aviator888

Week has passed. Since my last post i must say things have taken rather unexpected turn 😊 To cut the long story short: after the trip to the south coast i truly fell in love with the GS250. As i have found out it certainly has the most character out of all the GS4 models (second to GS- F) and i was quite happy to live with it for the next year or so.. but then disaster struck: my new V5 arrived by post: I was absolutely fuming 👆 The car was bought from official dealership (not Lexus, but nevertheless). It was advertised as 1 owner car from new. When i asked about previous owners i was told it had only 1 owner from new.. When i picked up the car i had the old V5 in front of me with all the booklets, service history etc.. but i did not check. 😞 5 owners.. on a convertible or IS-F maybe yes.. but GS? By the way the car itself was mint inside and out. It may not bother most people, but i was specifically looking for 1 owner vehicle.. Needless to say i returned the car for full refund. After brief explanation they politely apologized. Money was back on my account same day :) I was back where i started and it looks like i will be eating my words after all about the CVT lol Been offered a GS450h and i am very tempted..

Thanks John that was very informative and good to know :)

If you are in Midlands i would be happy to help. I'm equipped with techstream and we can have a go over the weekend 🙂

There's no such thing as lifetime fill. If it is- their lifetime means 7 years.. but many cars will be run decades after that. Especially Lexus. Always use good quality oil from well known manufacturer. Additives are waste of money, that can potentially do more harm than any good. Why? Because they promise the moon but don't really deliver any facts. People believe everything that says on the can.. 😄 Best additive: change your oil often. Personally i change gearbox oil on all my cars depending on age. Full CVT flush on my 450h was about £250 by Lexus. They were reluctant to do that but i insisted. My current GS will go in soon aswell..

These are indeed all stored in ABS control module. Did they scan ECU and other modules aswell? My gut feeling is that it would be either fault in the module itself or bad wiring somewhere.. something silly and maybe difficult to trace. Think carefully before proceeding.. what is the car worth to you? The car looks decent but according to your description showing signs of age now. Before committing financially maybe 430 would be much better project car (my personal opinion no offence to anyone)

Full catback stainless steel will set you back about £1000. I might be wrong in pricing been a few years since i last dealt with this. Only other option is to go Lexus and get the replacement exhaust but good luck with that £££ 😂 Try to find SS exhaust place local to you and give them a call. Depending on the condition they might only replace the section that's broken.

Please accept my apologies if not allowed to advertise, but the mats were ordered today from well known chinese marketplace. Cost was 63 US dollars for the set plus additional 8 dollars to put the logos on as on the set pictured above 😀 This includes the shipping to UK I am happy to share the link if its ok with site rules..

Did roughly 500 mile round trip last weekend. On the motorway around 65mph 45mpg+ same as you. Not that it matters that much to me.. i would still enjoy and love it if it did 20mpg.. Make no mistake, 450h will always be the king on the road 😄 but i really like the concept of 250: Good old reliable 4GR V6 coupled with excellent 6 speed automatic gearbox. At barely over 200hp, GS250 will never win any speed contests (unless it's up against GS300h).. but it's reliable, reasonably economical and charismatic luxury saloon for sure. No worries of running ageing hybrid powertrain and very good value for money to buy 😊

You are my hero, John ☺️ Really appreciate that there are guys out there like you, keeping the old legacy on the road. GS430 can be picked up for very reasonable price. May not be up to par with 7 series in terms of refinement, but unlike 7 series can be used as daily driver without eating a hole in your wallet 😉

2 day, 500 mile round trip across south coast this weekend. Impressions: L10 is definitely an improvement over the 3rd generation GS which was already a very good car in it's class. I'm running Falken tyres all round and they are very quiet and no issues with grip even when pushed. Same as with all other Lexus models, i find the seats generally comfy, but it took me a while to find the right settings. Computer shows 45+ mpg on motorway and drops below 30 around town. Performance is adequate both from standstill or for overtaking at speed. Having barely over 200bhp does not make it quick by any means.. but the gearbox and engine work so well together, that it feels quicker than it actually is ☺️ As for extras, anyone looking to buy fourth gen GS don't go anything less than Premier/F-Sport specs respectively. My car is the poor man's "Luxury" version, lucky to have 12" screen and the ML sound system, but i am really missing rear audio/climate controls, 18 way driver seat adjustments, radar cruise and other gadgets.. Overall i am very happy with purchase, looking to upgrade the Satnav and perhaps treat the car with these 😂 Any thoughts?

I suppose there's nothing wrong having your car serviced by independent garage, provided they know what they doing.. Unfortunately that is not always the case. I've had few good experiences with Indies.. and lots of bad ones. Also to preserve the value of the car, it would be wise to have it serviced by Lexus or if you can't afford it, at least try Toyota.

It's just seems way too complicated.. Why would i want to find room for 12v to 5v step down transformer, removing pieces of trim with the risk of blowing airbags, damaging the trim clips etc.. ? Simple camera that runs off 12V dc feed, wired into reading lights above. Job done.

Sorry if this sounds a bit silly, but why did you go all the way to the passenger side dash? I doubt the small camera like this would draw much power, so it could of been wired into ambient light circuit just above the rear view mirror?

First i would replace 12V battery to eliminate potential faults triggered by bad unit. This is actually very common cause to trigger the warnings you have, Second, go on fleabay and get yourself chinese techstream copy. It costs around £20 including the cable. It requires some IT knowledge and a laptop to install, but once there, you will be able to pretty much diagnose everything on your car. It works like a charm and I have used it successfully on SC430, GS430, GS450h and LS460 to diagnose and fix various EML, ABS and TSC related issues. I haven't tried it yet on my GS250 but will give it a go over the weekend. Without the codes, it's difficult to impossible to say what's wrong..

No not the LC 😂 i am still saving for one.. Here's what i actually bought: After nearly 3 weeks of searching, it was a close call between this one and the blue 450h for sale in Lexus Nottingham.. 250 won me over with with surprisingly good driving dynamics, conventional 6 speed gearbox as opposed to CVT and i could not overlook the fact, that it was £6k cheaper than the 450.. All in all i am well aware what i bought is inferior to the GS450h, But the 250 has it's own perks and it will serve me until the prices of the LC will come down a bit 😊 GS 250 Luxury spec with ML and cream leather interior. 12 plate, 64k on the clock.

Ok i just picked up my new car ☺️

Thank You again for sound advice and help :) One thing i'm struggling with, is to get my head around different trim levels. On the MK3 GS up to 2009 i think it's pretty straightforward.. but i have yet to find a comprehensive list of all the different specs on MK4 GS.. So far i have noticed GS450h for sale are either Luxury, Premier or F- Sport 300h also available in SE and Executive? 250 seem to come in Luxury or F- Sport trim levels. I am aware the F-Sport features different grille and slightly different suspension setup.. everything else leaves me confused atm..

Thank You kindly for feedback. Much appreciated. 300h: would probably be the most sensible buy indeed, but i consider myself to be an oldschool petrolhead and straight four will be out of the equasion. I do around 4000 miles per year and paying a premium to save little bit on fuel just doesn't work out for me.. No offence to anyone 300h is awesome, just aimed at the different market.. 450h: is a whole different story. I have already owned 2006 model in the past and i was very impressed with it. The car was noticeably heavier than GS300 of the same era, but it was damn quick in the sport mode :) The one and only downside was the reason i ended up getting rid of it: CVT gearbox. Other than that the 450h is pretty close being the ultimate sports saloon :p 250: good old 4GR V6 coupled with 6 speed auto.. i actually test drove one in Lexus Nottingham and it wasn't nowhere near as bad as i thought it will be lol. Hope it's not a fake sound coming from speakers like some German models do, but the V6 sounds just gorgeous.. If we had 350 in UK this baby GS would be overlooked, but atm remains decent alternative.. On a side note whichever model i will go for, this will be my 11th Lexus since 2008 True love never dies 😊

Hi all Been a while since i sold my super high mileage SC430.. truth to be told i still miss the old bugger with all it's oil leaks and saddle brown leather interior 😮 Few Focuses, BMWs and a Volvo later looks like i am back to Lexus again. So far i have narrowed the search down to GS model. Spent the whole weekend going trough Lexus dealerships in Midlands area and test driving. I will keep you posted as the search goes on, but at moment it's really though between the 450h and 250. Both have their pros and cons..

Also just an update on progress: Had a closer look on how the roof mechanism works and Lexus has done very impressive job there with actuators and motors. Since this is my first convertible, i am not used to this body roll at all when the roof is down. Would the strut bar improve this? Been busy at work, but will book in for body shop soon along with some other bits and bobs.. Also i am yet to find a nice set of wheels at the right price. The important thing is: car is in everyday use and still going strong

Just like the messi warned, i had to eventually fit new front speakers. Alpine SXE-6925S fitting was very straightforward. Only minor trimming was needed. I did not even remove the door cards completely, just enough to get the access to the speakers. Although the speakers will work fine without, i also soldered resistors in-line to keep amplifier happy. I wasn't sure what the exact output per channel is, so went for 50w ones :) Difference is like day and night. Speakers cost £40, 3.9 Ohm resistors £2.80 each. Can anyone recommend a good replacement model for 12cm rear side speakers and the 16 Ohm subwoofer please?

Flushed about 7 liters of oil trough the gearbox today. Pretty messy job, but filling the oil trough the dipstick opening was not as bad as i expected with battery tray out of the way. Also replaced both cam cover gaskets with o- rings and spark plugs. I used Denso Iridium SK20R11 which should be OEM part for Lexus. Quite common to find NGK IFR6T11 on these and i suppose both work the same. I am now looking for decent body shop, 18" deep dish style alloy wheels and someone to do my rear brakes Two 17mm bolts that hold the calipers drivers side just didn't come loose no matter how hard i tried lol. Had to disconnect the battery several times for different jobs, and i now have Error 3 message displayed on the stereo screen. Can see the disc stuck inside trough the opening. Any ideas how to get it out without dismantling the head unit please?

Hit the front brakes today. Relatively easy to do, but i took my time cleaning and greasing pad slots on the caliper mounting brackets. Not a big fan of this grooved/drilled shenanigans, but must admit these discs look little bit better than the standard ones.

After having a discussion with my friend who works as a mechanic in Listers Toyota, i have decided not to go ahead with the planned £189 donation to Lexus Going by the old saying: want something done properly- do it yourself. Yes i cannot overlook the savings as the Dexron II atf will cost £50 max, but i'm more concerned about controversial information given by the different dealers.. Most likely the problem lies in the fact, that in big dealerships you are never allowed to speak directly to the mechanic.. there is always a middleman who's very good at milking £££ out of you, but often has no clue about the brickworks. Who wouldn't prefer it to be the other way around? Still going in for an airbag recall tomorrow and encourage all fellow SC430 owners to ensure yours have been done too.

Gearbox oil change Called a few local dealers yesterday. Lexus Leicester quoted £295 and hanged up when i started asking questions. Lexus Birmingham told me £139 but they will only be able to drain and replace 1.3 liters of oil and claimed in order to do the full flush the gearbox would have to be removed. Yes i agree lots of oil is inside torque converter etc.. but 1.3 liters is not really cutting the mustard. So i called Lexus Leicester again: apparently they are able to drain 3-4 liters for £189 and they literally talked me into it as my car is due for passenger airbag recall and they will give me a nice courtesy car. They also asked the mileage and i had to repeat it twice..