Malc

if that's the proper one at 700 CCA then that looks a brilliant price ......... if it fits the Mk3 and original OEM spec............... I know my Mk1 and Mk2 were def NOT the same as the Mk3 fitting however When I changed my battery first time around in April 2012 I believe it was the original .............. Bluesman on here the same i think ! Malc

extra dosh to cover repairs no doubt Malc

oh dear, I guess the plastics are beginning to perish eh ! Malc

for all you Mk3 owners out there Dead battery on collection of car from Treadmark Tyres yesterday ................. it's been very very cold and the old battery is April 2012 Saw they sell batteries so I asked them for their advice. Don't have one in stock BUT they can call their supplier Oh dear, there are 5 options it seems and the likely one was going to cost £155 and to await delivery sometime soon ! They jump started the car and i drove the half mile to Toyota where i had bought the last battery. Very helpful and luckily they had one in stock to fit . It's a really odd size to fit the set-up in the Mk3 ( as I said in 2012 ) specific to the hole in the Mk3 AND waving my walking stick at 4.40pm asked if they had anyone who could please fit it for me. Having asked where the car was ( outside in their car park with engine running ........... just in case ) and if I had any passengers with me ( none ) the happy manager asked one of the guys to get the car, drop it round to the workshop and within 30 mins I was on my way What a bit of luck eh ! he advised that the original could have been a Yosuda ? battery which had lasted some 17 years but today would cost £300 if available they gave me a 30% discount and i paid a total of £72.72 ....... WOT a BRILLIANT result 5 STARS to Toyota Canterbury .......... the very best place to get your Mk3 replacement battery Malc

oh dear Treadmark Tyres Canterbury now called Protyres I think dropped her in for the necessary laser realignment and 3 of the 4 corners out of kilter according to the pretty coloured diagram simple ............ £30 front and £30 rears to be done fronts fine and easy peasy BUT the rears challenging ................... so much so that after much huffing and puffing one bolt snaps, seized solid leave her overnight with lots of penetrating oil but still stuck solid and they tell me the only course is to replace the rear trailing arm .......... after market should be ok BUT as we all know some of this stuff just sin't available and Toyota ( just up the road ) can provide the appropriate part in 2 days for £190 and with labour would work out at £468 declined the offer and suggested they should drill out the seized bolt, After much amazement that i wasn't going to just roll over and accept getting a new part they went back to the drawing board ........ following day they call me to say that HEY PRESTO the penetrating oil has worked and they had fabricated a new bolt ( really ? ) and the job was done Very nice people and the cost was the standard £60 incl vat and the untouched rear bolt was the one corner that was fine anyway BRILLIANT outcome and I'm very pleased that the penetrating oil worked for them rather than drilling out the old bolt Actually 5 Stars for doing a very challenging job at initial price Malc there's another new post about the dead battery

good luck with it all Malc

guys, today I bumped into a gentleman in the local car park sporting a very fine looking silver Ls460 Urged him to join the forum F16LEX He's just coughed up @£3k for the failed gearbox issue ( reconditioning ) following the darned radiator pipes leaking and doing it's destructive worst he had exactly the same happen on his past Ls430 but didn't appreciate the same could happen with his Ls460 so all you guys with a Ls460 .................. please take care Malc

you should get some quotes methinks and to make sure they are doing what really needs doing too coz there's lots of stuff under there I'm assuming it's the front ? My car has done 217k miles on the offside one and 173k on the nearside one replaced with a Blueprint one 3.5 years ago which has now failed The original o/side one was still ok but very very tired the drive is now amazingly different too I bought my parts from Amayama in Japan which after carriage and UK Customs Duty and vat etc work out about 50% of Lexus UK prices. BUT took about a month to get even though it was the rapid delivery, but over Xmas My indy is brilliant with my Lexus and about a quarter of Lexus main dealer labour prices I would think Malc

I've just had mine replaced on my Mk3 Ls400 and total cost before laser realignment ( you must have that done afterwards ) was about £635 being 50% or less of the likely cost had i had it done at Lexus ( see my posts on here ) The Ls430 will probably be more Malc

for heavens sake, just take a short break down to Devon and have them do the whole job for you there and then ........... relaxing in the knowledge it's being done properly while you're supping a few beers in a nice hotel Malc

check on the Govt Rules for self insuring ? It used to be that with surplus capital of £50k one could self insure, or at least maybe get that underwritten at Lloyds ( not the bank ) ............ check with a broker maybe that's if you or your parents etc have the odd £50k lying around Malc

strange you should say that ............. when i was learning about 50+ years ago, my very first time out in a car was on an airfield somewhere in Essex laid out for the purpose of ' first timers ' learning to drive Maybe this sort of thing still exists somewhere ? Malc

just found this on another post on this forum might it help ? Malc I found this web that’s Pay as you drive http://www.bymiles.co.uk cover with AXA Insurance UK plc a crazy price for my car and 2,000 miles it’s Annual estimate £175.43a annual cost, then 38p/mile monthly total p/a £251.43

go and work for a car sales company and get them to have a Ls430 in stock ( even if you buy it for them ) and then you should be able to drive their stock cars on their company insurances Maybe ! Malc

maybe try Adrian Flux on here for a quote ! Malc

satisfaction is that you're not being an absolute ****** and blinding everyone else on the road with our quaint but perfectly adequate glass lensed headlights and ordinary bulbs. Just had to have one new bulb and it's exactly the same light output effect as the other side that was replaced maybe 5 years ago. At £5 for a pair of bulbs it's a whole lot cheaper too than modern day bulbs If in the New Forest at night and there's not enough light pop on the main beam maybe ! Malc

take that route then .. you've had the car a very long time and if it really is something relatively simple then I'd explore that too ..... some people do try to overcomplicate issues sometimes Malc

....., and after several days and a few good 30 / 40 mile runs I can confirm that the ride is hugely improved, just feels a lot tighter and responsive .... maybe like a new car popping down to Canterbury next week, Treadmark Tyres, to have the laser alignment set-up re-done. Malc

I think there might be posts on here about the EGR valve being blanked off/removed I know there are others more knowledgeable here with better advice. The EGR valve is absent on other countries cars, it's superfluous i believe .......... shouldn't be a big big issue taking it off and blanking it surely ! Malc what year is your Ls400 by the way ?

I did think about pressing in new stuff BUT decided to go for the whole deal The all-up pricing seemed ok tbh I replaced both front UCAs on my Mk1 at about 160k miles ........ donkeys years ago now and they cost about £125 each from Lexus at that time A different era methinks Malc

he probably had a bad hair day .. don't take it to heart, he'll probably ( hopefully ) revert to norm quite soon Malc

Gentlemen Thought i should now post this having collected the car today from my indy at 217,150 miles she drives better than ever following renewal of the two front UCAs . We had to replace the " new " Blueprint n/side one replaced about 40k miles ago Took the opportunity to replace both now with genuine OEM Toyota parts from Amayama .. the o'side unit is still serviceable after 217k miles .......... but showing signs of age and wear OK the cost: Amayama parts, Left and Right units, looks like same stock numbers BUT marked L and R ( in pen ) ... cost £358.66 incl all shipping costs payable to Amayama UK Customs Duty and VAT and fees and Parcelforce £12 handling fee total £95.80 Fitting costs by my indy £180 Total cost £ 534.46 ( no other vat besides UK Customs Duty stuff ) I think from Lexus would have been about double the cost Malc

not sure that's quite right Bottom line is what's it worth with the insurance company following a write-off Malc

and I'm fully expecting at least another 150k miles from mine with judicious servicing etc ......... does that make mine worth £8995 I wonder Malc

you might be right Stuart, it was a long long time ago for me ........... i think the soldered ends part company slightly with age/heat etc.......... but that might be for another component on the dash someone else on here should know the answer surely ?? Malc