Mike_Mac

Episode 2 of the GS430 saga has just dropped and, just like and middle segment of a trilogy, this is where things suddenly go wrong...  🙂

As a hint, you should not see daylight through there...

Video here, Enjoy! (I didn't... 😞 ):

Looks like you got a good result on the paint! 🙂

Regarding the quote for the shock - if you're not fussed about 'non-genuine' parts, 😄 it might be worth considering a set of aftermarket coil-overs, as a complete set will be considerably less than the cost of that one shock!!

When one of the shocks blew on my GS I installed a set of Tein Flex Z's (adjustable for both height and damping). So far they've been great - you can set them to standard ride height and the same level of damping, so no need to go 'boy racer' with them, or tweak them to be a bit lower and firmer. You will lose the 'sport' damper setting if you've got it, but there's no error light displayed so it's a small price to pay IMO...

36 minutes ago, The-Acre said:

What a brilliant video, and what a brave man you are, I think I may have driven it over the quayside by now!  Looking forward to the next one.

Thanks! 😀

Trust me, after 4 months of it (you’ll see why!)  I came close to a Basil Fawltey moment many times!😉

Well, as promised, see below a link to my first video on the (about to be) four-month epic that my initial plan to replace valve cover gaskets and spark plug seals turned into... 

It's still processing but should be live soon, so I hope you enjoy it (let me know if not  ) As said, this is just a hobby and done because I enjoy it, not because I'm good at it!

Parts two and three will be dropped on successive Fridays, as I finish sorting them out.

2 hours ago, Cotswold Pete said:

Certainly get the ARB bushes looked at, my LS at about 170K was making the missus sick (I noticed nothing much), but got the front bushes down a year ago (as garage said although okay!!, would tighten up the car.  

The result a happier missus, and I also noticed any tram-lining gone.  It did not have huge tram-lining problem before, but my previous LS (with less miles on) I found tram-lining could be really horrible on certain parts of M5, wind or no wind and felt like car was going to lane-hop. That LS had most of the front suspension well past its use by date. 

Just looking at the ARB bushes is not enough, you need to wedge a bar in there and give them a good wiggle.

The M5 is a good tram-lining tester route, isn't it!! 😄 

Personally, based on previous experience, I'm suspecting worn bushes in suspension arms as the likely culprits, now that I've been able to drive the car again today and spend a bit more time observing this issue (thanks Essential journeys!).

As said these cars are reasonably weighty and the arms take a pounding over time. A long time ago I had a Supra that had over 100K and it was genuinely frightening at times - the back end had a mind of its own on rutted roads. I changed all the rear arms (cost a packet) but that solved it. The ones that came off weren't falling apart or anything, but there was movement...

Driving home tonight, I was reminded of that in the way my front end likes to schmooze about depending on the road's camber. Don't get me wrong, it's not horrific and is usually 'ok', but it's definitely not 'right'. 

Alignment can be spot on, tyres can be spot on, shocks can be spot on, but if the bushes are goosed... thoughts? 🙂

Hi All,

It’s been a while since I bought my GS (Oct 19!!!) and I’ve been a top lurker since then 😌, but my intention was always to tweak it a bit, when I finally got ‘round to it, as I’ve been unable to not tinker with any car I’ve bought, ever! This one was going to be no different and this build thread is the result.

So, to the car, a 2006 Mark 3 GS430, with a Black exterior and Grey/Black interior. I spent a long time looking for exactly that colour combination and still love it!  Pics below…

As I do a high (ish) mileage, there was no way I could afford a V8 running on normal Petrol, and I never planned to, as it was always on the cards to LPG convert it. This was completed straight after purchase and I now have it running fine, although I had to sort out a few issues first (not with the LPG per se – it’s just very sensitive to existing issues in the car).

Over the last year, not helped by COVID-19, I’ve worked through the little issues, which I wanted to get done before posting on here, which including giving it a much needed clean first off:

Interior Leather:

Mats:

… although cleaning the exterior just highlighted that the paintwork needs a full detail, which I’ll get cracked when the weather gets better in Summer, hopefully:

Swirled Paintwork:

However, before I could get stuck into the proper mechanical stuff, there was a slight mechanical hiccup in Aug last year that put things on hold, which I’ll expand on soon (I’m still editing the video on that one), teaser here:

Heads:

So, I’ll stick up a link up to the video when ready. It’ll be in three parts – which gives an idea how much of an epic it all was (!), but hopefully all will become clear! 

Now that the car’s back on the road after five months, I’m going to be working through all the little things that I hadn’t had time to do before, so will be sticking all the updates in here. I’ve already managed to get a few little jobs done, starting with refurbing a set of these:

Calipers:

The plan (Small ‘p’). 

As there’s not a massive amount of performance upgrades for the Mk3 GS (please don’t mention superchargers… 🤐) my focus was going to be getting it cosmetically spot on and making a lot of improvements to the ride and handling, without compromising comfort (one of the key attractions of the car to me). This will be focused on Suspension (coil-overs, sub-frame, bushes, anti-roll bars) and Chassis (bracing front and rear) plus whatever else may come along.

As I’ve alluded to, my intention is to document the work through a small (capital ‘s’) You Tube channel I have, which I’ve been doing as an interest thing for just over half a year. Still very much learning as I go, but I’ve found it really fun to do and a bit of a challenge to try and get things that look and sound decent. Very much not there yet, but practice makes…  so criticism will be more than welcome!

More to follow soon! 😊

ETA: A flipping link to the Channel wouldn't have gone amiss I suppose!! - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsjaW4uQpjLO6zKekj6wiw  Enjoy, hopefully!!

3 minutes ago, Vlady said:

Mike welcome. I did wheel alignment couple of times and one of these times was after putting on 4 New Goodyear tyres (not a budget tyre) and the car wonder on the road, it just does not have linearity to its movement, basically if you look left or right during driving the car will change direction Slightly, Even on motorway I Always try to catch a car especially if it is a bit windy. 

I also had a chance to drive behind my car and noticed that the rear of the car behaved like on the waves. Lexus checked suspension and shocks and nothing is Worn (car has done at that point about 40K miles) or leaks.

Yesterday I Tried to drive the car in SPORT setting which helped a bit but still not even close to other car I drove. Considering the car weights almost 2 tonnes it should behave on a motorway more like a train not a boat.

Cheers Vlady! Yes - that's exactly what I'm experiencing too. The alignment and checking of bushes/tyres is primarily to make sure the baseline is sound before moving on.

Ref shocks, because I've got the Teins, I can now adjust damping to a reasonable degree, so that will allow me to test different variations between front and rear jounce and rebound bias and see what differences that makes. I feel the anti-roll bars don't help either and body-roll is one of the first things I want to get at in the future, along with chassis stiffness too. 

I'm just composing a build thread now where I'll keep track of it all, but I have lots of plans for this car, all centered on ride and handling, just need to save for a bit and wait for better weather to start spannering. Your thread just prodded me into actually starting to type stuff out!

Hi guys! I'm coming a bit late to this topic, but have found the same 'wandering' nature to my GS430 throughout my brief ownership, especially on M-way/A-Road driving. I had a lot of other issues to deal with before getting to that, but it had always been high on my list to investigate. Up front it felt like a degree of tram-lining on certain, rutted, roads, but more than that I thought there was alignment issues or worn suspension bushes, so am getting mine into a friendly local place to check all those before doing anything else.

Regarding shocks, I've recently installed a full set of Tein Adjustable coilovers, as one of my OE shocks had failed (worked out cheaper!!), which I've used to lower the car slightly, as well as firm up the damping slightly and can't say it's improved things - although a worn shock certainly wouldn't help. The other factor I'm going to look at is tyres, as they can make a big difference and the ones on there now (came with the wheels) are fairly 'low-rent'!

I'll be really interested to see what others come up with and will post on here if I find anything.

Considering I joined this forum in 2009, it's a bit strange writing an intro post, but I've not been on for ages, so here goes...

My name's Mike and I've just returned to a GS, having had 2 x Mk1s a long time back:

and have just taken on this Mk3 two weeks ago:

A GS430 in exactly the colour combination I'd been looking for and in very good condition.  A few things needing sorted out, but all in the minor DIY category.  The plan is to use it as a daily driver for commuting (so an LPG conversion is being fitted the week after next) and enjoy wafting about in comfort and reliability (it's replacing a Honda Accord, so this was a key factor 🙂 ).

Considering that this now makes it the third V8 in the Macdonald stable, I think I may have a bit of a condition!  I've also never been able to leave a car alone for long after buying it, so will probably be asking lots of tech questions in the not too distant future...

Also - If anyone in the Salisbury/Wilts or Exeter/Devon areas has a Mk1 with working seats and doesn't mind - I'd really appreciate being able to come over and check your seats vs mine. It would only take about 30 minutes max? :)

Thanks for that TigerFish - I only have my last GS Mk1 to go on and its seats got noticeably warmer reasonably quickly. This one just doesn't seem to change.

I didn't feel the other seats working, but it's unlikely that both would be duff, never mind one.

The problem is when you're holding your hand against the leather to check, it will warm up from bodyheat anyway!!

I've got the backs off them just now anyway, so will check continuity as you said - especially the back harness. After that I'm going to start applying a live source to the wires in the seat to see if something's wrong there.

Thanks for the reply.

This is now driving me nuts! Both my heated seats don't work and I've tried everything I can think of, with no joy.

(Car's a 93' Mk1 GS300 BTW).

The fuse is fine.

The switch has been swap tested with another with no joy. Both switches lit up fine and showed 14V flowing to the correct wire when the relevant switch was thrown.

The seats have been swapped with a different set that were working when removed from the other car, with no joy.

The wires that go from the switch to each seat have been checked - both have 14V going through them at the seat multi-plug when the switch is on - no joy.

Both seats other electrical bits work fine and their common power and negative feeds are fine, showing 14V flowing.

I've heard that if one seat has gone the other won't work either (don't know if it's true, but can't see how it can be TBH), but I've tried both new seats in different combinations with the old ones with no joy.

This is really doing my head in and has wasted over two weeks of fiddling in my spare time. Can anyone think or know of anything I've missed - a relay, or similar buried elsewhere in the car, something else? Or if anyone knows of a decent Lexus specialist somewhere near Wilts that would be useful?

Getting close to doing a Basil Fawltey!!! :D

Has anyone got the Mk1 GS300 wiring diagrams, or just the heated front seats if not?

My seat heaters aren't working; the switches still light, but neither seat heats up. The fuse is fine, so the most obvious culprit is the switch, but I don't want to replace it until i'm sure it is at fault.

If I can see what the wiring pin-outs are then I can hopefully do more testing just in case it's something more serious.

In addition if anyone has the diagram for the headlight washer jets then that would be useful too as they don't work either!! :D

ETA: I can find lots of stuff on the Mk2 on e-bay etc, but nothing for the Mk1.

I've just sent my Mk1 GS300 Sport alloys for refurb, but on taking the tyres off some cracks have been found on one of the deep dish rears that don't look weldable.

Does anyone have one of these they don't need, as Lexus want over £320, and i'd also have to refurb it to match it with the others.

If it helps I can exchange the full size spare front wheel and tyre which I don't need?

Post some pics up, be nice to see the qaulity of them. I jetwashed, hand shampoo'd and lathered my 122k original mats and they have come up amazingly well. Should really get pics (car care geek) Perhaps some originals from breakers could be saved?

That's where I found my cream mats - in a breakers office covered with oil and dirt!

A hard day's wet-vacuuming and cleaning and they're fine ;)

No they did not offer that to me. The machine said that my car held a good vacuume but i would say it must have a leak. Anyway it was free this time. If it goes down again i will need to find a air con specialist who can diagnose the fault.

Plus to not put tracer dye in after the car has 'somehow' lost 1/2 its refrigerant is daft, as it takes no extra time and saves you all the fuss of doing it when the car dumps gas again and you have to then start at the beginning to actually find the leak, rather than being able to get a light on the system and pinpoint it straight away. All a specialist will probably do first off is put the dye in then let the system run for a few days and then search for a leak.

Guys i need some advice. i had the air con regassed by quik fit as suggested on here and all was well for a while. However the air coming out seems to be warm now. There is a strange noise behind the dash when the air con is on but stops when turned off. Is the evaporator behind the dash? Starting to think something might have failed. Will go back to quik fit so they can see if there machine picks up a fault.

Anyone else had this trouble?

PS it's a mk1 gs300 sport.

Sounds like a lack of pressure, which would suggest a leak, or a sticky valve. Is there any sign of a leak on the pipes in the engine bay? If not then can you see fluid in the inspection port next to the filling nozzle by the rad? The main other thing it could be is a stuck expansion valve - these can seize up if the system's been de-gassed for a while, but if yours was working fine before then that's probably not it.

Best off going back to KF, as if it's sprung a leak they should be able to find it.

Thanks for the tips. Not sure how long it was not gassed up for. I only got the car a short while ago. It was completely empty. It did pass the test done and held good vacume.

Where would the valves be located? I have a air hissing sort of noise behind the dash, only when it is switched on though.

To me that suggests low pressure as the system tries to draw in the remaining gas through the matrix - creating the 'whooshing' sound. You'll probably find the it's been de-gassed for a while and one of the O-Rings in the system has dried, cracked and is now letting the AC oil escape after re-gassing. This would explain the symptoms you're getting.

PS - If Kwik Fit start talking big money, or waffle then i'd get a second opinion, as their standard of knowledge is pretty poor TBH.

Went back to kwik fit today and they chap said that it had lost about half it's gas. They have regassed it for free so that was good of them. I have to wait and see now although i guess i have a leak somewhere.

I take it they put some tracer dye in the system to show up any leak? Id'd have thought they'd have put a small amount in in the first place so they could have found it then and there!

Any ideas as to where I could buy one cheap (not lexus of course).

I'd find one in a scrap yard, or breaking on E-Bay and go from there.

well it defo a sticky piston could hardly push it in with a g clamp really had to put all my mite into moving the darn thing , other one was fair easy,, any way in out in out kept loobing and cleaning , it was very dry with some bits of rusty crap in there,, good clean and a good lube its not as free as the other one but you can easy wind it in with a g clamp now witgh no effort , so see how tht gos, fingers crossed its done the job, will have to look into efurbing them or replacing them i guess

thanks i was ment to pop this in the is200 section,, not to sure what happened there,, cant afford the serv kit at mo so need a temp fix, thanks mike any idea how for the piston will travel before its close to popping out,, dont wanna do tht being 8miles from nearest town

The best thing to do is either to put something where the brake disc would sit to stop the pistons travelling too far out, or put the caliper back over the disc each time you want to extend it. Just remember to secure both ends of the Caliper, otherwise it could pop off the disc.

I use a rolled up rear car mat to stop the pistons travelling too far, which works well.

HTH. :)

near side front brake sticking, took off pads and cleaned it all up, still sticking , looked at the slider pins? and one of them was a bit stiff, cured that but that was not to fault.. so im guessing its one of the pistons then, when i pushed them in slightly the top one was a lot stiffer than the lower piston,, so is it possibly this thats to fault,, would a good clean solve the issue? pads are about 60% warn and disk has about a 1mm lip...

thanks in advance

I'd open the gaitor around the pistons and get some WD-40 in there. Work the pistons back and forth with a G-Clamp and pressing the brake pedal until they move freely and then lubricate the pistons with some lithium based grease. Job done!

Just be careful not to pop the pistons out of their bores or damage the gaitors while doing this.

great info thanks

i may try the DIY method if its cheaper, if theres a leak i can then inform the company and make sure they check for leaks

its always a bit odd here.......many cars have AC fitted so the companies should be used to it.............anyway thanks

Be aware that the DIY kits aren't designed for a full re-gas, just a top-up. Plus if there's a leak then you've wasted your money. A professional re-gas will spot the leak before they put any expensive R-134a in there and don't cost much more than the DIY option anyway.

Sounds like you are experiencing a common issue with the starter/solenoid. Here is a tutorial I did on how to overhaul the solenoid contact set.

Starter/Solenoid Overhaul

Excellent write-up! I guarantee most garages now would just suck their teeth and say 'needs a new starter mate' and proceed to charge you 2 hours labour on top of the cost of a complete unit!

Probably quite true. Although to be fair, the starter (on the mk1 anyway) is a c*nt to get to. Even once you've managed to get to the two bolts and undo them, you still have to get the thing out round all the pipes and wiring, Lots of cursing ensues :tsktsk:

Yup!! Sounds just like my Supra and all the Celicas before that too. Right angled joints and seven fingers seem to be a mandatory requirement for any toyota engine bay. Plus they like putting in the sneaky little sharp edge just right to catch your fingers too!! :D

My GS could do with a new set of mats. I still have the original Lexus ones which came with the car 140,000 miles ago!

Where can I find mats of comparable heavy quality? Lexus GB now show this as an obsolete item.

Search e-bay for 'Lexus GS300 Mats' and bingo! :)