runsgrateasanut

Whats the betting its not a Dudley buyer??

Almost the same sound without the high cost - impressed!

I looked at it last night and thought do I want a second, just in case I screw the ECU Capacitors? Other than the error on MOT it looks a bargain and I also think it could be genuine by seeing the "old boy" with his walking stick standing by the side of it. What does it need doing for the MOT? Probably needs some expensive parts and a Cam belt change might be timely. Its a peanuts price

As these Services have been done by main dealerships I'd be surprised if they hadn't checked the Lexus timeline sheet and advised to have the Water Pump changed. Stealerships not known for encouraging frugality to my knowledge? The belt was changed in December 2015 for a second time, but the Water pump? Whats the redex additive all about? Is it Injector cleaner or a lead substitute? Any one use an additive to petrol?

I'd like this sound - but no longer available and a pair cost more than the car .

This is a nice looking LS430 but I'm a bit puzzled by the Service History which shows a break of four years and 46k miles between earlier services. Unusual? I also wonder if the water pump has been changed as the cost of the recent Timing belt change does't seem to be high enough to cover all the parts that are best changed by 150k miles. Still, nice looking car. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lexus-LS430-4-3L-V8-Luxury-Saloon-2001-Automatic-in-Dark-Blue-Metallic-9-STAMPS/152749042418?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D46150%26meid%3De8521efa6957425f8a0ee57882ed120a%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D263259304565&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851#viTabs_0

My spare is held closed by a small screw from a light bulb fitting. Works OK as a substitute. Screw should be easily rmeoved by a set of Watchmakers screw drivers. cost £1 from most cheapie stores.

I agree John, £600 for tyres is unrealistic for a car worth maybe twice that sum. I didn't know about the low fuel economy rating but I will assume that its because Maxxis have better grip than Kumhos? I had a couple of Kuhos on the car when I bought it, and one was completely worn at one side. When I replaced the wheels with the Maxxis and had the wheels checked for alignment they said they were perfectly aligned. Perhaps the previous owner had bought cheap second hand tyres? End of the day its how good a driver you are at recognising the limitations of the car/tyres in any given situation.

£82 labour? thats astonishing. Watching some guy do the job on u-tube makes it look like a real p.i.t.a. ! Maybe I'll press my mechanic to fit the two I've had sitting around for more than a year. See what he says as to cost!

Personally John, I've got Maxxis on the front and Nexen on the rear. Should have got Maxxis all round, as the Nexens are wearing faster. Used to have Maxxis on my S320 Merc and very happy with them. Can't tell you how they perform against other more expensive tryes but I'm happy with my choice after what must be about 7,000 miles on them.

Thats great news. Problem solved and years of happy motoring ahead. We've just returned from a 1650km trip around South West and the Beaune region of France and car going well with only one exception which keeps telling me I must sort the Caps. Its the overdrive. Not sure that it actually kicks in, which alarms me. There's a judder but no noticeable change in speed which tends to alarm me when I'm a million miles from home with a weight of tools and stuff in the Car Just don't think it feels right, which could be a caps problem. Thanks to Rupert for sending me a set of Caps. Admit I'm having sleepless nights worrying about this solder job. Keep looking at vutube for soldering advice etc. . One guy doing a late LS seems pretty casual with the way he works. Putting a needle through presumbly from the Cap side before they are poked through seems to require three hands. I have an older Soldering iron with angled head.Its copper tip is nicely tinned but maybe not the best to use. Also, a Parkside pointed tip Iron and holder which I don't like the heavy cable and fat handle and can't seem to tin the tip too well. Today I lit a butane gas iron that I've had for years to see if it might do the job. Nice feel to it and no cables. It has a spade tip nicely tinned but only about 1.5mm and I think perhaps 2mm is probably the ideal size. Let me know what size tip and iron you used. I'd be interested.

Must say, I'd never heard the term "fettled" until watching early hours Shed and Buried. I've lead a sheltered life, obviously. Good luck with the project

Anyone with some knowledge on the subject - please reply.

Being short of one capacitor 63v 15uf I bought these on ebay. Marked with the name and also with PW(M) 0 degrees and105 degrees C Supposedly Nichicon and sent to me in a bag franked Semicon Ltd., Manchester m9 4pz Nos. 20 for the small price paid.! I do wonder if they are genuine Nichicon? how do I test? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/20x-UPW1J150MED-Capacitor-electrolytic-THT-15uF-63V-Ø6-3x11mm-Pitch2-5mm/201795301444?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

My 1993 Mk2 has a moulded Gear shift lever, so the 1994 must have the leather (look??) gear shift lever

Knocking the gear lever backward seems unusual. I had a fright recently in France where I admit to a mistake on a rural crossroads, seeing both clear, left and right, but not realising it was a crossroads and not a T junction pulled to the centre and almost turned to my left at which time my wife shouted and I realised a car I thought was parked on the opposite of the road was parallel to me. Swerved to the right and avoided his left rear wing. Phew! Now my wife in her panic hit the Gear lever to hold on to it. Surely only with the button being pushed in, will the gear lever move? If she'd pushed it forward it might have gone into Reverse gear and crashed the gearbox. Either error would have put us in dire straights for the rest of the holiday.

As Chasdad has left Lexus I hope he won't mind me adding a little about Malcolm Watford. I have spent the last hour reading the hundreds of threads of condolences to his family on MBOC. To those on the forum and there must be quite a few ex-Mercedes owners as well as those who have both marques, you can find an image of Malcolm if you put his name into Google and check out the Facebook name thats listed. We have some extremely helpful members on this forum and I could name them but it isn't necessary. All that is necessary is that we respect each others Postings and reserve comment that might cause offence. As Acre said, life is short and I suspect for many of us (LS olwners) we are in the late bloom phase of life where nearby Winter blasts have a habit of destroying that last bit of beauty. I said twenty thousand Posts and was corrected to one hundred and fifty thousand Posts. Remarkable and unmatchable and truly someone who always wanted to give helpful advice as soon as requested. Only glad since joining this forum that Lexus seems to require less input to maintain vehicles on the road - with the exception of the Caps that is!

John, I'm so sorry to hear that Malcolm has passed away. Thank you for letting me know. Not only did he contribute greatly to the Merc forum but having had three wives he looked after one of the earlier ones when she had Dementia. A giant of a man to my mind.

Where's that black ball - only joking! On the Mercedes forum there is a Man who has posted over 20,000 and a nicer man you could not wish to meet. Not only is he extremely knowledgeable but has assisted many members with their problems and even their electronic parts when something needed repair. Having owned over 100 cars and been an electronics engineer and a car trader in his lifetime his knowledge is invaluable with a marque that frankly has more electrical gremlins than any Japanese car. Despite this on occasion he gets "banned" maybe for a period of three months. Personally I've never found any of his threads offensive but the mods do sometimes feel he has overstepped the mark or perhaps trod on their toes?

Talkin g of putting up photo's I see that you now have to invest annually in Photobucket if you want to get that magic image code to be able to post a photo and any previous photos posted are now deleted by advertising P'buckets services. Is there another way to get the code for a jpeg, tiff or whatever as you can't post photos in these formats?

Do you buy twelve months road tax each time? Expensive hobby?

Thanks Mark. I've worked it out that the unit just pushes in to the white clips, (Guy in the video didn't mention this!!) but I hadn't undone two screws at the side so there was no movement. Doh! Took Son and I, must have been an hour, to work it out. Oh well will be easier next time.

Could Lexus have made it more diffuclt to change a failed brake bulb? I doubt it. OK I've taken off six plastic tabs out and unscrewed a triagular external drain flap. There are two white clips the top one almost grippable and the lower impossible to reach. How do these clips release the unit? Can't easily squeze. Top or sides? Baffled Any ideas please?

A man who owns an SC430 should surely be able to chivvy up a bit more than £300 for a classic LS400? Never seen an SC430 before but must say I wouldn't mind this one. Only fear I would have is of it being keyed as is the behaviour of the envy set. Couldn't bear that so... I'll have to wait until I move house if I want to treat myself. Lovely looking Car. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/51-Reg-Lexus-SC-430-4-3-auto-Convertible-1-OWNER-FROM-BRAND-NEW-/152651412231?hash=item238abbb307:g:1EMAAOSwutFZhagN

I changed the "o" ring a while back but still had a leak. Put in a small amount of snake juice that I bought unopened from a yard sale for £1 and after 1200 mile recent journey the level has stayed the same. Not too concerned that this is a "bodge" if it does the trick. ps Steve can you reply to my pm please?