GrahamG

Just for fun get someone to blip the throttle will you watch the engine. You might see the engine react by rocking excessively if the mounts are shot.

At the same time as your father I bought a 1995 Mk3 LS400, kept it for 15 years and drove it from 30k to 90k miles. It only failed once when a front suspension coil spring broke [for no reason ie no impact] under guarantee. Main agent servicing was expensive in the early years but an independent local garage looked after it for very low cost later on. An old school friend who owned a BMW concession had warned me off the 7 series particularly for electrical gremlins. Interestingly well before that my father had owned a new British Leyland Jaguar XJ12 and against all the odds it never failed including starting after being buried under a snow drift for a week in Amsterdam during a record cold winter. All his new RRs, Daimler Jags etc were dreadful. The Daimler Vanden Plas Double Six was fantastic to drive though and I always thought what a pity Toyota /Lexus had not simply copied that car and built it to their standards. That would have been a world beater.

Butyl certainly seems to be the favoured sealant in the marine environment for through hull/deck fittings and around windows etc.

A quick shout for the Rustbuster Epoxy Mastic 121 mentioned in the magazine report. Had two exposed rust spots near the rear jacking points on my LS430 four years ago and the mastic on top of rust converter is still intact. I believe the Rustbuster rust converter is phosphoric acid in a latex solution rather than just the acid. I have also used that but it does need a protective coat of something on top.

Pete, I wish my LS430 had your 'non air' suspension. Drove my Mk III for 15 years and was perfectly happy with every mile. Can imagine how pleased you are now and interesting the specific improvements experienced particularly the absence of tramlining. Like you when it comes to suspension I would only fit OEM parts.

I refer to the tray at the very rearmost part of the load bay, right up against the tailgate. The central black plastic tray needs to be removed and with a good torch you can then just see to both side corners below the separate trays in those corners. In my experience the water ingress will show in the corners and not so much in the centre section. The metal of the body shell is not covered with any traditional rust proofing goo on the inside but the surface treatment is very effective against rust. Rust is not however the main problem which is in fact damp affecting the carpet which can develop mould if the water runs forward. There is another strange water ingress problem from the sun roof which affects the front footwells. Simply check the carpet in the wells just ahead of the hinge edge of the front doors. Tubes inside the body work run down from the front corners of the sunroof and weirdly do not continue right down and out of the car underneath. Water can back up in a cavity in the wall of the bodywork and overflow into the floor wells. Just be aware but do not be put off by my warning about the possibility of these problems. My car has not suffered from these but from ingress from collision damage.

I would definitely buy my '06 RX350SE again. Do not buy the air suspension models. No gain just an expensive pain and I would only renew with Lexus parts. Do not assume just because it is a Lexus it will be rust free. Some are, some are not. It is easy enough to look underneath especially at the rear. To check for rain water ingress you need to remove the plastic tray under the parcel lids at the back of the loading bay.

Perhaps LG2 will let us know where in the world he is located. My UK supplied '06 RX350se has no engine oil cooler fitted. This is sometimes referred to in the USA as associated with the ' tow package'. I would be interested to know if any UK spec. RX350 had this cooler fitted. Just for clarity on the USA club site the other rubber section which fails in the oil supply pipe up to the camshafts is referred to as the 'VVTI' pipe.

My '06 RX350se definitely has a timing chain and not a belt and this I believe applies to all RX350s. Cannot comment on 9 hours but it is a big job because of access. The engine comes out according to the manual. Mine was done under extended warranty when the engine cover was resealed after leaking oil. In the USA there has been a major issue with failure of the VVTI oil cooling pipe failing resulting in loss of the engine. The metal pipe which serves the rear bank of the V6 [coming up from the sump to the valve gear] has a short rubber section near the top and it is this which fails. Lexus at Guildford had no knowledge of this problem in this country but renewed my pipe at modest cost while the engine cover was resealed. There is plenty on this subject on the US owner's club forum but the shoddy attitude of Lexus refusing to carry out preventative work makes distressing reading. Later models have an all metal pipe.

Let us be optimistic and say the external rad is doing its job and if we read brown for red then that ATF is healthy, it is certainly not black. I will leave you to compare the dipstick reading with your manual but do not be tempted to throw in more fluid just for luck because the level is important. I do not see that level being responsible for your problem. I have no further advice but hope an adjustment or new solenoid might be all you need. Worth an expert opinion surely. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Are you aware that the ATF is cooled via a small radiator within the bottom of the main engine cooling radiator? If the water mixes with the ATF your gearbox is lost. There have been instances where early diagnosis arising from the gearbox misbehaving have saved the day wirh a replacement radiator. My own action would be to get the car without delay to a Lexus main agent or an automatic transmission specialist. Many makes suffer from this potential problem so it is well known.

Adam, how many miles on the car? Your car will have a gearbox dipstick so start there. Healthy ATF oil will have a degree of redness, any redness you can detect against the metal of the dipstick is good. Old burnt oil will be black.

Suggest the full title of that club includes, "and not stupid enough for an out of warranty BMW or Audi".

Forgot to mention that the facelift iteration can be recognised by a slightly different shape of the side lights on the front.

Most facelift cars from 2004. Mine had rust [four years ago, an '04 with 82,000] that needed epoxy mastic around the rear jacking points. Some will be unaffected by rust but others will suffer from it especially around the rear sub frame although should not yet be terminal. Worth crawling underneath with a good torch which is what I would do on any car of that age. Although Lexus/Toyota are more reliable than Mercedes [in fact than all other makes] the LS430 is an expensive and complex car. The silly bells and whistles do not worry me but the expensive air suspension is the major potential pain best remedied for me by either new Lexus parts or second hand from a well known breaker up north. I love mine and would buy another if only for the fun of owning a high quality car for old banger money. Would not buy one though if it were my daily driver and without reserves of cash. Good luck and let us know how you get on. As said above you will not buy another MB after an LS430.

I used the Liber T automatic toll payment tag for driving across France four times and would definitely recommend the system. I had no problems but if you do it can be sorted back in the UK speaking English to the company. Loved driving up to the toll booth, slowing down and waiting just a second for the barrier to raise automatically. The toll roads provide effortless high speed driving and are worth the cost if you need to cover distance quickly. Of course you see nothing of the quaint villages etc.

I have been cold setting the excellent 18" Hankook Ventus on my '06 RX350 at the placarded 32psi and over 6 years the pattern of wear shows correct inflation. Durability looks good for over 30,000 miles down to 4mm which is minimum tread for me. The manufacturer's max for these tyres is 51psi and what this discussion suggests is that our tyres are capable of a much wider range of pressures than I had thought. I will bump up the pressure a couple of psi on both cars if only because it allows a greater margin over what might be considered a minimum value.

Mark, that is an interesting article and the first time I have ever seen in writing a recommendation to deviate from the manual. Thanks for posting. Just looked at the side wall of my new Avons and the max is 50psi. Do we know if that is a max cold setting or is it the max that tyre in use must never exceed? To drive my car at 45psi cold setting [50 less 10%] for sustained high speeds would worry me. My door pillar gives 33psi for low load up to 210kph.

I have 18" wheels. Does that account for the difference?

I am rather surprised at the figures quoted here. The placard on my door pillar gives 33psi all round except with five passengers plus luggage in which case the rears to be 39psi. This for speeds below 210 kph. Do any of us exceed that speed? Mine is a facelift 2004.

I am not suggesting for one moment anyone else should follow my strategy [head in sand] for dealing with this thorny problem. I am simply sharing the results of my research. My circumstances include a full Lexus service history, a very low annual mileage, local use only, this is a second car and I have the money to make repairs if it fails. If disaster strikes I carry the number of a reasonable breakdown man who would truck it straight to Lexus Guildford. When I started a post about this on the USA forum there was not a single reply. All reported failures amongst their LS430s do not involve the ATF but arise from the plastic/metal seam splitting with a loss of engine coolant which is a familiar failure on all rads of this generic type. When I booked this car in for a service and to have the rad renewed a few years ago Lexus phoned when up on the ramp because the technician was asking why are we doing this. I let them talk me out of the job. If I were relying on this 15 year old car to travel significant distances I would have the rad changed now together with the thermostat and all hoses and drain and fill the ATF. Just my tuppence worth.

Yes Qamar you might well be right. Lexus Guildford reported 4 cases of LS430 gear box failures of this nature; 2 were right offs but another two were saved when faulty behaviour was reported by the owner. So perhaps I have a chance given that the ATF is being inspected each year although even then I have been told if you can see contamination it is too late for the box. I was considering a quote of about £800 from Lexus to renew my rad when I read on the USA club site of three OEM Denso rads being replaced one after the other within three years by a Lexus main agent. I then phoned a specialist auto transmission company intending them to fit a separate cooler but was advised strongly to fit OEM. An independent cooler has no thermostat, it will not warm the oil at start up in the winter and do you want to be stuck in a summer traffic jam with it. Preventative maintenance is always my preference but in this instance I am falling back on,' if it ain't broke...'. After all what would it cost to throw in a second hand unit from Paul Frost? Even have the car trucked up north for him to swap it over.

What confuses and concerns me is how does the radiator without the traditional cap regulate pressure. I read an article about how a normal cap regulates pressure and was surprised to learn it has a twofold function [in the heating and cooling phases] and was not as simple as I had assumed. That is why I am reluctant to replace my [normal cap] radiator with what I have seen on Ebay having no 'cap on neck' but with the same/correct overflow spigot on the top offside corner of the rad. When obtaining a quote for a replacement from Lexus they asked for the number stamped on my rad, "because there are two different types on UK LS430s". The USA 'towing option' refers to a thicker core. It is only a little thicker and when I looked some time ago on RockAuto it was cheaper than the non towing version!? I have decided to leave my rad alone because it looks superficially to be in excellent condition. Each year the ATF is drained and filled not flushed and filled] and perhaps if there is contamination it will then be noticed before disaster. On advice from Lexus Guildford if the transmission starts to misbehave I will immediately have the problem diagnosed.

Even though no warning lights on the dash I would definitely check for any codes and all the better if done with Techstream.

With any cheap/rare tyres you find on offer you might want to ask date of manufacture before buying. All tyres have the week and year of manufacture in a panel on the side wall.