W201 sweden

There are more "myths" about the ethanol fuel than about the Loch Ness monster, it seems... Solvent? Can you please explain what you mean? Gasoline is no less agressive than ethanol. Have you tried filling one of those flims disposable drinking cups with gasoline. It will quickly dissolve and "melt". Try to do the same but using ethanol, and the cup will be fine... They have different properties, but you can't really say that ethanol is more "aggressive". And that article is not correct. "Retains water"? They seem not to understand even basic chemistry. Gasoline in non-polar, water is polar and the ethanol molecule has one end that is polar and one end that is not. That is why it is common to pour some ethanol in the gasoline during winter, to bind any "free" water in the fuel system that might otherwise freeze in the carburator nozzles. The resin/gum that gets dissolved is the result of many years of gasoline use. Filling ethanol in the tank will clean it and restore it to it's original condition - resin-free. Fiberglass tanks are not used for cars. I (and many others...) have used 85% ethanol fuel for years in my cars without any material related problems. To my knowledge, cork and shellac are the only car related materials that will not work ok with ethanol. You rarely find either of them in the fuel system of any car newer than 1970 or so. Also false. The oxygen sensor does not know and does not care what fuel is used - it measures the oxygen level. If the CE light comes on, it is probably because the engine runs too lean on ethanol. To achieve correct stochiometric ratio you need about 30% extra fuel to run at lambda 1. That is outside the regulation system parameters on many angine management systems. Bigger injectors or higher fuel pressure is the cure. /Alexander

Brilliant! :D Thank you very much. This forum is great... /Alexander from Sweden

My -95 LS 400 is missing it's original flashlight and towel. By the way - I did not even know there should be a towel until I searched this forum for the flashlight info! I have asked the lexus dealer (who probably thinks I am a bit of a nut ordering those parts for such an old car) about the flashlight but they can't find it in the spare part catalogue. Does anyone here know what part numbers these items have? /Alexander from Sweden

Very interesting reading. I have a -95 LS 400 with the problems discussed here, and I am considering a full rebuild of mounts, bushings and drive shaft (propeller shaft). However, spare part prices for the LS are INSANE in Sweden. Drive shaft, new - not rebuilt, is over $3000! Engine mounts are $300/each. Rear engine/tranny mount is a "mere" $120. After that I was too shocked to ask for prices for the chassi parts. : Even if I do ALL the work myself, the parts alone would be a hefty $4500 or so. There are virtually no "non genuine" / "after market" parts for the -95 LS, which is rare as a Ferrari here. It has to be the Lexus dealer or internet. I guess I will try to order parts from US, but shipping is a problem... Or perhaps I will do like nc211 -sell it-, but do it BEFORE fixing all the issues. But I DO like the car... :cries: /Alexander

wwest, your opinions on FWD/RWD tires for winter use are not only wrong, they are also virtually impossible to find arguments FOR? Take a look at the motor sports for instance, rally - where ALL drivers ALWAYS use studded tires on icey roads, european motor cycle ice track racing drivers or ice track car racing: all run on studded tires. They are free to run studded or studless tires. (Or summer tires, should anyone be that stupid...) I do not know if your American car mags ever TEST tires, using controlled test conditions to measure how tires perform, but in Sweden (and Germany) we have plenty of these tests. Studs are very important for traction on ice and hard snow. In one test in front of me, with 20 winter tires, all, that is ALL studded tires are better than ANY of the studless winter tires when it comes to braking and accelerating on ice. Do you REALLY think that your SUMMER tires, that are even worse than studless winter tires, would have a chance here? To convince people to go for real winter tires, a summer tire has sometimes been included in the test as reference. Nowadays it is mandatory to have winter tires in Sweden, but in the tests from 5 or so years ago, the braking distance from these summer tires could be 50% (OR MORE) longer than from the WORST winter tire! On the other hand, winter tires -even stuless- are no good in the summer. They are too soft and have too open tread to build up friction. Long breaking distance on dry and wet tarmac and concrete roads. /Alexander

I have to disagree with you jainla. Well, or perhaps not? ;) When Toyota built a plant in UK to produce the Carina E for Europe, it was because of labor skill, that is for sure... :whistles: The main factor is TAX, I'd say! USA - just like other countries - have import tax. It can often be a good deal for car manufacturers to open a plant in big export markets. Eh, not so. That is however to some extent true if you look at the European cars sold in the US. But the BIG manufacturers in Europe; FIAT, Renault, VW... Craftsmanship. No way. Mass production at lowest possible cost. Yes. And most car makers buy ie electronics, driveshafts, shocks, radiators etc from Bosch, Marelli, Sachs, Valeo etc. A car is a true household product in all western european countries, and has been that for decades. Not that high ratio cars/person as in US, but I guess that is MOSTLY depending on the fact we do have very few trucks here. In US, you have one or two family cars and a truck. One or two normal cars or SUVs is normal here. If something is significant to the some European carmakers, it would be that they dare introduce new design, safety and technology a bit quicker than the Japanese and American brands. Very good rust protection is also a typical German and Swedish feature. /Alexander from Sweden

The southern parts of Sweden are some of the harshest climates for cars. A lot of humidity, massive use of salt in the winter and long periods of temperatures around 0 degrees Celsius (melting point of snow/water). Many brands have additional rust protection coating just for scandinavian countries, and most cars are still ending up in the junk yard B/C rust. My LS is from -95 and has some rust on it, too. Rear sub frame for suspension is all rusty, anf you can chop off flakes that are 1/2" diameter and 1/10" thick. The floor pan/underbody has SOME minor spots, which I will fix this winter, when I have garaged it. However, there is one part of the car that has corroded due to bad design from Lexus. The flanged steel "lips" around the trunk opening are quite rusty on my car, and it seems it is not that uncommon. It is only visible if you remove the plastic "trim" that covers the area where the carpet meets the painted body parts. Remove it, and you will see that painting and rust protection is not perfect. Grinding, priming, new top coating surfaces and spray some sticky stuff on the inside will cure that disease... /Alexander from Sweden edit: grammar/spelling

Hi drmeff! I have one like your this (almost - mine has air suspension too), and I am very satisfied with mine. (And I am picky!) Everything just works, and it is quite acceptable in fuel consumption too. Maintain one of these properly, drive it in a relaxed way, and you will have comfortable transportation for a very long time. Just make sure the rust does not invade it! The only minor complaints would be corrosion protection, Lexus spare parts prices in Sweden (ouch) and winter use. (Which is important to you too.) In this case, I do not really care what you US fellas think about these cars - they are not good in the winter. Period. <_< The problem (I believe) for you guys in US, is that you compare with even worse cars, like the same size sedans with dead beam rear axle... We have real winters in Sweden, and I have driven so many cars in winter here. A mid size front wheel drive car (or even better a 4wd) with narrow, large wheels and a simple rear axle design will be easy to handle and have predictable behaviour. AUDI A4 (previous generation), SAAB 900 /9-3, VW Golf and Passat etc. Many japanese front wheel drive cars with multi link rear axle (like Honda Accord) can be quite tricky once you pass the limits of traction. OK, the LS is big and heavy, with automatic tranny and powerful engine = it requires TRC and the best REAL winter tires you can find. Then it is no worse than a MB S-class or a big (or any, really...) BMW. But AUDI A6 and A8 will be more predictable on icy roads. In some Swedish car magazine tests, the heating has been found out to be sufficient, but not more, and I agree. Many other cars have more more flexible and capable heating systems. The design with recessed wipers will require more snow/ice removal than otherwise, when the car has been left outside. Having run it one winter, I decided not to suffer these problems with my LS, and I garaged it last winter and will probably do it again this year. Other than those minor complaints, I find the LS to be a really good product, and I think you will be happy with it. /Alexander from Sweden

Thanks for your reply! I am well aware of the issue, and I read several threads that popped up when I searched. However, I did not find any facts on the actual lifting capacity. For several reasons, I prefer shopping locally (instead of E-bay), and the references to Pontiac hatchback, Mustang etc are of little use. The brand I have selected is Stabilus, which makes OE struts for many german cars. They have an exact replacement for the LS - not an inch shorter or whatever! I just have to pick the right stiffness. It seems I will go for a pretty hard one, then! /Alexander

Service for US LS 460 in Europe? Upgrade of nav system / European maps? Well, I can check with the Lexus dealer next time I get there (which could be in this week). /Alexander from Sweden

Please bear with me... :whistles: We all know that the LS struts are prone to failure, which is ok. The replacement part price at the dealer is however not OK... :cries: You people in US have quite alot of alternative providers, it seems. There are alternatives in Sweden too, but I need to know what force/capacity I need if I order aftermarket ones. The LS is rare here, so they have no data to go on. I checked my current struts on the bathroom scale, and came up with the following result: Left strut just starting to compress, 27 kgs / 60 lbs. Almost fully compressed 32 kgs / 72 lbs. Right strut just starting to compress, 33 kgs / 75 lbs. Almost fully compressed 43 kgs / 95 lbs. At these values, the hood stays up a little while if it is warm outside, then starts falling. When it is 15 degrees Celsius, it starts falling (not slamming) as soon as I let it go. Can anyone here please confirm if they are both shot (or just the left one), and what new ones should be? If you have a good working non standard part, I am of course interested in that, too. /Alexander from Sweden

- Bump -

Let us know how it turns out... Slightly OT, but perhaps not: When I was working at Mercedes, we had a customer with an almost new (couple of 1000 km) AMG version of the C-class. (A C32 AMG, 354 hp.) For some reason, he was cheap enough not to buy a second set of rims for the winter tires, so we had to take new summer ones off the rims and put the new winter ones on. The car was almost brand new, and so where the rims. As I gently wiped the rim surface for the balancing weight clean, using our normal product for this (for ALL rims), the AMG silver paint just faded. This was on the area that had not been exposed to any glue from weights before, or anything at all really! That really worried me, so I applied some non-aggresive windshield anti freeze instead, result was the same. That customer did not get any new rims, or even a re-spray - the shop owner never told the customer. I think it was then I finally lost my belief in Mercedes as a maker of quality products. /Alexander from Sweden

Thanks for the help guys! Sorry for not coming back earlier, but I have not been here in a long time, actually. The "stickyness" has reduced noticably since then, and now only the streaks (which are in no way severe) remain. I will try the recommended gentle soap treatment. By the way, the official Lexus dealers in Sweden do not carry the genuine Lexus detailing products! I guess I will order the whole bucket kit from Sewells... /Alexander from Sweden

This is a question I could not find any answer to, using the search engine. I need to replace the lowest l+r parts of the front spoiler. It seems like these will not come off unless I remove the whole front bumper. Is that correct? My Lexus shop stated it will take them an hour at least, if they do it when I have the normal 10 000km maintenance. Is that a reasonable time? Any help is appreciated... /Alexander from Sweden edit: spelling