, this year .................. I think Malc

don't forget that insurance companies are simply there to make as large a profit as possible not for the benefit of the motorist nor anyone bar their shareholders Malc

they are few and far between BUT there is a Ls460 AWD Malc

Jason I don't have a Ls430, just remembering expert opinion from here over many many years It might be that the rad has already been seen to, once or twice, I would suggest 100k miles is maybe the time to change it for new It's not the rad itself that's the problem I understand, it's the radiator rusting pipe joints that leak water into the gearbox pipework ............... and then your gearbox is generally a write-off It's good that you're going to take preventative measures should you buy this car and found from the folder of receipts that it's not been done It does sound and good buy and not much money for a good example with buckets of history to check through and be happy with Good Luck Malc

Alexander, thank you so much for this helpful advice If I do actually get an issue with mine then I certainly will arrange for the ECU to be sorted ................. I'll keep crossing my fingers that all stays well even though perhaps there's general progressive deterioration, it seems all ok for now Malc

I've just gone to their on-line chat and they seem unwilling to tell me if it can be re-capacitored on my 1995 car without them seeing the ECU itself and my wish to drive the car to them, have them deal with the ECU in situ,( taking it off, re-doing it and putting it back on ) cannot be achieved sad Malc

yes, if it's not been changed within the last 50k miles i would say YES they do fail, it's the rusty unions that cause ingress of water into the gearbox eventually and cause catastrophic gearbox failure Malc