Leigh2000

15 hours ago, The-Acre said:

A sad tale of woe, a better outcome though than my one and only dealing with the small claims court!

Yes, it was quite demanding. Sorry to hear you didn't get anywhere through small claims. For me the whole process took over a year- mainly because he took as long as he possibly could to respond at every stage- really pushing deadlines. I think he was hoping he'd wear me down and I'd give up. 

The questioning by the judge was also quite rigorous but luckily I had my ducks in a row. Had he turned up he might have been able to fight me off, but after dragging me 150 miles north to Burnley for the hearing he didn't materialise which made me even more determined. He knew about the date so unless he has some very good reason for not turning up he's on the hook for the judgement (which amounts to what I paid our friend Richard in Northampton to do the job properly, the cost of a Lexus diagnostic, and my court fees). 

I want to give a mention to Richard of hybridbatterysolutions.co.uk. Great service from him and the car ran perfectly after he'd refurbished the battery- anyone who's had cause to deal with him will know what I mean.

9 hours ago, Bluesman said:

Terrible story. I don't know how these guys sleep at night. Are you going to send in the bailiffs?

I'm not sure yet. As far as I'm concerned the important thing is that the CCJ hopefully stops him from operating; he has until Monday to pay up or it's on his record. Anyone thinking of doing business with him will be able to find it. He'll not be able to obtain credit as well. 

I haven't got as far as thinking about bailiffs yet. I wouldn't mind seeing him on "Can't Pay? We'll Take it Away!"

Lol

Thanks Lee!

I had to sell it at a loss due to a change of jobs but it was in a better condition when I sold it than when I bought it! I wouldn't do what was done to me to someone else. 

I'll get another one some day!

Hi All

This post is really aimed at anyone thinking of buying a GS450 or at anyone thinking of getting their Battery refurbished or replaced. Maybe it'll act as a cautionary tale. I did previously post about my experience of buying the car under another name. I can't remember why I used another name, perhaps I'd lost this login so if anyone finds the other post maybe they can post a link?

Anyway, here is the gist of the story; I'm having to redact it quite a bit as it would be very long in its entirety-

In June of last year I bought a high mileage GS450 from a guy in Burnley who claimed he was an electrical engineer who refurbished hybrid batteries for a living. I don’t know if I’m allowed to post the link to his website or his name but I will if this is allowed.

I agreed to pay £2500 for the car as it had some issues (more than he admitted to as it turns out). I agreed to fix the non-battery related issues out of my own pocket but he gave a 12 month warranty on the Battery. But as he seemed professional and seemed to know what he was talking about, I agreed to buy the car. Of course, it wasn't long after that the dash lit up like a Xmas tree, with the warning messages that every 450 driver dreads.

Despite giving him ample chance to fix the Battery he made excuse after excuse and blocked my number so I couldn’t contact him. As the EML was on because of the hybrid fault, I couldn’t get the car MOTed and so eventually went to our well known and trusted friend in Northampton who refurbished the Battery for me. I also had him add a Battery conditioner. The car passed its MOT and I then went after the seller to recover the costs of the repair.

As he had promised to fix the Battery if it went wrong but the help never actually materialised, I took him to court through the moneyclaim small claims system and I won the case a couple of weeks ago. In fact, he never even turned up. Therefore, he now has a CCJ against him so what is written below is not libel, it’s been listened to by a judge who made a judgement in my favour. I also have every bit of paperwork to prove everything I’ve written.

Before anyone points out to me how stupid I was, believe me I know. I really wanted the car and this guy saw me coming. However, I’ve definitely learnt my lesson!

I guess the moral of the story is don’t buy with your heart and make sure that you check out whoever you’re dealing with. I’m happy to provide the name and website address on here if I’m allowed?

No, wouldn’t work. You need a 433mhz one. 

That’s annoying as I specifically requested OSR- good job I never got round to having them fitted. Thanks for pointing that out though. 

Hi

I've recently sold my 2007 GS450 and I have the following parts I accumulated meaning to get them fitted. I'm willing to listen to offers on them separately or as a job-lot--

For sale: Various Parts (NSF Shock absorber, OSR shock absorber, oil filter, cabin air filter, element sub assembly, front bush, front brake pads, discs and drums, 7 litres of Shell Helix Ultra 0W-20 SN Motor Oil)

Item Condition: New (except for the rear shock absorber which I acquired from a breaker)

Price and price conditions: £500 (open to offers but these parts were well over £600 in total)

Extra Info: Any questions please ask 🙂

Pictures: See below

Contact Details: PM in the first instance with an email address and I'll get back to you.

Location: Spalding, Lincolnshire

Delivery & Conditions of Delivery: TBC. 

On 2/26/2019 at 11:03 AM, Kal Choudhury said:

I have head that when the battery fails you get Check VSC and Check ECB warnings as well. I haven't had that at all. Is it common for these warnings to appear at the same time?

 

 

Yes it is. I don’t think this is a Battery failure. 

Good luck with this. I have the rhythmic noise as well so I’m interested in the outcome. 

Initially I think the best thing for you to do is go to Kwikfit. They have a scanner and will just walk round each wheel to see if the sensor is transmitting. If any are not, they will remove them and give them to you (my local one did this for free, but they may charge you £15 per wheel) and then you can go through the process of refurbing them yourself. Or you can pick a reasonably cheap set off of eBay, but make sure that you buy sensors which transmit at 433mhz. The 315mhz are not compatible (or so I'm LED to believe). As you mention, there is a thread on here on how to refurb them and there's a YouTube video as well.

If they're still transmitting, then it's a matter of resetting the system. There's a button in a hard-to-reach place under the dashboard and a process for doing this which you can read up on from this forum if you search for TPMS related threads.

As you've just bought the car it may be that the last owner had this issue and couldn't be bothered to rectify it. In this case, he probably did a Battery reset to clear the code so that the warning light disappeared for as long as it took to sell you the car (the transmitters only communicate with the ECU once every 7/8 hours, so it takes a while for the warnings to appear. They gut I bought mine off pulled this with me). In this case, you may need to reprogram the sensors. This involves getting at them and noting down the code number from each one (i.e not the code for OS rear sensor, nsf sensor etc), and programming them through techstream (Toyota software). A garage with the software (roll up and ask if they have techstream) can do this for you or you can download the software yourself. It's not easy to get it to run though, as you need the right equipment. 

Hope that helps. All the info is already on the forum but I appreciate that for someone not technically minded (like myself as well), it takes time to learn these things.

https://www.opieoils.co.uk/f/102747/20047/2007/sensors.aspx

Does anyone know which one of these would be the one to replace the camshaft sensor? 

Thanks Bob. 

That’s useful to know. Can I ask did you have to drop the 12v to get rid of it, or did you use software? I see you’re not driving the same model but maybe the same procedure might work for me. I’m going to connect up to “Mr Hybrid” to see if I can clear it rather than disconnecting the Battery. 

Thanks Colin. I read somewhere that there needs to be 6-10 clicks or something to tighten the fuel cap. I only get a couple. Is it worth me getting another?

Me neither. Nevertheless, that’s what he did. 

So it seems that the P0017 code can be caused by a number of things? I’ve got this and I’m determined to track it down. 

Possible causes (according to various threads and users on the forum)-

* faulty sensors

* loose fitting fuel cap

* faulty VVTi solenoid

* broken valve spring

* dirty oil/ filter 

* timing set incorrectly 

* stretched timing chain

I put mine through it’s MOT a couple of days ago and it passed. While driving down the road afterwards, the EML came on. I thought that this might be down to the mechanic removing the filler cap during the MOT and the subsequent loss of pressure. 

I’ve got a pretty big PPI payout on the horizon and thought I might treat the old girl to an engine rebuild/ timing chain replacement. Maybe not though-  just about everyone I’ve spoken to thinks this would be overkill, so so I’m going to explore all other options before replacing the timing chains. 

Any more to add to the list above? 

I had this earlier today. I used the key in the auxiliary lock- it seemed to reset the motor and the boot then locked. 

6 hours ago, Britprius said:

To me these look as though they have been re built with new batteries, and valve stems. Magnifying the pictures if you look particularly at the potted area away from the batteries if I am not mistaken you can see some of the original white potting compound that has not been removed.

Yes, that’s what I thought. The fact that the plastic cover is missing is a give away. I had two taken out of my wheels a couple of weeks ago. On my two there was a plastic over over the batteries which was loose which suggested to me that someone had already tried to replace the batteries. 

6 hours ago, Britprius said:

However I see no problem with this as far as use is concerned, but they should not be advertised as new if they are not. One other point is that the cover has a metal strip attached, and this acts as an aerial for the transmitter. If this is not in place it could reduce the range, and reliability of the signals.

John.

This is a good enough reason for me to reject them. Especially the fact that the cover has a metal strip that acts as an aerial which is now absent.

My theory is that a clever entrepreneur has picked up a job lot of Pacific OEMS sensors from a foreign breaker and has gone about re-engineering them. If the plastic covers had been bonded back with a plastic epoxy I wouldn’t have questioned them at all. 

This is what they look like both sides... they’re obviously new as there’s no wear on the valves. 

Is it not? I thought the OEM sensors were hermetically sealed with a plastic cover?  The seller is selling them claiming they’re brand new OEM, manufactured by Pacific who do make the oem sensors. 

Am I overreacting?

Yes. I can’t see it standing up to normal use if it’s fitted? What do you think?

It’s not my day today (again). Got up this morning, opened the boot then went to close it and it won’t close. 

Then this turned up-

It’s a TPMS sensor (obviously!- which I bought off eBay). I paid £60 for 4 so I was telling myself what a good deal but it’s not hermetically sealed. I’m therefore going to have to raise a case with eBay and get my money back. Another pain in the arse!

57 minutes ago, KUYTD said:

460 - super rare, would have taken any compromise to own one!

https://www.gumtree.com/p/lexus/2006-lexus-ls-460-l-a-luxury-saloon-auto/1314112107

Edit- sorry, just noticed it’s a LS!

I had the same problems. I eventually got one from here- 

https://www.nipponautospares.com/

I paid £230. They’re on eBay. 

Managed to get a NSF one from here- 

https://www.nipponautospares.com/

They have an eBay presence and I made an offer. They weren’t willing to move far off their original asking price of £253.99. Apparently it’s the OEM part. 

I took a risk and got the OSR one last week from a breaker in Serbia. Paid £90 including delivery.