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Well my mechanic friend asked around, and I told him about the weak bolt and the steering knock, which he'd heard of. Thankfully, that's what it was and all it took was for him to tighten up the bolt, a two minute job. If it happens again, I'll get him to replace the bolt. I would imagine if I'd have taken it to Lexus it would have been a very different story. . Thanks to Stompe for the link and everyone for your contributions. Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

This is Paul's eBay page: https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/lexussparesdirect Top bloke, didn't get the chance to meet him but just picked up a set of wheels from his garage yesterday. He's got a tresure trove of LS parts in there.

Another Andrew! Hello and welcome to the forum. That engine looks amazing. To be honest the rest of the car looks a little bland, might wanna spice it up a bit 😂 /s

The wiper arms should be set to a mark that is on the windscreen, a small dot.To do this you will have to remove the wiper arm and sand/file the existing high points from the wiper arm and reposition on the splined shaft from the motor. This is tapered and will recut the splines in the wiper arm as it is ally on steel. I used to build Toyotas and had to do this a few times when the wipers were fitted to motors that had been activated prior to the arms being fitted. hth

When I was in the police on nights one cold and wet Christmas Eve the River Severn flooded. I was in an unmarked Land Rover inside a road closure area. Some dipstick in an Audi A6 thought it would be a clever idea to ignore the road closure, drove around the barriers and signs and past me without noticing the house in front of me had water half way up the front door and that the water was up to my door bottoms (as I had not gone in any deeper). The water was half way up his windows when he stopped. The AA recovery arrived 4 hours later. Merry Christmas.. 🎅

Phil & Bob, I did a bit more research today and found out about the battery being moulded into the valve body and then needing re-programming. I'll need to find out which one is faulty so I'll visit the local tyre fitters tomorrow. This is all new to me as it's my first car with TPMS so be patient but getting well informed on here as usual. Page 116 gives the procedure to reset the system which I've done and I get the pressure initial message but the light is staying on. Check system, tyre light blinks,master warning light is on. I'll try TPMS warehouse and go from there. On a USA site I did come across a "solution" where as a wire on the orange tpms ecu is disconnected and cut and another wire some insulation is removed and the two wires spliced together. I would need to have another look to see which colour wires are involved. Thanks

The car is looking a lot better now with a fresh set of wheels, and driving much better on a decent set of tyres. Quite happy. Although I did hear the tyre fitter on my dashcam call it an antique ☹️ ...I prefer the term vintage.

Not a RX, but the hybrid system is similar, link to flood crossing:

Had it all apart doing wheel bearings , and cleaned everything, there was a lot of like iron filings on both sensors when I cleaned them , but I will check resistance thanks

I'll think your find abs doesn't work below say 3-5 mph .did you check your calliper sliders for binding doing the repair. Any damage to the sensor gear or bracket try checking the sensor resistance with the other side .

Interesting, I had given up on the idea of having the cleaning done, but now you renewed my interest!

Do you find the handling better as you corner? :)

Btw Phil I came across this.... Which I am going to try out before christmas... I will let you know how it goes

Car looks really good! The spoiler makes a world of difference, thinking of getting the windows tinted before I fit wind deflectors, will be interesting to see what the bumper corner splitters look like once you have them fitted.

Tpms warehouse charge about £45 each. If you could get the faulty one off and exchange it for a normal valve temporarily you could read the id code and get them to clone it. When refitted it shouldn't then need programming into the system

Your car is really coming along, looks fantastic. I'm not normally a fan of the carbon fibre wrap but it works really well in your car. Although if it were mine I'd have to change that reg plate - I'd be having the urge to get chicken every time I got in it!

I believe the OP was asking a genuine question. Too much lager shandy this evening? I've never come across either of those problems in relation to driving through a few inches of water. As others have mentioned I think the real danger is it reaching your air intake but again as others have said I think that's extremely unlikely in an RX. Thinking about it the intakes have been sensibly placed in all the Lexus I have experience of.

You may need new sensors in that case!

That takes me back to the Sixties when I had a nice Jewish Gentleman in Whittington Avenue EC3 make me a Suit. Always asked if I wanted a Lining to the trousers and a second pair. Also,buttons or the new fangled zip? And for him the slightly embarrasing Q. Er hmm which side do you dress Sir?

is this the weight of each screw cap ? you'll need good braces to hold 'em up Malc

The bottom picture is a Lexus publicity shot

Well it appears my cheap car good luck is holding! Had an extremely productive, educational and enjoyable morning with Dave at Lex-Tek. He even made me a cup of tea. Regarding the codes, none were present other than C1336 Zero Point Calibration of Deceleration Sensor Undone. The one that triggers the VCS warnings I had. It took a little while to reset and recalibrate but once done it hasn't come back And Lexus Sheffield had assured me that all the other codes had been cleared but would return immediately hence their warnings regarding the ruinous cost of putting the car right. Charge from Dave? 20 quid. He was frankly surprised that Lexus hadn't done exactly what he did. He seems to think it's the aftermarket code readers that triggered it, something I have read elsewhere and something that Dave confirms is a peculiar glitch of the GS 300. It's also something that the Lexus techs should be aware of because they used to come across it at Lexus Sheffield regularly back in the day. And while the bent paperclip trick might work in some cases it doesn't work in all. He knows because even the main dealers used to do it! So I'm sorry Ron but if this is indeed the fix then it's not been the £300ish I imagined originally when I was working on the warning light being an O2 sensor. Feel a bit bad about that. In other news, Dave had a good look round the car and declared it a good 'un. We pulled off a rattling heat shield around the exhaust, tightened up another and when I pointed out the cracking auxiliary belt he had another delivered and fitted in under 15 minutes. Helpful that there's a main ECP depot next door. The only other works required are new lower ball joints which he's doing Thursday. Here are a couple of pics from yesterday. It was going to get it's first proper wash but I've arsed about with it so many times this week that the battery was too flat to start! I ended up using my trusty Meguiars waterless wash before I could get hold of my jump leads and use the 9-5 to start it.

You've got trousers! Luxury.

You've got lining? That's posh!

Cant get cross climates in 4RX size so Im not surprised The current best tyres for the 4RX Luxury spec and above trim are Bridgestone Duelers

I have not changed the front hubs on my GS450H, but I did change the NSF hub on my Prius using a budget part from a supplier in Ireland. The OEM part lasted 90,000 miles, and when I sold the Prius the replacement part had covered 60,000 miles without problems. I personally would go for the budget part as the genuine version is 6 times the price. If your doing it yourself it's an easy job so even if it only lasted for 20k it would be worth while. However different people will have different views on budget parts. I did at one time have a Mazda 626 7seat estate, and this required a rear bearing. The price from Mazda was £268. Going to Fafnir I bought a bearing for £18, and guess what. On dismantling the rear hub the OEM bearing was a Fafnir. The moral is do not believe OEM is always better or the only way to go. John

We've had Crossclimate+ on our Leaf and our V70. When the GS450h and the Tesla need new tyres then they will be getting Crossclimate+ also. They are ideally suited to the UK climate. Most all season tyres (eg the Vector 4 season) start with a winter tyre and somewhat improve its summer capability. You can see this just visually, with the traditional jagged snow/ice siping on the tyre. That means these tyres will perform very well in snow and ice (better than the crossclimate), and are quite well suited to snow-tyre areas of europe (where snow conditions will persist for weeks/months). However, generally they are less good as a summer tyre. The Crossclimate isn't quite as good in snow/ice, but offers the right balance for the UK (where we might see a few days of snow per year if that - and I live up in the Pennines. Southern areas maybe a dusting that lasts for a few hours), with more focus on cold wet performance as well as summer performance. Another factor to consider is Michelin's current design ethos about maintaining tyre performance as they wear. Although the Goodyear is better in snow when new, when worn down to 2mm the Michelin will in fact out-perform it because the Michelin maintains performance better: http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/New-VS-4mm-VS-2mm-All-Season-Tyre-Performance.htm As you said you'd like a quiet tyre, again I'll recommend the Crossclimate from experience - On our Leaf obviously tyre noise was a very significant factor (as it had no significant drivetrain noise on the motorway, and it had reasonably good aerodynamics for a hatch so wind noise wasn't a big factor - tyre noise was most evident), and the Crossclimates were very quiet (as they were on our V70 too, but the diseasel engine drowned out much of that benefit). The spectrum of their noise is different to other tyres, with less low-frequency energy (the stuff that carries through the body shell and booms) and more high frequency energy (that is more easily deflected/absorbed by the sound deadening in the car) - The crossclimates generate more of a white noise than a pink noise (if you're not familiar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colors_of_noise) Ultimately there are a bunch of really good all-season tyres currently on the market - The goodyear, the conti allseason contact (but I've never liked any conti that I've had), the bridgestone A005 and of course the Crossclimate +. Based on my experiences with the Crossclimate I have no hesitation in buying them again, and over the others for the reasons I've laid out above.

Is no one going to say that car's finger lickin' good? Really? No one? Looking good Matt. Have to say red does suit the IS250 And that filter!

Well I’ve had my RCF for a year now and the fact I’m writing this is a real turnaround for me. Being a serial car changer I have rarely kept a car longer than a year due to boredom with the same old same old. Although my V12 twin turbo AMG did last for 14 months, my V8 Esprit only lasted 11 months despite ploughing an eye watering amount of money to get it in tip top shape Having seen one in the flesh at my local petrol station then watching the Chris Harris video of the RCF I was hooked In the 12 months I’ve had the car I find myself liking it more than when I first bought it. Although it has only done 8000 miles it has never missed a beat or caused any concern despite me going overboard with buying a car with the AVS suspension and the TVD. In fact I felt so confident in Lexus build quality/engineering I was quite happy to buy the car with these items, something I would never have contemplated with any of my past car brands. The navigation is crap so I keep my current TomTom for journeys, the sound system is pretty good for a car environment and the fuel consumption is really 20 MPG. After about the first month onwards I drove the car in mostly the manual setting as I feel the car a bit sluggish in Auto. because it has so many gears in auto it seemed to be in top gear a few hundred metres down the road. There is no doubt about the fact these cars are crying out for an aftermarket exhaust the standard one is just far too quiet and doesn’t inspire you to drive enthusiastically. Despite what a few people have said I like the ventilated seats and for a person who ‘runs’ hot in a car they are a God-send in the summer months for someone like me. They make any long trip on a hot day a pleasure as does the AVS suspension setting which is softer by default. I can think of a few cars I’ll probably replace it with, I’ve always lusted after the AMG SLS and of late been very tempted to place a deposit for the new upcoming mid engined C8 Corvette which actually fits in my plans quite well as it’s due mid 2021 so I may just keep the RCF until then.

The rear brake pipe which runs across the rear subframe is a common failure due to corrosion and this, given the time the car has been stood, is probably why the reservoir was found to be empty. I also would not recommend pumping the brake pedal with no fluid in the master cylinder as the seals may be damaged due to lack of lubrication of the fluid. Pre formed brake pipe sections are available from Lexus but it would probably be cheaper to have the section made.

That sounds as if you have an SE rather than an SE-L. (As do I) I suspect that it would be a major operation to fit a touch screen - I guess you would need most of the centre console and wiring loom (from a scrapper?) Anyway, from reports on here about Lexus sat nav, it wouldn't be worth the bother. You get better sat nav performance from free apps on your phone (eg Maps.me).

Martin I installed my old Nextbase Duo as soon as I took delivery of my UX in late March. I used the standard Nextbase Hardwire kit piggy backing into the fuse box under the glove box. Worked fine but was having issues with the same camera on my Elan so put the one from the Lexus into the Elan and bought a new unit for the UX Went for the Nextbase 522 and their Rear window add on camera and it installed without any problems using the existing hard wire kit. I always go for a rear view camera as well as I have been hit up the rear a couple of times! (The car not me!) John

Reduces/prevents oil getting passed into your inlet and adhering to the back of your valves, which is getting more common with direct injection engines. Some vehicles still have a set of injectors at the inlet manifold e.g. GS450h so they help to keep the valves clean. Oil get into your inlet via the crank case breather, along with moisture from cold starts.

Thank you to all of you who commented and advised me on the carbon cleaning, I have decided not to go head with the cleaning, but I am looking into getting the a oil catch can fitted, out of interest, can anyone point me in the right direction of the place to buy one and also best place to fit it? Thank you all again for the comments and advice. Paul

No doubt the sites where you saw that people had it done were US ones. For some reason it seems more prevalent there - no-one seems to know why - maybe fuel, maybe oil, maybe engine settings??? I don't think there has ever been a report on here of actual proof of carbon build up on an IS250 engine in UK. As others have said above, don't get it done unless you experience problems. Incidentally there is an article in this month's Car Mechanics about GDI engines (like ours). Carbon build up is obviously a problem even in UK for some GDI engines (Non-Lexus - lots of makes have GDI engines these days). The clean up cure usually recommended is walnut shell blasting. There is also a comprehensive feature in CM about EGR valves - all you wanted to know! (Heads up diesel drivers!)

To be honest I advise to not to do it unless you have particular problem. I have done hydrogen cleaning in the past and found no noticeable difference (maybe except some placebo). Generally, you should do carbon cleaning if you failing emissions tests i.e. you have high emissions before tests, after test they should drop. In my case all emissions were 0 before tests (below the measurable scale) and stayed the same after the test - so I don't know if it even worked. In mean time better invest into oil catch can and only do carbon cleaning when you have issue like described above.

I use the Archoil 6200/6400 product and find it makes my 400 smoother and with better pick up at low-mid rpm.m; some low speed hesitation has also been removed. I don’t do many miles a year, so I’m thinking it improves combustion qualities of the fuel, which may off whilst sitting in the tank. As long as you stick to the dosage I don’t think you’ll go wrong; too strong a dosage can cause oil dilution, ie thinning of the oil - with a 5w/30 oil you can’t afford much thinning.

Fifth Gear on TV - Jason Plato did some comparative tests on "cheap" things to improve performance on an old-ish Golf VR6. He started by putting a bottle of fuel cleaning additive in a tankful of gas, after running it for a week it gave him 6 bhp on the dyno, which was more than he subsequently got from oil/filter change, then plug/leads change. I do this on my LS400 Mk 1 about every 8/10 tankfuls and it seems to wake the motor up a bit each time. Can't do any harm, anyway . . . . .