alphacat

I would advise trying the USA I have done it in the past for Mazda spares and I saved 50% 430SC spares are readily available from the US. I didn't pay any extra charges on a full set of coils, plugs leads etc for a Mazda RX8

I left my car at a Heathrow Meet and Greet a few weeks ago while I had a holiday in Thailand. Dropped if off and picked it up 12 days later. No problems with starting apparently... It was delivered back on time with no notifications. So it seems my car is fine for at least 12 days... still not sure after that... Point is the parking service I use may not have told me they had to start it with leads or a booster because it may be they get accused of leaving lights on etc. So I still cant be firm that it will last 12 days.... In fact now it rarely is left that long....My latest e-mails to Lexus have been ignored. No technical help at all. Customer service just say, 'the,y of course are not technical staff' !!!! Whats the point of having customer service people who don't understand cars ??

Just did a run for Yorkshire to LHR and back after a trip to Thailand... I know my way to LHR very well by now but used the sat nav just in case of detours etc. It did give me options to avoid hold ups twice but I ignored them as I was listening to traffic updates (on the Radio) and it informed me these issues were just about solved. The SC was a joy to drive listening to the best sound system ever (as far as I am concerned) fast enough to leave most things behind and it give me 29.3 mpg for the return journey of 470 miles total in perfect comfort. Most of the time on the motorways etc I was doing well over the legal limit (like nearly everyone else, what is wrong with our roads that the limits are so low. . ...Its like watching paint dry) Great car so I can put up with the sat nav being less than perfect.

Not sure about a reversing camera but I am sure people who use run flat tyres don't understand how to drive or how important good ride is for road holding and safety. Run flats are a menace. They should be banned.

Oh really !! Is your 05 SC using the same version of Mine too?? I thought it will be at least another version by then, hmmm.... I defo know what you mean, as I bought this car miles away from London and I just too innocent to relies on the Sat Nav to bring me back home, however, no success plus a bit got lost. Then I was using my IPhone to guide me until I get back to main motorway .... It was bit scary as its getting dark plus my phone battery dieing too Having say that, I'm still insist to have a disc change, if there is still not much improve, worse come to worse Ebay it, I mean the disc, not SC, do you ever drive 06 up SC, people said its much better? If you do please let's me know whether is true or not! Anyway nice to meet you :) My SC is a November 55 plate and its the upgraded 6 speed version with the latest suspension and gearbox. I understand mine is the 2006 model so I think the sat nav is the same as all of them it certainly isn't to good by todays standards.. Also I can operate ( change destinations etc) the sat nav while on the move etc and I understand that's not possible with pre 05 units that have not been upgraded. However don't get me wrong I love the car the 6 speed auto is unbelievably good. Mines black with ivory leather..

That looks really good but unfortunately the sat nav will still be crap. There are not many SCs on the road now and you want to be even more unique. Is what your trying to say ..!!

I bought a full set of new updated Europe Sat Nav discs from the Lexusmapupdate site. it was about £120 I think. It updated the maps fine but the Sat Nav is dire. Its well dated and unfortunately I don't know how it can be improved without buying another car. It doesn't use full post codes and the silly woman insists on trying to get you onto a chosen route even though it would take you miles extra to get back to it. The screen has low resolution and the controls over complicated. Its easily beaten by a modern £70 plug in Sat Nav from Navman or TomTom. Sad but true.

Thanks for that. ... Makes sense but I am not satisfied that a car with a perfectly good battery should become unreliable after less than 2 months without having to charge the battery in some way. I often leave the country for weeks and when returning I expect the car to start if its been garaged indoors, at the airport, or with some car parking company and I wouldn't expect to have it started, I am surprised that members seem to accept this is 'normal'. It never was in the past and having security systems modern electronics etc it matters not the battery should be able to cope if it meets its spec. With that in mind I contacted Lexus. At first I had some response from a woman who admitted she wasn't technical but suggested my battery was at fault and I should take the car to a Lexus dealer. I wasn't happy with that and informed them that the battery was fine I have done charge tests and drain tests etc My battery is clean ( terminals and the casing) and I had heard from the lexus club web site that a number of people have this issue and in some cases have changed the battery for anew one to no avail. I also mentioned that if a car cant be left for about two months its not reliable and I believe this issue has been identified on the 430SC because so many of us use it infrequently.. I have just had an e-mail telling me the complaint has now gone to Lexus head office for customer service so I am hoping for something sensible back. They should at least know why we have to trickle charge a good battery after a few weeks. Bad design or whatever. This was a £60000 car from a company that built a rep on reliability and quality. Plugging in little solar panels whenever you go on holiday and hoping it will start when you get back is not acceptable. My car was only 6 years old when I first realised what was happening and had only done 50000 miles. Saying all that I haven't had the problem since last May when I was out the far east for 3 weeks it seems fine but I have used it at least once a week since. I want to know from Lexus why? They must know....

This is not the sort of response I expect to somebody trying to offer you some help and advise. I suggest you be a little more courteous in future if you wish to remain a member of this community. In response to your grease and grime comment I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you misunderstood. Chris was not referring to dirt in between the battery terminals and the connectors, but dirt across the top of the battery which will allow current to pass from the -ve to +ve terminals and cause self discharge. This is a real problem and is one of the issues to check for when experiencing this type of issue. Toyota recommend that if a voltage of 0.5v or higher is detected across the -ve terminal and any point on the top of the battery casing that it is cleaned to prevent self discharge. How dare you suggest my battery is dirty... Chill out a bit.. It was a naf suggestion and you know it.

Thanks for that... I was beginning to believe the security system was an issue. but the fact that Lexus let cars suffer in this way without recall is unacceptable. Are you saying you leave the car on charge without disconnecting a battery terminal ?? This used to be a definite no no as diodes in the alternator control unit can sometimes be blown. Not sure if it still applies, but If I am charging a battery I always disconnect one of the terminals.

No it doesn't help at all.. The SC shouldn't have issues like a hybrid because it isn't a hybrid its a normal car and it should not drain the battery under normal circumstance's at least not in less than 2 months or so. Grease and grime do not 'promote' battery discharge it just provides a resistance that has to be overcome. I do laugh at solar panels as they should not be required. They fix nothing. The answer is to fix the problem. Now its clear a number of SCs do have a problem masking it isn't clever solving it is.

It must be my age, but sometimes it's nice to look at a 90's vehicle. By the way, sometimes the ride is more important than just power and looks! I agree ride is important but I am only 68 years old and still like power and looks. when I am a bit older I may put away childish things but at present I am still enjoying going past boy racers.... the Mk2 430SC has such a good pick up between 60 and 100mph its better in my eyes than the Audi S4 ( I had a new one same age as my Lexus) and that's got 340bhp. Even my son is impressed and he is an M3 person (he has had two of them ) sad to say.

That's got to be draining quite quickly mine lasts about two weeks at least. Must be something wrong...

Well my 8 year old daughter fits in the back and I would certainly fit a normal seat belt restrained car seat in it if I had too. As it is she just uses a booster now.

Probably advertised everywhere and snapped up by a dealer. As it first reg in December 2005 its probably a Mk 2 6 speed auto with the improved suspension and they really are worth it. Mine is a November 2005 car and its 6 speed auto. Brilliant gear box, better than the similar BMW box by far. Even my son says that and he is BMW freak..

Yes Those look good. Allows the brake callipers to be shown off too.

Yes but I think 'old' not middle aged.. Dinner plates and 'Jewish racing gold' is very popular in the US along with blue rinsed hair.

Look good without the silly dinner plates. What were they thinking of?

Thank you for the info and the link glad you had a satisfactory conclusion to your problem. This is the sort of info that makes boards worth while. Thanks again. I will add the ML experience in my 430Sc is the most impressive I have ever had in any car. I have had some very good cars with top sound systems. Its well worth keeping it original as I doubt anything else will measure up.

They must of had a bad day. One ray of sunshine does not make a summer.!!

Hello Yes I had this a few months ago ( well January) I checked the error codes and it turned out to be an O2 sensor bank one low temp. This means the temperature coil on the O2 sensor isn't making temperature. Double checked it on another system and came up the same thing. Changed the sensor (it cost £120) and problem solved. Seems these lights can come on for various reasons and its a bit misleading, on other cars you just get the Engine Check Light on. If you haven't got a code reader I would recommend one. It helps give you more confidence in whoever does the job. I am lucky I have a friend who has his own garage top engineer, used to be on a world rally car team.

Just looked it up and it seems to me the LS400 is very dated now and the LS430 LS460 and LS480 are all later models. The LS430 having the SC430 engine. The LS460 having over 320bhp and the LS 480 having even more. I haven't seen many of these later 'big' Lexus models but the extra power in the later two would appeal to me The LS480 has an 8 speed auto box and if its half as good as the 6 speed auto in my SC430 I would love to drive one. I compared mine with my son's 335 BMW 6 speed auto and we both agreed the Lexus was better in every way particularly on engine breaking in sports mode.

Perhaps we should 'compare and contrast'? Personally I would love to drive an LS400, mainly because they are so different and such great value at this time. So although I enjoyed the trip home today with the hood down (doesn't happen too often), I would still love a sedate drive in a proper LS400!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Perfection!!!!!!!!!!!!! Some have said these cars don't compare - my view is that this is the whole point of of these cars!!!!!!!!!!!! Should we desire to own cars that are similar - "I don't think so" So if you are ever in Northern Ireland (Belfast), I would be more than happy to lend you an SC for a day out. Unfortunately the wood is of the lighter shade which is my preference ) You never know - you could be tempted? If ever interest, just PM me. Mark Not sure why an LS 400 would appeal to anyone who wanted a 430 SC. So you may be looking for a v Perhaps we should 'compare and contrast'? Personally I would love to drive an LS400, mainly because they are so different and such great value at this time. So although I enjoyed the trip home today with the hood down (doesn't happen too often), I would still love a sedate drive in a proper LS400!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Perfection!!!!!!!!!!!!! Some have said these cars don't compare - my view is that this is the whole point of of these cars!!!!!!!!!!!! Should we desire to own cars that are similar - "I don't think so" So if you are ever in Northern Ireland (Belfast), I would be more than happy to lend you an SC for a day out. Unfortunately the wood is of the lighter shade which is my preference ) You never know - you could be tempted? If ever interest, just PM me. Mark I think the SC430 is quite sedate with the roof up or down and I think I would like the LS 400 apart from the looks. I am not particularly a Lexus fanatic I bought my 430SC because I thought it was good value and I like V8s. But personally I think for the 400 LS to appeal to me it would have to have another 100 BHP. Just my thoughts. Not a Lexus fanatic but since owning the 430SC for over a year I am very, very impressed with Lexus. Apart from the Sat Nav (and mine is updated to 2012) which is not in my opinion as good as a £75 Navman. Sad but true.

Not true. Winter tyres are designed to perform better than Summer tyres when the temperiture is below 8deg, but there is no sudden change in performance. They don't 'fall of a cliff' as the temperiture rises, the same as Summer tyres don't suddenly go off as the temp falls. You just go by the average temp at the time. Last year I put mine on at the end of November and kept tham on till mid April. The real advantage is the extra grip you get in ice, snow and slush, When it's like that they transform the car from a liability to a safe means of transport. John N The only people who think its not true are those who have made money promoting the sale of a second set of tyres and those who believed them. No one really needs except for 4 or 5 weeks maximum a year. If you used them between November and April you were on a less effective tyre most of the time. I didn't drive my car in ice snow or slush more than 3 times in the whole of last year and it was the worst year we have had for a long time. You get nothing for nothing and winter tyres are less efficient most of the time and les effective too. Again I have to say I don't believe that is true. From experiance I definatly believe winter tyres perform better than summer tyres below 8 deg, and if you check the average temperitures for those months you will see they were the right tyre for the majority of the time. In any case WINTER TYRES COST NOTHING EXTRA AND TYRE DEALERS MAKE NOTHING EXTRA OUT OF SELLING THEM. How can that be true? Well the simple fact is that a car can only wear out one set of tyres at a time. Take the example of a car covering 40,000 miles a year and using tyres that last for 40,000 miles. You would have to buy one set of tyres a year. Compare that to a car covering the same distance using summer and winter tyres. For 9 months of the year it will use summer tyres and cover 30,000 miles i.e. 3/4 of the life of the tyres. For 3 months (Dec, Jan. & Feb.) it will run on winter tyres and cover 10,000 miles using 1/4 of the life of the winter tyres. Over 4 years it will use 1 set of winter tyres and 3 sets of summer tyres. That is one set of tyres a year that will need to be bought - the same as the car using summer tyres all the time. What does cost extra is the garage charges for changing the tyres twice a year if you only have one set of wheels. That is why people buy a cheap set of wheels to put their winter tyres on, once you have bought the wheels you can change them yourself in an hour and it will cost you no more in the long run. Tyre dealers selling winter tyres don't sell more tyres they just need to carry a larger range of stock to satisfy the demands of customers who appreciate the safety advantages they give. Deciding if you need winter tyres is another matter, if I lived in Cornwall I wouldn't bother, but in Scotland many people consider them a necessity. John N Yes John your right on an individual basis if the owner is going to keep the car through two full sets of tyres and use them equally in winter and summer it matters little apart from the fact that normal tyres have been developed very effectively over the years to be very efficient in all sorts of road surfaces and conditions. Winter tyres are not even a definition of anything resembling a credible style of tyre for any condition of road surface or weather. Winter is different all over the country and you righty say in Scotland, a winter tyre with more focus on ice or cold temperatures may well be appropriate at 'more' times of the year. This leaves us with the image of people getting to the border and jacking the car up to change tyres its completely stupid. You may well use bold type and large letters but that just makes you look even more silly. Fact is in the UK weather changes weekly and changing tyres every 6 months is not wise. However on the west coast of Scotland palm trees bloom and the weather is even mild when the centre of Scotland has snow drifts so even stopping at the border and changing tyres from your trailer attached (presumably) to the back of a 430SC !!! isn't going to be practical. Get real. You will be on the wrong tyre for the conditions a lot more often than I will.. So I will be considerably safer that thou. Your a victim of the tyre manufacturers aim to sell tyres to those who cant consider more than one variable at a time.

I live in North Yorkshire too.. Great car to drive across the moors.