Buying 2GS430 Advice

kayble · March 13, 2019

well in a year and a bit, you could put the Cat D car on classic cover, at which point it being a cat D would likely become irrelevant so long as its +20 years old.

DAN@ADRIAN FLUX · March 13, 2019

Hi,

If you need any help with insurance at all then please feel free to drop me a line.

Regards,

Dan.

AndrewSavage · March 14, 2019

17 hours ago, DAN@ADRIAN FLUX said:

Hi,

If you need any help with insurance at all then please feel free to drop me a line.

Regards,

Dan.

Thanks. Bought the original Dark coloured GS430 Sport 🙂 (It's green but looks black in the pics)

I've been looking at LOADS of cars but I couldn't find one with as good a service history, this is 100% Lexus and up to date.. I can't pick it up today as it's in Lexus for a service & valet so will be getting it tomorrow. 😄

I rang the insurance (LV=) and surprisingly they've refunded me £15 on changing over from the 2005 E270 Diesel? 🙂 Happy days.

Will post some pics when I get it. Cheers for the advice.

BarneyTT · March 15, 2019

Congratulations on securing a GS, hope it gives you many miles of good service.

The-Acre · March 15, 2019

1 hour ago, BarneyTT said:

Congratulations on securing a GS, hope it gives you many miles of good service.

Ditto! Looking forward to seeing more photos.

AndrewSavage · March 17, 2019

Thanks 🙂

Went to pick the car up on Friday night, sadly it hasn't had the valet and it spent yesterday ferrying dirty kids between football games, football training, and parties. I can't wait to give it a proper clean, but sadly we are out in it again all day today. 🙂

I had to drive home from buying it in our other car as my wife can't drive a manual. In my first drive after getting home it's obvious he car has an issue with the brake booster or ABS pump which I hadn't noticed on the test drive. I have read plenty about this over the years and my old 98 car was noisy. but this sounds different from that one. On phoning the guy I bought it off he seemed surprised I was asking about it and says the cars always don it since he bought it.

Here's a video of a similar sounding car. Needless to say I am sick with worry.

The car was serviced on Friday and they gave it a clean bill of health, but has to back next week for a bulb in the heated passenger seat switch, so I will talk to them about the noise.

There are 15 stamps from the original dealer in the service history and the first owner had it up until last March, the latest owner has only added 3000 miles since then and was keen to point out he's spent over £700 in the last week on tyres and servicing.

Hopefully I'll get the car polished up soon and can add some better pictures 🙂

Andrew

EDIT

Here is a quick video I made before going out.

Edited March 17, 2019 by AndrewSavage
Added a video update

Tomgoode · March 19, 2019

Firstly congratulations on your purchase

Sorry to hear about the ABS pump . Please get this checked out at the dealer who serviced it and see what they have to say.

Would you describe the sound as "chirping" kind of sound ?

ABS related issues is supposedly a common issue on certain Lexus models; the one I inherited apparently had the same problem but was much worse ( with the warning lights on and everything ). Please bear in mind that the GS430 I have is the very first Lexus I've ever had so I am not really familiar with these cars. I am sure other experienced members will be contributing soon.

Anyway here is some some information that may / may not apply to your GS430. There is a lot of conflicting information, again best to get it double checked.

https://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/topic/4988-abs-noise/

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-2nd-gen-1998-2005/578722-abs-chirping-noise.html

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-2nd-gen-1998-2005/853453-2002-gs300-chirping-noise.html

AndrewSavage · March 19, 2019

Hi, It is a chirping noise. I have no lights on and the noise isn't there on every drive. I paid about top price for the car because of it's condition so I'm pretty annoyed. The soonest I can get to the dealer is Friday, not sure how the car got through an inspection with noisy brakes.

Thanks

Andrew

kayble · March 19, 2019

I'm guessing that your brakes work in so far as you have the requisite braking force on the road wheels/parking brake - so I doubt noise from the brake booster would have given a MOT tester cause for concern if so?

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

AndrewSavage · March 19, 2019

Yea, the car didn't make the noise on the test drive and the brakes do work well. In reading some threads, people are saying they wouldn't drive the car until it was fixed. If Lexus are OK with the noise then I will continue to drive the car and see if it gets any worse.

Tomgoode · March 20, 2019

According to a post here:

cars left to stand for 3 weeks or more "could" develop a sound.

Was the car left to stand for a while ?

Perhaps consider taking it to an independent Lexus specialist https://www.charleshurstgroup.co.uk/lexus/

AndrewSavage · March 21, 2019

The car covered about 3000 miles over the last year and the owner lived less than a 5 min drive from work and had the use of a van. I'm heading up to Charles Hurst in the morning to get a switch bulb replaced & will talk to them about it. I know its a bit early to be buying replacement parts, but there is an Aristo for breaking locally on Gumtree and they would sell me the unit for £80. I

Andrew

kayble · March 21, 2019

The car covered about 3000 miles over the last year and the owner lived less than a 5 min drive from work and had the use of a van. I'm heading up to Charles Hurst in the morning to get a switch bulb replaced & will talk to them about it. I know its a bit early to be buying replacement parts, but there is an Aristo for breaking locally on Gumtree and they would sell me the unit for £80. I
Andrew

If I knew it was compatible and in working order, I'd have it and keep it on the shelf.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

TigerFish · March 22, 2019

The car covered about 3000 miles over the last year and the owner lived less than a 5 min drive from work and had the use of a van. I'm heading up to Charles Hurst in the morning to get a switch bulb replaced & will talk to them about it. I know its a bit early to be buying replacement parts, but there is an Aristo for breaking locally on Gumtree and they would sell me the unit for £80. I
Andrew

That’s a cheap price for a brake booster. Although early boosters are the ones prone/common to the booster failure problems. If you are getting one, you are much safer getting one from a 2001 car or newer, which had the uprated version. But for £80, it might be worth a punt.

Sent from my Iphone using Tapatalk Pro

kayble · March 22, 2019

How can you tell an uprated brake booster from a vulnerable ome; is there a part number for the updated one?

He says with fingers crossed....

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

kayble · April 10, 2019

This GS430 looks like it could be a bargain:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lexus-GS430-SE-Auto-car/202646087794?hash=item2f2ea5e872:g:AgkAAOSwx2Bcp0m9

3 keys and bodywork looks clean. If I was close, I'd go and have a look to see what underneath looks like. To be honest that green cat D car in London is also tempting!

kayble · April 10, 2019

On 3/21/2019 at 2:38 PM, AndrewSavage said:

The car covered about 3000 miles over the last year and the owner lived less than a 5 min drive from work and had the use of a van. I'm heading up to Charles Hurst in the morning to get a switch bulb replaced & will talk to them about it. I know its a bit early to be buying replacement parts, but there is an Aristo for breaking locally on Gumtree and they would sell me the unit for £80. I

Andrew

how did you get on with this?

AndrewSavage · April 11, 2019

16 hours ago, kayble said:

how did you get on with this?

It's still making the noise but hasn't got any worse. From reading the links above, the GS430 only came with the uprated pump. I had it up at Charles Hurst Lexus and spoke to a mechanic who thought the pump was just noisy. Not going to do anything about it for now. I've been searching for rust, the worst I've found so far is under the car below the spare wheel where there is a lack of underseal, also the front lower edge of the sunroof and a small surface patch beside the Battery. I've been reading up and think I need to rub the rust off with a wire brush, treat with rust converter & paint with something like Zinga. Can't help thinking I was a bit mad to spend so much on a 19yo car LOL Not worked out the MPG, but it's not good 🙂

Andrew

kayble · April 11, 2019

Have you dropped the sill covers?

Would suggest doing so asap, so you can determine condition of the sills.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

kayble · April 13, 2019

On 4/10/2019 at 11:27 PM, kayble said:

This GS430 looks like it could be a bargain:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lexus-GS430-SE-Auto-car/202646087794?hash=item2f2ea5e872:g:AgkAAOSwx2Bcp0m9

3 keys and bodywork looks clean. If I was close, I'd go and have a look to see what underneath looks like. To be honest that green cat D car in London is also tempting!

Can't belive that went for less than £1,200!!

If that was as clean underneath as the rest of the bodywork suggests, someone got a bargain.