Supafly

As above, if you don't have the ability to check and confirm yourself, how are you going to be certain it is back within spec after adjusting(which can be a huge can of worms in itself with seized bolts etc.).   

If it is out then the next question is why, could be down to worn bushes or a number of other causes.

Best to take it to somewhere that can check and advise what the root cause is, and hopefully have enough experience to deal with any difficult bolts along the way too.

Following on from the ball joint comment above. 

Can also be other suspension bushes, primarily strut rod bushing then others will need to be checked. 

I had this exact same thing happen in a bmw e30, new lower control arms and the equivalent of our ls400 strut rod bush later and it was transformed. 

A beautiful outcome, the car looks amazing.

Thank you for sharing your project with us 🙂

When it's warm and cuts out, is there still fuel pressure in the system?

Does it fire right up when cold or does it need to crank for a while first?

I'm fortunate to only have slight hazing, which I'll be addressing soon.  

This was 100% the bulbs, I wasn't aware that they 'fade' but it was very noticeable when driving, when looking at the lights from outside they didn't seem dim or anything like that. 

When driving in the dark you could tell that there wasn't any actual output.  Really hard to describe, they're switched on and stood in front of the car looking at them nothing seems amiss, headlights look bright, but when in the car it was as though they'd lost about 50% of the light output, the road and shrubs etc weren't well lit. To the point I had to slow down to make safe progress.

With new bulbs it was instantly noticeable how much more light they produced, and how bad the old bulbs had become.

On 9/3/2023 at 11:06 AM, Spock66 said:

HID / Xenon bulbs do degrade over time so may be worth replacing them.

I didn't know that this happened and found out with my LS400.  On the way back through the new forest I was struggling to see as well as I usually could and over the next few weeks one of the lights started to develop a slight purple tinge. I bit the bullet and bought two phillips hid bulbs at almost £100! (the most I've ever paid for bulbs).

The difference was amazing and clearly showed how my previous bulbs had degraded to becoming almost useless.   When I bought the car the lights were great and I noticed the degradation came about very quickly over the course of a month.

Everything I've read about poly on LS's have all commented on more NVH. 

For some it was fine and a welcome improvement (usually combined with coilovers etc), for others it took away from the levels of comfort they were used to, and they either did switch to oem or wanted to.

I haven't read once that it was the same as oem.

I've seen with my own eyes, more LS430's with the rear on the floor than the front.  Not exactly an expert opinion with a large sample size but considering how few of these there are and how many I've seen (6 or 7) that are sitting incorrectly it's significant to me.

I think I read a while ago that you can get oem parts to retrofit traditional coil spring suspension from the early production years.

When I bought my car the seller told me that new front (aftermarket) pads had just been fitted, they lasted less than 15 000 miles.  The genuine lexus pads I installed have lasted over 40 000 miles and the braking is noticeably better than the old aftermarket pads.  I couldn't make out the brand when I removed them.

The lexus pads do have a very low grumble from the front when braking gently at very low speeds, I've read a few comments that owners have noticed the same on newer lexus pads.  Maybe a manufacturer/pad composition change?

Thank you for the update, happy to see that the issue is resolved for you 🙂

I'll have to triple check mine...

I've done this in the past many times, the last one was a misfire when warm on my bmw e30.  I changed gaskets, seals, afm, tps etc trying to chase.  Turns out it was a dodgy set of NGK plugs that I had just recently fitted. 

I consistently ignored them because I knew they were new, and didn't think that they could be faulty.  I only solved the issue after checking everything else then finding that Bosch plugs were oem in the manual, once I switched to a new set of Bosch plugs the problem was fixed.  Ever since then I'll throw time and money at the basics then go into deeper fault finding.

Really happy for you that it was a simple fix in the end.  Leaves more time for all the other things life throws at us! 🙂

I had one fail a while ago.  I was surprised to find how dirty the lenses were for the number plate lights. I took them apart and cleaned them, it made a big difference to how bright the illumination was.

It's still bright so the pictures aren't as clear as I would like.  The top pic is with the brake lights on and the bottom is sidelights on.

For clarity, the brakes are both lower outer and middle high.

Sidelights are upper outers.

I might have missed it, but have you checked for continuity across the bulb itself, or alternatively take it out and use two lengths of wire across the Battery terminals to verify they both work?

Edit

Just re-read the thread and saw that you've confirmed that the bulbs are ok.

I think the inner boot lid lights don't work on our UK cars.  I'll see if I can get a picture for you from my car this afternoon to confirm.

Power probe was going to be my suggestion too, I'm the same, I have them on watch lists but haven't bought on yet.  I've been able to get by with a multi meter for now.  I think I should get one ordered too just in case.

Watching this with interest, I did the same a while ago but I get squealing from the rear when gently braking in reverse.  Have lived with it but if there's anything obvious to check I'll have a look when I get round to doing other work on the car.  I think mine is mainly OSR.

I reused the shims and thought that might be the cause.  The pads have a chamfer on both edges so doubt it's that.

Too much of a coincidence that they stopped working after you were working on it.... However, it's happened to me many a time where I think it's the basics/obvious but then turns out to be something entirely different.

I think your logical approach should have the mystery solved quickly... fingers crossed of course! 🙂

In the meantime you can edit your initial post if you want, by clicking on the three dots in the top right corner.

I've seen a few threads now about premium increases on lexus cars.

I think the recent spate of thefts canbus etc have been translated into a change of risk profile for all lexus cars and now we're all lumped together and are having to pay the price...

Really concerning for me too as my area means I always struggle to get reasonable insurance (over 40, nearly 20 yrs ncd, no accidents and a clean license), I still get initial quotes from >£1k to nearly £3k

I finally got a multi car policy for my LS400 and Nissan leaf towards the end of last year... just under £1300!

Not looking forward to renewal later this year.

I hope this isn't a blanket premium hike on all lexus models... The surge in thefts on newer models may be causing a change in risk profile for the marque.

I've always struggled with insurance due to where I live, I have nearly 20 years no claims, clean license, no accidents but still struggle to get quotes under £1k for my 25 year old lexus.  Really not looking forward to renewal time later this year.

From the picture I agree with Herbie, there are no 'witness marks' before or after the hole.  It looks like that hole was there before this impact. 

When you look under the car from the direction of the impact there should be fresh scratches/marks.  That is where you need to focus your attention.  It could just be the impact on the lower part of the bumper made a loud noise but otherwise didn't cause any damage...  fingers crossed 🙂

I've seen on other caps (LS400 included) that there is a very thin piece of metal that's crimped over the plastic and that is either powder coated or machined as this appears to be.  

Check around the edges of the back to see if there are little tabs that have been bent over which hold the front metal piece onto the plastic.

If that is the case then they can be machined again if the pitting isn't too deep.

I hadn't realised that this was an issue until I sat in my 'new' to me LS400.  My first blue 98 LS400 whirred away when you put the key in the ignition and I just assumed that's how they are....

When I put the key in the newer to me 2000 LS400 that only had 60k miles it was silent, so much so that I had to look to see if the wheel was moving!

Watching this with interest, as now I've heard the silence, I cannot un-hear it and want my older car to be just as quiet.

On 6/7/2023 at 3:07 PM, DanMystro said:

One other option to control fuelling is to install a wideband to check AFRs and an Apexi Neo SAFC which intercepts the MAF signal and alters it allowing you to adjust the AFR, I've done with my car and it works great, with timing I have not seen any way to do that apart from a standalone ECU.

Thanks for the pointers.  I ask because I've got a few td04's (subaru impreza turbos) which I initially bought to turbocharge my bmw engine, but instead was thinking about using two of them on my old blue ls400.

This is great news... apart from the cost bit! 🙂

Does anyone know what other options there are to maintain oem functionality but gain the ability to control fuelling/timing?