2001 GS300

[Nails]

Hi All,

I picked up a 2001 lexus gs300 today, the idea was to use it as a comfortable motorway cruiser.

Unfortunately I am writing this with a feeling of buyers remorse.

A few problems became evident on the drive home and when I got home, things I really should have spotted.

Firstly and most annoyingly the passenger side rear carpet is soaked, I have read it could be the sunroof drains, but I am no DIY mechanic and it sounds like I need to start pulling the interior apart.

Secondly there is vibration through the steering from 65mph plus.

Thirdly the engine management light came on while I was on the journey back. 

So all in all it's been a bad day, if anyone is able to point me in the right direction in order to tackle the water getting into the car issue I would be most grateful. The other issues can wait. 

Thanks

Mike

[TigerFish]

Welcome to LOC B)

Where abouts are you located? A close by member may be help out better by taking a look.


Sent from my Iphone using Tapatalk Pro

[Nails]

8 hours ago, TigerFish said:

Welcome to LOC B)

Where abouts are you located? A close by member may be help out better by taking a look.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Hi, I am in Crawley, West Sussex. If someone could help me out that would be great 😃

I think my first plan is to confirm that it is the sunroof drains causing the problem, so I will pour half a glass of water down each drain hole and see if water exits the car. If it doesn't I guess I will at least then know which drain is the culprit. However, in terms of fixing it, I don't know, surely if it was just blocked, water wouldn't be able to get passed the blockage? So does this mean that the drain hose is likely split or has somehow become disconnected? 

Another strange issues on the drive to work this morning, the FM radio stations work fine, but with AM/MW I get nothing, not even any static. 

Where is the best place for me to be putting all these issues? I am guessing the new members area is not the best place.......

Thanks

Mike

[Farqui]

Welcome to the forum and I'm sorry to hear that you had a few surprises on the drive home.

Did you buy the car privately or via a dealer?  If it's the later and these issues weren't evident during the sale, then the dealer should resolve them.

Water ingress is a matter of tracking the water from it's highest point and will inevitably need some panel removal to investigate. 

Front wheel wobble suggest a poorly balanced front tyre, which can be easily checked at a tyre shop.  

For the EML, do you have a OBD scanner/software to read the error code(s)?  Cheap readers can be sourced online and many code reading software can be found for your phone.

I hope you resolve this issues easily and with minimum grief.

Otherwise, is the car all that you hoped it would be?

 

[Nails]

5 minutes ago, Farqui said:

Welcome to the forum and I'm sorry to hear that you had a few surprises on the drive home.

Did you buy the car privately or via a dealer?  If it's the later and these issues weren't evident during the sale, then the dealer should resolve them.

Water ingress is a matter of tracking the water from it's highest point and will inevitably need some panel removal to investigate. 

Front wheel wobble suggest a poorly balanced front tyre, which can be easily checked at a tyre shop.  

For the EML, do you have a OBD scanner/software to read the error code(s)?  Cheap readers can be sourced online and many code reading software can be found for your phone.

I hope you resolve this issues easily and with minimum grief.

Otherwise, is the car all that you hoped it would be?

 

Thank you for your response. 

It was a private sale, and to be honest, I knocked the guy down by £700 so I don't necessarily think I got a bad deal, having said that, if I had spotted these things at the time, I would have just walked away as I could do without the hassle. 

It's an 18 year old car which didn't cost a lot so I am not sure what I was hoping to be honest, I just wanted something comfortable and refined but also cheap and reliable to do my daily commute in as it is all average speed limit motorway and A road. 

The water ingress is the most annoying thing as we are in the middle of winter. I need to get that sorted first. The other things are less urgent. I just don't really know where to start.

[Farqui]

Ah okay, at least you got a discount 

Try tracing the leak to it's highest point if you can.

It could be something simple like a torn door seal.

[royoftherovers]

2 hours ago, Farqui said:

Ah okay, at least you got a discount 

Try tracing the leak to it's highest point if you can.

It could be something simple like a torn door seal.

Check the cabin air filter see below and clear any blocked drain holes either side of the A pillars.

 

[Nails]

1 hour ago, royoftherovers said:

Check the cabin air filter see below and clear any blocked drain holes either side of the A pillars.

 

Thanks for that, but if it were coming from the filter would I not be getting a wet carpet up front instead? A;though I guess water could be moving around under the carpet which is a worrying thought. Where exactly are these drain holes? Are they easy to locate? 

[Nails]

Update, so it is the sunroof drains. I pulled the carpet up partially on the rear passenger side and when I pour water down the drain hole, it does come out at the bottom of the car, but it also starts coming out from behind the rear seat and then making it's way to the floor of the car. The insulation under the carpet is soaked through. Question, how is it that water is still making it's way out of the car but some of it is ending up inside the car? A partial blockage? Or is it likely the hose that carries the water is split? Either way I don't have the tools to attempt to clear the blockage, or the knowledge or time to tear out the headlining to get to the problem area. 

Although it is certainly worse on the passenger side rear, it feels damp on the passenger side front and drivers side rear. I guess this could just be water moving about or it is leaking from several places. Serious buyers remorse has set in with this car. 

My options as it stands are 1) sell the car on, take the hit, and draw a line under it or 2) pay a garage to fix it 

Thoughts? 

[Farqui]

Well done investigating the issue a bit more but chin up, it's not a major mechanical issue and a decent/honest/hard working garage should be able to sort it out for you without breaking open the children's piggy banks.  I feel for you though as once the leak(s) are fixed then it's going to take a good while to thoroughly get all the carpets/etc dry.

Personally I'd work through the niggles and then you should have a good runner.  If you jump ship then you're likely to take a loss selling this car and then have to shell out for another which might turn out to be in worse condition.

If you were closer, I'd happily take a look for you...maybe another forum member is closer and happy to be fed/watered while they help you 

[Nails]

3 hours ago, Farqui said:

Well done investigating the issue a bit more but chin up, it's not a major mechanical issue and a decent/honest/hard working garage should be able to sort it out for you without breaking open the children's piggy banks.  I feel for you though as once the leak(s) are fixed then it's going to take a good while to thoroughly get all the carpets/etc dry.

Personally I'd work through the niggles and then you should have a good runner.  If you jump ship then you're likely to take a loss selling this car and then have to shell out for another which might turn out to be in worse condition.

If you were closer, I'd happily take a look for you...maybe another forum member is closer and happy to be fed/watered while they help you 

Thanks for the response Lee.

Anybody close by?

I started to pull up all the carpets, just on the edges, and it seems the entire car is wet, so all the carpet will have to come out to dry I suspect? While the rear left was and is by far the worst, it seems to have either spread round the whole car, or, it is leaking from multiple places. Either way, it's not good. 

I am seriously considering passing this lemon onto the next person to deal with, but I will wait until after Christmas as cars always fetch more after Christmas and I haven't got the V5 through yet anyway. 

I have provisionally booked it in with the garage my family have been using over the years, but they can't take it in until next Wednesday. What I don't want to do is throw good money after bad. If it is leaking in multiple places, it is going to be a lot of hours labor to take all the carpet out, source all the leaks, fix them, and then put it all back together again once it has dried out. 

 

[Farqui]

It doesn't take much water to get in for it to feel like you're bought a cabriolet! So I'm hopeful that you only have a small leak that has been occurring for a while, or has suddenly got worse. Hopefully removing a blockage will cure your leak, fingers crossed as it's all speculation until someone dives in to check it out.  

Drying out the car will be a slow process, folks have been known to pour in bags of uncooked rice to soak up the water (it it's that bad).

In the meantime, to reduce more ingress is the car parked inside or under a car port?

[Nails]

Update. Drains cleared, they were not blocked anyway. When you pour water down the rear of the sunroof some water goes down the holes, the water that doesn't go straight down the holes appears to get into the car somehow. The garage I took it to reckons the cage that holds the sunroof is rotten. Big job, not worth doing. He said if it was him he would just pull the drain plugs in the rear footwells and always drive with air con in to help dry stuff out. My other option is to seal the sunroof up. 

The engine management light is off now, it was the cat flagging it up. The garage will just clear the light for me and put it through the mot if it comes back on again before mot in august. Assuming I still have it then. 

I might just sell it, haven't decided yet.