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oh dear Treadmark Tyres Canterbury now called Protyres I think dropped her in for the necessary laser realignment and 3 of the 4 corners out of kilter according to the pretty coloured diagram simple ............ £30 front and £30 rears to be done fronts fine and easy peasy BUT the rears challenging ................... so much so that after much huffing and puffing one bolt snaps, seized solid leave her overnight with lots of penetrating oil but still stuck solid and they tell me the only course is to replace the rear trailing arm .......... after market should be ok BUT as we all know some of this stuff just sin't available and Toyota ( just up the road ) can provide the appropriate part in 2 days for £190 and with labour would work out at £468 declined the offer and suggested they should drill out the seized bolt, After much amazement that i wasn't going to just roll over and accept getting a new part they went back to the drawing board ........ following day they call me to say that HEY PRESTO the penetrating oil has worked and they had fabricated a new bolt ( really ? ) and the job was done Very nice people and the cost was the standard £60 incl vat and the untouched rear bolt was the one corner that was fine anyway BRILLIANT outcome and I'm very pleased that the penetrating oil worked for them rather than drilling out the old bolt Actually 5 Stars for doing a very challenging job at initial price Malc there's another new post about the dead battery

Here is an extract from the Workshop Manual on line. The first instruction from it says "REMOVE ENGINE ASSEMBLY WITH TRANSAXLE" It is possible to do it without but not easy as there is a bolt on the drivers side that is trapped in by the engine mount and it's very long.

for all you Mk3 owners out there Dead battery on collection of car from Treadmark Tyres yesterday ................. it's been very very cold and the old battery is April 2012 Saw they sell batteries so I asked them for their advice. Don't have one in stock BUT they can call their supplier Oh dear, there are 5 options it seems and the likely one was going to cost £155 and to await delivery sometime soon ! They jump started the car and i drove the half mile to Toyota where i had bought the last battery. Very helpful and luckily they had one in stock to fit . It's a really odd size to fit the set-up in the Mk3 ( as I said in 2012 ) specific to the hole in the Mk3 AND waving my walking stick at 4.40pm asked if they had anyone who could please fit it for me. Having asked where the car was ( outside in their car park with engine running ........... just in case ) and if I had any passengers with me ( none ) the happy manager asked one of the guys to get the car, drop it round to the workshop and within 30 mins I was on my way What a bit of luck eh ! he advised that the original could have been a Yosuda ? battery which had lasted some 17 years but today would cost £300 if available they gave me a 30% discount and i paid a total of £72.72 ....... WOT a BRILLIANT result 5 STARS to Toyota Canterbury .......... the very best place to get your Mk3 replacement battery Malc

guys, today I bumped into a gentleman in the local car park sporting a very fine looking silver Ls460 Urged him to join the forum F16LEX He's just coughed up @£3k for the failed gearbox issue ( reconditioning ) following the darned radiator pipes leaking and doing it's destructive worst he had exactly the same happen on his past Ls430 but didn't appreciate the same could happen with his Ls460 so all you guys with a Ls460 .................. please take care Malc

Thanks for that info ,it will help me keep my records tidy Dave

That is nonsensical; I just blanked it out as a bit of journalistic filler! Are you confident in your statement that "...in Premium car segment where driving dynamics is important part..."? You aren't surely suggesting that everyone driving the 'usual suspects' (A6, 5-series, E-Class) wants to feel their cars adhesion on the limit, lift-off oversteer, every ripple of the tarmac, every crashing expansion joint and pot-hole, every single minute they are behind the wheel? How many of that unholy trinity you see pounding the motorways are anything other than a fleet managers choice anyway? Lexus should ashamedly make a home for people who value comfort, quality and refinement above ultimate driving dynamics. Even if that means dropping the F-Sport from most of their line-up. People still buy Volvos after all. Discuss.

Hi guys, I need to replace my PAS cap / dipstick as mine broke recently. The garage I use said they can't get one from Lexus as it isn't available any more. A bit of internet digging suggests that the part details are: Cap Sub-Assy, Vane Pump Oil Reservoir [12.1989 - 10.1994] UCF10 Part Number 44305-50010, later replaced by 44305-50020 Another website shows that the same part is used on the following vehicles: GS300 1993-2005 GS400 1998-2000 GS430 2001-2005 IS300 2001-2005 LS400 1990-1998 SC300 1992-2000 SC400 1992-2000 I've ordered a used one from eBay from a GS300, there were LS400 items listed but all were in the USA. I just thought I'd post this up in case anyone else has the sam issue - hopefully the one Ive ordered will fit. Mark

good luck with it all Malc

Thanks for the info guys. Not going to risk it on this occasion, it has been an advisory on the last 2 MOT's, sods law dictates that it'll fail on Octobers MOT!

Stuart, like you I was planning on trying the soldering myself... but I bottled it before I even removed the ECU, mainly because I found that local repair chap and knew he was going to do a MUCH better job than me and I hoped he would not be too expensive. The name of the chap at dieselecurepairs.co.uk is Neville. I should stress to both you Stuart and Andy, if you use his services, that Neville did not want to give me a quote until he had the ECU open and could assess damage/time required to replace the caps. So I would not necessarily bank on it being £40. Sad to hear that the replacement caps have not resolved your problem Stuart. I had a couple of incidents where the 'Check engine' light came on and car went in limp mode. Stopping and restarting car cleared it, so it seemed a bit random. So far, since the caps replacement, I have not had that problem again, but it's too early to really say for sure considering the infrequency of the problem.

for heavens sake, just take a short break down to Devon and have them do the whole job for you there and then ........... relaxing in the knowledge it's being done properly while you're supping a few beers in a nice hotel Malc

It is the same engine and interior so I would say he is more right than wrong, just the 0-60 time (which apparantly isnt fast enough at 4.1 seconds)

As it could be so many possibilities, I'd either purchase my own code reader or try and find a local indy garage or mobile auto electrician etc who will read the fault code for you... I know it'll cost a few quid, but it will give you a starting point, otherwise you are just shooting in the dark. They might clear the codes and light and job done if all is currently well.

Have a look at my thread with similar experiences:

Hi All, My braking issue has been solved YAY. Brakes are perfect now, and I'm regenerating a LOT more than before (many more blocks on the power graph). That's the good news. The bad news is that work was done on several components at the same time, so I can't be specific about which ones were the cause of the issue. I'll describe what was done, so you have some pointers of things to check if you have similar symptoms. 1) New rear pads and disks. I don't believe this was the cause of the problem, as the old discs actually had quite smooth surfaces. They were replaced due to excessive corrosion. 2) Front calipers both had one stuck slide pin. To solve it required replacement hangers, which I got from a breakers. It's possible this was a cause of the issue. 3) My left front driveshaft had a split ABS reluctor ring. Corrosion beneath the ring had expanded and forced the ring to snap. This was solved by fitting a replacement driveshaft obtained from a breakers. Prior to replacement, I did occasionally notice the ABS warning light flash under light braking on dry roads with good surfaces (ie no chance that skidding had occurred). Hope this helps someone.

Check here for a PDF of the maintenance Log. ( not exactly the one I have but the same content) https://drivers.lexus.com/t3Portal/document/omms-s/06LexSCHU_MS0003/pdf/06LexSCHU_MS0003f.pdf paul m.

Here is a further document that I found a few years ago maintenance schedule is250.docx

Hi Vlad, Sorry to jump on your post, but I have to disagree with your quote here " Out pulls the RX on any revs" I am sure it makes more noise and that is why you think it is faster than the RX450h. Last week we had someone who could not see our RX450h and tried to park on our spot. My wife was in the car and the RX450h needed to go for a small scratch repair on the rear door. Churchill out insurance company surprised us with a up market curtsey car like this one : https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/land-rover/discovery-sport/20-sd4-240-hse-5dr-auto/spec Very fast car my wife was saying( she drives the RX450h ) and I went to try how fast it is. Apart from very noisy diesel and turbo I did not find it faster than the RX450h. Our Lexus was ready after 3 days and my wife could not wait to get in the Lexus. We had the Discovery Sport for two extra days together with the Lexus and I can assure you, there were many tests between the two cars and even when my wife was in the Lexus, I could not beat it. I am almost sure if you have someone with Lexus RX450h near you, you can see how much faster it would be compare to the Mondeo. I know the speed is not that important, but this is something which is in abundance in the RX450h, especially the acceleration from standing still, how smooth it is and quiet and refined ( you can not hear the engine screaming inside the car even ) I can only agree with you on the economy. The ford will be more economical. I hope you have a trouble free motoring and watch out for RX450h on the traffic lights, they are very quick just over 7 seconds to 62 miles. The fastest Mondeo diesel with 207 bhp engine will need 7.9 seconds and a lot of engine screaming and noise to go to 62 miles

Here's my old RX7 one of the best track day cars I've owned, 400BHP and turbine smooth. Engine re-builds were a given part of ownership but by God when it was running well it flew. Nearly bought an NSX but bought a V8 Esprit instead (bad move)

Luckily, because of your posts Stuart and others on the USA Lex forum, I was well prepped to find the hidden glovebox nut and then give it a good pull to remove it. I agree... I was nervous about buying those ECU caps kits on ebay as I was aware of there being fakes around from the USA thread, indeed, I started a thread on here asking if anyone knew about the seller or if it was a forum member etc, but no replies, so i guess no one knew. I took a punt anyway and bought a kit. The seller on ebay is also selling some Lexus diff oil and the other items they have for sale make me think they are genuine. So I purchased a second kit of ECU caps for a 98-2000 LS just in case I changed my LS for another in the future. The second kit of ECU caps came in a small bag with some 'Digi-key' labelling which gave me comfort as this is the recommended USA outlet for buying the caps from. Lastly... I watched the guy take my ECU apart and remove the first capacitor and clean up so he knew how long it was going to take him in order to give me a quote.... he said come back in an hour, which I did, he had just finished and he had the old removed capacitors to show me. He knew his stuff and he was proud to show me his special flux which you can not buy anymore. He's obviously been doing this kind of work for decades. This was the outfit I used https://www.dieselecurepairs.co.uk/

Hi Ken (and all) So after much searching and travelling I went to view Wetmybeak's IS250 in Warrington on Sunday and we agreed on a price and I'm now the proud owner! :) 58 plate (2009 model) facelift version, Dark Grey, Black Leather interior and the car is in great condition, I look forward to maintaining a high standard of care (maybe a couple of cosmetic modifications, LED lights etc) over my time as owner. Very happy, I understand what everyone says now about these cars in terms of what's on offer to the cost involved. It's crazy but I guess we have a nice little (overlooked) slice of the pie

I’m not sure why you think a lot of German owners will be attracted to the ES. I’m currently driving a Mercedes E220, and before that I had a BMW 520. When I was looking to replace the 520, the GS 300 Executive was on my shopping list. Lexus were offering a 24 hour test drive programme through selected dealers, so I applied to Lexus for a 24 hour drive with Lexus Twickenham. They contacted me, and said that I could come in and they would take me for a test drive. When I mentioned the 24 hour element, they told me they didn’t do that – they hadn’t got enough cars. After a complaint to Lexus, I was contacted by the Dealer Principal who said I should get in touch with him if I had any problems; unfortunately he forgot to offer the test drive. I bought the E Class. Looking at the ES, I can appreciate that it’s more modern than the GS. I’m not sure the looks attract me; I’m not a great fan of the spindle grille, and it seems more pronounced on the ES than it was on the GS. Other features compared to the GS – it hasn’t got leather as standard, and the satnav screen is a lot smaller. I’m not that concerned about FWD versus RWD; I don’t think executive saloons are bought for their handling characteristics towards the limits, despite what journalists write. The biggest problem I have is with the price. In most other markets, the ES was traditionally positioned well below the GS, and was seen as a competitor in the next segment down. Reviews of the new ES in Australia compare it with the Mondeo and the Mazda 6, whereas in the UK it seems to be regarded and positioned (by Lexus) as a full replacement for the GS. While it may compete roughly in terms of list price, the discounts and support offered by the Germans are around twice the level of those on the ES, so that’s an extra price hurdle of around £3K - £4K. So I’m looking at the ES, as I want to move away from diesel, but for the reasons above I’d find it hard to justify.

Although i don't do much pure town driving I would say that i'd get 30mpg and over 2 years I've averaged 35mpg mixed driving (tank to tank based). The mk3 GS450h benefits from just a little stop start and if you can keep rolling then all for the better. The battery isn't capable of pure EV mode for long and works best assisting you. Recently i've been experimenting with steady cruise speeds and find 65-70 yields a fairly constant combustion cycle around 37mpg (ish). Whereas driving slightly faster means lifting off more and overall gives a better mpg. I've tried this over numerous trips rather than just noticing it once. I really need to get the Hydrid Assistant app running again and get a few more hrs experience with it to see if that helps to show how the systems work best together.

I actually had the pleasure (?) of meeting him a few years back at Gumball. I’d have to say that despite what everyone thinks, when you meet him in person he is just actually much more of a bell-end than he appears to be on the videos. Complete helmet. Never judge a book by its cover, read a few pages before you throw it out of the window of a moving train into a tar pit. Turn the volume off and his videos are pretty good.

Don't be put off travelling for the right car, I had a 10 hour round trip looking at a car in Warrington... A motor is a big purchase and I'm always ready to travel if the perfect car comes on the market.