I freely admit there are bowls of soup that are brighter than me.

I was stuck in slush yesterday and really wanted to put my foot down to wear my way down to the asphelt and get traction back. Digital Nanny had other ideas.

I had to get out, scrap the muck away, roll back, and get going again ... and that was no fun in the "snowstorm". And it meant my heated seat started to get cold.

Is there a way of turning traction control off on a Mk2 GS300 through some clever combination of switch flicks?

When you turn off VSC it also turns off Traction Control. They cannot be turned off individually - it's both off or both on.

Not something I'd suggest doing.....Turn off all the aids, spin your wheels until you wear down the snow and get traction again - to go shooting off without any of the aids to help....:whilstling:

In my old mkII GS300 I was told by the salesman when in the snow, to get yourself moving, to switch off the traction controll and select the snow option. Gently apply some accelerator and Bobs your uncle, your out the snow. Somthing tells me that he has probably never tried this as driving my LS430 in the snow is not fun. (for passangers anyway )

from what i have gathered you cannot turn off traction control on jz161 lexus/aristo's, someone on the aristo forums was asking about it and as yet there isn't a box of tricks to bypass it. there is a post on the aristo forums of some buttons to press but i don't think there has been any success yet

I just checked the Owners Manual for the GS300/430 series 2 from 2001.Page 194 states :

You can turn off the vehicle stability control systemby pushing the VSC OFF switch. The VSC OFF indicator comes on. At this time, the traction control system also turns off.

Not sure if this applies to pre facelift models before November 2000 though.

[quote name='dave1' post='611500' date='Dec 5 2008, 03:16 AM']I just checked the Owners Manual for the GS300/430 series 2 from 2001.Page 194 states :

You can turn off the vehicle stability control systemby pushing the VSC OFF switch. The VSC OFF indicator comes on. At this time, the traction control system also turns off.

Not sure if this applies to pre facelift models before November 2000 though.[/quote]

apparently it doesn't turn it off fully, there is still some interaction. However i only speak from information read not from experience may well be that the post facelift models it does work

[quote name='legendswraith' post='611547' date='Dec 5 2008, 10:10 AM'][quote name='dave1' post='611500' date='Dec 5 2008, 03:16 AM']I just checked the Owners Manual for the GS300/430 series 2 from 2001.Page 194 states :

You can turn off the vehicle stability control systemby pushing the VSC OFF switch. The VSC OFF indicator comes on. At this time, the traction control system also turns off.

Not sure if this applies to pre facelift models before November 2000 though.[/quote]

apparently it doesn't turn it off fully, there is still some interaction. However i only speak from information read not from experience may well be that the post facelift models it does work
[/quote]

I can't speak from experience either, but I would think that maybe the official Lexus owners manual might be quite a reliable source. I would imagine that it would be hard to establish whether there is still "some interaction" by driving with VSC off and it is certainly not something that I would try.