Gs430 2001 - No Faults But 9Mpg Average

[Zenekis]

I am running out of patience with my car. I love it but first having a problem of getting a radiator from anywhere but Lexus (any help??? still looking for one) - checked eBay all over the internet and nothing but some US eBay site. Nobody's got even used one. I need one because last owner put in radiator from gs300 with wrong reservoir and pipes wrongly connected.

Then problem with MPG. Currently achieving about 8,7 mpg mostly town but gentle driving. I've had both lambda sensors changed (got them from Allwoods for about £60 each) - MAF sensor had been cleaned by garage and thats it.

Nobody knows what's causing low MPG and Lexus won't check until radiator will be done (quoted me £1400 just for parts).

Any clues?

[noby76]

wow 9 mpg in town driving is worser than a Bugatti veyron.. have you had the ecu code read for faults?? if not have it read first to see if there a any faults with sensors ect..would recommend having it read by lexus or a reputable garage who can read Lexus ECU's ! if its all clear will advise changing these parts, air filter, oil filter, spark plugs, engine oil, fuel filter and use high octane fuel like Shell v power, tesco momentume, BP ultimate ect which has claning additives to clean your whole fule and engine system. would advise going genuine Lexus parts so buy these parts direclty from Lexus and have a trusted garage who is familiar with a Lexus car change them for you so you save on labour rates.

9 mpg average in town is really bad. you meant to be averaging 16mpg in town for a GS430 V8

[Zenekis]

That's what I was expecting of my 430 - to do at least 16mpg and i'll be ok with it. There is no faults on ecu at all. MAF sensor has been cleaned twice by ruskington garage, oxy sensors changed and oil changed too. I've got K&N air filter if this does help anything? And while driving it seems like acceleration hesitates and then after about 2-3 secs it starts to go fast. Was a bit better after changing them oxy sensors and after about 2-3 days went worse but not as bad as it was before.

Thx for advice - I'll see to spark plugs and have it read again for ecu faults.

And I only use momentum or sometimes shell one if passing by.

[noby76]

ok but has it had an engine oil(5W-30) and oil filter change? spark plugs changed? (Denso or NGK iridum type), fuel filter changed? if so have these replaced and see if it makes a difference. you would be surprised the way an engine behaves if the wrong oil and spark plugs are used. would also be advisable to have gearbox oil and differential oil drained and refilled and for gearbox oil use only Toyota Type TIV and nothing else you can buy this oil from any toyota dealer.

not sure if having a wrong size radiator in a car affects mpg.. maybe someone else on here can shed some light...

[Zenekis]

THX - will inform my garage to do all of them and will post results.

[noby76]

no probs but why not buy the parts from lexus dealer and have the garage fit them for you and stay there and watch them fit the parts! some garages these days will tell you they will use genuine parts but they dont and use the cheap ones so best to buy them your self and watch them change the parts. if you are having the gearbox oil done no other oil in the market matches Toyota Type T IV oil so nothing else should be used apart from this or your gearbox will cook.

[TigerFish]

As far as I know, the SC430 uses the same radiator, and they come up on eBay :)

[dave1]

Have you any service history with the car? Is it just recently that mpg has dropped? Spark plugs should be changed every 6yrs/60k on these cars. Take it to your Lexus dealer for a free VSR and see if it shows anything........the techie may notice something amiss. If nothing else it will get washed/vacced.

[Zenekis]

I bought my car about 2 months ago and everything seemed to be ok. Just Battery dead and VSC lights on. On my way home i've hit "german motorway" and did 140 without any sweat so seemed to be all ok. Got Battery changed, ruskington lad reset abs sensors which made vsc go nicely off. Then all ok until one day after quite fast acceleration all went sluggish and then I've started to check forums. To be honest I did not have a chance to check MPG before it happened because simply not having time to go and search where the hell is mpg shown ;-))) Thakn You for the radiator tip = I'll check it later. Radiator itself is 350 from Lexus - bit expensive. Reservoir is 170+VAT imagine!!!

[dave1]

I bought my car about 2 months ago and everything seemed to be ok. Just battery dead and VSC lights on. On my way home i've hit "german motorway" and did 140 without any sweat so seemed to be all ok. Got battery changed, ruskington lad reset abs sensors which made vsc go nicely off. Then all ok until one day after quite fast acceleration all went sluggish and then I've started to check forums. To be honest I did not have a chance to check MPG before it happened because simply not having time to go and search where the hell is mpg shown ;-))) Thakn You for the radiator tip = I'll check it later. Radiator itself is 350 from Lexus - bit expensive. Reservoir is 170+VAT imagine!!!

Can't believe you drove at that speed with your VSC light on and not knowing why it was on. £350 isn't expensive for a rad, I think I paid about that 6 or 7 years ago for a rad for '66 GS300 Sport rad, although that was fitted. What part of Lincolnshire are you?

[TigerFish]

I bought my car about 2 months ago and everything seemed to be ok. Just battery dead and VSC lights on. On my way home i've hit "german motorway" and did 140 without any sweat so seemed to be all ok. Got battery changed, ruskington lad reset abs sensors which made vsc go nicely off. Then all ok until one day after quite fast acceleration all went sluggish and then I've started to check forums. To be honest I did not have a chance to check MPG before it happened because simply not having time to go and search where the hell is mpg shown ;-))) Thakn You for the radiator tip = I'll check it later. Radiator itself is 350 from Lexus - bit expensive. Reservoir is 170+VAT imagine!!!

Put some pics up of your rad and resevoir, we can compare them to ours. Can't see the rad making any difference as long as it is doing the job of cooling everything.

[dave1]

and Lexus won't check until radiator will be done (quoted me £1400 just for parts).

Any clues?

If rad is £350 and reservoir £204 (inc VAT) what are the other parts they are quoting for?.....balance is £846.

[GOLO]

I am running out of patience with my car. I love it but first having a problem of getting a radiator from anywhere but Lexus (any help??? still looking for one) - checked ebay all over the internet and nothing but some US ebay site. Nobody's got even used one. I need one because last owner put in radiator from gs300 with wrong reservoir and pipes wrongly connected.

Then problem with MPG. Currently achieving about 8,7 mpg mostly town but gentle driving. I've had both lambda sensors changed (got them from Allwoods for about £60 each) - MAF sensor had been cleaned by garage and thats it.

Nobody knows what's causing low MPG and Lexus won't check until radiator will be done (quoted me £1400 just for parts).

Any clues?

Hi

Have you looked into having your rad re-cored? it may be cheaper.

[Zenekis]

First thing I've managed to check was spark plugs given back to me when I took my GS back today. I cannot describe stupidity of omeone owning the car before to put such rubbish in to engine. Less one that's correct fit. Idle with them, weirdly, wasn't too bad.

Funny that my garage wouldn't tell me what did they put in now - just said there are recommended ones with sharp tip. Hope this will be Denso or NGK - I'll try to check it later and as well will do some pictures of engine bay.

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Radiator is atm back to what it was when I bought it - closed circuit with reservoir not connected at all. Guys at garage told me that rad is not leaking - it was pressure from when system was going through reservoir that made its cap pop out and burst most of water (dread using anythin else at this point).

Found this and I am tempted to have a go as nobody else got proper one except Lexus. Problem is with vent cradle as it hosts reservoir but this is nowhere else to get but Lexus as well.

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item1c23b23565

I will copy Lexus list and post it later.

Now - mpg is still less then 9 and lad at garage argued with me that it will go higher later on, but is not bad cause it is V8. (I do not believe this bul...t at all)

Gearbox hesitates badly in a weird way. When pedal is pressed hard it thinks and thinks and then goes.... But sometimes when i press it gently but constantly down to full it gets much less lag.... What can this be? It's like it would like to go quicker but something is blocking it and then releases. Much more likely uphill - sensitivity goes much worse.

Btw I live in Lincoln. Maybe someone knows a good garage that does Lexus well but won't ruin my budget.

Thx. Martin

PS Greetings to everybody. Sorry for not having a time to do it properly but I work 56 hours a week and it's hard to find more time and strenght to properly look around forum.

[TigerFish]

Just keep in mind you will more than likely get stung for import tax on the radiator from the states.

Part number for radiator does cross ref between SC430 2001 onwards and GS430 98 - 2004, so I would consider that.

No idea what you are refering to with the "vent cradle". Any pics of the radiator and tank?

Nice selection of plugs

Is your car have the factory satnav? There are some consumption figures on there which you could use to see what it is showing as real time consumption when cruising and accelerating. Very difficult to guage consumption just based on a number, you may have a heavy right foot and rag it around alot, especially if you feel it is holding back and you are trying to compensate. If you do all tiny stop start journeys, that wouldn't help, that kind of thing.

do all the warning lamps on the dash work as they should (i.e. come on with ignition and go off after self testing)?

[Zenekis]

All the lamps are OK at start.

Will do some more pictures hopefully tomorow.

My GS has got sat nav and thats where I got my mpg figures from.

Actually I'll do some video on Youtube of how it drives and then maybe somebody will see what is going on.

Sorry about vent cradle ;-)

Here's Lexus list:

Radiator Fan Shroud £141.66

Radiator Fan 2x £103.26

Radiator Fan Motor 2x £266.22 (really??????????)

Fan Nut 2x £1.14

Fan bolts 3x £0.29

Expansion Tank £170.98 (another one really??????? for a bit of plastic???????)

£1026.40 + VAT 205.28 = £1231.68

They need to change above to see if radiator itself needs to be changed which is:

Part number 16400-50270 £285.84 + VAT = £343

That is only the parts - labour is £115 per hour.

I've bought my car for £2500 - really no need to charge this much for all them parts.

[TigerFish]

hmm interesting list. Is all that seriously missing from yours? not sure why they need to change all of those to see if the rad needs changing

As mentioned above, the radiator can be sourced from SC430, and are available on eBay in the UK,

Shroud looks to be GS430 only

Fans x 2 cross ref to GS300 and IS300, so a breaker should be able to help with that.

1 of the fan motors cross refs to GS300, so a breaker should be able to help with that.

the other cross refs to GS300 and IS300, so a breaker should be able to help with that.

expansion tank cross refs to SC430.

the GS300 refs are obviously gen 2 jzs160, not gen 1 jzs147.

So on fuel consumption, what is it showing as current consumption when cruising at say 60mph on a level'ish road? at 30mph?

[dave1]

All the lamps are OK at start.

Will do some more pictures hopefully tomorow.

My GS has got sat nav and thats where I got my mpg figures from.

Actually I'll do some video on Youtube of how it drives and then maybe somebody will see what is going on.

Sorry about vent cradle ;-)

Here's Lexus list:

Radiator Fan Shroud £141.66

Radiator Fan 2x £103.26

Radiator Fan Motor 2x £266.22 (really??????????)

Fan Nut 2x £1.14

Fan bolts 3x £0.29

Expansion Tank £170.98 (another one really??????? for a bit of plastic???????)

£1026.40 + VAT 205.28 = £1231.68

They need to change above to see if radiator itself needs to be changed which is:

Part number 16400-50270 £285.84 + VAT = £343

That is only the parts - labour is £115 per hour.

I've bought my car for £2500 - really no need to charge this much for all them parts.

Can't see why they need to change these things just to check rad. I was told that labour charge on cars over 5 yrs old was fixed at £70 or £75 ? Might be worth checking Lexus Leicester , Derby, Sheffield too. Was it a private purchase.....if not return to the dealer to sort out.

If the plugs are anything to go by the car has been poorly maintained. A good service with diff oil changed, possibly autobox oil changed might help.

I am seriously considering selling mine (63k, FLSH) soon when I move to Lincolnshire so hopefully I might get £4k to £4.5k for it up there if you paid £2500 for a 2001 high miler.

[Zenekis]

I bought my car from private trader who sells all high class cars only. He must have had mine as part exchange as most of his cars was 9k onwards. It has 93k miles so it's not too bad for mileage Checked it on DVLA and MOT history looks genuine and with no problems at all.

Somehow I feel it would be best to change MAF sensor anyway - thats what seemed to be most common problem with GS430. Then throttle position sensor and acceleration pad sensors to check but no garage seems to be willing to properly check any of them. Everybody says it's all ok. No faults at all. Grrrrr.....

What I think is that it may have been involved in something that made last owner change all them front cooling bits but nothing is recorded.

Another problem I have is my work as I can't get any time off without angrying my oldfashioned boss. So getting car somewhere further away is no option. Lexus Lincoln denies checking anything else before cooling system is done. They were nice to me but that's what they said to me. And all is so posh down there that I feel really bad arguing with them about costs.

[dave1]

If he is a trader, with or without retail premises, then he should rectify the problems FOC under Sale of Goods Act (reverse burden of proof applies). Don't worry about Lexus dealerships looking "posh" it shouldn't put you off querying costs. I hope you manage to get it sorted and enjoy the troublefree motoring which it should give you.

[Zenekis]

I've seen Yours figures for mpg and it sounds perfectly as it supposed to be Dave. That is what i expect for mine as well. Will try to make it right but I'm bit skinned now so it all depends if I still had a job which is not certain at the moment. Will know in a couple of weeks and then I could move on with sorting my best ever car. Not the newest but just one of them making You smile. Another one is Volvo s60 D5 but is not as fast o quiet.

[Zenekis]

Starting up this morning video on Youtube.

http://youtu.be/JOvgP1x8lj4

[dave1]

Starting up this morning video on Youtube.

Cant see it....says private.

[TigerFish]

Same here

[Zenekis]

That's a thing. Nothing happening in a morning. Later on it starts to be laggy when it's a bit warmer. Problem is that I cannot make a video as I'm at work and then busy till it's dark, but I'll try to make some more soon. I've heard that problem might be oxy sensors not reset after changing though...