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Bad idling, lack of power, "Malfunction indicator lamp" Flashing, VSC warning light and VSC OFF warning light coming on now and again.

Book says "Take to Lexus Dealer"

Before I do does anyone here know what the problem could be ??

At the moment Im thinking of going back to Merc.

This is the 2nd GS that has let me down.

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To be honest you really need to take it to a dealer or someone who can read the error codes off so that they can see exactly what the car thinks the problem is, possibly a sensor or something but honestly can't say without knowing what the diagnostic codes are.

You could always try resetting the ECU and see if that makes any difference the only problem being that this process wipes the error codes out then you'd potentially be on bided time until it happens again!

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Get the error codes read at any dealer (doesn't have to be Lexus). Then see what the diagnostic codes are telling you.

What's the maintainance been like of your car? Plugs/filters/fluids all changed on time?

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At the moment Im thinking of going back to Merc.

As stated, get the error codes read, then you'll know what's going on. You don't have to go to Lexus, a good auto electrician with a OBD2 reader will be able to read the error codes.

For a premium brand, Merc's reputation for reliablility (in recent years) ain't that hot.

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Has the battery been disconnected for any length of time?

No this problem just came out of the blue, started with a small hick up and got worse fast, Ive been onto Lexus and they are picking up the car friday morning. (cant trust my locals)

My old mark 1 GS did the same thing Lexus fixed it with new plug leads.

I will get them to balance the wheels at the same time as my locals cant seem to do it, Lexus charge £80 for this, they say they must do all four wheels.

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Has the battery been disconnected for any length of time?

No this problem just came out of the blue, started with a small hick up and got worse fast, Ive been onto Lexus and they are picking up the car friday morning. (cant trust my locals)

My old mark 1 GS did the same thing Lexus fixed it with new plug leads.

I will get them to balance the wheels at the same time as my locals cant seem to do it, Lexus charge £80 for this, they say they must do all four wheels.

Don't take this the wrong way, but your thinking of changeing your car because it has a fault that could be a sensor or plug leads ? If your Mk1 needed leads at 5 or 6 years old is that surprising ? how many miles had it done ? come to think about it how many miles has this GS done ? nothing lasts for ever and don't think a new Merc. or BMW won't or can't go wrong. Anything mechanical or electrical can and will fail, 20 years ago you would have expected it to, nowdays all vehicles are remarkably reliable. My brother in law has had 3 new Ferarri's in the last 4 years every one of them has had some minor fault and none of them did over 8k miles.

It's a good idea to get all four wheels balanced, I find it hard to believe a good tyre shop can't do it, my local one charges £3 a wheel and I've never had a problem yet, although they never inflate the tyres with "that special Lexus air".

I know it's annoying and frustrating when things go wrong, you probably heard me shouting at the Harley dealer earlier in the week :tsktsk: but at the end of the day it's only a minor hick up

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Ive just heard from Lexus wolverhampton who has the car, they say the head gasket has gone :shutit: going to cost well over a £1000 :shutit:

Its a GS300 2002 87000 miles never thrashed ever and the last ******* Lexus ill ever buy.

I get it back thursday and it will be sold.

Bullit proof engines my **** ! :tsktsk:

Edited by janey
Swearing
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Did Lexus Wolverhampton read the error codes?

If so, have they told you what the error codes are and what they mean? How have they come to the conclusion that the head gasket has gone? I thought head gaskets fail if the engine overheats?

An engine in a 2002 GS to go kaput doesn't seem right, unless its been poorly maintained.

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I dont know about the error codes, all i can do is trust what they say the car has never over heated the coolant has always been clean and the service's all done oil's fine Ive always used Magna tec, shes's always run like a dream, it started missing on my high street at about 20 mph, its all come out of the blue.

Its DONE.

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I think your car an electrical problem, such as a faulty/broken sensor, not a mechinical problem.

If you were going to keep the car, I'd get a second opinion, but as you have decided you want rid, I guess you won't be doing this....

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No they said they have found leaking coolant from the gasket and are very sure its gone.

This has killed my faith in the car, and Lexus, I paid a load of money for a car I thought was reliable, yea right :crybaby:

Me and Lexus are done.

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a leaking head gasket doesnt cause a malfunction lamp to come on - you have another fault apart from the "possible" head gasket. Im not going to say anything that will make you reconsider or try to convince you to stay with lexus etc but TBH it sounds like a complete over reaction on your part, things go wrong as that is the nature of anything mechanical, just because its a lexus doesnt mean it will never break or require some work.

If I was you....... find out what the fault codes are then go from there, have a look yourself at the "leaking" head gasket( and go to the dealer unannounced - it may well be nothing....... ) and if it is indeed leaking, get an independant workshop to do it and save yourself about 1/2 the cost, or even do it yourself if you have somewhere to do it.

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well unless the coolant is spraying about everywhere with high pressure then it wont cause malfunction lights to come on- why? because connectors have a water seal on them, the electrics in the cabin dont have seals on them but if its entering the cabin then its not a head gasket.

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I dont think any car is immune to a head gasket failure. I recall speaking to a lady who owned a Merc SLK and was quoted £4000 for the job by the main dealer....that was in 1999

as someone who has blown a few :blush: (head gaskets) in my time Ive never had a 'mega' escape of coolant, let alone enough to interfere with the electrics

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This whole tale from the dealrs doesn't sound right, are you a member of the AA or RAC ? if so I'd contact them and get them to inspect the car before the dealer ripps it apart. Like others have said I never seen a blown head gasket cause an electrical fault, but then I've only been in the trade 33 years.

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I'm not a GS owner but I would certainly get a second opinion on this one.

If the oil is not full of sludge and you have not had steady coolant loss etc. I would get this back from Lexus for a second look....

Have you not got a local independant mechanic who can check it?

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Just got back from Lexus Wolverhampton, Talked to the right person and seen the car, The story is- Coolant found in cyl 1 and 4 :crybaby: and coolant low, but not run out done comprestion test on all cyl's all ok.

They say this is unheard of and are taking the head off today to find out whats gone wrong.

There is no coolant in the electrics (I heard that wrong), but they said the lights on dash will come on as it sees mis-fireing.

Dont know final cost untill they find out what needs to be done.

What ever is wrong its not good, I will find out more later today or tomorrow. :shutit:

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did you ever resolve the issue - I appear to be receiving strange diagnosis from Lexus Wolverhampton (I know nothing about engines etc but friendly members of this forum are helping me out big time here)

Also - shouldnt they have done a compression test as part of the dignosis in the first place for a suspect h/gasket?

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I had a head gasket go on an old celica. The cause was an intermittant short on a temperature sensor which caused over fuelling, detonation and eventual head gasket failure. In my case the dealer was unable to find the fault as ECU codes were not as comprehensive 15 years ago, and I found it myself.

Had it been diagnosed earlier I doubt the head gasket would have gone.

Make sure any ECU error code is properly diagnosed. Also it is important to change the coolant every two years on aluminium engines.

I have to say having owned a Supra (GS engine) for 5 years the engine is totally bomb proof and reliable.

Paul

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Thanks Guys, I get the car back this monday, they would of had it for ten days, they say the job is done and are testing it.

I will get a full report read outs and such and hopfully the reason for the failure.

I am so sick I just love the car so much but this has shook my faith badly in the car.

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Got the car back today (11th day) got the old gasket cant see anything obvious on it.

I talked to the service manager on the phone and asked for the computer read outs he said they dont have any, as coolant was found in cylinders, but I did find the cap left off the computer port under the dash.

So what I got is old gaskets and the bill £1,362.93p :shutit:

But hey I got new cam belt, and plugs, coolant, and head gasket. :unsure:

They could not find a fault on my wheel balance problem, they say its brake judder and I need new disks and pads, I said no because I had them all changed 2 months ago and I know what brake judder is like and I dont have it, I get wheel wobble at 60-70 MPH only I had the same problem on my old mk 1 GS and never found a fix.

So Lexus wolverhampton could not fix my wheel wobble problem :crybaby: a common GS thing.

So what went wrong with my GS ?? this is what I think and a few other people I have been talking to, I park my car on a small hill with the car faceing down, we had that big rain storm that flooded peoples homes (car standing all day in it) that same evening I go to the supermaket only 500 yrds away, coming back the engine started missing (not even up to full temp).

The next day I look under the bonnet and see a water mark on the top back left of the plastic engine cover the mark ran down to the bolt head of plastic cover (back left) so I take the cover off and have a look but I dident look very closely, I think if I got a flash light and looked down to the bottom of the spark plugs I might of seen a rain water flood down there shorting out a few plug leads or coil, when the lexus technician took out the spark plugs the rain water ran into a few cylinders.

Now the samething happend to my old GS and Lexus changed sparkplugs and leads (sorted) I maybe wrong, so Im keeping the car to see if this happens again after more rain, the bonnet rubber seal looks ok but at the cars angle rain water just might be getting past it.

Sorry this is long and boreing guys, has anyone here heard of this before ?

Thanks for your input guys.

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