dicer

To start out a neighbor lady went to get her oil changed today (not a lexus), and told me the tech found signs of mice or ? and said theres been a lot of people coming in with wires chewed up. So figured I better check my one LS, yep huge mess under the intake manifold, and huge design error that allows it. So just spent a bunch of time with small nozzle vacuum and air hose, mechanical fingers, thin welding rod, digging and blowing and vacuuming the mess out. Lots and lots of dry leaves and other debris under there, and just the thing to start a nice fire, again super design flaw allowing a place for rodents gather trash to burn. So I suggest checking and making sure you don't have a fire hazard under the intake manifold. Oh and also recently there was a few cases of hanta virus from mice, ultra rare to be in this area.

Losiracer2

I don't think it's a design flaw, but a lapse in judgement of where you park the vehicle. Most people who originally owned these LS400s, were well to do and parked their car in an enclosed garage space, free of rodents and other pests. It was a low to mid $50k vehicle, so you wouldn't find it in an apartment complex or outdoor carport area, more than likely it would've been parked in a multi-car garage in a very nice house.

The amount of time it takes a mouse to infest a cavity such as that would most likely have the vehicle sitting for an extended period of time and not being driven daily.

If you daily drive the car, to heat up that space, I doubt any mouse would want to live in a hot engine bay environment, especially when the car is running

Banshee365

I have never seen a mouse in my garage. Yet, a mouse of something started chewing on the battery cover fabric of our newer VW. It never got to any wires but the thing liked to have a field day with the battery cover insulation. I imagine on cold nights it may have liked the warm engine bay. I set poison out and haven't seen it since, even though the poison is untouched.

SW17LS

I find it hard to make an argument that any engine that has been around for nearly 30 years and has had the track record of reliability and performance as the 1UZFE has a "design flaw" we're just hearing about now lol

Think of all the LS400s people have bought that have sat in garages and driveways for years...where are the "fire hazards"?

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Mice and rats can find any car that sits an attractive a place to call home. I do agree that a car that sits one will want to take precautions to reduce this possibility. I've not found a leaf in the intake valley of ours.

Granite88

I want to chime in to the original post here. While its not really a "flaw" since it can happen to ANY car that sits outside- mice do like to nest in the V of a V8.

My LS400 had sat outside for almost a year before I picked it up. It was a wedding gift to my car's previous owner- one which they didn't need so it never got driven. Using compressed air and other long narrow tools to grab- I had to clear a rats nest from the V of my engine. It can happen if your car has sat outside unmoved for a while.

Luckily my car is fine, after cleaning it out I inspected all wiring and hoses and didn't see any chewed up wiring.

dicer

I have seen signs of mice rats or squirrels on engines of every day drivers. And ones that sit in a garage, I had mice in cars that were in a garage. Anyone that does not design the engine or the car for a rodent problem just isn't thinking, it can happen almost anywhere at any time. A mouse nest in a car is a nuisance and can be deadly, and a nest around the engine especially on something like an old chevy 6 cylinder with it sitting on top the exhaust and intake is a real problem.

SW17LS

So here's the question, the car has been around for nearly 30 years...where are all the engine fires due to rodent nests?

Spartan536

If anything the under body splash guard cover would be a better nesting place for the mice/rats, its easier to get in and out of, and provides lots of space to move around. As long as you drive your car fairly regularly mice/rats should not be much of an issue at all unless your house is infested in which case you should be taking to a professional exterminator.

As for the LS400's catching fire due to rats nests, checked carcomplaints and not one mention of that, also looked up LS400 engine fires rats, and I was not surprised to see next to nothing on it.

Want to know what the big design flaw with LS400's is?

They last forever and because of that the older they get the harder parts are to come by, and the electronics fail more than anything due to their old age.

SW17LS

Its like saying the door handles are a poor design because they only last 25 years of constant driver side use lol.

Spartan536

I think the Lexus LS400 is considered by many even in TopGear (old show) to be one the best top 5 most well manufactured cars, and is in the top 3 for most reliable mass manufactured cars. It has been awarded the most important luxury sedan of the last 1/2 century by many reputable sources, and has one of the most stellar reputations on carcomplaints and the NHTSA.

I even read on thetruhaboutcars's Myth or Legend section which is very brutal to many cars reputations, they gave the LS400 Legend status as did almost all of the comments, the car is a freaking legend and if you take care of it, it might even end up being the car your child/grandchild goes to college in around 18+ years.

SW17LS

My LS400 was certainly the best car I have ever owned.

Spartan536

I love mine despite the pain in the *** its been to get it back up to "code", little failures here and there. Blown 7.5A fuse, tail light out, corner lights were out, replaced headlights with PIAA Xtreme White (yes I paid $80 for them, they are quite good for Halogen bulbs), Leather was fairly soiled and is a little worn, shifter is a little loose (just needs to be tightened, the transmission is 100% good to go, had it professionally inspected), Coolant Temperature Sensor went bad. Standard fluid flush and changes, replaced old blown stereo system with new Pioneer & Kenwood setup.

Car cost me $1,000 with 86,500 miles on it, I have put in $2200 in maintenance and upgrades, and its finally just about finished.

dicer

https://durangoherald.com/articles/34424

Naaa like you all say it never ever happens...... Geeee.
I think what you mean is no lexus club owner has reported one yet.
We don't know about all the non internet LS owners.
It can happen and does happen.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/29/nyregion/29rats.html
scroll half way down and read about fires in 2 new trucks.

And this below is from some fema pdf about vehicle fires. So unless a mouse face appears like in the first deal and since all the mouse nest burns up I guess that could contribute to the undetermined part of the deal.
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Determining the cause of vehicle fires is often challenging. As a result, in 24 percent of highway vehicle fires, no cause was determined after investigation

SW17LS

It's not that it never happens, I'm sure it has happened to the LS and other cars. To say it's a "design defect" is a huge stretch though. Stuff happens. If I park my car on leaves and there's a fire it's not a design defect because the catalytic converters are too low. I shouldn't have parked on the leaves, or I just have bad luck . If mice drag a bunch of **** into my engine it can cause a fire. Yeah. If birds make a nest in my chimney and it causes a chimney fire is my chimney poorly designed? No.

You dont one think in the ~20 years CL has existed that if there were a significant risk of engine fires specifically in the 1UZFE due to this issue we would have heard about it?

This is just one of those things, mice dragging debris around the engine is a safety risk for any vehicle, not uniquely and specifically with the 1UZFE as you insinuated. Engineers can't envision every possible risk scenario and design away those risks.