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Phew! thanks for that Colin

I was looking at the Toyota / Lexus V8 forum the other day and saw a post from sombody asking how to hotwire his LS400 to bypass the immobiliser and start it. Somebody else obligingly posted the relevant part of the wiring diagrams of the LS400 to show him how to do this together with added hotwire clearly marked! Presumably the same could be done to any Lexus? My question is - is there any point at all in getting a seperate immobiliser alarm? Presumably that could be bypassed by hotwiring too? So if they can get into your car there is nothing that can stop em stealing it?

As predicted - they have changed the cat. (under warranty!) - not collecting till next week but hopefully end of story.

If the one you have your eye on is the one I think it is be very cautious. I went to see it last week- it has obviously been standing there for months - plenty of rust on the disks. It has a very nasty gouge in the lintle under the drivers door and some other nasty scrapes. When we started the engine it ran well for a minute or two then there was a pinging / snapping noise and a very odd noise started to come out of the engine. They will only sell it 'as seen' and no negotiating on the price! pm me if you like.

Could just be physcological ? Glad it's ok ! So am I!! - Today the wife (much much much prettier than me) rang up the dealer and begged them to have another look at the car. She pointed out to them that she has to 'floor' the accelerator to get up Remenham Hill which in a 3 litre car is ridiculous. They have been test driving it on the flat - where it is fine. Somehow I think the answer may be in the Auto box which - despite the fact that they re-set it to manufacturers spec - is perhaps just not changing down properly - it could be as simple as that. Anyway, having spent a good while on the phone they have agreed with her to take it out and drive it up some hills (at last) tomorrow - so the saga continues. So far the moral seems to be - if you want to get a garage to do anything for you and you have a pretty wife - get her to sort it. also that is classic symtoms of a disintegrating cat Funny you should say that. The wife sprayed on plenty of Coco Chanel and went for a test drive with the mechanic - Even after driving up and down a few non-steep hills he agreed that it was indeed underperforming - exactly the opposite of what we had been told and now they have got it in to 'pull it apart'. They have already told us that they though there was something wrong with the cat. So I expect you will be found to be 'spot on'.

Could just be physcological ? Glad it's ok ! So am I!! - Today the wife (much much much prettier than me) rang up the dealer and begged them to have another look at the car. She pointed out to them that she has to 'floor' the accelerator to get up Remenham Hill which in a 3 litre car is ridiculous. They have been test driving it on the flat - where it is fine. Somehow I think the answer may be in the Auto box which - despite the fact that they re-set it to manufacturers spec - is perhaps just not changing down properly - it could be as simple as that. Anyway, having spent a good while on the phone they have agreed with her to take it out and drive it up some hills (at last) tomorrow - so the saga continues. So far the moral seems to be - if you want to get a garage to do anything for you and you have a pretty wife - get her to sort it.

Well it was a fiasco. The salesman was as always superb - genuinely concerned - couldn't understand it - it made me feel really bad as he has been so good. Then the complications started. First the service manager looked at the plate on the front of the head and said that that wasn't the engine number it was the model number. I wasn't convinced because the numbers both began JZ 0 *** so I asked where the engine number was. He said it was on the offside of the engine and under the manifold so you couldn't see it unless the head was removed! I just refused to believe that and it was suggested we would have to ring up Lexus UK. Finally a humble (!) mechanic came out and said the number was on the nearside of the engine block and we would need a torch to see it. A torch was produced and we all looked - We could only make out 4 figures but they tallied with the middle four figures of the correct engine number. So there you have it - one number on the engine block one number on the head! Really helpful! But they swore -and I beleive them, that the car has been looked after by them as the history revealed from new and that there was no question that they would have known if anything had been swapped. They fixed something else for me and we parted as usual, good friends - still not solved our problem though. At least we now all know where to look to check the engine number - though while I would not be surprised that a salesman did not know where it was I was astonished that the service manager didn't! And while I am at it can I put in a big plug for ASPI prestige cars of Blackhill Stratford on Avonfrom whom I got my LS 430 and are superb in every way even down to doing a free Experion Checkto helpme with my engine number problem - and the standard they produced the LS 430 was awsome.

Thanks In fact I rang up the dealers I got my LS430 from yesterday in part ex for my W Reg GS300 in order to tell them that I might want it back!! I explained the problem - they did an Experion Check on the wife's car there and then and the engine number on Experion was the same as the V5 and service book. His immediate reaction was - "If it was me I would think it was 'a ringer' take it back tomorrow". So it looks as if we are in for a highly embarrassing (for someone) conversation tomorrow.

The VIN number tallys but the engine number on the V5 and service book is JZ0986505 and the number on the plate at the front ofthe engine is JZ087(rubbed out)61. I can't think of any explanation forthat other that that the engine has been swapped at some stage in the past for an older one - which for all we knowcould have done 400,000 mls.

Thanks - I though so - a Johnson nappy wipe did the trick. The middle part of the nunber has definately been rubbed out though the bar code is still in tact (obviously I can't read it) - as the engine number starts 087 instead of 098 (assuming they use consecutive numbers) the engine is alot older than the one its supposedto be.

My wife bought an 02 GS300 about 6 weeks ago from a Lexus dealer. Since then there have been issues about the engine seeming to be under powered - certainly in comparison to the W reg I had myself until yesterday. I kept wondering why the engine in the 02 looked older than the one in my W Reg. Today I suddenly thought to check the engine number on her V5 against the engine number on the plate at the front of the engine in her car. According to the V 5 the engine number should be JZ20986505. On the plate on the engine the number starts JZ087 then there is an area where it seems rubbed out - then it ends 61. To my simple mind this indicates that this is not the engine that the car is supposed to have and therefore we have absolutely no means of knowing how many miles it has done in comparision with the car. Before I go down there tomorrow breathing fire - am I being thick or something?

Just got an LS 430 - never had HID lights before - will be off to Europe in a few weeks time and will need a spare bulb kit especially as in Italy you have to travel at all times with headlights on out of towns. Is it a case of no choice but to get one from my Lexus dealer at an arm and a leg? Or is it true - as somebody told me - that HID lights will outlast the car without changing - so just carry some conventional bulbs?

No error code but I'm planning to go back at the weekend to have it re-set again once I've run another tank of petrol through. Then I should find out whether it was the petrol or the sensor. I'll ask for the error code this time. ps - I usually only go one click on the cap so I'll give it a couple more this time The wife had exactly the same thing on her 02 GS300 a week ago Friday - light came on during a motorway journey - frightened her to death - took it to lexus garage - they re-set it and said - think there is a problem with the cat!!. Car is in this week for a new one - under warranty thank ***!

Anybody know the answer to this. The wife has an 02 Reg GS 300 which she loves but for one thing - reverse parking. While it is in the garage they have given her an 05 model that has rear parking sensors and camera (really good sales technique!). Needless to say she is amazed by it. Also, needless to say, we can't afford to upgrade her to such a new car for some time. Is it possible to get the rear parking sensors and camera fitted to an older model? Costly I suppose? Any body done this?

Road noise... certain tyres are very noisy - especially Avon's :winky: I'll second that - my car has Avons and the road noise is very high - Tony at STS was quite sure it was the Avons. My wife's GS300 has Goodyear tyres and is much quieter. Some tyres are just noisier that others and it seems very difficult to find out which to avoid.

Its a small point but one thing to remember about converting to LPG is that if you do it you wont be able to take your car through the Channel Tunnel where LPG vehicles are banned and I think that also applies to any of the Alps tunnels - but will stand corrected. I though about it, but use my car for one return journey of 50 miles a week and a few miles at the weekend and one 6 week trip to Italy a year. I'd be lucky to exceed 7 k a year - on that basis the maths just doesn't justify the cost and the risk that the conversion job might be less than perfect. I think its only worth it if you are a big mileage driver. quote name='GreyBeard' date='Dec 6 2003, 11:34 AM' post='91294'] hi - i've got a 1990 LS400 and was also thinking about gas. did you get any responses from the others to your enquiry about their experiences? have you gone any further with it? i've filled in a questionaire on a firm's web site for a quotation, but they've not come back to me. i'd appreciate your thoughts.

Well as it happens the sheet I signed doesn't show halfof the scuffs they put on it so I might have a go. The funny thing is that when they called I was in a Lexus garage with my wife. The first thing she and the salesman both said was - "that's suspicious"!! How right they were - what really niggles me is that the fitters knew they had c***ed up and just decided to pull the wool.

I am probably the only member of this forum who could get into this mess - but if this helps anybody to avoid damage to their car I will be pleased. Today I had to take my car for a new windscreen on insurance to a national fitter. I have never had to do this before. The windscreen was a genuine Lexus one. I arrived and handed over my keys just like I do at the garage - where I don't of course expect to have to walk round the car and check what scratches or dents there are on it. That was a big mistake. I went about my business, intending to return about 3 hours later. About an hour after I had left I got a phone call from the fitters to say that they were just about to fit the windscreen and were doing a 'check for scratches etc' and did I know that my car had quite a few scratches on it? Given that I had only had it S/H for about 4 weeks I though I knew exactly what scratches it had. I went back and was shown a couple of scratches above the drivers door which looked fresh to me but which of course I could not definately say were not there before I brought it in. They also said there was some abrasion on the rim of the bonnet in front of the nearside wiper - I was shown it looking down on it outside the car and it didn't look much. I signed the papers to say that any scratches shown on the work sheet were there before the work was done and left for home with my new windscreen in. While driving home, with the sun behind me illuminating the rim of the bonnet I was horrified to see that the lower part of the rim had had the paint taken off to the metal over about 5 inches - that definately was not there when I took it in. I got home and began to look more closely - there were scuffs and scratches all over the place round the windscreen! Fortunately most will be able to be done up by a mobile repairer at a cost I expect of about £160. Having signed for the car I am of course in a difficult position in trying to make a claim - so I am not about to get myself stressed out with it. By the time I have done it would probably have been cheaper to forget the insurance and take it to the Lexus dealer to have it done. The moral of this story is clear I think.

This will seem a silly question to the technically minded - but do the engines of the GS 300 need / benefit from tuning occasionally? I have W reg and my wife has an 02 but hers seems to lack power in comparison with mine - doesn't variable valve timing meen they don't need tuning? If they do - who do you get to do it?

Hello...... :D Y AND W are the 'speed ratings' mixing is not a problem since the load (weight rating) is the same..... On a personal not 'AVON' are 'pants' and i wouldn't put them on my 'Skateboard'. Thanks for the good advice. Have just got Gold Membership and am intending to come and see you soon anyway!!

Have noticed that front tyres on my GS300 are Y rated and rear are W rated - all are Avon and otherwise the same - anyone know if this is a problem?

The procedure works fine - I got into the secret navi screen and checked the system - everything was reported to be OK. Drove out of the car park in the Strand today - no GPS signal at all until I got up on the Westway out of the streets with tall buildings - and it worked fine. Logic suggests that is isn't receiving enough signal - can you tell me - does the car receive the satellite signal through the car radio ariel or something else? perhaps i should try un plugging and replugging the connections into the unit in the boot in case its a poor connection.

Thanks - I will try - its really puzzling as only a week before it worked fine in London.

I have a May 2000 GS300 SE with Sat Nav. Till today the Sat Nav worked perfectly. This morning it was ok from Henley to the Westway - then when I got on the Marylebone Road it would not receive a GPS signal - so no guidance. It had me in King's Cross when I was in the Strand! I know they say tall buildings can interfere with it - but it is not much use if it wont work in London where I actually need it! Does it have to be reset in any way - anybody any experience of this?