Lexus Gs300se Ownership Woes

[rockycrowley]

Hi there, just joined the club!

i have owned my GS300se for over 2 years now. I had new discs fitted on the front as the others were warped £320, having done 156000miles, and after owning it for 4 months i heard a alarm in the cabin, and all the warning lights on the dash came on, ABS, Traction and handbrake etc. i took the car to lexus and was told i would need a abs masterbrake cylinder and they could supply and fit the part for a lovely £1400. i didnt pay it and stumbled out of the showroom after paying the £110 a hour labour charge to look at my car!

i then decided to source a reconditioned unit, which i did another £600 pounds, i had this fitted and the part was just the same! the supplier said the brakes would need to be bled by lexus and the warning codes reset/ i took the car to lexus and they bled the brakes for £110 for a hours work! they said there is still air in the system and the warning lights were still on the dash. they would not commit thereselves to say that the reconditioned unit was faulty or not. typical. the suggestion was to buy another part from them, again £1400. buy this time the noise from the alarm was doing my head in, but money doesnt grow on trees and i didnt have the cash to pay for a part, and they wouldnt give me a guarantee that buying the part would clear my fault!

a friend of mine managed to source the alarm and stop the noise! the lights are still on, and go out every so often under heavy prolonged breaking or town driving.

Not long after i have started to hear a squeak from the rear wheels, a garage took a look and said it looks like there may be something in there by the breaks catching.as you drive faster the squeak happens everytime it catches a given point on the circumfrence of the wheel rotation, any ideas?

now i have heard a squeal from a belt under the bonnet, i had the timing belt changed a couple of months ago, but it looks like the tensioners may be on the way out as there is some play in one of them?

i just feel that this model is a ticking time bomb, after reading the forum, it appears the 1998-99 models all suffered from the abs issue.

everytime i hear a squeak or squeal i have a heart attack, this model is costing a fortune to run, i only do 6000 a year around town, and my old bmw 320 1994 never had this much trouble, i did think lexus had a reputation for being reliable, but this appears to be false? having paid £6999 for the car its now worth just over £2000 and with the abs unit faulty, barely £600!.

i would appreciate some input from some of the experienced members on keeping costs down and trouble shooting and living with the gs300se, as im considering just getting a ford as nearly anyone can fix them, where lexus appears to have a monopoly on parts.

i love driving the car, but my wallet dosent thank me!!!