Micholas

Tbh for the cost it’s not worth the hassle. I’ve ordered a 7mm partworn of the same brand and type winter tyre. And it cost me £80. I tried to get my wheel off to Lepsons for a refurb this week but despite being one of their best customers they won’t take anything for a week or so. They’ve never been so busy apparently. I wonder why?!!! I’ve tried twice in recent years to claim from the council for damage due to potholes, and they’ve dragged it out for months and then refused it. Usually by that time you’re over it and let it go. I think the last time they took 8 months despite me chasing them up every couple of months. If I suffered serious financial loss I’d stick at it, appeal etc. but I’ve got enough on my plate at the moment.

So since this post, a month? I’ve had nothing but trouble with these tyres! I had a long screw/nail stuck in one of these winter tyres.. which left me on the side of the road with a flat NSR. I got it repaired but the hassle and aggro was immense. Then late this afternoon I drove over one of the many potholes on our roads at the moment (I use the word pothole loosely, this was more like a cave) and it completely blew out my NSF tyre!! Felt like my whole suspension had blown. I had to continue driving for a little while as there was no where to stop and it’s pretty much destroyed the alloy in the process. Now I know this is no fault of the tyres but they have literally jinxed me! I’ve had the occasional flat over the course of my life but nothing like this in the space of a month.. and at £170 a tyre you can imagine how annoying this is. I’m now driving on one summer wheel and 3 winters until I can get someone to supply and fit a replacement! Never again!

He’s actually sold all 2200 tickets at £5 a pop. That’s £11,000! Seeing as it’s his own raffle site I’m guessing it’s all going in his pocket.

The tower block used was actually in Ealing/Acton 😉

God this guy grates. A typical car flipper who thinks he knows it all but has probably never turned a spanner in his life. I deal with a lot of them at work. I got to around 4 minutes and had to turn it off.

Thanks Tim, I just sent you a message

This is literally like a repeat of my LS430 ownership 😀 it’s uncanny. I’m pretty sure I was about to buy that one that you went to view and got your money back. He was going to let me catch trains all the way from London under the proviso of ‘rust free’. Fortunately I got him to send me a video of the car first and I saw the rust in the video! I was furious with him. Re. your car, all the repairs you’re doing on yours I’ve had with mine.. trust me you’ll have a lot more to do as the months roll on. However the first thing you HAVE to get done before anything else is the cam belt.. If it goes your car is scrap. It’s not going to be worth buying a new engine and transplanting.

Has anyone got a set of LS430 pre facelift 17” alloys knocking around that they want to sell? Want to get my summer tyres put on a spare set of wheels so I don’t have to faff around getting tyres fitted every few months. Condition not important, unless they’re so rotten they can’t be refurbed. Any help appreciated.

Take your door card off and check the condition of the door membrane. Also check the rubber door aperture seal.

Sounds like your blower motor. It’s quite a common part to fail on all car brands.. but you’ll need this properly diagnosed. I’ll probably be strung up on here for this.. But I find the blower/air con system on LS430’s problematic at the best of times. I’ve had mine now for 2 years and I’m forever chasing faults with it. Once one is fixed, a month or so later another will develop. It’s had issues since I got the car. Pretty indicative of the rest of the car. The engines very reliable though! 😃

Replaced my NS front air strut today. This thing here nearly ruined it all!! Obviously if I had the special tool it would have been a whole lot easier!! I made my own special tool…. It was a struggle but did the trick! In the end all seems well!! It pumped up well and no warning lights. I would say though after a quick drive home it does seem to be sitting slightly lower than the OS. It’s currently pitch black and ****** it down outside, so I’ll get a tape measure to the arches tomorrow and check for certain.

This is the key. It isn’t about snow it’s about temperature. Once you go below 7 degrees your summer tyres harden up and essentially lose a massive portion of their grip. Winter tyres are made from a different compound that stays soft in cold temperatures thus keeping good tread. The flip side is that once you’re in the realms of 12 degrees like today, they wear very fast. But with the changing environment and the more harsh winters we’re going to get, I think it’s going to become more and more necessary.

Just fitted a set of winter tyres. Absolutely ate the ice and snow we’ve had so highly recommend as they work well on LS430’s. I’ve also booked in with Lexus Tunbridge Wells for a major service on Weds. They're still doing it for £400 which is great as it seems a lot of other dealers are now charging the full £700 odd quid! They’re even doing a collection and delivery for £9. In other news.. my smart lock gremlins have returned and the car no longer locks.. and the heater blows cold air 95% of the time. Isn’t it great having an LS430 😃

Tbf that looks pretty damn good. And quite reasonably priced, albeit I haven’t seen the shipping costs yet.

That’s what I pay at Lexus Tunbridge Wells.. I say £400, it’s more like £435. For all models they only offer a minor and major service. The minor is approx £200.. the major is £400ish

It’s also worth mentioning that Lexus’s service pricing is actually really cheap considering other ‘luxury’ car brands. A major service for £400 inc VAT, is very good!! I work at BMW and you won’t get a lot of change from a grand when the major service comes along.

I use main dealers for servicing because they know the schedule to a tee and have all parts that might come up in stock (sump bungs, missing rivets etc.) I presume private garages would just do what you tell them rather than add insight on the different spark plug, diff oil schedules. HOWEVER the two main dealers I have used really didn’t like dealing with my LS430. I got the impression it was a hinderance and they’d much rather be doing servicing and warranty work on a 2 year old RX. But what is this essential servicing you lot speak of?? Sorry relatively new to the Lexus world.

Well it did turn out to be faulting coils! Cylinders 1 and 7! I know how sensitive coils can be.. so with the mechanic removing them for the rocker cover gaskets it must have knocked two of them out. I’ve just driven the car home from the garage and it’s fine. However the real test will be whether it’s fine tomorrow morning.. I’ve known many a car where you start replacing a couple of ignition coils and then before you know it you’re in for a full set. Fingers crossed mine isn’t one of them!

Thanks chaps. I guess it’s all going to come down to what code it throws up. IF it’s the P0171 again, then yeah it’s going to be long trial and error of MAF, O2 sensors, fuel and air lines etc etc.. but I honestly can’t see a bank 1 fuel/air imbalance causing all this. When I fire it up, the engine is seriously lumpy and rough. Unless I’ve got a huge hole on my intake manifold or something. But then why would it run normally after 20-30 seconds? Bizarre. Just praying it’s not the LPG system, as taking it all the way to the specialist and having to leave it for days will be a massive inconvenience I don’t need right now.

I’ve actually had the common P0171 EML for a year or so on mine. Never effected running at all and once cleared it doesn’t come back for a while. I last cleared it 2000 miles ago and it hadn’t returned. Not related to the current issue at all I’m sure.

Anyone know why the VSC lights sometimes run in tangent with the EML? I’ve read a lot about LS430 owners having VSC lights come on when they have engine problems. The whole paper clip in the diagnostic socket scenario. It all took a turn for the worse later this morning. VSC and permanent EML back on. I’m leaving it this time so the garage can at least run the codes.. but I’m sure this is nothing to do with the VSC. Car actually drives fine after the initial 20 seconds of roughness when cold.

It’s 2.5 hours away.. but if my garage turn around and say they can’t do nothing, it’s LPG, they don’t have the diagnostic diagrams etc etc. then I’ll certainly give them a shout.

This is one of the pains of owning an LPG car. Dealerships and regular mechanics don’t want to get involved, and the pool of garages that specialise in them are few and far between. My nearest is 3 hours away, and if I’m being honest they’re pretty rubbish. It took me a long time to find a garage that would do my rocker cover gaskets! Soon as they hear LPG they don’t want to know. If I could go back I wouldn’t have bought an LPG car.

So another week, another problem on my 2001 LPG converted LS430 (getting tiresome now). Sorry this is an essay but I wanted to capture as much info as possible. Firstly the car sat for a few days at the airport car park as I went abroad, when I came back to it, it was as if the battery was flat (it’s a genuine Toyota battery that’s 18 months old, car does a lot of long drives). When I opened the bonnet to inspect I heard the ping of keyless entry as if it had come back to life. It then fired up with no issues and drove home fine. I shrugged it off and forgot about it. On Thursday I took it to a garage to replace the rocker cover gaskets as they were haemorrhaging oil. Picked the car up and it drove home fine. Friday morning the same flat battery issue, I wriggled the battery cable this time and it fired up, but this time the car was very lumpy on idle and the EML was flashing. I drove it up the road but it was running like a sack of potato’s, so I took it home. Turned it off and on, and the EML was gone and it drove 30 miles to work fine. Lunchtime the EML was flashing again, but again I drove it up the road pulled over wriggled the battery cable, turned it off and on and it ran fine. However at the end of the day when I was going to drive home, the EML stayed on and the VSC lights came on. I couldn’t shake these off, no matter what I did. It was lumpy at cold, but drove home fine when warm. I don’t have a code reader so not sure what the EML was for. When I got home I disconnected the battery to reset the ECU, contact cleaned all the battery terminals and put a trickle charger on the battery over night. This morning the VSC lights had gone, but the EML was flashing and it was idling lumpy.. but once the engine warmed up the EML stopped flashing and it drove around the block fine. I’m thinking this is two separate issues and unrelated? The battery issue, perhaps a faulting negative lead, or a dying battery.. And then this cold start issue I have no idea. Maybe relating to something the mechanic did when changing the gaskets. You have to strip a lot to take the cam covers off! I took the engine cover off and couldn’t see anything left disconnected! Any ideas? Or just take it back to the garage.

This did indeed work! Only took me nigh on 2 years but I finally now have a fully working GROM! Something for the forum to remember next time a prefacelift ML owner is trying to get one to work!