jcalderaio

Hello. I have a beautiful, grey 2004 LS430 with 130,000 miles on it and it's the perfect car for me because I have a spinal cord injury and the seats are just amazingly comfortable. However, I've only had the car since I bought it from a guy in October, and since then I've had many little parts breaking on me. Let me list them here:

1) Passenger door lock quit working and so I have to manually lock it now. I saw a link to a DIY tutorial in the "LS430 FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) and DIY Thread" but it seems to be broken. Does anyone have a working link?

2) Center console. I have to put pressure on the back then pull up for it to open. This actually came broken with the car, but I didn't find out until I drove it home. I found a link to fix it, but I wonder how common it is to have this issue along with all my other ones.

3) Sunglass holder - when I open the sunglass holder, I have to pull the little plastic "lock" piece down manually, then shut the lid for it to stay shut.

4) Right side of cup holder. The little plastic "arm" that keeps the cup from falling out of the cup holder is missing on the passenger side of the cup holder. This, too, came like this when I bought it. Lucky me

5) The light that illuminates the gears, next to the shifter **** intermittently turns off, then back on. There must be something loose that I need to tighten, but I'm not sure where.

Along with these issues, I am only getting 12.1 mpg city, although I do accelerate pretty fast from lights and around town. Is this common, even with my semi-aggressive driving? (I am NOT driving like a maniac, but not conservatively either). I am wondering, how many people are having so many simultaneous issues with their interior parts?

xhifer

What kind of maintenance record did he provide you with the car?

If there's no maintenance records, it might have been poorly maintained, thus the low MPG. Start by changing spark plugs if it has not been changed for 130k mi

I live in a city where every block is a stop and I still get 16 mpg around town. Hard accels and all.

With almost 130k, all interior parts has been solid. Previous owner and I treat it with care though. Maybe the guy you bought it from was a bit rough with it.

jcalderaio

I think I remember AutoCheck saying it was a fleet car, but I don't remember. He sold it to me without the timing belt or water pump being changed at 120,000 miles - I did the work myself, along with the spark plugs just recently. I use regular fuel, so maybe that has to do with my mpg?

lorenr

iTrader: (1)

Poor quality fuel and low octane rating might be most of it.

I always:
1. Change engine filters. Clean the throttle body parts and add a good fuel injection cleaner to the fuel tank,
2. I always use a good quality full synthetic engine oil.
3. Run 36 pounds of air in the tires.
4. Check the suspension parts. Replace the 3" diameter lower control arm bushings.
5. It's a pain to do it correctly, but change the transmission fluid. Use Toyota WS transmission fluid.
6. Check for OBD II codes.

After doing this take it out on the high and drive it hard.

jcalderaio

Can you recommend a fuel injection cleaner AND full synthetic oil?

What does that mean?

Bocatrip

For whatever this is worth. My 01 LS430 with 90% city driving gets maybe 12 mpg. Highway is much better but almost never happens. Don't judge you mpg on issues unless it's highway and low. Good luck.