The £1k 4.3 V8 Lexus LS430

[STIfree]

The initial message was deleted from this topic on 08 March 2021 at 14:48

[anonymous-user]

For a grand that is fking amazing! Well played

[ChocolateFrog]

£200 on a proper wheel refurb will have that looking great.

£1k is a bargain.

[Northbrook]

If the noise is the other wheel bearing, you've got a bargain. The wheels are LS400 DHP wheels, which are worth a little more than standard ones.

These are great cars - enjoy!

[Dav72D]

I paid £2000 for one a few years ago. Unbelievable value for money and worth buying just for the soft close doors.

[STIfree]

Dav72D said:

I paid £2000 for one a few years ago. Unbelievable value for money and worth buying just for the soft close doors.

I'm certainly not used to this. Most of the stuff I normally own needs a proper slam, so I'm in that habit Though the way the door automatically unlocks and the interior and puddle lights come on as you walk up to it at night is rather nice!

[carinaman]

Thanks for the thread. I prefer the looks of the earlier one, but for £1,000 that's quite some bargain.

What's missing from the toolkit?

[STIfree]

carinaman said:

Thanks for the thread. I prefer the looks of the earlier one, but for £1,000 that's quite some bargain.

What's missing from the toolkit?

Likewise, this colour on a 1998 LS400 with gold plated badges, yes please!


I've not worked out what's supposed to be there yet, it might be in the 300 page owner manual

[Heaveho]

Great buy, love these things. I think those wheels are the right ones for that model, they weren't on the earlier 400 iirc. I worked for Lexus when these were a current model, so it's a while ago and I might be wrong about that, but I don't think so.

[SVX]

It'd be this or one of the unloved S-Classes to tool about in, the V8 is an absolute peach of an engine. One thing, I'm surprised about the little blebs of rust..?

[anonymous-user]

I've been running an LPG LS430 for the last 4/5 years. Utterly brilliant things. I converted mine to steel springs as the air suspension failed. Lowered of course

Your check VSC TRC light could be caused by a faulty lambda sensor. I've had 2 go over the years and the big red triangle and check VSC TRC lights filled me with dread. Quick scan with techstream and a lambda sensor later and it's been fine for years.

Sadly selling mine now as it simply doesn't get the use now we work from home and can't actually travel anywhere. Used to work all over Europe and it was the perfect tool for crossing the continent in a day.

Fuel economy is ace too. Especially for the size of the things. Amazing cars!

[anonymous-user]

Ah and to lower on air there is a bracket under the left rear of the car. Can reach from the back. A sort of bit of flat metal with a slot down the middle and the rear height sensor bolts in at the desired height.

Fronts are a threaded bar with a reverse thread on one end. Cut in the middle, take a section out and weld it back.

Your suspension won't last long at that height though

[STIfree]

CDB1983 said:

Ah and to lower on air there is a bracket under the left rear of the car. Can reach from the back. A sort of bit of flat metal with a slot down the middle and the rear height sensor bolts in at the desired height.

Fronts are a threaded bar with a reverse thread on one end. Cut in the middle, take a section out and weld it back.

Your suspension won't last long at that height though

Thanks for the info!

I actually read your thread on the car from start to finish the night before I went and bought this one. I regularly drive 1000 miles between the UK and Germany so when you said you were driving to Poland and back I was assured it was the right car for me!


Yes I thought that little bit of metal connected to a kind of potentiometer was what was controlling the hight. Did you do that mod to yours first? I know you mentioned that potholes in Poland ruined your suspension pretty quickly. What was the rough cost to convert it to coil struts?


Oh and the lambda sensor causing an issue with the VSC light etc. You could be right as I had an EML on which I scanned and cleared with my cheapo eBay scanner. I've not driven the car since doing this so I'm not sure if it'll come back. But there's certainly an issue with the ABS ring/sensor where the wheel bearing was replaced recently.

Edited by STIfree on Thursday 14th May 10:28

[anonymous-user]

STIfree said:

Thanks for the info!

I actually read your thread on the car from start to finish the night before I went and bought this one. I regularly drive 1000 miles between the UK and Germany so when you said you were driving to Poland and back I was assured it was the right car for me!


Yes I thought that little bit of metal connected to a kind of potentiometer was what was controlling the hight. Did you do that mod to yours first? I know you mentioned that potholes in Poland ruined your suspension pretty quickly. What was the rough cost to convert it to coil struts?


Oh and the lambda sensor causing an issue with the VSC light etc. You could be right as I had an EML on which I scanned and cleared with my cheapo eBay scanner. I've not driven the car since doing this so I'm not sure if it'll come back. But there's certainly an issue with the ABS ring/sensor where the wheel bearing was replaced recently.

Edited by STIfree on Thursday 14th May 10:28

Thats definitely the code for the VSC issue, It looks like it will be bank 2 sensor 2 (After cat I think) PITA to get to, you have to go from underneath.

Suspension I used OEM Kayaba struts from Amazon US (They pop up from time to time on eBay UK too) + a set of RSR down springs from Up garage. Total cost was around 700 GBP from memory. Worth every penny in my opinion. Pulling the relay for the pump means you don't get any error codes too.

I did do that mod first and the already slightly baggy suspension lasted about 3000 miles. The AFC controllers from Japan have the same effect too.

Fantastic cars to do huge mileages in! If you do end up near the polish border its worth getting your LPG system serviced too. Its often neglected in the UK and a full service in PL costs around 40 quid.

[STIfree]

CDB1983 said:

Thats definitely the code for the VSC issue, It looks like it will be bank 2 sensor 2 (After cat I think) PITA to get to, you have to go from underneath.

Suspension I used OEM Kayaba struts from Amazon US (They pop up from time to time on eBay UK too) + a set of RSR down springs from Up garage. Total cost was around 700 GBP from memory. Worth every penny in my opinion. Pulling the relay for the pump means you don't get any error codes too.

I did do that mod first and the already slightly baggy suspension lasted about 3000 miles. The AFC controllers from Japan have the same effect too.

Fantastic cars to do huge mileages in! If you do end up near the polish border its worth getting your LPG system serviced too. Its often neglected in the UK and a full service in PL costs around 40 quid.

Thanks for the info! If it requires access from underneath then I'll look to replacing the sensors when I can get to a friends unit and use his ramps, makes life a little easier.



Fairy successful day again today. I had a look to see if I could work out what the noise from the front passenger side was that I could hear during the test drive. I'd noticed a bit of oil underneath it around that area so was thinking stearing rack or worse.

Turns out it was the dust shield behind the calliper had been gone rusty and bent in a way that it was just slightly touching the disk. Snapped it off as it was 90% rust and problem solved!

The oil leak though seems to be coming from further up in the engine, I think at the back of it and it shows on the undertray all along the width of the car. It's not major and the oil level seems to be fine. I'll keep an eye on it and when I get a chance to have the car up in the air I'll have a better look.


With more success on the mechanical side, I turned to the less important issues.

The rear subwoofer on the parcel shelf had blown. I'd disconnected it but soon realised that the audio was very flat without it. Some research showed replacement subs and how-to guides on retrofit a different unit. Decided, for now, that money would be better spent elsewhere so ran a thick superglue around the edge of the speaker foam left it to set, hour later it was working as good as new. Job jobbed.

The headlights were looking a little faded so tried the toothpaste trick for the first time. Worked pretty well but I must say, cutting polish worked a lot better. Little hard to capture the difference in the photos but it is much better.








And finally to round off a day of ghetto fixes, the black plastics under the bonnet were looking past their best. So rubbed a bit of coconut oil into them, and jobs-a-gooden. I've used coconut oil on a number of plastics and rubbers recently and it seems to be better than anything you get at Halfrauds or Home Bargins.

Again, picture doesn't show it brilliantly but it's looking very nice under there now.

Can I be arsed to take those rusty bolts out and give them a quick lick of black paint? We'll see how bored I get...

[anonymous-user]

'side window blinds that have to be manually pulled up'

Oh, the humanity.

[anonymous-user]

STIfree said:

Thanks for the info! If it requires access from underneath then I'll look to replacing the sensors when I can get to a friends unit and use his ramps, makes life a little easier.



Fairy successful day again today. I had a look to see if I could work out what the noise from the front passenger side was that I could hear during the test drive. I'd noticed a bit of oil underneath it around that area so was thinking stearing rack or worse.

Turns out it was the dust shield behind the calliper had been gone rusty and bent in a way that it was just slightly touching the disk. Snapped it off as it was 90% rust and problem solved!

The oil leak though seems to be coming from further up in the engine, I think at the back of it and it shows on the undertray all along the width of the car. It's not major and the oil level seems to be fine. I'll keep an eye on it and when I get a chance to have the car up in the air I'll have a better look.


With more success on the mechanical side, I turned to the less important issues.

The rear subwoofer on the parcel shelf had blown. I'd disconnected it but soon realised that the audio was very flat without it. Some research showed replacement subs and how-to guides on retrofit a different unit. Decided, for now, that money would be better spent elsewhere so ran a thick superglue around the edge of the speaker foam left it to set, hour later it was working as good as new. Job jobbed.

The headlights were looking a little faded so tried the toothpaste trick for the first time. Worked pretty well but I must say, cutting polish worked a lot better. Little hard to capture the difference in the photos but it is much better.








And finally to round off a day of ghetto fixes, the black plastics under the bonnet were looking past their best. So rubbed a bit of coconut oil into them, and jobs-a-gooden. I've used coconut oil on a number of plastics and rubbers recently and it seems to be better than anything you get at Halfrauds or Home Bargins.

Again, picture doesn't show it brilliantly but it's looking very nice under there now.

Can I be arsed to take those rusty bolts out and give them a quick lick of black paint? We'll see how bored I get...

Thats coming together really nicely. Amazing what a bit of Elbow Grease can do. Reading on the lexus forums Sikaflex apparently works to repair the subwoofer if its not too far gone. What are your thoughts on the Levinson system? I've always thought it could do with a touch more bass but its crystal clear.

Get yourself a copy of tech stream from eBay, There are a few customisable settings in there too. Auto lock, DRLs, heating, cooling etc. Its a pig to install but really handy to have.

Forgot to mention, I've got a set of standard springs in the garage (Standard height. never used) Yours for postage if you ever need them as they are currently on display on the wall

[STIfree]

doesthiswork said:

'side window blinds that have to be manually pulled up'

Oh, the humanity.

It's certainly easier to highlight the things that are manual in this car than the things that are electric

CDB1983 said:

Thats coming together really nicely. Amazing what a bit of Elbow Grease can do. Reading on the lexus forums Sikaflex apparently works to repair the subwoofer if its not too far gone. What are your thoughts on the Levinson system? I've always thought it could do with a touch more bass but its crystal clear.

Get yourself a copy of tech stream from eBay, There are a few customisable settings in there too. Auto lock, DRLs, heating, cooling etc. Its a pig to install but really handy to have.

Forgot to mention, I've got a set of standard springs in the garage (Standard height. never used) Yours for postage if you ever need them as they are currently on display on the wall

The Levinson system seems okay from the minimal use I've given it so far. I disconnected the sub straight away as it was impossible to listen to anything with it crackling but the rest of the speakers were extremely flat without the bass help of the sub. I only gave it a quick blast again once I'd glued the sub and it seemed aright, maybe in 2001 the hype was real but nearly 20 years later, its an average sound system

Speaking of audio, have you looked into the Grom plug in things for the head unit? Seem to be pretty clever devices that just connect in between the headunit and the wiring loom that can give you aux input all the way to andriod style displays on the touch screen. I might be tempted in the future as the tape to aux or the bluetooth to FM radio devices aren't the greatest for sound quality.

I'm looking at tech stream's on ebay, one of the £20 OBD to USB ones, will that do the trick?

Thanks for the offer of the springs! I might go the route of adjusting the current suspension to a lower level to start with (because I'm tight and skint) and then if it goes then convert to springs.

[philipbrown123]

Great Buy and interesting read. I have owned a 2007 LS460 for 3 years. Now on 205,000 miles ( only worth £2,000 as a p/ex ) and have just bought off a mate a 2002 SC430. Both great cars.

[STIfree]

philipbrown123 said:

Great Buy and interesting read. I have owned a 2007 LS460 for 3 years. Now on 205,000 miles ( only worth £2,000 as a p/ex ) and have just bought off a mate a 2002 SC430. Both great cars.

Thanks. They are very much the left-field choice when most people head to the Germans for these type of cars.

Was that generation CVT gearboxes? Or am I getting that confused with the GS? I've wondered how good/bad it would be running a CVT on a daily basis, never experienced one before.

How do you find the drive of the SC? I hear very polarising views on them. I almost owned a SC300/Soarer a few years ago, chap wanted to swap the GS300 I had at the time with it but the deal didn't materialise.