Razor61

My mk4 has the DHP alloys which are in great condition, really suit the car and look great. However, the car is not a DHP car and I wanted the original alloys back on the car. I struggled to find a set which were in decent condition and at a reasonable cost, I found some on the Facebook UK LS Owners group which looked in decent condition to refurb. Bought the wheels and Lepson’s Wheels picked them up today (I’ve used them in the past and they did a great job), got a call earlier after they had examined them to discuss what finish to go for. I had in mind a chrome finish called Mercury Silver I saw on their video but for chrome finishes you need a perfect wheel otherwise any slight imperfections will show. The wheels I bought were less than perfect, which I knew already, so was advised not to go for a chrome finish. Chrome Finishes are done in one go and that’s it, you can’t touch up and refinish any areas that show up after spraying, with the silver finishes they hide the imperfections quite well and after spraying, any issues in the silver coat can be touched up and sorted then lacquered to give the best finish possible on less than perfect wheels. So I went for a standard silver finish advised by Lepson’s, new tyres will be fitted as well then shipped back to me. Delivery will be next week so need to order some ceramic coating for them and I’ll post some pictures of the wheels when I get them and when fitted to the car.

Latest picture of the car

👍 joined the group. May have found some original mk4 alloys already😀

Good point, I’ll have a think about that🤔

Thanks, it was a pain but I expected it. Regarding the front strut rod bushes, cutting through one or both camber bolts is one thing and a proper pita in itself. The strut rods will then probably drop enough to try and cut them and knock out in situ, not even worth trying in my opinion. My strong advice is to get the strut rods off the car and use my method to remove the bushes (I don’t think for one minute I’ve discovered something new by the way) or whatever method works for you or get them done by an engineering shop. I think I’ve mentioned before that I tried a 20ton press to get them out before and they would not budge at all. You need them on a bench, ideally with a vice, to work on them.

Thanks, I’ll look into the SKF bearings but to be honest I’ll probably buy them all from Amayama unless there is a big price difference. I will be replacing the inner/outer seals, snap rings and there is a dust cover as well.

Jobs to do now are: Rear shocks and top mounts - as said before with shock absorbers you don't know if how good they are until they are removed. The fronts were knackered on mine that's for sure, no signs of leaking either. Even though there isn't any sign of leaking or something obvious for an MOT tester to pick up, the shock can still be gone or they are nowhere near how they should be. Seals wear and the shocks don't perform as they should. I've no doubt the original LS400 shocks were very well made and will probably last longer than most but they will eventually wear and won't perform as they should. Also, as said by other people, the LS400 is very tolerant of suspension wear and the car drives well despite it. Rear UCA's - bigger job than I thought it would be. Drive shafts need disconnecting, rear hub assy removed with the UCA attached to get at the ball joint nut plus all the other stuff that needs to be disconnected i.e. abs sensors, parking brake cables I presume........... etc etc etc. I had a chat with Lexus Bolton about this and I was advised to get new rear axle shafts (pic below) because getting them out of the rear hub assy normally means they get ruined and half the wheel bearing comes out with them. So that means new wheel bearings as well, I have Blueprint ones but I think Lexus OEM would be best. Because I have brand new OEM rear hub assy's already, the plan is to get new OEM bearings with all the seals etc, new rear axle shafts, build up the new hub assy's ready to swop over when the time comes. I've priced up all the bits from Amayama and it will cost around £400, another few hundred quid🙄 but if a jobs worth doing.........................

AC pressure tested and re gassed today no problem, ice cold as it should be if needed. The sight glass fix worked a treat and there is no sign of any leaking, the gorilla glue does dry Crystal Clear so you can see all the way in. Probably better than before to be honest. The AC guy thought I hadn’t done the repair at first until I pointed it out and showed him what I’d done. All in all I’m pretty chuffed at the way it’s turned out.

Thanks Phil👍

Thanks Kieran, that would be good. I also look on autotrader/ ebay/ car and classic and Facebook market place but stopped looking on the UK LS400 owners on Facebook. Maybe I’ve been looking at the wrong group, the one I’ve joined is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/813894808667611/?ref=share

What a great find, looks really nice👍 I’m still looking for a nice mk3, if I do find one I’ll buy it and sell the Mk4 I have.

On my 95 mk3 LS400 I seem to remember the aerial retracted when playing a CD. on my current mk4 98 LS400 the aerial does not retract when playing a CD, is this correct or should it do the same as the Mk3 LS400? it’s not a big problem at all but just wanted to know in case I have another little issue to sort out.

Removed the strut bar bushes from the strut bars I took off the car. I previously described the method I use and the pictures below illustrate a bit how I did it. pics are of the bushes after removal, you can hopefully see the 2 cuts through the bush and where I knocked the cut strip at both ends with a flat punch. This loosens the bush and it was a doddle knocking out the bush with a flat punch and hammer. Took no more than 30 mins for both arms with a reciprocating saw. Drilled out the rubber, knock out the centre, cut through the bush in 2 places 10mm apart leaving a mm so as not the damage the arm, knock the 10mm strip as described above and tap out the bush. This is the third time doing this for me and by far the easiest and you learn the easiest and best way to do it, that’s what is called ‘experience’🙃

Aircon sight glass tiny leak is hopefully sorted, re gas will be done on Sunday morning. I fitted a new drier, cleaned up the sight glass area, applied Gorilla epoxy glue Crystal Clear, placed the glass lens over and seated it so the glue oozed out at the sides. Cleaned away any glue that went over the pressure switch seating area, waited 15 mins and fitted the pressure switch. It’s a tight fit between the bottom of the pressure switch and the glass cos the pressure switch over hangs but put a piece of paper between and it went through no problem so it wasn’t touching the new piece of glass and disturbing it. Took a few pics and if you look closely you can see the glass lens I glued on. before After

Hi, I'm after a set of LS400 MK4 97-2000 alloys wheels in good condition. They don't need to be perfect but need to be good enough to refurb and diamond cut if possible. If anyone has a set for sale or knows of a set for sale please get in touch. This is the type of alloys I need.

The car has been converted to LPG so have a look at the YouTube video below and you could have the same issue. https://youtu.be/NOesoTKyalc

That's a cracking post, from reading the post the issue was on an RX I think but the details on what causes the error codes is very interesting and informative.

Is it Lepsons by any chance?

This has progressed quickly to rebuilding the rear suspension as well due to seized rear camber bolts, documented in another general topic for the car. Didn’t replace the shocks and rear UCA’s but replaced everything else. After a full alignment and a few hundred miles driving, the car is driving better, suspension is tighter with no annoying untoward noises, slight wandering has gone and tracks spot on. I did notice a slight suspension noise on the drivers front so jacked up the car this morning and checked all the nuts and bolts on the front. The rear bolts on the front UCA’s were tight but the fronts were not as tight as they should be, not loose by any means but I could move 2 of the bolts reasonably easily with a 14mm combination ring key, so tightened them up. Maybe I missed tightening them, possible cos I did so much at the time. I couldn’t get the torque wrench on them with the springs in place so had to judge the torque of 116nm (pretty sure it’s that). Used a medium 3/8 breaker bar with a shallow socket on 2 of them with a bit of pipe over the end. The others needed a 14mm ring key, big ring key and a big adjustable all in line to give me enough torque. Went for a drive and listened out for the ‘noise’ and it seems to have gone now. I’ll check them again when I do an oil change, with all new stuff fitted it’s a good idea to recheck the torque after a bit of driving and everything has settled down.

Looks really nice and definitely worth a look. Cambelt done in 2010, will need replacing due to age in my opinion along with water pump. If you do go and look, check the rear inner arches from inside the boot for any signs of rust etc. See pic below for a clue on where to look if you don’t know already. From looking at the pics of the car it doesn’t have tell tale signs of rust in that area.

Thank you and I’ll try not to smash this one, if anything does happen with it I will be buying it back and remove all the expensive parts I’ve fitted, ready to fit on the next one😉 Just fitted the new ambient temp sensor and the outside temp on the centre console lcd is now correct. It’s reading 26 which is correct cos it’s pretty warm but not 39 degrees which it was displaying before. You are right that owners will let them go, the costs of making the suspension ‘as new’ isn’t viable or sensible if you think about it. It was viable for me for the reasons I’ve said previously, if mine was a weekend car or just used now and again then I wouldn’t have done it. I use mine every day to work and back and choose to use the LS400 rather than the IS250 in most cases outside of going to work. Because I use the car every day and I notice everything that is wrong or needs doing, it bugs the hell out of me and I need to sort it out. Plus it’s a hobby and I like doing it, sometimes I wish I hadn’t bothered in the middle of something but the end result is worth it.

Alignment done today at Lexus Bolton, all done no problem now. Car drove a lot better with all the work done even before the alignment. Smoother over surfaces that are not really smooth, which is most of the UK roads at the moment, quieter because of it, feels ‘tight’ as it should. 200 mile trip over tomorrow and Friday mostly motorway so should notice the difference. Was it worth all the effort? Yes it was but not worth spending £4k plus on parts alone at UK prices to do everything. Most important bits to replace in my opinion are front and rear strut bars and shocks all round. Next bits would be the rear suspension arms due to the camber bolts probably being seized, if they are then if someone tries to adjust using a lot of pressure, the risk is that the bush gets knackered. After that drop links and arb bushes, front ball joints and track rod ends. Front and rear UCA’s next if they fail and are picked up on the MOT or something or you know they are knackered. All that is going off the condition of the suspension stuff I removed and what I found while doing it all on my car with 90k miles.

Definition of rust that I found is below, I was interested to know what causes it and it then follows that measures can be taken to stop it. Probably no practical measures can be taken on a car that is used in the UK though🤣 Rust is an iron oxide, a usually reddish-brown oxide formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the catalytic presence of water or air moisture.

Absolutely agree, cars will rust, that is a fact and is expected. Main problem is 'where' the car is rusted or corroded for me.

If I was looking I'd consider the LS400's for sale below plus others on AutoTrader/Ebay etc. MK3 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125361778907?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=HYP7LJr8QT2&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY This one below was the first LS400 I looked at 3 years ago and I should have bought it then but at the time I decided on a MK4 instead and deemed this one too expensive. Things have changed since though. At the time the condition was great, what it's like now though is a different matter. I am thinking of having a look myself cos its close to me. I ended up buying a MK3 anyway and now have a MK4 https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202206116697154?advertising-location=at_cars&atmobcid=soc5&include-delivery-option=on&make=Lexus&model=LS 400&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=Used&radius=1501&sort=relevance There are quite a few MK4's on Autotrader ranging in price. There is a Black 2000 MK4 which looks great, however I suspect there may be rust issues on the rear inner arch/s. Bubbling where the rear wing meets the trim, as in the pic below, or the main one which is on the other side where it meets the bumper are tell tale signs of this in my experience but it may ok. Only way to check is to remove the boot liners both sides and look at the inner wings or stick a camera in and look.