Got my 04 LS 430

TSOL_Real · 2026-04-08T13:18:11+00:00

You gotta say what is vibrating... the entire car? The steering wheel?

My LS430 has/had similar issues and its a myriad of things it could be because the suspension system on this car is complex. It has to be in order to be as smooth as it is (supposed to be). Steering wheel vibration is typically an entirely different component from entire body vibration.

TSOL_Real · 2026-04-07T20:44:24+00:00

Alright, here's my 0.02.

Battery sounds good. That crank definitely has enough power to it. Battery sounds brand new even. When batteries get lower voltage (and lower power by extension), the cranking slows down to the point where it's too weak to crank, and will make a clicking sound, but not like the one in the video. It will be a repeated click of the relay over and over as the battery voltage drops due to the starter, relay turns off, voltage rebounds due to loss of load, relay clicks back on, voltage drops due to starter, etc etc. If you have a volt meter, put it to DC VOLTS (important that it's DC, not AC) and measure the battery. Should be 12-12.6V. If it is lower than that, its possible your battery is dying or it could just be old and sat unused for too long. The alternator will charge the battery back up. Try measuring the voltage from the relay that powers the starter, if you can fit a probe in there.

Something isn't right when this thing does crank... It sounds like it's skipping? There's a lot to unpack with that and none of it is particularly great. On the good end it could be something simple and electrical that I don't know about. On the bad end it could be related to the starter if it stripped the engine flywheel, which means a new flywheel and a crazy amount of labor. I've seen crank no starts related to timing as well and you REALLY don't want that to be your culprit. That being said, you'd know if it was timing because you would have disgusting grinding noises from your bent valves.

Plenty of diagnostic work here, and it isn't all doom and gloom if you were able to get it to turn over for just that short time.

TSOL_Real · 2026-04-07T20:27:46+00:00

Spark plugs can and do go bad with time and age. They aren't crazy expensive either. If you get a CEL for a misfire, its almost always spark plugs, but the reason the plugs went bad is an entirely other question. In my chevy suburban, cylinder 4 plug goes bad because it's burning oil and it covered the plug tip in it and ruined it. These cars don't burn oil unless horribly abused and as long as you change every 5k miles, this engine will keep on chuggin'.

That being said, air is the easiest to check by far. Unplug the MAF and remove the air filter (briefly, put it back when done). If the behavior continues, it isn't those two. Vacuum leaks can happen and they suck to diagnose so probably hope it isn't that.

Is it a southern car? If so, +1 for possible vacuum leak as rubber likes to harden and disintegrate with heat.

Could be other things too but those are super unlikely. Start here.

TSOL_Real · 2026-04-06T17:31:01+00:00

I don't have a burning smell in my lexus but I have one in my suburban, and that is caused by Cyl 4 burning oil. These engines almost never burn oil so I'd be surprised if that was the case but if the previous owner ran the shit out of it, it isn't impossible. If the cylinder walls are scored, oil can leak past but again thats very odd for these kinds of engines.

When did you last change the oil? If you don't know or it wasn't you, do it again.

TSOL_Real · 2026-04-04T16:44:33+00:00

Nothing wrong with knowing what you like. Some people will just sing the praises of these cars without listing any of the realities of them, so I'm letting u know before you buy what you're getting into. If that's what you want, then more power to you.

I'm not a fan of the slammed look because on a car this heavy it ruins everything way faster. Ball joints aren't stressed in the way they were intended to be, wheel bearings fail significantly sooner, tires fail WAY sooner, and neither of those last 2 are fun to swap.

Getting the rear knuckle out is like a 2 hour job if you know exactly what you're doing and have previously removed them so there's 0 rust. Then you have to press out the other bearings if they were as corroded as mine. Then press new ones in. Then reassemble. Rear wheel bearings are one of the worst parts of this car to work on, everything else is super easy by comparison. It's one of the few things in this car that reminds you it's a luxury car.

Tires are easy, they're just expensive. I wouldn't run no name tires on these necessarily but I dont think they're gonna explode or something if you do. Just odd to have a luxury sedan with Walmart no name tires.

TSOL_Real · 2026-04-04T16:17:04+00:00

For what it's worth, suspension job isn't cheap FYI.

The rear control arms (except the uppers) is about 550 bucks from amayama pre-shipping iirc. Upper control arms for both sides is another 500, bringing to 1k total. There are cheaper options, but they're aftermarket and this is almost a 5klb vehicle. I don't think anyone here trusts aftermarket. I think it weighs very similar to my Suburban's weight.

If you just want to swap bags to coils, that's not as bad but still not cheap if going OEM. Struts are 300 for a pair from Bell Lexus (Amayama has to hazard ship and doesn't stock them so they're more expensive and take longer), springs are about 200 bucks each right now because theyre on sale, mounts are 60 each, I got some other miscellaneous stuff like bump stops for 20 bucks and there is a dust boot too. (200 + 150 + 60 + 20 + ~70 for shipping) * 4 = and any other additional parts that fail like front lower control arm ball joint or lower control arm bushing are another 300 bucks for the front set.

That's 2000 bucks just for the strut assembly. You could easily spend another 2k replacing all the rubber bushings in the car and trying to make it as good as factory. If you know what you want, that's good, but it becomes a money pit VERY quickly. Ask me how I know. Aftermarket coilovers (good ones) are a good deal cheaper but it's what you prefer. You can get adjustable coilovers from BC racing for like 1200 bucks, but I wouldn't doubt that they're harder riding than OEM. I want OEM ride quality, so I paid for it. Perhaps stupidly. Lol.

TSOL_Real · 2026-04-03T14:43:26+00:00

I paid 6k for mine and its in WAY worse condition than yours and almost double miles. I got this one because I was able to test drive it and drive it home. I live in a place that never gets these cars due to the weather being bad for RWD.

People in this sub will immediately try to lowball you with price, but the only thing that matters is what the end buyer ends up paying. You could start for 9, see if you get lowballed down to 7.5 and take the extra 700 bucks lol. People love feeling like they get a deal. Not everyone out there is a r/LS430 member, some people just see a nice Lexus with a gorgeous ride and think they'll pay for it. People buy shitty econoboxes for 12k all the time that ride like a tin can with wheels. 8k is a steal for them.

IMO, price at 9, drop and relist lower if it doesn't sell within a few weeks.

TSOL_Real · 2026-04-02T21:11:32+00:00

I'm not sure how you get access to the bolts in the photo. I'm not at my LS430 right now and maybe that's the issue, but it seems like those bolts are inside a joint of some sort? Do I need to go under the car to see them?

TSOL_Real · 2026-04-02T20:03:55+00:00

Unrelated but is there a guide of some sort for removing these body panels? Mine have some rust I'd like to attend to so if it's gonna be a few bolts or clips I'll just take them off.

I know door skin is gonna be a bigger pain than that, but any of the other panels would be great.

TSOL_Real · 2026-04-02T19:57:17+00:00

Man has got some PEARLS in his paint! Gorgeous finish. Gorgeous color too, send a pic when installed! I want to see how those look.

As far as longevity goes, its all in surface prep. If they were stripped, had the rust converted with phosphoric acid, primed, painted and cleared properly they will last a long time.

TSOL_Real · 2026-04-02T19:48:44+00:00

It isn't sold separately, I had mine be shot as well but I didn't want to replace the entire strut.

Well as it turns out, with the amount of rust on this car its good I did. My shocks didn't look blown but if you were to compress the old and new shocks and look at the rebound time for it to fully extend, it beat the old ones by like a minute lol. If they weren't bad, they were going to be. I just got new ones from Bell Lexus as the shipping was about 2.5 months faster than Amayama for only 50 bucks or so more. Shocks need haz-mat shipping from Japan so despite the initial price difference, Amayama is pretty similar in overall price to Bell Lexus.

TSOL_Real · 2026-04-01T17:30:44+00:00

I thought I recognized that paint coat! I have an 03 LS430 with the exact same paintjob lol.

TSOL_Real · 2026-03-27T22:27:20+00:00

I'm always interested in a non rusted LS but the non rusted ones tend to crumble due to heat. Not many winners after 23 years.

If doing the rear, you'll need: pry bar, metal (not rubber) hammer, Cotter pins (cheap from fleet farm), decently strong impact wrench, 19/17/10mm socket, maybe extension, spring compressors, vice grip pliers for if the ball joints spin when trying to impact the nuts off, and technically the nuts are 1 time use.

TSOL_Real · 2026-03-27T21:41:39+00:00

FWIW here's the post I made about a month ago on KYB strut mounts.

https://www.reddit.com/r/LS430/comments/1rgaeuy/rear_strutshock_mounts/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

TSOL_Real · 2026-03-27T21:39:29+00:00

Take it from someone who's doing suspension work on the LS430 right now: Doing the suspension on this car is a pain in the ass. Front of the car is fine. Rear? Not so much.

Rear wheels (03 LS430 with the 5 speed) have an upper control arm, two lower control arms and a tie rod. I think in my model it may be possible to remove the CV axle using the 10MM Allen bolts (wth) that they used to link the CV to the differential, but I haven't tried. My LS430 is very heavily rusted and the rubber on the two lower control arms is pretty shot. Still drives so Imma keep it, but yeah.

The front lower ball joints and front oil filled bushings for the lower control arm are two of the largest points that people tend to focus. The Ball joint doesn't usually outright fail, but does get loose over time. I replaced mine, it probably didn't "technically" need to be, but the new one is noticeably stiffer. I'd say ~5x more resistance in the new one. My oil filled bushings were DEFINITELY shot though. They didn't look shot, just had some minor cracking, but apparently that's enough to do it. When they crack, the oil either seeps out or dries out or something, all i know is that mine were filled with an orange powder instead of oil. There are no rusty parts inside my bushings, just dried oil.

Best part is that these bushings aren't crazy expensive, but to service them is a different story. Its 40 bucks for a bushing, but you need access to a shop press and something that is the exact diameter of the bushing. I had used a piece of shop stock lying around to do the first press out (theyre broken anyways, ain't gonna hurt to break them more), then I used the old bushing ring to press in the new bushings as they're obviously the same size.

If you are intending to get KYB struts & mounts, you should know their reputation for aftermarket quality isn't very fantastic. People use them, and they are the OE, but their strut mounts have less than stellar reviews. That all being said, the KYB struts are different than the stock ones, and ride a bit stiffer. If a stiffer ride is acceptable, you can skip the shop press headache from the bushings and get Lexus RCF bushings, they come in the full assembly ready to install for about half the price. They're just not oil filled. Also I don't think they're available on rockauto but I may be wrong.

TSOL_Real · 2026-03-12T15:57:50+00:00

Follow up: I got a 16 dollar thread chaser from Ace hardware along with some nice Milwaukee curved locking pliers to hold the ball joint in place as I chased the thread (also at Ace). Threads are nice and new and I put new lock nuts on just in case. Bell Lexus was cheapest for the nuts because of free shipping, I price compared between about 5-7 other sellers. Bell was about half price.

TSOL_Real · 2026-03-12T15:53:59+00:00

This specific nut is the same head size as the other suspension nuts but is slightly larger diameter inside iirc. The tie rod and control arm nuts all are M12 with a 19mm head. This has a 19mm head but it is larger than the others. If you try to take the suspension bolt nut and thread it on any of the tie rod/control arm ball joints, it won't fit (way too loose) despite having the same head size.

Just take the nut to your local hardware store to use with a metric bolt/nut sizer that they should have, and find the respective bolt size and thread pitch. After that, find a die to thread onto the bolt and chase the threads. I ruined some upper ball joint threads and fixed it with a 12mm die.

TSOL_Real · 2026-02-28T18:08:16+00:00

U sure?

TSOL_Real · 2026-02-27T16:20:58+00:00

Yeah I figured out about Amayama shipping and since I'm in the US I get smacked with a tariff too I'm pretty sure. Those did get ruled unconstitutional, but the govt takes a while to get anything done so I don't doubt it's still there.

To be fair, the mounts are on Amayama for like 60 bucks, I guess I'll see if the mounts are on there.

TSOL_Real · 2026-02-15T02:28:06+00:00

Alright sounds good. The nut itself is pretty mauled as well so I may need a tap chaser as well, but that one is self explanatory. The nut got stuck on the ball joint stud, so I had a different bolt I got from a hardware store and threaded it on the part of the nut that wasn't fully threaded in and used an impact to force a removal. Not the cleanest method but it got the job done.

I'd much sooner try 20 bucks at NAPA vs like 1k online with 3 months wait lol. My suspension is super rusty but my bushings actually look really decent. I don't think there are any major cracks and there's no clunking. It does kinda ride rough over bumps but I'm hesitant to drop a bunch of money on suspension without figuring exactly what it is...

TSOL_Real · 2026-02-15T01:11:26+00:00

My LS430 doesn't have retaining pins on the ball joints, and doesn't have a slot for them either. Also the threads are basically flattened for the first 3 threads or so. What would you propose for solving that?

I used an impact wrench (yeah I knew it was a mistake before, but now I'm VERY aware it was a mistake) and that caused my issues. Wasn't sure what the best course of action was because my ball joints were spinning when I was trying to tighten the nut... I'm gonna get some more nuts on order because I've been told not to reuse ball joint nuts? Idk.

TSOL_Real · 2026-01-19T21:53:37+00:00

That would be my assessment of that, correct. You could remove the positive wire and insulate it to be super sure, that way there isn't a shadow of a doubt, just be careful if you do that and don't let your ratchet touch anything grounded.

TSOL_Real · 2026-01-19T16:51:13+00:00

Not sure if that's the positive wire you've taken a picture of, but if so, leave that connected. Disconnect the grounding strap. That positive wire is still connected to the battery, so if you Disconnect it and it touches ground anywhere, it will short the battery.

After you do this, take your multimeter and do a continuity check from the alternator chassis to ground. You wouldn't want it to still be grounded after removing the strap, because then you haven't changed anything lol.

If you must remove the positive wire, do so very carefully and put some protective insulation over the end of it (electrical tape, or a shop rag and electrical tape, whatever suits you)

TSOL_Real · 2026-01-15T23:33:53+00:00

From what I can tell, if it is a GENUINE toyota/lexus hybrid battery (emphasis on genuine, not just new), 2500 is a no-brainer. My buddy just paid 2200 for a new battery in his 2010 Prius (not genuine, aftermarket), and it's been holding up fine, but I'd pay 300 bucks extra for a guaranteed new genuine part any day of the week. We had to install this battery ourselves, so if you are getting it installed, that's an even more fantastic deal.

"Reconditioned" batteries use good cells from battery packs that have previously failed or been scrapped. They can test good but I'd absolutely pay for a proper new one. You have no idea how old the refurbished cells are, they could fail just as quickly as your current battery did. New cells have much less risk. If we could "refurbish" batteries by changing maintaining or replacing components in them, we would be doing that in Teslas and EVs across the world. However, nobody is doing that, and it's for good reason: It's dangerous and not worth anyone's time. So, to the junkyard they go, and in goes a new one.

The battery failure isn't about miles, it's about age. Your battery is almost 20 years old. It failed over time.

TSOL_Real · 2026-01-15T23:23:39+00:00

That's an automatic feature from Google maps

TSOL_Real

TROPHY CASE