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Gs 300 Brake Power Booster Problem?


Max_UK
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My wife no longer drives her 1998 Lexus GS300 due to health reasons & while I try to decide what to do with it, it has been in our garage.

The Battery (replaced about 4 years ago) does not seem to like being left for much more than a week, so have been regularly charging it up every couple of weeks or so.

I moved the car out yesterday, & found the headlight switch in the "Auto" position & moved it to "Off"

Could that have contributed to the short Battery life?

Decided to give it a run this morning & immediately realised that the brakes were almost inoperative, a high pitched whine could be heard & there were quite a few warning lights up on the dash.

On my return, I checked this forum & came to the conclusion that the car wasn't worth repairing.

Seems a pity as the rest of the car (apart from "corner rash") is in good nick & has less than 50,000 miles on the clock.

Went back to the garage, started the car again. All symptons still suggesting brake power booster failure, so in a fit of pique, I reved the engine hard.

All warning lights went out & brakes were normal. Took it for a short test drive & everything was OK.

Now the dilema. Was it a glitch caused by letting the Battery get too low? or will it return at a dangerous moment.

Can't sell the car with the possibility a buyer could have a problem & don't quite trust it to use myself.

Is there a market for the spares or is it the tip.

Any advice welcomed.

Regards & confused :blink:

Max

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It was probably just due to low useage and I wouldn't worry about it unless it comes back. You can pick up a booster for £350-£500 so I wouldn't say it wasn't worth sorting (to be fair, they are about £2000 from Lexus, so that would make it uneconomical). It is the nitrogen accumulator part that goes on the older boosters. From what I can gather, there is somebody on Soarer World that repairs/regasses the nitrogen part for about £100 I think, but you would have to check that out.

No idea if it is the auto ligths that would drain it, I would suspect not as the whole circuit relies on the ignition switch to be on to power the lights on. The interior motion sensor/Alarm is probably the main culprit if the Battery is still in good health. On my old mk1 GS, if you pressed the lock button on the fob and released, and then pressed it again straight away, the interior motion sensor was disabled. I'm not sure if the same feature is available on the mk2's, as I know on my GS300 and GS430 mk2's, the same procedure (two quick presses) puts on the dead locking. I have noticed that if I press it a third time on my 430, the indicator lights flash 5 times (instead of just once), so I assume it is telling me something, just not sure what :unsure:

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TigerFish,

You've made me a little happier. :lol:

Tried starting today & all was ok. It may be worth re-inserting all the electrical plugs in case the problem was caused by a dodgy connection.

I did try an internet search for a replacement booster but could not find anything in the sub £500 range?

Will keep looking.

Regarding the alarm: when in the garage, the car is not locked or alarmed.

Also (& may answer a new thread posted in the main section),I removed the boot lamp some time ago in case that was discharging the Battery.

Thanks again for the reply,

Regards,

Max

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As Tigerfish says there is a nitrogen canister which basically replaces the conventional vacuum brake servo on this model. When you 1st turn the ignition on you can normally hear the pump motor running which then shuts off when the correct pressure has built up,if you pump the brakes it will kick back in again to replace the lost pressure from braking.

If all has settled down now you may be OK but if the problem does return the Soarer Santuary does as already mentioned rebuild the nitrogen canister (accumulator) for £120.00 exchange.

The picture below shows the device although this one is part of the Traction control system on my LS400.

Image013.jpg

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