JCC

Does anyone know where I can get the centre section of the exhaust system? I have replaced the 2 backboxes, but now the centre section has failed. I can get one via Tyre Services for £550 fitted, but is there anywhere cheaper?

The Mk2 is not ISOFIX compatible. Unless something has been added recently there is no Lexus branded child seat. By the way if you fit a car seat to the outside rear seats or passenger seat (not advised as you can't turn off the airbag) then when you fully extend the seatbelts don't let then retract at all until the seat is in place. Otherwise they lock the next pull at the released position and you can't pull them out fully until they are fully retracted.

Had Dunlop Sports originally, now Goodyear F1 Eagles. They seem quieter.

I had an intermittent problem on my Mk2 GS. Sometimes it would start and sometimes it would only click. True to form, every time I went to the garage it worked! Eventually I got Lexus to take off the starter motor and the power connections fell out! They replaced the connnections (not cheap) and he presto it has worked ever since.

On the Mk2 GS it can be changed on one of the menues available to the garage when they plug in their service electronics. I got mine made more sensitive by the Lexus dealer

This is a well know "feature" of the Lexus radio. There are a number of past strings discussing this. The radio is designed for the USA market and their radio transmissions. I have forgotten the technical term for it. But there is a component in the radio circuit that makes it sound that way. A competent electronics person can remove it and someone posted the method. Seems too much trouble to me so I listen to CDs.

Other things to look out for: Display on audio - quite often the LCD display partly fails, so that you can't read it fully. You can get the display replaced, but it is costly. Exhaust - parts of the heat shields along the exhaust come loose as the mountings corrode and rattle. The heat shields are aluminium and corrode faster. You can remove them without worry. Alternator/steering pump belt - hardens with age and gets noisy. Sounds like it is a bearing on the way out. A new belt will cure it. Wind noise from the driver's window - usually the window seal. Condensation on the inside of the headlight glass - time consuming, but you can remove it.

Are the only differences: SEL has 18" wheels, SE 17" SEL has rear spoiler on bootlid SEL has Mark Levinson sound system

Got mine done at The Blast Shop in Thursby, near Carlisle. £235 for 4 wheels. Made a very good job of them

I had this problem a while ago. There was something wrong with the cable, I think one of the strands had snapped and it kept catching in the outer sheath. Fortunately it was under guarantee as it cost £280 at the Lexus dealer. The bolts holding the catch in place are anti-theft and have to be broken out and have to be renewed.

I have done 75 miles on the motorway at 80+ from when the light came on to filling up. I reckon there was 2 litres left, but did not want to risk it.

Thanks for the info. I suppose that the real advantage is in snow. Thats when RWD loses out.

The new GS is available with a 4 wheel drive option. So is this faster or slower than the 2 wheel drive version? It must be heavier, so should be slower. But! The 2 wheel drive cannot always put down all the power and so the traction control cuts in. The 4 wheel drive should be able to put it all down and so should accelerate faster. Opinions?

Fifth Gear on Channel 5 looked into using super unleaded in a variety of cars. They measured torque & bhp. It only made a difference on the a turbo charged sports car, I think it was a Subaru Imprezza WRC. Then they got an extra 5%. By the way the BP & Shell super unleaded gave a different result, I think the BP was better. They showed that unless you had a performance turbo car and used it to the limit, that is changed up at peak revs etc, it is not worth thinkling about it. Also the engine has to be in tip-top condition to start with. If you car has more than 50k miles on it it will be a waste of money. The engine management system in the GS will optimise the settings for the fuel it gets and you probably would never notice any difference at all.

Have you read the comparison road tests for the IS250 and BMW 325i in What Car? That gives the impression that the IS is nowhere near the quality of the GS. It might have a few techno improvements going for it, but that always happens when one model is released before another. I should imagine that the GS will get upgraded in a year or 2 to incorporate the same & more.

I have the same problem with mine. As far as I can work out, the window seal gradually gets pulled down from the seating in the top of the window frame, each time the window is opened. If I pull it out of the frame and then pull it up slightly and push it back I get silence again. There was also a thread some time ago about wind noise from the mirrors and attempts to seal them.

Bonded windscreens contribute to the structural integrity and stiffness of the car. You may not believe it, but if the windscreen is not fitted correctly it will effect road handling and crash safety.

Surely the fog lights are specific to a MK2 Lexus GS. So does that mean that there is a GS owner out there that nicked your lights or some unscrupulous garage?

My GS has just started making a sqeaky noise when the engine is running. Seams to be coming from the front of the engine on the driver side. Alternator or water pump or something else? Any ideas? If it is the water pump, how much will it cost to replace?

I had exactly the same problem with my Mk2 GS. The problem is not the catch, it is the cable. The RAC managed to do a temperary repair by lubricating it. It needed a new cable and as this means access the catch which has an anti-theft shield with special bolts it is not a simple job. Lexus charged £273 to replace the cable!!

I do not think that it is the petrol, it is virtually all the same except for the additives that are added by the tanker driver depending upon where he is delivering. The additiives do make a difference, particularly the ones that improve the atomisation of the fuel, so it burns better. I have used Tesco standard unleaded in my 99 GS300 for the last 3 years with no problem. It never pinks and I regularly give it some stick. The ECU should cope with any quality of fuel, but it needs to be reset to quickly learn about the fuel and how it performs. Otherwise the learning process takes some time. If it has been running on better quality fuel for a while it will have optimised the ignition settings for that fuel. As suggested by Chips you need to disconnect the battery or remove the fuse for a while (at least a minute) to reset the ECU. Super unleaded is becoming rare. Certainly the supermarkets do not sell it now, so resetting the ECU is a better bet long term. JCC

You can now get an LED display for about £50 that you can put in the back window and program with suitable responses, like YOU ARE TOO F***ING CLOSE! I'm thinking of getting one.

What tyres do you have on the front and what pressure?

Hi, The piping is plastic. My Mk2 '99 has the same problem. Superglue works for a while. Make sure that the surfaces are really clean, I used metholated spirits. Replacing the piping means taking the seat apart and getting the seam opened up and new piping sewn in. Very difficult & expensive unless you know an upholsterer. JCC

Anyone know of a small/compact but powerful air horn that I could fit instead of the electric type. Either they are not very loud or the sound proffing is very good!