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1)Washer bottle low level light DIY fix on link below. http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/31393-screen-wash-empty-indicator/?hl=washer+bottle 2)OAT (Outside Air Temperature) problem is usually the sensor mounted behind the front bumper has either fell off the mounting bracket or the wires have broken off, marked as "Ambient" on diagram below 3) Buy a Tom Tom and think yourself lucky mine's in Japanese and tries to make me drive to Tokyo :)

The Y pipe on your Mk3; I read somewhere on here that Lexus will sell you one for @£600. the simple alternative is a welding job, mine cost me @£30 and has now lasted 2 x MOTs and sounds good so far. Malc

torque wrench should always be used for tightening wheel nuts, saves cracking your alloys or stretching the wheel studs ! Allan

This hybrid stuff is not all it is made out to be. Slight topic sideways shunt here. Don't know who it was but a forum member worked out that a prius will be more costly than a 400 after regular maintenance etc. And my comments were made light heartedly, i was making a point that 2 cars can't really be judged against each other as they have different specs, i will admit that the 400 and 430 are closely related but are still different in many ways. Some better some worse. And in honesty it does gaul me that we often see the term aimed at 430 cars, it's a common fault, i did a common fault thread, very few 430's were on it, mainly 400's with the same faults. My car has air suspension and it feels well planted to the floor, it's been to a track day a did exceptionally well beating on times by some dedicated sportier cars. And lets be honest here, we have luxury cars in the 400 and 430, 460 and 600 included, parts will not be that cheap, i have said before about this, if you own a luxury car then expect to pay more in repairs. I agree that the more toys, gadgets etc do make the chance for more to go wrong, but as i said, proper servicing and routine maintenance including preventative maintenance should fend off many of these. My other aim is that we should be celebrating the fact we have managed to own a piece of luxury motoring, we should be telling lexus that some of the build quality is not as good as it could be, wheels flaking for example.

And I forgot just how much a ball-ache the older GS's are! First, you've got the side trims. They're full length of the car, and clipped down. Trouble is, the clips along the roof don't like to hold as tight as they did before you take them off, making the trims a bit "spongey" after refitting, and secondly, the clips down the front a-posts are mounted on a rail - which is riveted to the a-posts! You have to drill them out before you can take the screen out, as both the clips, and the rail, overhang the sides of the screen, which makes removal VERY difficult with them in place, and fitting the new screen next to impossible. Once you've done all that, you have the dreaded mirror. This has to be one of, if not THE stupidest mirror mounting systems ever devised. First, you have a metal (aluminium I think) boss/bracket bonded to the glass. New screen comes with the same part pre fitted (as most modern cars do). The mirror itself is removed from the car by way of taking off a small plastic cover, exposing a T30 torx bolt. Simply undo that, and the mirror is free to remove from the glass. Great. Until you get to the "middle man" The middle man is the bit that mounts to the boss/bracket on the glass and allows the mirror to affix to. In the pic above (sorry I didn't take more pics at the time - would have been easier to explain it), the silver part is the boss/bracket, the black around the edge is a plastic cover, and the middle man is the dark metal bit inside the silver bracket, with the threaded section. This fits into the boss/bracket in three places. First, there's a tab at the bottom (the pic is upside down view, so the bottom is what looks like the top - where the indent is on the black plastic cover). Then at the sides, there's two ball bearings, each inside a little plastic "top hat" (the white bits) which is held in place with a spring clip. These ball bearings fit into two dimples on the silver boss/bracket, through the dark metal part, and the spring clip holds them tight. Trouble is, they never, ever, want to fit correctly! The spring clip is a PITA as it is, and the holes for the white plastic "top hats" are so tight, the "top hats" don't like fitting through them. The dimples in the silver boss aren't really deep enough, so the ball bearings are never fully locked in, and the whole thing is subject to "pinging" itself off at any minute, meaning you lose the ball bearings and it's game over! Fortunately, with enough time, patience (only just!) and more swearing than a sailors convention, I got it all in nice and tight. It's not my first rodeo with these, so I knew what to expect; the last time I did one I was very careful with it, and thought I had it sorted when "PING!" - off it went, launching one of the ball bearings into 4ft of snow. Yeah, you try finding a 4/5mm chrome ball bearing in a 4ft snow drift. No chance! Fortunately those ball bearings, complete with the top hats, are available from Toyota/Lexus at a whopping cost of £2.48 a pair. I did drop one today - cue frantic search, only to find it was about a foot away from where I dropped it, but after a good 10-15 mins I had it locked in tight, and even took it all out again and out it back together just to be sure, as I wasn't 100% happy with it the first time. This HAS to be done prior to fitting the screen. First time I ever did one I made the mistake of trying to fit it to the new screen AFTER I've fitted the glass in the car - BIG MISTAKE. Hell, if the mirror wasn't electric, I'd fit that to the screen out of the car too, and lift it all in in one go! So, over 2hrs of sweating and swearing in the gorgeous sun, one happy GS300 owner - 75k from new (I forget which year it was, 2nd gen I think) But seriously, you GS owners. Please don't break your screens! PITA car to work on!!!!!

As above removal is correct.... I had to replace 1 after having porridge and snapping 1 on mine off a few years back

Absolutely. think of me when you are driving barefoot down the motorway, cruising.

No kwikfit :) I have only myself to blame. Maybe I should stop lifting weights :)

Hi Rudy ,you need something like this to replace your broken stud any old bolt will not do . http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WHEEL-STUD-BOLT-HAIRPIN-LEXUS-IS-GS-RX-LS-TOYOTA-SUPRA-SOARER-RAV4-REIZ-PICNIC-/261502866793?pt=UK_Cars_Parts_Vehicles_Wheels_tyres_Trim_Nuts_ET&hash=item3ce2c91569 Marks instruction for removal of whats left is right . You didn't go to quickfit by chance .

hi don't quote me on this - IIRC I read steve telling a member who was in the same position to remove the brake disc and to tap out whats left of the broken stud and just replace. lets what other replies you get

Damn and I thought I had a bad day when I stepped in dog poo and one staff called in sick today! Haha

Adam said that he wanted to put his side of the argument in a non-argumentative way, and then challenged people to fight their corner and duel with him. I know he meant this lightheartedly, but I think there's a danger of us 400 owners appearing smug and anti-430, which most of us aren't, when we talk about all the problems our cars don't have. There are good 400s and lousy ones, just as there are good 430s and lousy ones. A lot depends on how they've been maintained before we buy them. My view is that the 430 is a better car but not necessarily a better buy. Most of the additional toys are nice but unnecessary and worrying in terms of their potential to go wrong and need fixing. So I don't want a 430 at the moment because it wouldn't offer me anything worth paying a lot of extra money for. But I'm sure that I'll have one some day. After all, what else is there after a 400?

Great news Blisteringblue. I'm still waiting and hoping mine might get revised forward a bit. However with the European travelling I'm doing currently by plane/train/taxi I'd only be frustrated as I'm not here to drive it! Is it black black or sparkly black?