Malc

insuring imports has been a problem for some guys for decades ............, I remember as a car dealer all those aoens ago the trouble some customers seemed to encounter BUT there's always been a simple solution .. trawl the market ....... the market really does want to insure imports you know, someone somewhere does anyway Malc

and a bit of a horror story with recent MOTs too Malc

I just find it incredible that a 15 y/o Ls430 fails it's MOT on something like this ...... too much rust ! Malc

blimey, well done to spend all that money on glamming up your cars ............ mine and my usual mileage invariably end-up with some sort of car park dings and dents and scrapes somewhere etc I'd be a little upset at seeing 3rd party, even very very slight damage to perfection in the finish ..... so I'll just leave it all for now methinks Malc

Been out and about today in the Lexus ...... a grocery Click and Collect doing a 20 mile round trip in the rain etc All fine and tickety boo ......... as usual ................ and I'm just not capable of getting under the old gal now to check anything at all ....... it's all down to my indy to do whatever when I get down to him Malc

not at all, that's just one element of a useful annual check ( apart from the MOT ) over of the car that's a potential death trap on the road ! Malc

maybe remember changing 8 plugs in a V8 probably scheduled time at least 2 hrs labour ! Malc

Gang hi, your car is 7 years old ?? I would certainly get someone to look over the brakes, calipers etc for seizing etc ........... just in case maybe not an oil change or air filter tho' they should last 10k min whatever Malc

and the LPG additionally should be a good addition too, especially if you're going to do some serious mileage in her ....... I know I would be doing 12/15k miles a year if it wasn't for this Lockdown mullarkey ........... maybe ask Bluesman ( on here ) what his view might be ? Malc

very rare cars ............ wonder if there might be an owner on here ready to part with their's ! best of luck Malc

Battery the RAC breakdown guy put on my Honda Legend ( 3.6 ltr ? ) was a 5 year guaranteed Varta battery ..... £ 135'ish cost though Malc

aha, maybe that's why the car headlamp producers enable the light lenses to yellow over time ........ built in safety by deterioration Malc

or indeed to get one out of a dangerously sticky situation when the safest thing to do is to actually go a little faster to get out of the problem ! Malc

But I didn't, I left it running the whole time ...... and it, wipers, dash lights, electric windows and whatever else just sparked back into wonderful life Malc

strange ..... don't you have any history with your car ? It's a December 1995 vehicle according to the UK Govt MOT checking site ...... and with the MOT imminent you or somebody has had a 12 month to repair the brake issues Malc

then your immediate problem solved as to the current EU rules on a buyers mandatory guarantee I think you could be asking your local RAC or AA office for their thoughts ! Malc

no other car " self heals " quite like the Lexus Ls400 Malc

David, where are you in Kent ? my indy guy is in Margate Malc

I think it did and I bet scary maintenance too .... the 3ltr version was the simple BMC engine .... like the Wolseley 6/110 .............. the driving school I learnt with about 95% of the time was on an Austin 1100 .... the key to clutch engagement was the bonnet rising slightly the instructor told me Malc

always fancied the 4ltr one tho' ......... years ago a buddy who owned a small local garage bought one ( as a toy ) for himself .... a beauty ........ my driving lessons 54 years ago were partly on my dad's Wolseley 6/110 a 3ltr straight 6 engine ........ I was a scary learner driver for sure ... we all survived tho' Malc

I've sadly never been in a Princess Malc

OK now let me put your issue into perspective After a couple of weeks laid - up and being drenched by stormy weather, the old gal was fine going to hospital to pick up my partner ............... BUT towards the exit on the M2 in pouring torrential rain and lorry spray etc the wipers just STOPPED upright on the screen, dash lights vanished and blower stopped radio and headlights still working ..... what to do ...... carried on, off at the exit and by now the power steering was a little stiff on the junction, lights, roundabout etc ............ got to the hospital car park ok, challenging manouvering to park facing outwards ........ leave the engine running tho windows don't work but radio and aerial up&down does, so I turned off that battery drain ................... Call RAC Breakdown and Recovery ... they say about 30 mins ....... BRILLIANT....... maybe an hour later the RAC guy calls to tell me he's around the corner when WHOOOAH ............. the wipers start to work, dash lights appear and all seems normal ........... what a relief .... the RAC guy is still coming thankfully ......... puts his meters and computer all over everything and can't find anything wrong at all ............. telling me that if it hadn't self-healed he would have a better chance of finding the issue ..... thinking it might be a bad earth somewhere ( under the car -----in the pouring rain ! ) or just damp in there somewhere ............. telling me all the time that Ls400s never break down and I'm the highest car mileage he's been out to for a very long time ..... 232k miles All this while liaising with my indy mechanic who tells me we replaced the alternator on 6th January last year ( at 228k miles on original with the car ? ) and maybe the alternator belt had slipped off .... new belt then too ............... So I guess it was a damp issue from being effectively moribund for a while ... then driving thru' torrential stormy weather ...... thankfully the often understated " self-healing" took place Nowt wrong nor on-going I hope ....... let's see, she's going to be almost moribund for a while yet too ... no more hospital appts etc for a while Malc

as the main part of all that work has already been accomplished, taking it all apart, then putting it all back ........... I would have thought they could just charge the actual cost of the waterrpump and tensioner ( if that needs doing even ) and a tiny bit for the labour extra Waterpump cost might be @£100 maybe ? someone on here, I can't remember who, berated a Lexus Main Stealer for wanting to charge so much too and they achieved what I'm now suggesting Give it a go ! Malc

but your car IS 21 Years young and no one could expect seats to be like new Malc

a rare very first of the Mk4's then .... Malc