Razor61

Couldn’t help myself this morning and had a go at removing the drivers side window trim screws. Got all 3 screws out without much trouble, tighten first or try to, then undo and I could feel them moving then worked them out gradually. It helps having a long ratchet screwdriver with a good quality new bit to get the purchase and torque, I just had a quick go yesterday with a normal screwdriver. No prizes for guessing which make of ratchet screwdriver I used today😉 Cleaned up the threads with a m5 0.8 die and wd40. Did the same thing on the car with a m5 0.8 tap and wd40. Passenger side first 2 screws, lower and middle, were no problem using the same method. Top one………….pozi had been rounded (not by me) so cut a slot in the top with a piece of hack saw blade, took a while cos it’s awkward. Filed down a flat bladed screwdriver bit at the end so it fitted into the slot I created and the screw came out no problem. Cleaned all the threads up as above. Trims ready to remove and paint, looking at the finish underneath the door seal where the sun hasn’t got to them they do look satin as Howard has said. I may look at getting them anodised or maybe remove the black paint and see what they look like underneath. Looks like they are a polished finish underneath. The screws were rusty but not seized, they can be removed though with some patience unless they really are seized solid. If that’s the case they can be carefully drilled out and tapped. Chuffed to bits now, door trims are a different matter though and these will be painted on the car I think.

Had a good look at removing the windscreen trims, I only looked at the passenger side. Suffice to say they are staying where they are, at least for now. Screws are in tight, I may have another go with an impact screwdriver if and when I feel like having a go. At least I know what to do now to get the door seals off and then the trims. I also cleaned around the bottom where all the crud collects and the water drains through the inner wing, after removing the rubber cover things. Nice and clean now after degreaser and lots of water to clear it all out. It was very manky and worth doing. Back to the original question of what the original finish was, if the finish was the same as the door trims then it was gloss black. I’m pretty sure the door trims were gloss and not satin. I had a brand new IS200 in 2003 and the door trims were gloss black.

That won’t fix it like the speedo, if it is the actual gauge that’s faulty. I did it to prove it was the gauge at fault and not anything more serious. With mine it sometimes stayed at the bottom on cold, slapped the dash and it moved up a bit, another slap moved it up a bit more.

Could be thermostat but I don’t think so. I would guess at the temp gauge itself, mine went a month or so ago. Temp gauge went higher than normal so had it checked out at Lexus in case something was about to go pop. Main concern was head gasket/s. Nothing was wrong and it was the gauge itself, I slapped the dash on the right hand side and the gauge was all over the place. I bought a spare instrument cluster a while ago and swopped the main board from the existing cluster to the spare one. Fitted it and all is good.

For my LS400 I bought an intermediate service kit at the end of March this year - cost £80.92 The same intermediate service kit now - cost £91.30 Gone up by just over £10 I seem to remember the old 'Oil promotion' was 0.01 for the first 5 litres or something like that, now it's first 5 litres £21.82

I will be very careful, any hint of trouble taking them off - I'll stop and re think what to do. The door seal looks to be very tight next to the trims, I'll have a good look at the weekend how easy it is to remove and then figure out if it will go back as it was. I don't want wind noise after cos it's loose or something so if I'm not sure they will stay where they are.

Just had a look at the 3m 2080 satin black wrap stuff, I think that’s the way to go for the door trims and probably for the windscreen trims as well, even if I can remove them ok. Thanks for suggesting it Howard.

Not thought of that, good idea👍 I’ll see if the screws on the windscreen trims are seized or not, if they are then it’s vinyl trim or paint them in situ.

From what I can see the trims are bolted on. I'm talking about the LH and RH side trims or 'Outside Mouldings' on the windscreen, nothing else.

After sorting nearly all the main issues and niggles on the car, I'm ready to paint the black front windscreen screen trims and door trims. They have black paint missing and look scruffy so I'm going to remove the windscreen trims and paint them. I'll need to 'mask off' the door trims and paint them I think, the 'Front Door Belt Moulding' can be removed but not sure how much of the door needs to be dismantled first. Maybe removing just removing the inner trim (Frame Garnish) will enable me to get to the 5 screws and 4 nuts for the 'Front Door Belt Moulding'. If that's the case I'll remove it and paint it off the car. Question I have though is what finish did the car have when new, satin black or gloss black? Does anyone know what the original finish was? Thanks

I buy mine from Lexus, Lexus Parts Direct have the fronts discs/pads at £180 and the rear discs/pads for £210. Not worth fitting alternative non-OEM stuff in my opinion. If you have a word with your local Lexus dealer and quote the Lexus Parts Direct prices they may match the price. They did for me. OEM Pad anti squeal shim kits are not cheap in the UK and neither are the fitting kits. Adds around £90 for each axle at UK prices iirc. You may need them, depends on whether they are present on your car and in decent condition. The anti squeal shim kits include the wear sensor retaining clip, £13 each in the UK😬 I ordered all of them from Amayama at the same time as ordering other bits. Makes the postage etc more cost effective.

Absolutely correct Phil and a more technical description than I offered👍 No smell of fuel this morning, as described earlier, today has been sunny and didn’t touch the car all day. Opened the boot 10 mins ago, no smell of fuel then opened the drivers door……..I was a bit apprehensive to be honest and didn’t want to smell fuel. Glad to say I didn’t smell any fuel at all, just the smell of a 1998 LS400 and that’s it. I’m still not counting any chickens, time will tell if it’s fixed or not over the next few weeks.

Thanks Malc, I do my best. Not in the Warren Buffet league yet, at least not financially😉, I had to ‘google’ who the Sage of Omaha is………. I’m not doing anything special in my view, being logical with fault finding, thinking about the symptoms - how and when they happen, how the issue area works or should work (using the workshop manual and searching the internet if needed), then a process of elimination if needed. Knowledge comes with experience of course, I’ve always been interested in ‘how things work’ and willing to have a go at doing stuff on cars, but I know my limits. Whether it’s limited skill/experience or don’t have the tool/s to do the job. I would love to setup working part time doing jobs on LS400’s and classic cars for other people. Maybe it will happen next year if I go to 3 days a week in my current job as part of a phased retirement plan.

Yesterday I fitted the new fuel sender assy, it comes with a new gasket and screws to fix a fuel smell/leak issue. A said previously I replaced the gasket which cured the visible leak but during the hot weather there was a fuel smell in the car and in the boot when left standing, especially when the sun is out. When I originally noticed the fuel leak there was a very strong smell of fuel and it was visibly leaking from the gasket so I tightened the screws. I didn’t realise the screws should only be tightened to 3.5nm. Me tightening the screws bent the metal plate on the assembly which I straightened as best I could and fitted a new gasket. This was back in Jan/Feb so was during the cold weather and I thought I’d fixed it. I always thought I got a slight whiff of fuel but put it down to paranoia. Fast forward to the mini heat wave we had and the fuel smell came back, nowhere near as bad as before but was very noticeable. It went away very quickly after starting and driving off. I removed the boot lining to get at the fuel tank and sniffed round the fuel gauge assembly, definite fuel smell round it but no visible leaking from the gasket. Sniffed round the other gaskets for the vent and filler, no fuel smell. Took the back seat out to check the seal on the fuel pump assembly but there is a plate/cover and is sealed so didn’t remove it, at least I know how to remove it now for replacing the rear shocks and I found 2 x mashed and broken seat cushion locks at the front of the seat cushion along the way. New ones purchased ready to replace them. So my though was that the fuel smell is coming from the sender gauge assembly somewhere, because I had bent the mounting plate maybe it was that (didn’t think so) or was leaking out through the assembly itself somehow. So ordered a new sender gauge assembly. Fitted it yesterday morning and looked at the original assy to try and figure out where it was leaking. I know the car had been stood for quite a few years in the past and the fuel tank needed to be replaced. The inside of the assy was corroded and didn’t look great. The tank level signal needs to get out through the assembly and is done via 2 x connectors with thick rubber washers and I presume are crimped somehow. I figured this is the only other place it could leaking from. So I held the mounting plate, wiggled the connector on the outside of the assy and looked at the connections inside. I wasn’t surprised that they moved very easily and this could be where the the fuel smell was coming from. I went for a short drive to fill with fuel, when I removed the fuel filler cap and I could hear a rush of air which is normal. In all the time I have had the car this has never happened, ‘I’m on to a winner’ I thought. Back home, washed and polished the car and this morning there isn’t a smell of fuel in the car or in the boot. Yesterday afternoon was warm and sunny, before there would have been a fuel smell this morning when I got in there but this morning……….nothing. I’m not counting my chickens just yet but what I’ve found fits in with the symptoms. Below is a pic of the old sender assy and a video to illustrate the movement on the connectors. DA76C498-C7CD-4461-AA18-784BBBB414F1.MOV

This may help https://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/124943-ls400-idle-and-cutting-out-issue/

i think the garage may be right with the ABS kicking in. Have a watch of the YouTube video in the link below, you can hear the noise the car makes when the ABS kicks in. https://youtu.be/TTQvz18oeoI

Phil, I literally just swopped the main circuit board from my original cluster to the spare cluster, that's it. Lots of screws, ribbon cables, and some connectors. I always take photos or document what goes where etc. I also make sure the same screws go back in the same place because they screw into plastic and you don't want to mash the plastic by cutting another thread with a different screw. The microchip which stores the mileage is on the cluster main board, the microchip can be swopped over which will then keep the correct mileage and is another option. In my case the problem was with the temp gauge itself so swopping the main circuit board was the easiest option.

Temp gauge fixed now, swopped out the main board from my existing cluster to the spare cluster plus a bulb that had blown for ‘D’ indicator on the spare cluster. All good and temp gauge reads ok, as you can appreciate having a working temp gauge is important. Looked at just swopping out the temp gauge itself but decided against it when I started to strip the clusters. Mileage is correct and all working ok cos I swopped the main board and glad I took Phil’s (ambermarine) advice and bought a spare cluster. Thanks Phil👍 The spare cluster I bought a while ago had 234k on it.

Yep, all good. I still have the rear shocks and top mounts to do. I would like to do the rear UCA’s as well, I bought a 100 litre compressor with air tools a few weeks ago so I may be able to remove the drive shaft with the air hammer without the bearing coming out with it.

Had the wheels re balanced today at Lexus Bolton, I will only trust them to do it without damaging the wheels, and it was a bit of a challenge. The 16” rims are designed for knock on weights on the outer rim rather than stick on because of the clearance between the rim and caliper. Anyway, they managed to get the fronts done by rotating the tyre on the rim to get it done ok without having to knock weights on the outer rim. They went to all that effort because the wheels had been refurbished, knocking weights on the outside would crack the paint etc. and wouldn’t look good. They did a good job for me, as always, and I appreciate the effort, time and skill. They really care about the old LS400’s and do their best to help owners whether it’s advice or doing a job at a discounted labour price if possible. I suspect not all Lexus dealers have the same skills or attitude. Mind you, I do live in the same town as the service manager and I work 5 mins away from the dealership😉

Small update on road noise after fitting the refurb wheels and Falken Ziex ZE310 Ecorun tyres. They have a noise rating of 67db, which is the lowest I could find. There is an ‘extra load’ XL version which is 69db, but it’s way too loud man🤣 They are very very quiet tyres, can’t hear road noise in the cabin much or even at all and a lot better than the DHP wheel/Goodyear tyre combination I had on before. I will be travelling to Middlesbrough on Tuesday, 220 mile round trip, so will get a better idea on changing road surfaces on dual carriageway/motorway where you notice it more. Quite remarkable just how much quieter they are and wondered ‘how do they do it’. I found the sentence below in the description of the tyre on the Black Circles website, can’t remember seeing it before anywhere. The Ziex ZE310 Ecorun interior is lined with an innovative polyurethane foam layer to reduce drive-by noise by up to 10 decibels.

Great post with accurate and excellent advice. It is what an Automotive Aircon specialist will tell you, plus they will definitely tell you to use the aircon all the time to keep it in good working order and help prevent nasty smells and bacteria. The compressor is only engaged and working when it needs to. The ‘uses more fuel’ thing is true but nowhere near as much as people think and is very little. The same as leaving a window or two open causing drag, that is what I was told.

You could try these guys. https://www.lexusbreakers.co.uk/

There are some LS400 strut bars and new bushes for sale on eBay for £150. Worth buying by someone who plans to replace their strut bar bushes, press new bushes in and they will be ready to swop out. Put new bushes into the strut bars you take off and then sell them on, doesn't cost any less in the long run but reduces the time to do the job. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/295147221855?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=yUqYQ9uwStG&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I think a stop light out can cause the handbrake (parking brake) light to come on. Mine is the brake wear warning light along with the text warning on the computer display, it's a 98 MK4 so has the 'computer' display on the dash.