david_hornet27

I have a 98 and the owners manual has no mention of being able to turn it off.

Hi Everyone, Have searched the forums with no success... I have a (very) intermitent problem with my rear suspension. It has only happened twice in all the time I have had my MK4, both times when I have been involved in extremely heavy traffic jams which have taken an hour or more to get through while averaging a speed far less than walking pace. All of a sudden out of the blue the rear suspension gets very creaky and remains that way until the car is parked up and left for a while. First time it appeared out of nowhere whilst queuing for the Blackwall tunnel(I live in the UK), that was 2000+ miles ago and after I parked up at the cinema and watched Avatar the car had returned to its normal silent self when I drove home. It has not happened since until last night when caught in traffic that meant it took me 3 hours to get from Reading to Windsor. (Usually a 20 minute journey). Stayed at a hotel overnight and when I drove home this morning the car was perfect again?! Have recently had the car MOT'd and serviced at lexus and they didn't pick up anything on the rear suspension on their visual safety check, only that the front lower arms may need replacing before next service. I have also had a good look with the car on a ramp and can see nothing untoward. Bit of a wierd one hey??? Any advice or theories would be greatly appreciated... Thanks Guys in anticipation.

Hi Everyone, Seems like a great community on here and I have found some useful info that wasn't available on the UK site which I am also a member of. So thanks for that... I bought a 1998 Series 4 LS400 with 138000 miles about 3 weeks ago and I am loving it. It cost me £2850 which converts to $4640. It had the timing belt replaced on 126000 miles, came with a brand new set of Pirelli's and recently refurbished wheels, and an (almost) full Lexus sevice history. How does that price compare to what you guys pay for an LS of the same age? There were no problems when I bought it (I read all the posts relating to buying on here to make sure what I was looking for), and what really impresses me is that for an 11 year old car everything still works and looks like new!! The gear changes are silky smooth and the ride and power are incredible! Small roads over here and the recent wet weather mean that I haven't had time to find its limits yet! But as I get more comfortable with driving it I am sure I will be pressing the pedals a little bit harder! Will cost me a fortune in fuel though as petrol (gas) is £1.10 a litre here ($8.15 a gallon)! Here hoping Costco open some gas stations here soon! I have done some maintenance for my own peace of mind, namely an oil and filter change with GTX Magnatec, and a transmission flush. Used Toyota Type T4, got myself 10 litres which cost a whopping £98 ($160)!!! The Magnatec was bought from Costco (you may have heard of them!!), who I work for, so was a great price. I have read on here that a slight hesitation when slowing down to nearly stationary, like for traffic lights, and then pulling away is normal for a Series 4 and you have to adapt your driving style to it. It's like the car doesn't quite know if it is supposed to be in 2nd gear and takes a moment to make up its mind. I have adapted to it but still feel it is strange for any car to have this glitch, especially one that cost so much new and is so well engineered in other respects. Only problem that seems to have occured since purchase is a very quiet whine from the front of the engine. It is obviously coming from one of the pulleys and I will be investigating which one tomorrow, and crossing my fingers it is not the water pump! Any ideas which one is most likely to be the culprit anybody? Would be great to get some feedback from anybody, so thank you in advance.