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Hello Chaps Just to help de mystify (as much as i can) I hope this reply is acceptable & within the rules, the process i adopt is a diagnostic under load to reveal any weakening cell modules GS battery consists of what is called "battery blocks" which are linked by copper busbars - a battery block consists of two modules, each module has 6 cells within its construction each cell is 1.2Volts so the maths stack up as follows, GS 450h has 20 battery blocks which = 40 modules = 240cells @ 1.2Volts = 288 Volts which is easily deadly i am afraid so if your not electrically qualified to HV standards & technically - mechanically minded please please do not risk it. Weakened modules are replaced by modules I have reconditioned, links are removed & cleaned where required & re-installed then the whole pack is balanced & put through my process which restores as much capacity as is possible ( I researched & developed this process myself over several years ) I guarantee my work too 1yr 10,000miles Last things to add are it's also my hobby & I love my GS

I've always admired the look of the Lexus steering wheels that feature the wood rim/half leather finish. Well, now I've got one! I fitted the wheel this evening (I couldn't wait). It looks great. I got it from an on- line breakers for £48. Yes, forty-eight quid. I couldn't even find one on ebay that fitted my mk.4, the only ones available were from the U.S., where they're asking silly money for them. No more driving around with a tatty looking all leather steering wheel, instead, I have a classier looking cabin now that my new (to me) wooden steering wheel has been fitted. Big grin.

It makes every sense, thanks! So, IIRC, if I use the down arrow key, the next screen is blank, the next is the Eco/energy flowchart, then blank, then back to mpg. I must admit, I've not noticed the highlighted bit moving with the page change. I'll check tomorrow. Another discovery!!

Result

It appears to be all sorted, having had the car up to a reasonable speed there isn't any wobble I think i'm going to get rid of these, the tread is ok but they are a bit tired.

Yes a big fan of them myself - i specifically looked out for a mark 4 with the wood pack. obviously with the 430 it comes as standard I did however had to alter my driving style a bit - with the normal wheel you can do "one handed" full locks - with a wooden steering you cant - did find it a tad awkward at first but used to it now after 5 years of wood steering driving.

Under certain driving conditions I have seen the green bar maybe as much as once a week. However the general position of bars attends to be two or three from the top which seems to be normal. I've driven the new shape CT & IS and they were no different so I'm confident that mine behaves exactly as it should.

I agree. But in my case after a good old Google it was just the sensor on the cat. When it comes round to the MOT i'll have a new one on there for a nice pass until then i'm happy with the cat melting its insides away. Saves me the hassle of removing it completely.

Great stuff stu!

I don't know if etiquette forbids answering my own question but I have solved the problem. I tried "canceling the linked door unlock operation". There didn't seem any logic to this as the problem was it wouldn't link. What was there to unlink? However when I tried linking again (with the door shut) it had worked! Now each key is linked. This is such a convenience if your two driving positions are different. My wife and I got used to the convenience of memory seats with our old '98 GS and they were fairly near the top of our requirements list for a replacement car. That fact a position can be linked to a key is an added bonus. Now if only Lexus could come up with an electrically adjusted rear-view mirror. Has any car maker managed this yet? John

I do feel for you. My son (28) tries not to use buses (he does not have a car) because they always have a nutter on them. I disagreed. When I next went on a local bus ........... yes ...... there on the front seat was a man dressed as a pirate with a parrot in a cage. On the back seat was a transvestite, who kept shouting "Do you think I'm sexy?" My 7 year old was transfixed! I fully understand why he tries not to use buses! This is a TRUE story!

I have been using V-Power on all my cars for years so that has obviously already made the difference and bears out what I said about the improved MPG I achieved in just less than a week of using the new filter without really trying. My son-in-law has an air line which he used to blow out the detritus from the performance filter on my Alpina last year and the same on my Boxster two years before that and I similarly decided not to re-oil the filters like you - didn't seem to affect things in anyway, but it's only recommended every 50k miles according to K & N so perhaps that's why it didn't matter? Anyway with a quoted life of 1 million miles you'd have to own the same car for a very long time to get your full moneys worth :D

I have a K & N Panel Filter fitted, combined with V-Power fuel economy has improved from 19 to 22 MPG. The part i fitted is a 33-2260 which was listed as being for a 3.0 Camry, its exactly the same size as one it replaced. From personal experience (touch wood now) i had a full cone on Corolla T-Sport for 40k and a Panel in a 2.2d Verso for 50k+, the MAF was never an issue. I just took them out and tapped out the rubbish, grit, flies etc I never re-oiled them or cleaned them with any type of chemical. Over oiling would easily affect the MAF. On the subject of MAF's i have deliberated over cleaning it, but as its not broken i don't want to mess with it spraying some type of contact cleaner, unless it get a fault code and that would be my first fix. The filter was part of a shopping spree inc front under run trim, mud flaps, rear bumper protector (Ebay bargains), all forward lighting. Not much left to do now, bar regular servicing.

Hi Colin, Have done a few short to medium runs with the K & N performance filter and I humbly concur with your comment about the additional noise under hard acceleration. This was rather more than I had anticipated so I would certainly advise anyone considering these filters to be aware of this since it's not to everyone's taste of course. However, although I was a little surprised by it, I do actually like the more powerful engine sound it provides compared to the slightly harsh revvy sound that it makes normally with the standard filter under hard acceleration - so it is down to personal taste and in normal driving it is not noticeable so to me the best of both worlds. I calculate that fuel consumption has decreased ever so slightly (despite using more hard acceleration to assess the increased sound and any power improvement and definitely not a "placebo effect" as you suggested) - I'd calculate about 1 mpg better on short runs and nearer 2-3 on a longer run, plus a very slight improvement in acceleration, but most noticeable was an improved throttle response instead of the slight hesitation and delay that usually occurs throughout the rev range. So all in all it was what I had hoped for and anticipated, with the exception of the aforementioned increased sound under hard acceleration which I do actually prefer. I will let you know if I do get any issues with the "MAF sensor getting coated with oil" as you put it - but again I find it hard to imagine that these filters are designed to cause such an issue and decrease engine efficiency - but I'll keep an open mind nonetheless and hope you're proved wrong about that aspect. It would be interesting to hear from anyone else who fits one of these in the meantime and/ or has experiences with either positive, negative or neutral results. Tony

My mk4 was squeeling when I got it. A replacement tensioner pulley and idler pulley and new ancilliary drive belt cured it. Remember, there are TWO different tensioner and idler pulleys because you have two different belts to consider; i.e an Ancilliary drive belt for power steering, A/C compressor and alternator, then in addition you have the Cambelt with its own tensioner/idler pulleys. Squeeling is usually from the Ancilliary side of things.

Hi Simon, I think its running at 144k now, I picked it up on 142k but the trip home was 1800 miles(on 7 cylnders tough old birds these). I don't have much in the way of paper work and nothing for the timing belt, although it was at some point pampered i belive by the look of some of the more expensive receipts are from a rolls garage. But at sometime it fell into the hands of a muppet so It may need a timing belt I would like to do this myself tbh however it does seem a big job best saved for the summer or at least when I can get it into a garage. I do have one more sqeek though its the drivers side rear coilover rubber mount but its looking mighty hard to get at without taking out the seat which i will have to do I guess. Seem to work on my van more than my car at the mo but her time will come :)

Update: I have now bought myself a nice GS430. I purchased it privately and it involved two trips, one 300 mile round trip to view it and a three train journey plus drive home one when I bought it. It's a 2006 55plate (falls into the lower road tax bracket) in mauve with 69.5k. Full service history although not all Lexus, with two previous owners It needs a few jobs including a wheel refurb but all said and done it's a great car. I'm now starting to clean and detail it. As an added bonus, I put the Sportcross on Autotrader Saturday morning and in less than 48 hours it was sold for the full asking price, the buyer said it looked brand new! He had one hell of a long journey and was a really nice chap, already owned a high mileage IS200 Sportcross and wanted a low mileage, late model IS300 Sportcross. Thanks for everyones help and advice.

For those who are interested I installed the circuit into the car today and it works a treat! I have loads of spare diodes/resistors if anyone needs them, just drop me a PM or post on here :)

Hi Guys, I've done a lot of digging and turned up some rather interesting stuff on getting the sat nav working with my new head unit. I a bit of circuit diagram from the inside of the OEM head unit and it appears to loop back to the sat nav to get it to work correctly (although without sound apparently, no bother to me, I don't use the sound anyway!) and if the loop is incomplete the sat nav doesn't work. the bit of circuit I found and where to attach the wires is here: I managed to find the bits I needed as: 2 x 100R 0,25W resistors, 1 x 68R 0,5W resistor, 2 x 18v 0,2W diodes I have managed to source 2 x 100R 0,25W Resistors from work and have managed to blag a 68R 0,5W resistor on the next order from work so I'm 2/3 of the way there in terms of materials. I'm having trouble finding an 18v 0,2W diode though and I'm not sure how much of an issue it would be if I used a 0.5W diode (I can get these readily from work too!). Can any of you tech guys offer some advice if using a 0,5W diode would be ok or a definite no no? Once I've got all the bits I'll keep you posted how I get on, if you're interested that is!

Just remember that any engine conversion you're planning, whether it be 1G-GTE, 1JZ, 2JZ, etc - whatever figure you have in mind to do it - double it. the 2JZ-GTE conversion sounds simple enough and inexpensive, but 1JZ and 2JZ conversions often end up going into the £10k realm, and is that really worth doing on a £1500 car? Especially when you bear in mind the 1G-FE can easily be turbo'd (you're looking at under £2500 all in, although add more if you plan to swap out the duel-mass flywheel for a lightened one, and add a full, turbo-back exhaust), which on stock internals can safely hold 13psi all day (which is about 290-300bhp). If it was me, I'd be turbo'ing the 1G-FE, setting the boost limit to 10psi, one of which recently dyno'd at 280bhp @ 10psi, and spending whats left of your original budget on the suspension and brakes.