W4SIM

Im interested to know HOW you fixed this in the end. It may seem like a silly question but there are various different versions out there as to whats really behind the dash - bulbs or LED's, fuses linked to them, soldered in etc etc. Any chance you could let us know what type of bulb it was? And how you replaced it, soldering or just plug in? Basically, if i was replace all or most of the bulbs in my dash, how hard a job would it be doing the actual bulbs themselves?

Hi all Just come out of the MOT and as you've guessed, its failed on the n/s balljoints, top and bottom! Only started looking for them but i was thinking i could do them myself as i am going to remove the suspension anyway. So i take it as its just the 2 bolts on either side of the upper arm once the strut is removed and out of the way? Or could it be more complicated than that for some reason? And with the bottom, is it not just 3 straight forward nuts to come off? Or is that hiding something aswell? Cheers.

Your connections may seem fine but is the actual bulb fine? It could just be a simple case of a blown bulb. I have seen one or 2 people replace the entire lot with bright LED's for a fresh look to the dash. Looking at doing that myself at some stage. Fancy writing a few instructions on how you removed the dash? Cheers.

Peeps Im trying to remove the suspension out from my 1994 Lexus GS300 and i bought one of them manuals from ebay to show me how to do it. Unfortunatly with it being ebay the manual is full of crap. Well . . . . not full of crap but it just describes in words how to remove the suspension, with no pics what so ever. I have had these manuals for different cars before and they have been great with all the relevant pictures but this one is crap. Is there any one who knows how to remove it please, words alone will do but im sure some one here will explain it better than the CD does, but pics would be fantastic! More stuck with the fronts rather than the rears. Any help? Cheers.

Just found this on www.spark-plugs.co.uk in the general FAQ area. Q3. My vehicle has been modified to run LPG (liquid propane gas) or dual fuel, do I need to change my spark plugs to allow for this? A3. Generally speaking no. Plugs may not last quite as long as with a standard petrol engine and the ignition system may have a harder time generating a spark. The denser charge in the combustion chamber means a higher voltage is required to jump the gap. For this reason it may help to reduce the spark plug gap by 0.2mm. If spark plugs become prone to overheating then it may be necessary to replace with plugs one grade colder. Not too sure if i understand the answer correctly but it seems like in one bit they're saying they dont need to be changed, and then they're saying the current plugs and ignition system may be having a harder time so changing spark plugs may be a good idea. I think im abit confused by the answer really.

The link does work on my PC, but if you have no luck then go on ebay and search this item number 160101599768 , Thats the LPG plugs. I think you'll find LPG burns differently to normal petrol, as diesel does to petrol aswell. Working on that information it makes sense that a different spark plug should be required. If it was just a claim made on ebay i wouldnt have believed it but its also made by NGK, one of the worlds biggest spark plug manufacturers. My car doesnt run "rough" with the current plugs but it is WAY down on power when running on LPG and im not getting as much mileage from a tankful as i was hoping. Im wanting to see a LPG installer myself but havnt had the time yet, but if you see one i would like to hear their opinion on it.

My GS300 is running on LPg but getting some horrendous MPG. Im pretty sure most of it will be down to the fact that it'll be running on standard plugs. Im looking at changing over to some LPG specific plugs but not sure where to get them or who does something decent. Found a set on ebay and the guy is claiming they are good with LPG. According to their tests the plugs giving on average an extra 50 miles from 90 litres of LPG. They last about 10-12k and the brand is PSP, never have heard of them, anyone? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...p;rd=1&rd=1 I also saw a link somewhere in here to some LPG plugs made by NGK if i remember correctly. Dont know the price of those but im guessing a fair bit dearer than these ones, but will probably offset that by their longer life or something. But is there any one on here that uses specific plugs for LPG? And what can you say about them, good, bad, worse mistake ever made etc etc??? Cheers.

Just did the job and wasnt too much of a hassle really. The previous stud had actually broken off but it wasnt a clean break and where it did break ment it was further in than the brake disc so couldnt hammer it either. Tried hammering a screwdriver on to it, failed miserably. In the end had to take off the caliper and disc and then just hammer it out. Hammered the new one in, went in with a bit more force than i thought it would require but in there non-the-less now. Though what i did find out, and tried to do myself, was that you dont have to remove the caliper and disc to remove the studs. If you look behind the disc you will actually see a gap where the studs can actually be hammered out one by one by rotating the hub forward. But like i said i couldn't do this as the break was deeper than the disc so that got in the way. About an hour me thinks. Then about 4 hours washing and cleaning the big bear!!!

MOT rules state that a front indicator must be visible when stood 3metres behind AND 1 metre to the side of the car. Thats why you get your side repeaters in your wings. But in newer cars instead of putting them in the wings they tend to go in the mirrors. If you disconnect that light then it can be argued that from a certain side angle no one could see you were indicating. Hence it will be an MOT failure. Thats why you see all these blokes with flushed wings on the older cars struggling with MOT's. That light isnt just put there to be annoying to the driver/owner.

All car speedo's are set to 10% above what you are actually doing. Hence why a camera wont flash you when you go through it at 54Mph in a 50 zone. Setting speedo's 10% above actual speed is actually condoned by the Police themselves! Changing from a 40 series tyre to a 45 series wont affect the speedo one bit. Mudzs - I take it as you have 45 series on the rears and a 40 series on the fronts?

Ok, after many phone calls and much searching around im pretty sure no one in the UK can supply the springs for a MK1 GS300. Iv tried the Eibach shop in Wolverhampton, TDi in London and all the like but to no joy. There is only place that lists them for a Mk1 and that is:- http://www.motorsportworld.co.uk/ The only problem here is that the H+R springs that are listed for the MK1 are the identical ones listed for a MK2. So i think they may have listed them just generally rather than specifically. I think my best bet is to get them imported from the states or from Japan. Or the other option would be to get a complete Mk1 GS300 Sport suspension and swap that straight over.

Disconnect the wires at the doors i assume. But why do you want to do this anyway? I think it'll be an MOT failure when the time comes.

How much? And whats the verdict on road noise, handling etc etc?

Ok, last week when i changed my wheels over i found that one of the front wheels only had 4 nuts on it. I was more shocked to find that the nut was missing because the whole stud was missing!!! This probably explains the vibrations iv been getting through my steering wheel. Ordered a new stud from Lexus yesterday and its to arrive tomorrow. BUT . . . . how do these studs fit in? If its the same as the Soarer then im guessing i just have to remove the disc and put the stud in from behind (ooh ahhh ) If its the same as my Honda Accord then its a question of splitting the hub apart? Does any one know which way its fitted? Im assuming the removal involves it to be just tapped out from the front? As i never really looked wether the whole stud was missing or wether it had broken off like a previous incident i had! Thanks for your help.

Reading it is one thing, knowing what the previous guy put in the car is another! The light has been on ever since i bought the car, thats why it was so hard to trace down. If i had done it myself i wouldnt have made that mistake as i always replace like for like. Talking of which, thinking of replacing the front bulbs for some brighter ones. Current ones run 55W as far as im aware, new ones im looking at run on a lower power of 35W, or another set which runs at 100W. Does any one know if this will cause a similiar problem as to the rears?

Yeah i must say iv been working off that theory for a couple of years now, well ever since iv had an automatic car, that the brakes will warp when you come to a stop and then keep your foot on the brake pedal. It only makes sense that it wont all cool down properly. I now nearly always put it in "N" when at traffic lights to stop this. If im on a slope somewhere i will keep my foot on the brake but let the car creep every few seconds so as not to hold the sme bit of disc against the pads for too long. This is why i never park too close to the car in front! And i dont think my park brake works either, its not part of the MOT on an automatic car is it?

Ok, FINALLY got this sorted and that damned light is bugging me no more! :D Turns out it was indeed one of the rear lights thats had a problem, but as stated before they were all working perfectly fine. I did think it could be due to a bulb not being of the correct voltage but couldnt tell the difference. However, a rather sharp eyed work colleague assured me that one of the lights was ever so slightly dimmer than the one on the opposite side. I couldnt see this myself but when we stood quite far back from the car i could almost see it. Bottom of it is that the next day i took out that particular light. On the back of the light cluster itself it actually tells you which voltage and type of bulb is supposed to go in there. When i compared the information on the brake light to what was written on the bulb there was indeed a difference. The car is recommended to take a bulb that is a W5W rating, the bulb that was in there was a W3W and THAT was causing all the hassle. Its a very very tricky thing and i was REALLY lucky to find the problem as it was not the most obvious problem of all. So if your replacing any bulbs at the rear then PLEASE PLEASE replace like for like. Look at what is written on the bulb itself, as the 2 bulbs here were identical to look at but a slight difference in voltage caused a heck of a lot of problems. Im just glad i got it sorted at home, had i taken it to Lexus to find the problem i might have owed them the car by now! :o Hope this helps some one in the future.

Try getting another steering wheel from a breaker. Or the other way is to redo your own steering wheel. This requires you to take it off, sand it down and respray it in the original colour, then put it back on again. But that should only be a weekend job as i dont think you'd get good results if you did it in 1 day or by rushing it.

Right, time to let it run completely dry then. And i mean to a stage whereby it starts spluttering! :P Deke/Genius - Just a quick question lads. Do you notice whilst your driving on gas that your petrol is also going down, by a VERY little bit, but down non-the-less. I put in £10 petrol and it seems to have lasted about 125 miles. But i had about £10 worth of petrol and ran it about a 100 miles on gas, only to get there and notice the petrol had nearly gone to empty aswell. So is it normal for it to be taking a little bit of petrol at the same time to be mixing it with the gas or is that just mine?

Yeah there is some truth to it, but it wont apply to you. Basically if you had gone from 18" wheels to 20" wheels then yeah, your handling would change. But going from a 40 series tyre to a 45 series wont make a difference at all. Well, not to your handling anyway. Your ride MAY become softer, but i dont know how noticeable that will be. You can sleep in peace now knowing your handling wont be affected! :)

Now THAT sounds interesting. I feel a forum search coming on... :) Im pretty sure its a paperclip between terminals T1 and E1. Then just look at your dash and see how many times the engine management light flashes. Count the flashes, post it here and some one should be able to give you the error code. I havnt actually opened my terminal up yet so i dont know if there is a diagram underneath the terminal cover to show where T1 and E1 actually are. But if there isnt, then thats what you want to be searching for.

Yeah thats what i was looking at doing and in that manner aswell. But i didnt want it to die out all of a sudden somewhere and then let air into it aswell as that could be a pricey mistake! But yeah im looking at filling it up and then emptying it as much as i can. That should give me a good idea of how much im getting out of it.

Unfortunatly plugs and leads aint the cheapest of things on a GS300 but yeah, i see where your coming from. Keep us posted on the O2 sensor. Oh yeah, how much did it cost you to have it replaced? Cheers. Diagnostics can be read my main stealers or a half decent garage/auto electrician for half the price of the main stealer. Just take it to a reputable garage in your area, ask if they have the eqiupement to read error codes on your car and if they can then take it from there. When you "run her til shes empty" does she start coughing and spluttering as a sign of fuel starvation? Or does she just stop? Basically im trying to grasp how you run it till its completely empty as i would like to do this to get an accurate figure of MPG.

ah ha . . . . now you didnt say that before :P Deke - if you dont read the gauge then how do you figure its empty? Do you just run it till it switches back over to petrol or stops? Or is there another way of telling?

I so envy you for getting that. I SHOULD be getting that, but for some reason im just not. Just had a thought though Deke, maybe the LPG gauges are not right in our cars. They are not exactly the most accurate things with only 5 lights and if its out even at that then it'l be showing some rough MPG even though you might not have gone through so much fuel.