rich1068

I'll drive you there in my 3 litre Lexus. We can discuss how we're preserving the the planet for future generations

I had an interesting conversation with my eldest the other day. He's no Greta Thunberg but he was suggesting that if we need a car then surely something hybrid or entirely electric would be better for the environment than a 17 year old GS or 14 year old 9-5. But I disagreed. My cars are all petrol, all are well maintained and I obviously can't drive them all at the same time. They may kick out more pollutants than something newer, hybrid or electric but surely the much overlooked environmental impact is the actual manufacture of new vehicles? The damage was done years ago with my vehicles. All those precious raw materials and energy used. All those chemicals and pollutants that go into the plastics that make up new vehicles. The virtually disposable nature of vehicles now, 3 or 4 years PCP and then who cares what happens to it. So what do you think?

Result! Good for them and you. Was it an IS 200 then? By the year I assume a diesel?

Just had a little moan at someone at Lexus Sheffield regarding the code reading nonsense last week. Nothing official. Just having a word that I know will get back.

Fingers crossed.

And it's Bordeaux not bloody Beaujolais. Honestly, schoolboy error. I should also say that I posted the above pictures on Twitter Friday evening and since then my notifications have gone through the roof. Plenty of love still out there for these cars.

Welcome Ian. Is it just me or are these 1st gen IS's getting a bit popular again? I seem to be seeing more around.

Hi Steven and welcome!

I believe the OP was asking a genuine question. Too much lager shandy this evening? I've never come across either of those problems in relation to driving through a few inches of water. As others have mentioned I think the real danger is it reaching your air intake but again as others have said I think that's extremely unlikely in an RX. Thinking about it the intakes have been sensibly placed in all the Lexus I have experience of.

To be fair they didn't give me an estimate. They laid out a worse case scenario. Something that dealers tend to do I think. What I am slightly annoyed about is that even though they had experienced staff looking my car over they didn't bring any of that experience to bear on the job in hand. Namely a glitch that's been apparent on the GS 300 for nearly 20 years.

Just been for another run out and no warning lights Could still be pending codes but we'll see Thursday.

Well it appears my cheap car good luck is holding! Had an extremely productive, educational and enjoyable morning with Dave at Lex-Tek. He even made me a cup of tea. Regarding the codes, none were present other than C1336 Zero Point Calibration of Deceleration Sensor Undone. The one that triggers the VCS warnings I had. It took a little while to reset and recalibrate but once done it hasn't come back And Lexus Sheffield had assured me that all the other codes had been cleared but would return immediately hence their warnings regarding the ruinous cost of putting the car right. Charge from Dave? 20 quid. He was frankly surprised that Lexus hadn't done exactly what he did. He seems to think it's the aftermarket code readers that triggered it, something I have read elsewhere and something that Dave confirms is a peculiar glitch of the GS 300. It's also something that the Lexus techs should be aware of because they used to come across it at Lexus Sheffield regularly back in the day. And while the bent paperclip trick might work in some cases it doesn't work in all. He knows because even the main dealers used to do it! So I'm sorry Ron but if this is indeed the fix then it's not been the £300ish I imagined originally when I was working on the warning light being an O2 sensor. Feel a bit bad about that. In other news, Dave had a good look round the car and declared it a good 'un. We pulled off a rattling heat shield around the exhaust, tightened up another and when I pointed out the cracking auxiliary belt he had another delivered and fitted in under 15 minutes. Helpful that there's a main ECP depot next door. The only other works required are new lower ball joints which he's doing Thursday. Here are a couple of pics from yesterday. It was going to get it's first proper wash but I've arsed about with it so many times this week that the battery was too flat to start! I ended up using my trusty Meguiars waterless wash before I could get hold of my jump leads and use the 9-5 to start it.

Agreed ^^

Indeed. Cleaned the leather this afternoon I'm fairly certain there's life in the old girl yet.

Saw this on Twitter the other day. I assume it's been run for some time virtually flat and the sidewall has lost integrity.

Is no one going to say that car's finger lickin' good? Really? No one? Looking good Matt. Have to say red does suit the IS250 And that filter!

The fact that these cars are on main dealer forecourts should also reassure you of the vehicle reliability. How many 15 year old BMWs and Mercedes do you see outside Sytner for example? I only bought my first Lexus in 2017 and by then it was already 15 years old but came with a full year of comprehensive warranty, a year of breakdown cover, serviced, taxed, MOT's, the lot.

Hi Ron, Good to hear from you again. I'll try cleaning up the terminals but I did tighten them the other day and everything looked OK. If you're concerned about the car not starting don't worry. I've already experienced waiting for the key and car to talk to each other after a battery disconnect. Just a few minutes with the ignition on as per your advice. I assume they connected to the port under the bonnet but I don't really know. Anyhoo, I'm taking it for a once over Saturday morning when I'm sure I'll have a better idea of how to proceed. In the meantime it continues to scrub up nicely

Very kind offers from both of you. Dave (Lex-Tek) has been in touch and he's back in on Friday. I'll speak to him then and and I'm sure he'll be able to tell me if this is all something or nothing. Travelling to see either of you is slightly complicated by the car being uninsured at the moment but I have ways round that. If I need either of you I'll give you a shout. Thanks again

Hoping to get in touch with Dave at Lex-Tek tomorrow. I'll keep you posted. I would like to save this car but I'm also realistic. A shame you're not a bit closer John. Your offers of help are very much appreciated.

As far as I'm aware a complete read was carried out and that's what came back. According to them quite a few sensors had been replaced over time with non-OEM parts. You know what dealers are like, as I mentioned earlier they're out of their comfort zone somewhat and expect the worse. Don't worry about me throwing good money at it. It won't happen. If it can't be made good then I just won't bother. I'm 600 quid in to this car and fully expected to spend a bit more than that. If these are ££££ faults then I'll call it a day and move on.

Don't worry. No rash decisions will be made. At the end of the day I could drive it round as is until the MOT in March. I'm also aware that dealers (even though I can't fault Lexus Sheffield) aren't too happy with older cars with patchy history. It will always be a very expensive worse case. I'm going to speak to Dave at Lex-Tek and see what he says. If he says my cheap car5 luck has run out then my cheap car luck has run out.

Hmm. Not a brilliant day on the GS front. The list of active fault codes is lengthy and potentially ruinous so some tough decisions need to be made. Taking further advice.

If you still want to use the regular jacking points and a trolley jack I can recommend something like this. Bought a pair ages ago to use under the Saabs. Remember that they add a couple of inches to the height of the trolley though. In case it's a squeeze getting it under the car.

Ah yes, agreed. I've noticed these older Lexus usually have a bit of surface rust underneath which isn't anything really to worry about but I remember looking at a 400h that had made its way from Aberdeen to Doncaster and that was seriously crusty. Enough for me to walk away even though it ticked all the other boxes.