james2210

Does Mr or Mrs "I've got absolutely nothing better to be doing, like catching those naught criminals, or protecting people in their own homes so I'll stop innocent motorists who have taken some pride in their car and have added wheels that are 1" bigger than standard" Plod declare all those nee nars and aerials they have on their cars to their insurance company? Also, if people are going to start getting done for talking on their mobiles, how about the boys (and girls) in blue? When they are screaming along with one hand on the wheel while holding their radio with the other, telling HQ that they're just stopping someone cos they have fluffy dice hanging from their mirror, is that not just as dangerous? What about people smoking fags while driving? All just as dangerous in my book!

That wouldn't stop me-I'd just have to nail the damn thing to the passenger door and have it on up side down!

The dealer can only order either the whole mirror (£242+VAT) or just the glass-they showed me on the Toyota parts system screen. Haven't had a chance to try any of the ideas proposed thus far-spent most of Tuesday evening and yesterday evening putting up a new satellite dish. Wondered why I could not get a signal and then found I'd been supplied a dud LNB. Why is it when one thing goes wrong, so does everything else!

Sounds like fun in a Blue Peter sticky backed plastic kind of way! Just a little bit frightened about what it might turn out like as my craft skills basically consist of the ability to fold a piece of paper in half, or do some colouring in (not going too far outside the lines). I might give it a try if all else fails-maybe just to try and repair the old one before shelling out a wad. 62 degrees? It felt like that yesterday! Hopefully I won't return to my car after work and find the mirror in a congealed pool on the ground! Thanks for the suggestion

Cheers Justin. I'll try some US places to see if I get a result. Otherwise, a scapper will probably be my only option. I had an email back from one today who wanted £100+VAT+£8P&P which doesn't sound too bad. It was the wrong colour though. While I don't need the whole mirror, I was thinking if I'm spending the money, it might be sensible to keep a spare mirror of the correct colour "in stock" just incase I have trouble judging a gap somewhere and exchange mirrors with someone.

Took my GS to it's second home again last Saturday cos the passenger door now only locks and unlocks when IT feels like it, not when I press the remote button or use the switch inside the car. Also queried a problem with the drivers door mirror that moved into all the places it shouldn't have when my wife tried adjusting it last week. The bloke at Lexus Bristol (although he was deputy parts manager from the adjoining Toyota dealer) had a look and ended up pulling the mirror glass out of the housing. On the back of the mirror glass was a squarish piece of plastic, the middle of which looked like it had snapped in half and had been glued. He said that I'd need a new mirror glass, but I looked at the mirror glass and said that the squarish piece of plastic looked like it unclipped. To settle the arguement, he led me to the parts desk, got a mirror (of a LS but looked identical) and low and behold-no squarish piece of plastic! Next question was would this be covered by warranty? After scrutinising the mirror housing for some time, he decided that the mirror had most likely been hit and the squarish plastic thing had been broken and repaired, therefore no warranty coverage. Next question, can you just get the squarish piece of plastic? No, only two things you can get are a complete mirror or a new glass. Next question, how much for a new mirror housing?.......£285! £285 is a lot of beans just because one small silly little piece is broken-the rest of the mirror housing and the glass itself are A1. If it were something important that get's used a lot I wouldn't really mind shelling out, but as I've only tried adjusting the door mirrors once in 6 months, I don't think it justifies spending that much. I took down the manufacturers details (Tokai Rika) and tried emailing them in Japan. Surprisingly, I got a response in English, but it said that they only sell things to car manufacturers. So what now? Anyone got a broken mirror assembly with the plastic squarey thing intact for a MK2 GS300 they would like to sell for less than £285? Anyone recommend a good scrap dealer that break GS300's (not mine although it is tempting)?

Often see brochures for sale on ebay. Try doing a search on there.

Put some rags or a blanket over the wood trim around the gear lever to stop it getting scratched.

If they did not do a proper job servicing your car and the cooling system got air it in, it's possible the the block overheated and warped causing your head gasket dialemma. Unfortunately, I don't know everything about cars, I just know a little bit about a lot of things, but if any techie mechanics out there read this, maybe they could say if it was possible. If it is the case, I'd get an independant technician to give you a report so that you can threaten the garage nicely into doing the repairs. Was the garage where you had the work done part of the RMIF (Retail Motor Industry Federation)? If they are and they prove to be unhelpful, you could try going direct to the RMIF and see if they can help. Good luck, we're all counting on you

I just renewed through AXA 29 years old with wife 27 '98 GS300SE MK2 Full protected NCB Legal protection Free green card for use in Yurp £418 That's the cheapest I've EVER paid for insurance I phoned them up after getting an online quote and they honoured the 5% online discount over the phone, and knocked off a further £15 cos my wife has a policy with them. It's still £418 down the drain in my opinion cos I won't ever make a claim unless the cars a write off, but as you've got to have it, you might as well go with the cheapest. Lex Gold worked out nearly £900-no thanks.

I can't believe all you guys are contemplating spending £45+........on an OIL CAP when there are millions of shoddy bathrooms all over the world like mine that need replacing. How about some donations towards my TAP (Toyota Applied Plumbing) and new bog. Let's face it, £45 big ones for a piece of aluminium that spends 98.342% of the time hidden in the dark under the bonnet is maybe a bit OTT! Oh well, spose it's your money so you spend it how you want to. I think I must be getting old!

I took my wife's car to the local Mazda dealer in Bristol and was surprised to see that they did an aircon service and topup for £35+VAT. Her's did not need doing and my Lexus was at Lexus Bristol having the aircon pressure switch replaced which meant a regas was done under warranty. Had them scratching their heads for a while too. Apparently, my car is fitted with a variable displacement compressor which unlike other compressors is supposed to run all the time. Don't notice any noise from it though. Try posting your question on AIRCONDITION and see if anyone knows the answer. (scroll down to the bottom for the bit where you post)

Hey Loz, I'll have a number 4 clipper on the top and a number 2 clipper rounds the sides and back. If you could blend it in and maybe thin my hair a bit I'd be grateful :D :zee:

Great idea. I need a new bathroom and I reckon it's going to cost about £1500. Any sponsors? All contributors will of course be able to use the loo if they find themselves caught short in the Bristol area! Sounds nasty

Don't know 10000% whether these are the meanings of the codes you have given. Try calling a helpfull Lexus dealer and see if they'll look it up in their Lexus bible if you ask them really nicely. I think 21=Solar Sensor This is a little sensor (you probably have two) on top the dashboard that are used for the automatic headlights and also to see if it's sunny. The warning can appear if the sensors are in the shade. 33=Air outlet damper position sensor Tells the AC controls which outlets the air is blowing from. Bear in mind that either of these codes could be set because of a fault in the AC controls itself. Good luck. Looking at the weather forecast for the next week, I'd make sure the wipers work rather than the aircon!

Check under the bonnet for a sticker which should say what type of refrigerant your system takes. On my GS300, there is also a sticker on the bonnet lid behind the radiator grill that says what type of compressor is fitted and how much refrigerant and oil it takes. As flotsam mentioned, you should be able to do a diagnostic on the air-con system. On mine, you hold down the AUTO and the button that changes the air from outside to recirculated while turning on the ignition. Error codes should then flash up on the display. If there is more than one error, they are shown one after another. There is an excellent and really helpful (but unfortunately in the US) website AIRCONDITION.COM that might be able to give you some more pointers. Good luck, and keep an eye on your wallet

I don't see how them de-programming the old key could somehow change the configuration of the cylinders in the lock barrels-but you never know, these are pretty clever cars after all. Maybe they would be willing to swap the door, boot and ignition barrels from one of their used stock cars (provided all it's keys were accounted for) and then sell their stock car on with one of it's keys unaccounted for.

I'm not sure how the gear lever is connected to the transmission, but I read somewhere of a situation in the states where a car rolled away because the cable between the gear lever and the tranny snapped and caused park to become disengaged.

Do you need a firearms licence for those things? If I were to do something like this to my GS300.... 1-Is it easy? 2-How much would it cost? 3-What's Santa's address?

Correct me if I'm incorrect, but even if they do reprogram a new key and de-program the old one, you could still use the old one to unlock the doors by sticking it in the lock and turning it. You are now inside the car. Once in the car, you could move the gear lever out of park, release the handbrake, and then tow it away. Or you could simply trash the interior, or rummage around and see if there are any mobile phones, keys, loose change etc. for the taking. I think it unlikely that any harm would come, but I know that if it were me, I'd not sleep too well for a couple of months knowing that someone might come and relieve me of my motor. If your insurance company refused to payout, it would be up to you to recover your loss from the garage by taking them to court. Could get messy.

1-Get 2 really small bits of masking tape-one black, the other the same colour as the back of the LCD screen. 2-You know whats coming next don't you? Seriously though, you could try and buy one off a foreign scrapper or from ebay that comes from a country where they use farenheit.

Great Scot!!!

Or there's Wolverhampton! Pop in and see my friend Chris. Mention my name and see him wince! Apparently the #1 lexus mechanic technical guy in the UK works at Wolves. I went to look at a GS300 in Birmingham once but they couldn't find the keys. Turns out that it had been left unlocked overnight though, so I managed to look at the inside anyway. However, couldn't go for a test drive cos they couldn't find the key for the security barrier either! Hope they've left the keys with the estate agent or the new owner will never get in the place.

During the problems (ongoing) problems which I've had with 2 GS300's, I found that the head office approach was really the way to get things done. After I wrote a letter marked private and confidential to Karl Schlicht, I heard back within 3 days and that particular problem (3 in-accuracies on my warranty card even after I had to take the car back to be re-RAC inspected because the paperwork went missing the first time) was sorted out within a couple of weeks. They also gave me another years (now have 3) warranty in light of this and all the other (well documented) hassel I've had. Sad to say that my car is currently in it's second home (Lexus Bristol), and has been since last wednesday while they try and work out why the air conditioning is not working right. Anyone want to buy a Lexus with 2.5 years warranty? I'm getting to the point where I've had enough

Hi Kate :D