Jack300

I'd go for a 300 SportCross if you can find one - at least then you'll have the difference of a bigger engine too. I'm not sure if the 200 SX has all of the goodies that the 300 has - self dimming rear view mirrors, HID lights etc. Finally, get the 300 converted to LPG then you've 200(ish)bhp to play with on fuel at 60p per litre. Good luck Jack

This weeks Auto Express surveyed 23000 drivers and in the Build Quality category the Lexus Is (old style as they refer to it) came top out of 100 in terms of Build Quality - it says ''Bulletproof - that's how most owners describe their old-shape Lexus IS''. ...thought you'd like to know. Good luck Jack

Nope, it doesn't. Simply gas is a leaner fuel than petrol and that's the reason, why the light comes on ;) It says that something is wrong to me,a decent LPG conversion should have a system that allows for this and prevents the EM light from coming on... As I said previously, there are plenty of poor or even dangerous conversions about. I would question why he is ditching the car 12 months after forking out a hill of cash for a conversion... I've run my 300 sport cross on LPG for almost two years now. The EM light came on shortly after the conversion - running too lean. It's a quck fiddle with the injector trim (it has 6 aditional injectors for the LPG and these need to open and close at as near the exact timings of the petrol injectors) via the installer and it's never come on again. ...cant fault LPG - slight loss of power (like having a passenger in the car) but it's offset by the 55.9p per litre (filled it up this morning for £31.99) which means the car hardly see the inside lane as the fuel's so cheap... might as well drive fast. Good luck Jack

Terry - if you find a (cheapish) replacement source, will you let me know? ...and viceversa, if I come across anything, I'll give you a shout. Cheers Jack

Terry ...I've been looking on t'net via Google and it refers me to this forum actually - and that's where I've picked up the £140... I've not been to the local stealer so maybe the £140 is very out of date. Good luck Jack

I've had surprising results getting rid of scratches using Autoglym Leather Care on plastics - mind you it was the wifes Almera. Also, worth a thought, I use a matt finish interior spray cleaner/polish for the insides - maybe a matt finish will help hide the scratches - bit like painting your house, gloss shows up all the imperfections, matt hides them. Good luck Jack

Got something similar on my 3 litre Sport Cross and am considering blanking it off first and if there's not reduction in power or vast increase in intake noise, getting rid of it. Here's why... Got a book for Christmas called 4 stroke engine performance tuning. Slowly reading it and the first aspects it covers is air intake. basically it says keep the air as cold as you can and the intake pipe as smooth as you can ..that's about 20 pages condensed into half a sentance. On the 3ltr the intake runs right across the exposed exhaust manifold - so, I'm going to shield those and make the existing black plastic as smooth as etc. ie remove the resonator I'm not sure if there will be any noticeable gains as they tend to be at the top end, but it's a cheap 'mod' and it's fun. Cheers Jack

I've checked ebay - was the first place I looked - but Pablo of Poland wants £180 for the pair - even at half that for one (second hand) it's still loads of dosh, and then there's the risk involved in money going abroad... I think I'll try walking into my local Toyota dealership and see if they can help - being a synic (can't spell), I'm sure we are paying Lexus prices to subsidise development of the Toyota range - so maybe the same wing mirror glass exists on a 'cheaper' model. If it does, I'll let you know. Cheers Jack

There's a fine crack developed in the drives wing mirror glass (and it's loosing it's silver) - it's an IS300 Sportcross - and at first I was shocked reading a £75 replacement cost - and then realised that that was for a heated glass - and that it was £140 for the one that dims too (which I think mine does). Does anyone know is the same glass is used in any of the Toyota range? ...ie know of a cheaper alternative? Thanks in advance. Jack

if you are going to go LPG, why not buy a 300 - at least you still have some power remaining after the conversion. Good luck Jack

Had te same problem with a Nissan Auto - the safety device that stops you taking the key out unless you have the gearbox in Park fails - it's a solenoid on the side of the ignition barrell. The fix was to get at it and hold it open so that you can remove the key whatever position the shift lever is in. I held it open with an elastic band - nice low tech fix to a high tech problem. Good luck Jack

Fixed a friends Lex the other day - she said it wasn't as responsive as it used to be. Turned out to be a rubber overmat wedged under the accelerator pedal. ...makes you wonder. Cheers Jack

...and guess what - the Ford Fiesta was deemed to be a great car by Jeremy - told you so. Off topic a little, you think the Nissan badge spoils the 350Z, look what it did to it's predecessor (can't spell) ...the 300ZX - completely anialiated it. In a survey (granted it's an American survey) the 300zx was voted the 19th best looking car of all times - so unfortunately, badge is everything. Cheerz ...homage to Z ownership. Jack

Out of my depth here as mines a 3ltr - but is there an auto choke mechanism on the 2ltr car? If there is then I'd suggest it's stuck open. There's stuff called carb cleaner that comes in an aerosol - if you can get at all of the breathing stuff on the top of the engine and give it a clean with this stuff, it might help - it's worth a try as it's low tech ie easy to do. Good luck Jack

Sounds like head gasket failure to me. Good luck Jack

you can get propper grease for the job - it's red in colour and it dosn't affect the rubber seals nor does it affect the brake fluid. If you can expose some of the caliper piston behind the dust seal and paint it with the greas - then move them back and forth so that the greas gets under the seals, that's normally good for the life of the car ie you only have to do it once... Good luck Jack ...don't know what the grease is called but from memory, my tin - which I've had for years - is by Lockheed. I presume it'll say that its for hydraulic applications.

I think it works off the engine management computer. I've converted my 3ltr SX to run on LPG and the mpg guage still reads as though the car is using petrol - so, lets assume it's checking wheel revolution vs throttle position and which gear you are in and coming up with some average calculation... It's certainly not measuring fuel used... Good luck Jack

a little off topic but I bought my 300 sportcross for 4 reasons - had to be over 200bhp, had to be rear wheel drive, had to be 'Japanese' and had to be 'rare'... I'm not sure it's replacement can match these criteria - but in reality I haven't checked cos I'm still in love with the car I have, and £10k is always the limit of my spend. Good luck Jack

You'll get used to it. The other day I'd been driving on lpg as normal and the petrol light had been on for a couple of days - so, I thought I'd better put some petrol in it - and guess what, on the way to the garage the car decided it had just under half a tank of petrol in it - fuel guage went back up, orange light went out. And as I was heading towards the petrol station I still put £20's worth in and now it's reading nearly full - but going down (or so it thinks) steadily. I don't mind but I don't need to be carrying around all of that fuel... it's just extra weight. I'm trying to figure out when and how it checks what's fuel's actually in the tank... petrol that is. As for the LPG guage it's totally useless - I just run it until it beeps and automatically switches over to petrol - and then I refill it at the next lpg station. ...and slightly off topic I've just fitted a Flash Lube kit to help protect aginst valve seat recession. Good luck Jack

I suppose what gets me going is that the 'only' car show on the telly features a trio of goons not telling us anything interesting about cars. Personally I think it's a shame that it's turned into 'entertainment'. ...and as for measuring each car re how well it goes around their track - why bother? Anyway - no worries - looking forward to next Sunday's show... Cheers Jack

JCs in the pocket of Ford. Have you noticed how everything that Ford does is ok by him... The Volvo last night - where did that come from? straight onto the cool wall - who owns Volvo - you've guessed it, Ford. Same with the Jag the previous week - also owned by Ford - you can almost see the Ford PR team thinking up things for Jeremy to do to promote the blue oval. What's betting the Ford Fiesta? he's driving around Burmonsey? next week will turn out to be a 'great car'... Personally if JC thinks it's crap, then that's ok by me - and I imagine most of the 'care-aware' general public. ...and did you notice he gave the touring car driver the BMW - surely he should have given him the Lex... but then again it's always leve headed reporting. Cheers Jack

I can confirm that my IS300 is the same - nothing to worry about - unless all of the outside of my car has been replaced at some time - which is doubtfull. Good luck Jack

I used to run a normally aspirated Nissan 300zx prior to owning my current IS300 Sportcross. The Sportcross is just as quick but both are heavy cars. The main difference is that the Z was full of drama whereas the Lex is very calm - so you think you are travelling quicker/faster in the Z but it's not the case. I use a Roadpilot gps speed camera detector to measure mph - have done on both cars so it's not inacurate speedo readings that give the difference. Good luck Jack

I've recently had a Prinns system installed in my 3ltr Sportcross and was advised against a flash lube system. What was recommended was Redex in the petrol so that the valves are kept clean as the car starts on petrol before changing to gas. I'm not convinced but, on reading about valve seat recession, it seems to be worse at high revs, not load - something to do with the valves turning in their seats. So as the Sportcross is an auto and runs at relatively low revs (hardly ever above 3k as I drive like a granny) I've not fitted the flash lube kit. ...and should I need to drive in anger it's really neat to switch from LPG to petrol, pop the gear leaver into M and use the buttons on the steering wheel to drop a few cogs etc. Question is - should I fit a flash lube kit or carry on with the Redex? Cheers Jack

Long shot but I've had good results at hiding scratches on my wife's Nissan interior (sounds a bit funny - but you know what I mean) using Autoglym Leather Care directly onto the plastic. Good luck Jack