MHT

Thanks for the replies. The battery is about a year old from Lexus so hopefully is still good. The car had been sat for two weeks though so I guess it could be low, and the trip was only about 20 minutes so wouldn’t have given it much time to charge. I’ll put it on the conditioner this week and check the earth connections as a starting point. Thanks guys.

I just went out in the LS400 and there appears to be a gremlin present in the electrics. Firstly, the indicators are working from the outside correctly. Move the stalk to indicate left and all outside lights work as they should. However, on the dashboard all sorts is going on. With the headlights off indicators were displaying correctly. With them on if I indicate right the left arrow will illuminate and vice versa. I’ve searched through the forums but all I could find were posts about total failure, normally linked to relays. Any ideas? I’m hoping it’s some sort of anomaly caused by cold weather that will self heal!

We’re with Britannia (which is backed by LV I think). Top level cover for two people with European travel is £190. It covers the drivers, not the cars so any car that we’re is in covered. The Lexus IS the main car listed on the policy so no issues with age.

Just in case anyone needs tyres at the moment (and is a Costco member) they are running a Michelin offer. Currently 4 x Michelin 225/60 R16 98 (V) PRIMACY 3 work out at £402 fitted. No affiliation - just thought it was a good price.

@Yoda400 did you use Clark Electronics for the replacement?

I just thought I'd update this as the battery threads are a couple of years old now. Needing a new battery at the weekend I read some of the threads as I was going to go with this one: YUASA 335 3000 SERIES CAR BATTERY - 4 YEAR WARRANTY - £90 from GSF Called Lexus Reading, retail £126, but quoted £88 so I went with that.

I've had an ongoing problem for a while with my Pioneer head unit - it started off that it wouldn't turn on when it was cold during winter but would be fine during summer. More recently it just won't turn on, but every now and again, say 1 in 100 trips, it will just start working again like there was never a problem. I remember reading in the past something along the lines of intermittent problems with the amplifier could stop it working but I can't recall essentially what the situation was. I spoke to the car audio place that I used recently for another car and they suggested a bluetooth system that would work with a new 5 channel amp, leaving the head unit as an ornament. I'd rather get it fixed - has any one had a similar problem, or more to the point found someone that knows their way around it to fix it? I've attached a picture of my actual head unit for clarity. Mark

Yep! Can't complain at a 25+ years service life though

Hi guys, I need to replace my PAS cap / dipstick as mine broke recently. The garage I use said they can't get one from Lexus as it isn't available any more. A bit of internet digging suggests that the part details are: Cap Sub-Assy, Vane Pump Oil Reservoir [12.1989 - 10.1994] UCF10 Part Number 44305-50010, later replaced by 44305-50020 Another website shows that the same part is used on the following vehicles: GS300 1993-2005 GS400 1998-2000 GS430 2001-2005 IS300 2001-2005 LS400 1990-1998 SC300 1992-2000 SC400 1992-2000 I've ordered a used one from eBay from a GS300, there were LS400 items listed but all were in the USA. I just thought I'd post this up in case anyone else has the sam issue - hopefully the one Ive ordered will fit. Mark

Hi Sixusel, Could you send me the details of the company you used please? Mark

I've got the opportunity to buy a Mk4 cheaply, but it has no keys. I have found these threads: These are the closest UK relevant threads I could find, but in both cases there was a key to begin with, however I wouldn't have anything. Given this, does anyone know a solution around this without paying Lexus the c. £1000 I read would be required for a new key and ECU? Otherwise it will no doubt become a breaker. Mark

My 1992 was c. £43,000 (£75k at current values). I even have the invoice!

I've had my LS400 for a year this week and I've been planning the future maintenance out so that I can try and make sure that all the areas are covered. My car has full Lexus history up to 46,930 (23/9/2002) and the service record uses a Schedule A/B/C system which takes place every 6,000 miles. I bought the car from a private estate who were the original owner. After 2002 the estate employed the services of a mechanic to visit the estate every six months and perform checks on all the vehicles and replace anything necessary. The problem with this is that the estate secretary filed the invoices each month and so when I purchased the car they said they weren't going to dig through 13 years of estate accounts to find the Lexus related ones - I couldn't really argue with that. So I then found myself with a car that has obviously been maintained, but not knowing exactly when last items were completed. After I purchased the car I was provided with the details of the mechanic to contact; I went to see him and he confirmed that he had replaced anything required and whatever cost. The temperature / clock LCD displays had been repaired and the timing belt & water pump had been replaced 'a few years ago'. I'm now trying to build a T0 so that I can cover all of the regular service items in a timely manner. On purchase Japex in Hertfordshire looked over the car and advised on which items / fluids should be replaced and which appeared to be as new. By collating information from different online sources I came up with the following which uses a 7,500 interval (from a US document I found) opposed to the original 6,000 miles. I just like the round numbers! Interval (Miles) Interval (Months) Engine Oil & Filter 7,500 12 Pollen Filter 15,000 24 Engine Coolant 30,000 24 Engine Air Filter 30,000 24 Brake Fluid 30,000 36 Fuel Tank Cap Gasket 60,000 72 Spark Plugs 60,000 72 Timing Belt 90,000 120 I have put this into a spreadsheet and attached it incase anyone else is interested. I would be interested in people's thoughts on the following intervals (mileage / time) to add to the list: Automatic Transmission Fluid (Drain / Refill) Differential Oil (Drain / Refill) Power Steering Fluid (Drain / Refill) Mark L400-Service-Schedule.xls

That will be a facelifted W220 model S-Class then with updated COMAND / Sat Nav and generally a better car than the <2003 models. I would definately look into exactly which engine is in the car, if it is the M272 then it did have a reputation for being problematic until it was bored out to 3.7l a few years later. I have a feeling that this engine wasn't used until 2004/2005 (could be wrong) so it might not suffer from those issues. Other than that check the suspension works correctly (you can raise it for speed bumps, sport and comfort) to make sure it works. If you can drive it take it up hills and feel for any vibration around the 1500/2000rpm mark as some models had torque converter issues (£1,000 ish to correct). I had an S320 (diesel) 2004 and it was pretty good. Personally I wouldn't buy a <2003 model, it facelifted mid way through the 52 plate, but I would buy an 03 again even at this age. I know these are dirty admission to make on such a forum but I've had a few S-Classes over the years: 2006 - 2008 ran a 2004 S320 2008 - 2013 ran a 2008 S320 2013 - 2015 ran 2013 S350 2015 - present I bought a new July 2015 S350 AMG Line last July and run it as my daily now

Which year S350 is it?