Howplum

I had a look at the parking brake mechanism today and luckily nothing was seized or broken, so it was just a case of lubricating everything and adjusting to give the best performance. At least it now holds the car when iD or R are engaged and the engine is idling, albeit on level ground. I'll have to wait and see what the MoT tester thinks. In case anyone needs to know, the toothed adjuster wheel for the left side parking brake should be moved upwards to tighten and downwards to slacken. The right side works the opposite way. Unfortunately in the process I managed to shear two of the three bolts holding the triangular plate that goes between the silencers, so that's another job for another day. I did have a quick look to try and find the suspect brake light switch, which, using a torch and mirror, looks as though it might have been affected by historic water ingress. May be it just needs cleaning up, but access seems to be the issue. I assume that the lower dashboard has to be removed to make the job even possible. Has anyone done this job? Any tips on how to dismantle the lower dashboard without breaking anything?

Thanks Phil, but the floor is fine. The staining is from the seat frame, so it looks worse than it really is. Luckily the seat frame is still structurally sound.

For the last couple of days I have been cleaning the interior and door shuts, so it now looks a bit more respectable, although the driver's footwell could do with more work. Still, it's a lot better than it was. I noticed that the right rear seat was quite badly water damaged, and no amount of cleaning seemed to eradicate it entirely. However, I shall be restoring all the leather at some point, because there is also quite a bit of fading, especially on the rear seat. I thought I had better investigate, so removed the rear seat base, to find this: And this is the seat itself: The marks are difficult to see, but the leather in one area has gone hard, from being wet presumably. Bearing in mind the carpet in the rear footwell was damp when I bought the car, it looks as though someone might have left a window open at some stage. Hopefully nothing more sinister, but something to keep an eye on. Having finished the interior, at least for the time being, I started checking the electrics and found that the brake light switch occasionally stays on, so that will have to be investigated. Also, both the foglights don't work, so I am hoping it's just a fuse. At the moment I am crossing one job off the "to do" list and adding two more, but that's the way it goes with projects. Tomorrow I am planning to tackle the parking brake, so we'll see how that goes.

Before I start contacting the breakers on eBay I wondered if any readers of this forum had any of the following please: Climate control unit with working LCD screen Left front sidelight housing - the top bracket is broken Left side door mirror E6014716 - the heating element is showing Front and rear wheel arch trims for right side - mine were damaged in an accident Front corner lower bumper trims - part numbers 76852 - 50030 (left) and 76851 - 50050 (right) Colours are immaterial because I can spray them to match. Many thanks.

Thank you all for your responses. At least it means I don't have to crawl underneath the car again!

One of the jobs to be done on my project is change the power steering fluid. One way is to raise the car, empty the reservoir, refill with fresh fluid, run the engine, operate the steering wheel several turns and keep repeating until the fluid in the reservoir is clear.This tends to use a lot of ATF, none of which can be reused. An alternative that occurred to me might be to disconnect one or both pipes at the steering rack and drain the system completely, refill and bleed. Has anyone done this job? Is there are flaw in my idea? How much ATF does the system hold? From the diagrams I've seen there doesn't seem to be a filter, is that correct?

The discs I bought were Pagid, which I have used for years, for the front. On the rear I used Blueprint, which I get the impression is a good aftermarket make. Time will tell regarding longevity, but I will only be doing a modest annual mileage.

Today I did a bit of investigation on the sunroof, and there is a relay tucked inside the front headliner, to the left of the motor, thus: There is evidence of water ingress so I suspect the relay, or its connector, has suffered, because when I wiggled it the sunroof behaved even more erratically. Unfortunately Lexus didn't leave enough cable length to enable the relay to be withdrawn without dropping the front headliner, which I imagine that will take a while, so I'll leave it for another day. In the meantime, i have bought a used relay for £15 from eBay, which is better than a new one at £235 on Amayama's website! It's only a relay, for goodness sake. The other little issue I noticed was the mini sun visor above the interior mirror, which wouldn't stay up. When I took it out I could see why - a plastic rivet that holds the tension on the spring plate had broken. My solution was to drill a hole and use a self tapper and clip to reinstate tension. The screw head cannot be seen from the front seats, although I may paint it grey at some point.

Yes, I read about that in the Owner's Manual. I can only assume the problem is with a control unit, if there is one. At least I can now open, close and tilt the sunroof, so that will suffice for now.

I agree @runsgrateasanut. My friend, who had the car for 20 years, admitted he never used the parking brake. Nevertheless, he had the shoes replaced in 2011 and almost every other year after that there is a bill for adjusting the parking brake, usually after the MoT. My friend obviously didn't appreciate cause and effect. Today I have been been doing some minor jobs that do not involve lying under the car, which makes a change! The first thing I looked at was the electric aerial, which was not extending fully - a common problem. I already had a replacement mast to hand, so thought it might be a fairly easy job, having done it before on other cars. Wrong! The retaining nut/sleeve/ferrule was stuck onto the tube casing with corrosion, so unfortunately got damaged by the locking pliers when removing it. The next problem was getting the aerial through the wing because I could not remove the mast through the ferrule. In the end, and since I had new mast anyway, I cut the end of the mast off. Drastic, but effective. I now need a new ferrule, which hopefully Lexus Swindon can supply. If not, I either source a used aerial or use an aftermarket one. I then thought I would check the lights, and noticed one of the front sidelights was not working. After some dismantling I could see why - corrosion: Luckily I was able to remove the bulbs and clean everything up with a needle file. Unfortunately the top fixing bracket for the nearside light broke, so I will need to source a replacement, or make an ingenious repair. When I got the car the sunroof would only retract a little way and the inner panel would not move at all. In fact, what was stopping it was that the inner panel was held by rust to the inner frame, due no doubt to the damp inside. That was easy enough to separate though. Next, I wanted to have a look at the sunroof switch panel because it would retract OK with one touch of the switch, but would not close again by pushing, and holding, the switch in a forward position. That caused a monent of panic, but I discovered that by pressing the rear part of the tilt switch the sunroof would close. I hoped a bit of contact cleaner might help, since the sunroof probably hadn't been used for over 20 years. Removing the switch panel is fairly simple. First, remove the plastic lens: Then inside there are 3 screws: Once the screws are removed there is a small spring clip on the rear edge which holds it in position - useful when you're working overhead: Then unclip the two connectors: There is evidence of rust, so I thought maybe this had affected the sunroof switch, so I decided the take the switch apart. This is the underneath of the PCB and the grey rubber button are the switches: And this is how they work: Nothing is obviously amiss, but I used contact cleaner anyway. After reassembling everything I reinstalled the switch and, guess what, no difference! I guess I will just have to live with it. Now that the interior is slowly drying out, and whilst I await delivery of various service items, I will give it a good clean. It's not relevant to the MoT or future reliability, but I dislike having a dirty car!

I've just insured my 1996 LS400 through Adrian Flux with an insurer called Markerstudy. The premium was £196.60 for comprehensive cover and an annual mileage of 3,000. It is a net rated policy, which means there is no No claim Discount to worry about. The policy is based on market value, but for an extra £15 I can get Agreed Value cover. They were not worried about me having the alarm/immobiliser disabled or fitting tyres that are not W rated, as specified by Lexus. I am 72 and live in Buckinghamshire, but as all quotes are individual, it might be worth getting in touch with them on 0344 381 6502. Another company I have found competitive in the past is Classicline Insurance.

Paul, How effective are the Gtechniq products you mentioned? I find that cleaning the wheels on my little BMW takes almost as long as cleaning the rest of the car, so anything to make life easier I'm interested in.

Thank you both, but for the time being I shall distract myself with small jobs that don't involve lying down! It's obviously a nettle I need to grasp before the MoT though.

It looks as though I spoke to soon about the parking brake being OK. Although I, a mere human, cannot turn the rear hubs with the parking brake on, a 4 litre V8 seems to have no problem at all! Looking at the MoT history, this has been mentioned for several years, either as an advisory or a reason for failure. Because the parking brake does respond to the pedal, I am assuming the cables are not seized, but an investigation and lubrication would not go amiss. Knowing me I will probably end up doing some dismantling as well. Other than that, It is "just" a question of adjustment, and I have found some very useful information on a topic raised in 2012, which should help enormously. I include my notes on what I found out. LEXUS PARKING BRAKE ADJUSTMENT.odt

Thank you all for your kind comments. Thank you for your offer Paul, but I do have the centre caps. I just took them off whilst I was working on the brakes. Over the last couple of days I have installing the new rear brake pipes (and their clips), flexible hoses, discs, refurbished calipers and pads, culminating in a full bleed and fluid change. Hopefully that should all last a few years. The parking brake seems to work well, and I know these can cause a problem with lack of use. For some reason a lot of automatic drivers don't bother using it, with a predicatable result. I was curious about the brake hoses for two reasons, because superficially they looked similar. One is that the front and rear are different prices from Lexus and the other is that only the front ones seem to be available from aftermarket suppliers. I can't answer the first question, because all the hoses are the same length and have the same type of fittings. However, the banjo connector neck is at a different angle between front and rear. The other, more important difference, is that that the two flat sides on the ferrule at the other end are 90 degrees different, so they cannot be swapped. Useless information, perhaps. I think my next job will not involve lying under the car in a 30 mph wind!

There we are, I said the scuttle needed cleaning: I had some deliveries today. Firstly, a pukka Lexus battery and terminal cover. A perfect fit: Secondly, flexible hoses, brake disc screws, pipe unions and clips: All being well the car should be back on terra firma, with working brakes, in the next couple of days, but first I need to dig out my thermals! PS: For the eagle eyed, yes I do have the missing trim joint cover for the rear window.

Thanks for that tip Phil, although by the time I got around to reading your message I had already removed the scuttle cover and wiper arms! Still, arguably it all needed a good clean anyway. I did as you suggested with the sunroof drains and had no problem inserting about one metre or so of wire on both sides, until I assume it hit the wheel arch liner. Apparently the previous owner never used the sunroof so it's all reasonably clean inside the aperture. Unfortunately I did manage to break most of the clips holding the rubber seal to the front edge of the scuttle panel, so I will have to find some suitable alternatives.

I have been trying to establish the correct paint code for the lower panels on my black LS400, which proved elusive. Even the helpful Daniel at Lexus Swindon couldn't give me a definitive answer, My colour and trim code is 202LE13A02AA342E, and I have established the 202 is the main body colour, which is Black Onyx. However, no part of the code is for the lower panels and bumpers, which is frustrating. Eventually I found a US website which helpfully lists the main body colours and the corresponding code for the lower panels, so hopefully this will help someone: http://importarchive.com/lexus/ls/1995-2000/paint

I have now finished refurbishing the calipers: I am awaiting the brake hoses and a few other important bits, which hopefully will arrive in the next few days. At least then I can put the system back together and put the car back on its wheels. I did spend a lovely hour or so under the car this afternoon scraping off the flaking paint and loose rust, so hopefully that's one advisory I won't be getting. I have also ordered 4 new Kuhmo tyres, but have no idea yet when they can be fitted. I'll just have to wait and see. I also ordered several service items from Car Parts 4 Less, so they should be here next week. There are a few bodywork trim pieces that need replacing, namely both offside wheel arch trims and the lower corner trims under the front bumper. I rang Lexus Swindon and they quoted £120 and £150 respectively for the front and rear wheel arch trims. Ridiculous. The bumper trim pieces are much more reasonably priced at £27.46 each. Mercedes-Benz's parts pricing strategy is equally inconsistent. One job I do need to do is remove the wiper arms and plastic scuttle cover to investigate where the water has been getting in. Hopefully it's something simple like a blocked drain hole, fingers crossed.

That's good to to hear. I have just ordered 4 Kumho Ecowing ES01 KH27 tyres for my LS400. Reasonably priced and with good reviews.

I recently bought an outdoor cover from Halfords, which seems to be of good quality, being breathable with a type of fabric lining, so should be kind to the paintwork. Mine was a large size, which swamped my Mercedes W124, but is probably the right size for my LS400. It was only used for a few weeks during the bad weather, but seemed very effective.

I have to replace all 4 tyres on my recently acquired 1996 LS400, the previous owner having put CCR (cheap chinese rubbish) tyres on a few years ago. Two don't even have a date code on and are starting to perish. Anyway, the specification calls for 97W rated tyres, which I thought might limit my choice. I therefore rang Adrian Flux, through whom the car is insured, and they confirmed there was no need to let them know if I fitted differently rated tyres and that it would not invalidate the policy if I did.

Not much progress over the last couple of days, although I have ordered quite a few parts in the meantime, so hopefully I shall be putting the braking system back together in the next few days. As far as the obstinate flexible hose connection is concerned, it eventually dawned on me, after a good night's sleep, that I could remove the retaining clip and take the hose to my workbench. Mind you, even clamped in the vice a lot of force was required to get the old union out: Having done that, I then decided to replace all the hoses anyway! I have therefore ordered them from Lexus Parts Direct, together with a new battery and other bits and pieces. I have spent a fair amount of time cleaning up the mounting studs for the brake pipe clips, ready for installation of the new pipes. I shall be using new plastic clips and stainless steel nuts, although hopefully it's not a job I have to do again. Still, somebody might appreciate it in the future. Today I took the pistons out of the calipers, using compressed air, and was pleased to find they were all in excellent condition, so I have ordered seal kits from Bigg Red. Rear calipers: Front calipers: My next job will be to remove as much flaking paint and rust from the front and rear suspension components as I can and then apply rust treatment. That will be a fun job! At least the forecast is good for the next few days, so I might as well turn the current restrictions to my advantage!

Today, apart from cleaning the calipers prior to removing the pistons, I removed the rear brake pipes, which mostly involved plenty of penetrating fluid, a wire brush, a six sided 10mm socket and a hacksaw. I was lucky, only one of the studs for the retaining clips sheared off. My plan B to undo the union to the flexible hose on the nearside was to use an Irwin nut remover, but even that failed. Plan C is therefore the angle grinder, which means I'll have to order a new brake. At last they're off the car: The original culprit is at the top of the picture. However, it was clear that the pipes going to each wheel were similarly afflicted where the retaining clips were: Surprisingly I was able to undo these unions without any trouble, so the connector will be used again, after treatment:

Because a thorough overhaul of the brakes is required I removed the brake discs and calipers today. It was a pretty straightforward process, apart from one of the disc retaining screws which had to drilled out, and then the hole retapped. All the cars I have ever worked on have only one such screw per disc, but Lexus decided to fit two. I suspect the hoses are original, and if so they have survived very well, with no sign of perishing and only light corrosion on the ferrules. The brakes are obviously binding so the calipers will need overhauling, with new seals, and possibly pistons too, but I will strip them all down first before getting in touch with Bigg Red. The rear discs show evidence of binding, even though the rear brakes were disconnected when I moved the car: There is also plenty of flaking paint and rust scale all over the rear suspension and subframe, as mentioned on many MoTs, so I will be cleaning that up before the MoT test: One of the rear shock absorbers has a light oil mist on it, and a damaged protective boot, so that may be an advisory. I'll see what my friendly tester says. I will clean it up first and monitor it, although ultimately it (both) will need to be replaced. This is connector I used to isolate the rusted rear pipes: One of the rear discs and its caliper. There are a couple of companies locally that do skimming, so I will explore that option first, because then I will still end up with the original discs, rather than aftermarket alternatives. There is no way I am going to pay Lexus's prices for their discs. This is the connector above the subframe: My original plan was to disconnect the middle union and just replace the rusted section of pipe. However, None of the unions want to come undone, so plan B is to remove all of the pipework to the rear brakes and replace with Kunifer. At least one of the unions to a flexible hose wants to come undone, but the other doesn't, but I have a plan.... This is one of the front discs, with a small lip, which hopefully can be machined out: Unfortunately several spiders have been made homeless! This is the rear face of a front disc. Clearly something is amiss because the contact area is much smaller than the front, and the pads have very little wear: More to follow. At least the weather forecast is good for the next few days.