TigerFish

As well as admire cars, people can also do work on each others cars if there is owt anyone wants doing. I Fitted 2D's new front discs and pads at the last midland meet and Snowman was fitting led eyebrows on a couple of cars too.

I'm dubious of it being the thermostat purely because the car cannot overheat when it has just been started from cold. The thermostat is designed to be closed when the engine is cold so even if it was stuck shut, you should only notice a problem once it is warmed up. I guess if a waterway is blocked then excess pressure could build up if the water has nowhere to go, but then I would expect the coolant to overflow out of the expansion tank. And as the neighbour said, pressure from the cylinders leaking back into the cooling system (blown head gasket) could produce the same symptoms. Is the car losing coolant? If there is a blow in the head gasket between waterways and bores, I would expect coolant to leak into the bores when the engine is switched off.

I'm just thinking that under normal conditions, the rad cap works under pressure (maye 1 bar or similar). As the water heats and the pressure rises above that, coolant passes through the cap to the expansion tank. As the engine cools down again afterwards, the water contracts and "sucks" the water back through the cap and into the radiator. If the cap seals have gone (leaking to the expansion tank not to the outside world) then air could build up and water and air pass to the expansion tank when they shouldn't. Just a thought rather than something I have experienced. I'm not sure why that would cause the engine to cut out after 5 to 10 minutes though.

Must admit, I do wonder about the usefulness of the seal kits if piston corrosion is the main culprit. But worth a shot I guess to save a few bob over a brand new caliper. Ebay shows a brand new IS200 caliper for £170 at the moment (no idea what year) or try calling this company in case they can help out. I got a brand new pair of GS rear calipers from them. clicky

Can you borrow your neighbours rad cap just to check the seals are not gone in it? What does the temp guage show when it has run for 5 to 10 mins?

I think the IS300 ones is the same as the later GS's (98 - 05), not the Mk1.

1. There is a cleaning kit for them, which includes the cleaner and the correct oil. 2. I'm not aware of the oil causing problems, as there shouldn't be enough oil in it for the oil to come away from the filter unless it is over oiled. I'll keep an eye on things as I've not had it fitted long. looks like the right fella.

K&N's on ebay for the Mk1 GS are normally around the £58 mark plus postage. I got lucky and got one plus a timing belt for £40. Considering they are a lifetime filter (with 50K-100K mile clean and re-oiling) you should recouperate the cost if you have the car long enough or do enough miles. I do about 30K miles a year so it should pay for itself in fuel savings and OEM replacement filters pretty quickly.

Mine came from ebay through a private seller, got an unopened K&N Panel filter and a new timing belt for £40. I love ebay sometimes :)

I have an autoleads fascia kit for an IS200/IS300, only part that is missing is the little trim to go around the stereo, but there is normally a better one that comes with the stereo anyway. If you PM me your address I'll bung it in the post and you can have.

Was the handbrake light coming on while you were doing the check? Just incase a bulb is on the way out but but was actually working on this occassion. Is the brake fluid level ok?

Check your brake lights mate, could be a bulb out bringing the light on as a warning.

I believe so. There was a limited edition mk2 that came with the TTE badged wheels (with 10" ones on the back). Looked the business IMO.

Anyone??

Not bought a dizzy cap yet but I do buy my filters from here www.japarts.co.uk. Good, fast service so far and I normally stock up on a few spare filters at a time.

thatnks, i have to change the thermostat in my GS300, so i now know where to look but didnt you just buy the car 2 days ago?? why would you need to change the thermostat already? I'm guessing 'cos it don't work The car could've been bought with a known fault which could be considered a cheap fix and the price knocked down accordingly??

What is the price difference between V Power and regular unleaded?

If the masts are the same as the Mk1 GS masts, do a search on ebay. They are priced anywhere between £15 and £30. If you order from the USA, I got mine for a tenner. Again, if they are the same, I think your dealer is looking at the wrong part, as I'm sure a Lexus replacement mast is around the £40 mark. If they are not the same, I'm glad I've got a Mk1 GS

This is what it says in my electronic manual for timing adjustment (Note that this is an american version but would assume ignition timing would be the same??) There is definately something effecting the mpg badly, I've just driven down from Derby to Dorking on £25 (152miles @ 29.8mpg).

Yup, I can see it too. You need to move the tags around a bit. move all of the items in square brackets that has a forward slash in it (/) to the end of the text you are trying to change. if all else fails, if you quote my reply in another post and look at it before you submit the post, you should see all the tags and what I mean. hid's 6000k fitted,18''wheels,lowered 35mm,full interior retrim in black(all pillars and headlining) to be done:-jdm spoiler,trust front lip and sideskirts and maybe new rear bumper to be sprayed and fitted,coilovers and supercharger (if i find one) geometry set up next month

You are using that size on the 10" rears?

Might be worth trying the ect/pwr mode for a while. There have been a couple of threads regarding economy and the power mode. I don't notice a big difference, maybe because the gearbox is more will to change gears in power you get a trade off. There are quite a few big hills I go up and down on the way to work. In normal mode, going up the hill I have the throttle almost to the floor to maintain the 60/70 going up the hill (and it still wont drop down a gear). In power mode, just a slight press of the throttle drops a gear and it maintains the speed without planting the throttle mostly to the floor. So I must be gaining in that situation I would think. Try reading through this thread regarding the 02 sensors clicky

I've found the air filter has made a huge difference on mine. I've just fitted a K&N panel filter and have noticed a marked improvement in MPG even compared to mileage just after changing for an OEM filter. Sitting at 70 on the motorway I now get 33mpg (not tried 80 but i wouldn't expect it to be a long way off the 33 at 70 from previous checks before) and average 26 on mixed driving. This is about 10% above what the OEM filters were getting just after being changed. Consumprion dropped of quite quickly I found with the OEM filters as they clogged. I would think the 02 sensors could do with looking at as the next step. I'm not sure what fault codes if any would appear if an 02 sensor has not completely failed. I would tend to think that the performance issue is more getting used to how the car works. If you are saying you plant the accelarator and kick down, and the car is performing as you would expect then I can't see that it can be anything else. If you plant, kick down and the car is going nowhere, then it could be the car, but I don't think that is what you are saying Are you using the ect/pwr mode? This does make a massive difference on mine to how responsive it feels. In normal mode, the gearboxes eagerness to keep revs as low as possible is extremely annoying and the amount of kick down required to get it going again is sometimes quite worrying. i.e. kicking down from say 4th to 1st has an horrendous delay which can make you feel stranded if you have pulled on to a roundabout quickly but had to let up slightly. Before you know it you are in 4th and the car doesn't want to make haste again quickly. ect/pwr mode solves all of that so I tend to not have it in any other mode. Shake, no snow mode on our older GS's mate :(

245/40/18's Although mine has 235/40/18 for some reason.

Cheers. Looks ok for location for me, just kids permitting now. Long Eaton is best for me, but no problem going with the majority.