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One of the many highlights from Saturday, it was an awesome first trip to Goodwood, the ISF breezed up from Devon, had a blast on some stunning country roads.

Thank you @Bluesman and @Big Rat. Happy to be here. Of course, haven't gotten around to detailing the car just yet but here's a picture to start off with.

Thanks for the kind remarks, everyone. I managed to hook up the Carista module and got a few error codes relating to tyre pressure monitoring and solar sensor, but I don't think they are anything to worry about. The tyres are not losing any air so it's just a few sensors I need to replace. It's not rude at all, I am pretty sure I overpaid, but I really love the car and I'm a firm believer that If you are planning on keeping a car longer-term then paying a little more to get the car you want is worth it. I know the re-sale won't be so good on these, which means I won't be selling it anytime soon! Let's just say I paid over £13k but under £15k for it 😓 Also, very sorry I didn't take more pics, this is just one I snapped as I was looking back at it when I parked! I will definitely take more.

You have some great pictures. Scotland is a great place for photography. The Squirrel and the woodpecker were taken on holiday on Loch tay. The Jaguar is in the Motor Museum in coventry

Just thought i would try and contribute here with what i recently did on my Lexus over the weekend. First job was the rear differential, i’m missing a few pictures , but i’ll update during the week Why? My car is a 2007 with 73k miles. Full lexus service history except the last 2 services. At this mileage according to the manual Both the diff and gearbox oil should have been changed. With no proof of this and something i do on any car i buy, i decided to swap all the fluids. No one locally had non Toyota equivalents in stock and nothing really available online so i found some in a local Toyota dealer. The day before , try spray some penetrating oil on both the drain and fill bolts to make life easier. Parts needed: 75w85 GL5 LT gear oil 0888581060 - 1.35~ litres needed(buy 2 litres) 2 x plug washers ( part number 1215710010 **confirm with your dealer) Tools needed: 10mm allen key head, plus various extension bars to suit + socket size of choice Oil drain pan Funnel Fluid pump gloves safety glasses Clean up cloths Head torch Car lift***(makes life 100% easier for this job) Before you start on the rear diff, crack loose the fill plug first before you drain any fluid!!!! 1.Let the car cool down for approximately 30 mins 2. Safely raise car up securely so you can access rear diff, keep the car level front and rear 3. open fill plug slightly( needs pic) 4. Open drain plug and get ready to catch stinky diff fluid that comes out. It does not come out smoothly(gulps out unevenly) so try get a funnel right up close to it to prevent it splashing all over your arm/face/floor. It doesnt take long to drain out( needs pic) 5 While it drains take the time to clean the magnet on the drain plug and put on a new washer, there might be a greyish sludge on the magnet if its the first change 6. Once fluid drains to a trickle after 5-7 minutes, clean around the drain hole and re-install drain plug. 7. Remove fill plug from the top of the diff, you will probably need a 4-5 inch extension to loosen the plug from the far side of the exhaust pipe that is in your way. If its the first time its being opened you might need a longer breaker bar to get it open 8 Get your fluid pump of choice. I used this Fluid pump. Put end closest to pump handle to the fresh fluid bottle and the other end into the diff fill hole, i chopped a couple of inches off each hose to make life easier for the setup i had 9. Put in 1 liter, get your second bottle and as keep pumping in less than 500ml, when you see the fluid dribble out the fill hole, stop pumping, remove fill hose and reinstall freshly cleaned fill plug with new washer. 10. Tighten fill and drain plugs once done( not sure on torque spec, ill follow up on that) 11. Clean any spillage that occured. 12. Start car and check for leaks after a couple of mins. 13. Drive car and enjoy super smooth differential operation 🙂

Well a brief update, I pulled apart the passenger foot well. The servo works when heating is adjusted between max cold and max hot. This is same on drivers side so these are both working and blending the air mix as they should. However I noticed the control flap that adjusts where the air goes to, foot well, windscreen etc was jammed shut. On the drivers side high up is the third servo and having disconnected the lever the flaps work so its the servo that's stuck in one position. Then I noticed the wiring has been unplugged. The loom is no where to be seen. I'm guessing the servo was knackered and previous owner disconnected it, jamming the flaps so there was always hot air going to the windscreen for winter defrosting. I have managed to remove the first screw holding the servo in but the one at the back is a pain. No space as the parking brake pedal is in the way. Lets see how I get on tomorrow.

That looks stunning, great choice.... 👍

Well you have achieved what you set out to do without spending a fortune. It is easy "not on the pocket" to throw money at this sort of problem, and it feels even better knowing this. Well done. John.

They do look good in white, great choice.

Excellent. Wow, that's very generous of you!

Normaly I don't like white cars nor new Lexus "predator" grilles, but this one looks fabulous. And flyable too...

GSF looks sexual in white. Good work :-)

All great photos Stephen (and I think I remember you from amateurphotography forum?) I have a thousand pictures from Scotland taken last few years, but not many worth to share, even less with cars. Maybe two with last GS, sunset with Campsie backgroud, and somewhere north of Ullapool:

The original LS circa 89 was lambasted for being plain and underwhelming in the cabin the upholstery was received with praise but not that much in the US as leather was an option and expensive .I am of the view that as the exterior of the present array of luxury marques is reaching the same evolutionary mode designers are moving inside to enhance the appeal of the high end market taking life style of prospective purchasers into the mix. The interior is fabulous but much too busy for my liking and is a tad overwhelming visually and is starting to go down the road of the 80s Crown from a bling point of view.

I'm certainly not their target BUT I would buy a pre-owned one maybe at some stage ........................ that initial depreciation just would drive me nuts ! Malc

My 2pennies: yes, they have to differentiate, and I praise Lexus try to, but why in pimp-my-ride and svarovsky-my-ferrari saudi-american way? The luxury barges around the world are conservative for reason - they shall be reliable and ethernal, comfy and soothe. And old conservative rules of design state like "one trait is boring, two traits (colors, textures, details, etc) are classy, three are complex, more are mess". Like, this is LS500 interior detail, "same" as above, I find different enough and appealing: But still, even this wood-brown-beige version has too much details and "devices" dropped over dash, in whole picture, for my taste. Way of trinkets and folded leather, and "visual noise" on dash is far away from japanese wabi-sabi (especially -sabi) and from my expectations for Lexus flagships, in my mind. But probably I am not their target anyway.

Should be picking this up at the end of next week providing everything goes O.K. Pre reg RX Sport with a handful of miles. Now to start memorising the owners manual.

Whats 'rain'?

It’s great advice if the dealer wants to shift one of their last GSs.

Linas, yeah, you rationale about oil changes is better than mine. I agree, even good filters are far away from perfect (on the other hand, it's one part I don't spare money, IMHO there are collosal differences in filters, their valves, etc - problem is, like half of aftermarket, with consistency of quality; brand/type bloody good half a year ago has realy bad quality today). Okay, scrap my stupid ideas, oils are too cheap to waste time on discussion even. About eco factor, I dont believe in any claims of dispossal of used engine oil other than use as fuel, hopefully in proper boilers/ovens with hi temp and good filters. But as I said, I am not supergreen, it is minor factor for me. BTW on flaws and rattling hydraulics, I have feeling sometimes it much more complex. I had not so much exeprience with troublesome hydro valves (only those 2.9 fords with tiny valves' "cylinder" and tiny oil flow, especially in "far end" of heads), but from all stories like yours, many friends with ford-cosworths, a few with infamous chrysler engines (if anybody think Toyota brought some flaws at valves, check the stories about 2.7 chryslers). All and all it looks like one thing is design of valve and oil distribution etc, but other important factor is how much sooth engine produce. Because lower viscosity helps, it is obvious, but flush helps, longlife oils help, hi-grade oils help, etc. means the deposit is much more problem than viscosity. And I don't know, it suggests the piston rings problems or design flaws too, valve sealing/bearing problems, etc. not only valve and oil lines flaws? But I am not familiar with enginees with compress. ratio higher than 10:1 and sqeezed hi HP from litre, so maybe I missed something here. BTW BTW one thing is for sure, for valvetrain, hydro valves, etc. "bigger is better", bigger "acctuators", sealings, oil lines etc. I remember once or twice I though why my 2.9 ford rattling on valves and my oldie 4.0 from same family (ford explorer, they bored 2.9 up to 4.0) never rattle. My wrong presumtion was they have same valves and maybe different oil's lines, pump, or so. Nope, I understood when I have seen headless 4.0 - 2.9 has valve "cylinders" diameter like my finger, 4.0 got something closer to an inch... but this old design "for USA" or "like AK47" is gone, everything now is more compact, lighter, delicate, more HP/l or per kg... and often much more troublesome. Cost of progress, they say. But enough maybe, it is babling from old grumpy guy, not about oils.

So I nipped down to Lexus Stockport on Friday, feeling a bit apprehensive seeing it was Friday 13th, but no dramas. All done and dusted quite quickly with the help of Adrian from the sales dept. Had a nice relaxing journey back home except it started to rain for a while and as a result I was instructed to get the car washed, can’t have it sitting in the drive all dirty, can I ?. I’ve read the manuals etc, but have a couple of questions that need answering, so hopefully someone will know what to do. 1: Is there any way to stop the radio station details showing at the top of the screen every 20 seconds. 2: Can you stop the Satnav menu showing up every time you switch on. All in all, delighted with the new purchase.

If you have done the fuel sensor and you smell the fuel a bit now, logicaly, somebody failed job on sensor a bit...

Lee the welded shock is an early one "they all came like that" The one without a weld is a later version the washer just being pushed on so has been changed. This saved a welding process in the manufacturing stage reducing the cost of manufacture. I would not be concerned over the rust near the end of the spring apart from removing the loose powder coating and giving it a coat of paint. John John

@Big Rat Hi Paul looks really smart mate & glad it’s all worked as you hoped. The mods can’t quite be finished though as the car will need a red light bar in the front to be the full “Kit” - that & of course a Hasselholf mullet 😉😆

would never take my car to Kwik fit and the like

KwikRip......you wouldn't have expected anything else would you? If you want a Tyre or a back box fitting then OK but anything other that that you now realise it's Not the first port of call to say the least! 'Plastic Tools'!!!!! What's that...for plastic mechanics!!!!! You can however get 'Insulated Tools' but sounds like a BS statement so as to not do the low profit work. paul m.

Big rat . Just some fun on the way down .it has to be done ✅

@Warrington guy Thanx matey, Goodwood nearly on us the drive down will mean 2 things....... Your Blue Callipers And my yellows will be gripping Red discs..😂 And I’ll be coming second the roads are dry........😉 🐀

The hybrid AC electrically driven compressor is somewhat different to a normal engine driven compressor. As such it is very unusual for the compressor to leak as there is no rotating shaft seal as there is with an engine driven compressor. The electric motor is sealed within a housing with the compressor in much the same way as a domestic fridge or freezer. The single most common reason for failure of the compressors in hybrids is the wrong oil being used. The electric motor is cooled, and luricated by running in the gas oil mixture of the system. The oil must be ND11 for hybrid compressors, and not PAG oil that is generally used in engine driven systems. Even a small amount of PAG oil such as might be transferred by using a refill set that has been used with PAG oil, and then used with the correct ND11 oil to work on a hybrid can, and is likely to lead to compressor motor failure. This is because PAG oil is partially electrically conductive. This leads to the motor winding's becoming short circuited. This not necessarily immediately it can take as long a three or more months for problems to appear making it difficult to prove if it occurs some time after AC service work has been carried out. John.

I’ve just done a run from Plymouth to Bristol, about 125 miles, 75mph all the way on the cruise control, three up with air-conditioning on as well. I was averaging 58.5mpg which I consider to be very good for a car of this size and engine size Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not sure what's going on there my friend - as long as it's cold then it's working. I never switch my aircon off. It's on all year round and I've never needed to have an aircon system serviced in more than 40 years of driving. I think I'd be inclined to just keep it on and forget about it unless and until you feel a difference, and if that ever happens I'd take it to an aircon specialist (and I don't mean Kwik-Fit) for their opinion.

Has anybody here actually run out of fuel in their rx400h? I just wonder what happens? Does the car keep going until the hybrid battery is flat? Or does it refuse to move under battery power, even when the hybrid battery is well charged? How much fuel did it take to fill up after running out? Did it start easily and then drive without issues after refilling?

. 🤔