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

Hi there! Sounds pretty abnormal, if you ask me. (Used to be professional car tech.) Master cylinder does not seem likely, from your description. Try to eliminate the following possible sources (general for all cars): -bent/warped hubs. Next time you remove the rotors, check the hubs for warping. Some 1/100 of a mm is acceptable - not more. Then mount the new rotors, and check them in place - same criteria. -excessive heat buildup on new rotors. Cycle brakes (heat up/cool down a number of times) before you take full use of the new rotors. -sticky pistons or pads. This can also cause the brakes to overheat, if the pads keep dragging on the rotor surface. -too old brake hoses can also cause the exact same problem. If worn out, hoses become "one-way-valves" keeping a constant pressure on the pistons, even when pedal is released. Good luck! /Alexander from Sweden

Well they ARE sold in Europe, and in fact they have been available since -90, when the LS arrived. Not all Lexus models or all countries in Europe, but you will find them here. Hint, check out the first page in www.lexusownersclub.com - you will find forums for Germany and UK. The IS series are the most common model in Sweden, I believe, but the LS is really rare here. Lexus cost as much or more than the corresponding BMW here, almost MB prices, btw! <_< Hope you find a good one for your father. /Alexander

Hi TurboBob! Regarding Lexus LS and quality, it probably IS one of the best cars you can buy. Period. I am an avid SAAB nut, especially for the OG 900 and the 9000, and I have also been working with (and owning) Mercedes alot. Still I am the first to admit, MB today seems to be average in quality at best, and SAAB have their pros and cons. They are cars with sometimes brilliant engineering and so-and-so execution (like SAAB), or a very high quality FEEL, but not much real quality (like MB). The Lexus LS is very well engineered and executed, and Toyota have spent money also where for instance MB cut corners. What other family sedan from -95 has 4 piston light alloy brake calipers, basically stainless exhaust pipes, or (as it seems) a bullet proof drive train. And the LS 430, with more features and options STILL tops the quality lists. And it seems there is an online "service manual" shop for Toyota, but I do not know exactly WHERE. Just my opinions... /Alexander from Sweden

I really need some help here... A few weeks ago I decided to finally give the interior in my -95 LS some TLC. I already had 1 litre of Leatherique Rejuvinator oil and 1 litre Pristine cleaner. I followed the instructions from their homepage, step by step. The soaking was easy, the "baking" also, but the trouble begun. Nothing much really happened during the baking, compared to some testimonials I have read on the MB forums. (The car was parked outside in direct summer sunlight, windows rolled up.) But, the interior was rather clean to start with, and I figured the treated leather in the Lexus was less prone to both accumulating and "sweating out" dirt. I continued by cleaning and removing the rejuvinator oil, using the pristine cleaner, but it seems REALLY hard to get the sticky, smeary oil away. And to make things worse, my seats are now slightly streaked with darker areas - dirt? They are also still slightly sticky from the products, and the car smells from Leatherique, not leather, inside... :cries: Additional cleaning with the pristine cleaner seem to have no effect on stickyness or smell. There is no delaer to ask, since the product are not sold here, I had to buy them in Germany. What is the solution here - another brand, additional work, something else? I contacted my local Lexus dealer, but they do no detailing themselves, and they also carry no products for it! :chairshot: Any help is GREATLY appreciated. /Alexander from Sweden

Yes. yes, yes! Thank you landar! :D I have had the same problem with my -95 LS. Remote would not open the trunk lid. The (swedish) owners manual does not mention the 3-5 s delay, and the local Toyota dealer had no clue. They could however see that the remote was sending. Even the Lexus dealer had no help for me, unless I brought the car there... Strange, but the LS is really rare in Sweden - perhaps they did not know? I have even posted on this board, but at that time I got no solution. Now I just checked, and it works after 3 seconds! Thanks again! /Alexander from Sweden

N/T

The sad news certainly spread across the globe. I was on a business trip to Italy when it happened, and the shooter's "declaration" was broadcasted frequently for a couple of days. Stupidly enough, the Italian news are all voice-over, so I did not hear or understand what the shooter said. It's so said that all those young people died for nothing. And nc211, I think you (and other forum members) would be most welcome to Sweden - let me check if there are any houses available in my area... :) The gun laws are pretty strict in Sweden, and to get a permit for a gun you basically need to be a member of the "National Guard", a member of a shooting club or a hunter (with certificate). There are not many reports of guns being used in crimes at all. Sometimes they are used in some "gang" fight situation, but people in general are not getting robbed in the streets. /Alexander from Sweden - a speck on the map

Thanks for the replies! (Nice pics, by the way...) I actually went back once more to check the 944 out, and to drive it once more. However, I was not feeling more inspired this second time. I guess that car just is not for me - it's good looking, but other than that, well... It drives and handles ok, performance is ok, but I just think it's a bit dull. The funny thing is, that I am now pretty sure I would love an SC, but they are of course extremely hard to find over here. /Alexander from Sweden

I have from time to time "re-vitalized" old, and worn discs using a similar method. A normal electrical drill with sandpaper on. Even after having sanded off quite some metal, it has always worked very well with the new pads. No noise or vibration, as long as the discs were not warped before... :) /Alexander

Oh yes, what a great movie! :) Even the engine sounds seem well chosen, not just some generic noise, like you often hear - even in big dollar productions. The scenes with the italian wheel dealers are among the funniest stuff I've seen, ever. "Luigi follows only the Ferrari!" :D And regarding "Larry the cable guy", I found this in Wikipedia. Look here. Really impressive voice-acting, and as far as I know, completely unheard of here in Sweden. /Alexander - who also likes Toy Story I and II alot... :)