jigmaster flash

Cheers Phil but the idle speed is rock solid stable so don't think exhaust leak is the culprit. While i'm under the car next week i'll check anyway. i'm half swaying to the mount suggestion, half to a closed/open loop problem which could be caused by a multitude of things. (fingers crossed for the tranny mount as its a cheap and easy fix!)

yes ruud, the vibration is not felt if put into any drive gear - does that re-inforce the tranny mount suggestion ? Steve if the o2 sensors were malfunctioning i presume the symptoms would be present regardless of gearbox selection?

cheers ruud, i will have a gander at the tranny mount next time its on the lift. i dismissed the tranny (+engine) mount as there are no other symptoms, and i'd have expected a knackered tranny mount to show symptoms on acceleration or with gear/throttle linkage ? marty

bit of a weird one here, hope someone can shed some light! last couple of weeks I have noticed a rhythmic (2 secs on/2 secs off) low vibration that i can hear and feel inside the car through the drivers seat and floor - it occurs ONLY ON A COLD STARTUP (that must be a clue!) and disappears completely after about 5 mins (once engine gets a little heat in it) rpm and engine note are stable and fine at both cold and warm idle. any ideas what i should check lads? cheers marty

Pretty sure they are HB3 for heads, and HB4 for fogs... ?

yes, I've left the lights on auto since i bought the car. i'm haven't looked at the switch, as disconnecting the washer pump feed then re-connecting cured the always on status (albeit back to not working at all!) so my limited common sense says surely the fault lies at that end? i'll take the console apart and look at the switch tomorrow unless someone has a different suggestion.

thats weird mark, as it came on today with headlights off !?? and after coming on (and staying on) i didn't touch the switch, just disconnected,cleaned and reconnected the pump connector - which seems to have disabled the power to the pump again! If they do only operate with the lights on I wonder if the problem lies in the lights/indicator stalk ? (can someone confirm if lights are definitely linked to headlight washer operation?)

the headlight washers on my 98 LS400 have never worked since i bought the car a year ago. I presumed the motor was kaput, which didn't bother me so forgot about it. imagine my surprise when driving through town today the headlight washers suddenly kicked on, and stayed on! screenwash covered the whole front of the car! the motor just ran and ran until the reservoir was empty and then kept running.... somehow made it home without the motor burning out or blowing the fuse. Got under the car and disconnected the pump, cleaned the connector with wd40 and re-assembled thinking great, might work properly now. nope, back to not working at all! either way for 9 months it never worked, today it comes on of its own accord and jams on, and after disconnecting+cleaning the pump connector its back to not working ! can anyone give me an idea of what could be wrong? and how it SHOULD work? my belief was the headlight washer should only come on (and pump 2 times only) when the button is pressed in the car, but a friend thinks it may also come on automatically under certain conditions... ?

many thanks, i presume its possible to push out and replace the bushes on the lower arms and struts, but not on the top control arms? (have to replace the whole upper arm ?) i presume also that buying oem bushes from Lexus is preferable to aftermarket manufacturers ? (trying to keep the cost down but don't want to fall into the false economy trap) m

after 160000 miles my 98 ls400 has had a fair few quid thrown at it this year to keep her in decent condition, the only area left that needs attention is the front suspension. the front suspension has the odd squeak (usually upon braking/coming to a stop) and feels a bit looser/wallowy than it did a year ago - definitely doesn't take potholes etc as smoothly as it should. I've got to replace all 4 tyres soon and will be getting Hunter alignment done, so refreshing/tightening up the front end before then would be a good idea. Although just passed its mot with no advisories I wondered if anyone can recommend what i should check or replace relatively cheaply (budget of £200 for parts) that could improve it? cheers marty

The time has come for me to replace the front brake pads+ discs, and four tyres on my mk iv ls400. I've had a trawl round and got the brake parts down to £240, and the tyres around £100 a corner... Moneys real tight at the mo so wondered if there any better prices than above about ? recommendations gratefully received! marty

mine does the same, and its the rear anti-roll bar bushes. they only creak when dry (ie in spell of dry hot weather) and at very low speed. a good dose of silicon spray cures it.

ive got the opposite problem Malc - cant seem to get the car to beep on arming the alarm. maybe its a CBEST function ? (the black button seems to do different things on different 400's !)

if any of the doors/boot/sunroof/windows etc are open when you lock the car the alarm will beep if the black button is in the out position. (or at least thats what it does in my ls400 ! )

cabin filter is in rear of glovebox, if i remember correctly you remove panel then squeeze clips and pull out the tray containing the ac filter.

mkiv ls400 on ebay today, 28000 miles, 2 owners, flsh - £2500 someone got a bargain - anyone on here ?

ooh you could eat your dinner off that Steve ! I decided not to put water anywhere near mine in the end, just got in there with a rag and then a bit of trim polish and its come up ok with half an hours effort.

going to give the engine bay a good detail this weekend, bought degreaser, brushes, dressing etc but a bit concerned about rinsing - is there anything in particular i should cover before hosing down ? don't want to short anything out so any tips would be appreciated !

trying to find a lower bumper protector (the black rubber bit that sits under front bumper at the corner) for drivers side. Series 4 LS400 (98) anybody got one ? or a pair even? cheers marty

cheers, i'll pop the rear passenger sill and have a look, although it seems strange that the end wouldn't be under centre armrest. (cant imagine that the dealer would have had to lift carpets etc and route it through if phone option was requested)

the other piece of the factory fitted coax aerial ??? my 98 ls400 didn't have the optional carphone installed, but I want to use the factory aerial wiring on an aftermarket installation. I've found a coax connection under the boot liner, which I presume runs to the antenna built into the rear windshield. I seem to remember that there should be another lead that runs from under the centre armrest console back to the boot - but ive searched the boot and also lifted the centre console armrest and its not there,! anyone know where it might be?

PM for you Maurice

steve that's the diagram I had seen at some point! many thanks - it confirms the case top definitely comes off the bottom , but after spending 10 mins studying it I'm still not sure (read confident) how to split without other components coming or falling off so reluctantly i'm going to leave it until someone with a bit more knowledge (or balls!) can help me.

thanks Maurice, Its the shift lock solenoid that i'm after - I went in through the top taking the centre console trim, gear stick cover etc off and got down to a thick heavy duty plastic cowling - I can see the end of the shift lock solenoid at the front of the cowling but cant work out how to get inside the cowling. After looking at a few diagrams it looks like the cowl/case should split in half (top half from bottom) but there are quite a few bolts and screws and I don't want to undo a wrong one and hear something drop off inside! I haven't got a lift or axle stands so getting under the car is a bit of a problem.

trying to get to the shift lock solenoid on my 98, have removed gear knob, wood trim, top plate etc etc thinking there would be easy access to the shift mechanism/solenoid etc. however the mechanism is all inside a big thick plastic case. The case has lots of screw/bolts, some of which I suspect are holding stuff on inside, so I don't want to just unscrew everything! anyone know how I should gain access to the shift lock solenoid inside this case ?