justin.cockett

Hi, I had a MK-1 GS-300 with the same issue. Replaced the rubber boot seal and problem solved for 3 years, then it needed replacement again. Careful not to crush the new rubber seal when loading the boot. a work-round is to remove the rubber bung and drill a little hole in it. Justin.

The wrong lionk in my above reply. Hereis the UK site www.liquidleather.com

These people make the best leather conditioner ever, even smells like leather, works just fine on my GS-300 Justin http://www.gliptone.com

Freezer spray (Servisol type) from RS components works, but Methalated Spirit also works well. you don't need much, but you can always drink the rest!!!! :) Justin.

Recently I have tried two types of tyre on my GS-300, here are my comments. Both tyre types are asymetric type pattern (bi-directional) Michelin Pilot Primacy: Very Long Lasting, Firm Ride, Low Noise, Good wet and dry performance. Dunlop SP Sport 01: Comfortable Ride, Low Noise, Good wet and dry performance. In general run-flat tyres have poorer ride and noise, this is because of the thick side-walls that gives the run-flat capability. Justin.

was in an accident - this was what my POS insurance company put me in for a week or so, until I kicked up enough of a fuss and got shut. ;) :D :D Lexus seem to have a thing with Corsas, only the one they leant me when my car was being resprayed had a cylinder missing. there were only three! J.

Rrom the Corsa comment above. Basic Rules of motoring......... 1. Never buy a vehicle with more wheels than seats 2. Never buy a vehicle with more gears than the engine has cylinders! J.

Merc Auto boxes have a couple if irritating features.... 1. When moving off with light throttle openings they start off in second, the point at which first is selected is rather unprintable so you never feel in full control of the standing start acceleration, also they sometimes start in second, then swap to first. 2. The Merc boxes change down when slowing gently... why? Surely this must cause more wear on the box? Lexus boxes hold the gear until you have stopped avoiding unnecessary changes. The other disadvantage with the Merc system is that you feel all the down-changes and it makes the brakes harder to feather to a gentle stop, add this to the creaky merc brakes and achieving a gentle stop can be quite a challenge in a Merc. Perhaps this is why they invented “Sensotronic” brake control as a work-round...... 3. There is a reliability question on some Merc auto boxes... perhaps because of all that extre gear changing? I wonder what the new 7-speed auto will be like in some E-series models from next year?

I certainly believe that it important that justice is done. It concerns me greatly what exactly our PM is doing in his abolition of the Lord Chancellor position and the implications for an independent judiciary in this country. However, I firmly believe that our courts have become far too lenient and many criminals are getting away scot-free or with minor punishment far too often. (Ever done Jury service, it’s a real eye opener!) At the same time the government and police seem to be criminalising middle England with there unstoppable desire to halt anything that moves on four wheels and for doing 35MPH in parts of the motorway spec A13 and the Limehouse Link tunnel, whilst 30MPH overtaking a school bus outside a primary school is ok according to the speed limits (That’s road safety for you?). Time the government and the police authorities got their priorities re-aligned or the consequences for relations between the largely police-supportive middle classes and plod will be damaged for many years. Justin.

Goodness only knows! I tell you it will come, it's the logical extension of the RX300 reverse parking camera, the car should be able to predict an accident and help you avoid it! Justin.

After several tests I began using Optimax all of the time in my GS-300. Optimax returns about 10% better fuel consumption, but costs about 7% more than standard unleaded. Now the best way to improve fuel consumption it to turn off that A/C button. It adds at least 10% to consumption in my car. I read once in The Daily Torygraph (Honest John's page) that Optimax is the only sulphur free petrol sold in the UK and the only UK fuel that the Mercedes CGI engine can run on. This is why this engine is not sold in the UK (CLK200 CGI in Germany and other European countries, Mercedes answer to the Audi A3 FSI and Mitsubishi (part owned by Daimler-Chrysler) GDI engines). Strangely Shell only claim Optimax to be "Low Sulphur" not even Ultra Low Sulphur, any of you have any more detail on this subject or do I feel an e-mail to Shell coming on? Zero Sulphur = Good for engine and Cat in my book....! However... It may be worth trying Texaco Clean system 3, Texaco make some grand claims and were (perhaps still are?) offering a free engine warranty for exclusive use. Again Honest John rates this fuel. While we are on this subject, what is the general opinion on oils? I have always used Mobil 1, but is there a better alternative that I should try? Justin.

You know it occurs to me that it would be cheaper to go to Maplin and buy a couple of colour cams and a TFT screen to replace the door mirrors... total cost about 2/3 that of a new door mirror! Justin.

The cost of trying and punishing criminals is forever rising and it is becoming unaffordable to house these people in prisons in a high cost country like the UK. I have a simple solution.... Many private companies have or are looking at cheaper alternatives for their call centre and back-office functions. India and South Africa jump to mind in these cases. Why not sub-contract our suspects to courts and prisons in third world countries, perhaps Afghanistan, Iraq, some African states? The benefit would be a big cost reduction to the UK taxpayer in housing these people, valuable foreign income for poorer countries, the possibility of an incentive against crime…. and with a bit of luck the scumbags may never come back! Just and idea.... Justin. PS: Oh...... hang on...... I think we used to do this......

I got a new mirror for My GS-300 from a Japaneese specialist breaker's yard: Dewsbury auto slavage Station Yard, Saville St. off Bradford Road, Dewsbury. WF13 2BH Tel: 01924 45 55 45 They were very helpful, took a credit card on the phone and posted the new mirror to me all for £70. It does annoy me that Lexus do not supply the components, however try a US dealer, they may supply the individual components. We had a new outer casing and mirror glass for my wife's A-Class Merc, total was £45 (new) Best regards, Justin.

Chewing gum seems to stick everything to everything!

See, The Governmane is wrong, if you'd been doing 50 you'd never have been hit! :0 Sorry to hear of the accident, I used to ride a bike, but fancy one again! Justin.

Chaps and Chapesses, Rant Mode ON In case you had not noticed, this country is going through a dire recession (forget the spin, this is the fact!) Professional unemployment is at it's highest for 20 years (not my figs, Price Waterhouse Coopers). I find myself unemployed as a direct result of government policy that is ruining long-term investment by private and public companies. This has a direct knock-on for the sellers of quality cars. believe me Lexus, BMW, Metcedes, Audi are all finding times tough. Advertising is certainly the best policy here. Justin.

damn !! i missed it had the pleasure of picking my daughter up from hospital a day early :) oh well hopefully there will be another next year Bazza, sorry to hear that, It was a good event though. Where abouts are you? Justin.

I've just been looking at the GS430 Radio head unit circuit diagram and I'm satisfied that I can devise a modification to provide an auxillary audio input fairly easily for this radio head unit. I have no doubt that I can come up with a modification for the IS and almost any other standard Lexus radio too. The clever bit will be incorporating the input selection into another function on an existing button (perhaps a long push) I'll come up with a fix the FM radio sound quality (lack of treble) at the same time Anyone in the London area interested in investing in the radio workshop manual for the IS 200 for me to develop the modification? Is there enough interest from other Lexus owners for an aux input? Best regards, Justin.

I got converted to Ericsson (from Nokia 2110, 6110 then 7110) when the T28S price came down to reasonable levels. I moved on to the T39M and now to the P800, great phones and the Ericsson car kit is the same one right through, just had to buy the new holder (£15) for the P800. Looked and played with the T610 it is also a great phone, but the P800 does it for me with the organiser functions! Go for the Ericsson car kit though I find the Bluetooth headset is not really reliable enough on "auto" mode and flattens the phone battery if left on "on" mode, though I do have an HBH-60 (having also owned the HBH10 and HBH 30 headsets) for my wife's car. If you have the proper car kit you can switch to headset mid call, try that with a bluetooth car kit! Justin.

This is a classic cyl head gasket symptom.... Do the usual checks first though.... - Cooling system leaks? - Radiator Cap - Thermostat - Electric cooling fan and control unit/AC system

Back in 1987 I fell asleep at the wheel of my cool understated Metallic Grey XR3i That was the end of that as far as the insurance company was concerned, I was sad at the time as this car had been helped me snap the knicker elastic of a number of young ladies during the mid 1980's B) . Well, I got a praking ticket through for it 3 months later. The damage was not too bad and car was in fact repairable.... All those memories of country lanes parked up with the sunroof open.... However a badly written-off car must have had its identity swapped with a stolen car. Did you look to see if it was really your car? Anyone else had a special car in their time? Do I feel a new thread coming on? Justin.

ahh i got the 3:30 on where abouts are you justin :D The start times are reasonably flexible as I understand, you can enjoy the venue before and after time. I live in Orpington. J.

I would not recommend Hydrofluoric Acid for windscreens.... :D

Virgin is a great deal, but lousey network. Orange has the best network but lousey deal. Answer... The Virgin deal on the Orange network as orange have a price match tarriff that mimic's the Virgin deal, also you benefit from the fact that more people have Orange and you should make less cross-network calls. For receiving lots of incoming calls O2 is best as the landline rates to O2 are cheapest. Justin.