Is200 Owner Nipped Here For Advice

[lexynik]

Hello all,my father who lives a way away from me has looked at a 1996 gs300 with a view to buying it-hes too far for me to go and look so could anyone give me any pointers to pass onto him for anything which regularly causes problems or costs fortunes to fix-the car is quite cheap at £1000 and has done 140,000miles with some lexus history and a new mot,its a non turbo one with satnav and parking sensors but im not exactly sure of the spec-any advice would be appreciated as im sure he cant afford to lose a grand

[TigerFish]

I don't believe a '96 would have a factory satnav so it will either be an aftermarket head unit or a TomTom?? Same with reverse sensors, not seen a factory fit of those on a mk1.

Things to look for are wear in any balljoints and wishbones. Some are cheap (bottom ball joints), some are hellish expensive (trailing arms, wishbones, rear bottom arms etc). Good way to check the trailing arms on the front is to put the steering on full lock and edge forward wery slowly and dab the brakes on and off. If they are shot, you will feel the steering wheel tug and feel the clunk. Check for oil leaks dripping around the area of the bell housing on the auto box, reasonably common for the rear crank oil seal to go on these engines (mine did <<sigh>> ) so a gearbox off job to fix. Part is only 50 quid, but a good few hours labour. Exhausts are not cheap. You can pick up a pair of new back boxes for £100 on eBay, cats for a couple of hundred. Full custom stainless can be bought (Jemster posted about one) for about £400. If you suspect any wheel bearing rumbles, although the wheel bearing is not that expensive, there are a lot of things that can rust up and break (abs sensor, handbrake cables etc) so there can be some hidden expenses. Make sure aircon works. The previous owner of mine had a bill for £1600 dorting the aircon out on mine.

[lexynik]

I don't believe a '96 would have a factory satnav so it will either be an aftermarket head unit or a TomTom?? Same with reverse sensors, not seen a factory fit of those on a mk1.

Things to look for are wear in any balljoints and wishbones. Some are cheap (bottom ball joints), some are hellish expensive (trailing arms, wishbones, rear bottom arms etc). Good way to check the trailing arms on the front is to put the steering on full lock and edge forward wery slowly and dab the brakes on and off. If they are shot, you will feel the steering wheel tug and feel the clunk. Check for oil leaks dripping around the area of the bell housing on the auto box, reasonably common for the rear crank oil seal to go on these engines (mine did <<sigh>> ) so a gearbox off job to fix. Part is only 50 quid, but a good few hours labour. Exhausts are not cheap. You can pick up a pair of new back boxes for £100 on ebay, cats for a couple of hundred. Full custom stainless can be bought (Jemster posted about one) for about £400. If you suspect any wheel bearing rumbles, although the wheel bearing is not that expensive, there are a lot of things that can rust up and break (abs sensor, handbrake cables etc) so there can be some hidden expenses. Make sure aircon works. The previous owner of mine had a bill for £1600 dorting the aircon out on mine.

Thanks Tigerfish i forwarded that to my dad-hopefully he will take the time to check these things-he seems to think the nav and pdc look factory installed but who knows-i told him to join here if hes going into a lexus-i found out loadsa stuff from here after i bought my is200 not before !! i think i did pretty well but more by luck then judgement-im spending a grand on mine in lexus on wed(cambelt and 60,000 mile service then off to tony at wim straight after as ive allways felt the car was nervous or twitchy since i bought it.

Thanks for taking the trouble to type all that

[katana92_uk]

This is a list of things to check when viewing a series I GS300 (1993-1997).

Front brake discs – These are prone to warping if wheel nuts are not tightened in the correct order and to the correct torque. Any steering wobble under light braking from 60mph indicates a problem.

Ball joints – Perform full lock turns and try to drive over speed bumps and listen out of knocking noise or loose steering feel.

Instrument cluster – Check the needles fully light up. These can fade over time and a new instrument cluster is very expensive.

Radiator – If the coolant hasn’t been replaced every 2 or 3 years using the correct Toyota coolant the radiator may well be rusting on the inside. Difficult to check but look at the colour of the coolant. A rusty colour indicates trouble however please note that Toyota Long-Life Coolant is red so do not confuse the two.

Exhaust – The standard exhaust is stainless steel however series I GS300s are getting to the age where these can fail. Please note these will always appear worse than they actually are due to normal surface corrosion as the stainless steel is not of a grade to provide a good looking exterior finish.

Bonnet/Boot gas struts – These can become weak and unable to fully lift the panel.

Sport 18” wheels – The standard 18” wheels fitted to the sport model are prone to buckling. These need to be checked carefully and make sure there is no steering wheel wobble at high speed.

[lexynik]

Thanks katana i shall forward this to my dad as well,i think hes going for a 2nd look on mon and hopes to buy it then,all these things will help him understand what hes looking at and maybe usable to haggle the price down if he finds faults-Much appreciated - thanks

[knitware]

Thanks katana i shall forward this to my dad as well,i think hes going for a 2nd look on mon and hopes to buy it then,all these things will help him understand what hes looking at and maybe usable to haggle the price down if he finds faults-Much appreciated - thanks

On a vehicle of this age he is taking a risk. I would want full service history, not some and receipts to prove. If he bought a car like this a problem could occur making the fix likely to cost in excess of the £1000 he paid for the car. I would hold off and save the money. If he can wait and save a bit more cash he could pick up a car with FSH and perhaps a bit newer, check piston heads. I know they can be expensive considering the purchase price, but an AA check (about £150) could foretell problems and save £1000s'. Does he really need a GS now?

[lexynik]

lol,does anyone ever really NEED a lexus ? i think its a stopgap for him till some funds arrive-he wont be dissuaded and itll beat walking hopefully-thanks for your input though knitware

[Dylan69]

I have owned my 97 Gs300 now for about 2 months, 130,000 miles, history to 114,000 and i would say as long as you have a basic awareness go for it. These motors still drive like a new one (better than some) Work on the price as they know not everyone wants a 3.0 espesially with fuel prices as they are. I am not saying go and buy a heap of a car but there are some cracking Mk1 gs's out there that still have a hell of alot of mileage left in them.

[lexynik]

yup i agree dylan-i looked at a few myself before i bought the is200,i would of bought one but alas i have a chequered driving history and insuring a 300 was just not cost effective at the moment ( i pay £2400pa to insure an is !).still 4 me in a years time my insurance will normalise and i can go car shopping for real !! yippee

[wow300]

The Gs mk1 one is a very solid car, they are a pretty safe bet when buying, all the usual things that can go have been listed. but there reliability is second to none i think, my previous one was on 296,000 miles when i sold it and only alternator and front suspension parts were ever required ! not bad for that mileage and still drove nice as well. Top car mate.

[lexynik]

hi all,just a quick update-my dad went out and bought an omega elite which he then promptly crashed on the way home-luckily no one was hurt-im not sure at this stage what happened exactly but he has protected no claims so he may well be looking for a new car in an area near you soon !!

Moral of the story ?????????? shudda bought a lexus !!!!!

thanks again for all your input

[samurai69]

hi all,just a quick update-my dad went out and bought an omega elite which he then promptly crashed on the way home-luckily no one was hurt-im not sure at this stage what happened exactly but he has protected no claims so he may well be looking for a new car in an area near you soon !!

Moral of the story ?????????? shudda bought a lexus !!!!!

thanks again for all your input

had my mk 1 sport for a year now

had new pads front and rear and a new Battery and new rear boxes................thats all i have had to replace...mine had ful service history

just replaced the cat, but that was because of something i drove over

MOT is due end of moneth so will see then if theres more to do

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